Sight for Sore Eyes

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Leocadio | Shepherd Garde

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WORDS: ###
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NOTES: n/a

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The shepherd's gaze held only disdain as he circled the larger brute. Seeing his former packmate hang his head, Leo would have laughed if he'd had a sense of humor. "Why bow your head? What of your great pride, Alesso?" he taunted with a cackling laugh. How the mighty had fallen. The once boastful warrior was no more than shade of himself now. Leo may have had a policy of unbiased hatred towards all, but for dista especially, those great disgraces, he loathed with every fiber of his being. Alesso was no exemption.
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Leo scoffed, "Home? You have none. Anywhere." The Au'Dar would never welcome him back after committing their greatest crime. "I always knew you were a fool, but I didn't think you lacked sense as well as brains." Alesso, and by extension, distas, were allowed to remain in the pack despite losing their treasured tafas. A fact Leo abhorred. If he had it his way, distas would be exiled or even killed. Such stains should not even be allowed to remain on this sacred land after committing such sacrilege. Despite all his faults, Alesso at least had enough awareness to leave the pack. It was perhaps his only positive.
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A vile smile stretched across Leo's jaws. "So soon?" he crooned. His humorless gaze flickered darkly. Like he'd allow the traitor to get away so easily. Iro's shadow snaked between Leo's legs. The snake's indiscernible gaze perpetually fixed on the opposing brute. "Stay a while," Leo growled without any warmth, "Let's catch up."

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Leocadio was stunned to silence after Alesso, at last, retorted to his many jabs. Even so, it wasn't long before a vicious smile cracked his jaws followed by a cackling laugh, "I had thought you had learned with how demure you've been. But the foolish warrior still remains." He danced around Alesso, feigning innocence with a crooked smile and ears laid back, "Go on then. Show us that warrior pride. The one that killed your tafa." By all common sense, the silver shepherd should have backed down. His taunts had landed. He was lucky if things didn't escalate into a full-out fight. But Leo didn't care for common sense or the feelings of others.
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He laughed, "How could I not?" The grasses rustled as Iro slithered back to Leo. The snake followed along with his partner for a few steps before disappearing back into the foliage. "There's no one more unique than you," he crooned, as he approached the opposing brute, "The only wolf to kill his own tafa. The great disappointment." He found all of this greatly amusing, much to the displeasure of the target of his ire. As far as Leo was concerned, he thought Alesso had gotten off too lightly with his punishment. A mere demotion didn't seem nearly enough for the crime committed. He'd make Alesso pay for failing his tafa.
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His sickly smile turned into a frown as he snapped, "You don't have the right to call me Leo." They weren't so familiar to address each other by their nicknames. Only his family had the right to call him that. Even if most of them got on his nerves. Backing off, Iro slithered through Leo's legs towards Alesso. A reminder of his presence even if unseen. "Speaking of names," Leo continued, "I hear you have quite the interesting one." A laugh danced in his eyes. "What was it again?" he taunted, "Mimo? Mimsy? Marigold?"

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Leo laughed, harsh and cackling, "Keep telling yourself that." The shepherd brushed past the former Au'Dar, his eyes trailing over the brute's back. "It was your neglect that caused Valerie's untimely death." For the first time in their icy interaction, Leo's voice fell soft and sweet as his eyes looked upon a world past, "A shame. It was such a sweet creature." He may have been called the black-hearted, but his heart burned true for all tafa, regardless of their partner. For the late Valerie, he expressed true kindness and regret for its passing.
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Again, Leo was shocked to silence. The gentle giant showed his teeth once more, but this time, the jabs hit far closer to home. A malice overtook his features as his lips peeled back in a growl and his hackles rose. His hatred rang true, enough to make his anger seem like a gentle rain. Leo didn't care how the pack perceived him. They were of no concern to him. But to call out his family was another matter altogether. "At least I atone for my crimes, unlike you. I may be a disappointment, but I am no coward," he snarled, "What do I care for the words of peons? If they wish me soaked in blood, may it be their own." Loyalty to the pack? He had none. The only ones he swore to were the tafa and his family. He was confident he could survive, even if it all came to ruin.
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All pretense of kindness was gone now. Now that Milo chose to return Leo's punches, the white brute would pretend no longer. "A perfectly fine name for a halfwit," he sneered, lips curled back in distaste, "Though Marigold fits a cretin like you better." The grass rustled as Iro slithered back to his partner's side, curling around his front paw. The shepherd's lips pulled back in a smirk, "I'll keep them in mind. I may be hated, but I imagine I have a better chance than you. No one wants to be with a murderer."

