ORIGIN - c'est la vie, fibbage three

after posting this thread 5 times on accident, i've realized that i should put a cw tag for past

violence

death

Funny, how quickly guilt fades away when you put your hands to better use.

The memory haunted it still, of fingers curling into the meat of a throat, claws grappling and strangling; life snuffed out with the flight of a panicked, breathing, beating heart jumping out of a spotted chest. Innocent blood spilled on the sands and all down its forearms and upper half as its victim writhed and aspirated on his own blood. Begging, pleading.

Putting its hands to better use helped.

Master Vargas had accepted its request to be able to travel when it wasn't busy training with the Underforge's heat at its back—boiling it inside its shell—or performing seemingly meaningless tasks like moving plants to and fro whenever Zoisite needed a more delicate, dexterous hand in the gardens. Selenite always took the opportunity to follow the trail of its heart and magic to a Place of Kings; though it was more the Place of Home to it.

What dwelled within Cepheus was a house constructed in a manner similar to what its owner had taught the Selenite when he was aiding the Forge. Cobbled walls, thatched roofs, hewn wood beams and comfortable furs underfoot. The lattermost detail was always the most pleasant after it knocked, hunching down to fit through the doorway. Soft warmth, pleasant in comparison to the callus-inducing floors of the tunnels leading here and elsewhere.

It was strangely... humanizing—despite the lack of context that the Selenite had for such a word. (It'd never learned what its sister was, and perhaps never would. She'd been stolen away by the Lord, and it hardly remembered her name anymore, if she'd even been given one.)

Verdigris eyes glanced around in the house, glancing at the pot laid over some smoldering coals, something warm and almost spicy-smelling simmering within. Nostrils flared, and its attention shifted away from the food (as good and familiar as it smelled) and toward the curtains. "Hello?" it called, head sinking into its shoulders and sending its quills rattling. Is anyone home... ? Surely it hadn't missed the others... ? Vivilene was usually here around this time, and...

Selenite turned the branching crown over in its claws. It was pathetic and fragile, formed of nothing but trimmed branches from the Forge's garden in Pegasus, but it was something.

Putting its hands to better use had helped.

She taught it how to weave branches and flower stems together; twisting and folding them over one another, adding sprays and accents, forming delicate crowns to place on bowed heads. It knew not how to make them last, but it supposed in some way that there was something nice? to be found in the impermanence of such a thing.

Weight shifted from either foot, and the floorboards creaked in response. It tried again, "Hello?"

@Vivilene

She had her own bed. What simple little luxury might have been taken for granted by most was nothing short of a blessing for centuar, however. Ever since Vivilene was young, she had struggled to find a comfortable place to sleep that supported the upper-half of her torso without leaving her legs splayed out too far or bumping her antlers uncomfortably against something. It was a simple bed-- a plush base with feather-stuffed linens shaped like a basket for the cervine-half of her to curl up into, and an upright back for the humanoid-half to lean against. This one was firmer, but no less comfortable. Vivilene had, for the first time, eliminated a back and neck pain she wasn't even aware she had prior.

Clambering into bed and adhering to the Vivilene-shaped crater in its pillows was only one of the many comforts of being home, but it was the one that she cherished the most. It was her space-- decorated with clay pots that stored pale, bell-shaped flowers and glittering little charms --and her family understood that. When Vivilene had enough socialization for the day, she was free to curl away and listen to the murmur of chatter and smell of firewood in the cottage as she dozed off.

Calm. Normalcy. They were things that Vivilene had craved all her life-- and now, she was experiencing it. With a tightly-knit family and sturdy support system, the hybrid was taking the time to ground herself, to achieve what her younger siblings had learned cycles and cycles ago before her: how to just be a person. To stop fearing everything that lurked in the dark corners of the caves. Even, on good days, how to speak better-- with some mental prepping beforehand, of course.

She loved her family. She loved meeting all the new ones. Some were a little strange-- some she didn't know too well, despite living under the same roof. Sometimes it was too crowded, but that was alright. She was grateful for them being there. She was grateful to be a part of it.

Vivilene, however, was no stranger to playing favourites.

Attikias, of course, was one. Vivilene held a great amount of pride in being his eldest daughter, even if some of her younger siblings babied her a little. Pride was another-- and though she hadn't seen him visit as often as she'd like, she made no secret of her fondness for her grandfather. The final favourite was a newer addition to Vivilene's besties list-- and when they came knocking at the door, her moonlit eyes snapped open.

The first response was a bleat, for it was the easiest sound for Vivilene to make with her throat on such little notice. The nest was the click of cloven hooves on cobblestone as she threw herself out of her bed and bounded across the room in a neat clack, clack, clack to fling the door open. Another little bleat-- this time out of pure excitement --and Vivilene smiled brightly.

No matter how gentle and calculated the cervitaur's movements were, her emotions were on her sleeve. Slender legs shook ever-so-slightly as she pushed by Selenite to circle around them once (affectionately-- a hug without the touching) and then gently ushered them inside with a flicking of her little wrists.

"H-hello, hello, hello," she managed at last as she shooed them across the threshold and towards the fire. Whatever they did-- stand, sit, mill around, wander --was of little concern to her as she went clopping once more around the home with her hooves unable to still. They teetered, and they danced, and they clicked as she went rifling through various boxes and bags for storage, eventually pulling out an apple that was red dappled with orange and yellows.

She took her father's carving knife and sat by the fire. "Apple," she told her sibling. "It's... crunchy. Juicy. Good." A little nod to confirm, and Vivilene would never lie. She drew the blade along the apple-flesh in a smooth movement-- slowly, carefully, like Attikias had told her, with her padded thumb waiting for the slight touch of the knife to know when to stop. One chunk came away from the fruit and was offered to Selenite. "Try it."

