Our Differences
Tulok /Wulfric
Tulok /Wulfric
Kes doesn't expect Tulok to recover immediately. He was banged up quite hard out there and it's only natural that he'll need time to recover. She's there with him every step of the way.
But truth be told, he's starting to worry her.
Tulok doesn't talk. He doesn't listen. He doesn't even look at anyone in the vicinity, not Mends, the nurses, certainly not his parents. He just stares, out the window, at his lap, face drawn and shuttered, hard to read. Shut down.
Kes remembers how he was as a little tyke. So rambunctious! So bitey! And he was such a happy, cheerful boy, running after his father and brother, so excited to prove himself a Star Warrior like his family. A real zest for life, with the kind of energy only growing children possessed.
Looking at him now, limp and lost, it's hard to see that boy in him. Impossible, really.
Kes can't bear to look at it for too long. She has to leave, just to get the image out of her head for a little bit, and by the way her husband looks at her, she can tell he feels similarly. He'll stay with their son, he murmurs. She should get some rest, maybe.
Rest. She doesn't think she could if she tried with all her strength.
Outside Tulok's room, standing just outside the door, Kes lets out a gravelly sound in her throat and rubs her face. Her heart is heavy in a way she hasn't felt in many years. Should they have gone to South Nova? Should she have entertained the idea of Tulok participating in the trial? She remembered how it was for her - playful fights with friends, rivalries that boiled over into scuffles, the feeling of elation at passing the course. Everyone loved it.
Tulok laying in the snow burns itself into her mind. That isn't what she intended. That isn't what she wanted. Never. She had wanted him to have fun. To make friends. To experience a taste of an Ice Leo's life, his heritage.
Ice Leos ignoring him. Tulok in dead last. Oncoming asthma attacks and frostbite. Getting knocked out by flying chunks of ice.
It's her fault. For projecting on him as much as she had been. If she had been more considerate, more aware of who Tulok was, then maybe, maybe...
"Kesuk."
She jumps, broken from her thoughts, and looks over with wide eyes. Wulfric stands there, as tall and imposing as ever, friendly smile on his face.
For a moment, she's at a loss for words. Questions run through her head faster than she can voice them. Why-- Is he here? Why isn't he at home? Her father never leaves South Nova-- he's too important, and the weather isn't suitable for their kind even in the midst of a West Novan winter. What's he doing, risking his health coming way out here?
"What are you doing here?" It's the only thing she can manage to say that makes sense, and he chuckles as though it were a funny joke.
"Here to see my grandson, of course." Wulfric takes in her sorry state briefly, the messy hair, the bags under her eyes, smiling weakly. It doesn't comfort her. "...He never got the results of his performance back on South Nova. I'm here to discuss it with him. That's the whole point of the course, isn't it?"
Kes' expression only darkens. "I know what the course is meant for. Look, I get you have responsibilities, but Tulok isn't exactly taking this well. Whatever you've got to say, I think it can wait." Forever, hopefully.
There's a silence that hangs between them, thick with tension. Her father's expression is unreadable and Kes turns her chin upwards at him just so, glare defiant on her face.
And then he cracks, ice melting into water. He looks his age right then, just for a second. Older, and tired, and she sees the pinch of his mouth, the downcast of his eyes. Pity, she thinks, or sorrow. "I'm sorry," is what he says, and she hears the pain in his voice far more than she sees it. "I know you love him, Kesuk. And I do too. It pained me to tell you to stay out of it - I wanted nothing more than to go and get him myself.
You have to understand, however, that Tulok is still one of us. He makes his own decisions. He's /growing./ And his decisions, while they have consequences, need counsel so that he can learn from them as best he can. I don't do this to hurt him, you know that. I want him to understand, to get /better/. More than anything."
Kes is quiet. It hurts to hear, makes her angry. She wants to argue, if only to soothe the sting in her heart.
But.
"You're sure."
She doesn't know why she asks.
"Yes.
A beat. The two staring each other down, each with their own thoughts, their own feelings. She has never known her father to lie, for any reason. Why would this be any different?
"...Don't make me regret this."
The tension that Wulfric held in his shoulders seeps away and he sags with a heavy breath of relief. Village leader that he is, it is always remarkably difficult to intervene on a mother's decisions, Ice Leo or not. "Of course..."
