face the sun

Aurelia

A few weeks after her stay with Mildew, and some days before she would inevitably seek out Jack, Aurelia set out - but not for the Ahi Coastline. Shifted, she's able to navigate the wilds far better {and faster} than she would if she tried this in her natural form. She spends most of the trip as a tiger, half-loping, half-swimming out of the Feverlands. Occasionally the red panda comes in handy, as it always does. For the most part, she keeps close to the coastline, letting it guide her steps all the way to the Boondocks.

Once there, she slows down the pace to concentrate on what she can find. She manages to catch a faint whiff and latches onto it as best she can, even if the scent trail is scattered and stale.

Travelling further inland now, she sticks to cover. Her stripes blend easily into the shadows cast by the setting sun, and she uses that to her advantage to go unnoticed by any nearby wildlife.

It's when the trail leads her to a small cabin that she realizes she was on the right track. Stopping just at the edges of the yard, only her front paws out of the foliage into a pile of snowmelt, she peers around, taking it all in.

She swallows heavily before opening up her end of the Attuned bond, or at least just enough to communicate.

Sunjata? Are you here? There's a hopeful tone in her voice as she steps further into the open, into a patch of sunlight.

Even in her shifted form, she doesn't exactly look... healthy. The evening light illuminates the slight jut of her ribs and hip bones, and her orange fur is stained with clumps of mud. Her eyes, too, still have a faded and glassy look.

It's true that Mildew helped her. The witch brought her back to health and kept her from dying out there in the swamps. But a complete recovery from emaciation, severe infection, and the loss of one's self... that takes time. The trip to King's End at least, in part, proved to her that she was making strides. That she was still strong enough.

keep your face always toward the sunshine
and shadows will fall behind you

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

The main thing about living out in the middle of nowhere, is that nobody came knocking. Not usually, anyway, aside from those that they’d told where they’d lived. He certainly hadn’t anticipated in the fact that he might be stumbled upon. Luckily for Aurelia, though, he is there – he’s just set Romeo and Amadeus down for a nap when the voice flickers through the bond. And he stills, because one of the last times he’s heard that voice, he’d had his entire soul intact.

Now, however, companionless and away from society and civilization – while it has its perks – has made him a bit rusty in terms of a reaction. He’s less paranoid as he might have once been up on the cliffs of Torchline. But he’s still cautious, slipping toward the window that faces out, pulling back a curtain to scan the area when he notices a tiger, glimmering like an orange inferno on the edge of the property.

She doesn’t look good, but that’s to be expected, given how long it’s been since anyone had last seen her. Yeah, one second. His gut twists and he makes sure that the twins are fine, before he slips out the door with nothing more than a short sleeved shirt and a pair of pants and his boots. Hands are in his pockets as he approaches, his steel gaze focused on the tiger, masking up his end of the Attuned bond the best he can – if she’s in a state such as this, he certainly doesn’t want to add more onto her plate.

He’s different than the last time they’d seen one another. Less bright in some aspects, brighter in others. There’s less dark circles under his eyes and he’s filled out in the spaces to make him appear healthy. On the other hand, those compass tattoos that had once darkened the sides of his neck, torn up to where the northern points have been ripped out, a bubble of scar tissue covering them and hiding under his shirt collar. Aurelia? He asks, pausing before the tiger, extending a hand out to her, scanning her for any obvious injuries that he might be able to help with, while he lets some of the mask slip its place to send down the bond the relief that she was alive and breathing.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

At first, there's not much that happens. She starts to second-guess all this, worrying that maybe she was wrong to come here. But then she catches movement from a window, and following it closely is Sunjata's voice in her head.

She shifts with impulse, her muscles stiffening as if preparing to move forth. But she forces herself to wait instead. Okay.. she replies, wanting to add something but not knowing what to say.

The door opens and she immediately straightens up, her ears pricking forward and the white dots above her eyes raising. He's the same person, of course, but he's noticeably changed. His face seems clearer, like he's gotten better sleep, but there's scars that tear through the compasses on his neck. Her ears drop at the sight of them.

