|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 10, 2016 2:41:06 GMT -5
Lorelei had spent the day working at the shop, which meant she was not in the best mood. The primary reason she had taken the post at the Dark Arts shop was because of their lax stance on her condition which kept her from working three nights every month. The clientele was not one that Lorelei was particularly fond of which soured her by the end of the day.
She dropped her purse on the couch as she passed through the living room. It was her brother's flat but she stayed with him as she didn't earn enough money to move out on her own. She liked living with her brother, as he was her only friend. She craved company and Kas always obliged her.
"Are you here?" she called to her brother.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 10, 2016 3:02:26 GMT -5
If it were up to Kas his sister wouldn't work at the shop at all, but he knew it was selfish of him to keep her under lock and key. He made enough money to easily support them, but Lorelei was a social creature. More and more he questioned whether it would be better to rejoin the pack he and his family had been forced out of. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, but it was there all the same- at least Lorelei would meet some of their own kind.
"Out in a minute love."
The apartment had three rooms, one was his, one was his sisters, and the third he used as a potions room, more often than not he was in there working on a 'cure'.
He finished his notes and went out to greet his baby sister, "How was work?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 10, 2016 3:24:16 GMT -5
Lorelei sighed happily. "Better now that it's over. You know someone tried to sell me human toenails claiming they were goblin fingernails. Like I wouldn't know the difference," she said, rolling her eyes.
"How is your work going?" Lorelei knew Kas spent much of his time with his potions. He was very gifted, her brother. He was also devoted to giving them a normal life, or one as normal as possible anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 10, 2016 3:30:02 GMT -5
"Well I always said, that shop doesn't deserve you." he said coming in the main room and kissing her forehead.
"Very well actually, made a few adjustments I believe will prove effective."
He never forced Lorelei to take the potion that suppressed the animal instinct while a werewolf, but he did insist on locking her up otherwise. It was too dangerous, both for the general public and for her. But again it was one of the things that made him believe she belonged in a pack. Kas had dealt well enough on his own, but he was an exception, not the rule.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 10, 2016 14:04:21 GMT -5
"Just in time," she responded, plopping onto the couch and kicking her feet onto the coffee table. The full moon was just over a week away and Kas had discovered, with his mentor Damocles, that the potion needed to be consumed for several days leading up to the full moon in order for it to be effective. Lorelei's first transformation was nearly three years ago and though her brother had always been there to help her as best he could, she still dreaded each full moon. She frequently flip flopped as to whether or not she wanted his potion designed to keep her mind intact while in wolf form.
Lorelei wanted to be with others who understood them, and often thought if she could take Kas' potion and retain her mental faculties, then she might be able to safely meet others like herself. The idea of a community that would embrace her instead of shun her was a dream, one which she mostly kept to herself despite her brother being very much aware of her desires. She didn't want to burden him with the added pressures of joining the pack he and their mother had once been a part of, knowing all too well of their horrible siblings that currently controlled the wolves. Their sister wasn't even a wolf and yet, as Kas had explained numerous times, their princess of a sister took on the role of queen (and the attitude to match). And their brother was a tyrant, a cruel man hellbent on being king. Lorelei was wary of the pack for good reason, but she also burned for friendships that could be established there.
But the transformation itself was excruciating, and with her human mind intact the pain stayed with her much longer. Some months she wasn't strong enough to endure the pain and exhaustion the change brought. These were the times she refused her brother's aide. She didn't blame him for locking her up, she knew first hand of the terrors that occurred when a mindless monster was set loose. Lorelei still woke up in cold sweats at least once a week after being chased by visions of her mother's brutal attack. So much blood. So much pain.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 10, 2016 17:08:54 GMT -5
It was different for Kas who had grown up a wolf, being bit as a baby and having undergone the transformations since then. While it was still painful, akin to having every bone in one's body shattered and one's skin being ripped off, Kas was quite accustomed to it. Unlike Lorelei he reveled in keeping his mind while being a wolf. It was a great feeling to have so much strength and speed, but the mind of a man. The potion wasn't perfect, but on the nights he got it right it was beautiful.
"I've made enough. It's in the fridge." he said. He always did, that was his way of leaving the decision in Lorelei's hands.
He joined her on the couch, "Anything else happen today?"