So she lets him through. Wulfric steps into the room silently, glancing around at the facilities, the machines, before his eyes land on the boy he had come there to see. Tulok looks dreadful, as expected, but better than he had been initially, and when he looks up his dim eyes brighten with shock, mouth going slack. Wulfric's name is mouth silently on his lips.
Tulok stares at the man he's called grandfather for his entire life, paying little attention his parents near the door or the whispered squabbling that takes place between them before his father finally leaves and the door shuts. Wulfric is hard to read, sizing him up, and Tulok feels a now-familiar curdle in his gut. What is he doing here...?
"Grandfather...?" His voice, the first time the hospital has heard it in days, it comes out in a murmur of disbelief. "When did you...? What are you doing all the way out here?"
"Ha, grandfather, is it?" Wulfric shakes his head with a grin and steps on over. "I remember when you were a little Ice Cube; always called me Grandfather Wolfy, or just Grandpa Wolfy sometimes when you were barely a tot."
Tulok bristles at the endearment, his parents flashing in his mind. "I'm not a baby anymore."
"You're right. You aren't. You're almost a man." Wulfric steps closer, standing beside the bed, and from somewhere does he pull out a piece of tanned parchment, rolled up and bound with a strip of leather which he pulls off to let the scroll unwind before handing it to Tulok. "Here."
Tulok looks it over for only a second before yanking the parchment away and averting his gaze. He knows what this is, and he doesn't want to look at it. Doesn't need to. "I know I let the family down, Grandfather. I know I failed. You don't need to tell me." He doesn't need to look at his performance to know how he did.
From beside him, he hears Wulfric let out a small breath. "You didn't let anyone down, Tulok, not at all. If you're not going to read it, then I will. Here." The parchment is taken from Tulok's loose grasp, and with a loose shuffle he starts to read, and Tulok swallows.
"The first task: Failed."
"I know that," Tulok snaps, and it comes out harsher than he intended for one such as his grandfather, but...do they have to do this? Do they have to rub it in his face? "I'm slow. I came in last. And I didn't even try to climb down. I used my wings because I was too weak to do it right, I know that..."
"What? Tulok, that isn't why you failed." He hears a rough laugh from beside him and finally looks up to see his grandfather with a wide grin on his face, shaking his head with bright eyes. "No, no. Something of the opposite really. You failed because you didn't utilize your strengths properly, like you should have."
"Um...?"
"Here." Wulfric reaches out to take a wing in his hand, feeling the appendage twitch and flutter at the contact. Tulok watches him and doesn't refuse the contact, more confused than anything as he watches his grandfather survey the feathers and muscle underneath. "These wings of yours...no other Ice Leo has these. That gives you a great advantage, and in fact I'm impressed you chose to glide down the other side of the wall than make the attempt to climb. That was good thinking."
"But..." Tulok's brow furrows. "Isn't that cheating?"
"Nonsense. These trials are meant to hone your strengths, whatever strengths you have. You have wings. You should have used them to take full advantage of their use. That you didn't is the reason why you failed.
The second task: Pass."
Tulok inhales, pinning Wulfric with wide eyes as something in his chest stutters. He doesn't believe it. He can't believe it. He passed? That. Doesn't make sense. How-?
"I see that expression, boy. It may not seem like it, but what you did out there was remarkably impressive. Most Ice Leos need ivory as a base to form ice into weapons, and not even the best in that course could form the kind of ice you did. The fact that you made an entire dagger shows me that you have remarkable potential for your abilities to form ice. You showed great skill there, and for that you passed."
"It was hard..." Tulok thinks back to that moment. How he struggled to even form ice properly, how he couldn't breathe the longer he went on. "I felt like I was going to have an asthma attack, and I was getting really cold. I don't think I could do it again..."
"Forming ice is like any other skill," Wulfric remarks. "It takes practice and time. You're only half Ice Leo, true, but the fact that you're capable of such feats shows me that, given time and patience, you can do a lot with ice. Far more than what you've shown me, in fact. I can't even imagine it. So don't beat yourself up so much. I was very proud to see what you did out there."
Tulok clears his throat and blushes, glancing away. He hadn't...thought of that before.
