It was interesting to explore the sterner side of Mariana, though she (thinks) she does it for Zalya's own good. (Maybe <.< >.>)
Heeeere's another one! :
(23:50:46) Mariana moves to deposit Wulfar in a chair.
(23:53:01) Wulfar continues his murmuring, an agonized look coming to his eyes.
(23:53:39) Mariana tries to focus on what Wulfar is saying. She manages to at least look directly at him, and says bluntly, "That was incredibly stupid. She would have ki....killed you." She puts a paw over her eyes, the fingers twitching erratically.
(23:55:01) Wulfar's throat releases an agonized scream, as his eyes flicker into focus, on Mariana. His arms wrench at the table, leaving gouge marks in the wood. "I watched her /die/!" he shakes his head, "She was /dead/!" he looks up wildly at Mariana, "Why didn't you kill me?" he laments
(23:56:55) Mariana jerks back so fast in her chair it almost topples over. Something flickers in her eyes, something primal and intense: Fear. Blatant and alarming terror. She masks it quickly, but it seems that the menki's shouting has triggered something, and the trembling intensifies as she watches his claws harshly ravage the wooden surface of the table. "E...e...easy," she stammers. "Easy, Wulfar. Just take it easy, I don't know what you're talking about. What are you saying?"
(23:57:58) Wulfar grips the table, intense pain and sorrow crossing his eyes, and energy gone, he slumps into his chair, openly sobbing. "Mari, I'm so, so sorry..." he murmurs, and continues, "I watched her die. Paor, she's dead. Forever. And I'll never find her."
(00:01:18) Mariana's face falls with understanding. "A sister?" She asks. "Ah..." She fights for the right word. "A companion?" She reaches out a hesitant paw, and it quakes visibly as she moves to lay it gently on his shoulder. A shudder travels up her body, but she ignores the jolt.
(00:03:21) Wulfar breathes harder, agony wracking his entire body. His head shudders with the sobs, "She was my sister. My family." he unclenches his paws, slowly, allowing the emotions to flow through him. As Mariana touches his shoulder, his whole body seems to slump, and he succumbs. "My family." he eaks out, raw, animal pain releasing.
(00:05:35) Mariana tightens her grip comfortingly on Wulfar's shoulder. "I understand," she whispers. "Do you...do you want to talk about it? Tell me what happened? I'll listen. I'm here to listen." She moves her paw to touch the back of the clamod's head, in an almost maternal gesture.
(00:09:13) Wulfar's body convulses once more, and he stiffens, head bowed. As Mariana's paw touches his head, he blinks, twice, and breathing easier, begins to fiddle with his necklace. His claws come out once more, but calmly. "Aedrich. Eventually, . . " he pauses, then stumbles on; "Eventually he got fed up with Da. He'd seen the old menki take his frustrations out on Paor 'n me, and he'd had enough. So one night, Aedrich and I snuck into Da's room, where him 'n Ma were sleeping." a wince forms on his face, and he pauses, gulping.
(00:10:41) Mariana rubs her thumb on Wulfar's fur. The pain in her face seems almost physical, and perhaps it is, but she does not remove her paw from the menki's head, not willing to take away what little comfort it may provide. Her breathing is forcibly calm and steady, and she speaks in hushed, smooth, soothing tones. "It's alright," she murmurs. "I'm listening. I'm here."
(00:13:00) Wulfar shudders, and emotions cease to control his face. He remains where he is, but his tone is even, controlled....icy. What emotion was laced in his words is gone now, and his voice is a deep, unnerving timbre. "We killed him. He had no right doing what he did to us, and he'll never do it again. This time though, it was for good. I said finish him, but Aedrich wanted it done right." his tail flicks softly, "Aedrich decided to teach him a lesson first."
(00:15:02) Mariana continues to rub her thumb over Wulfar's brow. Softly, she begins to hum something, a warm, empathetic sort of tune that tumbles easily from her throat. It reverberates in her chest, familiar and listless, the beat somewhat off-tempo. She notes the coldness in Wulfar's voice, but still she presses onward, urging gently before resuming her gentle melody: "You can tell me what happened. You need to know, I understand."
(00:16:58) Wulfar forges on, "So he woke ma. He told me, 'wulf, tie her up, make her watch this.', and I knew if I didn't, he'd do to me worse than what Da did. So I did. I tied my own mother up to our kitchen chair, while we brought Da out. By that time, Aedrich had already taken his feet..." he shudders, pupils dilating, "So he had to drag him, bloody stumps and all. Da was making Gods-awful noises and started whimpering when he saw me. Ma couldn't even make a sound, she was so scared."