The relief he sends her way makes her heart drop. She's relieved to see him still alive, too. After all, she'd been gone so long.. she still isn't sure what all she'll be returning to.

But she shifts back, confirming the question of if it really is her. And while she's certainly a lot less muddy in this form, she doesn't look a whole lot better. With a noticeable favoritism for one leg, she limps forward and slumps unceremoniously into giving him the biggest of bear hugs.

"Hey," she mumbles, her shoulders slouching and her eyes momentarily tearing up. Fortunately, he can't see that.

After a few moments, she lets go, blinking and stepping back to look up at him. "I think every time I see you, you have a new scar," she comments dryly, and she can't quite decide whether to smile or frown about that.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

She shifts back and if he’s being honest, she looks like shit. There’s a pang of worry that courses through him, hands slipping from his pockets as she limps forward toward him, arms wrapping around him as his own wrap around her in turn – pulling her in close just as she does to him. She’s a mess but it doesn’t stop him from pressing his scarred cheek against the crown of her hair, feeling the tension in her shoulders and having a similar tension of his own.

When Aurelia lets go, Sunjata does too, retreating into his own space as he scans her once again with careful, calculating steel eyes before they lift to meet her own. His lip twitches into a slight smile, the edge of the unscarred side of his face curling in a half smile as he inhales a sharp breath. “Mm, yeah. Unfortunately that one isn’t just the physical scars.” He mutters, reaching up to point at the bubbled skin that tears through the compasses, before his shoulders rise and fall in a shrug.

“You uh, disappeared with the whole relic quest we were on with Ronin and Remi. I was going to look for you after but I was…” His lips purse and he tears his gaze away to the beginning of the farm he and Nate had put together, gaze dancing across the tops of freshly turned dirt with seeds beneath and the barest hint of plants poking over the soil. “Pretty fucked up. I’m, uh… Just now kind of getting over it all.” Just as he always was, he wasn’t good with his words, wasn’t able to articulate the thoughts in his mind.

So he carefully cuts himself off with a surprising amount of strategy, turning on his heel back toward the home. “If you want to come inside you have to promise me you'll be quiet.” He murmurs, casting a glance toward her with a glimmer of tired mischief in his gaze. I have two slumbering beasts in there that will absolutely ruin both of our lives if you wake them up. He’s careful to word it the way he does, leaving some room for imagination. Still, the Attuned situates himself in a space where she could use him as a crutch to get to the house if she chooses to.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

She watches his face closely as he explains his side of things, of her disappearance. Her eyes scrutinize the minute details, the shadows in his gaze and the hint of something deeper within them. Always something deeper. She doesn't even follow the trail his eyes lead when he looks away, only grows that much more concerned and confused.

She recoils a bit, stepping back as he invites her in. She reads more 'tired' than 'mischief' in his gaze as he looks back at her, seemingly quick to move past his own troubles. Beasts? She wonders, assuming he means companions or perhaps one of them is Kamaria. She absently wonders how his daughter is, but first...

"Sunjata. Wait. Wh-?" She blurts out, brows needling together. It's a bit of a 'not so fast' move on her part, or has he forgotten that she cares too much to let something like that go?

She wouldn't blame him if he did, though, and she dials back in light of that thought. "I uhm..." she clears her throat and glances down at her feet, explaining more quietly, "spirits invaded my mind and I-I got lost. In my head, more than anything, I think. I don't fault anyone for what happened to me, so please don't be-don't be sorry or anything. I'm just glad I made it through." She looks more directly at him, forcing a small smile which doesn't last.

She is a bit too proud to use him for a crutch, and so she doesn't, silently declining his offer of support with a stiff shake of her head. After they're inside, she asks carefully, worried about what his answer might be, "What happened.. after-after I left?"

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

Her request of wait, uttered as swiftly as she does, has him stilling in his tracks, dark brows rising as his steel gaze focuses on her. He realizes his misstep shortly after – the fact that he assumes she wouldn’t want to know, that despite them being friends, the last time they’d really talked before she’d vanished, she’d kissed him. Suddenly as he pays attention more, his mouth is dry and he swallows a bit heavier – remaining silent for her to get her words out in the time she needs to.