"The third task: Failed." Wulfric sighs, a heavy breath that rushes from his lungs and speaks of weariness. "Do you know why?"
"I couldn't dodge. I was too slow. They were able to hit me because I was weak."
"No, Tulok." His grandfather seems tired, and for some reason it makes shame burgeon somewhere in his gut. "A warrior should not keep pushing when he's at his limit unless it's the most dire of circumstances. A leader in his hunting party should not endanger himself and his group needlessly. We all saw you struggling out there, your parents and I. Ice Leos are known for being stubborn, true, but what you did out there could have gotten you killed. That is not what this course is about. It's about learning your strengths and weaknesses. Why didn't you pull out when you grew weary?"
"I wasn't--"
"No lying to me, Tulok. Lying won't fix anything. Now tell me."
He doesn't know if Wulfric would understand. That need to prove himself, to show he's not just a weak little puffball but a strong Ice Leo like everyone else. He's tired of being a little weakling compared to everyone else. He's tired of not being good enough.
"I..." Tulok looks down at his lap, at the simple hospital blanket resting over his legs, plucking at the threads. "I wanted to make everyone proud. Mom and dad, they always worry. They think I can't do anything. They don't let me show them that I can, you know? Because I'm a hybrid, and they think I'm weak. I just...I wanted them to know that I could be strong. Like Kirby."
"Tulok." He looks up at his grandfather, whose expression is unreadable as he reaches out to pull a chair over and take a seat. It's a little odd, seeing him get on Tulok's level like that. Grandfather Wulfric is always so proud and strong. Why should he need to get on his level? "Tulok," He says again, and there's a small frown on his face that Tulok wants to make go away. "You are a hybrid. There's no changing that. Instead of fighting it, you have to adapt. Work with your toolset, as many hunters do. It does not seem fair, and certainly, it isn't. But it is what you have, and you must make the best with what you have. You understand?"
Tulok nods. Even though he doesn't want to. He gets it, he just...doesn't like it.
"But, Tulok." And there's a way that grandfather Wulfric speaks that sets him on edge, just a bit. Not pensive or stiff, but there's something in that tone of his. "If getting better is truly what you want, you will need to move. Down to South Nova, with the rest of your kind. As an Ice Leo, your abilities rely on the cold, and you won't get better or grow stronger if you remain here on Pop Star. The winters aren't enough. You understand?"
It takes Tulok a minute to process. It feels like the world has turned just slightly to fuzz at the proclamation, a whole litany of doors opening for possibilities and change. He'd always sort of idly entertained that idea, sure - he'd love to live with Grandfather Wulfric and other Ice Leos as a little kid! - but now that the opportunity is in front of him...he's not sure. To leave it all behind...
"W-Would I even survive?"
"Your other grandfather, Sir Bate. He lived his childhood on South Nova. It's not impossible by any means, although it will be a challenge, as everything on South Nova is."
Tulok looks away, back down to his lap, the cogs turning in his mind. He can do it, if he really wants to get better. He has that opportunity now. But. But...
What about his home? What about his parents? His life?
What about Kirby?
The sound of wood shifting on laminate floor draws his attention again and he turns his head to see Wulfric standing back up. "It's not a decision you have to make right now. You're still young. You have plenty of time. You can still train here if you want, but know that you will not get further with your abilities if you don't come to South Nova. Alright? But, Tulok..."
Wulfric smiles, and it's a warm expression that Tulok thinks could have melted even the harshest of South Novan storms, sappy as it sounds. "No matter what, hybrid or not, we are /all/ proud of you. You've the potential to be as strong as the best of Ice Leos on South Nova, and I think your parents know that as well as I do. Don't put yourself down so much. You have remarkable potential, and you only need to hone it."
It's more praise than Tulok's ever heard in his life, he thinks. Well, more /proper/ praise. His parents tell him how well he's doing and how good he is, but Grandfather Wulfric's words hit differently in a way Tulok can't explain. It almost makes him want to cry, and indeed he actually feels his eyes starting to sting, and if he winds up crying in front of his grandfather he is /never/ going to forgive himself--
"Now, I need to leave. This winter is no good for even a backache, much less keeping an Ice Leo's strength, I tell you..." He lets out a grumble as he rubs at his back, looking his age for once, and yeah, Tulok can see the weather isn't being very nice to him at the moment. Poor grandfather. "You keep that letter close to yourself, alright? Look it over and see the details of what I wrote. It will help. And when - if - you decide to come to South Nova, it will be an honor to do everything I can to train you into the Warrior you want to be."
