[PRP] In Memoriam... (Sakura Family)

[Phail Ninja]

This is a private RP, open to any members of the Sakura family. Not all of them have to post, but are more than welcome to.

Additionally, if any of your Soq would like to bring along a mate, or a best friend, they are more than welcome to. If you let me know, I will add them to the front post.

 

[Phail Ninja]

It had been a long journey. Far too long, and with far too many losses along the way. She had lost her family, lost her friends, lost her very own children. But, finally, she had her answers. She knew what had happened, she understood the events that had defined her life. And it was time to share, and to come together, and maybe even to finally... heal?

That was such a baffling concept. How could anyone recover from the obsession that had gripped her? The never ending urge to find out the truth. She'd been depressed, possessed, and utterly beyond all reason for so long. Her purpose in life had been singular and absolute. But now she knew. And now she had to live in the aftermath. The chaos she had strewn, the lives she had ruined along the way. No, her journey had never been about finding answers. She understood that now. She had only been running. Running from her past, from responsibilities, and from coming to terms with what had befallen her. Focusing on her goal had let her escape from so much, excuse so many bad things she had done in her life. But no more. It was time to come clean, to explain to everyone, and to move forwards. Finally. Forwards.

A strange peace had settled deep within her stomach, like a rock coming to finally rest at the bottom of a pond. She was ready, she wanted to face everyone, to tell her story. And to finally say goodbye to that chapter of her life, to her father, to all the things she had let hold herself back. Goodbye to all the torments that had chased her family around for all these years. Let them come together, as a family, the only thing that really mattered in this world. Let them band together, and be open and honest, and move onwards.

And so Sakura had raised the call. She had asked her familiar, Tinsel, to fly far and wide to spread the message. To gather everyone, here, in her birth home, right now. Because it was time to bury the past.

 

[Phail Ninja]

LydaLynn

Only four years later, apologies for taking so long! No pressure to respond, but if you're interested I'm going to try to keep chipping at this RP heart

Tsubaki Ume found himself uncharacteristically nervous. There he was – a proud kitsune warrior, one sworn to protect his ruler at the cost of his life, a duty he had never so much as batted an eye at – and yet the thought of meeting Naira’s family had him tapping his legs in anxiety. Why did it matter so much to him? Well, apart from the fact that he was clearly smitten with her. And wanted to make a good impression. What a fool! He didn’t even know if she reciprocated his feelings. Certainly, even looking at her sent his heart into a tizzy, but maybe she saw him as nothing more than a friend? Urgh. Why did feelings have to be so complicated? Fighting he could do. Protecting those close to him at all costs. He wouldn’t falter for a second if there was a hint of danger, after all he had been raised to be proud and strong. But emotions? Those were somewhat out of his depth.
 













Naira peeked at Ume curiously, noting the tension in his back as he walked along next to her. “It’s okay, my family’s nice. I promise!” She knew that meeting her family under these circumstances wasn’t ideal, but he’d been there when Tinsel had delivered her message and she didn’t want to be rude by not bringing him. Plus, well. He made her feel safe, and she would have been lying if she didn’t admit to being a bit nervous about the whole ordeal. Still, she did find a tad bit funny how the big, broad-shouldered, strong warrior had such a gentle heart – scared of meeting her family! They were all lovely. A bit strange, yes. But lovely. Well, most of them. Admittedly, she didn’t know all her aunts and uncles so well. And her birth mother, Sakura, hadn’t actually raised her, so she didn’t really know what she was like so much... But her dad and ‘uncle’ Casper were the best family she could have ever imagined. They’d given her a wonderful childhood, and she knew her family’s history was a bit dark, so while she’d always been curious about the strange circumstances of her adoption she had never felt any of them any animosity. “Look! There’s my sister, Cirera. You’ll like her. Come on, let’s go say hi. Oh, and my dad! Well, one of them, his name’s Tiriaq.” She bounced over to them, ignoring the strange humming tension in the air of the big news that was about to break. “Hi! I’m here, I’ve brought a friend.” Well, okay, she might have had a slight crush on her friend, but she didn’t think that was really relevant information right now. “This is Tsubaki Ume!”
 
 









Oh, there she went – he swore that girl had no fear what so ever. He liked that about her though, she was so innocent and carefree. She had no judgement in her heart, she just accepted things at face value and rolled with it. Well, no more time to be nervous he supposed. “Oh, erm. Hi.” His voice was deep and gruff, luckily hiding the faint nervous squeak that crept into his words. “You can just call me Ume, it’s a pleasure to meet both of you.” He bowed his head deeply, taking care to heed his antlers so they wouldn’t hurt anybody in a practised, respectful motion. He just really, really wanted to make a good first impression.  