A second slice was removed from the apple, and this one was lifted to her lips to eat it. At which point, she noticed that Selenite had something in their hands. She curled her legs underneath her and her tail swept around her. "Can I see?" Vivilene asked softly, sweet smile still lingering on her face.

@V-Selenite-One

Oh, there she is—the Selenite acknowledged her with a lagging puff of air from its lips, the corners tugging at either side of its tusks in a half-smile. Quills ruffled just from the sudden surprise, like it'd not been expecting an answer at all. The hand that wasn't currently twitching in phantom pain or fidgeting with the crown reached up, pushing its mane down to a haphazard smoothness while Vivilene circled once. Its stomach warmed with the gesture, as always.

Maybe today would be the day that it dared to reach out.

Worn claws clicked along the floor as it was invited deeper into the house, and it settled easily by the warmth of the low-burning fire. "Settled" being used in the loosest sense of the word, since the monstrous humanoid was just standing there, slightly silhouetted by the glow with too-bright eyes glancing back at Vivilene. Its back was already complaining with the effort of hunching over, trying to seem smaller and less... threatening? As if it'd scare her off or something.

It was tempted to lean onto the balls of its feet, steal a glance at what concoction was bubbling away; but it was distracted once again by the sound of Vivilene speaking. Some joint in its neck popped as it turned to look at her, shuffling in place like a child whose hand was found stuck in the cookie jar (even though reasonably, it was just looking and maybe catching a whiff—) More of the internal guilt was settled on just plain not paying attention and being nosy. Catlike instinct wiggled in from somewhere in its hodgepodge of half-baked magic genetics: it had to know what was in there.

But, in a moment, after its eyes had refocused to the cozy dimness of the rest of the house. Glittering pupils flickered away from Vivilene's face just as she cut away a piece of the so-called Apple and held it out; which it did, ever so careful to not so much as scrape her hand with its claws.

Driven by pure instinct and "I have not yet been taught how to act like a civilized person", the specimen was held up to its nose to be smelled deeply. Sweet, so sweet, but it was much more flimsy and... wet than the berries that its brother would sometimes offer it in Leo before he'd— Nostrils flared, and it turned the fruit over to inspect the skin. A glowing tongue stuck out to give it a cursory lick, but there seemed to be... no flavor? It was just smooth on this side—it doesn't taste like anything?

Incisors went at peeling off the skin from the apple chunk, completely ignoring that the rest of the fruit was right out in the open to try.

"Can I see?" Silvery quills clacked as its attention flew back to Vivilene—again, again, it was so easily distracted—and it belatedly noticed that she'd laid down. It made to copy her, albeit with plainly crossed legs, rather than the easy loaf of cervine legs and tail curled around behind. The crown of branches was held up, albeit with avoidant eyes and an awkwardly uneaten, half-peeled chunk of Fruit. "It's... for you. Uh, it might be good to... change flowers in and out of. Be careful with it, I think— I think it's a little fragile."

As if to accentuate the point, a thinner branch fluttered down to the floor between them. "I tried to make one without you," it muttered, by way of dancing around the bush asking if it'd gotten a good grade. It was a creator of weapons and armor for monsters, not impractical, but oddly pleasant arts and crafts.

@Vivilene

If Vivilene noticed the way that Selenite almost seemed to be trying to hide away, she made no mention of it. She understood, somewhere in the very back of her mind, that if they had met some cycles prior she might have been terrified of them the same way she was terrified of most things. For now, without reason to be afraid, however, she was still gently smiling and offering little encouraging nods as the Selenite peeled at the skin.

"The... inside is better than the outside, I think," she offered with some quiet amusement, though she was mindful that, perhaps... it might like the taste of nothing? A pointed little nail tapped the skin of the apple in her palm. "This is what... keeps all the good things in. The crunch and the flavour and the juice."

As Vivilene crunched away at her own piece of apple, she briefly followed the Selenite's glance towards the pot over low heat. A shuffle, an attempt to reach her magic and-- ahh, the sizzle of failure nipping at her fingertips, and the cervitaur's little nose wrinkled at the sensation. No cheating.

So, instead, she offered a nod. "Soup." (no wait-- there was more) "It's, um... warm, and nice, and meaty. If you... don't like the apple, you can have some soup? It-- it's good soup."

Some beats of comfortable silence went by, until her prior question was asked and promptly answered and the hybrid was leaning over to get a look at the little crown of branches in its claws. It was... it was... "It's nice," sad-looking, but Vivilene was chuffing with contentedness anyway. For as pathetic and broken as it was, it was a gift-- a show that Selenite cared for the time that she and they spent together and that they absorbed her little lessons in crafting.

A delicate touch-- and she was careful not to make Selenite uncomfortable with it --as she took the crown from its hands and gave it a careful inspection. It felt like glass in her palms, more delicate than some saplings she had handled before. She lifted the fallen branch from the floor and carefully wove it back into its spot, before she settled it on top of her head.

It did not, at least, immediately crumble apart up there. "It's good," she reinforced with a smile, pale eyes squinting as the corners of her lips left dimples in her cheeks in their wake upwards. "You're getting a lot better, um... practice is always good." Passing grade.

Vivilene settled again, and sliced off another smooth chunk of apple to chew on. "Would you… like me to make you something, too?" She offered. "Shiloh showed me how to make, um... I think she called it a bracelet...? It goes on your wrist."

@V-Selenite-One