:[ PRP ]: And After All This Time... (Aysu & Noel)

[Seiana_ZI]

Life had definitely changed.

She had been sad at first, really. She had run away, and even in the storm she managed to find that house standing in the distance. That beacon of hope she would always recognized. Her home. Texas' Home. Magnus' Home, Mikasi's Home, Vangelis' home... Perhaps not her home anymore. But for now, it was, and she had settled back in just fine in her old room, reflective and sad.

The sadness had eventually faded away into a dull bitterness. How had she not noticed Noel was so... wimpy? Aysu couldn't stand people who weren't strong in the face of danger, and Noel had prioritized in such a way that left her daughter in the face of danger, and her daughter's children as well. Almost two years had gone by, and Aysu had never noticed a thing. She guessed it went to show that she could never truly know a person. And it was being proven more and more all around her. Even people she thought would never change were changing around her.

Magnus was a story all his own.

These days, Aysu's mood had lightened. Being possessed by a werewolf, distance from bad situations, new wisdom and new acceptance of that wisdom would eventually do that to a woman. She stroked her wolf's neck as she sat by the Tuatha'Ri Lake, one of Aysu's favorite places to just sit around. It was relatively cold outside, but she was used to the weather. Noel, when Aysu had visited her long times ago, preferred places in the cold.

Admittedly, Aysu had grown to like the cold as well. It was her preferred season, even if her new familiar had some things unfavorable to say about the conditions. Aysu just rolled her eyes at her and continued on, and the wolf nuzzled her with her nose to show that she really wasn't mad.

It was a fairly peaceful day. Frankly, Aysu wasn't expecting anything bad to happen.

...But every time she thought nothing bad would happen, something bad did.  

[spookyx7]

Noel had been wandering the isle with ony her mellon as company ever since the fight and storm. She didn't like to think about that night. She didn't think aobut her daughter or her two grandchildren either. Why think painful thoughts?

She was going to the lake to get some water to drink. She had found a new cave and it wasn't far from here. She likde her new hermit exsistence, at least nothing painful or good could happen to her.

Noel didn't notice Aysu or her wolf close by. She just talked to her mellon. "Water, that's all we need. Then we'll go back."

"Don't you think it's time we found your kid and her kids?" The mellon kept trying with no avial.

"She made her bed." Noel said with a sigh.  

[Seiana_ZI]

"Water, that's all we need. Then we'll go back."

Aysu knit her brows and her wolf's ears perked up. She would honestly know that voice for the rest of her life, no matter what happened to her. Noel. She had managed to avoid Noel for months; why would she show up now when Aysu just thought that she was free from the memories of that voice? She flopped in the sands in agitation, attempting to keep low so maybe Noel wouldn't notice her and go away.

Incidentally, that was at least partially ineffective, because the voice came to her ears again. She made her bed. What was that supposed to mean? Who was she talking to anyway, and why couldn't she see them? Had Noel lost her mind? Curiosity quickly overrode Aysu's want to get away from Noel, and she tilted her head to watch Noel as she worked on getting herself water.

Aysu's wolf turned to watch Aysu's face, moving closer to nuzzle her in a sort of show of concern. With a smile, Aysu pet her wolf's head before deciding to get up out of the sands and venture a little closer to the woman who looked like she hadn't seen any sun in months. Aysu's wolf trotted after her, but she turned around and placed her finger to her lips as a signal for the wolf to be quieter.

Sure, she was curious, but as of the moment she really didn't want to be noticed. Even if she had gotten over everything that had happened... mostly... she still wanted those two years back. But as much as she told herself she had gotten over what happened, Aysu still didn't feel like confronting Noel directly.  

[spookyx7]

Noel filled up the bucket with water and sighed as she heaved it over her shoulder. She wasn't weak, just lost all spirit. She had lost everything she had to live for. When making the choice between letting her daughter choose her life she had lost both Cinna and Aysu.

"Come on! You know that CInna would like to see you. The babies too." The mellon didn't mention Aysu, he knew that was out of the question. He also knew they weren't babies anymore.

"Why? You know Cinna chose that Phim over me. I should have done more to stop her...I mean them." She still didn't notice them. Only the mellon had her attention.  

[Seiana_ZI]

Aysu's wolf trotted up behind her, nudging her with her snout.

"Kader," hissed Aysu, aloud this time, pressing her finger harshly to her lips. "Don't be loud. We can't let her hear us." The wolf seemed amused, and for obvious reasons. If anyone was making too much noise at the current moment, it was the overly curious Aysu, who was currently attempting to creep closer to her ex-girlfriend in an attempt to see if there was anyone near her that she was talking to.

