Pretty Insanity

[Rogue]

Childish laughter echoed around the lake, and the figure of a female danced around the shore in a spontaneous manner; a lei of flowers crowning her ratty, snow-white hair. Her eyes were closed as she laughed continuously, skipping until her feet touched the water, then jumping back and laughing harder.

Opening her ink-purple eyes, Rogue tore the lei off her head and began stripping the flowers of their petals to throw them into the lake's water in front of her, making sure she moved quickly so the tide couldn't carry them away from each other. Reds, yellows, pinks and blues, all of them mixed together in colourful waves, spreading and bumping into each other as ripples pushed them to and fro.

The lycaness stopped laughing, but a smile was still wrought wide across her simple face. Her torn grey dress hung off her frightfully-slim frame as though it didn't want to be there, and as she turned her back to the lake with her heels touching it's water's edge, the shredded ends of the dress wiggled with the motion.

The lycaness spread her thin arms wide and closed her eyes, before her hair engulfed either side of her body as she fell backwards; waiting for the shallow water and flower petals to catch her.

[† Cealla †]

She roamed once again, almost looking like a slim ghost of a little girl against the dark, cloudy background of the sky. It almost looked as though heaven was willing to open up the clouds at any moment and let the rain fall down, soaking the only two inhabitants of the lake. Perhaps it was exam time at the school, but whatever had happened it had led to the whole lakeside being absolutely deserted of all students. And it was this that drew Cealla out... or rather, it drove her out. It was an eagerness to explore, a fierce curiosity and drive to know just about everything that life had to offer her now.

For once she was back in human form, dressed in rags. She didn't have the courage or the will to steal from the shops in Diagon alley, nor any source of money to buy clothing with. So she was content to mostly walk around in her wolf-skin, though occasionally she did like to remind herself that she was a girl. No matter how little she dressed or acted like one, she was still but a child of eight. She had taken the time now to plait flowers into her hair, though they were drooping and obviously soon to die in the next fall frost.

Her blue eyes suddenly landed on a figure that she recognized, though that woman was one that she only knew from a distant memory. She had known Rouge's pups much better than she had known the woman herself, but she still did know her. They had hurt her that night, the vampires- the night they had invaded. Just seeing the grieving mother made her appretiate her own life just that much more.

Bones cracked as her small human form gave way to her wolf one, tossing her pelt to shake the flowers free from it. Her small paws then began to advance slowly upon the lycaness, though it was in more of a curious way than a menacing one. It didn't seem like Rouge even noticed she was there, for she was so wrapped up in her own little dream-world. So, tossing her muzzle back, she let out a short howl, hoping that the woman would remember her.

[Rogue]

As water rushed up inside Rogue's ears and she disappeared under the lake's surface, she heard a faint trail of song; a howl. Her inward laughing stopped, and her expression hardened underwater, her inky eyes snapping open to gaze up through the mottled, distorted water at the foreboding sky above.

Cry for me.

She whispered in her mind, and no more than a pause in time slipped by before rain pattered it's way down in a curtain over the lake. Squinting against the pressure of water on her eyes, the lycaness watched her whole world mix and twirl itself so nothing was easy to make out. Wasn't that just the story of her life? Distortion.

Rogue grinned under the water, silently wondering to herself if the young howl she had heard was one of her children calling to her from heaven. This made her eyes close, and she slowly began floating back up to the surface, breaking it with only ripples, everything else silent. A tear stood out on the curve of her cheek and her expression was cold, eyes closed, hair matted around her delicate form. It was beautiful in itself, the way one could tell a tear apart from zillions upon zillions of raindrops, all in it's entirety, and always before it hits the ground.

The tear slid off Rogue's cheek and disappeared in the crowd of others, her dress floating dreamily around her as she sat in the shallows, wet up to her hips. Bowing her face, she let her lips part, and she sighed a long sigh. Then her illuminated amethyst gaze raised and set itself solid on the pitch young she-wolf approaching. Cealla.

The petals that had been around Rogue now stuck randomly to her skin and dress, some still journeyed out over the large abyss of the lake, some beached themselves and dispersed like uglies in the sand. Rogue's fragile arms unfolded and she outstretched them timidly at the pup before her, praying to embrace her. Why couldn't she play mother?

Just...one more time?

[† Cealla †]

The rain began suddenly, jolting the pup out of her little trance and back into her own world. What had begun as a light drizzle rapidly progressed into a downpour, soaking her pelt and sending little rivlets of water into her eyes. After blinking a few times, she tried to see where Rouge had gotten to- she'd watched her fall into the water, but now it had become hard to see through the rain. After squinting for a few moments she managed to see the she-wolf, just breaking the surface of the water. She had been worried, thinking that Rouge had perhaps drowned herself out of grief. But, since that had obviously not happened, she must be safe. For now.

The rain was so bothersome to her and Cealla began to have thoughts of returning to her little home. She didn't want to get entirely soaked, and the rain was begining to make her shiver. It wasn't summer anymore, after all, and the temperature was somewhere in the forties. Only her wolven coat could offer her any protection from the cold, and even that wasn't as effective as it could be. It had not grown into its' full winter state, so the blowing wind and rain literally went right through her. Shivering a few times, she turned to leave the lake just as she saw Rouge sit up, extending her arms with an almost pleading look on her face.

What should she do?

This question took her less than a split second to answer. With a wolfish smile upon her maw for the first time in a long while, she broke into a sprint towards Rouge's outstretched arms. Her paws morphed into feet and a pair of small hands as she ran, black hair flying out behind her. She then threw herself into Rouge's arms, burying her head into the woman's shoulder. Not caring about the fact that the lycaness was soaked from her little swim, she just snuggled in closer. The hug of a mother- something she hadn't recieved in such a very long time.

[Rogue]

And that was it. Rogue's body convulsed in weak sobs as she clutched Cealla to herself protectively, the lack of hesitation in the young pup only fueling the woman's emotions further. Whether she was crying out of pure happiness, or grief, or anguish, or sorrow, Rogue couldn't tell. Perhaps it was all four, for each played a very firm reason inside her.

Her hands snaked around the child lovingly, one supporting her little back, and the other weaving gentle fingers through those gorgeous pitch-black locks. Both of them sat there for a countless amount of time, as the rain fell continuously, soaking whatever dry or semi-dry part of their bodies was left until they were both as wet as the lake Rogue sat in.

It was so beautiful. Rogue felt wonderful for the first time in a long time, and she nuzzled her chin past Cealla's tresses to rest it on the child's shoulder. Smiling a faint smile to herself, Rogue closed her lavender eyes in bliss and took in every minute detail of the little lycaness' scent, savouring it as though she might never have this moment again. And she most likely wouldn't...

It was incredible the way that what she needed most could warm her from the very interior of her heart, to the tips of her stroking fingers, when her entire form was enveloped in water. Her sobbing slowed, but tears continued to trickle from her sore eyes, slipping off her cheeks like the raindrops, to race down Cealla's back.

This child is beautiful.
Was all Rogue could think.