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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    call me the world's sexiest killing machine; ruan
    #1
    It feels like a wave-wandering kind of day. Sun’s shining, parroty-things are chirping away, everyone’s safe and warm and happy. Maybe a couple more bits of the world got swallowed up and things got a little rearranged but all in all, things are going well. Ischia’s been calm and delightfully drama free, and my only real aim has been to keep it that way and keep my family safe. Still, might not be the worst idea I’ve ever had to venture out and see what’s been going on in the rest of the world. It’s so easy to tuck ourselves away on our little island and forget anyone else matters. But I remember the invasion, and I’m not about to be careless with my children’s lives.
     
    Well. That, and after what happened with Kharon, it seems like a good idea to start teaching my youngest how to walk on water early. No near drownings for baby Kali, thanks. So when she’s all bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to play, I sneak on up and nip at her shoulder, making her jump and squeak and duck behind her momma. I grin at Lacey and wait for Kali to work up her courage and peek out, and when those angel eyes land on me, she lights up. “Daddy! You spooked me, that was not very nice.”
     
    “Sorry, baby girl, but you’re so cute when you make that little squeaking noise, I just can’t resist.” She bumps her nose against her momma’s shoulder and gives her a little snuggle, then bounces on over to me to cuddle up against my chest. “You wanna go on a little adventure, angel eyes?” I ask, brushing my lips against her forehead. Which works real well, ‘til she jerks her head up to look at me and bonks me on the nose. Or I guess bonks herself on my nose.
     
    “Ow!”
     
    “Careful, angel eyes,” I murmur, kissing her face where it collided with solid, unforgiving iron.
     
    “Sorry, Daddy, I didn’t mean to.” 
     
    “Nah, baby girl, no need to apologize. Just don’t want you getting hurt is all, yeah?” She nods, and I snuggle her close as I glance over at Lacey. “What do you say, Lacey, baby? Can I steal our little Kali girl away for a bit, maybe have a little wander on the water with her?”
     
    My grin’s just about as big as Kali’s when her momma says we can go.
     
    A frolic on the waves is just what we needed, and Kali’s so damn cute, like she’s learning to walk all over again. Her pretty brown eyes go all wide with awe as we walk out onto the water, and she wobbles a little, trying to catch her balance on the moving surface. Still, it’s not long ‘til she’s romping and rolicking with the best of them - me, that is - and racing like mad across the water.
     
    So easy to get carried away, when she’s such a cute little thing. I manage to catch her just before she runs onto a strange shore. “Hang on a minute there, angel eyes. That’s not ours, you gotta ask before you charge on into somebody else’s home. Just like we’d want strangers to ask before they started running around Ischia, right?”
     
    “Oopsies. Yeah, we don’t want stranger danger at home. Sorry, Daddy.”
     
    “Hey.” I tuck her up under my chin and snuggle her close. “No need to apologize, baby girl, you’re learning. Here, let’s see who lives here and see if they’re friendly and might invite us in for a visit, huh?” She nods, and I call out to whoever might happen to be close by. “Hello? Anybody home?”
    Bite my shiny metal ass.
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    #2
    He was alone. It was almost strange. He was so used to Polaris or Enfys being at his side now with forest shadows playing over their little bodies. They seemed like true sisters at times. When Enfys was her beautifully sculpted ice, she matched the glass of Polaris so effortlessly, softly reflecting the world around them in their semi-reflective surfaces. A girl of teal, and another of ice-blue. Both such treasures to him.

    But today neither accompanied him as he greeted these strangers.

    They came from the sea, and that was certainly a first. He hadn't expected to see anyone along their quiet coastline when he'd headed out that way this morning. The sight wasn't unwelcome though, most especially when polite smiles and genuine curiosity lightened their faces; one already so metallic and shining on its own, and the other so much smaller but just as radiant with wind and salty spray in her short hair. A faint grin tried to pull at his lips, immediately drawn to the child and her overflowing enthusiasm for what must be one of her first adventures away from home. Wherever that was.

    "Hello," he greeted them warmly, neatly disarmed by the pair of them. A father and a young daughter. That, he could relate to. "Welcome to the Taiga. I'm Ruan. Can I help you find someone?"

    His head dipped down, offering his nose to the girl without stepping forward. The pairing of gray and purple on her made his heart ache, reminded him that his own children would have been much the same had he’d had any more, and he couldn't help but to wonder what it’d be like to hold her at his side and see those colors lined against his. He breathed deep, a quiet sorrow leaking into his glacial eyes though he kept the smile in his charcoal face.

