The Music Room

[Darien]

Darien had spent a good deal of time with his godparents when he was young; they were the ones who took care of him when his father had been out hunting. He had never realized that he was hunting creatures that inhabited the world that Darien himself would one day belong to himself. He had, however, enjoyed his time with his godparents, learning the finer points of the arts that they could teach him and happily spending hours playing the piano, drawing or painting.

Asher’s idea was a good one and Darien’s opinion of it was clear. “I should do that. I’ve always liked a good challenge and I know that some members of the pack, if they were to decide to take me up on the offer, would be able to give me some good ones.”

[Asher]

Asher’s lessons in his childhood had been fewer than some might think, if he were to share the memory of his mother teaching him. In truth, she had only taught him the basics, and he hadn’t gotten far beyond that before the attack that had turned him into a werewolf. After that, playing piano had been so far from his mind that he had dropped the practise altogether before joining the pack, and of course, after that, he’d relaxed enough to pick it up again, especially after the Alpha’s memory-jogging tuition. Now, it was habit for Asher to keep up his skills, small exercises that kept him from slipping.

Smiling in his quiet way as Darien replied, he nodded, looking down at the dozing kitten on his lap. Clearly, Zeke had tired of the games, his little chest rising and falling with a soothing rhythm as he slumbered lightly. “That’s good then,” he told the other male calmly, turning his attention back on his companion, glad that he had been able to help, even if only in some small way.

[Darien]

When he was younger, Darien had found that his lessons- piano, painting and sketching- had helped him to keep his mind off the danger that his father was putting himself in (once he was old enough to understand, at any rate) and keep from worrying quite so much. He had worried, of course, but he had found the lessons to be ideal for getting him to focus on something else, which was always most appreciated. After Eileen killed herself- and especially after his father’s death and becoming a werewolf- he stopped all three of his hobbies; when he had finally picked them up again, he had realized just how much he had come to rely on the hobbies to keep him calm.

Zeke had the tendency to fall asleep in the middle of activities, but he was still a kitten and they tended to sleep a lot, something that Darien had learned not only through experience, but through the research he had done when he had first brought Zeke home. “Since it was your idea, you can make the first request if you think of one.” After all, that was only fair.

[Asher]

Being one of five children had meant Asher had had more than his fair share for competition, but he’d had an advantage, being the youngest. As a general rule, something that hadn’t really changed over the years as they’d rolled on by, the youngest child was generally favoured in at least some way, some being spoilt rotten while others simply got more attention than their siblings. After his family had literally cast him out, even if they had done so without ceremony at all, he’d come to realise that it wasn’t all about the family you were born into. He’d found a better family, in the end, and he was thankful for that.

As the kitten dozed, Asher, perhaps without really putting any thought into it, stroked his fingers over the small animal’s back, feeling it rise and fall softly beneath his touch. “Oh,” he muttered, not unhappily, when Darien said what he had, the darker-haired male blinking for a few moments, before he went on to add, “okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Darien.”

[Darien]

Darien had always wished for siblings; brothers, sisters, it had never mattered. He had just wanted someone there with him, closer to his own age when his father had gone out hunting. Since he had never known his mother, he had never really been able to miss her, but he had missed his father each night he had gone out and, while his godparents had done everything in order to entertain and distract him, they hadn’t been the same as he had thought having siblings would have been. As he had grown older, the passionate wish for brothers and sisters had been pushed into the back of his mind, but every now and then, he found himself wondering what having a sibling would have been like. It was something that he would never really know, but he had come to terms with that. The pack was family enough.

“You’re welcome.” That was something else he had learned from his godparents. When someone gave him an idea such as the one Asher had, then the idea giver got first crack. It was, apparently, in the rules of playing fair.

After a moment, he nodded towards Zeke. “He’s likely to sleep like that for a while, but you can always wake him up and put him on the floor if you decide to go back to playing. He’ll get over it. He always does.”

[Asher]

As it was, now, Asher actually considered himself, in some ways, an only child. It wasn’t that he pretended his family had never existed, that would have been rude, but they were long gone now, not only in the past, but likely literally. They had all been human, after all, the reason they had led him away and left him the way they had, and though he didn’t truly hold it against him, it was only natural to feel hurt about that sort of behaviour. He often wondered if he would have left without a fuss had they asked him, for their sakes, to leave. Asher liked to tell himself he would have, but there was no way of knowing for certain.

Looking down at the kitten after Darien’s nod, Asher smiled softly again. “He’s just fine where he is.” Honestly, he didn’t have the heart to move the small animal, seeing his easy breathing and curled-around tail, the little closed eyes and the content, feline expression. “I wasn’t playing for any particular reason.”

[Darien]

Darien sometimes wondered how his life would have been different had his father not been a hunter. He likely would have gotten to spend more time with him, his father might not have died violently and he himself might not have become a werewolf. Or, if there was such a thing as fate, it all might have happened anyway, just under different circumstances. He didn’t know about fate, but Darien did know that he that the past was the past and couldn’t be changed, but it liked to creep up on him sometimes and it was all but impossible to put out of mind.

“As long as you’re sure. He can be a little pest sometimes.” Zeke could be a pets, but Darien adored the kitten all the same.

[Asher]

Asher supposed everybody wondered what their life would have been like if one or more detail in their past had been different. ‘What if?’ That was all it was. But everyone did it, let their minds wander, let their imaginations run away with them. Asher was no different. The only one in the room who would never think that way was the young animal on his lap. The pets were the only ones in the hotel who wouldn’t wonder what could have been different. Asher found he almost envied them. It was strange, to envy a ‘lesser’ creature that way, to look at a kitten and wonder if they really had it better than you did. It probably wasn’t the most positive way to think, but Asher doubted he was the first one to ever think in such a manner. There was no way of knowing, really.