[Phail Ninja]

“Jasper, is that you? It’s nice to see you again.” Casper looked up in surprise at the familiar figure. Well, last time he’d seen him the stallion had been significantly smaller – both of them had been just kids after all. His family had hung around theirs a lot until Jasper’s family had decided to move away. He remembered Sakura and Jasper being thick as thieves, well… before. Before everything went wrong. Certainly it was a bit of a shock to see him after all this time, especially here of all places.

 













“Oh, Casper, I almost didn’t recognise you.” Jasper flicked his ears forwards the stallion, pleased to see his childhood friends once more. “Sakura and I ran into each other a little while back.” He gave by way of explanation, “And, well, I didn’t really have anywhere better to be so I joined her to help.” He knew Sakura wanted to tell her family what had happened herself, and he had no desire to take that away from her. “I’d tell you the details, but I think it’s Sakura’s story to share. I’m sure we’ll have lots of time to catch up coming up, though.” He ruffled his wings, letting them settle into a relaxed position against his back. Fate had intertwined their destinies once more, and a nagging sensation told Jasper that this is where he was meant to be. Maybe it was part of his powers, his ability to always find a safe harbour, but certainly something had pulled him back to her after all these years and whispered in his ear that this was where he belonged. His past had been a hard one, he had lost his first mate to a wildfire that had claimed the forest, and he had wandered the lands without purpose ever since until the day he stumbled upon Sakura once more. Childhood friends reunited. “It’s really good to see you again, but I should go see how Sakura’s holding up. I know today means a lot to her, and likes to put up a brave front, but you know…” He politely excused himself, meandering over towards the mare.

 
 









Casper gave a curious nod, eyeing the stallion. Could it be that after all this time Sakura had found someone to share her life with? Well, he’d certainly question her about that particular development later. However, at that moment he caught his mate’s eye and chased the thought from his mind. Casper had loved, truly, twice in his life. Once to Marut many years ago, a feisty mare who had not reciprocated his affections, and now to the beautiful stallion standing before him, Tiriaq. They had certainly not had a conventional love story. Tiriaq had actually impregnated his sister, who hadn’t been able to raise the kids. He had taken them in, and found love in the process with the foals’ father. The flirtatious stallion had stolen his heart, and he’d never been happier. He walked over and gave Tiriaq a fond nudge with his nose before turning to look at… at a strange stallion. Large, fluffy, covered in plants. Stood beside his adopted daughter, Naira. His eyebrow shot up. Naira hadn’t brought a stallion around before. “Who’s your friend, Naira?” He asked cheekily, giving her the most dad-like stare he had ever done in his entire life.  

[Phail Ninja]

Ebony’s skin burned. Like a deep itch, a drive. Anticipation. Needing. Urgency. At first it had been just a tickle of a sensation – something you could shrug off. Like a cold wind rustling against your back, only this time it wasn’t temporary. Nervous energy filled her body. She had received Sakura’s summons – a summons back to her family. Her whole life she had tried to ignore them, put them behind her. They had always mostly left her alone. She was the quiet one. Never caused a big fuss. But she had hurt, oh yes. They just didn’t know. Her brother had always been the dramatic one – whining about being ‘cursed’, brooding. And she had sat in the shadows, watching as her siblings flocked to him, leaving her to fade into the background. She squared her shoulders, bracing herself for what was to come. What had made her bring them together? For a brief moment Ebony felt a wince of guilt – Sakura had always tried to be nice to her. But there were so many of them, and she had been but a foal herself. It had been so easy to slip into the shadows, to become… nothing. And so, true to her shadowy nature, she slunk into the clearing, sticking to the edge. Inside her her emotions roiled, a tumultuous tempest waiting to burst its dams, but on the surface she was nothing. Cold, clear. Silent. Her wings shielded her body from view, blending her into the background as much as possible.


 

[RockerWolfie1616]

When the call was sent out Whisper had been a bit shocked, to even hear from his massive family line was a rare treat. Indeed the tree of their family spread so far now..with a delicate shake of his mane the pale stallion moved closer. So many voices were chattering up ahead. Anxiety coiled around Whisper’s heart but, he managed to keep his chin held high. It was all thanks to his lovely life-mate who had helped the perpetually shy stallion find a voice. Taking deep calming breaths he gave a few nods to anyone that met his eye..heart warming at the sight of …was that his sister and their father? ”Ah..it’s b-been so long.” Voice’s volume matching his name perfectly Whisper dared to traverse deeper into the family gathering. Dizzying. So many many faces..most new. How many kids did his father have now? A more pressing question had him finding the one that had called them here..eyes flitting to her bright pink coat. Such a contrast against the more pale side of their family. With a little wash of awkwardness Whisper found a shady spot to stand..not too close..just in case there was some unforeseen drama but close enough to hear a few other conversations.  

