TIME & TIME AGAIN | return 2.0

[elijah]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; border-width:0; width: 70%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; line-height: 1.5; font-size: 9pt;"]The earth rumbles in its wake, shuddering as though it were breathing and resonating with life. With paws firmly pressed against the soil, one can almost make out the soft tremors of hundreds and hundreds of footsteps. To the untrained, the unexpecting, these movements would seem chaotic. But perhaps to those who were accustomed to a particular boy, the sensation of the tremoring earth was perhaps no more but a grand entrance to Elijah Rosario. As always, the demiangel’s rats moved ahead of him, chittering and shrieking whispers to each other as they surveyed the land. This time, however, they did not come in hiding. The full body of rats appeared as one wave, moving towards the gate possessed by a single interest, a single goal. Instead of washing straight past the border and flooding the entryway, the rodents all neatly stop. From a bird’s eye view, the mess of rats looked as if they had been suddenly cut off, as if there was an invisible wall stopping the creatures from entering. They refused to cross the line.

A brown figure is slowly made visible, white patches upon a bland expression as he drags his wing along the dirt. A light track is left behind him, soil is swept up from his oddly neat feathers. His pale gaze trickles before him as the rats part to the side now silent and waiting. Elijah was much bigger now. Well fed, more mature in appearance, nearly fully grown. But there is an unfamiliarity within his vacant eyes, a shivering dullness that masks his face. No matter what, he always came back to this place. This empty, godforsaken place. The boy presses a soft smile. For most of his life, he kept looking for his family. He kept telling himself that The Typhoon wasn’t the same without his brother and sisters. He never found them but after a while Elijah realised that it wasn’t because they no longer existed but because, somewhere in his heart, the boy was afraid of succeeding. The truth was that Elijah wouldn’t know how to handle himself if he had found them.

For the next few months, Elijah lived alone with his rats. He was no longer interested in the affairs of the world around him. He lived a selfish life but a life that made him feel more fulfilled. In other words, the demiangel lost interest in his family. He was tired of worrying over them, tired of caring whether they were still alive. After all, it felt as if he was the only one who had.

His vision is filled with a cloudy haze, familiarity spilling at the seams, spluttering dead memories as he reaches the bell. He looks at the metalwork, the bright gleam against the sun as he winces his soft blue eyes.  He no longer saw ghosts standing at the border. There were no more embers of his siblings standing there, playing their own games in a memory he could not touch. Elijah could no longer imagine their faces. Their grins were but a blur within the chasms of his mind, failing to materialise as consequence of living months and months apart. It is normal for one to forget a face and perhaps it was because of this that it no longer affected Elijah the same way. He was used to this. All he was left was the bitterness of the sweet times he spent with his family. Then again, it isn't as if he hates them for abandoning him. He only now has just learnt that he can live without them.

Commanding the wind, the gateway’s bell rings a sonorous clang. It rings once but not twice – momentum stopping as quickly as it was founded. If there is one thing Elijah remembers, it was the fact that he knew a good number of pirates despised the sound of the bell. The first ring was usually okay, but the rings that came consecutively after another were no more but an ear-sore, a frustrating alarm.

[Splitvisage]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Conflicted feelings over family were common inhabitants of Darksouls' mind.

  His siblings had been born into a world far harsher than they could ever have deserved. The little ones, and even his sister, were too kind for the circumstances they had been made to face. He wasn't sure he could say the same for his parents, and his caretakers. What they had done to him might or might not have been justified if it had worked, but it hadn't worked anyway.

  Somewhere, some part of him hoped they were all okay, even his captors. He hoped they had found a solution that had actually contained the problem. The only reasonable hope he had, however, was that he would never find out if they had all been destroyed. He wasn't sure he could deal with that.

  He wasn't the only one haunted by long-gone memories, however. The sudden influx of rats, scurrying past his hooves, all poured out from a single source- a person, standing at the bell, eyes clouded by what Dark could only assume was regret. He knew better than to ask for the cause. "Hello," he said, watching as Inkquill descended from his antlers onto the sand, with a quack of greeting to echo Dark's. "What brings you here?"

  /late and ish

[bubblegum]

I HEARD, I HEARD ACROSS A MOONLIT SEA

THE OLD VOICE WARNING ME

ϟ GOLDENLUXURY "GOLDIE" ROUX ϟ
noun
ϟ the clash between the eye and the raging storms. ϟ the healing warmth of the sun and the raw brutality of the seas. ϟ the self-fulfilling prophecy and the stolen future. ϟ
"I AM GOLDENLUXURY ROUX."

BEWARE, BEWARE THE DAUGHTER OF THE SEA

BEWARE, BEWARE OF ME.

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Anyone who really knew Goldenluxury would know that she's always loved the sound of those obnoxious bells. There's a deep appreciation of history, of culture, of home she holds within them. And, just another ring would simply urge her to skip with a higher beat. The captain always hoped it meant a peaceful, positive exchange would occur whenever the bell rang out. And, she usually assumed it did, as most enemies did not announce themselves in such a noble manner. She knows she certainly wouldn't.

The tigress did not know what to think of Elijah's family anymore. She doesn't have many regrets, and she's not so sure she even regrets how the situation was handled, knowing the circumstances, but she does wish she could have done better. The female wished no one had gone away, that she could know they were okay.

"Elijah," the female would greet simply, her eyes concerned for the boy, as always. She felt a responsibility for all of them, and it feels as if she failed them. She couldn't force them to stay - they all went their own ways eventually and she would not attempt to stop them. She just wishes she could ensure their safety. She was the declared Godmother of these children, and she was nothing more than an overgrown child herself at the time, memories lost and nowhere to be found. But, Elijah seemed to at least consistently return to them, even after spurts of disappearing. This assures her that maybe, at least, maybe one of them would turn out safe and successful. "Is' nice t' see you." She offers a smile to the boy, nodding towards him. There'd be no questioning if he was truly coming back to stay. If he was only here for a small visit, that would be enough still, no matter how much it strained her, scared her to see him go again, knowing everything that's happened so far.

There was no significant, easy to spot change between either of them this time, it seems. It would be much easier to catch up. He still felt so much like a child to her, though she knows they are quite similar in age, and it's funny to think of him as anything different, especially missing all those months of growing up. Maybe they were both just some kids who grew up too fast for their own good.

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