06-24-2022, 07:00 PM
He knew how it felt to not be good enough.
If he was a man worthy of anything, much of his family's fate could have been avoided. He could have kept a closer eye on his young siblings, looked out for his aging parents before they succumbed to illness and sheer insanity. He could have been their guard, their loyal sentinel forever on watch until they were capable of truly keeping themselves safe. But he was not this man. He was a man worthy of nothing. More beast than man. Monster.
The rage that had accumulated within him since these godforsaken incidents was directed towards no one in particular other than himself, eating him from the inside as though he were a fallen corpse consumed by pestering, scavenging insects and countless parasites that waited for the opportune moment to strike. He knew how it would affect others, too — he was a ticking time bomb, ready to burst at any given moment, but totally emotionless until then. Stone-cold. Nothing. Tick, tick, tick.
He didn't quite care, though. To him, this was all a fact of life. This would be his life for all eternity. And life stopped for no troubled person, no poor bastard sick or in pain, but he had the choice to do so.
It was this choice that Maximilian made upon his most recent patrol, when the stench of a stranger filled his nostrils, piquing his curiosity and prompting him to follow the trail. The scent brought him to a great tree, where an American lion lay grooming himself beneath the shade. His body was littered with injuries, some bleeding and some healing, and his leg was mangled in a grotesque, awkward position. Broken, Max realized even from his distance. Even with the lion's towering size, his injuries and current state of apparent weakness could make it easier for the wolf to just chase him off the Enclave's territory now. He had no idea what the lion's intentions were, good or bad. Or maybe nothin' at all? A pang of pity struck him, and he cursed himself silently for it. Perhaps the feline had nowhere to go, too injured to move from this very tree.
The sound of a snapping twig made his ears twitch, and he turned to face some Enclavian whose name he could not bother remembering staring at them both. "For fuck's sake, what are you gawkin' at?" the Alpha hissed, the bomb exploding within him already. "Go get Okami or some other Star to take a look at this guy, yeah?" Silently the Enclavian obeyed, trekking off to find someone capable of examining the stranger's injuries.
Maximilian remained with the feline, gingerly stepping closer and closer towards him so not as to alarm the other. He wasn't here to kill him or chase him off. He was, in fact, making the choice to stop for this man. "You're on the Enclave's borders," he announced out of habit, his muscles tensing as he paused before the feline, careful not to move a single inch closer in case he would get aggravated. He waited a moment to gauge the other's reaction before continuing. "You're hurt. I got someone comin' to look at you, if that's alright."
If he was a man worthy of anything, much of his family's fate could have been avoided. He could have kept a closer eye on his young siblings, looked out for his aging parents before they succumbed to illness and sheer insanity. He could have been their guard, their loyal sentinel forever on watch until they were capable of truly keeping themselves safe. But he was not this man. He was a man worthy of nothing. More beast than man. Monster.
The rage that had accumulated within him since these godforsaken incidents was directed towards no one in particular other than himself, eating him from the inside as though he were a fallen corpse consumed by pestering, scavenging insects and countless parasites that waited for the opportune moment to strike. He knew how it would affect others, too — he was a ticking time bomb, ready to burst at any given moment, but totally emotionless until then. Stone-cold. Nothing. Tick, tick, tick.
He didn't quite care, though. To him, this was all a fact of life. This would be his life for all eternity. And life stopped for no troubled person, no poor bastard sick or in pain, but he had the choice to do so.
It was this choice that Maximilian made upon his most recent patrol, when the stench of a stranger filled his nostrils, piquing his curiosity and prompting him to follow the trail. The scent brought him to a great tree, where an American lion lay grooming himself beneath the shade. His body was littered with injuries, some bleeding and some healing, and his leg was mangled in a grotesque, awkward position. Broken, Max realized even from his distance. Even with the lion's towering size, his injuries and current state of apparent weakness could make it easier for the wolf to just chase him off the Enclave's territory now. He had no idea what the lion's intentions were, good or bad. Or maybe nothin' at all? A pang of pity struck him, and he cursed himself silently for it. Perhaps the feline had nowhere to go, too injured to move from this very tree.
The sound of a snapping twig made his ears twitch, and he turned to face some Enclavian whose name he could not bother remembering staring at them both. "For fuck's sake, what are you gawkin' at?" the Alpha hissed, the bomb exploding within him already. "Go get Okami or some other Star to take a look at this guy, yeah?" Silently the Enclavian obeyed, trekking off to find someone capable of examining the stranger's injuries.
Maximilian remained with the feline, gingerly stepping closer and closer towards him so not as to alarm the other. He wasn't here to kill him or chase him off. He was, in fact, making the choice to stop for this man. "You're on the Enclave's borders," he announced out of habit, his muscles tensing as he paused before the feline, careful not to move a single inch closer in case he would get aggravated. He waited a moment to gauge the other's reaction before continuing. "You're hurt. I got someone comin' to look at you, if that's alright."
[glow=#008040,2,300]where is my mind?[/glow] — ☽
haha rip these goofs