But what she said then distracted her. Cinna chose that 'Phim' over her; did that mean the two had actually talked? Then it was Cinna's bad decision, but there needed to be interference anyway. Didn't Noel know better? Cinna was too blinded by her terrible lover's charms to realize that he was going to destroy her. He had already destroyed her. Aysu's innocent young girl, pregnant with children from a b*****d such as Seraphim! She would be surprised if those children were even alive at this point...

Aysu shook her head. Focus. This wasn't time to bring back terrible memories of terrible times. No, she was just curious as to what Noel was up to. She had gotten over this long ago. It wouldn't affect her anymore, it hadn't affected her anymore, this was all behind her and no seeing of the face would bring it back.

Right.

The naiad cracked her knuckles before daring to venture a bit closer. She wasn't going to say anything and didn't want to be noticed, but at the same time she really wanted to know if anything had happened between her ex-girlfriend and her daughter... if Cinna even thought of herself as Aysu's daughter at this point.  

[spookyx7]

Noel picked up the bucket and was about the turn to go back to her cave when she felt that she wasn't alone. It was really the sound, it was the heat. More than usual.

She then heard the knuckles. Noel didn't want to turn and see who or where the sound came from, but knew she had too. She slowly turned and there she was. Aysu....the love of her life. What she gave up when she let Cinna's mate live.

Noel just stood and stared. Maybe this was a dream and nothing was real. She didn't know what to do so she just stood drinking in the image. Maybe not a dream a mirage...by someone who was thirsty but not for water...  

[Seiana_ZI]

Perhaps breaking the mirage was the fact that Aysu didn't run up, hug Noel close and kiss her. No, her instinct was to turn away and hiss, "s**t." No, being agitated was not exactly the type of reaction a proper mirage would have. "Damn, Kader, I told you to be quiet."

The growl that followed emitted from a... wolf? Kader, with a small snarl, decided to take her revenge and nudge her closer to her ex-girlfriend, leaving Aysu to stumble forward and only gain her balance because she was a naiad so used to being on the land. Aysu rubbed her neck nervously, uncertain what to do now that she had been spotted.

Admittedly, she shouldn't've have expected her sneaky ways to work. After all, she was not her leprechaun brother by any means, who had the whole thing down to an art. Cracking her knuckles again as a nervous instinct, Aysu tried to venture closer. Why was this frightening her? She was over everything that happened. It was behind her, in the past, and ... she hadn't seen Noel's face since.

Maybe she just needed to say that she didn't need Noel anymore right to her blankly staring face.

So, she ventured closer. But instead of saying, I don't need you, she said a question prompted by her curiosity. "Did you and Cinna actually talk?" Perhaps there was something in her mind, somewhere, still, that hoped Noel wasn't a total coward even if Aysu had most thoroughly convinced herself that Noel was a complete coward.

After all, she let Seraphim get away with everything.  

[spookyx7]

Noel didn't except this mirage/real Aysu to come running over. Why would she? Noel had disappointed Aysu to the point of no return, she had disappointed herself as well. She looked down at the ground. She really didn't want to face what was standing in front of her.

"Stop that, Noel. It's time to confront your problem head on!" Her little mellon was a little Noel cheerleader.

"What problem?" She asked him as she sighed. Then she heard the question she didn't want to hear. "She wants nothing to do with me. As you don't either. If you want to know if I have seen the grandchildren, no." What was the point in making her feel more miserable? She turned around to leave, this was supposed to be a simple water trip, not a drudge up the past trip.

"Don't do this, you need to talk to her." The mellon said.

"What is there to say?" She asked him. To say her life was over now that the two things she loved most in the world were gone? Cinna and Aysu? She couldn't' fathom how to get them back.  

[Seiana_ZI]

Cinna wanted nothing to do with her?

Bullshit.

Cinna had been a very loving child to Noel. Even in her teenage years, she never rebelled. It was only when she had just barely hit her adult years when she left, and that was because her ... her ... her git of an a*****e boyfriend happened to go by the name of Seraphim and was probably preventing Cinna from seeing Noel! Seraphim must've been a cruel person like that if he had deafened her sister's ex-fiancee, and had made a slave out of some poor angel boy...

Therefore, Aysu just had to determine that Noel hadn't confronted Cinna at all. Besides, when Aysu last saw Cinna, she was about to go into labor--did Noel just turn away from her?! Coward!

Aysu's yellow eyes burned as brightly as the sun over their heads. "Noel!" All signs of her own personal nervousness and cowardice left as she charged forward and swirled to stop in front of Noel to prevent her from going any further. ...Oh, so she was talking to her mellon. Looked like it was moving its mouth.