Tulok doesn't know what to say. It's as if the words have been taken right from his mouth, replaced by cotton, keeping him from thinking much less forming the words on his tongue. His grandfather steps over to the door, and Tulok is fully prepared to just watch the man leave before something occurs in his mind and he startles. "Wait- Wait!! I..."
It's shameful to admit. He almost doesn't want to. But he forges ahead, because he's strong, because he has the potential to be the best, just like grandfather said. "I said some mean things to dad earlier, before you came. About being a hybrid. It...wasn't nice, and I haven't talked to him since. I... What do I do? I feel terrible..."
His grandfather doesn't turn. His back to Tulok, hand on the knob, he just tilts his head, just enough to give Tulok a glimpse of his expression, eyes narrowed and mouth turned in a smirk as he looks the boy over. Confidence. "You're a young man now, aren't you? No little ice cube. I think you can figure this one out for yourself. Do well for yourself, grandson."
And he's gone, before Tulok can say a word, door swinging open to let him through, leaving his grandson with an open mouth and unsaid words on his lips.
It's quiet for a second in that room. Tulok thinks he can hear a distant bustle outside.
And then, "Tulok? How are you doing?" as his father steps inside, mother right on his heels.
Looking at them, Tulok feels overwhelmed with a litany of feelings. As if seeing them for a new light he watches them with hands fisted in the blankets, observing the way they come closer. Before, he couldn't bear to look at them, and when he did it was only to see them for he thought of them - coddling, pitying, disrespectful.
Now, though, when he looks at them... He can see the way they look at them. Knowing what he knows now, it's enough to make him want to cry all over again.
"I feel...bad." His eyes are on Meta as he speaks, watching him take a seat. "But not because of...this. It's..." And he looks down at his hands as he takes a deep breath. He can do it. He can do this. "...I said a lot of mean things to you, dad. Really terrible things."
His dad, who had always been there for him, whether Tulok needed it or not. Sitting vigil by his bedside every time he fell ill or injured. The reassurance he would be okay whenever Tulok got scared. Even at the trials, he realizes, Meta had been there. Tulok remembered seeing how he looked, tired and worn out in an uncomfortable chair, but he hadn't moved. He seemed so happy when he saw Tulok awake..
His hands fist the blanket and he swallows back the ball in his throat. His eyes meet Meta's, tear-filled and resolute. "I'm sorry for what I said back then. You know, back in...South Nova. I was...really upset and I took it out on you. I know I'm different. I can't change that." He thinks, back to Wulfric, to his words. "I have to work with what I've got. But I want to get stronger, better, and if that means I need to work with my differences, then...I can do that. I /will/ do that. It's...not a bad thing."
The words are awkward coming from his mouth, stuttered and fumbled like he can't pick the right ones, and from the way his parents stare, he's sure he messed up somewhere down the line. Is it not enough? He was pretty mean back then. What if his dad is still angry...?
"Oh, Tulok," Meta's voice sounds like...like it could break any second, but he looks so happy. "I know. I know how you felt. It's okay. I promise it's okay..."
What did Wulfric do, Meta thinks. What did he say to get Tulok talking, and so confident? The man is such a thorn in the side. For once, he actually did some good. Thank Nova he actually paid a visit...
Tulok reaches out to return the very gentle hug that Meta moves to give him, maybe more for Meta than himself, but Tulok is happy nonetheless. He won't tell them about South Nova right now. Not...yet. He still needs to think about it, and they don't need to worry. He wants to talk to Kirby first, to train and learn everything he can from his family before he leaves. After that...
After that, then he'll be ready.
But truth be told, he's starting to worry her.
Tulok doesn't talk. He doesn't listen. He doesn't even look at anyone in the vicinity, not Mends, the nurses, certainly not his parents. He just stares, out the window, at his lap, face drawn and shuttered, hard to read. Shut down.
