DEEP IN THE OCEAN // Mother's Day

[APHRA CIPHER .]

[glow=white,1,400]OPEN YOUR EYES UP , STEP IN THE RING ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Today was Mother's Day.

So why did Aphra feel dread upon waking up this morning? Despite just waking up, the she-cat felt miserable and wanted to go back to sleep. At one point in time, she would have been happy today, offering her mother a flower where she had been buried in the neutral grounds, not far from The Typhoon's territory. Was it because she feared her mother's grave had been unearthed, or ruined because of the meteor crash? Maybe. But what was there to be afraid of? It's been over four years at this point. Surely her mother's body would have decomposed by now? Then again, Aphra wasn't sure if she wanted to see her mother's bones instead of her cold body.

Sighing, Aphra got up from her bed. Regardless of how she felt, she knew she had work to do. That being, trying to help in restoring the camp. Or at the very least, as much as she could with the loss of her vision. Her pawsteps were still careful as she moved, but she did seem to at least be a little bit more confident in her steps. The she-cat made her way towards the beach, her eyes scanning the area to look something to do or to help someone with something. Her gaze flickered to two young kittens, carrying seashells in their mouths. Aphra watched as they ran towards their mother and gave her their gifts, squealing. Their mother laughed, hugged them, and said words to them that Aphra was unable to make out.

Aphra's heart sank watching the interaction, suddenly realizing why she suddenly had that awful feeling for today. Her kids were no longer around, either dead or missing. And even if they were still around, would they even give her anything? She's been a horrible mother. Goldie and Roxie would be busy with their kids giving them gifts, and here she was all alone today. With her motivation gone, Aphra decided to get closer to the water and sat at the shore's edge, letting the water lap at her paws. She absentmindedly stared off in the distance, a frown on her maw. She was fighting back tears, as much as she hated to admit it. I wish I was a better mother to them... Would she ever get the chance to prove herself? Probably not. It hurt, even if Aphra didn't entirely know why.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[roan ;]

[div style="width: 45%; text-align: justify; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: times new roman;"]♡ — Today was Mother's day, and Roan felt awful. He didn't exactly have a lot of time to focus on creating some sort of gift for his own mother, since he and many others were so preoccupied with not only his sage duties, but also the general duties of cleaning up the destroyed territory. He could only pray that his mama wouldn't mind getting her mother's day presents a little bit late, rather than directly on the day in question. Luckily he had Michael assisting him as well, so they would only be a couple of days late, rather than weeks. However, this did very little to alleviate the guilt that Roan felt over not being properly ready. Even with everything going on, why hadn't he been planning something weeks ahead of time? Hadn't he done enough to his mother to weaken her love of him? He still winced whenever he saw the electrical burns that were now hidden mostly beneath her pelt, and he still had nightmares about the way she had sobbed when he had eventually returned from the Pitt. Even if he didn't regret his little journey of self discovery, he couldn't help but wish it hadn't left so much destruction in its wake.

Roan had been pondering all of this when he came upon Aphra, his own jaws clenched around a day's worth of herbs that he had scoured the damaged territory to gather. Upon seeing the destroyed looking expression on the other's face, Roan found himself frowning, growing worried. He had already known that Aphra was struggling, what with her eye injuries and all, but he couldn't imagine what mother's day must've been like for her. He knew she had been a mother through interactions with Goldie and Roxie, but he hadn't exactly met any of her children, so he could only imagine that they weren't around anymore. Heart sinking a bit as he watched her hold back tears, Roan hurriedly moved to put his haul away, shoving it within his shoulder bag. He then began to dig through the bag, searching desperately for a plant that was both pretty, and that he could afford to part with. It was difficult to decide, but he eventually pulled out a bundle of marigold flowers, holding them together in a bouquet as he went over to Aphra. Gently brushing against the other feline's side in a silent greeting, Roan put the bouquet in front of her, purring, "Mi hermana... happy mother's day. I'm sorry that I can't give you anything more substantial. I'm sure you already know that the last few days have been difficult." He could only hope that the small gesture would give her some comfort in this difficult time.
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[APHRA CIPHER .]

[glow=grey,1,400]I'M GONNA BE YOUR BUBBLEGUM BITCH ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Perhaps it was a good thing that her children weren't around, given the fact that Aphra hadn't been a very good mother to them. She wasn't abusive - or at least, doesn't remember being abusive - but she certainly neglected them. Which was arguably much worse than actually abusing them, in her mind. Aphra felt horrible at the realization that she outright neglected her kids, wondering if they hated her. They would have a right to. Wouldn't they?

Someone brushing up against her made Aphra jump slightly, but once she realized it was Roan, she relaxed. Seeing the medic carry flowers surprised her and when he revealed they were for her, Aphra couldn't help but allow the tears she was holding back to fall. Although with his gift, they were certainly out of happiness. Even if she didn't have her actual kids around anymore, she did have the young ones of The Typhoon to watch over. "Oh, Roan, thank you, Cariño! Her accent was probably atrocious and to be honest, she wasn't even sure if she was using this word right. But she was trying to learn Spanish since she heard Roxanne and her kids speaking it all the time, so she figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and learn it. That being said, reading from a box and sounding out the words and not knowing whether or not it was right was probably a bad idea on her part.

Aphra truly felt warmed by Roan's actions and she felt like her body was about to burst due to the sheer happiness she felt. She felt like someone liked her and loved her enough to get her a gift, even despite these hard times. She was certainly crying, but now it was out of happiness.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]