Midnight Plateau reflections of yourself

And so I tell myself that I'll be strong

Seri Donata

and dreaming when they're gone

Seri’s golden orbs turned to his mother when she admitted that he was a friend. Well, if he was a friend of hers then surely he was a friend of Seri’s too, right? In his mind, that was just how it worked. All of his mom’s friends were also his own… though, he had never met one of his mom’s friends before. “I’m Seri.” He introduced with the prompting, still remaining a boy of few words. He had his talkative moments, mostly when hounding with questions… but in this moment he found himself incredibly shy. There was a weird tension in the air…

Except, it all seemed to fade to the back of his mind and his eyes widened as the questions fell with the information that fell. “Are you one of those wolves that Momma talks about? The ones who live in one place for a really long time?” He asked, excited to have finally met one. Everyone he met seemed to be like his mom and he (not a pack wolf) and had the freedom to go wherever. He’d never met a wolf who stayed in one place before. “What’s it like? Why do you stay in one place? Is it special or something?” The boy needed his questions answered now and in that moment his personality shone through the strange tension that had lingered before in hushed tones and unspoken secrets that the boy had been left out of.

Aleister Vuesain from Lost Lake.

She wondered what all that meant. Did his name have history the way hers did? It did not matter, not truly. She had no reason to care about Vuesain history when it was the history of Donata that would matter to her and Seri. Although that appeared to not stop her son from rapid firing questions off towards his sire.

"Easy now, you'll need to give him room to answer, you know." She teased, soft but serious all the same. She was uncertain if this Aleister had sired other children, had been an actual father sometime. Was he used to how quick children wished to ask things? Could he keep up with the beat?

Seri, his potential son's name was Seri. A soft smile lined his lips as he watched the boy, committing his image to memory in case he never got to see him again. Aleister wasn't sure where this interaction was going go, but the Vuesain was going to make the most of it. He told the duo about his home, hoping that they might remember it if the need arose. Once he spoke of his pack, the boy seemed to light up as he fired multiple questions at him. Another smile crossed his lips as he realized he just might be able to get know more than just his son's name.

"Well Seri, I never used to be one of those wolves your mother told you about. I used to be just like you," he began with a point of his paw to the boy. "When I was young, I let my paws carry me wherever they wanted. I visited so many places when I was young, never settling in a place for too long. But as I got older, I grew tired of wandering and my paws led me back to where I was born along the Lost Lake where I live now. That's where my family's legacy started, and I decided that was where home was going to be for me. So, I made my own pack there to honor and carry on my family's legacy like my father before me did." His ocean and sunshine gaze watched the boy carefully as he told him his story. "I still get the urge to wander, so I do sometimes, but that's where I always go back to. It's home." And it could be your home too, he wanted to say.

And so I tell myself that I'll be strong

Seri Donata

and dreaming when they're gone

His mother’s gentle reminder helped him settle back down with an apologetic look for swarming the man with questions. Still, the mother was quick to answer questions that he had. He listened carefully as the man started to explain. He used to be like him? Seri hummed. “I don’t ever wanna stop moving. There’s so much to see!” He had already made hup his mind like that. He looked to his mom. Had she wanted to stay at the spring where he was born? Had he been the reason she had left that haven?

Either way, he listened more. Father. “Is a father like a Dad? What is a Dad? A guy once asked me where my Dad was but I didn’t know I had one of those until he asked me.” Seri, keeping it classy. “Are you my Dad? Is a Dad just like… a mom but like… the friend version? That's what I seemed to get from Wrynn but then he just went and took off before he could answer all my questions.” His questions resulted in another volley. They were going to get him in so much trouble one day, but right now he just wanted to know.

It was unfortunate that she loved the young boy so dearly.

He had heard everything and decided to key in to the one thing she avoided entirely. Dad. Father. It swarmed some sort of red hot anger into her brain, more maddening than the sensation that had led to the conceiving of the boy. It gave her half a mind to send them both down the mountainside and simply leave.

But she had come too far for such petty tactics.

"Enough," Sternly spoken in a tone she hoped the boy would know was a rarity by now. He hardly did wrong in her eyes, but this was a bridge too far. "I do not know who this Wrynn is, but you know better than to bother strangers or listen to them. Let alone bombard this man quicker than he can breathe out a response." Steel blue eyes bore down upon her son. Hurt as much as she was keen to guard him from whatever stupidity Aleister might try to squeak out at the question of being his father.

"And he is not your dad. You cannot just ask every man if they are."

And heaven so help them all if the lake dweller dared to challenge her final say on this matter.

RIP Aleister

A light smile lifted his lips as the boy told him he never wanted to stop moving as there was so much to see. Aleister couldn't help but feel even more connected to Seri as he had shared the same thoughts when he was his age. The Vuesain only wanted to witness all the wonders of the world and experience everything that he could, and Aleister was happy he had the curiosity with the world and didn't want to be stationary in his life.

