[ P ] put the gun down

Odysseus does nothing but ratchet up the building tension in the room; she can feel it rippling off of her brother in waves, see it in how his gaze zeroes in on her overprotective guard dog pressing a kiss to her cheek. She can't blame Roman for his obvious discomfort, and for his sake, her only return to Odysseus's greeting is to lean her shoulder back into his. The weighted silence that ensues doesn't help the awkward feeling that stretches between them, and she glances sidelong at the man beside her, uncertain if she's grateful or annoyed that he hasn't said anything to Roman. She trusts Odysseus with her life, but she doesn't trust him not to threaten her brother somehow. Perhaps it's better if he just...looms.

Roman seems to have reached the same conclusion when his eyes finally slide back open and find her worried ones. He struggles with that temper their father had, and Senka hates that in this moment, she is the cause for it. This wasn't the best way for him to find out about...everything, but she doesn't think there is a good way to go about it. She's gone wildly off the family rails, and as much as she's certain that Roman hardly recognizes her anymore, Senka doesn't recognize herself. At least, not the version of herself that lived under their father's thumb, and then Augustine's. That girl is gone, and her brother is getting a crash course in the new Senka.

"Denya and Arachne," she says with a fond smile, grateful that Roman has chosen to focus on her, and not her shadow. Senka subtly leans further into Odysseus, lending from his steadfast strength; she's exhausted, but she doesn't dare let her brother see it. There's something that feels deeply private about how unwell she had become, and how Odysseus had picked up all of her broken pieces and held them together without faltering a single step, patiently doting on her until she was whole again.

"Look, I— I know this is a lot to take in, but I—" she pauses, glancing up at Odysseus with a softening at the corners of her eyes that's impossible to fake before flitting her gaze back to her brother. "I'm happy, Ro. I'm so happy," Senka breathes earnestly. She hasn't said this to Odysseus in so many words, but she wants him to know it too—that he brings her a deep-seated contentment she's never had before. "You want me to be happy, right?" She knows he does. Maybe it's unfair to ask it, knowing all that Roman is shouldering, but Senka has grown selfish in the months she's known Odysseus. He taught her that she's allowed to be selfish, she's allowed to live her life freely, she's allowed to say no more.

Senka isn't a political puppet any longer, and she refuses to ever be one again. She doesn't think Roman truly ever understood her position, but then again, how could he? He was their father's prodigy, Taisa their mother's—and Senka? She was raised for a position she hadn't been bred for, forced to conform and abandon the ambition and intelligence in her genetics, all for the sake of political greed. She will never throttle Arachne’s free will in the same way hers had been. Senka is only just now learning to spread her wings, and she never would have found the courage to do so without the man standing beside her.

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Odysseus had built his life navigating tense situations and the temper of other wolves. Usually he dealt with such obstacles with a heavy hand, a well timed blow that asserted himself over his opponent. But he knew there would be hell to pay if he stuck with his heavy handed methods today and today wasn’t about him. Senka was reconnecting with her brother, reuniting with a part of her family that she hadn’t seen in months. The wolf couldn’t help but be miffed if had taken her family this long to find her. Odysseus did his best to not rain on her parade, not when she was so recently acting herself again. He ignored the desire to shove the man back down in his chair, to scold him for leaving his back turned to the door, for leaving Senka vulnerable.

Pregnancy had been hard on her, more so than he ever expected. The pair had been to hell and back. While she had spent weeks on end sick and miserable, he’d hardly slept, hovering anxiously, desperate to know she was going to survive. He wasn’t about to let her hot headed brother to do anything that would set her back.

Senka spoke the names of their pups with the same fondness she always did. She was positively infatuated with the little monsters. Though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t too. Her brother was the focus of his attention though. The man looked like he was going to implode, like he could hardly stomach all the bombs Senka had undoubtedly dropped of him. Odysseus bit back the urge to sneer.

With Senka sinking further into his side, leaning her weight against him as if she sought his support, he held her up, unfaltering as he always was when it came to her. Briefly, she meets his stare for the second time since he barged into the room. Her expression softens in a way that he actually manages a faint but honest smile - one side of his mouth tips up in the beginning of a lopsided grin. Then she’s addressing her brother again and his expression smoothes.

