Oh The Places You'll Go (Alpha Graduation!)

[Fox]

Eoreph had started in on her first herdbeast daintily, when the arrival of one of her black brothers, Rixasileuph, attracted her attention. Pleasantly surprised at the greeting, the tawny lifted her head from where it had been curled over her meal, only to incline it in acknowledgement. Thank you, Rixasileuph, you look well also.[/color] She replied softly, with the briefest brush of affection, even as she turned her brown gaze onto her other siblings present. She nodded also to Teimoph, whom she would not disturb since he was in the middle of his meal, and to the others also-- among them Othokenph, Shovaph, Akaturiaph and more, Eoreph offered quiet chirps and an occasional thrum of pleasure. She was not one for many words, was the tawny, especially with those who were not Hers, but at Dionyph's arrival, and subsequently Dareph's, Eoreph fair lit up with happiness. They were her two favourite brothers, after all. And to you, Dionyph, Dareph. There is much to be happy for.[/color] She returned Dionyph's nuzzle with one of her own, mindful of the blood on her beak, and then turned to do the same to Dareph, projecting the warmth of her happiness and pride to them both.

L'nan, meanwhile, had barely gotten done returning T'ia's wordless, signed congratulations with a grin and a small round of applause of her own for her friend (Northern Sweeprider!), before there was a voice at her side, congratulating her. The woman turned with a smile to Gr'y, whom she had not spoken too very much, but who had come across as a polite, if somewhat awkward guy. But goodness, he did look different cleanshaven, without the goatee. L'nan paused, surprised, before her smile widened into a grin. "And congratulations to you too!" She chirped, pausing to recall what K'huna had announced. Gr'y's name had been the first called, she remembered. "Sayaie Watch Lieutenant, right? That's quite a responsibility... um. But I'm sure you can handle it." It was the slightly awkward, helpless statement of someone talking to another person they didn't quite know, and L'nan was painfully aware of it. Sure, if it were under other circumstances, she might have found something else to talk about, like the failsafe topic of the weather, but for now, she was limited to the talk of the graduation. It was with some relief, therefore, that the woman heard Ri'ley's very familiar voice on her other side.

Within a moment, her face had changed from hesitant smile to almost-blinding grin, as the now ex-tawnywinglet tilted her head far back in order to look up at her tall friend. Her excitement rekindled, and for a moment there were so many responses crowding her brain that she could only sit and match him smile for smile, as he offered similar congratulations to Gr'y beside her. Then the woman quite miraculously found her tongue again. "Ri'ley!" She exclaimed, for the moment forgetting about Gr'y. "Congratulations to you too! Chydyn Lieutenant and searchrider, oh my." If the grin on her face got any larger, she'd look positively frightening. But L'nan cared very little for that as she reached for his hand to tug him in the direction of the other empty seat on her other side, saying, "Sit down, love, you're too tall." The woman turned back to Gr'y again, not noticing the familiar term of endearment she had used. It was an old habit, one that L'nan had picked up unwittingly from her father, and she used it enough to Eoreph that it slipped out without her really meaning it to.

"You were from Chydyn, weren't you?" She asked, dredging up the half-remembered information that she had picked up somewhere along the way. The woman had to admit with some shame that she didn't know Gr'y all that well, but she wouldn't be averse to getting to know him now. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and L'nan didn't like to think that she hadn't even made the effort. "And Ri'ley's from Sayaie, as he's said, so perhaps you two can look after each others' home settlements." A smile lifted her lips, as she glanced back and forth between the two men, seeking agreement. For a moment, she recalled just who had made the post of Itnala Watch Lieutenant and her face soured slightly, but there was little that L'nan could do about it. She just hoped that the Watch Captain, whoever it was, prevented N'raan from destroying her former home. Outside of her musings, though, L'nan still hadn't released Ri'ley's hand, and she absently issued another tug to indicate that he should sit down so she wouldn't crick her neck looking up at him for so long. Really, the man was too tall for anyone's good health. [/size]

[winged]

The unhappiness she masked was not her own, and yet the simourv bore the burden as heavily as its progenitor. The slaughter of her meal's contents was therefore distracted and far more gruesome than her usual handiwork, gore dripping from the mangled corpses pinned beneath her talons as she ripped still steaming meat from crushed bones, feeding both appetite and the emptiness that filled the spaces between rider and beast. She'd lost her taste for food entirely by her third sheep, and still she ate, tail once again restless and fidgeting as her doe-like eyes watched the exchange between blacks and tawny from a safe distance.

