[PRP] Morning My Other Half [Lily+Alva]

[Saliru]

The night was fraught with turmoil as terrible nightmares plagued the young horseman. A restless sleep she just could not seem to wake from.

One moment she was a child again, picking flowers with her brother as their parents looked on lovingly... the next she was surrounded by death. Her entire world melting together into a horrifying visage of flesh, earth and bone.

Horrified screams crackled through the air. Mother and father, both slowly melting, eyes rolling back into their skulls before slowly dripping away. Their screams echoed on long after they were gone. Their screams never ceasing.

It wasn't their screams though.

Reality finally dragged her back, she was still screaming. Hot streaks of tears soaking her hair and sheets. Her heart was racing and her voice finally fell hoarse, silencing her to a soft sniffle.

It was just a...

... it wasn't. This was her reality now.
 

[Baneful]

Alva rarely dreamed. And when he did it was often with an unpleasant surreal edge of logic and awareness, he could not lose himself in dreams as easy as most. The screaming however on this occasion did intrude even into his dreamless sleep, discordant enough in the quiet that he woke with a start, sitting bolt upright.

"Sister! Sister are you all right?" he edged over to her, placing a familiar hand on her shoulder. "Just a bad dream." he added with relief. For a moment all sorts of horrible possibilities had flashed through his mind.

 

[Saliru]

Lily deftly turned to Alva and wrapped her arms tightly about his torso. The horrors still gripped her memory and reflected in the ugly distorted expression frozen upon her face. She buried the look into his chest, saturating him in her tears as she continued to sob but far more softly now.

Her heart felt as though it had been re-broken when she was certain it was starting to mend. She still had him though. She would always have him, she'd quietly convinced herself.
 

[Baneful]

Such emotion. From anyone else he would be irritated at them no doubt, but when it was his sister who was upset, he felt more irritated at himself. There was little he could do to ease the hurt she felt other than patiently continue to be there, continue to offer patient comfort. He no longer felt sadness when he thought back to the events that had led them here, only anger, only a cold desire for revenge.

"It's all right." a fact, a fact he hoped she might appreciate.

He played with her hair with his claws idly as he just held her, trying to ignore the distress he felt at her being so moved that the sorrow even pursued her into her dreams.


 

[Saliru]

She continued to sob quietly for a while before finally hauling her face away from his chest. Face messy but now calm as she looked up at him with her reddened green eyes.

"I just don't know what to do." she offered, her voice crackled and weak and she gave him another slight squeeze.

"Do we honour their memory? Do we just move on and pretend nothing happened?"
 

[Baneful]

He seemed to think about this for a moment.

"We honour their memory by carrying on. We are the legacy now, we are the tribute to them. Just by existing we demonstrate the perpetual reign of the clans."

A faint hint of a smile. "At least, that's how I feel about things. I intend to move on, forwards and onwards."

 

[Saliru]

She frowned, looking less assured by this thought than him, "Maybe. I just... I don't feel..."

Lily offered him a deep frown, so deep it ruined her entire face, "I feel like I need to give them something first."

She struggled quietly with her words for a moment before adding, "I think I want to start something for them, brother. A memorial? Please?"
 

[Baneful]

He didn't look too convinced at the idea of a memorial, not really understanding the reasoning behind wanting to build a physical thing to commemorate people. Of course being an artisan meant he was asked to craft items of that nature, but it didn't unfortunately mean he understood any of it.

He gave her an even look. He might not understand but if it was what she wanted he would never say no.

"You do not need to ask you know. If you wish to make a memorial, I will help you."


 

[Saliru]

"I think I want one, brother. I think it's the only way I'll ever get past this." she turned her gaze on his neck.

"I want to move on. I want to start over." she admitted quietly to his Adam's apple.

"But I don't think I can until I get to say goodbye. A proper goodbye. For me." she gently fondled his clothing as her thoughts wandered.

"I'm thinking... something somewhere everyone can see... and add to. So that we can all say goodbye together?"
 

[Baneful]

He nodded firmly. "Then we can do it. Though you would be in charge of things as far as decisions. I don't really.." he didn't like admitting his flaws. "I don't really understand the connection between a memorial and the memory, if that makes sense."

He took on a distant thoughtful look. "Materials may be scarce at the moment however."

 

[Saliru]

"It's okay brother... not everyone deals the same way with tragedy." she smiled softly at him before touching the side of his face gently with a hand. She actually felt... good. This was a start... this was something to do. Something to bring her a sense of normalcy again.

"That's okay too." she offered, "We can work together towards it? Four hands instead of two?"
 

[Baneful]

He nodded. "Four hands. As always. It should give me something to concentrate on a little as well. I could probably do with the distraction, perhaps practice before working on an actual home for us both."

Anything that would make her feel better, end this confusing and worrying sadness that he didn't entirely understand. He leaned his face against her hand. He liked her smile. He'd do almost anything to retain it.

 

[Saliru]

"We obviously can't do everything all at once however. I'm not sure where we should start today?... Find food?... Find work to earn some money?... Look for random materials lying around..." she sighed feebly before stroking his cheek with her thumb.

"You were always so clever and aware my brother, where would you start?"
 

[Baneful]

"We could use today just to go for a walk perhaps, get a handle on what we have to work with material wise." He distantly rhymed off the suggestion even as his mind pounced on various other possibilities for what they could do. "Food is another ample opportunity, but I feel there are others more suited to that venture who will see to our well-being in that respect. Work would require materials, at least if we are to use own natural talents." He didn't really fancy having to do manual labour for tokens.

"I think I would start with planning. We should research what we have."

 

[Saliru]

Lily smiled at her brother, it was genuine and very fond. How she missed him and his good well-thought out ideas, "That... is the best idea ever brother. I just... I need to freshen up a little."

She looked around their shoddy tent and was immediately frowning again, "Somehow."