the church bells start to ring >> veris' funeral

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THE KINGPIN

golden lung dragon & black jaguar w/ vitiligo & platinum silver fox. unknown age - ancient. bai shi lynn lingré. proper chinese name is lin bai. prefers lynn if close. they/them. blind. wind element & electric element. firstborn son of jerisidie lingré & current head of family/general. courting delilah evergarden & halo mercer. kingpin of alithís evgenis. demiromantic gray-asexual. parent of veris, arvin, leoku, erian, flos, kekhai, evarhi, and laeglin. elder brother of ramona and hope, uncle of quennel and cosette.

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cold was the embrace of the night, bitter the kiss of wind against skin and fur. their eyes half closed, they looked up to sam and asteri, their eyes tired and empty, void and dark with grief. "thank you ...", they murmured quietly, biting their lip as they continued to wait, too scared to carry this out, too scared to make this reality. they didn't want to accept that she was gone, though they knew that there was no way around it. reaching into their pouch, the kingpin shuddered, holding in the sob that rang through their body, heart cramping in their chest. they were so lonely ... lonely without her there, their daughter. shaking their head, they took a wobbly breath, stepping to her body, so frail and silent. laying down these new items, they gently laid about her a wooden bead made of a fallen branch from the sakura tree that stood guard over the group. exhaling, they looked down at their child's body, inhaling and exhaling before they reached their head around to their shoulder. taking hold of one of their scales, the dragon pulled the single scale away from their shoulder, rumbling softly, "thank you, both of you. i just hope that her afterlife is peaceful.", they murmured, laying the scale just under her head, relishing in the pain.