04-04-2017, 08:07 AM
fuck all your dreams; they're not all they seem.
The pair of them, father and daughter, meandered through the seemingly endless forests of the Taiga, their footfalls almost in sync. Anastazja’s birth had taken more of a toll on her mother than their other children, and so Romek had taken over the lions share of raising. He tried to let Maribel be able to rest as much as possible, and having a child under his wing, so to speak, was a new experience for him. Almost an entirely new experience, anyway.
He had almost forgotten how pleasant it was to be accompanied by another on his patrols; a fresh set of eyes that questioned everything, a set of eyes that took nothing for granted. And, perhaps, sharper this his own – when she asked him rather seriously what they were supposed to be looking out for (with the connotation that she had seen something worth looking at), he had to look twice to notice the black and red mare.
Stepping through the bramble and bushes fluidly, paying no heed to the snag of twigs in his tail, he emerges from the gloom with a slight half-smile (perhaps it would have been more of a smile in the past) which turns into a frown as he tries to place the familiar face…
”Lilitha.” he says finally, realising. An adult now, though. All grown up. And a stranger. He is struck by how much she resembles Offspring, now, remembers her fire-powers, wonders, but… He doesn’t like to make assumptions. But the familiarity is noted, nonetheless. She looks well, looks like she has done well for herself. Which is something.
He thought of her every day, imagined what he would say but – she was here now, more solid than a ghost, and he found there weren’t very many words he could say after all. She didn’t feel like a child of his – she felt like a stranger, and he supposed that she was, now, in a way.
”I thought you had…” he glances briefly to the young filly at his side, watching their exchange with curious applegreen eyes. He doesn’t want to say it in front of the child; wants to protect her… Isn’t that ridiculous? Ridiculous after not being able to protect Lilitha? ”But you’re not. That’s good.”
It had been his fault, really. He could’ve followed her, told the Fairies where to stick it, but… He had had others relying on him. His other children, his wife, his friends who had become family… A whole host of people he would’ve backflipped and said the alphabet backwards to keep safe. But Lilitha was supposed to be one of them. He had failed her, no matter which way he had spun it, and the days and nights and endless hours he had spent looking for her meant very little, in the scheme of things – she had been lost, and he could have prevented it. Should have prevented it.
”I’m sorry.” he says, but doesn’t really know where to begin. He’s never been the best at words, and now, of all times, he wished he had the gilded tongue of Maribel, or any other diplomat…or anyone else, really.
He falls quiet again and the young filly beside him shifts, a little uncomfortable, eyeing the red-maned stranger warily.
Romek
ooc; sorry this is bad!
<3