Kes remembers how he was as a little tyke. So rambunctious! So bitey! And he was such a happy, cheerful boy, running after his father and brother, so excited to prove himself a Star Warrior like his family. A real zest for life, with the kind of energy only growing children possessed.
Looking at him now, limp and lost, it's hard to see that boy in him. Impossible, really.
Kes can't bear to look at it for too long. She has to leave, just to get the image out of her head for a little bit, and by the way her husband looks at her, she can tell he feels similarly. He'll stay with their son, he murmurs. She should get some rest, maybe.
Rest. She doesn't think she could if she tried with all her strength.
Outside Tulok's room, standing just outside the door, Kes lets out a gravelly sound in her throat and rubs her face. Her heart is heavy in a way she hasn't felt in many years. Should they have gone to South Nova? Should she have entertained the idea of Tulok participating in the trial? She remembered how it was for her - playful fights with friends, rivalries that boiled over into scuffles, the feeling of elation at passing the course. Everyone loved it.
Tulok laying in the snow burns itself into her mind. That isn't what she intended. That isn't what she wanted. Never. She had wanted him to have fun. To make friends. To experience a taste of an Ice Leo's life, his heritage.
Ice Leos ignoring him. Tulok in dead last. Oncoming asthma attacks and frostbite. Getting knocked out by flying chunks of ice.
It's her fault. For projecting on him as much as she had been. If she had been more considerate, more aware of who Tulok was, then maybe, maybe...
"Kesuk."
She jumps, broken from her thoughts, and looks over with wide eyes. Wulfric stands there, as tall and imposing as ever, friendly smile on his face.
For a moment, she's at a loss for words. Questions run through her head faster than she can voice them. Why-- Is he here? Why isn't he at home? Her father never leaves South Nova-- he's too important, and the weather isn't suitable for their kind even in the midst of a West Novan winter. What's he doing, risking his health coming way out here?
"What are you doing here?" It's the only thing she can manage to say that makes sense, and he chuckles as though it were a funny joke.
"Here to see my grandson, of course." Wulfric takes in her sorry state briefly, the messy hair, the bags under her eyes, smiling weakly. It doesn't comfort her. "...He never got the results of his performance back on South Nova. I'm here to discuss it with him. That's the whole point of the course, isn't it?"
Kes' expression only darkens. "I know what the course is meant for. Look, I get you have responsibilities, but Tulok isn't exactly taking this well. Whatever you've got to say, I think it can wait." Forever, hopefully.
There's a silence that hangs between them, thick with tension. Her father's expression is unreadable and Kes turns her chin upwards at him just so, glare defiant on her face.
And then he cracks, ice melting into water. He looks his age right then, just for a second. Older, and tired, and she sees the pinch of his mouth, the downcast of his eyes. Pity, she thinks, or sorrow. "I'm sorry," is what he says, and she hears the pain in his voice far more than she sees it. "I know you love him, Kesuk. And I do too. It pained me to tell you to stay out of it - I wanted nothing more than to go and get him myself.
You have to understand, however, that Tulok is still one of us. He makes his own decisions. He's /growing./ And his decisions, while they have consequences, need counsel so that he can learn from them as best he can. I don't do this to hurt him, you know that. I want him to understand, to get /better/. More than anything."
Kes is quiet. It hurts to hear, makes her angry. She wants to argue, if only to soothe the sting in her heart.
But.
"You're sure."
She doesn't know why she asks.
"Yes.
A beat. The two staring each other down, each with their own thoughts, their own feelings. She has never known her father to lie, for any reason. Why would this be any different?
"...Don't make me regret this."
The tension that Wulfric held in his shoulders seeps away and he sags with a heavy breath of relief. Village leader that he is, it is always remarkably difficult to intervene on a mother's decisions, Ice Leo or not. "Of course..."
So she lets him through. Wulfric steps into the room silently, glancing around at the facilities, the machines, before his eyes land on the boy he had come there to see. Tulok looks dreadful, as expected, but better than he had been initially, and when he looks up his dim eyes brighten with shock, mouth going slack. Wulfric's name is mouth silently on his lips.
