[PRP] In Loving Memory [Lily+Alva]

[Saliru]

Lily was a bit more anxious this morning, her dreams were still fraught with horrors but at the very least this time they permitted her a quiet waking. Quiet enough Alva was still asleep as she slipped from their bed.

She was dressed in nothing but her simple under clothing as she peered out the front of their tent, a distant thoughtful look rested serenely on her pale face as she watched the strange nature about them shifting lightly now and then with life.

Her mind had drifted off into the past again. Mother's warm comforting smile. Fathers assertive stance. The sound of the ponds on comforting summer evenings, hundreds of frogs croaking together in celebration. Even that trickling little noise they made as they swam.

It... it was hard to accept that all of that was gone, forever, without a single hushed word. There was no goodbye and it stung her down to her very soul. Her head lowered as tears streaked her cheeks again. She wanted to be strong. To move on. But she just... she couldn't.
 

[Baneful]

Alva swam in dreams of nothingness, half curled on the floor. Sleep rescinded its hold on him and he stirred, sitting up quietly. He felt rested. That was all. He'd hoped to feel something more, but it was a hollow desire.

Sometimes it was hard to feel so little. There was that lurking sense of obligation, like he should be concerned, like he should be grieving like the delicate and intricate emotional flower that his sister was. But he could not. His parents and family were gone, this was cold hard fact, it was over and no amount of tears would ever alter that. He had moved on the moment the destruction occurred, set to focus on the things he could change.

And Lily, he had her. She was part of the threads that held him up, his intermediary, his translator between the baffling world of drives and emotions and his own shell of logic. He made his way almost silently over to her, the only sound careful decisive footsteps and the gentle swish of his tail on the floor. He paused beside her silently and gave her a sidelong look.

He watched the tear trail down her cheek and for an instant knew the closest thing to sadness he could understand. It hurt to watch her in pain.

"Are you all right?" It was a foolish question, he knew it, many of them would never be all right again, but there was an unspoken desire within in the question.

I wish I could make you all right.


 

[Saliru]

Lily jumped slightly at the sudden voice behind her and turned her head to see her brother was awake. She deftly wiped her face with the back of her hand but the fact she had been crying was already abundantly clear.

"No no... I just... I'm fine..." she sniffed before turning her head back around to look outside again, "I just..."

There was a quiet thoughtful pause as she fought the urge to start crying again, "... I miss them."
Her voice was crackly and weak, "I just..."

She closed her eyes and drew a slow deep breath, "I don't think I could sleep another night without doing something..."

Her eyes slid open again, one last fleeting look at the scenery before she turned her gaze back on him, "I think I have an idea." there was a strange spark of determination in her eyes as they narrowed.

"Will you help me?"
 

[Baneful]

"You needn't ask, I will help you with anything." he stated. And she didn't need to, he would never deny her anything that he had the power to give her. He didn't even need to inquire as to the idea in question to agree to it. It was only for the sake of curiosity that he even continued. "What is it that you wish to do?"

Perhaps in doing this, she would find a portion of the closure that she desired.

 

[Saliru]

She started backing up slowly, moving out of the tent with her gaze fixed on him.

"Come come, we mustn't waste time my brother." her tone was oddly playful before she turned her back on him and ran on. Her tail whipping wildly in her wake.

"I'll tell you when we get there!" she called back.

______________________________

She had run for quite a bit of distance into the nearby weeping forest. It was frightening and strange but in an unusual sort of way... a curiosity in itself.

Her pace slowed to take in her surroundings. Thoughts drifting from each individual item to the next; wood, leaves, grass, rocks, dirt, various surprisingly familiar things. There were items like these back on the islands but different... well... different all around. Hopefully they still worked the same.

She finally stopped at a small grassy clearing and turned to wait for Alva to catch up to her.
 

[Baneful]

Alva followed her lazily, tail swishing behind him. He'd stopped hiding it away as often since his arrival here, much as he'd ceased wearing his full regalia. "Why not? We have all the time in the world." his tone was almost playful, or at least as playful as it ever got. But still he jogged after her, forgetting how it felt to actually run with the wind in his hair like a child rather than living in stuffy rooms with their stifling rules.