[Phail Ninja]

RockerWolfie1616

Viveka had always wondered about her father’s side of the family. Sure, they’d met a few times, and had an amicable relationship once Casper had recovered from the shock of having had kids. Of course, it turned out she wasn’t the only child of Casper’s there, in fact he had accidentally sired quite a few of Viveka’s half-siblings in his ignorant, younger years. Apparently he’d been a bit of a flirt, and hadn’t really realised that his actions had real consequences – children. She gazed out, recognising a few other familiar grey-looking bodies. Clearly the genetics were a strong indicator. Well, she supposed now was as a good as any to reconnect with her long-lost family. After all, she had always been curious about them – wouldn’t you want to know about the half of your life you were missing? Well, no point in dilly-dallying. After all, Elior had told her about this gathering, so clearly she’d been invited as part of the family. It was then that her eye caught on her brother, Whisper. She instantly relaxed, giving him a huge smile. “Whisper! I wasn’t sure you’d be here. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I’d come.” She gave her brother’s mane a reassuring tussle. “What’s new with you? Do you know why we’re all gathering? Did you know dad had so many kids? I assume all the grey ones are his kids...” Her lively nature kicked in, feeling in her element now. She’d always been a rambunctious foal in her youth, and the idea of meeting so many people she’d never met before was actually quite an exciting one – though maybe Whisper didn’t agree.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tinsel gave her son a look. Her small wings had not been up the task of finding and summoning everyone, so she had asked him for his help. Maybe that had been a mistake, however, as she scanned out across the sea of bodies - many unfamiliar to her. “I know I said to help me fetch the whole family – but how did you track down so many descendants that even the family members didn’t necessarily know about?”


 
 














Elior just gave her a smug chirp. He was good – what could he say? Besides, Tinsel’s instructions had been clear. Summon everyone, Sakura had to speak with them. It wasn’t his problem there were so many illegitimate children in the family. Besides, not all of them had come anyway. Well, not yet at least. Wasn’t today about reconnecting anyway?

















Tinsel gave a sharp huff at her child before affectionately running her beak through his feathers. Well, what was done was done. Besides, Sakura had in fact said to gather the whole family…


 

[Phail Ninja]

“You don’t have to come if you’re not feeling up to it” Larkspur reassured her partner, “I know it’s kind of a weird situation.” She’d certainly never really known much about her dad’s side of the family. He hadn’t been there growing up, and she hadn’t particularly missed him. In fact, until super recently he hadn’t even known she or her brother existed. But a little bird – Elior, she thought he’d said his name was – had suddenly flitted up to her and told her that the entire family was meeting and that her presence was requested. Certainly, a weird one. But Larkspur wasn’t one to shy away from a strange situation, in fact it had simply piqued her curiosity.

 














Ceylon gave his mate a concerned look. Out of the two of them he was definitely the more cautious, the ‘worrier’ as some might be tempted to refer to him as. Certainly the circumstances were bizarre. Some unknown bird had approached them, claiming to be part of Larkspur’s father’s family, a stallion she barely even knew existed. And they wanted her to come and join a big family gathering her supposed ‘Aunt’ was hosting? What if it was all a lie? Some weird ruse to lure them into the middle of nowhere? Not to mention that she barely knew that side of her family, even if it truly was them what’s to say they were nice or good people? What if they were criminals and going to do something grossly immoral? It all left a very bitter taste in his mouth. And leave her alone to deal with that? No way. “You can’t go alone, are you insane? What if you get hurt? What if it’s a trap? How do you know you can trust these people?”


 
 














Larkspur gently booped his nose with hers. “Come on, lets not jump to worst case scenarios. Our herd-mates know where we are, nothing’s going to happen to us.” The two plodded on, drawing closer to the location of the meeting. The chitter-chatter of voices reached her ears. “See, not an ambush. Way too many individuals having conversations.” And she had to admit she really wanted to know what was going on. It wasn’t that she particularly felt her life was missing anything, her mother and the rest of her herd had raised her warmly and she loved her home, but wouldn’t you be curious? Want to meet these strangers who were supposedly connected to her? It would certainly make for an amazing story, and Larkspur loved to collect tales from those around her.














