Fletcher Fairleigh
Two dads are better than one.
shapeshifter
Osprey
Haven
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Post by Fletcher Fairleigh on Mar 26, 2015 17:25:22 GMT -5
Three, two, one. Open your eyes! Fletcher didn’t hesitate for a moment and immediately threw his hands away from his eyes. He let out a screech of excitement as he looked around the treehouse. The small but cozy space was flooded with warm light that bounced off of all the wooden surfaces. He ran from Sascha’s side straight toward the stairs. He knew what was waiting for him up there. He shifted and flew up to the little loft instead, too excited to even contemplate actually using the steps.
He gasped when he finally laid his eyes on the space that Casey and Sascha had made just for him. It wasn’t big, just big enough for a bed and a little space for him to store things of his own. But it was all his! “I love it! I love it!” Was all he could repeat over and over. He shifted back and flopped onto the bed. Fletcher closed his eyes and felt for the first time in a long time that he was at home. “It’s even better than I thought it would be!”
Fletcher scooted to the edge of the loft and swatted playfully at Sascha’s hair. “You’re good builders,” he approved.
“It’s staying in the tree, so that’s a good sign,” Casey said as he set down a bag of supplies. “I think maybe just one more trip and we’ll be all moved in,” he added. Casey stepped out onto the porch and shifted. Fletcher watched him fly off back toward the cave where they had left the rest of their meager supplies.
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Anthromorph
Vampire Bat
Haven
Founder
INVENTORY Skills - Healing - Sonic - Endurance - Wallcrawling - Stealth
Items - Outfit
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Post by Sascha Stark on May 12, 2015 20:54:09 GMT -5
He looked around the small treehouse that had finally come together after months and months of planning, scavenging supplies, and worst of all the building that had seemed to have one continuous disaster. But they’d made it. They’d done it. He and Casey had a built a home for their family that would keep them safe. Sascha wasn’t sure he believed in it whole-heartedly, but that was another discussion to be had.
But he was tired, so tired. Every inch of him seemed sore, and he couldn’t breathe without some twinge of pain clamoring for his attention. But even as he stood next to Fletcher and watched him fly up to his new “room,” Sascha knew that it was worth it. All of the hard work, the suffering, the frustration, arguments and hunger … All of it was worth it, if only to see and hear the pure joy in Fletcher’s voice as he investigated their new home.
Yet something still gnawed at Sascha as he watched Fletcher roll around on the bed, a strange feeling that filled him with a soft sadness he didn’t quite understand. He laughed through his nose when Fletcher complimented their building and tousled his hair, shaking his head. “Oh, yeah. Handiest builders this dome ever seen,” Sascha said with a knowing glance at Casey, his eyes sparkling with mirth despite the struggles they had faced.
“We’ll meet you down there, iubito mea.” My beloved. Sascha called, though stepped back nervously as Casey shifted into his blood-red wolf form. Sascha knew Casey had to use it to fly, but having that monster around Fletcher still made him nervous. It was a miracle to Sascha how Casey could control it, even to this day. He shook his head and watched through the small front window until he was sure the wolf was gone before walking back to Fletcher’s bunk.
He turned so his back was facing fletcher, his wings spread just a bit. “Hop on,” he said, laughing as Fletcher leaped onto his shoulders. In a few moments Sascha vaulted off the landing platform and took to the air, Fletcher’s arms wrapped around his shoulders. His giant, muscular wings flapped hard with the added weight, though Fletcher was light cargo compared to Casey.
He landed a few good meters away from the cave in the only clearing that allowed his massive wingspan. He used his wings to help support Fletcher in their make-shift piggy-back ride, and he found himself feeling light and happy for the first time in months. “It was a good idea you had to build a treehouse, Fletcher,” Sascha said as he plodded along, contemplating what to say to the kid. That strange feeling of gentle sadness washed over him again, and this time he knew why. This must have been so difficult for Fletcher. His life had become a mirror of Sascha’s, always scared, always on the run from something bigger, stronger. Sascha had wanted so badly to protect Fletcher from that life; he wanted more than anything else for this child to be safe, and happy and loved. And he was, intensely and unconditionally. Since the first moment Sascha had heard Fletcher crying outside the Inn, he knew that he was meant to take care of him, to protect and provide for him. Sascha’s one dream had been to be a father; and before Fletcher, he had thought that to be impossible. But now he had a son. A son who had had another father…who probably still wanted his true father, even though that too was impossible.
