...Isaiah...

Rise's eyes widened at his remark, putting a paw on his shoulder and she exclaimed in disbelief, "No kidding?!"

Everything made sense. This was why he looked so much like Jeremiah... but as of yet, did not seem to act like him. She couldn't help but wonder who the mother was and when she was going to pop up... "I thought you looked like him. I'm glad I'm not going crazy." A sly smirk formed on her features as he studied the male before her. She knew it would drive Jeremiah crazy if he knew what she was contemplating. "Jeremiah and I go way back. I grew up with him in the forest... he was a lot older than me though. He was mainly friends with my brother, Citrus but me and him had our days. Such a jackass though. At least he's not like his brother." Rise spoke freely now, knowing that the alpha before her was Jeremiah's son. She felt more at ease somehow.

Isaiah shifted his weight from side to side and eventually reclined to his haunches, his tail combing through the sand behind him. He locked his gaze on the female before him, listening in silent awe. It was hard to believe that Jeremiah had actually had a life before he was born, that he hadn't popped into existance the moment Isaiah had been brought into the world. "So he wasn't much different then than he is now?" he said finally, in response to her jackass comment. It was meant to be a joke, but he'd failed to offer a humerous expression. Instead, a half-smirk had begun to coil across his dark features. "Brother?" he repeated, leaning his head in interest. So he had an uncle...? "Who's his brother?"

"Oh, he's certaintly different now. Much more... tame than he was back in the old days. But I say that's a good thing." Rise commented, a sly smirk gracing her features. Sliding her plush tail through the thick sand, she closed her caramel eyes as if trying to shut out a memory from her mind. "Let's not talk about him."

Isaiah was obviously shocked to know Jeremiah had a younger brother... and a younger sister. Rise was surprised Jeremiah had not told his own son such things, but apparentily he did not want him to know. "Besides, supposedly he's dead anyway."

Rise didn't seem so certain, as she opened her eyes and sat back up on the now-cool sand. Leaning forward to Isaiah, she brushed his face with one paw, her smirk never fading. "You know... the Darkstorms only get better looking generation after generation. I always had a soft spot for the bad boys. Got me in a lot of trouble back then... probably still would." She was referring fondly to Jeremiah's family name, one that he rarely if ever spoke of. One that he didn't like to be linked to.

Isaiah offered a thoughtful 'hm' at her words, the tip of his tail pushing into the sand. If she wasn't comfortable addressing the subject, he wouldn't press it. Still, her foggy answer only brought more questions to life.

He leaned back upon feeling her paw against his cheek, though it wasn't a sudden movement, nor was it very noticable. His dark blue, nearly black gaze was set on her caramel pair, his brow creasing in a slight frown. 'the Darkstorms only get better looking generation after generation...' Was she referring to him? Isaiah wasn't sure and he voiced his confusion. "Who are, 'the Darkstorms'?" he asked, leaning closer to her, the intensity of his gaze not once faltering.

"Damn... Jeremiah really has you clueless, doesn't he?"

Giggling softly, though her laugh had a sinister tint to it. She laid down at his paws, looking up at him with a mixture of bewilderment and enjoyment. "Jeremiah's family, obviously. Your heritage. I very faintly remember his father... very faintly... but I heard stories about him. Jeremiah's brother didn't fall too far from the tree. He isn't like them though, Jeremiah isn't. Not anymore." Rambling on about her old friend wasn't the most interesting thing to her but she could tell it intrigued Isaiah. She enjoyed enlightening him to the situation, regardless.

"Just a family name, that's all. You favor them. You got the eyes." Caramel gaze met his again, before looking out towards the water and the occasional bolt of lightning. "You don't seem to really act like them either. Your mother must have set a very good example."

Isaiah could hear the dark tones in her laughter and in her smile... He was starting to wonder whether he should trust her or not. Seeing as she hadn't tried to hurt him yet, he figured she was safe for now, at least.

So he'd been right, she had been talking about him... Or, his heritage, at least. The idea of his paternal family fascinated him. He'd never met anyone from his mother's side, so growing up, he figured the only family he'd had was his mother. Come to find out that he had an uncle now, and a grandfather! Excitement began to form in his chest, though one couldn't tell from his expression. He merely offered that of distant interest. "Darkstorm..." he repeated, enjoying the feel of the name on his tongue. Following Rise's gaze towards the ocean, he was quiet for what seemed like several minutes before he spoke once more. "So I'm assuming Jeremiah's family members weren't exactly a likeable bunch?" He asked, looking to her, his tail uncoiling and brushing against hers.

"You assume right." Rise nodded, tearing her gaze from the ocean to look back at him. "His dad pretty much was the boss of our forest... everyone did what he said. He had any female he wanted, none of the other males dared to say anything." Stretching a bit, she dug her claws into the sand... getting wrapped up in the old memories. "They were very violent to outsiders, not thinking twice about killing them. I don't know how much your mother told you about magic... but it was real. I saw it. Then again, I grew up around it... it was normal to me."

