The past memories of life... [Raiden & Crystal]

[Raiden and Zahi]

It was early morning, but yet it wasn't... The sun had risen, but few had followed it from their beds... The figure on the parapet was one of those few... Glad in a white tunic and brown trousers was a mouse. Chestnut brown in fur and with blue-grey eyes, that was Raiden. He had cut himself off from his old family in recent months, he had dropped everything but his first name... He was as good as nameless in most aspects. But still, he stood there and leaned on the parapet wall.

"What price is redemption for sin?"

That was a question he had no answer for, nor did he expect one... Throwing the long braid of his head fur over his shoulder, the field mouse touched a paw to the two swords hanging from his belt... He was a warrior at heart, but he had spent most of his life living in the shadow of his past and his apparent destiny. However... As things stood, his life wasn't anything like it should have gone... That was leading him to the conclusion that his life wasn't set in stone, so instead... That had to make his life his own. He had resolved to make his life worth living for the sake of living... Not because he had to live, but because he wanted to.

[Crystal M. V. Rosepaw]

And, then, there were those few that had not slept at all.

Rikian hadn't had the chance to slip back into his bed. He'd been out drinking at the tavern - missing the rough-and-tumble pirate lifestyle he loved so dearly. He'd planned to sneak back and nap, and just hope that he wasn't noticed. Well, Crystal knew, but she dare not speak of it. The red fox yawned as he trotted at her side, the effects of the drinks still on him. However, he had an extremely good liver apparently, and was able to withstand almost potent amounts of it without so much as staggering. He'd been held up when a rat had tried to get a bit too... personal with a mouse barmaid.

In his firm opinion, she was a lady. And he'd soundly taught the rat to behave like a gentleman. Even pirate as he was, he never played with the hearts of the ladies unless they knew it was a joke. That'd get you in the sin-bin.

Crystal, at his side, had not slept because... she just didn't. She went days without sleep until she nearly collapsed and slept heavily for a few hours before getting back to her paws and doing it again. It seemed a wonder she could function.

The ghostly white vixen, clad in her blue and lavender dress looked a sight as she slowly crossed the grounds of the fortress, hoping to get to the parapet and watch the sunrise. Rikian had been warned that if he went back inside smelling of the taverns that he might be more closely looked at. But he could not help his roots; and his senses were dulled just enough to not tell that he smelled not of wines, and it was just her longing for company. But if he had known, he still would have complied. The pair went up the stairs unrushed, chatting quietly, aimlessly, neither caring about how tired the vixen sounded or how some of the dog-fox's words came out longer and his s sounds sounded more like the sound 'sh'.

As they stood at the top, Rikian nodded over her shoulder in a gesturing motion for the vixen to turn and look. She complied, wondering if he wanted them to see there. However, she saw another figure looming there, their shadow thin and lithe out behind him.

Raiden...

Neither fox had very many good past dealings with him. Crystal had completely forgotten due to her lack of sanity (which Rikian refused to see) that the mouse had tried to make amends. And the Captain had never heard a nonthreatening word spoken form the old warrior's lips.

Crystal bristled visibly - she was horrible at controlling emotion anymore - but Rikian stood still. His old captain had broken him into submission, and he normally only showed the 'good' emotions, happiness and the like. Sometimes, his facade would crack and his true self would show, but it was not often. Politely, he nodded to the mouse, raising a paw in greeting, shadowing his eyes with it, casting darkness over the side of his face that held an X shaped scar.

"Mornin', Rai'en." He said meekly.

[Raiden and Zahi]

The mouse looked over his shoulder at the foxes. For a brief moment, his mind flashed back quite some time to the tournament and the old him. The old him would have come out with a stinging retort to Rikian, but that wasn't his way now.

"Good morning to you both."

Giving a friendly wave to the foxes, he returned his gaze to the wall top. Perhaps today would settle a grudge or two, if he was lucky that was...

"How have you both been these past few weeks?"

Finally turning when he was bored from the tree-tops view, he looked at the foxes with a distant and almost lost look.

"To come out in the early hour of the day is rare for a pair of fine beasts like yourself... I'm out here most mornings, just to remind myself how important life is... And just how important friends really are in this life."