And suddenly, Sascha knew what that gentle, ebbing feeling of sorrow was. “Where would we be without you, hm?”
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Fletcher Fairleigh
Two dads are better than one.
shapeshifter
Osprey
Haven
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Post by Fletcher Fairleigh on May 24, 2015 20:40:01 GMT -5
Fletcher let out an excited giggle and leapt onto Sascha’s back. Sure, he was perfectly capable of flying, but he was never one to turn down a piggy-back ride. Flying with Sascha was different than flying as a bird. He felt his stomach drop as Sascha leapt off the porch and took flight, a feeling he never got when he flew himself. It reminded him of being back home and going to the fair to ride the rickety roller coasters. “Woohoo!” He exclaimed, holding on tight and closing his eyes, giggling madly. It shouldn’t have been so exciting for a bird shifter, but flying like this brought back feelings of pure childhood joy, something he thought might have been over for him; the no-worries, pure fun and adventure, riding on the back of a dragon sort of fantasy he’d had when he was on the outside. Except now he was actually flying through the air, on the nicest dragon of them all.
The flight was over all-too-soon, and Fletcher had to catch his breath between his laughter. “That was fun,” He spoke, plopping his chin down on his arms, which were still slung around Sascha’s neck. It was nice having fun like this… Fletcher felt right at home there perched on Sascha’s back as he walked. It reminded him of how he used to do the same with his dad. The thought brought back a twinge of sadness that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. This time though, it was sadness at the realization that Fletcher hadn’t thought about his parents in months now. He’d loved them and of course wished they were still alive, but part of him was okay… His family was gone, but he had a new one now.
Fletcher’s eyes snapped open when Sascha spoke, and he only then realized that he had started to drift off to the gentle swaying and crunching, rhythmic sound of Sascha’s footsteps through the brush. “Probably trying to find some other kid with great ideas!” he answered with a laugh. Really though, he was happy to take credit for the amazing treehouse plan. Fletcher knew it would work the whole time, even when Caysha – what Devin called Casey and Sascha – didn’t think that it would. His optimism was seemingly never-ending.
“It’s the perfect house for us!” he said, going back to the treehouse. A house was something Fletcher didn’t think he would have again. In the Fallen, he’d shared a train car with a nice lady that looked after him. It was homey, but it wasn’t home, and definitely not a house. It was the same with the Inn, and a little less so with the cave, but it was Casey and Sascha that made those places feel like home. But a house was something special… it was a place all their own, like he’d had with his family.
A question suddenly came to mind and he turned his head a little to look at Sascha, though he mostly saw his scruffy cheek. “Hey… Sascha?” Fletcher paused, not knowing how to find the words he was looking for. He barely knew what he was trying to ask, but he wanted an answer anyhow. “So you and me and Casey… we’re like a family, right? You’re my new family? Like…for good?”
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Anthromorph
Vampire Bat
Haven
Founder
INVENTORY Skills - Healing - Sonic - Endurance - Wallcrawling - Stealth
Items - Outfit
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Post by Sascha Stark on Jul 5, 2015 18:07:27 GMT -5
“Probably trying to find some other kid with great ideas!”
Sascha laughed with Fletcher, a strange sound to be heard in the forests that were usually so quiet. But Sascha liked the idea that they were filling the world with something brighter, something better. But at what Fletcher said, he shook his head with a soft chuckle. “I don’t think we ever find anyone else like you, Fletcher,” He said, and it was the god’s honest truth. But he didn’t want to think about that, about even the possibility that they would be without Fletcher. He was their son, he was part of their family; and the thought of him being gone for any reason filled him with a deep, gnawing dread.
