thinkin' you could live without me - abandoned child

[darci]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 60%; font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"]The lass knew she only have a few more hours to live. Having contracted an unknown disease, her body was nothing but skin and bone, far beyond from being able to be saved. She had a child she loved with all of her heart, but she knew that if she died with the child still in her possession so would he.  "Ma, where are we going?" questioned the young kitten, hardly a month old. He, too, was far too skinny and malnourished, but looked far healthier than his mother. Ignoring her child's inquiry, the lass kept walking until the finally reached the outside of the plains. She tried to fight back the tears, for her son's sake and her own. Sitting her child down in the tall grass, she looked down upon him. "Little one, your mother is going out to find us some food. Please, stay here. You'll be safe."

Rodion watched the figure of his mother vanish into the horizon, unknown to the fact that she would not be coming back. Only a couple hours later had his mother collapsed, lifeless. She did not want her son to have to deal with her dead body nor be taken away by a hungry feral. The lass knew who the plains belonged to and knew that her son would be alright. The kitten, on the other hand, laid hidden in the grass, crying out for his mother in a hoarse voice. He had been there for hours, shivering from the cold and afraid. Out in the distance could he hear an owl, a coyote, and other frighting noises. "Mom! Where are you? I'm cold. Please come back." By this point had the baby lost his voice from crying so much and curled up in the tall grass, trying to block out all the sounds.

[EROS]

[align=center][div style="text-align: justify; width: 55%; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -1px; color: black"]Walking alone often helped with his mental state, just taking in the nature around him allowed to soothe his frayed nerves whenever he thought something was going to happen or his past was going to come back to haunt him. It was easier to breathe as he moved along the trees that belonged to the Ascendants. Perhaps his new home? He wasn't certain yet but he possibly hoped so. So far things had been good and he was accepted in even though he had watching eyes all around him. It bothered him little as he didn't see no reason to hide anything from him. The pitt had been his home for a very long time and he understood the stigma that went with it. He would miss Quill, Levi, Benny, Cosette and so many others but he couldn't stay there anymore and pretend that things were okay. His long ears pulled forward just slightly as he heard a soft voice, something calling out through the blades of grass that threatened to muffle the sound. It was a small voice and he understood it immediately to be a child. But why out in the forest and why alone? The idea made his heart pound in his chest and he lowered his nose, taking in the scent as his thick forked tail shifted behind him.

It didn't take him long to find the child since he was good at trekking but he was surprised at how small they truly were. A bit of concern left him as he moved around the little creature, circling till he got closer and sat down, attempting to curl his tail around the kid to give him some semblance of warmth. His shaggy black coat might not provide much but he was willing to try all the same. "Shhh, it's okay. You'll be alright I promise. How long have you been here by yourself?" He would ask the question of where his mother was but he had a feeling he knew the answer to that one already. A similar situation happened not too long ago and he lowered his head a bit so he didn't appear to be too threatening to the much smaller individual. A soft look was in his pink marble gaze as he gave a small smile, head tilting to the side just slightly. "Um...I'm Valkyr. Are you hungry...? I could find you something."

[GABRIEL]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9.4pt; line-height: 1.4;"]So many kids at their border. If he could call the...deer...thing a child, but he was going to, because the poor thing was looking for their mother, and here they had another boy wandering in search of a parent. By the state of his body, he was either neglected purposely or the mother couldn't take great care of him. It was a bit telling that, by the sounds of it, he'd been waiting for her to come back. Plenty of things could have happened to her, depending on how far she went. As somewhat safe -somewhat- The Ascendants' territory was, the same couldn't exactly be said for over the border, and this was a scenario Gabe was familiar with. It'd happened a few times, back when he'd worked with an organization meant to clean up messes, kids abandoned in their homes, waiting for their parents to return like they'd promised. In reality, Gabriel usually ended up finding their bodies nearby. Unfortunately common.

Gabriel exhaled, headache ever-present as always, but the kid was the priority here. As soon as he thought he was going to pass out, then he'd leave so he didn't traumatize him further. At least some other guy was here if that did happen. "Hey, chico. I'm Gabe. What's your mom look like? I could try to find her for you."
[align=right][i]——INFO

[darci]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 60%; font-family: georgia; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"]Feet coming towards him made his heart pound, his body drunk off of a mixture of fear and hope. Had his mother finally come back? The kitten peered through the grass, seeing large, dog-like paws walking right towards him. Momma had black and white paws. This was not her. Overcome by instinct, he arched his back, the tiny hairs on his back standing up as he spat out a rather un-intimidating hiss. Somehow, he expected this stranger to turn and flee at his display. When that was not the case, Rodion wanted to run, but he was too tired and weak and hardly even stand. Wide blue eyes watched in horror as the large animal wrapped around him, but as the soft and kind words met his ears, he began to relax ever so slightly. Being as young as he was, his vocabulary was rather limited. In addition, his energy reserved had been so depleted that he could hardly speak.

"S-since high l-l-light," stuttered the smoke tabby, his voice soft and almost nonexistent. His high light could be translated to when the sun was over his head, but now the sun was almost eaten up by the horizon. At the inquiry, he nodded ever so slightly before drawing his head back ever so slightly. "Ma said she get food. S-she must s-still be huntin'." The stutter he possessed was not a permanent, but was a simple side effects of the fear and starvation. Another stranger. Heart still pounding, his eyes snapped to Gabriel. He held his breath. "S-she black 'n' white. Pretty green eyes."

