━━━━━ "Blood; race; family; life; vigor"
Or...
━━━━━ In which two members of the Denali coven find themselves living with the Olympic coven for the next six months.
━ Jasper Hale
━ Twilight Saga
━ Ⓒ 2022, CrashingOiks
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━━━━━━━━━━━━
Cassius' cheek is still marbled with fissures days after his argument with Irina. Most of the surface has healed from the deep cracks, but like veins it's still visible under the first layer of his stone-like skin. It doesn't hurt so much as it does remind him of what he said to her, and he stews in the guilt of his words even though he doesn't regret his actions.
His extended family stays aside from Irina, and the lack of a quiet house helps remind Cassius that there's more to look forward to in their visit. He styles his hair on an early morning and decides to dress in jeans and a loose shirt for today's activity involving the outdoors. He'd rather not ruin anything of his like he did fighting Irina in the snow, and so as he puts on a pair of outdoor boots and laces them up, he figures this will do.
He grabs the tools and materials necessary in his studio before going downstairs to see Alice, Amelia, and Jasper all dressed similarly. He perks a brow but remembers Alice's gift and decides questioning it will bring on more questions.
"Clay." Alice says, smiling brightly. "May we come with you? I've never made clay before."
She's practically bouncing in place, and Amelia stands just behind her with an adorning smile. Cassius could grin at their excitement, but Jasper's hesitant stance and closed in shoulders is practically begging Cassius to tell them no.
"Only if you all want to," He says with emphasis, and watches Alice's face fall just slightly.
"We do," She says, and buds her elbow into Jasper's side. "He's just afraid you'll–"
"Alice." Jasper cuts in, and her mouth shuts.
"We do." She repeats. "So, please. Lead the way."
After announcing to the house that they're going somewhere for the day and being told all things from be careful to stay as safe as possible, Cassius leads the four of them deep into the woods where he knows a rich riverbank full of what they need to make clay will be. It's frozen over and covered in snow, but it's still as beautiful as when it's running naturally and surrounded by green.
"Do you like to use clay often?" Alice asks.
Cassius bends down and starts to scoop the snow away to check the best area to start digging. "It's a good medium, and it keeps my hands busy. I enjoy working with it, but there's not much of it to use like there is paint."
