[trans]

❝ tell me about a time your kalon suffered a loss, and how they dealt with it. ❞ - day 13 - ✧
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[ ❧ ] often times, loss is unexpected. you dont think it'll happen to you, that the chances of those things you see in stories and fiction and in tv shows is astronomically small, that you'll never be involved in something like that in your life time. we all think it, never think it'll happen to us, never prepare... until it does.

you think about it everyday. the flames scorching your fur until it was rough and burning to the touch and black as coal, the smell of something rotten floating through the air and a feeling of electricity running along your arms and through your nerves, the lack of just how much you knew what was going on, and your screams demanding to know what was going on unheard, or ignored. nightmares plague what is supposed to be freedom from the waking world, and even in the light of day, you can feel fire along your spine and screams ringing in your ears like church bells, signaling the end.

you cant sleep. it haunts you when you're dreaming, and even when you're awake. you never feel like eating, but how your species has evolved, you dont have to eat nearly as much as a normal person might. yet you still feel the twinge of hunger when it's been too long, and too often, you feel it grinding up your insides and demanding nutrients. demanding anything you can get your paws on to satiate the hunger. but you never feel like it.

you have done reading, in their silly little "psychology" books, but you never finish. too many books lay abandoned and half-finished in your flat, never to be touched again, unless you feel like cleaning (but you rarely do). you dont know why you cant just get over it, as many in your family and village would have said. you can only stare at your ceiling from your bed and wonder how many days it has been since you have arrived here.

no one talks to you. or really, you dont talk to them. brushing off your coworker's concerns has become second nature, and you dont want to talk to them anyway. you only see flames and ash in their eyes, and it forces you to look away if you stare too long at what isnt even there.

shadow people follow you wherever you go, follow you home. you've tried everything to get rid of them save yelling in the middle of the street like a lunatic, but they persist. shadows of people you dont know, shadows of people you do. they whisper in your ears when you're alone and make you afraid to turn off your bedroom light, fearful of what you'll see when you open your eyes in the dark.

it is months like this you spend living in fear in your own home, and many more before a light finds you. you meet them on accident, a quiet fellow with antlers and too large ears that just look silly on their head, and a strange muzzle unlike any you've seen before. a deer, you think you recall reading somewhere, is what they look like. they dont speak, but they offer you a glass of water, when you're two seconds away from ripping the fur off your arm to extinguish the flames hiding inside you, underneath your skin, and the small action, although logically should not mean anything, makes you relax. you take a deep breath for the first time in awhile, and thank them quietly, but also ask why.

because i see the flames in your eyes. i have them too. it shocks you. no one has understood before... you almost dont believe it, until you turn to look at them just a little, and they've pulled up part of their sleeve to reveal a section of bare skin on their wrist and arm, only the tiniest traces of hair just growing in again to be found. the patch travels up their arm and higher, you think, and a painful-looking white scar sits in the center, like a fault line.

it makes you shiver, but you nod, and swallow harshly. no one has understood before... but when you look at them, you feel like you're looking at yourself.

my friends are still inside, if you would like to join us. i never see you around anyone, you seem kinda lonely. they admit, placing their hand of their neck in an awkward gesture that looks a bit uncomfortable, considering you're both hunched over.

"i'd like that very much, yes..." you said, noncommittally, so in case you want to back out you can, yet you follow when they go back inside without question. for the first time in a long time, you feel like you can breathe again, and being around them all, for some reason, relaxes you. you feel calm, you feel at peace, and...

and for once, you dont see the flames in anyone's eyes.

[master of spaz]

Elkren

I was a very young boy when my father passed away. He had been my very, very best friend, and the day that he had died, marked the first time I would run away from home. I had, like anyone would have been, sorely heartbroken and taken aback by the sudden events of his death, and only method of coping was to go out and away. To make circumstances worse, I hadn't brought with me a single penny, or any food, and by the time I realized my ridiculous idea, I had been many hours away from home. Wandering the dark woods, strolling through the town, I didn't cry a tear, for my soul was too weary to bear another drop. I was a precocious boy. The first night I ran away, neither my mother nor my fellow friends looked for me, for they knew me all too well than to intervene in my sorrowful adventure. I slept in an old stable, that a polite serf whom had laboured for my father many years ago tended. He left it to me for the night, on terms that I slipped quietly away in the morning when his master would come to fetch his prized stallions. I covered myself with a horse's blanket, and slept like a king on the yellow straw.

I can't remember my dreams that night, though I'll be sure that my nightmares were clouded with black images of my sick, dying father, and my livid mother, and I, alone and pained.

The next morning, as instructed, I slipped quietly away in the dark of dawn, and left no traces I had ever been in the old stable. I returned home, a day's journey, and on the entire walk I sullenly contemplated the punishments my smart mother would think up to whip and scold me with. To my surprise, I returned to a peaceful, amicable house. My father had been buried in the morning, behind the garden, never for me to see again, and my dear mother was whistling away as she strung out her bonnet in the sun to dry. My stomach rumbled.

