The dark deer was the first to see the pair. Head lifts sharply, revealing that the peace of before was only an illusion. His large ears trace the lady and her dog. Yet he was also mildly shocked. No one had ever climbed the heights to their hide away before. He watches in a tall stance, but one burdened with worry. Oh yes, the illusion had been very misleading. The deer does not move, for though shocked at her appearance here, he knew her. It is only when she steps to the cave he acts. Body turns to her and the young stag calls out, his plea sharp and strained trailing into the cold air. She should not go in there. It was possibly dangerous in there. In his breast he felt the force stirring in his bonded, and it caused him to tremble as she stepped in the shadows. Luckily coming his way there was a distraction.

Inside though there was little to distract. The air was thick and heavy, with a steely cold, but a tension of fiery heat. The cave itself was dark and dreary. The late light of the day swallowed by the demon inside. Cloaks, satchels, and shattered glass littered the floor like a war zone. But in the center stood a golden sun. His coat though does not shimmer. It is dingy, and scuffed, with the wrestle of the items, and sweat from the fire within him. His sides heave, like a worn machine, but legs give away his mortality, trembling with the energy he has spent. He is turned away, his hoof still upon the broken glass, and the flames have at last consumed him. Where he is. Who is here. Its all awash in the fires as the reach their heights, greedy for all he has. His anger turns upon him, and his thoughts go out of view.

He doesn’t move when she comes, even as her hooves clack on the rock floor. Perhaps to her ears, her voice was small, but in his its proud stance carried harsh over the roaring flames. Crowned head shifts over, but he doesn’t look at her, only one ear slowly rises to her voice. At first the words though loud in his mind still compete with the flames, but as she continues to the wood begins to run out, and the flames die down. As the all consuming fire lifts its chock hold, the golden’s mind can grab at her phrases.

Shut his mouth. Grin and bear it. The voice was sounding just like them. Traitor. Pathe- Show everyone. A shiver runs down his back. We….A vile built up in his throat and knot twisted in his stomach. Trapped. The spotlight was a trap. Stop acting like a child. Face the trap. Its there trap too. Mind rolled around in such jumbled junctions, but all the while he was still. We have work to do. Work. Responsibility. Prove. Bear. Wrong. All the words that cut his tongue and scorched his soul. For the first moment a fleeting thought sprang forth. He didn’t want it.

What did he not want…it came with power. Vengeance. Face turns back away and winces in the strain. The plan, the plan. To destroy not to build. Ahrgh! He wanted away, he wanted out. To think and pace. To re-plan. Head swings suddenly up and round. Hotaru. He freezes when he sees her there. Whatever connections didn’t complete that her voice meant her physical being, finally grasped together. The anger from the invasion of his place is a wash as he takes her in for a moment. His eyes trail up her figure, as if remembering, confused. Then they harden at her face. “Hotaru,” his voice cut out rough and ragged, almost hoarse.

Time was passing, the spell slipping. His figure began to soften, and strain less, and breathe come easier. Body was still, but it still yearned to breathe fresh air, and pace. And his thoughts, they jumped, and spun and sparked. Like a machine they were shorting out, a rerun, a few moments free start. Then all would be well. He would plan and build his creation back up, his masterpiece deception would fulfill him again. But she was standing in the doorway. She blocked his path. She kept him trapped. It made no sense, but the seething confusion lashed out anyway in a rare show of impulsion and unchecked ignorance. “Why are you here.” Here. In his place. In his mind. It wasn’t a question. The voice growled from deep within it was hurtful and spiteful. Said only to wound. Spoken for the same reason he had raged earlier.
She was right. Ever so right, and it burned in his ears to hear it. He turns again, circling the back cavern, pacing in the trap of his own making. Trying to grab back some sanity, at least enough to plan and build. But trapped as he felt, the thoughts just kept swirling. He didn’t need her, that mind swirled, he was fine. He was sane. He was powerful. This, this was as it should be. Argh, but nothing of this day was as it should be. It never could click in his scrambling brain, that she was here, to cheer him on. That someone might be here, who knows his lies, and knows his faults, that they might be here, to help him. Right so perhaps not in a totally selfless act, but still, to help. To ease. To move on. It couldn’t process. It didn’t make sense, so he threw it out. She wasn’t here, she was a figment, an invader. But oddly enough in his anger he hadn’t thrown her out.

Would she see through the guise? Would her perceptive eye pierce the cryptic phrases? Or would she stack him among the rest. With the failures of his kind. No pity, but disgrace. But then again, had she expected him to admit she was right? No matter how dead on correct she was? If so, perhaps she didn’t know him so well after all.


OOC :: @Hotaru Yeah...I don't know where this is going. He's stuck, but only for a moment I think. I don't know, its going to some interesting places. XD
"Speech"