She would have gladly joined their ranks, if she didn't feel as though her inherent sadness would sully their jubilee. She loved them all very dearly, and could take some lessened pleasure from their happiness, at least. So she assured herself, as her massive head bent to gather another mouthful of her tasteless prey, before Teimoph's predatory stare caught her eye. Her swishing tail stayed itself, a contemplative croon announcing her interest in his. He too sat apart, and Laraph was eager to kindle a kinship with one who might understand her position.

Carefully gathering the remains of her sheep, hesitant to waste even now, the gray picked her way over to the red, depositing herself and her foodstuffs a short distance away before turning with a warm smile in her gaze to fondly greet her brother. Congratulations Teimoph! His distant behavior was happily overriden, and disacknowledged. Propriety stretched only so far as happiness - and both were in short order today.

- -

Awash in the nauseating stretch of time, replete with memories, I'dou stood alone as she stared past the reality of the blade's edge, just glancing off the surface of what lay hidden beneath the murk of lies and deceit. It was no wonder she looked ill, as her thoughts frothed and boiled like a potful of water. The sounds around her faded into white noise, the volume of which whispered one second, and threatened to drown out her own thoughts the next. The shaking hands that held the naked blade nervously returned the weapon to its casing, the sword a heavy weight as her hands dropped to her side, the gift sagging in one and nearly scraping the floor.

This was supposed to be the moment where she could look back and say 'I beat the odds'. The penultimate experience of facing oneself and taking pride in progress. This whole feast was soured with the notion that she hadn't taken a damn step forward, but rather three steps back. It was disappointment and shame and the memory of her mother's smug predictions burning holes into her mind.

And then it was a familiar voice parting the abyssmal fog, and a sharp inhalation breaking the monotony of her self-inflicted misery. Her chest tightened almost painfully as the pounding heart she hadn't noticed skipped a beat, her free hand clumsily coming to rest as she sluggishly gathered her wits and wearily fixed the interruptor with a haggard glance. There was the feather-light touch of Laraph's concerned presence, for just a second, before it withdrew again once assured that I'dou wasn't going to drop dead of cardiac arrest.

It was T'gan. The irony of the moment forced a wry twist to her drawn mouth - not quite a smile, and there was certainly no warmth to it. Not for any displeasure in seeing the blue rider, but for the blue rider seeing her in such a decrepit state. "I'm fine." Another lie to toss onto the pile. She couldn't even meet T'gan's eyes, with embarrassment for such a bald-faced, half-assed attempt. "Congrats on becoming a search rider." It was a matter of personal comfort, shifting the attention from herself, while she waged war on the ultimately important matter of drinking.

I'dou really wanted nothing more than to crawl under a rock at that precise moment - she wasn't prepared to face a crowd full of genuinely happy people and pretend to a sufficient degree that she was happy, too. But the power of suggestion was potent, and, channeling the same sort of unhappiness as her gray, I'dou desired nothing less than loneliness at the moment. She could last a little while, and the thought was cheering against the bleak backdrop of what she faced the moment she found herself alone.

"...sure, I could use a drink." It was probably an unwise decision, as a headache threatened to culminate with the warning throb at her temple, but what was one more unwise decision? No sense in turning back now. "How've you been?" Steering the conversation as she made to steer them back towards the table, I'dou leapt right into the role of immersing herself in the here and now.

[Cy]

[/b] he muttered lowly, his voice like gravel, but he was making the effort all the same.

If K'ii managed a response, he had no time whatsoever to create a return of his own before the seat at his other side was abruptly filled with a much more verbal figure than the greenrider. He recognized E'an before his eyes had even finished falling on her. The woman carried herself with the gruff sort of aura that was impossible to miss. She was distinct. There was something different about her though and he noticed it immediately as his eyes dropped down to the dress that she wore. Beneath the leather jacket, it was a nice dress. It hugged a nice form. He cleared his throat again before looking back to her face. Now there was a softness in a tone, a tenderness. And she'd never received a gift before either. If he'd had a heart, maybe it would have melted a bit right at that moment – as it was, she was suddenly looking back at him with that familiar mischievous grin and he was looking right back down to the sword in his hands. What was his poison of choice? It was generally whatever got him drunk faster. “s'Whatever.” He returned simply.[/ul][/size]