When she saw me, there was no utter of relief, or cry of anguish. She was neither angry, nor rejoiced to see her poor son return, and mind you, I had been only four or so at the time. She herded me back home, and for the rest of the evening we didn't speak a work about the incident. She only clucked one about her missing jewellery, chided the baker for his delays, and then left me on my own to play.

It was in that instance, the wound of my father's death still fresh in my young heart, that I marvelled at my impressive feat, having been able to walk so far and so wide, and returning home without so much as a scratch, or a fast licking. And soon, I thought happily, I would run away for good. Yes, for good.

[䏠xote]

prompt twelve

Rain pelted Fifa's coat, soaking him to the bone. It seeped through his uniform, the chill making its way deep to his core as he held the humming plasma blade in his paw, tail lashing once, the wind battering his form.

Ahead of him, Thace walked without hesitation, his eyes dark as his hair was blown about his face. He did not seem worried, his balance steady as he approached his former comrade, steps even and unfaltering as he scaled the Halcyon's metal wing.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Thace!" Fifa cried. His lungs burned, and his nose and eyes stung from the bitter, frigid rain.

The commander's expression remained cold, however. "Doesn't have to be like what? Are you going to assure me we don't need to fight? Are you going to tell me there can be peace?"

"There can! You don't have to hold on to this any longer. You can let it go!"

Thace rushed him, and Fifa gave a grunt of pain, arm aching as he caught the commander's blade with his own. The ferocity in his orange eyes was frightening, and Fifa shuddered, the kalon's hot breath tickling his whiskers.

"They killed you. They left your battered body in pieces for me to try to salvage--they murdered you!"

"I'm right here, Thace! I've been here this whole time!" Fifa's expression twisted with the agony of deep-rooted sorrow. "I'm alive and well, and it doesn't have to end like this!"

Thace gave a snarl of rage, and droplets of red spattered onto Fifa's muzzle. He staggered back, surprised, before noticing the darkness welling in the commander's uniform, his injuries more grave than Fifa had judged.

"YOU ARE NOT AEROS!"

Thace pulled back his blade, and struck Fifa at the shoulder, the brown kalon giving a snarl of pain as he stumbled dangerously close to the edge of the wing, the ground not even visible through the mist that lay over the earth below.

Thace's eyes were glazed with sorrow, pain and hatred. Rather suddenly, it occurred to Fifa that the commander was not the man he'd known before. Something in him had broken, had been twisted and corrupted by the incredible loneliness that he must have felt after the end of Aeros. He was right--Fifa was not Aeros. He did not remember the days when he and Thace were mere kits, enraptured by the awe of the great galaxies, studying and sparring and learning, side by side. He did not remember any such things.

But in his heart, he still felt such painful, visceral love for this kalon in front of him. His chest ached to see such an angry expression on Thace's face, and, even if he could not remember the beginning of those feelings, he knew one thing at the very least.

Thace had lost a piece of himself. He was in great and terrible grief, a grief that had swallowed him whole.

As long as Thace was alive, the planet they occupied would never be at peace, and neither would he. They would all suffer until the day they no longer existed, until the planet's crust was burned to ash and drenched in alien blood.

Thace lunged again, but Fifa did not shy away this time.

"Fifa!" Nova cried from the headset, and the former soldier opened his arms wide, taking the commander into them. He felt the sting of Thace's sword in his belly, yet he wrapped his arms tightly around his dear friend, stepping back. They slipped, and they fell, hurtling down towards the planet's surface.

Above the rain, Fifa could not hear Thace's cries of rage as he wept, but he still stroked the commander's head, just once.

Vaguely, he remembered lying in Thace's arms, in pain, as the commander comforted him.

He hoped desperately that in Thace's final moments, he would experience the peace that he had felt as Aeros, all those years ago.

Either way, it would be over, and Thace would never be made to suffer such terrible loneliness again.

[SyntheticFox]