Smiling quietly, Asher nodded. “I’m sure. It’s nice, actually.” Kittens didn’t judge or weigh the pros and cons, really; they just saw things as they were, and did what they liked. They didn’t discriminate.

[Darien]

Had Darien known what Asher was thinking at that moment, he would have agreed that the pets in the hotel probably had it better than the rest of them. After all, the really only seemed to think about sleeping, eating, playing and getting someone to pay attention to them. With someone to feed them and plenty of others they could play with and get attention from, they had nothing at all to worry about. They were surrounded by creatures they should have been afraid of, but they knew they were safe and cared for. Not only did they not have anything to worry about, they didn’t think about the past or future. They just lived for the moment and really, that must have been a nice position to be in.

Darien gave a nod of his own. “Zeke will certainly be happier if he’s left where he is.” After all, no one liked to be in the middle of a good nap just to be woken up so they would vacate their spot.

[Asher]

It would be a nice reprieve to have the mind occupied by such simple routines, where grief and the past held no relevance or place where they could sit and fester. But everyone had a past, and as much as they might envy animals like the kitten curled on Asher’s lap for living such peaceful, straightforward lives where pleasures were simple and easily found, there was nothing to be done for what had happened in their histories. They all lived with shadows and demons and ghosts, and all that could be asked of them was to simply move forward. They were all simply doing their best.

Asher’s smile was soft, and his nod just the same. “He certainly seems happy to stay where he is.” And the melancholy male was content to let the animal remain where he was; the small body was warm and soft to the touch, his hand gently gliding over the steadily rising and falling side as Zeke slept and dreamed of who knew what, his little whiskers already twitching as one paw fidgeted, prompting another smile from the male whose lap he had claimed.

[Darien]

The best was all any of them could do, but sometimes it would have been nice to have no concerns that someone else couldn’t fix. Pets like Zeke- at least, as he was now rather than when he had been on the streets- knew that someone would always fix what was wrong. Hunger, boredom, loneliness… All could be fixed by seeking out someone who they knew would be able to figure out what was wrong. It was a simple existence that many could envy but so few could have. All the same, it was something they had to accept. After all, they had learned to live with it. At least Darien could feel good in the knowledge that he made Zeke’s life easier than it had bee.

So long as Asher was content to have Zeke where the kitten had chosen to nap, then Darien would leave him be and let him nap. The kitten was grouchy when he was woken up and tended to make sure that whoever did the waking knew just how unhappy he was about it, usually with a swipe of tiny, needle-like claws.

[Asher]

It would have been easier for all of them, perhaps, if werewolves were truly like their wild counterparts; living in the wilderness with only the sky, the earth and the trees, with rivers and lakes and streams, or perhaps the sea. They would hunt their own meals, working as a unit, they would protect their territory and sing to the moon and the stars. It would be so simple, so clean and effortless. No ties to the world of humans. But then, perhaps it would be too simple; could a wolf who had been born and raised as a human really embrace such a wild way of life? Asher genuinely thought he could not, but there was a temptation there, a lure, and he sighed quietly, unheard by his companion.

Zeke, albeit unconsciously, mimicked, giving a tiny, feline sigh of his own, twisting onto his back and exhibiting his agility, even in sleep; his spine seemed twisted, hind quarters one way and fore the other, legs sprawled and tail flopped. Asher smiled, resisting the urge to tickle the exposed belly. Zeke was sleeping, and he had nowhere to be; he wouldn’t disturb the kitten, not if he didn’t have to.

[Darien]

It seemed official to Darien: Zeke was far too comfortable, but that was, it seemed, to be what he was good at- getting comfortable wherever he happened to be. Well, so long as the kitten was comfortable, he wouldn’t have to listen to fussy little kitten sounds, something else that Zeke was good at. In the short time that Darien had actually had the kitten, Zeke had learned exactly what it took to get the werewolf to do whatever his little feline heart desired. Sometimes it took Darien a while to catch on, but he always seemed to give in once he did. That made for one already very spoiled kitten and if Zeke was that bad already, Darien could only imagine what it was going to be like when Zeke was grown.

Stretching in his seat, Darien found his mind sifting through sketch possibilities. There really were a lot of things that he could draw, but it always came down to figuring out what the subject was going to be.

[Asher]

Too comfortable or not, Asher wouldn’t be moving Zeke any time soon. In fact, he was certain that he could move, and continue to play the piano even with the kitten still asleep on his lap. Perhaps that would add to the soothing release of the exercise, having a relaxed, young animal there with him, at close proximity, obviously enjoying the melancholy wolf’s company. And he couldn’t argue that the kitten was doing a wonderful job of distracting him, at least for now, from the shadows of the past. It was difficult, after all, the mourn and grieve when something so young and full of life was curled up against you, dozing lightly after showing an adorable display of energy and excitement.

After another couple of minutes, Asher decided to go ahead with it, moving carefully and slowly so he could face the piano keys again and put his hands into position. Even when he began to play, a soft, steady tune, Zeke didn’t even twitch, let alone jump up in alarm. The music, it seemed, simply continued to soothe the kitten into a deep sleep.

[Darien]

For some reason, Darien could never seem to move without waking Zeke up if the kitten fell asleep in his lap. The little ball of fluff could sleep through just about anything else, though, not even stirring when Asher turned and started playing again. Didn’t that just figure? He supposed Zeke saved waking up and giving angry kitten glares just for him.

Looking back to his sketch book, Darien turned to a blank page and began drawing. He wasn’t drawing anything in particular, just making lines and going with his whims. Sometimes, he got something interesting when he did this and other times he didn’t. it was always interesting to see what the end result would be, though. If he ended up liking it, he would sometimes attempt to recreated it in paints, though it never seemed to come out quite right that way.