The forest was alien but fascinating and it held no fear for him as they slowed down, closing the distance at a saunter, his cheeks flushed from running and looking just a bit more wild eyed and out of breath.

"Have we arrived?"

 

[Saliru]

Lily grinned wildly at him before cheering, "Yes yes! What do you think?"

She spun around gesturing giddily at their surroundings with outstretched arms. She stopped on her foot and offered him quiet breathy laughter.

Once she finally caught her breath she offered a delicate little smile and a few soft-spoken murmurs, "What do you think of... weaving?"

Her brows had raised up high as she impatiently waited for his answer.
 

[Baneful]

He looked around critically. "Well it looks like there are plenty of resources here to work with, that's for certain." But there was potential he felt, almost keen to use some of the dark wood and the new strange plants in some work. Her enthusiasm was as always, contagious.

"Weaving? I think it would be a challenge. But I have never said no to a challenge."

 

[Saliru]

Lily smiled giddily at him. In this moment? It was almost as if they had never been separated. They were young. They were kids again, crafting silly little toys out of odds and ends.

Silly little toys she cherished with every fiber of her being, silly little toys that broke her heart when she had to leave them behind. The lair they had sent her to was never really her home. It was scary and lonely, she never made any friends. What was the point? Her real friend was gone and no longer by her side.

She had lost all that ever mattered.

But, she really hadn't. Here it was again. Just like always; her best friend, her accomplice, her partner, her co-worker, her manager, her companion, and her brother. He was all these things and more.

She cracked a smile, perhaps another time they could try to re-make some of their old treasures - but for now? Now it was time to say goodbye to what was so that she may greet what now is.

She bent down and began grabbing at various viney plants, "Weaving it is then."
She kept pausing her efforts to look in his direction again and again to... just make sure he was really there now.
 

[Baneful]

Alva hadn't had the heart to make anything after she left, he could have, materials could be bought if he had opted to. But they would never be the same, never possess that spark of taste that his sister brought to the table, it would have been hollow. It had worried his family, but they had dismissed it as a short period of artist's block, they had never understood the nature of it.

But now he had his muse back, the person who inspired him just by existing. He had done very little weaving but just her enthusiasm, her passion made him want to learn, want to do this just perfectly for her.

"I leave the materials as always in your more than capable claws."

He wandered over to stand all the nearer to her and watch her selecting plants for the task. "Have you any thoughts as to what we should weave for the task?"

 

[Saliru]

Lily peered over her shoulder at him with a soft thoughtful smile, "I'm thinking... perhaps flowers? A nice big woven waterlily on a lily pad possibly?"

She sounded not entirely certain, more or less planning to cross that river once they already got started, she was always fairly impulsive. Going with the best sounding plan on the fly as soon as it struck her. A fact that tended to work out in their favour.
 

[Baneful]

Alva nodded. "Sounds interesting certainly." He remembered the lily ponds, remembered the scolding they'd gotten as children for swimming around in them. It made him smile to recall the dissaproving lecture they'd gotten and hardly paid heed to because all that really mattered was that they had fun.

And they could do whatever they wanted all over again.

"We'll probably find ideas as we go along."

 

[Saliru]

Lily nodded before standing and offering him an armful of dried woody and grassy plants, "Come brother. We must return to our ... umh... shelter to work in absolute secrecy."

There was a glint of amusement in her eyes. Crafting in secrecy together, it was just like before. No one ever got to know what they were up to until it was already done. Sometimes not even them.
 

[Baneful]

He nodded, taking the plants obligingly. "Yes. We can have a look at the usefulness of these."

With his free hand, he slung an arm across her shoulder reassuringly. "We will come up with something very nice." As always his formal words didn't convey how happy he was to be working with her again, his greatest crafting partner. Alone he was merely clever, together they were genius.

 

[Saliru]

She scooped up the remaining materials and then stood beside him as he slid an arm around. A gesture she fondly mirrored.

"You are the best brother ever," she cooed affectionately as she started back the way they came. She took a more slow and steady pace this time, refusing to lose a single piece of precious cargo.

She could see shelter ahead in time and once she did she turned her gaze on him to smile, "Just to warn you, I got a ton of burs in my tail now and you are on bur duty once we are done."