    ”Where are you from, little one?” He straightened and put on a playful face of concentration. "You smell like.... the ocean. Sunshine, and birds. Some trees.. Do you live in a forest too? Maybe with a big beach. Am I close?" He grinned, glancing with a sheepish sort of shrug at her father.



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    #3
    Ohhhh. Oh, he was pretty, wasn’t he? Lovely long black hair, and his body was all spotted with purple! Kind of like Daddy, but the spots were different, little circles and ovals instead of big patches. Also lots darker, but still, purple was Kali’s most favorite of all the colors. She ducked behind her daddy, but peeked out at the stranger with pretty purple spots as he said hello and introduced himself.

    “Thank you,” her daddy said, and his tone wasn’t even his usual sassy, twinkly-eyed, smirking one that got him dirty looks from Mommy sometimes. “I’m Kerberos, and this is my daughter Kali. We aren’t really looking for anyone, actually. Just thought it’d be a good day to take my girl out for a run, and she thought your Taiga looked interesting and tried to get a closer look. Seemed like an opportunity for a lesson in diplomacy.”

    Maybe if she’d been bigger, she would’ve giggled at the idea of her daddy being diplomatic. Instead, she reached out her nose as the pretty stranger offered his to her, and she huffed out a breath and breathed him in. Ohhh. Oh he smelled interesting. Like crisp winter air and pine trees. And even better, he talked right to her instead of ignoring her because her pretty daddy was around.

    ”Where are you from, little one?” he asked, and she wasn’t sure how exactly, but she could see he was thinking real hard about the answer. Maybe it was the way his brow scrunched up a bit, or the narrowing of his eyes, or the way he sniffed her like he was learning her.. "You smell like.... the ocean. Sunshine, and birds. Some trees.. Do you live in a forest too? Maybe with a big beach. Am I close?"

    “Oh my! Uh-huh, kinda! Daddy an’ me, we live on a big island! It’s out straight across the water, an’ it’s got trees and sunshine and lots of birds, and lots of beach too, for sure! Good job. You got all that rom sniffing me? You just smell like pine trees and winter mostly, I could only guess you live in a forest too, nothing anywhere near as much as you guessed. Maybe you could teach me! Oh, Daddy says I have to ask if I can come in, not just tromp all over your home like some kinda derelict.” Daddy snorted, though Kali couldn’t tell why, and grinned at the pretty spotty man with a bit of his usual twinkle. “So, can I? Can we ‘splore?”
    Kirby and Lacey's
    little whisper girl
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    #4
    "I'm Kerberos, and this is my daughter Kali."

    Ruan nodded in acknowledgement, ice-blue eyes sliding back to the girl with a smile and back again. They weren't looking for anyone, though. Only visiting, exploring. And... Diplomacy. He cringed inwardly, but only a flicker of a grimace crossed his face for a brief instant. He was definitely not skilled in matters of diplomacy.

    Damn but if that little nose reaching back for him didn't warm him through. In another life, she could have been his - and hers - with those colors, the sun-faded purple softened to a lavender, the smooth gray. Only painted differently, was all. So little, so beautiful. And so charming. That wouldn't have been from him.

    He played a guessing game with her scent, and his face brightened at her glee, her little body nearly quivering with excitement. She was surprised at his observations, his ability to analyze the different smells clinging to her. It wasn't much, really, but she was so little and hadn't learned to use her nose that way just yet, so it was entirely novel to her. He loved that.

    "I could only guess you live in a forest too, nothing anywhere near as much as you guessed. Maybe you could teach me!"

    He straightened with another nod though he assumed her father would probably teach her that himself. He was still grinning down at her when she asked permission to venture further into their Taiga. His smile turned a little wry with amusement at the term "derelict" with a knowing glance to her metallic father. "So, can I? Can we 'splore?"

    Staring down at her in deliberate skepticism, he paused for a long moment. "Well... I suppose you don't look like wild ruffians. Come on in, then. You could meet my daughters if any are around today." He wasn't usually talkative, but something about the pair of them disarmed him, and he soon found himself describing his family as he led them deeper into the forest.

    "Jinju is the eldest. She's a rich, silky black with ruby red eyes. She'll be having her first baby in a few months, so maybe you can meet the little one if you like." He almost described Heda then, the next oldest, but she no longer called this home with them. Kali wouldn't run into her here. Nor Iasan, or Terra. He guided them on as he talked, taking them slowly to the heart of the Taiga where they were more likely to see others.

