Dead Empress Backwater built myself a pyre

@Viorel

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Vayko was just waiting for his cousin to confront him. Yes, he had run from the situation, but really what should Viorel have expected? He loved his cousin dearly, but he did not agree with all of his actions just as he had not agreed with the way that Modesto had chosen to address the situation and her hurt feelings. They could joke about it, but there was some part of Vayko that was mad for the events of last breeding season. That did not change the fact that the woman who had spoken to Vi had for all intents and purposes raised him and guided him. Asking him to stand up for one of them was like asking him to choose in Vayko’s mind, and he refused to do that regardless of what harsh words had been thrown around.

Still, Vayko was avoiding the situation. He found that while he quite enjoyed conflict, he did not enjoy being involved in said conflict so he had been on convenient hunting or scouting ventures. Up late and out early… but it couldn’t go on forever. The exhaustion was starting to wear at him. He made his way towards a den near the pack den, tucking away inside hoping for peace as he laid his head on his paws and tried to get some rest.

Viorel had taken a few hours to cool off before seeking out Vayko. He had needed the time to angrily stalk the borders and make sure his aunt did not try to come slinking back in, or worse go after one of his kids. The fact that he even had such a thought made him sick with disgust, that he would not put it past his own family to kidnap, or try to harm one of his kids to make a point. All of this was on top of the swirling confusion over what he had been told about his heritage.

The leader calmed himself as much as he possibly could before he went to look for his cousin. He was not happy by any means, but he was no longer seeing red with pure rage. Coming across Vayko looking so peaceful, laying in the den, napping Viorel felt a glimmer of anger return in the pit of his belly. Snorting he retorted sarcastically, ”Thanks for the backup partner.” He was still flabbergasted that Vayko had the audacity to just run away. Seriously. He stood above his cousin’s tawny form, tail twitching in annoyance, about his aunt, about the fight, about his mother and father(s)? About Vayko’s nap. It was not a good day to be Viorel.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

His eyes dragged open at the very presence of Viorel hovering over him, a twitch of annoyance in his nose and ears as he looked up. “Oh, I’m sorry… I didn’t realize leading a pack meant getting involved in squabbles between two family members as well.” He responded sarcastically in turn as he sat up, huffing lightly in the process. “What did you want me to do? You know how close I am to Aunt Mod, regardless of what her opinions are she essentially raised me. You really wanted me to choose a side there? I love you, Vi, and you’re family, but she’s my family too. There was a reason I made her my advisor.” He answered back.

Being a colead, in his mind, did not always mean being on the same side. “Did I agree with the things she said to you? No… not particularly, but what happened there was between you and her. I was not getting involved and you can hate me for it, but that’s just how it is.” As far as he was concerned, it didn’t affect the Backwater at all apart from the loss of a number, only Vi’s pride. His aunt had hurled personal insults, and insults towards the pack out of anger for the fact that they had not tried harder to find the Estuary.

The dark man rolled his eyes at his cousin’s response, tail increasing in speed behind him. He had half a mind to give Vayko a smack across the face, but his paws remained firmly planted other than maybe a minor twitch. Huffing he was quick, ”Between family members? Sure take a hike, but between your co-lead and your advisor, you still think that’s an appropriate response?” Honestly, his cousin was not that dense was he?

Sighing, he listened, but he was still annoyed. Shaking his head, the anger slightly deflated from his body after hearing how close Vayko and Aunt Modesto had been he felt a twinge of guilt. Not enough to second guess his decision, but enough to know what he was about to say was going to hurt. ”She’s gone. I told her to leave after she insulted and disrespected me, Vanadis, Clover and the children we share.” Viorel knew that might not have been a popular decision, but it was the truth.

Forging on he continued, ”She also insulted the pack as a whole, her loyalty was not with Dead Empress Backwater, and frankly, I don’t know if it ever was, and doubt it ever would have been.” That was it, that was all that he had to say.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

A raised eyebrow came with his statement. He knew his cousin was irritated but he was going to stand his ground. He would not cower. “And what part of that conversation, pray tell, involved policy that we were discussing and receiving advice on? It was a family squabble. In that moment, titles did not matter. She was going after you as a Valle, not as a King. I stand by my decision. You’re a big boy, Vi, you could handle yourself and since you were the one who was slighted, whatever action needed to be taken was yours to take.” He argued back because he still firmly believed he had no business being involved, especially knowing the likely outcome.

