The Give & Take [Avicus]

[Quietus]

Inside the dark and empty sitting room the grandfather continued its monotonous song.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Lorelei remained out on the veranda, calmly taking from her sten. A breath of relief for every word spat in the heat of the moment. Green eyes watched the horizon instead of the man whose veneer had gracelessly shattered. The woman stood, outwardly unphased by the words, inwardly pondering the similarities of this moment and countless others spent raising teenaged children. The tantrums, the dramatics, how childish this all seemed.

Tick.

Tock.

She made no move to stop the man as he charged back into the home, stomping off in his fury. Lorelei had come to expect it - he was a man ruled by his emotions. Centuries ago those had been the very things that had drawn her to him. She remembered it well with some vestige of fondness the good times spent together. His passion had been addictive, his flair entertaining. Now if only he could use them for something constructive ... they might hold those same qualities today.

Still a Sith, she thought.

Tick.

Still a man intent on self destruction.

How she had hoped the years would have tempered him that she might have found the same kinship in him now as she had with another. That secrets could have been told tonight, deep concerns and worries shared. A slow release of breath through her nostrils, smoke folding around her figure. Lorelei lifted a hand to a dazzling blue gem hung around her neck thinking that this was not how she'd would have wished for things to end, but how she knew they would.

It was always far easier to accept the inevitable when one was prepared for it.

Tock.

 

[Avicus DuSang]

He froze, mid-step. Her thoughts lingered on him, on what they had. So she wasn't as heartless as she lead on. He sighed, shaking his head. No. This wasn't how he wanted things to end. She deserved better. He turned around, walking back towards her.

"Then how did you want it to end, Sila? You expected me to sit here and take your abuses and criticisms with a smile on my face? I apologize, it falls upon deaf ears. I tell you my intentions of being more active with our son, and you throw it back in my face. I try to get you to take some rest, and it's not good enough for you. It's never going to be good enough for you, is it?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "I never said a vacation would right those wrongs. Nor did I plan on making that the intention. I've done so much damage, I'm just trying to put some of the pieces back together." His hands went up to his temples as he began to apply pressure, a headache beginning to form.

She was always so incessantly infuriating. She had the ability to draw the worst of him out, and she frequently did. But, he still loved her. He would always love her.

[member="Lorelei Darke"]

 

[Quietus]

"You always do things the hard way."

Perhaps she had not made herself clear enough. At times she forgot that very few operated on the same wavelengths as herself. [member="Ashmedai"] understood her intentions and words with very little effort, but he and she were cut from the same cloth - figuratively speaking. Avicus misinterpreted her lack of emotion for lack of care or understanding, but Lorelei had long since passed over emotion for the fuel of her machinations. Too messy. Too volatile and unpredictable. The return on investment was never worth it.

She turned to look at the man fully this time, exasperation leaking into her features.

"The pieces you need to fix this aren't here, they are out there," a hand pointed upwards towards the stars, "on Rudrig. I told you what you need to do. Go to our son, Avicus. Only when it is good enough for him will it stand a chance of being good enough for me."