(00:19:06) Mariana winces slightly. A haunted look creeps into her eyes, and a tremor travels down her spine, all the way to the tip of her tail, which begins to twitch in an effort to conceal her growing apprehension. "You didn't have much of a choice, Wulfar," she supports. "You didn't have a choice. As you said, he would have killed you as well." She pauses with her muzzle open, about to add something, but simply shuts it again and resumes the same melody, listening.
(00:21:44) Wulfar winces, ever so slightly. "Ma watched Aedrich .. . Ma watched him take Da's fingers, first. He taunted Da, telling him it was all he deserved for hurting us the way he did. Then, he took the rest of his hands, then his arms. The whole time, Aedrich was healing Da, keeping him on the brink of death, letting his wounds sluggishly bleed and heal, over and over." his eyes widen and his tail stops short. "Then he snapped. Da had stopped talking, his head was slumped and I don't think he could even hear, or think, or talk anymore. All I could hear was Ma's heart beating. Aedrich...finished it. He said after this, Da would never be back." Wulfar struggles, fear growing in his eyes.
(00:24:23) Mariana cannot contain the shudder that passes through her at Wulfar's macabre description of his father's demise. There is a span of silence, her humming stopped, and she takes a rattling breath of air before interjecting: "Vengeance can make people to very cruel things. I know this myself. I've felt that hatred build in my own veins. Everyone reaches a snapping point; a body and a mind can only take so much abuse before something in it cracks. I suppose it's a momentary insanity of sorts...you can only think of one thing, and that thing is to kill. To maim those that have maimed you. Harmed that injured body and soul. Your brother...what he did. You know it wasn't right, but you also know...why." She clears her throat, and the paw on the man's head gives another erratic twitch, before her thumb resumes massaging his temple.
(00:26:45) Wulfar nods, softly. "Paor walked in as Da was finished. I've never seen my sister break." he winces, again. "But she stopped short, and fell to the ground. Aedrich didn't care. His eyes, they seemed like they were gone. Like something else was in there. He went after Ma next..." he pauses, regaining control of himself. "But mercifully she was gone faster than Da. Aedrich tossed her like a rag doll, straight to Dakkru." Wulfar looks up, directly at Mariana. "Paor was crying the whole time."
(00:29:43) Mariana swallows. The tendons and muscles in her throat clench tightly, and her eyes mist over with tears. There is something faraway in her expression, as though Wulfar's own admonitions are stirring up deep, hidden, and painful memories of her own. "Everything she knew was falling apart," she murmurs, her voice cracking. "Everything and everyone she thought she loved. Your brother abandoned himself to his anger. He let it take him over, and it turned him into the very thing he'd come to loath." She meets Wulfar's eyes directly, and a tear trickles unbidden out of her ducts and carves a channel in her fur. "Did...did Aedrich kill her, as well?"
(00:34:28) Wulfar's tail swishes, eyes mist, and he weeps softly, words coming out as a low murmur. "I took her and ran. I ran to Kirta's, got her, and took Paor with us. Paor couldn't even look at me, all she did was run. Aedrich stayed behind....burning. The house, burned, everything burned. I thought he burned with it, but he caught up with us near the river." he clenches his jaw, still weeping. "Kirta died first. She gave herself for me. Last thing I heard was her telling me.." he shakes his head, and then continues. "Paor was next. Aedrich threw me to the side like I was...nothing. He didn't care that I was his own brother anymore. I fell against a rock and couldn't move, paralyzed either by fear or pain. Paor didn't move. She could have, but she didn't. She didn't move." he moves a paw to clench at his side, "And Aedrich ripped her, limb from limb, like an ulbernaut. There was nothing there, just blood and pieces of my own sister and Kirta." his eyes ice, and he attempts to control his emotions. "Paor didn't make a sound."
(00:39:00) Mariana's eyes turn from glassy to steel. For a moment, her muzzle twitches, and a low, soft growl rumbles in her throat. It grates out past her teeth, as though she'd been trying to contain it for Wulfar's sake, but failed. Her paw moves over to grip the table harshly, and one by one, the candles in the building burst to a bright, streaking flame, before they extinguish. Mariana keeps her other paw, its grip somehow still gentle, on Wulfar's head. Her ragged breathing evens itself out after a moment, and she nods once to simply show she hears the story and understands. "Worse than your father, he became, in the end," she affirms. "That is why you do not believe in family. Because in the end, the one you loved betrayed you and everything you cared about." Her expression softens. "There was nothing you could have done, Wulfar. You are not a coward because of your actions. Listen to me: there was nothing you could have done."