Tulok stares at the man he's called grandfather for his entire life, paying little attention his parents near the door or the whispered squabbling that takes place between them before his father finally leaves and the door shuts. Wulfric is hard to read, sizing him up, and Tulok feels a now-familiar curdle in his gut. What is he doing here...?
"Grandfather...?" His voice, the first time the hospital has heard it in days, it comes out in a murmur of disbelief. "When did you...? What are you doing all the way out here?"
"Ha, grandfather, is it?" Wulfric shakes his head with a grin and steps on over. "I remember when you were a little Ice Cube; always called me Grandfather Wolfy, or just Grandpa Wolfy sometimes when you were barely a tot."
Tulok bristles at the endearment, his parents flashing in his mind. "I'm not a baby anymore."
"You're right. You aren't. You're almost a man." Wulfric steps closer, standing beside the bed, and from somewhere does he pull out a piece of tanned parchment, rolled up and bound with a strip of leather which he pulls off to let the scroll unwind before handing it to Tulok. "Here."
Tulok looks it over for only a second before yanking the parchment away and averting his gaze. He knows what this is, and he doesn't want to look at it. Doesn't need to. "I know I let the family down, Grandfather. I know I failed. You don't need to tell me." He doesn't need to look at his performance to know how he did.
From beside him, he hears Wulfric let out a small breath. "You didn't let anyone down, Tulok, not at all. If you're not going to read it, then I will. Here." The parchment is taken from Tulok's loose grasp, and with a loose shuffle he starts to read, and Tulok swallows.
"The first task: Failed."
"I know that," Tulok snaps, and it comes out harsher than he intended for one such as his grandfather, but...do they have to do this? Do they have to rub it in his face? "I'm slow. I came in last. And I didn't even try to climb down. I used my wings because I was too weak to do it right, I know that..."
"What? Tulok, that isn't why you failed." He hears a rough laugh from beside him and finally looks up to see his grandfather with a wide grin on his face, shaking his head with bright eyes. "No, no. Something of the opposite really. You failed because you didn't utilize your strengths properly, like you should have."
"Um...?"
"Here." Wulfric reaches out to take a wing in his hand, feeling the appendage twitch and flutter at the contact. Tulok watches him and doesn't refuse the contact, more confused than anything as he watches his grandfather survey the feathers and muscle underneath. "These wings of yours...no other Ice Leo has these. That gives you a great advantage, and in fact I'm impressed you chose to glide down the other side of the wall than make the attempt to climb. That was good thinking."
"But..." Tulok's brow furrows. "Isn't that cheating?"
"Nonsense. These trials are meant to hone your strengths, whatever strengths you have. You have wings. You should have used them to take full advantage of their use. That you didn't is the reason why you failed.
The second task: Pass."
Tulok inhales, pinning Wulfric with wide eyes as something in his chest stutters. He doesn't believe it. He can't believe it. He passed? That. Doesn't make sense. How-?
"I see that expression, boy. It may not seem like it, but what you did out there was remarkably impressive. Most Ice Leos need ivory as a base to form ice into weapons, and not even the best in that course could form the kind of ice you did. The fact that you made an entire dagger shows me that you have remarkable potential for your abilities to form ice. You showed great skill there, and for that you passed."
"It was hard..." Tulok thinks back to that moment. How he struggled to even form ice properly, how he couldn't breathe the longer he went on. "I felt like I was going to have an asthma attack, and I was getting really cold. I don't think I could do it again..."
"Forming ice is like any other skill," Wulfric remarks. "It takes practice and time. You're only half Ice Leo, true, but the fact that you're capable of such feats shows me that, given time and patience, you can do a lot with ice. Far more than what you've shown me, in fact. I can't even imagine it. So don't beat yourself up so much. I was very proud to see what you did out there."
Tulok clears his throat and blushes, glancing away. He hadn't...thought of that before.
"The third task: Failed." Wulfric sighs, a heavy breath that rushes from his lungs and speaks of weariness. "Do you know why?"
"I couldn't dodge. I was too slow. They were able to hit me because I was weak."
"No, Tulok." His grandfather seems tired, and for some reason it makes shame burgeon somewhere in his gut. "A warrior should not keep pushing when he's at his limit unless it's the most dire of circumstances. A leader in his hunting party should not endanger himself and his group needlessly. We all saw you struggling out there, your parents and I. Ice Leos are known for being stubborn, true, but what you did out there could have gotten you killed. That is not what this course is about. It's about learning your strengths and weaknesses. Why didn't you pull out when you grew weary?"
