a gleam in my eye; artemis (pardalis) wrote in apocalypsenight, @ 2009-07-11 16:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: dalis jordan |
time to move on (narrative)
Who: Dalis Jordan and NPC Jack, his shrink
When: not long after his last narrative
Where: Dalis' loft
What: Dalis makes a choice and is actually going to go through with it this time. Yes, I'm going to play Dalis as much as possible before the game closes and you can't stop me!
Rating: PG
Status: complete
When Dalis remembered his soulmate and everything that had happened, he hated himself once more. How could have have forgotten Melisandi? How could he have forgotten his little girls? Melisandi had been the only person in the world who had ever meant anything to him. He couldn't live with or without her, but he loved her even deeper than he could say. Remembering everything that had happened was like reliving it, and the pain of recalling her death had hardly lessened over time. It was just about twelve years ago to the day. He could still recall what it was like, when something had seemed to snap inside him, and even though the world grew a little darker for some reason he couldn't explain, the shock had pulled him out of whatever alcohol stupor he had been in.
He'd known then without a doubt that Melisandi had died. He couldn't believe anything could make him forget that.
But it had been that day that had finally pushed him to get help. Every day of him wasting his life and drowning his sorrows was an insult to her memory. She never would have stood for that behavior. Dalis had always hoped that she'd be proud of the way he turned his life around. Only for her, just about ten years too late.
But this spell or curse or sign made something painfully clear to Dalis that he had wanted to avoid: it wasn't just Melisandi and he. He had children, daughters he had also forgotten, and if there was any mercy in the world, they might still be alive. Rashel, his little human child...he always figured he'd never see her again. After her great aunt's death, she had been put in the foster care system, and Dalis had no way to track her down after that. But she was probably better off for it. Dalis hoped she would have a normal, fulfilling life.
But Raksha...his little misfit. Her life must have been hard, but whatever had happened to her, it was still probably better than a life with him. He hoped. He wasn't exactly a capable father back then. But with her 'shifter heritage, there was always a chance that he could find her again. Perhaps a small one, but if she had taken after him in any way, she would have made some connections with the Night World. The Council or Daybreak, he didn't know. But he did know that if any group was going to help him find a half-shifter, half-human teenager, it wasn't going to be the Council. His own people had taught him that lesson very clearly some fifteen or more years ago.
He had to go to Daybreak. It was a longshot, but he had to try at least once.
"You're actually going to do it this time?" Jack's voice sounded skeptical over the telephone.
Dalis snorted into the speaker, packing a few things for the travel. "I forgot them all, Jack, you saw that. Ain't going to happen again. She's all I have left of her." Dalis didn't need to explain who 'she' and 'her' were.
"Do you know where the nearest Daybreak enclave is?"
"Phoenix."
"That far and you might as well go to Las Vegas and really stir up some trouble."
Dalis had to smirk at that. "I thought your job was to keep me out of trouble."
"I have a feeling this is going to lead you to nothing but trouble, Jordan."
"Good. I'm sure raising hell every so often is good for the heart."
Jack paused for a second before finally saying, "Good luck, Jordan."
"Thanks, Jack."
With that, he locked up his loft, locked up his shop, and got into his car. Billows of dust rose from the turning wheels, and he was on his way to Phoenix, Arizona.