There are times within my long existence, for indeed it has been a long and tiring thing, when I am given to believe all around me have gone insane. The last occurrence of this phenomenon happened the day Zeivah attempted to explain to me that she, under the influence of heaven knows what, had decided to arrange a mateship between our daughter and the son of Lucian without my knowledge or consent. What had deluded her into that belief I hardly know, she had also decided at that point to hide from me the fact that she and Lucian had imprinted, somehow believing that finding that out for myself would be far better than her telling me. Yes, that was a perfect example of the world having lost its sanity much as the one that lingers before me now, her idea as…ridiculous to my mind as her continued attempts to argue were agitating. Maybe some part of myself is attempting to convince another part of that same inner being that I was right all along to have done what I did in regard to her upbringing and indeed perhaps there was a lingering fraction, a slither, a bare and tiny tendril of guilt over the matter, my affection for the dark girl before me evidently having allowed for a crack within my armour in this regard. That anyone I loved, truly loved, as I did Ava, should feel in some way…slighted by myself is a difficult thing to….accept. That however does not mean I believe myself falsified in that regard. She may ramble and prattle on all she wants about her injured feelings and hurt pride but I was still content to believe, in the long run, that she should be thankful for what I did for her and her family. Maybe she would rather have grown up in some foul puddle in Iromar or Judila, her fate had I not taken Eris all those years ago. Hell, if it wasn’t for my interference and my apparent web of lies she would even now my rotting away in the mud of Iromar having lost her grandmother, Jaidah, the one who would have raised her in my place were fate to be reversed. As it was I was beginning to tire of this tirade.

She has a right to express herself and to some extent I will allow it, I suppose I will concede to owing her that much, to facilitating her little temper tantrum on the matter but she is beginning to be a little more…dominant then I would like. She may be my grandchild, she may have my affection and love and she may have a right in this moment to speak her mind but that does not mean she is given in any way, permission to show me any disrespect and I am beginning to find her tone…..disagreeable. Maybe she does outsize me and indeed she is entering the prime of her existence, her strength and power soon to be peaking- yet she lacks anything close to my experience and I am still entirely assured that I can knock her to the floor and keep her there. I may be old, but I am entirely capable of causing damage and if she continues down this path I shall be forced to remind her exactly who is in charge. Perhaps she has the blood of Alpha’s in her veins- but I am an actual King and she should remember to who she speaks.

“Verum est verum et Ava si id quod vis tibi melius facit. Nihil credere et doleo quod visum placet. Hoc facto existimo.”
(There is truth and there is truth Ava, believe what you want if it makes you feel better. I regret nothing and I will see fit to believe as I please. I think this matter is done.)

My tail flicked momentarily, a slight and yet still visible indication that m patience on this topic was wearing thin, a warning had been given and if she was as intelligent and perceptive as I believed her to be she would silence herself for now. Perhaps another day when I feel like debating the validity of blood I will bring it up once more, then again I hardly see the need. I am not wrong, not entirely, after all, don’t you know the rule Ava? The one single and most important rule of Alpha-ship? The King is never wrong. By default I always damn win until the day she outranks me and I am entirely sure that won’t happen any time soon, well, until the day I die anyway and I am entirely sure ranks are not going to bother me then, unless we are given to have some sort of after-life, though indeed that is a thought the bothers me all the more. I will hardly be content to float about on a cloud and watch those below me without being able to offer some…advice, or at best a well-placed lightning bolt every now and then. I shook the thought away, having no intention of dying anytime soon, violet gaze returning to Ava’s, her tone and posture still calm, still cool as was always given to be her nature, despite the somewhat irate agitation I found myself beginning to express, then again, if Ava’s grandchild asked her for her ‘blood’ then I am entirely sure I would witness her own lack of composure, although apparently the mention of Azraels name alone is capable of causing a crack in her normally blank visage. Hmm, hardly surprising, he annoys me too. My shock however, apparently has little effect on the girl herself, in that moment her reminding me entirely to much of Arsenic for my comfort, the one-eyed white female having managed the same look when she too, ironically, had asked me for children- though in an entirely different way.