    "Illae is not a daughter, but she stays here too. She likes to keep to herself though, but she is the most beautiful white you'll ever see. And Fur, she can be a little cautious, but I bet she'd like you. Enfys is mine, and a little bit like you. Some gray, and also purple, and she can turn into ice like a marvelous living sculpture. Then Polaris is the youngest, and she looks a bit like Enfys when she's all ice. She's teal and glossy and smooth, but that's just how she is, she can't change her appearance like Enfys can."

    They reached the babbling little creek that snaked throughout the forest and he paused, letting her look around and explore a bit. He moved to stand near her father, mostly at ease though his tangy metallic scent was so foreign and strange to his nose. "She's quite an enchanting little thing," he complimented quietly. "The island is still called Ischia? I've never been, but I'd heard the name long ago in passing. It had a queen, I think?" He was so behind on politics. His wife had always taken care of it.



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    #5
    I don’t miss the little grimace at the word ‘diplomacy,’ and I can’t help but grin in sympathy. Me too, man. Me too. I like him already, and even more when he charms the hell out of my Kali. I sit back and let her go, smiling at her enthusiasm and letting her win Ruan over just the same. How could she not? So damn cute, all bright eyes and wriggling with delight.

    She chatters on a bit, almost inviting herself in and managing to ask with a bit of colorful vocabulary she might’ve picked up from me, but hey. Could’ve been a hell of a lot worse, right? I just blink innocently at Ruan’s knowing glance, or at least for half a second. Can’t help the mischief that slips into my expression, twitching a corner of my lips, dancing in my eyes a bit.

    Oh, and he plays for her too, narrowing his eyes all skeptical-like and letting the silence stretch on just long enough that she’s squirming a bit. “Well...I suppose you don’t look like wild ruffians.” There she goes, lighting up and beaming at him before he even finishes. “Come on in, then.” Aaand she’s off, bouncing toward him and snuggling up close just long enough to rub her face against his shoulder and plant a tiny little kiss there before she hops into his home, wiggly and giddy and adorable as fuck.

    She hangs off his every word, and I follow behind with an eye on her and an eye on the lovely woods around me. Charming, cozy, homey. If we hadn’t ended up on Ischia, this would’ve been a good place to settle. Even if it doesn’t have nearly enough water. Ruan describes his family, and a few of the other residents, and Kali scampers along beside him and nods, alternately looking up at him with rapt attention and trying to look at every single thing we walked past.

    Don’t worry, baby, I bet you’ll be able to come back.

    “Ohhhh, they all sound wonderful! Maybe I can meet them sometime? That’s a lot to meet all at once, but um, maybe if one of the littler ones is around today, we could say hello? They sound real neat, and also if they’re like you, they must be awful nice, too! Oooh, pretty!”

    And just like that, she’s wandering around the little creek, splashing on top of the water, pawing at the surface, hopping and scampering. Her eyes go wide and she grins and pounces, landing right over a fish and scaring it half to death. It swims off, and she bounds on back to shore to poke around the woods where we paused for a bit of a breather.

    “She’s quite an enchanting little thing,” Ruan mentions, coming to stand closer to me while she has a bit of fun on her own.

    The smile on my face goes a bit dopey as I watch her. “Isn’t she, though? She’s usually a bit more shy, but she seems rather taken with you. And with this place. Can’t say I blame her, it’s lovely here.” He asks about Ischia, and I nod idly. “Mm. Still Ischia, yeah. My ass of a father invaded, shook everything up, and then vanished. I got my family out so he couldn’t get near ‘em, and brought ‘em home after I was fairly sure he was gone. Must’ve lost interest or something, who ever knows with him? Ea’s still about, but I wound up in charge somehow, me and my buddy Reilly, who’s got a thing for my kids’ mom. I’ve got my fingers crossed for him, but you never know with love, do you? Not ‘til it happens, or it doesn’t, and even then.” I shrug. Who the hell am I to ponder the mysteries of the heart or whatever?

    “What about Taiga? Probably I should know these things, but to be honest I’ve never given much of a shit about politics. Long as my family’s safe, the rest of the world can kind of go fuck itself, you know? Up side of an island, it’s a bit harder to reach. Doesn’t mean trouble won’t come, but at least it keeps your average wild ruffian at bay a bit.”
    Bite my shiny metal ass.
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