"I wasn't--"
"No lying to me, Tulok. Lying won't fix anything. Now tell me."
He doesn't know if Wulfric would understand. That need to prove himself, to show he's not just a weak little puffball but a strong Ice Leo like everyone else. He's tired of being a little weakling compared to everyone else. He's tired of not being good enough.
"I..." Tulok looks down at his lap, at the simple hospital blanket resting over his legs, plucking at the threads. "I wanted to make everyone proud. Mom and dad, they always worry. They think I can't do anything. They don't let me show them that I can, you know? Because I'm a hybrid, and they think I'm weak. I just...I wanted them to know that I could be strong. Like Kirby."
"Tulok." He looks up at his grandfather, whose expression is unreadable as he reaches out to pull a chair over and take a seat. It's a little odd, seeing him get on Tulok's level like that. Grandfather Wulfric is always so proud and strong. Why should he need to get on his level? "Tulok," He says again, and there's a small frown on his face that Tulok wants to make go away. "You are a hybrid. There's no changing that. Instead of fighting it, you have to adapt. Work with your toolset, as many hunters do. It does not seem fair, and certainly, it isn't. But it is what you have, and you must make the best with what you have. You understand?"
Tulok nods. Even though he doesn't want to. He gets it, he just...doesn't like it.
"But, Tulok." And there's a way that grandfather Wulfric speaks that sets him on edge, just a bit. Not pensive or stiff, but there's something in that tone of his. "If getting better is truly what you want, you will need to move. Down to South Nova, with the rest of your kind. As an Ice Leo, your abilities rely on the cold, and you won't get better or grow stronger if you remain here on Pop Star. The winters aren't enough. You understand?"
It takes Tulok a minute to process. It feels like the world has turned just slightly to fuzz at the proclamation, a whole litany of doors opening for possibilities and change. He'd always sort of idly entertained that idea, sure - he'd love to live with Grandfather Wulfric and other Ice Leos as a little kid! - but now that the opportunity is in front of him...he's not sure. To leave it all behind...
"W-Would I even survive?"
"Your other grandfather, Sir Bate. He lived his childhood on South Nova. It's not impossible by any means, although it will be a challenge, as everything on South Nova is."
Tulok looks away, back down to his lap, the cogs turning in his mind. He can do it, if he really wants to get better. He has that opportunity now. But. But...
What about his home? What about his parents? His life?
What about Kirby?
The sound of wood shifting on laminate floor draws his attention again and he turns his head to see Wulfric standing back up. "It's not a decision you have to make right now. You're still young. You have plenty of time. You can still train here if you want, but know that you will not get further with your abilities if you don't come to South Nova. Alright? But, Tulok..."
Wulfric smiles, and it's a warm expression that Tulok thinks could have melted even the harshest of South Novan storms, sappy as it sounds. "No matter what, hybrid or not, we are /all/ proud of you. You've the potential to be as strong as the best of Ice Leos on South Nova, and I think your parents know that as well as I do. Don't put yourself down so much. You have remarkable potential, and you only need to hone it."
It's more praise than Tulok's ever heard in his life, he thinks. Well, more /proper/ praise. His parents tell him how well he's doing and how good he is, but Grandfather Wulfric's words hit differently in a way Tulok can't explain. It almost makes him want to cry, and indeed he actually feels his eyes starting to sting, and if he winds up crying in front of his grandfather he is /never/ going to forgive himself--
"Now, I need to leave. This winter is no good for even a backache, much less keeping an Ice Leo's strength, I tell you..." He lets out a grumble as he rubs at his back, looking his age for once, and yeah, Tulok can see the weather isn't being very nice to him at the moment. Poor grandfather. "You keep that letter close to yourself, alright? Look it over and see the details of what I wrote. It will help. And when - if - you decide to come to South Nova, it will be an honor to do everything I can to train you into the Warrior you want to be."