He had always known his Aunt had not respected Viorel’s leadership as much as she did Vayko’s. She had her judgements about how he handled the last breeding season he just never thought the woman would snap like that. “I figured.” He stated back, schooling his expression as he faded eerily back into the mentality his father used to put him into, where he would become cold and detached, devoid of all emotion and opposite of the chaotic cousin Viorel often recognized. “She stated her opinions harshly, and she had to face the consequences for them.” Even a part of him had understood why his Aunt had snapped. “The Estuary was her life like the Backwater was ours. Your insulted and disrespected her way of life with your comments about blood just as she insulted and disrespected you about he Backwater and your children.” He stated again, knowing the heat this may cause. “She’ll find her way back, and she’ll be happier there where she has actual power.”

He was a firm believer of that. Vayko snorted softly at his words. “Of course she wasn’t loyal to the Backwater, Vi... but she was a warm body that helped get us through a hellish time. Like it or not, without every number we had last season, we would not have survived as well as we have. With one less active body to help hunt and feed, your children might not have fared as well as they had. She wasn't loyal to the Backwater, but she was loyal to the Valle who lived here.” He stated incredulously. “She wasn’t happy that we had stopped looking for a way back to the sea. She was a council member. The only thing that tided her over here was having my ear. She was here for Shar and I, and she was here in case our mother ever found her way.”

(This post was last modified: Jan 14, 2022, 01:38 AM by Vayko.)

Viorel snorted, Vayko had no idea what he was talking about and that much was clear. Inhaling slowly to try to calm himself he stated, ”Perhaps if you had stuck around you would have heard her insult me as a king, she claimed that her being my elder made her in charge.” If he had been able to raise a single eyebrow he would have then, what would Vayko have to say to that?

The anger seemed to fade away from Vayko and he retreated into a cool, calm, collected place. It always took Viorel aback when he did that, frankly, it was a little bit creepy. Still, something he said made the man pause, a look of shock across his muzzle, he suddenly plopped his rump into the dirt. Cocking his head to the side he asked, ”Do you really think that there is anything to go back to? Or is everything just…..gone?” He had not thought about it in a long time, ever since they had found the majority of the Valle family he had just kind of assumed the beach would be a ghost town.

Whipping his head backwards to look at his cousin he retorted, ”She was loyal to one Valle, how could we keep a member who is only loyal to one leader of the pack?” Had it been the other way around, Viorel would have had Vayko’s back, he didn’t understand how this was even a discussion right now.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

Once more the argument was raised, and Vayko sighed softly. “Once again, Vi, that was her insulting your dominance. It was a dominance scuffle. She tried to assert power over you. It was for you and you alone to handle. Me staying behind as your backup would have only made you appear weaker in her eyes.” He did not understand where the anger from his cousin was coming from. Perhaps it was a different in their personalities or the council they had received. “A king needs to fight his own battles; I know you know that. Should the same situation arise with another member of our pack, much less a family member I would not want nor need you to stand behind me. It would be my task alone to remind them why I am where I am.” Perhaps it was just a difference in personal motivation as well.

His head cocked to the side and Vayko shrugged. “There is family who have not turned up… others who have left who could have made their way home as well… surely there must be something or someone back there. If not, never count our Aunt out of a fray. She’s cunning, it was why I lent her my ear in the first place. She’ll find her own army, rebuild her image of the Valle lineage from scratch. Perhaps she’ll find Andrey or Xulia along the way, or our mothers… though I can’t imagine her wanting both of our mothers around given her comments…” Still, he had already shut down.

The question came and Vayko could not help but roll his eyes. “Vi, you’re being blinded by your emotions. She was loyal to you. She didn’t always agree with your decisions but then again I don’t always either… the moment she chose to stray from that loyalty was when you questioned what she held most dear. Just because she didn’t offer blind loyalty and worship every decision you made as gospel did not mean she was not loyal to you. You have a right to your own opinions but it does not change that this would not have happened and she would have continued to support both of us. Just as it does not change that she should not have been eavesdropping to begin with, though ultimately, such is her right as well as it is Shar’s as our advisors to know what happens in our conversations.” He knew his Aunt well. She had molded him much in her image. “And don’t pretend like there aren’t members of this pack who view you on a higher pedestal than your poor, plague-bearing, temperamental cousin.” He huffed lightly as he laid back into the dirt, laying his head down as he expressed how he truly felt: inferior despite raising their kingdom together.

This discussion was clearly not going anywhere very fast, and Viorel was not even sure if it was going to go anywhere. He wanted to yell, part of him wanted to cry about how much family they had lost in such a short period of time, part of him wanted to retreat and be cold like Vayko did. None of that would move them forward, none of that would be for the good of the pack or the family that they had left, so instead he just looked away, ”Agree to disagree then.” Maybe he was right, maybe Modesto would have thought it made Viorel look weak, but it would have shown him that his cousin had his back.