As a father, Aleister was accustomed to the rapid-fire questions from his curious children, but what the Vuesain was not used to was answering the next question that came from the youth. At first, he figured he could walk across the razor-sharp figurative eggshells that were laid out around them, but as Seri continued on with that single breath of his, his mismatched gaze widened. Are you my dad? How was he supposed to answer that? When truth be told, the man didn't completely know, but he had his assumptions. But what would assuming do when the only wolf would truly know was his mother.

Opening his mouth to try to answer the boy's volleyed questions, though truth be told he had no idea where to start. However, the stern voice from Seri's mouth shut his mouth before he could begin as her words seemed to echo off the mountain face. Though, as he studied her reaction, he could feel the tension buzzing in the air from her. There was a truth here that she was withholding from both him and Seri. If not him, then who? "Then who is his father?" He asked boldly as his mismatched gaze looked to the woman. If this was his truly son, he wanted to know, though it wouldn't change the fact that he wasn't there for his birth or the first several months of his life. He never meant to be a deadbeat and that was never his intention. If he had known their union created life, he would have done everything in his power to help raise the boy. Aleister may have been callous and reckless last year with his grief, but he was not like that now. "He has the right to know and frankly so do I. Or do you not remember me from last spring?"

 

And so I tell myself that I'll be strong

Seri Donata

and dreaming when they're gone

The unfamiliar but stern tone from his mother caused him to freeze just as his maw had opened with more questions and comments about what exactly a dad was… The topic seemed very touchy, and he wasn’t sure why. Normally his mom loved his questions… and then, Aleister was speaking. His eyes widened. Did Aleister also think that Seri’s dad was him? He was left shellshocked, but the man stood up for his questions.

He just wanted to know… and this man said he had a right to know so once again he looked at his mother with sad puppy eyes. He was just a curious soul. He wanted to know what a dad was, and he wanted to know who his dad was. Everyone else seemed to have one so why couldn’t Seri have one too? He felt a strange flutter in his heart and in that moment it felt like there was a crushing weight on it as anxiety overtook him for what might be the first time in his life. The tenseness of the situation aiding to the uncertainty of his actions that was so uncharacteristic. "Momma?" The endearing name fell as a question and no doubt his anxiety could be heard.

M/S for swears and crude stuff, y'know how it be

She rippled into a flurry of raised hackles and bared teeth at the man. Pompous, reckless man.

As if he had any fucking right. As if he was in any way fit to be a father, as if he had bothered to do anything besides bed her like a whore and head back to his cozy little home. Likely doing the same thing to anyone who batted their lashes at him and smelled of spring's perfume.

Men were the same everywhere.

"You are no father. You will never be. To handle things in this manner proves as much." She snapped a warning towards him with harsh teeth. She wished to shred him into pieces, to send him down the mountainside in an avalanche of violence.

"We are leaving. Now." A command to Seri and if he dared not follow, Kisina was not sure she would ever look upon him the same.

The Vuesain stood his ground even with her snarls and the fury that shone within her steel gaze as she whipped insults his way. Though he held his chin high and gaze stern upon the woman, inwardly each word was a slap as the venom dripped from her maw. Her view on the matter was entirely opposite of his as his actions proved at least he was trying to a father for the boy; however, the mother was too selfish to allow anyone else in. "You know nothing," he spat back, pining his ears as the only sign of his utter annoyance of the woman's words aside from his tone. She knew nothing of the lengths in which he went to father his motherless children and his daughter.

Keeping his head high, he kept his gaze stern upon the fiery woman as she commanded the two of them to take their leave. Backing away from the duo, the agouti man gave them space to depart from the ledge. His gaze flickered down to Seri then as he wished for this situation to of had a different outcome. Flicking his muzzle to prompt the boy to follow his mother, his mismatched gaze softened as he gazed at the tawny boy one last time. The Vuesain almost thought to tell the boy he knew where to find him if he had any more questions or needed someplace to stay, but he could tell Seri was intelligent and would remember where he was if he needed him. And Aleister hoped to he'd be able to see the boy again.

Aleister fade unless more is said

(This post was last modified: Feb 28, 2022, 02:56 AM by Aleister.)

And so I tell myself that I'll be strong

Seri Donata

and dreaming when they're gone

Seri felt himself shrinking as the adults started to fight. Despite all of his adventures and his determination to be strong like water… well, he didn’t like the adults fighting. He didn’t like conflict like that. It was so new and foreign to him. Was Aleister his father or not? It seemed like his mother was implying it with her words… but he wasn’t like, his real dad? It was so confusing. He didn’t dare defy his mother, slinking after her with his head down and his ears pressed, one last glance back at Aleister with a frown as he was left without answers once more.

The man snapped back at his mother and he didn’t know how to handle that much either. He didn’t think his momma was right for snapping at Aleister, but the man until then had been very levelheaded and then proved that he also was not… either way, it would surely plague his mind in the days to come. “M’sorry for all the questions, Momma.” He apologized softly for the first time in his life for his curious nature and need to know.