He nods, though, when the mention of spirits and getting glost in ones head really registers with him. If anything, he thinks he can understand fairly well what that’s like. It might not have been spirits per say, but there was certainly the thought that he could relate given the bullshit he’d gone through with the Climb Fever and his father. It’s the same reason he carries that illusion stone around with him wherever he goes.

You couldn’t be too careful when you couldn’t trust your mind, right? Idly, though, he wonders if that’s the reason she’d kissed him. That she wasn’t herself. But he can’t find it in himself to ask. “I’m glad you made it through, too.” He offers quietly, waiting until she’s ready to step into the house where they might be able to continue talking.

She doesn’t use him as a crutch but that doesn’t mean he keeps a fair amount of distance. He hovers, just in case she needs his help, pushing open the door and holding it open for her to step through, until a mostly put together living room greets them with blankets thrown about – a crib set off to the side while the twins sleep in their room for the moment. “We…” He begins, throat still parched as he frantically tries to keep most of his emotions at bay – certainly trying his best to keep them well hidden and guarded from Aurelia’s side of the Attuned bond.

“We found the relic. It was in some giant gargoyle creature. Only… Haai didn’t make it. She was killed almost immediately.” He doesn’t look at her, instead he focuses on some speck on the wall as he slips into the kitchen to get her a glass of water, pulling out a chair for her as he goes. “So of course, it fucked me up. My soul was just shredded and I wasn’t thinking entirely clearly. I was in my dragon shift and it latched onto me.” He hands her the glass of water before he sits across from her, reaching up to point at the compass tattoos that had been destroyed. “Latched on right on my neck and goes a ways down under the collar.” He murmurs softly, still unable to look at her.

“I carried Haai back when we were done. Nate and I buried her out here.” Among the flowers, close to home.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

She slowly enters the living room where he directs their path, quickly discovering that there is a crib sitting within. It catches her attention before and after anything else, and her eyes seem to lock onto it for much of the duration of his talking. Though she notices that he doesn't really look at her for much of it, as she glances back up to see him pull out a chair for her in the kitchen.

She takes the seat gratefully, slumping into it and sighing quietly as she listens. I thought Kamaria was too big for a crib... is an underlying curiosity, but it's shadowed by the topic at hand.

He sets the glass in front of her, and she can't bring herself to look up at him from it. Her hands go around the base, her fingers tapping the sides. Until he mentions the wound and the extent of it on his person, glancing up at the area around the collar of his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Sunjata..." she manages, anything else she wants to say lodging in her throat except for: "I should have been there." When it happened, to prevent it -- or after, to be there for him.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

He offers her a seat and settles in a seat of his own, a cup of water alongside him as well. And soon enough he’s explaining what happened when she’d disappeared, why a part of him was glad that she hadn’t made it because he’s unsure whether or not she would have survived that either. So he explains, he settles, he waits for her to digest the terrible things he’d informed her of. And all the while he chews on the inside of his cheek, waiting for the ball to drop.

She apologizes and he shrugs his shoulders, inhaling a deep breath through his nose and exhaling slowly through his lips. “Don’t be.” Don’t be sorry. What’s done is done and there’s nothing he can do to change that now. The question of her being there or not has him shaking his head, has his feathers ruffling slightly, flickering to life under his collar.

He doesn’t like to pull the card of strength when it comes to Aurelia, but to this? He has to. “You could have died.” He says quietly, a small frown crossing his face as his gaze lifts to her face.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

Her brows furrow as she meets his gaze, but they soon relax. She can see the solemnity in his eyes. He's telling the truth; it was dangerous and she could've died, too. Then where would she be?

She breathes a ragged sigh, pauses, "Yeah, I probably would've... I was trying to prove something, so who knows what reckless thing I would've done." She offers a small smile in an attempt to be reassuring. Finally, she takes a drink of the water he'd given her.

She licks her lips, feeling how parched she truly was, as she sets it back down.  "Mildew found me. The-the witch I told you about a while ago. She helped me heal. My memory came back kind of.. all at once when she found me. Or sort of like it never really left, it was just... obscured?" As if hidden by a layer of fog. "I wasn't really impressed by myself when I came to," she smirks a little - a joke, but also not really.