He had wanted to tell Vayko about what Modesto had said about his parentage, but looking over the cool and reserved face in front of him, he couldn’t make the words come out. Instead he just hummed in response, maybe they were out there, maybe they weren’t. Maybe they had abandoned them all and were together and not telling anyone, maybe something bad happened. There were too many maybes, not enough answers, and it was exhausting.

Viorel could not help but feel like his cousin was being immature, purposely not being open to what he had to say, which meant there was nothing else to say. The dark man wanted to accuse his counterpart of being blinded by his own emotions since it was his mother figure who is gone. He wanted to tell him to stop throwing a pity party, kept up out of the dirt. Part of him even wanted to accuse him that maybe people would not prefer one over the other if he hadn’t made a stupid decision to fight a fucking turtle. Instead he said nothing, for a really long time.

Then he looked back outside, ”I don’t think anyone has ever put me on a pedestal, especially since everyone takes every chance they have to throw it in my face that I made a mistake last spring.” He left out the ending where he wanted to say including you. Sure, he had made a mistake and it had put everyone in a tight spot, but in his opinion he had more than made up for it and proven himself that he was taking responsibility for it.

what i really need now is a double shot of crown

It appeared they were not going to see eye to eye on this; he simply hummed in agreement when his colead offered the conversation drop. The silence lingered between them, stirring uncomfortable feelings in Vayko’s belly. He felt like he was going to be sick, but he didn’t know how to process those kinds of emotions so instead he did what he always did. He shoved it down until it was convenient to address it…

He brought up his indiscretion and Vayko sighed, sitting up and moving closed, his tail curling around his paws. “A singular mistake… made by a wolf who was brand new to the season who had the misfortune of meeting his wife after having conceived with another. I know I was upset, and I know I bring it up but it’s hardly a mistake… it’s not like you brought a plague that nearly took down the whole pack… or broke your paw and were dead weight for literal months… or had an advisor who stepped out of line and threw a mini-coup…” He pointed out, trying at this point to be comforting because it did not please him to see his cousin hurting, even if he stood by his actions.

“For all the crap I give you Vi, and for what it’s worth, you are a good leader. No leader is perfect. We all have our mistakes, our flaws, but you genuinely care about the wellbeing of the pack. I try to, it just feels like I always come up short.” He felt he had not so flawlessly recovered from his own mistakes as his cousin had when he had fought tooth and nail to ensure the survival of all of his cubs to the first year, which they were fast approaching.

“She was like a mom to me… my mom is I don’t know where, my father even when he was around was distant and cold. I never had a model apart from her. I’m sorry I left you hanging, but that was a relationship I wasn’t ready to burn, afraid to burn Vi, not after all that she’s done for me. I would not be here, beside you right now, if it weren’t for her. For the things she taught me. I wouldn't have been able to form a bond with the Cove wolves in the Mountains if not for the things she taught me... she snapped, and I was afraid to confront her. I didn't want to see the inevitable disappointment in her eyes for not standing with her. I didn't want to be forced to choose a side.” He was trying to mend as best as he could, truly, but he really didn’t know how. He just hoped his cousin had not expected him to throw away such a meaningful relationship so quickly from his life.

Viorel watched as his cousin sat, and listened carefully to every word that came out of his mouth. He wanted to make Vayko feel better desperately, but maybe for one of the first times, he did not have the words to do so. It felt good that he was at least letting his exterior crack and show some inner emotions, but the dark man did not have the practice to console him like he did with his wife and children. Finally he just….laughed, ”What the hell are we doing Vayko? Let’s face it, we got in way over our heads and have been learning to swim ever since. But, we never drowned, and maybe it’s time we stop focusing so much on what we’ve done and start looking forward to what we’re going to do.” Really, what else was there to do at this point?

Sure, he could have said that Vayko was a good leader too, but he knew his cousin well enough that it would not have made a difference. Now that he was feeling so low a few words of encouragement and validation would be like adding another drop into the ocean. He shuffled his paws around, a sure way to tell that Viorel was deep in thought. Finally he answered, ”My mom was here and she chose to leave, and didn’t even say a word, and left Hazelnut here too. How does somebody do that?” With that he stood, ”What I mean to say is that I understand wanting that relationship. I won’t make you choose sides, but I don’t trust her, and I won’t allow her anywhere near my children, she is not welcome in my eyes anymore.”

There was not much left to say anymore, so the dark Valle took a step towards the door, ”I should go find Clover, Vanadis, and the kids and let them know what happened. I will address everyone else later, I need to be with my family for a while.” And then he left, back out into the winter day where everything had started to change.