Claymore and Dagger (closed)

[heartofcourage]

"Uka." Fiona said softly, looking down at the bundle in her arms. "You didn't have to do all of this."

She felt tears in her eyes as she looked at her father. The look in his eyes reflected her own shock and heavy heart. It almost felt like her Ma were taking care of the both of them after so many years apart.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I did, because neither of you ever got a proper Voya welcome. We're family, this whole tribe. No matter what happened in the past, we've all made our peace and we heal together." Oleg kissed her cheek and hugged them both. "Now... If either of you want to choose a tattoo, you can speak to Elder Ronun. I'm going to be making Per's." He turned to his grandson with a smile, welcoming him and the other kits and elders to come set up for the tattoos.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was still looking down at he things that she had been given, speechless. Glancing up, she saw Sam watching her with a smile on His face. She excused herself and stepped over to him, handing him her bundled cloth and tools.

"Would you watch these?" She asked him softly, taking the pot of ink and thinking about it for a long moment. "There's something I need to do."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Sure," Sam nodded with a smile. He had a fairly good idea of what she was thinking about. "If I'm no' right here when you get back, I'll be off checkin' on Kennah an' Roman."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona leaned in and kissed Sam, giving him a small smile to tell him that she was truly alright. "I'll see you soon."

She then turned with her pot of ink and moved back to her father's side. "I think I'll do this. I've thought about it for a long time and I want to finally see my fox."

 

[KieranSoares]

Owen smiled down at Fiona, looking down at the pot of ink in his own hand. "I don't know what I'll get yet... so I'll just hold onto mine. Elder Ronun's all yours," he encouraged, motioning toward a human elder who was watching over some children playing tag with some warriors. Ronun was a middle-aged man, his short-shorn black hair shot through with silver around his temples. Oleg had probably chosen him for a reason for Fiona and Owen, Ronun's cub-blue eyes much like Fiona's but darker and harder from a life of hardship.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona nodded as her Da told her that he wanted to wait on his tattoo. As she looked towards the elder that would help her with her own, she was struck with just how much like her he looked. His eyes were cub blue, but harder. Perhaps she would have ended up like him if she had continued down the path that she had chosen. However, things were looking up and she was feeling hopeful for her future for perhaps the first time in forever.

"Ronun?" Fiona asked softly as she approached him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

 

[KieranSoares]

Despite his hard gaze, Ronun's expression softened and he offered a welcoming smile to Fiona and a nod. "Fiona. The pleasure is mine, soli." He was particularly different from the other elders, his visible tattoos a completely different style. They were not swirling and sharp Lunar, nor banded Erygonian. They had natural shapes from the elements, and stories played out across his skin in centaur and werefolk forms chasing celestial bodies and hunting the forests and river banks. It was as if his skin was a tapestry. He only wore a long-sleeved tunic and trousers with tall boots, even in the biting cold, and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his shirt open halfway down his chest. Despite not having the fur of the werefolk, he seemed comfortable.

Scratching his short beard, he regarded Fiona quite kindly. "Have you come for the tattoo? Your Vulka told me he would send you my way." Even though the language was unfamiliar, the meaning was clear enough to tell he was talking about Oleg.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I've thought about it for a while, even before I came here." She said, offering him her pot of ink. "I would like to have my fox tattooed on my side. She is a beautiful creature, one that I am just now getting to know more intimately. I think it's the right thing to do to honor her."

 

[KieranSoares]

"In that case, I have a story to tell you while I set out my tools," Ronun told her, welcoming her to follow him into the long house. There she could see several of the younger elders sitting with the kits getting their adult tattoos, many of them having pulled off a tunic or rolled up a trouser leg to show their own to the kit to distract them from any pain. Each bit of ink had to be placed dot by dot on smaller pieces, or pressed in with a circular or rectangular needle 'brush' that would make up to fifty points of color at once.

Ronun sat down with Fiona off in a corner, picking up an ancient-looking wooden box from a large trunk there. He called to a few attendants nearby, and they brought him bowls of water, wash cloths, and a jar of strange, incredibly strong-smelling leaves. Ronun laid out his needles on a small table that had also been brought, cleaning all of them thoroughly even though they were all already spotless. For how old the handles looked, the needles themselves looked as if they'd just been made and polished the day before, speaking to how seriously their past owners had taken care of them.

"I don't think I have to warn you that this is going to hurt," Ronun murmured as he carefully replaced a few needles in one of the brush-like tools. Another attendant brought a few sheets of bark paper and charcoal, giving them to Fiona. "Show me what you want, and tell me what style. I can do just about anything," Ronun assured her.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I know it will hurt. I'm alright with pain." Fiona said as he offered her the bark and the charcoal to draw out her fox as best she could. "Well...I suppose she looks a bit like my Ma."

She glanced down at the paper as she sketched out the basic outlines of a fox. Her fox was white, like her Ma had been, with a beautiful dark blue gaze. If she closed her eyes, she could almost envision her, curled up and content now that she was reunited with her family. And now that she was loved by Sam.

"I want purples and blacks to honor my grandfather, Oleg. And misty silvers to remember my other grandfather." The words came out without thought, her mind turning over all of the different possibilities. "And something beautiful for Sam."

