06-16-2017, 11:01 PM
"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.
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.