Tulok doesn't know what to say. It's as if the words have been taken right from his mouth, replaced by cotton, keeping him from thinking much less forming the words on his tongue. His grandfather steps over to the door, and Tulok is fully prepared to just watch the man leave before something occurs in his mind and he startles. "Wait- Wait!! I..."
It's shameful to admit. He almost doesn't want to. But he forges ahead, because he's strong, because he has the potential to be the best, just like grandfather said. "I said some mean things to dad earlier, before you came. About being a hybrid. It...wasn't nice, and I haven't talked to him since. I... What do I do? I feel terrible..."
His grandfather doesn't turn. His back to Tulok, hand on the knob, he just tilts his head, just enough to give Tulok a glimpse of his expression, eyes narrowed and mouth turned in a smirk as he looks the boy over. Confidence. "You're a young man now, aren't you? No little ice cube. I think you can figure this one out for yourself. Do well for yourself, grandson."
And he's gone, before Tulok can say a word, door swinging open to let him through, leaving his grandson with an open mouth and unsaid words on his lips.
It's quiet for a second in that room. Tulok thinks he can hear a distant bustle outside.
And then, "Tulok? How are you doing?" as his father steps inside, mother right on his heels.
Looking at them, Tulok feels overwhelmed with a litany of feelings. As if seeing them for a new light he watches them with hands fisted in the blankets, observing the way they come closer. Before, he couldn't bear to look at them, and when he did it was only to see them for he thought of them - coddling, pitying, disrespectful.
Now, though, when he looks at them... He can see the way they look at them. Knowing what he knows now, it's enough to make him want to cry all over again.
"I feel...bad." His eyes are on Meta as he speaks, watching him take a seat. "But not because of...this. It's..." And he looks down at his hands as he takes a deep breath. He can do it. He can do this. "...I said a lot of mean things to you, dad. Really terrible things."
His dad, who had always been there for him, whether Tulok needed it or not. Sitting vigil by his bedside every time he fell ill or injured. The reassurance he would be okay whenever Tulok got scared. Even at the trials, he realizes, Meta had been there. Tulok remembered seeing how he looked, tired and worn out in an uncomfortable chair, but he hadn't moved. He seemed so happy when he saw Tulok awake..
His hands fist the blanket and he swallows back the ball in his throat. His eyes meet Meta's, tear-filled and resolute. "I'm sorry for what I said back then. You know, back in...South Nova. I was...really upset and I took it out on you. I know I'm different. I can't change that." He thinks, back to Wulfric, to his words. "I have to work with what I've got. But I want to get stronger, better, and if that means I need to work with my differences, then...I can do that. I /will/ do that. It's...not a bad thing."
The words are awkward coming from his mouth, stuttered and fumbled like he can't pick the right ones, and from the way his parents stare, he's sure he messed up somewhere down the line. Is it not enough? He was pretty mean back then. What if his dad is still angry...?
"Oh, Tulok," Meta's voice sounds like...like it could break any second, but he looks so happy. "I know. I know how you felt. It's okay. I promise it's okay..."
What did Wulfric do, Meta thinks. What did he say to get Tulok talking, and so confident? The man is such a thorn in the side. For once, he actually did some good. Thank Nova he actually paid a visit...
Tulok reaches out to return the very gentle hug that Meta moves to give him, maybe more for Meta than himself, but Tulok is happy nonetheless. He won't tell them about South Nova right now. Not...yet. He still needs to think about it, and they don't need to worry. He wants to talk to Kirby first, to train and learn everything he can from his family before he leaves. After that...
After that, then he'll be ready.
Artist Comment:
June 1, 2021
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June 1, 2021
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I'd told you we'd eventually get a happy ending to this! 8D Wulfric visits his grandson to talk about his performance in South Nova, which made Tulok VERY hesitant at first because he knows he failed But after learning what his Grandfather had to say, he's finally taking the needed steps to mentally recover from this whole ordeal, and finally accept who he is.
I mentioned when I first introduced Tulok that he eventually moves to South Nova to train. This is the story where it's first brought up. IF Tulok wants to be like his brother and parents, he's going to eventually have to leave Pop Star and live with Wulfric. >v<
The one-shot for this illustration was commissioned by my good friend, Dogblog. (dA- Shadowrealmprincess)
Species © Nintendo/ HAL Laboratory
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem
