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Thread: In Eternus Memoria

  1. #1

    Lupine In Eternus Memoria

    The small common area of the Wing of the Raven was quiet, which to my senses was nice, but a bit unusual. There was always some sort of quiet, muted noise in the background, whether it was 'Tak' playing her games with or without Arya, the ship itself (a small humming noise I learned came from the hyperdrive and sub-light engines), or Arya, who was constantly about the ship, fixing or tweaking or other such things as I cannot truly understand.

    I had acquired a small book of bound flimsiplast and some writing utensils on our last stop, determined to keep a record of our lives for some sort of posterity, whether it was to Lupines, or to the simple Human or other sentient life that veritably filled the galaxy. Having not written anything of this sort before, I resolved to start at the point I had met Arya and her young niece and go from there as often as I could, though to keep myself from searching out too many things to write about, I kept the updates to once a standard week. So, this being the first week, I set up in the common area and began to write.

    But upon first starting the record, I found my thoughts straying, and instead slowly wrote each House name upon the sheet, followed by a small drawing of their family crest. Once that was complete, I underlined the two houses that remained to my knowledge, and suddenly felt despondent.

    I paused, and let my stylus hover over the flimsi in thought, before setting it gently down on the tabletop and reading what I had written. I did not know how to continue this, as I didn't know what I actually was trying to do. I shook my head to clear it; despondency did not settle on me lightly or comfortably. A noise brought me from my thoughts however, and I glanced up. Tak was standing there in the doorway from the hold (if I remember correctly), looking more than a bit wary of me. Bemused, I matched her gaze, and we stayed that way for a moment or two before I finally spoke.

    Yes?”

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    Standing in the doorway, Tak slowly crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at Sarin. She'd originally intended to just walk on by, but a quick glance had shown that he was writing, and the little Lupine couldn't help but stop. She wondered if he was writing stuff like what Dama wrote, but her curiosity wasn't enough to overcome her cautious attitude around him. Arya was different even though she and Sarin were both Loveloxx Lupines. Maybe it was 'cause Arya had met Dama and knew her? Tak knew for sures that Dama hadn't never met Sarin von Metzger.

    And what sort of name was von Metzger anyhow? It sounded funny, and felt funny on the tongue, too. von Metzger. Hmph.

    Oh yes, and he smelled funny. There was a similar scent thread in Arya, but Tak had gotten rather used to Arya's smell. Sarin on the other hand was another story. Maybe it was cause he was a boy? She remembered Wyl had a different smell, so it was probably a boy Lupine scent that was tickling her nose in such a strange way.

    She made a face at the sound of his voice; her brow knitting and her lips twisting in the careful thought of how to answer him. A look was sent up one direction of the corridor she still stood in, and then down the other before looking back at him.

    Tak craned her neck so that she was partially inside the common room.

    "What're you doing... are you writing... ?"

  3. #3
    I don't know why, as I'd been ready to simply pack up and try again later, but I answered her positively.

    I am,” I replied. “Though I am having some trouble gathering my thoughts.”

    Tak looked a bit confused at that, and I opened the small book and showed her my list of the Loveloxx houses, along with the small sketches of their crests. She took a few steps forward and squinted.

    I don't know where to go from there,” I said after a moment. I set the book down, still facing her so that she could look closer if she wanted.

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    She stared at what he'd written, and the little drawings he'd made. From her distance it was a little hard to make out, and her interest soon winning out over caution, Tak inched forward another few steps. She stopped at the table, placing little hands on the edge and staring at the page he held open for her. They looked like House Crests, but definitely not Losstarot House Crests.

    Biting her lip, the girl appeared thoughtful for a few moments before her expression turned serious and she looked up over the tops of her eyes at him. She'd seen Dama write for as long as she could remember, and Dama made it look so easy. It probably was easy, though maybe not for Loveloxx Lupines. After all, Dama always said they weren't as good as Losstarot at anything.

    "I could help you, you know."

  5. #5
    I raised a single brow in response to Tak's offer of help. That statement made me twitch, for some reason. There had been something in her response that made me feel a bit defensive, and I wasn't sure why. There was no way I could be threatened by a mere child.

    Could you now?” I asked. “Where should I begin then?”

    I picked up the stylus, and regarded her in askance.

    I had wanted to keep a record of my time with Arya,” I said. Using her given name was somewhat odd, but it didn't seem like she much appreciated me calling her 'Miss Ravenwing' during our rather limited conversations. “But perhaps I should continue with the Loveloxx Houses, yes?”

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    Oh yes, she knew lots about how to start, why, Dama had even told her lots of times! A determined expression on her face, Tak moved to the seat across the table from him and reached out to pluck the stylus from his unsuspecting hand. Quick movements brought the book in front of her as well before he could object, and the girl turned to a blank page.

    She pointed the stylus at him.

    "Y'have to start with you. That's the 'portant thing. It's how the Losstarot do it, and they do everything the right way."

