real for a millisecond }} return

— alexandre f.m.r

//continuation of this... Roxanne and Diya are following in suit behind him. No need to wait for their posts though.

Time had passed. Weeks were long, nights were dark, and the feline had begun to succumb. In time, a tried and true beast unleashed and took action to survive. A rescue mission that had fallen through the cracks, but settled out in the end. The damage was done though. Now upon them was a broken boy, shriveled up and ready to fall. He felt dead. Alexandre wondered why he had lived, but refused to acknowledged the answer as he blankly walked along the railroad.

Thickly coated paws stopped at the shore. A ragged breath left him as he slowly lowered himself into the warm sand, letting the warmth fill the void inside. After weeks inside the freezing Coalition cave's, his only hope for warmth was... ultimately, a burden. A regrettable burden that kept him alive. The one truth that he gave into finally. His thoughts snapped away from the topic instantly though. Dully digging his chin into the sand, he closed his eyes and tried to embrace the heat beating down onto his stained pelt. These moments he wouldn't take for granted, but the past that led him here would haunt him.

With the sun highlighting his silhouette, his stature had become apparent. His skin was thin as paper. Ribs breached through his flesh. Eyes remained coated in tears, weary, and squinting at the light. The alabaster feline's features were coated in a dark crimson and reeked of rotten flesh. Dehydrated, hungry, and ready to give up, despite given a spiteful second chance. Truly, it was an unbearable sight... but how they found him, inside a feline's corpse, bloodied and sobbing, would never top it.

Empty and too tired to call out, the child just remained in the sand. His ears remained pinned back and eyes squeezed shut, trying to block everything out for just a moment.

[glow=white,1,400]LIKE WE FORGET WHO WE CAN TRUST ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Alexandre has gotten captured by the Coalition before Vayne got adopted by Diya and Roxanne, but she vaguely heard his name mentioned here and there. Not very often, not enough for the Cipher to be able to recognize the name nor put a face to the name. Vayne had heard that her adoptive mothers had left, though as to why they had gone somewhere, she didn't know.

Vayne was excited for them to come back, though, and as soon as word reached her ears, the kitten came running to meet up with Diya, Roxanne, and... an unfamiliar feline. "Mommas!" She purred as she came running up, her gait slowly down as she noticed the frail, bloodied cat with them. "... Who's this? Sh-should I go get Roan?" She always wanted to make sure the Soothslayer was needed before she ran and get him. After all, why make it out to be an emergency if things had already been taken care of? But given how this feline looked, Vayne had a feeling that things weren't well.

But hey, what did she know?[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

Roan had known that Alexandre was missing. However, he had known more through Diya's constant worrying, rather than any real thoughts of his own. He tried to keep a fair distance between himself and his younger siblings, mainly for his own mental health. The last time he had allowed himself to get close to a sibling was... Jaime, and look how that had turned out. So instead, he held them at arm's length, looking them mainly as other Typhooners, rather than true family. Alexandre was no exception, with the soothsayer's only real memory of him lecturing the other on how dangerous veganism would be for him. It seemed as though he had been right, although not for the reasons he had thought. He supposed it made sense that the other would want a taste of something more... forbidden. After all, Roxanne was a cannibal, and Diya was a vampire. It was a pair made for unfortunate diet choices.

There was no need for Vayne to come and get him, considering it wasn't long before the medic came padding over anyways. As he looked Alexandre over, he found his nose wrinkling in slight disgust. Not at the feline himself, but more at the blood that covered him, along with the unpleasant scent of rotted flesh. He muttered to Vayne, shaking his head from side to side, "I'm afraid there's not much I can do for him. His main issues are starvation, and dehydration. He could use some water, and food... and a bath. There's no use trying to patch up any potential wounds when they could just become infected." With that, he turned and briefly headed off, returning later with a small bowl of water, and a plump rabbit. Although, he was doubtful that the rabbit would be accepted – or even both things, really. Still, he shoved both towards Alexandre, muttering firmly, "Eat. Drink. You'll wither away into nothingness if you just sit here." It was blunt, but that was how the soothsayer usually was, to be fair. Besides, Roxie and Diya were already here for the emotional support part of things.[/td][/tr][/table]

With ear flicking lightly, the captain felt worried for her son especially with how they had found him and she nibbled lightly at the inside of her left cheek unsure of what to say at the moment. They were all tired. The draconic woman would sit next to Alexandre not exactly wincing at the smell of rotting flesh, no, it was an aroma that she had gotten accustomed to when she had been a lot younger but her attention was drawn away as Vayne was the first to approach them "Hello sweetie!" A purr slipped from her maw and when her adopted daughter began to inquire who this was would Roxie nod slowly wrapping a tail over Alex "This is Alexandre... Your older brother and my son." A soft smile was present on her maw but before she was able to reply to the other inquiry would her eldest show up. Her whiskers twitching lightly as he began to speak knowing that most of Alex's wounds were more emotional and mental than physical... She swallowed at that thought alone.

Hearing Roan's blunt voice did Roxanne part from her current thoughts, a frown present on her maw. She knew how hard it had been to lose Jaime, she had been his mother and raised him from a small cub but the loss itself had not made her distant towards her son or her more recent children. No. Although, she could somewhat understand not wanting to feel loss but... It was stupid to treat actual family like any other crewmate. "Roan." She said in her own firm voice as her mismatched gaze locked onto him, she said nothing after that but hopefully her tone was enough to make him less of an asshole to his younger brother.