"Jeremiah was the oldest... Hophni was a few years younger. Sharuko was the youngest, my age. Jeremiah was just like his father, into all that black magic and the like. Luckily, if you can say that, he was murdered when he was nineteen. After that, he sort of left the forest... and got away from all that. Scared him, I suppose." Rise paused, wondering what Jeremiah would think if he overheard her telling Isaiah all his old dirt.

"Hophni, on the other hand, just got worse. He was better at the black magic than Jeremiah... god knows what Jeremiah would have been like if he hadn't left that place." Rise paused again, just now realizing how 'out there' her story might seem to someone who was never exposed to such things.

Isaiah eyed Rise in disbelief. Magic? That was the stuff of fairy tails and Harry Potter... Then again, the skills Moon had helped him with, helped him strengthen, that could be considered magic to others. Was that what she was talking about? He remembered his old friend saying that that sort of power ran in the bloodline... Could there really be more to it than just being able start a fire? An odd look of lust flashed briefly across Isaiah's dark features, though he masked it with an awkward half-smirk. Hophini, that must have been the brother she'd mentioned, the one who was supposed to be dead. But he knew now that death wasn't permanent. "What sort of 'black magic' could they do? Do you know any?" His craving was evident in his voice and he didn't bother to hide it.

Rise was obviously pleased with Isaiah's reaction, her sly smirk only widening as he looked from the sky to him and back to the sky. Perhaps he wasn't so unlike his father afterall. What goody-goody would be so interested to know dark secrets of his past? Talking about the dark days of her childhood sort of turned her on... in an odd way.

"No... I don't know any." She replied bluntly, sort of laughing at the thought of it. Rise couldn't imagine knowing magic... it was something inherited... or at least that was how she figured it to work. "Jeremiah always loved starting fires... I remember he burned down the nearby forest. Storms, as well. Anything weather-related I suppose. I heard stories that he once created a tornado that knocked down a cabin... but that could be gossip." Rise seriously doubted it was gossip though... but she hadn't been there so who knows. "I don't know if he could do that anymore though, it takes a lot out of someone... and it was mostly out of anger."

Rolling to her side, she peered into his dark eyes with her own. "Hophni was a whole different story. He was so into the magic it almost became him... he killed kougras just for fun. Him and his group... Jeremiah was in it for a short period but from my understanding his girlfriend made him get out. Now don't get me wrong... don't think badly of your dad... he's not like that anymore."

His disapointment in her response was partially obvious, despite his best attempts to put on a nuetral front. He peered down at her, his eyes narrowing as he took in the information. It was too bad his father couldn't do it anymore, he would have loved to learn. A pleasant shudder ran down his spine at the thought of what he could have done with such power. It obviously wouldn't have been nearly as strong as what she was describing, since the genetic line it ran in had been diluted with his mother's blood, but he still had a chance, right? Isaiah could only hope.

This Hophini fellow, on the other hand, he sounded interesting. Not so much the murderous bits... Isaiah searched Rise's caramel pools for something; as to what, though, he wasn't sure. "But you say Hophini's dead, right?" he half-asked, half-stated, the disapointed crease in his brows deepening.

"It would have been neat if he was still like that, though," he muttered in reply to her comment about his father, a devilish grin mounting his features. "It certainly would make this place a lot more interesting."

"I don't know if he's dead anymore." Rise shrugged her shoulders, trying not to think about it. She hoped he still was and he had been for many years... but often he returned when Jeremiah died. Maybe that was why she had left the forest in the first place. It sort of disturbed Rise on some level that Isaiah was so interested and on some level... it intrigued her.

"Why would you want him to be like that?" Rise arched a brow, watching Isaiah curiously. "You'd rather have a murderer for a father? I don't think the rest of the island would. You don't know him like I did... I mean, he's tolerable now sure... but he didn't use to be. That girl Ela really straightened him out."

Stretching out on the cool sand, she closed her eyes, putting her paws behind her head. "I'm not saying your dad can't do magic anymore... just not like he used to. I mean, why do you think it storms so much in the summer?"

Opening her eyes slightly, she looked up at Isaiah, a curious expression on her dark features. "You seem so interested. Why do you think your dad is an alcoholic? Why do you think he died so many times? Because it wasn't an easy life. Your not like him... and don't ever wish you were. If you were like him, you'd have already fucked me by now. He runs off of pure instinct with a shred of conscience thrown in every now and then... you remind me of a city boy. Not saying that's bad, but you know right from wrong. The line blurs for him."

Isaiah's ears perked as he listened, his head tilting in question. "Maybe not so much a murderer, but... I don't know," he hesitated, trying to come up with the right words, "just the threat of one. It would give the island a dangerous edge and make it less of a tourist attraction." He rolled his eyes at the thought, having always disliked the peppy city tourist types.