Sometimes he felt like a parent, he practically was her parent, but sometimes he also felt like a failure in not being able to give her the life she deserved.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 11, 2016 2:30:11 GMT -5
"Nothing much. A few girls I went to school with came in looking for some ingredients for some seriously dark protection spell, worried about all the kidnappings lately. They didn't seem to recognize me, though." Lorelei sighed. The encounter had been a reminder that she didn't have many friends in school, and none after being turned by her mother. At least she always had Kas.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 11, 2016 3:15:32 GMT -5
Kas frowned. It wasn't enough. He knew that. He was a solitary creature, a 'lone wolf', but Lor wasn't. Now was a good a time as any to bring up the thoughts that continually plagued him.
"You know, I was thinking...maybe it's time we looked into a pack."
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 11, 2016 13:15:37 GMT -5
Lorelei's eyes lit up at the mention of a pack, but she kept her wits about her as she turned toward her brother. She tried to maintain an even tone, though she was clearly excited at the prospect. "Really? Is that something you really want, I mean?"
Lor would do anything for her brother, because she knew Kas would do anything for her. And she often let him. While she hungered for friendships she had already resigned herself to a pack-less life, knowing how her brother enjoyed his lone wolf status.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 11, 2016 23:39:19 GMT -5
"It's something I've been thinking about." he said honestly, "Times are uncertain Lor. There's been attacks in Hogsmeade, and now a Serial Killer on the loose." he said trailing off.
"I think a pack would give us a little more protection." And you some more company.
He considered it his own failure that Lor didn't have many friends. While that lifestyle had suited him fine, indeed he preferred to be solitary, he inadvertently put the same pressures on Lor. Like a parent, he would always try to make things right.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 0:04:21 GMT -5
"That's a good point," she replied, again trying to keep her voice neutral. They were living in a very dangerous time, and seemed like so much of it happened far too near them. Lorelei didn't even read the newspaper much lately as it was often full of stories that cut a little too close to home.
Last year when Hogsmeade was attacked, Lor had been visiting her brother during the school's Hogsmeade trip. It was purely luck that Lorelei had accidentally tripped and knocked over a table in Kas' potion room, ruining the wolfsbane he had been brewing. She apologized profusely, crying alligator tears as she tried to salvage any of the potion but it was gone. Kas, being the best brother in the whole of Scotland just shrugged it off and offered to buy her ice cream in Diagon Alley while they picked up some more of the ingredients he would need to make a new batch. They had missed the entire fiasco, with Kas' flat being only mildly damaged. But it was simply another terror to add into Lorelei's rotation of nightmares.
And then there was the serial killer. A girl was strung up in a tree only a few months ago, and then a month later there was an attempted abduction in the same spot that ended with a girl being caught in a carriage that had been set ablaze. Lorelei had been in the park when the commotion occurred and was drawn to the area just as several others were to see what all of the fuss was, but the MLE forced them to disperse before she could get any good information. Luckily there was an old man a who lived a floor above them that always had good gossip (though Lorelei generally tried to avoid him as he was a total pervert).
Lorelei thought of the pack Kas and their mother had been a part of before Lorelei came along. When she was younger their mother would lament over the loss of her pack, blaming Lorelei whenever Kas wasn't around to stop her. But when her mum wasn't guilting her, she spoke of many wonderful things that she missed about her pack. The one thing that always stood out to Lorelei was that her mother had once had friends. Other wolves that she would spend time with, raise their children together, and every full moon they would hunt together. Lorelei wanted that.
"Which pack...umm... How do we join a pack?" She was scared but excited and wanted to ask her brother every possible question that popped into her head until he got annoyed and made her be quiet. It usually took a long time to get to that point, but she'd managed before.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 0:15:49 GMT -5
Kas gave her a bittersweet smile, "So it's what you want then?" he asked. If it made her happy he would do it. He would have done it long ago if he hadn't arrogantly believed he could have kept her happy without it. But now there was no denying the excitement in her voice or the desire in her eyes.
He nodded, "Then leave the rest to me." he answered her.
Kas had maintained some contacts within the Eiriksen pack. Some might have called them spies, although Kas merely was being cautious. No one knew who he or Lor truly were, they would have to change their names, but there was only one pack Lukas planned to take his sister to.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 0:29:48 GMT -5
She nodded vigorously when Kas asked her to confirm whether she wanted to join the pack. People her own age comfortable with her turning wolf every month, why wouldn't she pounce on the opportunity.