  7. #7
    I smiled slowly. So that was what had bothered me, her now clear sense of superiority. Even though her answer rang clearly with the truth, I couldn't help myself in somehow reining in that ego of hers. I have one as well, I suppose, but I have seen and come to grips with the proliferation and power that the Humans now enjoyed. It is hard to retain one's sense of superiority when hiding from those you are superior to.

    “Would you like me to tell you a story about the Losstarot and how they do things, «Little One»?” I asked. “Don't worry. This is an old tale, but still short.

    “Have you ever heard of the Guardians? They were the only creatures who'd been conquered by the Lupines. But after our race's long, slow descent into madness and decline began, they claimed their independence. It was then they came to be called Guardians, where before they were known as Slaves,” I said. “This was for the way they began to take responsibility for us. Whenever one of us grew uncontrollably mad or dangerous, they would come and kill that one. They pitied us Loveloxx, or in-so-far as they could, they pitied us as uncontrolled beasts who revelled in their wildness. They hated the Losstarot. The Losstarot you see, when the Guardians were still our slaves, would take their children—some not much older than you, I'd suppose—the ones they could sense were the strong, the ones we had made ourselves to match, and would poison those children in front of their parents with the tails taken from the slain of Loveloxx blood. There were other methods, but this was by far their favoured one. Were the Losstarot right in that?”

    I paused, and stopped smiling, glancing over at Tak a bit guiltily. “I apologize. There were better ways to say that, and I did not think.”

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    A haughty stare was sent his way, and Tak leaned back in her seat. She even rolled her eyes while crossing her arms over her chest.

    "Dama told me stories like that."

    Of course, Dama had never told her in such tones that Sarin had just used, and though she'd never admit it to him, the little girl was somewhat off-put by what he'd spoken of. She fidgeted with the stylus, tapping it on the edge of the table for a few moments.

    "Dama says they all deserved it anyway," she finally mumbled.

  9. #9
    I laughed softly.

    “Perhaps they did,” I replied. “Perhaps they didn't. We'll likely never know what those infants and children did to be so deserving of that death, and why it had to be done in front of the children's parents.”

    I looked on the page which still remained unchanged from my last marking. I tapped on particular crest.

    “House Geiss. Many Von Metzger men were married to Giess women, you know. My great great great grandmother was a Geiss. There were many ties between the Houses like that. It's fascinating, but not nearly as much as you and Miss Ravenwing are. Not to me, anyway. It's like having a family again.”

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    Tak hid her sudden interest as well as she could, but it was plain to see for a fraction of a moment that the girl was staring intently at the crest Sarin had pointed to. Seconds later she gave a sound that could've been a scoff followed by another roll of her eyes.

    "I'm not family... not like Arya is at least. She's not even my aunt, really."

    Her eyes went to the scrawlings once more, and she pointed to a different crest.

    "What House is that one for?"

  11. #11
    I suspected she wasn’t,” I said, as I looked at the crest she was pointing at. “Though for such bitter rivalries, we Lupines do enjoy our tales of intermixed love... Romulus and Julia, for example. I don’t know if you’ve heard that one, but I suspect it must have come from something other than the writer’s imagination. I’ve found a number of versions of it, one with Romulus as a Loveloxx, and one with him as a Losstarot. Either way, Julia was nearly always the different bloodline. I've only found one that kept them both of one line, and that was of Losstarot origin.”

    I smiled. “That is House Luthgarde. In the version where Romulus was a Loveloxx, he was a Luthgarde, or at least I think so. I do remember clearly that Julia was a Richter when she was a Losstarot. My mother was a Luthgarde, though she was raised for the greater part of her life with my father due to the death of her parents.”

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    She nodded most seriously, like she'd seen other adults do so often when talking to one another. And strangely enough, for all of her outward haughtiness, the little Lupine was fascinated by what Sarin was telling her, and ever so slowly her curiosity was beginning to win out over her current attitude.

    She even let a smile slip across her lips.

    "My Dama is from House Losstarot. She says that we're Apex Lupines."

  13. #13
    Apex?” I hummed in surprise.

    This girl was certainly more than she seemed. What was an Apex Losstarot, the scion, the child-heiress, doing out in the galaxy with a Loveloxx? Most interesting, and likely for the best; since it seemed that the species would only survive in small numbers, any fighting between them would be quite counter-productive to our survival. Now that I was aware of the truth that the Lupines were not all sterile, things did not seem so hopeless.


    Well now,” I said, hesitating a bit, unsure about the girl’s name. “...Tak. Very interesting. How did you and Arya end up here among the stars?”

  14. #14
    "Bad luck," said Arya, leaning against the doorframe. "That and the little bugger knows where something of mine is, and she's not telling."

    The smuggler sauntered into the room and reached for a mug to make some caf in. "Having an interesting talk?"

    There is a curse.
    They say: May you live in interesting times.


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