Prompt #13; The cat:Uzi

Love hurts, Uzi learned the hard way.
"This is it.. I'm going to confess my feelings to him today.."
Uzi repeated, hoping it will raise his confidence. He wanted to tell his crush the truth, and finally, he mustered up the courage and wants to tell him today. As he got closer and closer to his potential mate, he began to blush a bright red color. Uzi clutched the flowers he picked for his soulmate, they were rainbow roses.
"Hi.. Oh- I mean.. Um.. Hi!..."
Uzi nervously talked under his breath..
"Would you... Like to.. Go on.. A date with me...???"
Uzi tried to hold back any tears from falling.
"Aww Uzi.. Id love to! But.. im moving.."
The male kalon replied looking very distraught. Uzi ran off, he not only lost a friend, he lost his chance at having a boyfriend.
Well not quite, he lost hope that day, all he could do is cry. But he didn't necessarily lose the love of his life.
"Uzi!"
The male kalon came back to hug him. Uzi was stunned as to why he did that.
"You didn't let me finish.. Im moving, but only a few blocks down. So im pretty busy packing today.."
The male kal stated, wiping tears of Uzi's eyes.
"I love chu, you sentimental goof ball! Lets go on a date tomorrow! How about we meet up at 5 o clock at your house? Sounds good"
Uzi stopped crying. He still felt embarrassed however, so his face was still completely red.
"Yes! I mean.. yes.. Thats good!"
Uzi started to smile, the school bell rung which cut the conversation short.
"Aaaa I gotta go home now! I'll see you tomorrow Uzi!"
And with that, Uzi lost hope, but gained a forever mate.

[Jippy]

Prompt 13: The Cat
Featuring Fleur

The day, I fell ill, I lost everything. My dignity, my pride, my joy, and everything. I grew weak and sorrow as days went by. I had no strength left, it was as if all my life was being sucked away. I fell under almost a spell, draining myself from the world. I couldn’t move and hardly blink. I was terribly ill. There I layed under the shade of a tree in the grass. My head spun, my eyelids grew heavy, and my appetite vanished. Then one day as I layed in the grass under the tree, I saw dandelion seeds flying up and away in the wind. How I longed to be with them. They were free and peaceful. Something changed as I stared at them, they had to find a home to grow too. They never gave up, they followed the wind to their destiny. So why should I be any difference, I wasn’t going to lose to some silly sickness, I was, I will recover. I won’t lose hope.

[kittykore]

Prompt 13:
Beatrice is a normally very forgiving person but there is one exception, Bee let someone borrow her small little mom van. A friend, someone who she thought she could trust, but it's been two years now and yet the van had never returned as well as someone to return her calls. Bee is a bit upset and makes her sad to think about the fact that she had trusted a friend with her car and they straight up stole it. While she worked to get another car, she hasn't worked on forgiving the person who has stolen her car. She plans on finding the person one day and confronting them though she hates the fact that she doesn't have enough courage to. Bee has been dealing with the feelings of betrayal.

[Ethulai]

Dᴀʏ 13: Tʜᴇ Cᴀᴛ
" [ fabulous, amazing, superb ] "

Tell me about a time your kalon suffered a loss, and how they dealt with it!

---

The first time Dynia truly understood loss was when he had to watch his mother die, powerless to do anything but observe, hidden, from a distance.
He could not offer her comfort.
He could not say goodbye.
He could not share his grief with his siblings and father, who was so frail now and broken by the passing of his lifemate.

How he had been blissfully unaware of the consequences of the curse until then.
How he had delighted in his youthful form.
How he had manipulated others into getting what he wanted, years of knowledge and cunning hidden in his mind but not apparent in his child-like gaze.

How he had forgotten his family.
The greatest shame, the greatest loss of all, but something he had not understood until this very moment.
He had left home abruptly when the gods had bestowed their judgement upon him. He had not once looked back.
Any chance of forgiveness was gone now, he knew his family would not understand or comprehend why he had left and why he would choose to return after their beautiful maman was no more.
He was no longer a part of his family. He knew they had probably searched for years after his disappearance but now he was a distant memory. He watched them cluster together, giving each other comfort, and knew not only did he not belong there anymore, but he didn't deserve to belong after how callously he had abandoned them all.

A whisper of sound reached him where he sat hidden in the tall oak's brances, one of his sister's tearful voices;
"How I wish we had found out what happened to Pumpkin," she sobbed, using his childhood nickname; "it hurt so much watching her sitting on the front porch day after day hoping for a miracle."
The hole in his heart grew impossibly wider, deeper.

He still sat there hours later, when everyone had moved on to his mother's wake, so numb he didn't notice nor care that the rain was running in rivulets down his fur. The skies grew darker as night approached.

When he was certain no one would be entering the cemetery, he climbed down from his perch and walked up to the headstone.
"I will not leave you a token, mama, even though I should," he began, tears appearing, falling, mingling with the rain in which he stood.
"I should, but I can't. I don't deserve to give hope, nor should I intrude on their lives," he continued, stroking the top of the headstone softly, gently.
"But I promise, mama, I promise I will look after them, as a coward, from a distance."

---

So it was that Dynia finally had a purpose. For years after that fateful day he made sure that his father and family were taken care of. Always from a distance, always in his words; 'as a coward'. Then when he lost his father, followed by his brothers and sisters, he made sure he looked after their descendants.

Thus slowly, steadily, cautiously he started to walk on the path to redemption.

[✧ 花chéngzhǔ.]

All the event prompts are now over!

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Thank you so much to everyone that participated!
It's been a pleasure to read through all these entries!

[✧ 花chéngzhǔ.]

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