"We aren't done here. Don't hide away again, coward. Saying she wants nothing to do with you isn't an answer, Noel. Have you talked to her or not? And what kind of mother are you if you haven't tried?" The accusations were already spilling from Aysu's mouth.  

[spookyx7]

Noel looked at the ground when Aysu yelled all the truths to her face. "What do you want me to say? I'm a horrid mother, I should be stoned to death for what I let my daughter do? But at the same time, what if Cinna is happy and I don't want to take that away from her?" Noel may be a coward, weakling, but she was no murderer as Aysu apparently wanted to be. Noel couldn't imagine killing a single creature let alone her daughter's mate.

"If you want to we can go talk to Cinna, pull her away with the children if need be, but I will have nothing to do with violence. It's not my nature." She was willing to go, she just had no energy anymore. With her two loves gone she had become an empty shell of her former self.

"That's sounds great, Noel. Go finally talk to Cinna!" Her mellon cheerleader cheered her on yet again.  

[Seiana_ZI]

And she stood there looking at the ground, trained on the sands as if they were going to tell her something else beside the truth. Aysu crossed her arms and stared hard at the woman who wouldn't lift her head to her anymore. Because Noel was too much of coward. Too much of a coward to even stand up and admit that she had been a coward.

Until she talked.

Aysu glanced into Noel's eyes and watched as she finally said that maybe they should go talk to her. Well, more like she said that if Aysu wanted to, they could go talk to her. Where was Noel's inclination? "You are a horrid mother! The fact that you still defer to if I want to talk to her is a sad state of affairs!" She groaned and turned away from Noel, thinking of just going off by herself if this was going to be absolutely pointless...

But then she turned back around. "Look, Noel. I think of Cinna as my daughter, but before she was my daughter she was your daughter. And if you're unwilling to help her for yourself, and only willing to go talk to her if I am going to talk to her, then you are a horrible mother. You need to square your shoulders and go talk to her on your own accord. Not run away."

Whatever her mellon was saying to her, Aysu hoped that it was about encouraging Noel to finally go talk to Cinna and not encouraging her to keep being a coward.  

[spookyx7]

Noel felt as if she had been slapped. The verbal slap was warranted. "You are right. I am a horrid mother and you and Cinna are better off." There was no point in her, she was afraid...of Aysu and her violent mood swings and temper that she had never seen before. She was also afraid of Cinna being angry at her.

She lifted her head to look at Aysu, "But isn't the job of a mother to let her children be happy?" One tear was rolling down her cheek. Cinna was happy wasn't she? "Even if the mother doesn't agree?" Noel sighed as she looked at Aysu or whoever she was. She wasn't the Aysu she knew. That Aysu loved everyone and everything...why Noel loved her so much.

"If you wish me to go to Cinna...I will." Noel looked at Aysu and then turned to leave, "Her cave is near here. I will go, but only because I want to see if she truly is happy." Not because Aysu and her mellon wanted her too.  

[Seiana_ZI]

Aysu had changed, that was undeniable. The Aysu that was standing there scolding her wasn't the Aysu that loved Noel all those months ago. In most respects, she had moved on. As a side-effect, she had become much more bitter with the world.

After all, if she didn't see something lurking underneath the surface for almost two years, who knew what was wrong with the rest of the Pae'il on this Isle. People could make a one-eighty at any moment and leave her stunned. Just like before...

...Just like now.

Aysu blinked for a few moments, before setting her arms back to her side and looking closely to Noel to make sure she was being sincere and not just saying that so Aysu would leave. Well, if she was crying... "There's a difference between a happy child and a deluded child. If she thinks she's ever going to get anywhere with Seraphim, anywhere where he is a loving mate, then she is deluded so far that she can never get out. Not on her own."

And she smiled, vaguely. It wasn't the same smile as before. Her eyes had more wisdom and it felt just as painful to crack as it was to see. "And it's your job as a mother to help her see the truth. This is a good thing you're doing, Noel."

Because, perhaps, Aysu believed that Noel was probably the only one who could break through to their daughter at this point.  

[spookyx7]

((Sorry it's taken a while to reply. Just trying to get the reply right. biggrin ))

"You think I really can?" Noel did want her daughter back and her old life. She knew she lost Aysu for good, but Cinna? Cinna was her daughter and she would always love Noel deep down, right?

"I think if her mate isn't there it will be easier. Since, he is the one corrupted her." Noel looked at Aysu and then back at the ground, "Will you go with me, for support? That's all?" She knew Asyu believed Noel should be able to do it on her own, but right now she was not herself and maybe having Asyu there would help her and Cinna.