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Post by nikki on Sept 15, 2007 15:28:40 GMT -5
Rian grinned and shook his head. "Yeah, quite a while away." He watched Rafe make himself comfortable and glanced up at the sky. It was early still; he shouldn't have to go back for a few hours. Well, either way, people would worry, but he didn't really care about that.
"What about you?" inquired Rian. "Where do you stay?" Maybe he was just a vagrant. Who knew?
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Post by Envy on Sept 15, 2007 16:34:19 GMT -5
"Here and there," he replied. "Met up with one of my own kind, sometimes I climb up and sleep on his couch, sometimes I just sleep outside under the stars or on the top of buildings." It wasn't a lie, but Rafe was a loner. His friend was part of a large pack, and he'd be an Omega if he did become of a pack anyway.
He gave Rian a smile. "I like being a free soul, rather than chained to just one option."
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Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 1:14:11 GMT -5
Nodding slowly, Rian contributed, "It sounds like it can be hard sometimes, but it's also the kind of life that makes you glad to be part of this earth, am I right?" He wasn't sure where the words had come from. Spontaneous observation, he supposed - but the idea, it could be true, couldn't it?
His life... his rich, slightly spoiled life. Rian had grown accustomed to it and though he was more of an outdoorsy type than the kind of kid who sits back and relaxes all the time, he didn't think he could stand anything unlike the lifestyle he was used to.
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Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 10:41:21 GMT -5
Giving a bob of his head, Rafe confided to the young prince, "Even though I am hunted, I like knowing I'm free to roam where I wish and when I wish. No boundaries." He made a gesture at their surroundings. "It owns me, gets my heart pumping and gives me the joy of the race for life. It's a game and a war, all in one."
He watched a cloud drift gently across the sky, no particular shape, no destination. No chains. That's how I want to live. No chains.
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Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 11:24:35 GMT -5
"It's quite a bit different than what everyone else is used to," Rian remarked. "Including me. I don't think I could get by out here like you can and are." Casting a glance around, he noted that it was indeed beautiful out here, but one can't live off beauty alone. Or that was what his father said applied to Falingah's gypsies, anyway.
"It'd be interesting to switch places," Rian said suddenly, and laughed. He couldn't imagine Rafe living it up in a castle very well.
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Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 11:43:27 GMT -5
Rafe chuckled at the idea. "I believe I would go insane, within the walls of something so closely hued to silver. And the inside is no place for I; not when I have a wild soul trapped in this body." He meant his wolven half, though it was obvious as he had no other animal spirits within him.
The stone had already out nerved him. To be in a place completed by the same substance, that would be suicide. A mental institution without the padded walls.
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Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 12:21:48 GMT -5
"Oh, that's true," Rian admitted. "I actually forgot about that for a second. Well, it's a life that most envy, but the ones who cultivate it get bored of it eventually." He gave a shrug. "I'm used to it now, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't mind a shakeup once and a while."
Once and a while... that was actually every day. Every day for hours at a time so that his friends all wondered where he had gone, his mother went insane with worry and his father scolded him for not saying he was leaving for a bit. Why should he have to clock in and out just for some freedom?
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Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 12:34:44 GMT -5
His gaze found Rian, watching the boy that held the chocolate shaded orbs and the sandy blond strands of hair that he had obscured a few times by now. "Does that include this day, or have your parents the slightest clue you've left?" He doubted it highly in his mind. What was the point of a prince checking in and out, when he ruled a land? It mattered not.
But this, however, was merely Rafe's mind working, and not the Queen or King's. Of course, the dear loup-garoux had no children, and was untamed to the ways of humans or anything other than his own rules, which were merely strive ad survive.
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Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 15:23:44 GMT -5
"They have no idea," smiled Rian. "They'll probably be mad when I get back, but in my opinion, they shouldn't be. Sitting around at home all the time is boring, and there's not much to do in the marketplace other than walk and shop if you want to for some reason... but not many kids do." He shrugged. "It's typical to want to get away, isn't it?"