Ceylon begrudgingly had to agree that it probably wasn’t an ambush if he could hear that many voices all talking. The atmosphere sounded almost… jovial? Certainly this was at odds with the serious sounding missive that had been delivered to them. And he could see the excitement in Larkspur’s eyes. She was definitely the social one – she always wanted to talk to everyone and find out their entire life story. He didn’t understand how she did it, if he tried to talk to someone the conversation died slowly and painfully a few moments in – but she could get the most emotionally closed off Soq to spill their guts with just a few gentle words. He greatly admired it, even as much as it made him worried. Anxiety still chipping away like a little voice in his ear, he slowly stepped out into the clearing and cast his eyes across the small crowd. There in the corner hovered the little bird that had brought them there, and scattered around stood Soquili in every shade of pink, black, grey and white. Okay, maybe they were all related, after all. Wow, that was certainly a big family. Not that Ceylon could comment, with his large pile of siblings, but still. His eyes instantly settled on a darker mare, stood skulking at the edge of the group, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but there. Something uneasy shifted in his gut. “I don’t like the look of her.” He whispered quietly, referring to Ebony, making sure his voice was soft enough that only Larkspur could hear him.












Larkspur’s face broke out into excitement as she gazed across the sea of bodies. So many people, all related to her? Well, that was an exciting turn. And there were quite a few grey-bodied individuals, she realised with a start. How was everyone related to each other? She cast her attention towards the individual her mate was pointing out. A dark mare, trying to hide at the edge of the gathering. Something about her features was familiar… reminded her of… her father? Somehow? “Oh, don’t be silly, Cey. I’m sure she’s lovely, just a little shy.” She gave the mare a gentle smile, but decided not to approach unless she looked like she wanted to talk. Maybe, she thought, she should ease her mate into this a little more. Her eyes scanned the crowd for a friendlier face to introduce herself to.
 

[Phail Ninja]

Isuru was born of the sea and the waves, and felt profoundly out of her element here deep in the woods. She missed the warm air, the tang of salt on her tongue. Here, everything was green and strange and dry. No rolling waves, no cry of gulls, and certainly no soft sand beneath her hooves. For a moment she thought of the warm flank of her mate, waiting for her back at home, and felt a brief pang of solitude. And yet, when the little bird had told her she was welcome to come to a family gathering, a little spark of curiosity had flared within her. Isuru had always had a bit of an adventurous side, though normally she preferred to explore the oceans, rather than the oak-filled jungle, and the lure of discovery was a strong one. She was vaguely aware of the existence of her father, Casper, from stories of her mother. But she herself had never actually met the stallion, or anyone else related to him besides her siblings. So she’d known what she had to do, she had to brave it. It was just one of those once-in-a-lifetime things you couldn’t say no to, and her mate had understood and let her go with his blessing. She could hear voices up ahead, and perked her ears up. A grey mare, someone related to her father, perhaps, and besides her stood a strange stallion. “Are you here for the family gathering?” She called out.

 












Larkspur heard a voice suddenly call out from behind. “Oh, yes, absolutely. Though I’m afraid I don’t know a lot of people, I’m Larkspur, and this is my mate Ceylon. Lord Ceylon, if you want his full pretentious title.” She responded, giving him a warm but cheeky nudge.
















“Just Ceylon, thank you. That’s a herd custom from back home, please don’t pay any heed to it.” He’d always somewhat hated the title that was customary amongst his family. He looked over, seeing to his surprise another grey individual. “And you are…?”
















“My name is Isuru. I believe someone by the name of ‘Casper’ is my father.”
 

[Phail Ninja]

“Oh! Me too!” Taletha interjected, having just overheard the conversation of the newcomers. “Well, my name isn’t Isuru. But my dad’s also called Casper.” Her voice was an excited whirlwind, her words rushing out at a million miles an hour. “I’m Taletha. Oh, and here’s Tadeo, my brother, and my mate, Kino. Well, Kinoshita.” She didn’t know a lot of people here either, having been just as surprised to learn about the family gathering as most of the individuals here. “To be honest, I don’t know anyone else here, really. It's nice to see a friendly face! Actually, it’s a bit weird. You look almost familiar and yet – not. Like, I’m sure I’ve never met you before. But. I guess we are related, aren’t we?”














Larkspur’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh, well how about that. I’m, uh. I guess your half-sister, too.”

 
















Isuru looked at the two mares like they were crazy. “Wait. You’re both… Casper’s kids?” She had known that she was the product of a youthful fling by her mother and his mystery Casper stallion many years ago, but so many siblings? Wow, this guy sure did get around…


 
 














Taletha and Larkspur nodded in unison. Taletha took a deep breath, realising that she had barely stopped to breathe that entire time. “Uhm, yeah. Have you met him? I did a little while back. I think he was a little shocked, like, he knew he had some kids way back with a mare he called Annika, but he was super surprised to learn that I existed. I guess he was a bit of a flirt, back in the day. Or at least, that’s what I heard from the story mum told me when I asked.”

