 

[KieranSoares]

Looking over what she had made, Ronun soon took the sketch and his trained hand took over, reshaping the drawing a bit into a figure that was fluid and graceful, but strong. A paintbrush and some of the colored ink he had aside, mixed with a little water, and he added watercolor representations of the colors she asked, until the final shape was a curled fox shape, her edges wispy but her eyes sharp and blue. The fox herself was mostly silver with purple and black edges and small detail lines. There he paused. "This Sam, Samuel Ghis if I remember what Oleg said... what would you like for him?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was quiet for a long moment as she was asked what she wanted for Sam. She remembered his own tattoo, the great bear with the leaves featuring the initials of those that meant the most to him. She hadn't earned her own just yet, but she knew that one day she might.

"Leaves. From our tree." She murmured, looking at Ronun as she tried her best to describe what the windswept tree on the cliff side looked like.

 

[KieranSoares]

"A tree, hm? I have an idea." Ronun began carefully adding a tree standing to the side of the fox, its branches hanging overhead with sparse but beautiful leaves of bluish-green to fit in with the colors already present. The tree twisted in beautiful patterns native to the Celtic folk across the isles. Though Ronun had never seen Sam's tattoos, he'd unknowingly added an element from them into the piece.

 

[heartofcourage]

"It's beautiful." Fiona said, loving the design and the homage to Sam. She just hoped that he would like the final result as well. "Maybe later a few pieces to honor the drakes and the dragons can be added as well. For right now, this is perfect."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Before we start, I wanted to share something with you... Consider it support. I know how hard it is to connect with your animal blood when you're born human." Ronun pulled off his tunic, showing her a proud tattoo of a powerful, misty-looking Wolf over his heart. It's fur was a rich dark grey, with piercing golden eyes and a tribal marking down the side of its face as it stared out from Ronun's skin as I'd ready to face all the world. Around its feet were images of little cubs, each with some kind of letter on its paw that Fiona recognized as Tuari, which made sense as to why Ronun kept using words from another language.

"I'm the only human ever born to my family," Ronun murmured. "My mate and my cubs are all Wolves like my ancestors before me. Oleg told me about you a long time ago when Tatianna wrote to him... I think he wanted me to know I wasn't alone. I never knew my parents. They abandoned me in Malmo, and I was sent to the Voya because my eyes revealed my heritage. Oleg made me an elder two years ago... And now, I finally meet you. We're two of a kind. Werefolk in human bodies, learning to understand our animal sides. I finally got tattoo of mine when my first cub was born."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona listened to his story, sympathizing with him over the fact that she was the only human born in her entire family. It had been a long and hard road, one that had destroyed her mother and nearly her father as well. It was difficult to know that things might have been avoided if she had simply been born a kit instead of human.

"I'm afraid of what might happen in the future if I have kits of my own." Fiona said softly as she looked at Ronun's tattoo. "I could never make a child feel less than what they are, however. If they are born a fox instead of human, I know that they will have a place where they are loved and accepted no matter what."

"I've never been part of a tribe. My Da wouldn't allow it when I was little." She admitted, looking at Ronun. "I'm never sure if I'm doing the right things, but my grandfather won't let me back down or back away. I guess I should thank him for that."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You have survived being a Fox in a human body, made it through your whole life so far in a world where werefolk and their have fewer and fewer safe havens every day, and you've reconnected with your people, even managed to reconnect with your family and your father. I think you have everything it takes to see out a beautiful life, my dear kit," Ronun encouraged, his words backed by a confidence and experience few had. "I'll be glad to see you go on, your Fox right beside you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"And I'll be honored to carry her with me." Fiona said with a small smile to Ronun. "Shall we get started?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"Absolutely. Just sit back," he told her. When she was comfortable and had lifted up her shirt enough for him to work on her side, he began by carefully cleaning the area with a mix of the strange leaves and water. It stung ever so slightly, but it also made her skin just the slightest bit numb. When the first needle point pressed in, it felt like getting stung by a bee. But the more he worked, the more bearable it became.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona tried her hardest not to focus on the pain. It wasn't bad but she could certainly feel the needle each time it poked into her skin. When a particularly sensitive spot was hit, she would suck in a breath and bite her lower lip. She didn't flinch, however. She wanted to be brave and to show them all that she was just as much a fox as anyone else.

 

[KieranSoares]

"The pain is temporary, soli," Ronun murmured after he hit a sensitive point. "But the reward will last you the rest of your life and beyond. It's a tribal belief that every tattoo we have is also on our souls. Once we endure the pain for the sake of the art, it stays with us even in the next life and the one after that."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I know. But it doesn't make it hurt any less." Fiona said with a chuckle as Ronun did his best to try and make her feel better about the situation. "I'm stronger than I look. Trust me on that. It will take a lot more than a few needles to get me down."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Oddly enough, most find the single needle much worse than the grouped needles I use for filling in color," Ronun murmured with a smile. It took him nearly two hours to finish the last bit of silvery color around the fox and place the last leaves. When he was done, he carefully washed the area again, the strange leaves numbing the pain a bit before he layered several leaves over the tattoo and fixed them in place with a bandage.

"Keep that covered for the day, then come back to me tomorrow to check on it. As long as you never let it get sunburned, it'll only fade a bit with time but you'll never lose the colors. And no peeking at it until tomorrow, either," he chuckled, setting his tools aside to be cleaned.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona wanted desperately to look but it was already bandaged by the time she had the chance. She nodded and took his instruction.

"I'll be here bright and early then. Or else I know Sam will drag me in if he has to." Fiona said as she pulled her clothing back into place and gingerly sat up, thanking Ronun again for his time.