I’m happy… that caught his attention. Each word that left her mouth was branded into his psyche and created a deep seated contentment in him. It was the first time he had heard such a confession from her lips, at least blatantly so. He had known for awhile now that she was happy, he heard in the soft sighs that left her lips, saw it in the soft lines of her face and shoulders, tasted it on her skin and felt it in his black heart. But her admitting it, it gave truth to what he believed and chased off any longer doubts. Her brother would never see it, but Senka would feel him melt into her. Unlike her, he wasn’t shy in front of the man sitting across from them, so he didn’t hesitate to nuzzle the soft spot below her ear.
You want me to be happy, right? In an almost lazy manner, amethyst eyes landed on her brother. Not even Senkas presence beside him was enough to keep the challenge from his stare - don’t you dare deny her. Otherwise, the dark wolf remained silent.

"speech"

eat my way into perdition
to taste you

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He chanted his mantras, forcing the raging waters that turmoiled inside of him to calm; to temper the sword he so desperately wanted to brandish to this foreign man. He wanted to rise to the challenge that was being waved right in front of his face. The way he looked at her, looked at him, made his stomach churn. Bugs crawled over his skin, burrowing into his fur and infecting his blood.

He absolutely, to the very core of his being, did not want to be here any longer.

But Senka plowed forward, not allowing Roman a second of breathing room. And the brother met her dance, forcing his own paw into entertaining her. Because the bottom line was that she was his beloved sister, and he wouldn’t allow himself to cause a chasm between them. He wouldn’t be his father. Deep down, he wanted a relationship with her and with her children. There was some part of him that was excited to be an uncle, it was just being vastly overshadowed by - he swallowed the urge to gag again at the thought - their father.

Roman refused to meet his purple eyes. Not because he was scared or submissive, but out of pure spite. He could think what he wanted of Roman, but he didn’t care. If he ever so much as harmed a hair on Senkas body, he’d be first in line to shove his body off a cliff.

The thought brought a brief moment of pleasure; enough for a crooked smile to crease his lips.

“Beautiful names,” he looked at her again. I’m happy. That much was obvious. She didn’t cow when the man neared her, or appeared demure any longer. She didn’t appear sickly or beaten. Perhaps the big black idiot was good for her. He’d need to see proof of that first, though, as he scoffed quietly. “Of course I do,” he affirmed with a shrug of his shoulders, allowing his muscles to forget the prior anger. Calm. Collected. Steady.

He was quiet for a moment longer before he offered a tense smile. “I’m not telling mother.” But he’d watch and listen from the sidelines. Would her new boyfriend treat their mother the same way as he treated her brother? Maybe that would be a good enough excuse to hit him then. His smile widened.

She can't help the way she watches Roman, noticing every subtle change in him that signals his war with himself, fighting that monster of a temper that exists in him. Their father had been the same way, capable of bottling his emotions until the dam burst and all hell broke loose. Roman inherited his propensity for violence, and Senka his tendency to be impulsive in heated moments, to let her heart overrule her head. She chews warily on her bottom lip as she watches her brother, whose silence is almost more concerning than if he was yelling at her.

But then he smiles, a strangely genuine one that has her arching a brow, wondering what prompted the expression. She doesn't ask, though. The tension in the room is thick enough to suffocate on, and Senka doesn't want to be the catalyst; she's too tired to play mediator today. Finally, Roman breaks the heavy silence, and she smiles slightly, the corners of her eyes softening with gratitude. She knows this is all hitting her brother at whirlwind speed, but while the chaos of the last few months of her life are further from anything she would have pictured for herself, she wouldn't change it for anything. She's never felt such a sense of belonging as she does now, her jagged edges melding perfectly with Odysseus's.

"I'm not telling mother." Senka snorts softly, her breath catching slightly in her throat. She's thought about it, of course, but every time she seriously considered contacting their mother, she lost her nerve. It's not that Effie Melnik doesn't love her children, but she is as stern and traditional as they come, and Senka's ears are liable to be bleeding by the time her mother is done with her. "Yeah, I know," she mutters, wrinkling her nose at the prospect. "We'll visit soon," Senka promises with a slight sigh, her ear twitching at the sensation of warm breath coasting over her skin.

Roman looks so much like their father right now—a soldier, stern and steady. A shoulder to lean on, a weapon to defend those he loves. It makes her heart ache that Veles will never know his grandchildren: hers, Roman's, or Taisa's. The war had taken that from all of them. She won't let it take her relationship with her brother. Pushing to her feet, Senka closes the distance between them again, pressing a kiss to Roman's cheek. "I'm sorry I worried you. I love you, Ro," she reminds him with a fond bump of her forehead against his chin.

"This is the first time I've been away from the pups, and I'm anxious to get back to them," she tells Roman with a slightly apologetic smile for cutting their meeting short. Senka loves her brother, but she has higher priorities right now. "I'll write soon, I promise." She grabs Roman in a fierce hug, and then Senka lets herself out of the room, knowing that Odysseus won't be far behind her.

exeunt senka

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