05-07-2020, 02:03 PM
and underneath the layers, I find myself asking what's left
a hollowed out form, the skeleton of a ghost, the pitiful echo of what once was
a hollowed out form, the skeleton of a ghost, the pitiful echo of what once was
Holding Mako so close is almost enough reassurance that Valdis is still among them, that his daughter hasn’t been completely lost. He doesn’t want to let go, to let her walk away from him, but he knows it will one day happen. It has always been wrong of him to try hoarding his family in one place, but it’s because of his upbringing and his life experiences. There are reasons behind his actions. Solace had their twins when she fell in love with Kagerus (it was so fast, so soon, that she moved on). There were the first few months that he was absent, but the piebald solidified her place in the children’s life before Castile could reach them. He failed them, failed Solace.
But he tried hard to be present in the years to come, and to be a grandfather.
Hugging Mako – so young, still so fragile – makes him feel as though he is hugging Valdis and seeking forgiveness.
”I do,” he whispers tenderly into the small space between them, grinning amid the emotions that threaten to drown him. ”She was strong and independent, kind and respectful to those that deserved it – not just to anyone – and quietly fierce,” he wracks his brain for everything about Valdis, anything that Mako can clutch to her heart in her loneliest days. ”Once opened up, she gave her heart,” it took a while to achieve that moment with her, but he would never trade it. It was the foundation that developed into their relationship. Bumpy at first, but worth it in the end.
With slight reluctance, Castile releases Mako from his heartfelt embrace, willing her to see the softness in his eyes when they meet hers. ”You even look like her,” he pauses to observe the glittering ice, ”frost and all.” A lopsided grin tugs at the corner of his mouth, savoring these moments with his granddaughter, knowing well that she will one day forge a life for herself and forget him in the dust (don’t they all?). Sweeping his tail across his hocks, he levels on her questions and inferences, considering them meticulously and thumbing through the options and scenarios that may arise.
He cannot speak for Valdis, not completely. He saw her in the end, mutilated and beaten. Two men were fighting, and he almost forgot how well he knew them both.
Licking his lips, and waiting only a moment more, Castile finally answers with gentle undertones. Somehow, he feels as though he is walking across cracked ice. ”I’ve not seen Litotes in some time,” a shuffle of his wings, a slow blink of his mismatched eyes, ”Nor Sinner – her murderer.” Castile realizes then the parallel he shared with his daughter. ”Your mother gave her heart to two men, and it destroyed her in the end…”
But he tried hard to be present in the years to come, and to be a grandfather.
Hugging Mako – so young, still so fragile – makes him feel as though he is hugging Valdis and seeking forgiveness.
”I do,” he whispers tenderly into the small space between them, grinning amid the emotions that threaten to drown him. ”She was strong and independent, kind and respectful to those that deserved it – not just to anyone – and quietly fierce,” he wracks his brain for everything about Valdis, anything that Mako can clutch to her heart in her loneliest days. ”Once opened up, she gave her heart,” it took a while to achieve that moment with her, but he would never trade it. It was the foundation that developed into their relationship. Bumpy at first, but worth it in the end.
With slight reluctance, Castile releases Mako from his heartfelt embrace, willing her to see the softness in his eyes when they meet hers. ”You even look like her,” he pauses to observe the glittering ice, ”frost and all.” A lopsided grin tugs at the corner of his mouth, savoring these moments with his granddaughter, knowing well that she will one day forge a life for herself and forget him in the dust (don’t they all?). Sweeping his tail across his hocks, he levels on her questions and inferences, considering them meticulously and thumbing through the options and scenarios that may arise.
He cannot speak for Valdis, not completely. He saw her in the end, mutilated and beaten. Two men were fighting, and he almost forgot how well he knew them both.
Licking his lips, and waiting only a moment more, Castile finally answers with gentle undertones. Somehow, he feels as though he is walking across cracked ice. ”I’ve not seen Litotes in some time,” a shuffle of his wings, a slow blink of his mismatched eyes, ”Nor Sinner – her murderer.” Castile realizes then the parallel he shared with his daughter. ”Your mother gave her heart to two men, and it destroyed her in the end…”
castile
@[mako]