08-31-2018, 12:34 PM
The tension is increasingly tangible, gripping him with a relentless hand. With a single breath, a mere hello, Castile is drawn into the circus of their aggravation. His mismatched eyes glance between the two women, scrambling to understand and see a light at the end of this narrowing tunnel. Ilma’s expression first reads of surprise, then exhaustion. Lepis, on the other hand, is steadfast and unyielding with her building irritation. He almost says something, nearly trying to reel them back to shore, but reconsiders as the words continue to pour from their mouths and flood the space among them.
So, he waits.
His forelock clutches desperately to his face as water droplets continue to trickle down and kiss his nose. The storm has since passed, but in its wake are restless nomads lost in a sea of emerald and brown. Funny, he thinks, how rich the green of plants and trees are after a rain. Blinking, Castile casts his attention away from Ilma and Lepis to more closely observe the web of trees encasing them. His thoughts roam listlessly until the burn of eyes penetrates through him, bring his own somber gaze to Ilma as she explains what has elapsed since his departure. Naturally, as he expected, the stories don’t quite align. There are discrepancies and opposing views, but their adamancies are quite similar. With pursed lips, Castile weighs the situation and realizes how detached he has been from kingdom politics. Mother raised him into it, but he never rooted himself to one place long enough to be sucked into its quarrels.
”Shit happens,” he quips suddenly as he takes a solitary step back to look at them both. ”There was miscommunication,” here, he glances to Lepis for having failed to emphasize the friendliness of the steal, ”but then there was… vengeance of sort?” He flickers his gaze to Ilma now with a tilt of his head. ”Do two wrongs make a right?” It genuinely surprises him that the peacekeeper – especially seeing as she is from Hyaline – would get back at someone. He knows her to be forgiving and kind, a maternal figure.
Maternal.
Child and mate.
The words suddenly register and Castile jerks himself to look at Lepis, unable to accept that she has matured enough to have a family of her own. There is a tightness in his stomach, in his chest, but he doesn’t address it just yet. Life continued during his absence, but it seemingly slipped through his fingers faster than he would have liked. Harboring the questions for the time being, he makes a meager offer. ”If you just need a body – since a lesson seems to have been learned between you two – then let me take her place, but I’ll be a prisoner for two years. Lord knows I would rather not be stuck in Hyaline.” It would force him to face his mistakes daily while also relive all the memories manifested in the grassy hills. It would, quite frankly, be torturous. ”You’re back with your family, unharmed and earlier than expected, Ilma. Return the favor and let my niece return to her loved ones, too.” He is far brasher than Ilma (her sweet tones and reassurances still echo in his mind from their first meeting), but it’s a quality inherited from his brazen mother.
”I’m curious about this Wolfbane,” he admits to Lepis, ”when all of this is settled and done.” He, ideally, wants to hear about all her life changes and to absorb everything he has missed, as though that will be enough for having left.
So, he waits.
His forelock clutches desperately to his face as water droplets continue to trickle down and kiss his nose. The storm has since passed, but in its wake are restless nomads lost in a sea of emerald and brown. Funny, he thinks, how rich the green of plants and trees are after a rain. Blinking, Castile casts his attention away from Ilma and Lepis to more closely observe the web of trees encasing them. His thoughts roam listlessly until the burn of eyes penetrates through him, bring his own somber gaze to Ilma as she explains what has elapsed since his departure. Naturally, as he expected, the stories don’t quite align. There are discrepancies and opposing views, but their adamancies are quite similar. With pursed lips, Castile weighs the situation and realizes how detached he has been from kingdom politics. Mother raised him into it, but he never rooted himself to one place long enough to be sucked into its quarrels.
”Shit happens,” he quips suddenly as he takes a solitary step back to look at them both. ”There was miscommunication,” here, he glances to Lepis for having failed to emphasize the friendliness of the steal, ”but then there was… vengeance of sort?” He flickers his gaze to Ilma now with a tilt of his head. ”Do two wrongs make a right?” It genuinely surprises him that the peacekeeper – especially seeing as she is from Hyaline – would get back at someone. He knows her to be forgiving and kind, a maternal figure.
Maternal.
Child and mate.
The words suddenly register and Castile jerks himself to look at Lepis, unable to accept that she has matured enough to have a family of her own. There is a tightness in his stomach, in his chest, but he doesn’t address it just yet. Life continued during his absence, but it seemingly slipped through his fingers faster than he would have liked. Harboring the questions for the time being, he makes a meager offer. ”If you just need a body – since a lesson seems to have been learned between you two – then let me take her place, but I’ll be a prisoner for two years. Lord knows I would rather not be stuck in Hyaline.” It would force him to face his mistakes daily while also relive all the memories manifested in the grassy hills. It would, quite frankly, be torturous. ”You’re back with your family, unharmed and earlier than expected, Ilma. Return the favor and let my niece return to her loved ones, too.” He is far brasher than Ilma (her sweet tones and reassurances still echo in his mind from their first meeting), but it’s a quality inherited from his brazen mother.
”I’m curious about this Wolfbane,” he admits to Lepis, ”when all of this is settled and done.” He, ideally, wants to hear about all her life changes and to absorb everything he has missed, as though that will be enough for having left.
@[Ilma] @[Lepis]