(00:41:15) Wulfar whispers, "I was wrong to attack that woman. She looked like Paor, and I thought, Aedrich must have gone to Dakkru and petitioned for some sick version of my sister, to haunt me." he winces, "I am a coward. I talk when I should fight, run when I should stand."
(00:43:36) Mariana nods slowly. "No," she says. "Wulfar, I've run many many times in my life. I've run away so very many times. When the fear grips like ice in your veins. You run, or you freeze in your place. It's like someone's got a grip on your lungs and you can't really breathe. All you can do is...is stand, and watch." She finally removes her paw from the menki's head and rubs it with the thumb of her other hand, a shudder passing through her once more.
(00:47:49) Wulfar whuffs as Mariana removes her hand, a slight tremor shooting up his body to his face at the release of motion. His eyes travel over Mariana and he locks them on her. Words come slowly, but when they do, they come as a floodgate being released; "I told you, Mariana, you would not want me as family. One day, you will stand in peril and I will be frozen. Kirta sacrificed herself for me and yet I find myself such a..." he grips his leg, "such a coward, that when that day comes, you, or Sarras, or Shadow, or anyone, I will watch die, and I will not be able to stop it." he slows, searching for more words. "I watched it when that creature attacked. I watched you bleed out, and in that moment, I was afraid you would never be back. I knew you wouldn't." he shakes his head, "You say I am fit, and it is my place to do as I did, but shame has become my soul."
(00:53:01) Mariana watches Wulfar's face for a prolonged, silent breath. She stands up slowly, and moves around the table towards the menki. Her paw shifts upwards, the motion sluggish as though she forces it through half-dried cement to touch the side of his face. She tries to force him to look at her directly, her back turned to Sarras, and she whispers in low tones, hoping that the words will land only on his ears. "I will never leave," she says. "No matter what happens I won't turn on you, and I won't disdain you for your mistakes. I am mottled on the inside, I'm just as broken as anybody else. There is nothing truly strong about me. I draw my strength from my own compassion, so let me extend that to you. Selfishly I piece my brokeness back together by seeking to mend it in others. When I say you are my brother, I mean it. When I say you are my friend I mean that too. Because you see, there is nothing real about a love that ignores the mutual pains. I need your hurt to truly understand you, and I won't blanch from it. I won't turn away. I will accept every piece of it, every little part. Even the things that hurt, make us who we are, because we can overcome them."
(00:58:32) Wulfar allows his head to move, eyes locking on Mariana's. His icy stare blinks, melts, and he is Wulfar again. Tension eases from his body, and he offers his hands to close over Mariana's, giving a gentle yet firm squeeze. He opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it again, eyes still locked on the fenki's. His ears flicker for a second, and he intones, in as low a voice as Mariana's; "Then I will take it. I have no love lost for family, and I do not intend to ever believe in mine again. But I will be yours, and any of your brother or sisters, and I will, I swear, not let my fear take me again. I have watched too much of my love die, so when you find me with little left, do not take me as a cur. I am jaded," he gives a half smile, "But it appears you may be too." he moves his forehead down towards the paws. "I will not go far."
(01:02:39) Mariana's eyes flash with the same fear, this time deeply-seated in her eyes, desperately masked, as Wulfar's fingers brush her paw. She smiles through it, and though the smile is genuine and true, the fear remains like a cancer in her eyes until he lowers his face. She lets her arm drop to her side. "I believe you," she says. "I believe what you say. And you believe me, we can change who we are. As for being jaded," she chuckles wryly. "I quite resemble that remark, I'm sure you'll come to find." She lets a breath slowly out through her muzzle, and as she does her shoulders sag tiredly with it, as though she were deflating. "Wulfar," she says. "You have told me your story. One day I will tell you mine." The usual cocky-half grin rises on her face to cover the chagrin that flashes through it. "I'm anything if not fair. And as my family, you deserve my trust."
(01:04:06) Wulfar nods shortly. Watching her eyes carefully again, he nods slowly. "I think I understand a bit better." he raises his hands to show her, then moves them back to his sides. "You have lost family too, I think." he returns the grin, painfully, yet decidedly. "I will listen."
(01:04:15) Wulfar lets out a yawn. "Soon."