He didn't hate his parents. He really did care about them quite a bit, but nobody wants to be around their mom and dad all day.
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Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 15:57:46 GMT -5
"Depends on who you are," Rafe told him, a bright light beginning to engulf his human form, illuminating him until he shifted into the shape of the ebony brute. The yin yang charm on his collar jingled cheerily, his amber voids blinking as he focused them. "I can see where you wish to roam in other lands, but parents shall be parents."
He settled his skull down onto his forepaws, curling his whipcord around one of his hind limbs. His nares inhaled the fragrance of life, and as he became adjusted to this form, his orbs turned to Rian.
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Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 16:05:20 GMT -5
Grinning, Rian gave a nod and watched as Rafe changed forms. It was an interesting thing to watch, really; like a living miracle. "Which form do you prefer?" he questioned randomly. He couldn't say for himself. Being a human - okay, in all fairness, having mostly human blood and a bit of giant - was the way he'd prefer to stay.
Then again, being a wolf would probably be intriguing as well, if you weren't hunted twenty four-seven like Rafe was. Vaguely Rian wondered if his parents suppported loup-garoux or not. Well, obviously his father didn't, but his mother might. She had some different views than Rian himself.
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Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 16:36:32 GMT -5
"It's nice having thumbs," Rafe replied, "but I get more of a rush when I run as a wolf. The charm always clicks though, so that hasn't much to do with anything." He lifted his head so the charm was in clear view. It had a few different meanings to him, and normally he wouldn't tell these to another living soul.
Rian became the exception. "When I think of it, it reminds me of being half human, half wolf; of life and death; love and hate... sorrow and joy, even. It reminds me of opposites." Rafe had cut his line of sight toward the emerald below him. As he came to his last example, however, he looked back at the boy he had so recently met. "Of chains, and of freedom."
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Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 17:08:40 GMT -5
Rian didn't say anything in return for a moment; he was deep in thought, considering what the loup-garoux had said. "I suppose..." he began hesitantly, "I suppose that life is opposite. I mean, it's bittersweet, right? You can notice a lot of things every day that are really contradictory. Even the things you feel." Once more, he paused, not sure how much to reveal and what to tuck back inside again.
"Cheer is accompanied with sorrow at times. Sometimes our happiness is like... like... a cursed happiness, sort of. We're just crazy happy without even knowing why. That's the worst kind," he concluded, not meeting Rafe's eyes.
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Post by Envy on Sept 16, 2007 18:12:46 GMT -5
"Have you been afflicted by this 'crazy happy' feeling of which you speak before?" Rafe questioned, placing his dial upon the natural cushion dubbed grass. The idea had never crossed the mind of the loup-garoux. Running had been his shelter, his joy, his friend and even his companion. Perhaps as far as his parents. However, sprinting, dashing, it was all just an action, and it was not a real person to comfort him, and it was not a real person to speak to.
Rian was a real person. He could answer what Rafe asked, he could ask questions of Rafe, he could get up and walk away if he wanted. Running couldn't do that. This began to puzzle the mind of Rafe, as he weighed both as friends, though he should not judge friendly or cruelly so easily or so quickly.
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Post by nikki on Sept 16, 2007 23:12:05 GMT -5
"Oh, yes," Rian said, growing more comfortable speaking about his previous experiences to Rafe. "Many times. It's weird. You're just... happy for no reason at all, and soon after that you don't feel so great." Rian could remember when he had told his mom about one of those times. She had stared at him, then dropped the glass she was holding so that it shattered on the floor. When he had inquired what was wrong, she hurriedly shook him off, but she looked near to tears and Rian could've sworn he heard her mumble something about "growing up too fast".
"Then there's the opposite, but with that there's sort of a rainbow at the end of the storm," he reasoned. Rian wasn't really sure why his words were coming out so poetically today. Sometimes that happened to him, usually when he least expected it.
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