He had joined the Stormborn for Meshindi without ever really wanting to.
He could hear the conversation held between them almost as if it had happened yesterday. It was a different time, then. Both in a very real, literal sense but also metaphorically. Back before what had made them so similar now made them strangers. Long before the vikings, the drama, and the cubs. He had had no reason to involve himself in the workings of another pride, nor did he want to, yet he agreed to stride alongside Meshindi on whatever adventure he had planned. Even if it meant striding right into the arms of another, unforgiving pride. He hated the idea but did it anyway. He would have done anything for Meshindi. Because somewhere along the line he had grown tolerant, and then trusting, and then turned to calling Meshindi his 'brother'.
And Meshindi knew it. Of course he knew it.
The thought alone made him sneer. Large and heavy paws sent talons out, grating at the soil beneath them. His tail whipped angrily once, and then twice before settling behind him... On his side, although far from resting, Gepeto looked every bit as tense as he felt. He had not given himself the chance to recognize what had all transpired... he had not given himself the chance to grieve.
So now was as good a time as any.
Thrust back into his own head, Gepeto continued to seethe. Deep down he had always wanted a brotherly connection, like the one he shared with Meshindi. Fate had known. Fate had brought him the black lion, and then all that came with him. And now fate was playing a familiar card, tearing away at the pages of his book. Ripping the connections to shreds.
So it was all the more angering that in joining for Meshindi, and meeting Meshindi's d**k-head of a father, and then tolerating all the bullshit that followed in suit, he would have experienced some healing from the heart break of his Huria upbringing. They had helped him to overcome something. To mold, and shape, and adapt it to this new life. He was given a family, found and imperfect but accepting of him and it grated at his nerves to be reminded of that. They. Helped. Him. He opened up to them. He became raw in a way he had never been before. He was even given a new title, leaving his past behind in favor of 'Reaving'. It had been the gift he silently thanked Meshindi for, on those quiet evenings when the brothers lounged together in the stillness of Stormborn nights.
He realized that, even now, his loyalties still willed themselves to be with Meshindi and Meshindi alone. If Meshindi would have wanted to up and leave the pride, he would have gladly joined him...
...He was weak. He failed himself in trusting.
When Meshindi and Kondo vanished without a trace it left Gepeto wondering. Where were their loyalties? Where were Meshindi's? All that time spent promising to one another that they, the brothers, would stick together no matter what. All that time... Had it always been a lie? Was he used to get Meshindi here, only so that they could go off on father and son adventures? Leaving him behind... the outsider. The Huria. And was this his punishment for trusting?
Hell ******** yeah it was. And he had learned from his mistake. He hated them. He hated what had become of himself because of them. And he would never do it again.
His deep-seeded rage, the one he hadn't felt since his family turned him away, bubbled up the surface and manifested in a guttural roar. He found his footing, gripping the earth still with claws that had not felt the tear of flesh in such a long time. He had been betrayed. And what was the one thing he had asked for from his brother? The one thing he never expected Meshindi to do? Betrayal was a funny, fickle thing. It came out of nowhere and always from the ones you least expected.
It hurt more than anything else, in truth. All of this was for him. Every step he had ever taken was to bring him closer to family, what he thought Meshindi had become... but... this was his greatest lesson. Truly. He could cover up the pain and move on. It would be masked by a blinding fury. He was always a hard one to read, you know, past the angst, but this made it nearly impossible to gage his stability. He looked around, he thought of his children. Some were still present, but others had gone. And those that he had come to know and grow rather close to were also gone. Zilly, the mother of his first litter, gone. Had they all conspired against him? Was this all just a giant ruse? The pride hung heavy with reminders of their deceit. It made his stomach turn. He wanted the monologue to end. The questions to die down. He wanted to leave. But for as much as he wanted, he couldn't quiet the tumult.
Was this what friendship looked like? The opening of doors, and then the swift slamming of them without your consent? Friendship gave others power. And he was done with them. He was done with connections. He was done with trying to make things work. He would abandon his wayward hope of ever reviving this 'family' he had found, here. In the same way Meshindi abandoned him he too would abandon all that they had ever built.
As he looked out across the territory, an involuntary sigh escaped his chest. It quaked him, fur rattling. This large, Firekin born male for but a moment let the pride he wielded break. Gepeto was, admittedly, tired. His life had been a series of hopes shattered by fate and he was...so ******** tired. In the distance, he saw a flash of red. It reminded him of Rhoma, although he wasn't sure where she was at this point. Certainly still present but... wait...Rhoma. A record might as well have skipped as Gepeto gasped, sucking in the tension he had just let go of. Her name made his eyes grow wide.
Rhoma.
She would know. She knew everything.
From his perch he leapt, taking off in a sprint toward the den of Kondo's useless son.
WC: 1061
From his perch he leapt, taking off in a sprint toward the den of Kondo's useless son.
Rhoma would know.
WC: 1061