"Oh, Kas, you're absolutely wonderful!" She hugged her brother, beaming over his shoulder as she refused to end the hug even a second before she was ready. "I promise I won't get us kicked out again. I won't cause any problems, I swear."
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 1:06:25 GMT -5
For a full second Kas let go of all the anger and bitterness in his life. Seeing Lor's unrestricted glee a the idea of a pack took away all reservations and worry, but as she spoke one by one the emotions came back.
"Lor, you were never the reason for us leaving. Where on earth would you have gotten such a conclusion?" he asked genuinely perplexed.
He groaned when he realized, "Mother." he said, his tone dripping with disdain.
"Blast that woman."
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 1:14:18 GMT -5
Lorelei knew Kas was only blaming their dead mother because it was easier than admitting that his baby sister was the reason they'd been shunned. After Kas was born, their family was still permitted to live with the rest of the wolves. But when Lor came around that all changed. She hadn't even been born yet and already she had sentenced her mother and brother to the life of an outcast.
"No, be happy! This is a happy thing, Kas. Please." Lorelei had been waiting for a community her whole life, and she had been hoping for a pack for almost two years.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 1:25:03 GMT -5
Kas sighed, then took her hand. "I am happy Lor. I'm happy because I know this is what you want, but I should have been honest with you long ago. I wasn't." there was sincere regret in his eyes.
"I should have told you the truth about our mother, but I suppose I wanted you to love her, and her to love you. After she died...well I didn't see the point in besmirching a dead woman's character." he explained.
"But you have to know, that the only person responsible for getting us banished is our mother." he told her quite seriously.
"And that she devil our father married, and our father too I suppose."
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 1:47:01 GMT -5
Lorelei's expression became somber as her brother took her hand and spoke very carefully to her. Lorelei had never truly loved her mother. How could you love someone who couldn't stand to be around you for more than 10 minutes at a time? Lor only thought of Aurora as their mother in the formal sense; she'd birthed them. Lorelei had never even seen their father. Kas, though her brother, was her only real parent.
"I know it wasn't my fault, but it kind of was. If it hadn't been for me you'd still be living with the pack, so that puts some of the blame on me. But I won't mess it up like mother did. I won't get us kicked out."
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 2:20:30 GMT -5
"Lor, let me explain." he said, though he was having difficulty getting the words out.
"Mother, she wanted you." Kas sighed.
"She was so desperate for our father's attention she thought that by giving him more children she could convince him to leave Adelina, as Adelina convinced him to leave his wife before that."
His mother really was a simple woman. While she had indeed been gorgeous, "Adelina was a veela. Eirik's 'true' love couldn't fight the temptation, let alone our mother who was only a source of comfort when Adelina refused to-" Kas cut himself off.
"Anyway, she sought to bind him to her through you, through me. It was true that for a while our father was attentive after I was born." Kas offered, "Or so mother used to say." he remedied with a look that told Lor exactly how much stock Kas put in their mother's tales.
"Adelina didn't care that Eirik had a bastard son, and she wouldn't have cared if he had a bastard daughter." he said trying to take the guilt away from his sister.
Then he revealed, "It was mother. She taunted the witch. She went as far as to say that I would become pack leader instead of Aleksander. That was when we were banished. It had nothing to do with you."
|
|
|
|
Post by Lorelei Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 2:31:03 GMT -5
This was a completely different tale than the one her mother had told her for her entire life. It made sense, but at the same time it also seemed to be unrealistic. Lorelei struggled to reconcile Kas' version of the events with her feelings and "memories" of her family's banishment.
"I don't understand. You don't want to be leader, do you?" She knew her brother better than anyone else and she couldn't see him wanting to lead an entire pack, even when he was younger.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lukas "Kas" Eiriksen on Nov 12, 2016 2:40:34 GMT -5
"Godric no." Kas said with a sneer. He could barely manage himself and Lor let alone an entire pack the size of the Eiriksen pack.
As a boy he had been ridiculed and picked on by the other children, even the adults for being the bastard son of the Alpha. His mother had been insane and hardly comforting. She told him that he would be the Alpha one day and that the pain of the moment would shape him into a better king. Four year old bleeding Kas would cry that he didn't want to be the Alpha and then his mother would add to the beatings.
Kas had kept this from Lor, never wanting her to see the harsh reality of anything if he could help it.
|
|