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An amused glint danced in Leo's umbral eyes, "I have every right. I am a shepherd, protector of the tafa." Leo reveled in the steaming anger he'd caused in Milo. What right did this exiled dista have to claim any façade of calm? He had to be punished for all he had done. Alesso's foolishness had cost the lives of not one tafa, but two and his mother's as well. "And yet I remain at their side," he taunted. The off-white brute was not the one in exile, self-imposed or not. For all his supposed crimes, Leo still remained in the Au'Dar. The pack still welcomed him. He could still call this forest.
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Anger flared and tempers rose higher than that of their sun-scorched lands. Leo snapped, chestnut gaze dark with detestable hatred, "What have you done then? Fled with your tail between your legs?" He could feel Iro tighten around his leg. The snake was warning him not to go too far, but Leo refused to listen to his tafa. "Oh, Mi-lo," he sang, sickly sweet, "You mistake my intentions. If I cared about you, you wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be meeting like this." Hackles raised, he growled, deep and malicious, "I'd be bringing flowers to your grave."
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Had the forbidden word been fully allowed to pass through the jaws of the larger brute, Leo would have snapped and a fight would have likely ensued. But the heated grounds would not see blood spilled that day as a crashing sound snapped Leo's attention elsewhere. An authoritative command filled the air stilled by the battling voices of the two brutes followed by the bulky body of a badger and his silver-sheened partner. Surprise took precedent over Leo's rage as he took a step back as Silver came between them. Iro taking the opportunity to slide into his wolf's shadow. His gaze flicked between Milo and Silver as the two spoke. The unexpected turn of events stilling his boiling hatred. Stunned to silence, Leo could only watch as their usually gentle Anima so fiercely reproached the former Au'Dar.
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He was not so out of it that he didn't have the mind to bare his teeth and return Alesso's glare as the fawn brute ran off. Like a mirror to the past, the bloodied traitor turned tail and fled his home land an outlaw, shadowed by shame. Like throwing water on the flames, with the object of his hatred gone, Leo's rage died to a low smolder. Bronze eyes trailed after the fading form of Alesso. Only after the exile was out of sight did he turn his attention to the now silent Anima. He offered no explanation. What had occurred was clear to see. Instead, he met Silver's eyes, his voice chill and soft, "Why did you come?" Silver's anger had been a staggering display. He couldn't let it shake him, not if that same anger would fall on him. His ice became his walls and, now, he raised them.

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A mixture of emotions passed over Leo's face. Surprise followed by a softness that didn't usually appear. "Iscan," he murmured softly with all the kindness he gave no other. Of course it had been his little brother. Who else would care so much about him. The fact lightened his heart heavy with hate. Enough that a small laugh escaped him, "If you are to call yourself selfish, I do not think there is any hope for the rest of us." He had to admit that Silver carried herself with a nobility that others lacked. That nobility reminded him of Nuala's silver pride. Both faes worthy of respect though one had long lost his.
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Iro watched Wynd crash after the fleeing back of the exile, but opted to remain at his partner's side. With the storm passed, the snake climbed up Leo's leg to curl himself around the wolf's neck. Leo lowering his head to allow the tafa easier access. The tafa's head coming to rest between the canine's ears. Iro's expressionless gaze focused on the Anima. The bond between wolf and tafa was said to be strongest among the shepherds and stronger still with the Anima, but even Leo struggled to know the inner thoughts of his own. Iro, much like his partner, was largely impassive. Watching the Anima interact with her own tafa, Leo did wish a little that Iro was more expressive at times. "Why don't you do that?" he asked the tafa quietly. The viper only buried himself deeper in Leo's fur as answer. That was all the answer Leo needed. The snake showed his care in a different way than others. Iro knew Leo sought comfort after the rain though he didn't show it outwardly. Milo's words had hit closer to home than Leo cared to show.
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Silver's next words surprised Leo more than he expected. No one was concerned for him. It was as Alesso said. No one in the pack could stand his existence. "Concern," he repeated, mulling over the word as if it was foreign. Leo was perplexed by the thought, "For me?" The Anima wasn't wrong to be concerned though. Shepherds may have been trained to fight so they could protect the tafa, but they were no match against a warrior. Even exiled, Milo's larger size and expertise were a poor match for Leo. Leo had been well aware of that but still pressed forward anyways with his taunts. Had Silver not appeared, he'd likely have sustained serious injury.

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Some more than others. He was a wolf regarded by some as a walking mistake. A brute filled with faults. Of course Leo didn't agree, but the pain it left was all the same. Alesso had reminded him with the truth he didn't want to face that as much as he pretended, he wasn't free of mistakes. Why did the opinions of peons matter? He had to rebuild his walls so he could continue his farce. His smile was wry, "I wouldn't dare to believe it."
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"Iro," Leos' eyes were light and laughing, lacking their usual harshness, "He would never." Though he joked, he knew the serpent would do whatever it took to stop him if he thought Leo was going down the wrong path. Even if that meant taking the life of his partner. "That is what our tafa do for us. They are our balance and our compass." Au'Dar legend claimed the tafa had been sent as guides by the four major gods. To lead the Au'Dar out of darkness and into the light. A noble goal and one Leo believed to be true. Now that Iro had entered his life, he couldn't imagine one without his partner.
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The off-white brute couldn't help but feel a little smug. Alesso had said no one in the pack cared about him, but here was one. Even if that concern was due to obligation and not anything real. "He probably thought you the best one to handle the situation," Leo answered, thinking. Vargas may have been regarded as the wise one among the siblings, but Iscan had his one wisdom. He had been the one to be chosen to take on the role of healer after all with all of its complexities and knowledge required. Looking at Silver, his brother had made a good choice. She was a fae that garnered respect and, with how the situation had been turning, brute force wouldn't have been a good choice. "And I agree. You were the best choice." They didn't need more blood on these grounds.
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Leo's gaze narrowed and he huffed, turning away. The Anima's words could be interpreted in many ways. Verbally. Physically. If Alesso came back, would Leo start up another fight? Sticks and stones and all that. He certainly wasn't going to chase after the brute now with Silver present. "If he comes back?" Leo said.