Ava spoke once more, her tones seeming almost delicate, feminine in those moments as my ears flicked forward in response to the tone and indeed, the chill within the air as I perhaps become more aware then I had been given to be of the proximity of the powerful, black pelted female, certain other scents within the air, within the enclosed space I had apparently allowed myself to be tricked into being confined to, becoming further apparent. For a moment I was almost given to the irony of it. Had I not, just a year ago given Malina and Ava both lectures on the importance of staying away from boys in the winter? Had I not become agitated at even the thought of males near what I perceived to be mine in the form of both, dark girls? It seemed almost ridiculous in this moment, I had feared and worried for them, only to apparently allow myself to be coerced in much the same way I had warned against- and by the one I had been damn warning. For a moment, just a moment a smirk tugged at my lip, handsome features flashing this look briefly before I allowed it to pass, along with the humour within my mind as her words took form. I low growl formed within my throat at her choice of words, what I did and with who was not her or anybody’s concern. I was retired, by all technicality, free of any of the Art’s bindings and if I chose to go about sharing my den with half of Moladion it would not be for her to judge. Maybe I did enjoy the attention, but once more, that is not her place to say. As for her particularly blunt ending, stating without any emotion whatsoever that I might well be dead by then I found one eye lifting in mild humour. Glad to know you care Ava. I snorted. By all regards she was right, her ideas perfectly logical and yet logistics were not the question here. Morals were. I raised her Mother, I watched Ava come into this world as I saw her parents leave it. I raised her, guided her, loved her like a child, my own child and she asks me for…this? My mind recoils from it, my body apparently incapable of such a thing and yet I hardly expected it to be. I am still a male after all. Yet again, that is not the point.

Placet Ava isto simplex sanguinem crucis perfectum, quod non ad me pertinet. Video ego te vidi libero .... Ava, quia vos putatis? Vides igitur quid esset, quod scandel? Nec quod multo apud ..... felis oculum multo igitur.
(I agree Ava, your logic is sound, it is a perfect cross of blood, that is not my concern. Ava I.....I see you as I see my children, do you understand that? Do you understand in any way that this would be more than a scandal? This is not as it was with Cat Eye.....this is far, far more than that.)

She stepped closer in those moments, my limbs unable to decide if they should move away or stay where they were, my mind apparently having become afflicted by some other, basal need, responding entirely to that which it is instinctively designed to respond to, the close proximity of a female in the winter, my thoughts beginning to tangle themselves as I shook my head once more, attempting some clarity before she spoke again, violet eyes held against the vibrant copper of her own. Was that her way of flirting? Hell, no wonder Chance was afraid, then again, Ava has never been affectionate, never been given to physical displays of anything, it is not her way and there is something to be respected in that. My weight shifted, indecision shifting upon my features, agitation and anger at….what, I hardly knew moving within. I wanted to turn around and storm off, I wanted to yell at her, I wanted to climb up to heaven and shake Eris by the scruff for this thing she produced and left me with. What will it be?

“Ego damnari inferno, quod est, quod futurum Ava”
(I’m going to damn hell, that’s what it will be- Ava.)

The words were almost snapped towards her as head and tail lifted, each toned, gleaming muscle apparent in the perfection of my form. I may be old, but I was designed to be perfect, I am everything a male should be, white pelt aglow in the darkness as I moved, pressing against her, aiming to drive her back and towards the darkness of her den, dominance evident in my form now. There is no one here, no one within earshot or visible range and yet I am not fool enough to risk it all the same, another growl coiling within my chest, a warning of sorts to the female. I know what she is like and if she damn well takes a snap at me I’ll bite her right back. She’d vowed never to allow a male to be in such a….position with her and I merely take precaution to warn her against changing her mind, brushing along her side within the darkness once more, moving to where I needed to be to do what I needed, what she wanted.

Oh- I was going to hell, I was sure of that. The things we do….for those we love.