[agathe.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; color: black;"]What was it with this place and children being unceremoniously dropped upon the border? She struggled to understand what mother would be so uncouth as to just abandon her own offspring without so much of a note, but secretly found herself thanking her Many-Faced Goddess for blessing her with a relatively normal looking kitten and not a deer who looked as if it had stepped out of the shadows of her nightmares themselves. It was hardly something to be gracious for, and yet, Agathe still could not help but permit a tiny sigh of relief to tumble from parted lips.

Rounded ears would perk as she listened intently to Rodion's words, a look of disbelief embracing her pale features as she shook her head. The girl hardly enjoyed the idea of breaking the news to the child that his mother most likely would come back and fetch him, but knew that someone had to do it. Agathe typically felt little towards children anyways, the ones that were unwisely dumped at her old clan's borders first checked for blue blood and then disposed off accordingly. "Maybe," The former assassin mused aloud, stealing a look at Gabe (who she had done this with before) and Valkyr, "We should take him back to the Observatory." The Ashyver didn't bother addressing the 'him' in question though, instead choosing to simply study him with a predator's golden stare, head cocking ever so slightly to the left. "Any intelligent mother will be capable enough of tracking his smell to our doors," She continued before pausing, "If she does come back."

[ONISION.]

[table]
[tr]
[td]

ONISION M.F.

— WHEN WE'RE IN YOUR BED

[size=8pt]tags - plotting - reference

the ascendants
- lunar lieutenant
mentors watson
10 months old

physically varies
easy to piss off

demihomosexual
homoromantic

tsundere asshole
dating alexander

were-vampirism
known to shift into aloysius

[/td][td]

Onision had to agree with Agathe on the whole 'unceremoniously dropped upon the borders' thing going on with all these kids. He couldn't just turn them away, but he couldn't just let them join without looking for their parents first. "Hey, kiddo. Gabe over here will look for your mom, I'll help him." Onision spoke up from behind Agathe, his single blue eye warm with a sense of protectiveness. Damn his love for kids, he couldn't seem to turn them down.

His hard heart seemed to melt when the kid spoke, and the male leaned down to dip his head in greeting. "My name is Oni, what's yours?" Asked the were-vampire, ears swivelling to listen for any telltale signs of a mother rushing back to her kid with kill in her jaws. Nothing.

all you give me is a heartbeat —

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

[W]isker

[darci]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 70%; text-align: justify;"]Pale blue eyes looked to Agathe, a small grimace etching its way across his maw. In his eyes, Rodion saw his mother as the most intelligent being in the world. Upon hearing the girl's words, he found a bit of comfort, though, unease was still evident in his tone. "If she does come back." The smoke tabby pinned his ears back, a small snort having been emitted form his. "She'll come, I know." Somethings were not meant to be. Rodion would be alright in the end, but if he could ever live down the fact that his mother left him, well, only time would tell. With being such a small child, his mind was too unstable to be able to process the correct emotions needed for this situation. As a response, his body masked the emotion, burying in deep into the back of his brain until he was old enough to handle the trauma.

He had never seen this many animals before, at least so many this close. It was a bit uncomfortable, but he was far too hungry and tired so care. "Thank y-you," whispered the child in Onision's direction. They would find, he was sure of it. Oh, his name. It was a lot for such a young kid to say correctly, so he settled for a shorter name his mother had suggested. "I'm Rodi."

[EROS]

[align=center][div style="text-align: justify; width: 55%; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: -1px; color: black"]If. Such a subtle way of putting in that hesitance. Of maybe she may not come back after all and that he might not get to see his mother again. It made him flinch a little and he looked down to child, noting that he might have picked up on it himself. Truly he felt bad for him and slowly he lowered himself down so that he was eye to eye with the child. "That is a nice name. Rodi. Would you like to ride on my back?" He asked with a lighter tone, trying to spread a bit of comfort for the child considering his situation. He didn't want the kid to give up hope yet as a mother was a great loss. He would know after being ripped away from his own. That pain he wouldn't wish on any child and his gaze flicked down to the ground for a moment as he contemplated. He would get the child food but for now he needed shelter and warmth. "We can go back to the camp and while they look for your mother I'll get you some blankets and some food. Would you like that...?" He figured they might as well make him as comfortable as possible and Agathe was right. He didn't need to be out in this slowly growing cold weather. It wasn't healthy.

[agathe.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; color: black;"]"Perhaps she will," Agathe murmured, "Perhaps she won't. It's up to the Fates to decide." The snow leopard did not intend to sound so brutal, so blunt, but her apathy towards children was hard to disregard. It was not her fault that she had been raised in an environment that was not familiar with empathy and the basic foundations of care and compassion- quite the contrary actually. The few children that she had been familiarized with within the Ironbeak clan had been ruthless little shits who hardly cared about what they said or did so long as they survived. That sort of self preservation was an admirable trait and yet, she hardly saw an ounce of it within this kit. Too young, maybe? Or is he just that certain that his mother will come back for him?

Agathe knew that she should try a little tenderness, but it was hard to even entertain the thought of revealing a gentler side to herself to a close friend let alone a child. Instead, she fiddled with a worn corner of her scarlet cloak and decided to introduce herself, "I'm Agathe Ashyver. We should probably begin moving." Not because of any real reason save her own growing boredom. She felt fidgety and uncomfortable, as if there was an excess amount of energy stored in her body that needed out. Idleness did not look good on Agathe. Turning on a heel, she'd glance at the group, not sure what to think about Valkyr's selfless kindness. She chose to altogether ignore it. "Shall we?"