"Sunjata, I'm sorry, for..." her voice flinches. The blood in her cheeks runs a little faster, a mixture of shame and embarrassment darkening her eyes. Shaking her head, she continues, "kissing you, I wasn't- I shouldn't have done that. And then all the things I said... I wasn't..." She doesn't want to say it was because her head wasn't screwed on straight. As if to imply that'd have to be the case in order to have feelings for Sunjata.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

There’s a low hum that leaves him, a vibration of agreement through the Attuned bond as he settles a bit more. “It happens.” He waves with a hand, a shoulder shrugging alongside it. “We’ve all done stupid reckless things to try and prove ourselves.” His gaze lands back on her, a bit of a light coming through the stormcloud silver, his head tilting with an avian-like movement, the scarred side of his face pointing down toward his shoulder.

He leans back and gets comfortable, nodding as she explains further. “I’m glad she helped you…” He pauses, working his jaw for a moment. “I heard that Melita and Milo went seeking out the witch to get a fortune.” He offers her the information offhandedly, not realizing that she and Milo hadn’t really spoken since before even he had last seen her.

But the conversation gets quite intense quite quickly and it’s clear with the way his neck is covered in the deep blue feathers of his macaw shift, flickering down under the collar of his shirt and he straightens up a little. “I was… Mostly confused?” He offers a bit louder than a whisper, his gaze trained on her for a moment before he looks away. “I appreciate the apology, though. And… For the record, the past is the past, right? We can’t do shit about it now.” He adds on softly, just about the time that three cats come barreling into the kitchen, one seeking out Aurelia in her curiosity while the other two climb up Sunjata’s pant legs until one is perched on his shoulder, batting at a rogue feather that’s popped out of his collar as the other one settles on his lap with a loud purr.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

She nods quietly, knowing that Sunjata of all people would probably understand her desire to prove herself. She'd been engulfed by it, that need to show that she wasn't a bad person. In reality, it didn't matter what other people thought of her. Not if, at the end of the day, she still thought badly of herself. But those days of guilt and self-vindication are in the past, so she will try to leave them there.

Her gaze does flash, though, at the mention of Milo and Melita. It had been a long time since she'd seen either of them. The thought that they had set off to find the trail of Mildew makes her chuckle softly. "I've missed those two," she murmurs with a small shake of her head, gaze softening with the heartache she feels.

But, yes, she has to bring up what happened before she'd disappeared. She enjoys it no more than Sunjata does. The sight of his blue feathers are indication enough that she's dredged up an uncomfortable memory. She offers a lackluster half-smile at his response, shrugging her shoulders, not entirely convinced that it would be so easy to dismiss. Not that there is much she can say about it that will change what it had caused. He probably understands to some extent, she thinks.. she hopes.

It's before she can say anything else that three cats come parading into the room, drawing both her and Sunjata's attentions away from each other. One of them, a white one, trots up to Aurelia, placing its front paws on the edge of her chair in a plea for pets. To which she's happy to oblige. Thanks to Seven, she's grown a fondness for cats.

"Oh-!" She starts, pausing as she turns and stares into owl-like eyes planted on a flattened, scrunched up face. "Sunjata, what happened to her face?" She blurts out, unable to stop herself in the utter shock at such a sight, "Did you hit her with a pan or something?" She tacks on, scooping up the cat and examining it with a concerned expression. As she glances back up at him, her brows furrow, "Gods- they're all like that!?" In her fuss, she's forgotten to keep her voice low. She also kind of assumed that these are the beasts to which he was referring.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

“I can’t say Melita’s my biggest fan. I think she only tolerates me because we’re family.” He admits a bit idly, though there’s a hint of amusement that tugs at the corner of his lips and pours down the attuned bond. “Nate’s always been her favorite uncle anyway. I’m not sure why I bother with the competition anymore.” It’s said as a joke but it falls flat by the time the once kittens, now full grown cats arrive.