He shifted awkwardly as she spoke of his father, carefully sheilding the annoyance from his features. He could never have imagined what it would have been like to take off through the forest with a band of murderous equals, or how horrible it must have been for the victims. In his mind, it was a glamourous life, filled with parties, excitement, and sex, and it was this twisted perception that drove his interest and longing for what she spoke of.

Lost in his clouded thoughts, he snapped back to the present as her words rang again in his ears. So Jeremiah could at least do some magic? His smile extended, though faded almost instantly. He doubted his father would ever be willing to school him... He'd never told him about his dark past, which meant he probably hadn't wanted him knowing. With a soft grunt, he fell forward in a cat-like stretch, allowing his gaze to drift from the female, towards the sea. "I don't wish I was like him, so much as I wish I had the kind of history as he did," he explained, his dark eyes set on the crashing waves. "I want to experience that kind of life. I'm tired of this boring place, tired of how the days sort of blend together now... There's nothing to do. I want to be wild, free." The words sounded silly the moment they rolled of his lips and he felt his cheeks flush behind his grey fur.

"What you do every day is what makes your history." Rise raised an eyebrow, watching Isaiah curiously. "Jeremiah loved to cause to cause conflict. He would do things just to get a rise out of somebody. I'm sure you know that." She sat up, stretching out her slender body on the sand. "You can be whoever you want to be. Stop talking about being wild and free... be it. Go talk to your dad. I'm sure he'd teach you whatever he knows."

Rise understood how Isaiah felt... everyone at some point or another wanted freedom and excitement. Few were content building sand castles all day. She could tell in their short encounter that Isaiah expected something more out of life. "The only difference between you and your dad... that I can see is that your scared that people won't like you. Everything revolves around that."

Isaiah was about to argue that she wouldn't say Jeremiah'd help if she knew him, but he stopped himself. She did know him. She knew him ten times better than he did. A hint of hope flickered to life at the pit of his stomach and his eyes lit up. He would have to confront his dad the next time he saw him. His gaze had drifted from his companion as he allowed his thoughts to expand into plans, though he noticed after a moment and looked back to her with his piercing eyes. Her words fell nearly deaf ears and it took him a second to register just what she had said. "That's not true," he protested stubbornly, his brows creasing in a frown. He fell silent, not once tearing his gaze from the kougress, though his expression potrayed just what was going on in his head. His brows relaxed and his eyes hardened as realization lay over him like a blanket. She was right. With a drawn out sigh, he shifted his shoulders, coming the sand with a single paw before he spoke.

"I can't help it. I don't want people to hate me, or leave me." His tone was cold and he averted his gaze as if he were ashamed. "Too many of my friends have deserted this place, their home, and I have a hunch it's my fault."

"You really have no idea, do you?" Rise watched Isaiah with an amused yet slightly annoyed expression. Sitting up, she looked at him directly, her caramel eyes looking into his dark gaze. "People leave because they are bored. They don't leave places where they have fun. You really need to talk to your dad. Not causing any waves makes you forgettable. Are they going to remember that really nice guy who always played by the book or the badass who fucked everyones life up? I think you know the answer to that. The question is... what kind of guy are you?"

A coy smirk appeared on her dark features, replacing her amused expression. "Pop quiz. Have you ever cheated? Do you have a girlfriend? When it the last time you told someone to 'fuck off'? What was the last fight you had? Name one thing that makes you memorable."

As she awaited his answers, her plush tail swayed back and forth, her eyes unnmoving on his own. "Good boys just aren't that exciting."

Isaiah eyed Rise with both annoyance and nervousness playing across his features at once. He'd never been called out like this and he didn't like it. As he listened to her speak, his ears fell lower and lower, making him appear increasingly more uncomfortable. The way she was talking, it seemed like she was advising him to change his ways to match his fathers, which was what he'd spent his life trying to prevent, and because of this, he nearly decided to tune her out. But when she let loose her string of questions, his ears perked and he arched a brow. Did she really want him to answer, or was she being sarcastic? Taking her pause as an invitation to speak, he flicked his bangs from his face before answering, "Yes, I have cheated. Yes, I've got a girlfriend. The last time I told someone to fuck off..." he paused, his gaze drifting to some unseen object as if in search of an answer, but none came to mind. "I can't remember. The last fight I had was with a crazy bitch who decided to do everything in her power to end my life, and as you can tell, did not succeed," he gestured to his own frame as if presenting proof that he was alive before continuing, "and finally... I don't know what makes me memorable. Surely there's a few things, but none spring out at me." He finnished with a half-cocky, half-disapointed expression, his tail lashing the sand beside him. Her final comment pulled his brows into a frown. He'd never considered himself a 'good boy', as she put it, but he must have come off that way to Rise. With an uncomfortable shrug, he averted his eyes and a sudden wave of self-disaproval washed over him. He had always had such high self esteem, almost annoyingly so some would say, but in less than an hour, a single kougress had torn down his wall of cockiness.