Attikias found himself here a bit more often than he had been in the past. Maybe true parenthood drove him here. While he wasn't ungrateful to have kids and while he loved being around a family of his own, he still needed time to be able to work and think quietly.

It was a tranquil place, maybe three minutes tops from the camp, and the pathway to and from both places had found itself worn by the slow foot traffic through it. It was here he brought Vivilene. She was led carefully by the hand- no anxiety vest this time- and he held the satchel over his shoulder as he pushed aside plants for her to walk alongside him. Both of them knew (he hoped) that they would have just them here. No siblings to distract his teachings and alone time with his daughter.

He tensed at the idea. Part of him was starkly reminded of Seshat, and the pity he felt for her, and the need to help someone who didn't need it. It was a morbid sense to apply his own vision of fixing someone who was "broken". Seshat wasn't broken. Vivilene wasn't broken. But, still, he felt the need to give her attention she may need, to let her grow in her own way. She was curious despite the fears she kept bringing to him, brave in the fact that she dared to go out again and again. Even last time she'd brought back lovely flowers he planted around the camp just for her.

She took the calm and silky nature of Azizos and applied it to Attikias's attentive yet stubborn one. Even the mix of prey and predator should have put his mind at alert- who knew what he'd passed down to her? Even Angela was soft-spoken while Hunter and Volta held more of the go-getting genes. Granted, Volta wasn't his own kin, but she was still a carnivore. He and Vivi, they were breeds of their own, nervous beings who had instincts clash with desires so many times.

He slowed to a stop as they reached the Eyes. There was a quiet agreement among them that Vivi had no need to talk, that she could take things at her own pace, and he simply gave his own wordless language of love down to her in the form of a smile before he knelt beside her. "I want to tell you a story," he began, his hand still caressing his daughter's. "Would you like to hear it?"

He hoped so; he'd crafted it especially for her.

@Vivilene

VIVILENE
i make a mess
and you'll be there
to help me undress

There were a scarce few things in this world that actually calmed Vivilene down. More than just the idle calmness she would feel, where it would be all too easy to collapse in on herself and start panicking and crying. The thing that helped the most was spending time alone with her family, and above all things, spending time with her father.

Attikias was the bravest person she knew. He was old and he was smart and he caught food every day (can you imagine!!) for her and her sisters and her brother-- though her brother was getting to the age where he seemed able to catch food for himself. That astounded her. She could never hunt or catch food, much less hunt or catch food for her whole family.

She was most delighted to realise that her and Attikias were doing stuff together, just them. She did like her siblings but the others could be a bit loud, sometimes. Vivilene was lost too easily in a crowd, even if they were her family. Without being able to bark back at them, her way of communication was too subtle and easily missed to be properly included with the others. The fact that her father was taking time to talk to her alone meant that he cared, too.

Had Attikias not held her by the hand she would have leapt and bound along the path, but that much was still evident by the excited trembling, vibrating as if she were full of bees. He made it clear that they were alone and that excited her more. She felt safe, and it was very rare that she did.

Mrrp, the hybrid cooed once the two started coming to a stop. The wide silvery pools were familiar to her, albeit vaguely. She'd seen them when she wandered around Eridanus before, but never lingered or came that close. They were pretty, but there was something about them that, like most things, put Vivilene on edge. But not with Attikias. Anything scary he would chase away, surely.

Saucer-like eyes darted up to her father when he knelt down next to her. He smiled, and she smiled too, because smiling, as Vivilene had learned, was sometimes a lot louder than talking. And when the story was mentioned, her smile widened.

She loved stories. She wanted to know all of them, all the stories everyone had, and she wanted to tell stories of her own. She was unsure how she might achieve that last one but she was certain she'd figure it out some day. For now, however, she would listen to as much as she could.

Her smile turned into a playful grin when she shook her head, thick hair bounding. Despite the gesture, it was clear what she meant-- she was teasing playing with her father. Yes, of course I do, she said despite not being capable of really saying anything at all.

Settling down in the grass, curling her legs up underneath her, Vivilene begin to listen quietly-- as she often did.

@Attikias

Just being around his daughter gave him a sense of his place in the world, a warmth spreading through his emotions in the moments he looked to her. She was happy, and so was he. He’d do anything to keep her this happy.

The way she looked back at him- he wanted to immortalize that look forever. Her playfulness showed when she wasn’t pressured by the high speed of her siblings’ styles of play- or, rather, his own. Her own personality pulled his own to calm as they interacted.

But here, excited energy flowed through him as he folded his legs in front of Vivilene, laughing gently like a rumbling feline. ”No? Well, then, I guess I have this for some other reason, then,” he mused in jest as he retrieved the figurine of a rather familiar hybrid. Was it Arsu or Azizos? For the sake of this story, it’d be the one with relations here, but in truth he was still unsure if there was enough of a difference for them to even have separate ones. Personality, perhaps? Ah, well, they could be both in this tale.

Attikias invited his daughter to lean on him as he turned the lion-stag in his hands. ”I never told you about your father- your other father, have I?” He watched gently for a reaction before continuing. ”His coat is white- white white, along with his brother’s. They look very similar,” he added. ”His name’s Azizos. You take after him, both of them, a lot, with your penchant for magic and flowers.” He laughed again, here, letting his arms rest on his knees. ”Sometimes I wonder if it was his brother (Arsu, his name), if he wasn’t the one that ended up making you.” At this, he tilted his head. ”Then again, they don’t seem to be people to like pranks. Nothing against pranks!” A hand came up in dismissal- he knew how much the Elenya clan enjoyed pranking, after all- but, he was in a cycle of thoughts.

”Anyways. I wanted to tell you how we met. It was right here,” he patted at the grass on his side, ”where I was learning a bit more about carving. I didn’t have all my fancy tools back then, but at that point I really hadn’t met anyone before.” His thumb danced over his fingers as he thought. ”Y’know, I think your dad was the first friend I made. They were nice, really nice, and taught me about how nice it was to simply be with people. Like you!” He rumbled out, his whisker of a tail tapping on the grass behind him. ”He and I would meet up sometimes, sort of just visit each other and hang out with company. We found those pearl things- I’ve shown you that before, the red one?- and sometimes we walked around and talked, and I gave him- oh! Right.”

Determination came over him as he rummaged in his bag and retrieved a long red strip of ribbon. ”These things were on the pearl. I can’t tie it like it was, but maybe you can find a better purpose for it. A gift from both of your fathers.” He held his arms apart as long as it would go- not very big, in retrospect, but enough to be tied. ”Maybe I could hold back your hair with it?” He’d used it for that a lot but he’d been debating on keeping this hair this length as the weather warmed back up. ”I think I should be able to tie it. Az should have his still, too- I think he stays with his dad, if you wanna see him? I haven’t seen him around a lot recently.” It’d be good to catch up and show the fruits of what happened that night.

Ah, that night. Should he tell her of that? No- the circumstances would be a whole ‘nother story, and he was genuinely worried about the kids going off and trying to find the fruit on their own. Maybe when they were a little more developed, but with Vivilene? She’d practically implode upon one bite.

Still, he held the ribbon out as an offer, its edges just barely tattered with use. It was as clean as it was when he first got it as it dangled from his open palm.

@Vivilene