The pale cat nearer to Aurelia purrs quite the roaring sound when she receives the pets, and the other two are intrigued but a bit more shy as they curl around Sunjata. The blurt Aurelia has immediately has Sunjata’s eyebrows shooting up in surprise and shock. “Shhh.” He’s a bit too loud, just as she was, and the cats spook a fraction – their fur sticking up in poofs all along their backs and their tails. “They were strays from the Grounds. Nate and I took them in, they’ve always looked like this.” So ugly they’re cute, is what Sunjata truly thinks.

But he groans quietly when he can hear the cry of one of the twins from the other room, shortly followed by the second one. He picks the cats up and sets them on the floor, standing up from the table to raise a brow back at Aurelia. “Fuck. I told you they’d wake up if we were too loud.” He says louder now, no point in keeping quiet when the twins were awake anyway.

And she’s more than welcome to follow him into the other room, where he quickly disappears into. Should she follow, she’ll see him cradle one of the twins – Amadeus – while he rests his hand into Romeo’s crib, offering a bit of cooing, gentle whispers in Korofi to try and soothe the squirming, now grumbling twins.

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?

Aurelia

and my hands aren't clean
maybe they never will be

"Mel didn't like me in the beginning. I made a joke about turning Fangorn into a pie," she snorts, "she didn't think it was funny." But they'd become faster friends than enemies from there, until... Aurelia's priorities shifted. Then it sort of felt as if the strength in their friendship had faded. Probably her fault, like many other things. She'd been distant and self-involved.

The cats are a shenanigan all in and of themselves, the one Aurelia holds pressing for more pets and purring like a panther. She's so shocked by its face that she can hardly bring herself to touch that part of it, but she does oblige with petting its back. "I've never seen a cat like this before.." but before she can make any other silly comments, like pondering if their brains are also flattened, there's a strange noise from the other room.

"What-?" She mumbles, not actually trying to stop Sunjata as he hurries off. And suddenly it all makes sense. Her eyes widen in realization as she puts the cat back down onto the floor to follow after Sunjata. She's slower than he is, for a few moments only lingering in the door frame. She watches with a mixture of surprise and hesitance as he coos to the small bundles.

Finally stepping forward and peering over his shoulder, her gaze softens and she gasps quietly at the sight of the twins, their chubby cheeks and tiny fingers. "Tsk. You didn't tell me they were babies," she accuses quietly, eyeing him with a teasing sharpness. The one in the crib seems fussy and she's compelled by it, asking, "Do you want me to hold one? ...I used to help my mom when my sister was a baby." She'd been pretty young herself, back then, but it's a memory she holds dearly close.

but they can still carry you home
when you're ready to sleep

SUNJATA

angel loves to keep me spinning, much too high to see
that all these chains have started thinning & hell is breaking free

“She can be sensitive about Fangorn. He was the last vampire gourd in the Grounds that year and picked her…” He trails off as if it makes sense, before all hell breaks loose and the cats spook and the children cry and Sunjata’s moving toward the other room toward the cribs. He works his jaw, holding onto Amadeus close to his chest, cooing his little Korofi words of encouragement to get the two of them to calm down.

But Romeo is difficult in how he twists and turns, fists clenched, trying to roll over onto his belly to get quite the intensely muffled scream. “They’re certainly beasts.” He rumbles to Aurelia’s complaint, a hum of a laugh leaving him as she approaches the two dark haired children. “You can hold Romeo if you want.” He offers her quietly, looking from the crib where the small boy continues to try and fight while Amadeus relaxes in his arms, hearing the gentle pulse of his heartbeat.

“We rescued them from an attack nearby. Their mother didn’t make it and we brought them to an orphanage in the Grounds… But… Nate and I couldn’t just leave them there.” He admits a touch softer, showing a bit of that good natured heart within him as his gaze lifts to Aurelia while he readjusts one of his sons in his arms, pressing a stubbled cheek to the babe’s crown, bouncing him a fraction to try and get him to go back to sleep. "So that one is Romeo. And this one is Amadeus."

every choice, every lie, demons that he kept inside
angel now that i've stopped spinning, could you come clean?