Valek.
A sharp name for such a sharp boy. He confirms who his mother is and as Litotes is about to murmur his goodbyes, a familiar and yet completely alien voice rings through the trees. The cremello stops dead in his tracks, frozen by the womanly depth behind her tone. He gulps before turning around - what else can he do? Kensa sounds almost as if she might scold Lie as equally as her son.
Finally, he takes the fatal steps to face the moment that has replayed in his mind for months. She is, somehow, even more beautiful than he remembers. The gold that etches her sabino markings glimmers in the light, tempering the harshness of her stare. Just as she thinks Lie is a little harder around the mouth, he thinks she is a little colder around the eyes. Perhaps they are as foreign to each other as they believe: a year apart, forgetting each other, ones so bonded together - leaves a scar that refuses to be forgotten.
Litotes does not miss how she includes him in their family, but he also does not grow hopeful. Who knows what may ensue, if after this reunion she will want nothing more to do with him. The glimmer in the lion man’s eyes dies as he watches the little boy scamper away. The air grows so much colder in his absence.
Kensa draws closer in such a way that suggests Lie should, so he steps up to the opposite side of the creek to her. Her gaze is sharp but her words are uncertain. Some uncontrollable and unknown fire burns in the scorned man’s mouth.
“I wanted to see you.” In his mind, he feels broken, but the words come out more as a spitting insult - as if he cannot hide how weak and ashamed he feels for crawling back like this. “Brunhilde has told me so much. I wanted to see it all for myself.” Birch trees shiver and sway in the summer wind as his eyes leave Kensa’s to study all the subtle changes. A few new trampled pathways here, a favorite drinking spot there . . . his eyes droop to the nook they slept in, though its distance is too great for him to tell if she still frequents it (his guess is no).
After a long moment, he returns to her eyes with cold precision. Two steps forward and he is as close to her as the creek will allow - one little skip and he could be over the water (he could touch her skin with all the force of his love and anger). It is strange, to treat her the same as every other in Loess - to treat her in all the new ways he has grown. That boyish warmth he once felt still glows, but is locked away in the deepest attic of his mind.
“I miss you,” he growls, that predatory sound he cannot seem to rid himself of reverberating in his voice. Though the words are sincere they are quickly juxtaposed: “Who is Valek’s father?”
In her presence he cannot sort out his mind. Litotes has daydreamed of this moment for so long that he forgot to actually plan for it. These fleeting seconds are filled with thought after chasing thought - from I miss you to what the fuck? to how could you? Litotes wants to rip her to shreds, to hold her tight, to fuck her till she collapses beneath all his repressed emotions.
He cannot make sense of it all. The world spins around him.
i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right
@[Kensa]