Isuru starred at the mare as the words just seemed to spill out of her mouth, slowly taking everything in. So, turned out she had quite a big family. “You sure seem to know a lot.” She didn’t mean it in a bad way, she was just… processing.
















Taletha looked a little shy for a moment, shifting her eyes down. “Sorry, I talk a lot when I get nervous and well. I was definitely pretty nervous when I met Cas- dad, I guess he’s my dad - for the first time. I asked him like a million questions. Uhm. You guys don’t know anyone at all, do you?”
















Ceylon shook his head, feeling a touch more at ease around the loquacious mare. She really did seem to be very earnest, and wore every thought she had on her sleeve.

















“Right, well. Okay. So there’s Casper, who you sort of know. The pink mare there is Sakura, his sister. She’s the one who called the meeting. She was on some sort of quest? Something about their parents going missing. Cas– dad didn’t want to talk about it too much. Uhm, the twins are also their siblings. Rose something and… Obsidian? Seems a weird name for a white pony but who am I to judge.” Taletha gave a shy shrug. “And the three weird looking ones – well, some of them – the guy with the hand-tail is their younger brother, Rhode, and there’s a pink lady with a witch hat – think it’s to hide her tentacle mane - Saffron, and then this dark, sulky mare called Ebony. All brothers and sisters. The brown stallion over there – with Casper actually, is dad’s lovemate. Oh, right. He’s settled down and serious now. Adopted some of Sakura’s kids, I think. It’s all a bit of a mess and hard to remember. Sorry, there’s like. A lot of history to remember, and I really only met him once.”













Larkspur gave the nervous mare a reassuring smile, “Well, Taletha, I think you’re my new best friend here.”
 

[xKOVAKtheWOLFx]

Tadeo decided it was best to arrive with Taletha and Kino. Originally, the stallion was not going to show up, but Taletha seemed really interested in coming out. Honestly, Tadeo could care less about meeting more of his family. His respects for Casper was not very high in the first place, leaving his mother to raise the two siblings alone.

Unlike his sister, Tadeo was the more wary and realistic of the two. He knew Taletha would be taken good care of by Kino, but still, he worried about his sister getting hurt by Casper and even more of their family tree. He did not want to deal with her heart breaking or anything, though he doubted that even happening.

"Rose Quartz and Obsidian," he said, dipping his head in respect to the Lord. What a weird title, and how pretentious, he thought. By then, the mare, Larkspur, his half-sister declared Taletha as her new best friend and he chuckled. "Looks like the sisters are getting along, where did you say you're from again, Isuru, was it?"  

[RockerWolfie1616]

Phail Ninja

Mind boggling. Perhaps that was the correct wording for Whisper’s current feelings? So many voices, introductions. A sea of grays broken up with pops of pink and then completely random colorings. Amidst the chaos he heard a familiar voice..one that had a few of the super shy stallions' walls falling down. “Viveka!” Relief flooding through his veins he stepped a touch closer, gently nosing at her in familiarity. Seeing someone other than their father..it was quite a welcome sensation. “Indeed…I nearly didn’t make it. Left my mate at home..” Voice still ever so soft his ears flickered to catch snippets of the nearby conversations. Noting the one group that seemed to all be Casper’s kids..they had an unmistakable look to them. “Are they really all related to us?” Mind drifting he nuzzled his sister again, he’d been a bit of a clingy foal and felt a sudden rush of embarrassment for falling back into that ‘foal mindset’. “Sorry..I-i don’t know what they want with all of us. At first I thought it was a mistake? He never came looking for me..mom kind of..went off the deep end. I’ve not seen her in so long.” Tone turning a touch somber he took a moment to breathe, eyes again shifting around the group of ‘family’. Was it only blood ties that made them family? Did any of them besides his sister even care or would they care if push came to shove. Speaking more than he had in a few days Whisper tried to continue smiling but it felt wrong. “I have a mate now? After losing mom and after we lost touch I spent most of my time alone. Honestly I never thought I’d ever be around this large of a group.” Again. Mind boggling. “How many half siblings do we even have? Are we supposed to talk to all of them? W-would they..even want to know us?” That feeling of self confidence he & his mate had been working on was gradually being chipped away. No. Whisper had been invited so this MUST be important! Maybe their family needed help, maybe he could learn more about all of them and meet more kin. “What’s new with you? Any little ones? A mate perhaps?”Voice just the tiniest bit teasing he worked on relaxing his stance, still staying close to Viveka..as if she’d vanish if he moved too far away.