Sascha shook the thoughts free when Fletcher spoke again, nodding emphatically and refusing to get consumed by those thoughts – or the ones about how nervous the treehouse made him, how much danger Sascha thought they were in by settling down. He only smiled, even though Fletcher couldn’t see it, smiling more to keep his own thoughts at bay than anything else.
”Sascha?”
“Hm?” he said, continuing on their plodding journey to the cave.
“So you and me and Casey… we’re like a family, right? You’re my new family? Like…for good?”
Fletcher’s words slowed him to a stop, tears instantly pricking at the corner of his eyes. He swallowed the tangle of emotions that had formed a lump in his throat as he fought back the urge to grab Fletcher to his chest in a hug and just cry. He wasn’t sure why he was crying even as the tears rolled down his cheeks, one fang digging into his bottom lip as he fought them back. He didn’t want to scare Fletcher by crying. But somehow Fletcher seemed to have known what he was thinking earlier. Fletcher had the same doubts that Sascha had, this whole time. How could he not have seen? How could he not have said something sooner? Fletcher had been burdened by these doubts, by these questions, maybe even feeling the same sense of quiet sadness that Sascha had. Or worse, maybe Fletcher thought that they were going to give him up someday, hand him back to the Fallen. How could he not have seen this?
Sascha cleared his throat and wiped his tears hastily away before setting Fletcher down and turning to face him. He kneeled down so he was at Fletcher’s level, and set his hands lightly on either shoulder. “Yes, Fletcher. We are family. Ever since the day you found me, we have been family. Casey and me, we will…we will always be here for you.” He smiled, swallowing the tremor that threatened to spill into his voice. Fletcher was his son, and he wanted to say it. He wanted to call him his son, tell him that he loved him as strongly as the child he had never even gotten to see, to hold, to meet. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t rush him into that. Sascha didn’t want to replace Fletcher’s own father, his true father. So he told him the closest, undeniable truth. “We love you, Fletcher. We will always be your familie.”
ooc -- familie = family in Romanian
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Fletcher Fairleigh
Two dads are better than one.
shapeshifter
Osprey
Haven
|
Post by Fletcher Fairleigh on Jul 12, 2015 17:00:41 GMT -5
Fletcher remained quiet as Sascha set him down on the ground, and he stared at him expectantly, almost scared to say anything else until he had an answer. Even though they had always felt like a family, especially now that they had a real home, Fletcher couldn’t shake the small feeling of doubt that gnawed at him. The silence made it worse, and his mind raced with his unreasonable doubts. When Sascha had first taken him in, it wasn’t supposed to be forever. The first time he met Casey had gone less than well… What if now that they had their new house, they wanted to go back to what they had before, without him? Fletcher felt tears beginning to sting his eyes so they mirrored Sascha’s. His lip quivered as he tried to hold it together; nervous tears rolling down his cheeks anyway.
Sascha’s hands on his shoulders comforted and grounded him, and he managed to take a shaky breath and smile. It reminded him so much of how his dad used to talk to him and he just wanted even more for Sascha and Casey to be his parents. He wiped away his tears as quick as he could, feeling silly now for worrying so much. They were a family. There was a place for him. His little loft in the treehouse was proof of that, wasn’t it? They had always planned to stick together.
Fletcher smiled wide and leapt forward, throwing his arms around Sascha’s shoulders. He let out a giddy laugh and hugged the man tightly. “I love you too, Papa,” he spoke without realizing what he had said. Fletcher suddenly froze in a spiral of fear and panic; he had a flashback of one embarrassing time he’d called a teacher ‘mommy’ in class, and Fletcher nearly started crying again. He let go of Sascha and stepped back, his cheeks flushed bright red.
“I…I mean…Sascha. I…I dunno, are you? Like…My dad?...Dads?” Fletcher furrowed his brow in thought. “That’s going to be confusing,” he added.
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