[glow=white,1,400]LIKE WE FORGET WHO WE CAN TRUST ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

See, this was exactly why she wasn't a Soothslayer, she should have known that Roan couldn't do anything for Alexandre other than being some sort of support system. Vayne's ears flicked as she heard Roan's blunt comment, concern in her eyes as she frowned at Alexandre. "What happened to him?" It was an innocent question, though it would likely have unintended flashbacks or unwanted thoughts - maybe. Obviously Vayne didn't know that would happen, even if she was flung back to how Aphra treated her sometimes. She was just mostly wondering where Alexandre went as opposed to what had been done to him.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

— alexandre f.m.r

The voice of a child caused his orange hues to turn upwards and his chin to raise up from the sand. Pupils narrowed. Alexandre's gaze turned back towards his parents, lost for words. 'Mammas?' The mere word bounced in his head as he sat motionless, staring at Roxanne for answers. Who was this girl? Why was she calling his parents their mom? The weary boy tried to speak and ask for answers, but nothing came out. What questions he had just came out as hot breath.

He had been gone for so long. Panicked orbs switched between the crowd that had begun to gathered, awaiting their assistance or general comfort, only to be met with... nothing. Vayne meant no harm, but her presence had already hurt him. Thoughts in his mind swirled. Was this... his replacement? Had he been captured long enough that his parents adopted another child to fill the void? Worried and unable to speak, he felt lost. All the sensitive apprentice could do was listen. Roxanne following in tow with a purr only made him feel worse.

As Roan announced his presence, his gaze began to soften. Whiskers twitched and his head craned, trying to signal a heartfelt hello, only to be met with no results. No comfort. No diagnosis. Nothing his brother could do. Alexandre's teeth clamped downwards and began to grit together, trying to hold back tears. He wanted to cry out. His leg was broken, he was tired, and most of all, he needed substance. Wallowing in defeat, he momentarily laid his head back down into the sand. He should have died. In fact, the feline would have preferred it, but the beast inside had caved.

Paw steps returned shortly. His gaze shot upwards in an instant as the rabbit collided with a firm thump. The feline's visible fear caused Alexandre shuffled backwards in a panic. Pain shot up his hindleg, causing a high-pitched yowl to leave him and the apprentice to topple to the floor once again. Sojourn's capture had initially caused his broken leg. His time within enemy territory caused it to heal incorrectly and rebreak on occasion though, leaving him temporarily crippled. His reaction to the corpse before him was a different story. After being forced to eat feline flesh by the Coalition's leader and cannibalize another to avoid death, even looking at a corpse was traumatic.

With a heavy breath and heart pounding, he sputtered out his first word since returning. "N-no," Alexandre croaked. He didn't want to go back to being in that state, no matter how satisfying the rush felt in the moment.

[table][tr][td]

[/td][td]

[/td][/tr][/table]

Selfish. It was the first word that lingered in Roan's mind as he looked down at Alexandre, watching as the other refused the food that had been brought to him. It was obvious that the younger male had gone through something traumatic – pretty clearly relating to food, if the gore covering him was anything to go by – but to not eat? To refuse any kind of sustenance? It was ridiculous, and it was selfish. Even if Alexandre wished to die, couldn't he spare a thought for Roxanne, and Diya? The pair loved him dearly. Hell, Diya had been a mess when he had just been gone, what would become of her if he died? It made the soothsayer want to lash out further, but he held himself back, mainly for the benefit of his mama. He instead just muttered to Alex, shaking his head from side to side, "You'll have to eat eventually." That was all he said, moving from the other's front, over to his side.

Once he made his way over to Alexandre's leg, Roan's sole focus was on doing something about it. If it were left in its current state, then the results would be... disastrous, frankly. It was already bad enough that it had healed incorrectly, and the re-breaking was only making everything worse. If he didn't act fast, then there was the possibility that the other wouldn't be able to keep the leg. So, he took action. Reaching into his satchel, the soothsayer pulled out several supplies: a thick stick, a flat piece of wood, some bandages, and some bindweed. Taking the stick in his paws, he passed it over to Alexandre before he muttered, "Here, put this in your mouth and bite down on it. This is going to hurt." He didn't elaborate any further beyond that, mainly for Alexandre's benefit. If the other knew too much, and ended up tensing up as a result... it would only make this entire thing all the more painful.

After a few seconds of gently feeling around Alex's leg, Roan was fairly confident he had figured out how to set the break. So, he set his paws on either side of the other's broken leg, mentally counting down until he pressed in, hard, setting the broken limb back into place. The snap and pop of everything coming back together was enough to make even the medic wince, and he found himself sparing a brief glance at Alexandre before he grabbed his other supplies. He carefully bandaged up any external wounds on the other's leg, before then placing the board against the set limb, and tying it into place with the bindweed. Once he was finished, he explained slowly, "This should keep your leg in place until it's able to heal properly. I don't know just yet how much the re-breaking and poor healing will affect your future ability to walk, but this should hopefully keep from something as drastic as losing the limb." Hopefully, the best case scenario would happen, and Alex's leg would heal fine this time, and he'd only maybe have to walk with a slight limp.

With the most drastic and obvious wound taken care of, Roan then turned his attention to his mama, a soft sigh leaving him. He stated simply, dark tail flicking behind him, "Obviously someone will need to help bring him to the temple. There i can clean him up and dress the rest of his wounds, and he can remain until his leg is healed. Trying to drag himself around with the splint on will only make things worse..." He was addressing Roxie rather than Alexandre, mainly because he wasn't sure if the other even cared for his own wellbeing at this point. He had clearly fought to survive, and yet he was also refusing to eat anything... it was confusing, and Roan knew that his mama would want Alex to be cared for.