Post by Shade on Mar 28, 2011 17:06:48 GMT -8
The eyes in the mirror weren't hers.
Her eyes were brown, not hazel, dark and open. Dark enough that she always looked vaguely surprised, and sort of desperately hopeful. These eyes were lighter, purplish, and out on the very edge of the iris, almost invisible, was a thin circle of cobalt blue. There was a touch of mystery in them.
They weren't her eyes, but they were in her reflection.
Her hair, too, was different. When she tilted her head just so the raw brass gained silvery highlights that threw the light back at her. Her skin was whiter, or the dark hollows under her eyes were more pronounced. And she thought her cheekbones might be a bit more angular, which she didn't mind exactly but no one had asked her...
Her eyes were gone. Her eyes.
She had to look away, then, bowing her head and choking as her fingers slid along the cool ceramic. She'd looked like her mother. Almost the spitting image. Everyone had mentioned it, all the time. But now his mark was on her and no one had asked her, no one had told her it was going to happen, she didn't say it was okay –
Fur rippled under her skin and she swallowed hard. Rage heaved but didn't surface; she tilted her head back and the tears ran into her eyes. There were still people awake and active in the house, so she couldn't cry yet. Tears were for private spaces, and it was a few hours yet before she could crawl under the rhododendron in the corner of the courtyard and watch the stars. If she cried and it showed, Wilhelm might want to know why, and he had problems of his own. So she wouldn't cry.
Explains looked at herself in the mirror again. The stranger's eyes stared back, alien in the familiar lines of her face.
A couple years back, before the wolf, the rain had fallen hot and hard and she'd spent the night in a shelter instead of out in the bleak summer heat. She hadn't been able to sleep – she doesn't sleep well indoors – so she'd watched TV, out in the lounge with the other night people, and she'd watched a show about a woman who saved the world by not believing she was small. There was a lot of plot involved, and time travel, and angst, but in the end it was about that choice. Her choice.
When the woman heeded the people who loved her, when she listened to their don't-bothers and you-can'ts and as-if-you'd-evers, when she chose security and safety, the world ended.
When the woman had ignored the people who loved her, and had only her best interests at heart – when she chose to chase dreams and believe that she was not destined to be small, that there was greatness in her waiting to blossom – when she chose to leap and hope she learned to fly before she hit the ground – then the world was saved.
She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the mirror, stomach roiling. The slow pulse began, flooding her from the place behind her heart. The place that's only her; the one thing that would be left if everything else was taken away. She could feel Conviction, small and warm across her back, and memory echoed through her, voices roaring.
You are a garou of impeccable nature...
...sometimes you fall...
...never let anyone tell you otherwise...
...you don't know what it means to be a garou...
...she can be a garou without forgetting that she is a changing breed...
...maybe you're supposed to be a, a bridge between the two worlds, I don't know...
...sometimes you fly...
...before, you were like a broken path. Now there's mortar...
...I acknowledge all my children...
...what are you? What will you be?...
...weakest member of the sept...
...run away from a fight...
...it was a very honorable thing you did...
...not all prophecies about the Silver Fangs were written by the Silver Fangs...
...you were supposed to lead them!...
Her eyes snapped open and she raised her head, staring at her new reflection, the image of Wilhelm's brother fixed in her mind, his eyes hot with anguish. And she knew what to do next.
“It's not about falling or flying,” she whispered into the mirror, to the world at large, because she was a galliard and she needed to say things to make them real. “It's about daring to leap.”
She pushed away from the sink and left to find Wilhelm. He'd know how to get in touch with his brother.
It was time that she and her father had a good, long talk.
Her eyes were brown, not hazel, dark and open. Dark enough that she always looked vaguely surprised, and sort of desperately hopeful. These eyes were lighter, purplish, and out on the very edge of the iris, almost invisible, was a thin circle of cobalt blue. There was a touch of mystery in them.
They weren't her eyes, but they were in her reflection.
Her hair, too, was different. When she tilted her head just so the raw brass gained silvery highlights that threw the light back at her. Her skin was whiter, or the dark hollows under her eyes were more pronounced. And she thought her cheekbones might be a bit more angular, which she didn't mind exactly but no one had asked her...
Her eyes were gone. Her eyes.
She had to look away, then, bowing her head and choking as her fingers slid along the cool ceramic. She'd looked like her mother. Almost the spitting image. Everyone had mentioned it, all the time. But now his mark was on her and no one had asked her, no one had told her it was going to happen, she didn't say it was okay –
Fur rippled under her skin and she swallowed hard. Rage heaved but didn't surface; she tilted her head back and the tears ran into her eyes. There were still people awake and active in the house, so she couldn't cry yet. Tears were for private spaces, and it was a few hours yet before she could crawl under the rhododendron in the corner of the courtyard and watch the stars. If she cried and it showed, Wilhelm might want to know why, and he had problems of his own. So she wouldn't cry.
Explains looked at herself in the mirror again. The stranger's eyes stared back, alien in the familiar lines of her face.
A couple years back, before the wolf, the rain had fallen hot and hard and she'd spent the night in a shelter instead of out in the bleak summer heat. She hadn't been able to sleep – she doesn't sleep well indoors – so she'd watched TV, out in the lounge with the other night people, and she'd watched a show about a woman who saved the world by not believing she was small. There was a lot of plot involved, and time travel, and angst, but in the end it was about that choice. Her choice.
When the woman heeded the people who loved her, when she listened to their don't-bothers and you-can'ts and as-if-you'd-evers, when she chose security and safety, the world ended.
When the woman had ignored the people who loved her, and had only her best interests at heart – when she chose to chase dreams and believe that she was not destined to be small, that there was greatness in her waiting to blossom – when she chose to leap and hope she learned to fly before she hit the ground – then the world was saved.
She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the mirror, stomach roiling. The slow pulse began, flooding her from the place behind her heart. The place that's only her; the one thing that would be left if everything else was taken away. She could feel Conviction, small and warm across her back, and memory echoed through her, voices roaring.
You are a garou of impeccable nature...
...sometimes you fall...
...never let anyone tell you otherwise...
...you don't know what it means to be a garou...
...she can be a garou without forgetting that she is a changing breed...
...maybe you're supposed to be a, a bridge between the two worlds, I don't know...
...sometimes you fly...
...before, you were like a broken path. Now there's mortar...
...I acknowledge all my children...
...what are you? What will you be?...
...weakest member of the sept...
...run away from a fight...
...it was a very honorable thing you did...
...not all prophecies about the Silver Fangs were written by the Silver Fangs...
...you were supposed to lead them!...
Her eyes snapped open and she raised her head, staring at her new reflection, the image of Wilhelm's brother fixed in her mind, his eyes hot with anguish. And she knew what to do next.
“It's not about falling or flying,” she whispered into the mirror, to the world at large, because she was a galliard and she needed to say things to make them real. “It's about daring to leap.”
She pushed away from the sink and left to find Wilhelm. He'd know how to get in touch with his brother.
It was time that she and her father had a good, long talk.