Her brother's keeper

Location: The hallways at the academy
Date: 29th of March 2021
Time: 14:30
Weather: Blue sky. Sunny.
Outfit: Link
Topic for: @Lucas
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Howard had lost her in the crowd, or she had wondered off on her own. It was weird, all these different senses of mixed species all over the place. She was used to it, it wasn't that, when you worked in an area like Moonligt Falls - you got used to meeting all kind of creatures. Howard had thought of it to be a good idea for her to maybe get back to school, being home schooled for the last few years didn't grant her much of social circle. She had left the group she was supposed to follow, and Howard would most likely realize that in a few hours when he was done giving the best tour of his life. Noa had caught a scent, and not just any scent - she couldn't describe it - but she knew that she had to follow it. It was the tiger in her that was leading the way through the crowd of people rushing around the hall. It was busy these hours. She stopped for a moment when she saw the back of someone. He was quite tall, it was the first thing she noticed. Noa stopped for a while and took out her phone, she searched through her messages. She had one of the photos she had taken from her last visit at her parents house, and she had framed it by her nightstand to remember that she was searching for him. She had the picture on her phone in case someone might know something.

But the picture was old, it was a long time ago - and no one seemed to be able to help her in the search. Noa took a deeper breath in and looked up again. Where did he go? She pushed through the crowd, and headed towards the teacher's area without even realizing it. However, she did realize she was walking where she shouldn't and stopped in a smaller sigh. She turned around and wanted to leave again, she could have been wrong. Noa had been searching all of Moonlight Falls, or at least most parts - but hadn't even come across a familiar scent. Noyt till now. She took a few steps ahead, but there it was again. So she turned around once again.

Lucas had been busy. Busy, busy. Busy-was-an-understatement busy. Since Joseph had stopped showing up he had practically taken over all Biology classes and he had been completely unprepared. For someone like him, who somewhat liked to be in control of his surroundings, this had not been a pleasant chance at all but it had luckily all been overshadowed by Cecilia. He had forgotten how much it changed to have someone to come home to - how different the day and the dynamics were now that he was excited to leave work and go home to snuggle up to the human.
He enjoyed biology as well but missed some of the more physical activities he had taught; luckily Jack had kindly taken over a few of his classes now that he was temporarily needed somewhere else.

He was practically running down the hallway - except running wasn’t permitted and so it was more of a really fast paced walk. Gently maneuvering around the crowds that filled the halls, he was heading for his little room to fetch a few documents, he needed to read up on before his next class.
Something rumbled in his chest.
Luke skipped a beat in his walk and slowed down a little. Had that been his leopard? Something smelt funny. Funny but familiar. He turned a corner and stopped up trying to catch onto the scent again but it had disappeared. He furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance that he had missed whatever it had been.
“Luke, you don’t have time for this,” he reminded himself in a low grumble. He really didn’t. He quickly screened the crowd of teenagers, his eyes systematically scanning each person moving along, before giving up. Whatever the smell had been it was gone now. With an annoyed hum, he turned around to continue his fast paced walk towards the room, not quite able to shake off the feeling the strange scent had brought with it. For a short second his head went back to the biology-material he had to get, momentarily wondering how he was gonna motivate a bunch of kids he had never taught, when it returned. What was that? With a huff he spun around on his heal, not paying attention to the natural traffic flow of the people around him, causing a little jam in the hallway as someone stumbled into him. A fluffy blue dress and a bundle of light brown hair. The low rumble in his chest came somewhat involuntary and he once again wondered if it was his leopard. “So sorry!” He quickly reached out a hand to steady the girl in front of him. “Forgive me, I seem to be somewhat confused today.”
Then he stiffened. She looked a remarkable lot like ...
Was it her that smelt so funny?

Noa looked around utterly confused, maybe she was just working herself up for nothing. There was so many different sense at this place, it was almost impossible not to get confused - at least she told herself that. Then as she turned around someone stumbled into her, making her almost lose her balance, as he reached. Noa's eyes looked up into his, as the blue eyes widened a bit. She must have looked at least a bit freaked out for a second, at least for a small second, but not because she was scared. "It's alright," she replied with a smaller smile. The scent was far to familiar to her, it was like the time she had been home with her parents, she could always recognize that smell. She could feel her heart skip a slight beat as she placed the pieces of the puzzle together. It had to be, right? Was it okay to have hope that it was? "We all get a little lost in our heads time to time, don't we?" Noa lightly crossed her arms and turned to him. She was interested in talking to him, even if he looked both busy and confused.

How did you even begin a conversation like that? "You are a teacher here?" She then asked, totally not related to the questions she actually wanted to ask, and yet, she had always wondered what he was up to. "I - I'm Noa, a friend of mine is having a tour. I got a bit sidetracked, which is fine, between us crowds aren't really my thing." The shapeshifter confessed with a warmer smile on her lips. She held a hand out the least she could do was play it cool, till she got his name at least. The tiger longed for her to just make a move, just spill the tea and then they could pick up from that - but Noa kept it together, at least for a while. If she was right, if this was Lucas, she didn't want to scare him off.

We all get a little lost in our heads time to time, don't we?
Lucas regarded her a little curiously, raising his eyebrows in slight wonder at her before letting out a soft chuckle.
“Well, you’re right about that,” he replied before letting go of her now that she had regained her balance. It was definitely her that smelled funny. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what intrigued him about her scent , but it made him feel strange. Warm and comfortable none the less. She was very clearly a shapeshifter; she couldn’t run from that, so maybe they had their animal in common and that was why her scent caught onto him like this.

She pulled him back to reality with an innocent question and he sent her a genuine, friendly smile. “I am. I teach psychology, biology and martial arts,” he replied. Once again he missed the martial arts classes even though it had only been a few weeks without. He noted to himself that he had to talk to Leviticus and make sure he could jump back on track with that and figure out someone else to teach biology. He, himself was after all much more well versed in psychology.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” he noted, taking a step sideways to get out of the way of the busy traffic in the hallway. Her next sentence only proved the fact to him and he couldn’t help another soft laugh at her. “You and me both, Noa. You and me both.” He really didn’t like crowds at all and simply standing here made him a little aggy. He wrinkled his nose ever so slightly before returning his gaze to her. She looked so much like someone he knew, didn't she? Someone from a long time ago. It made him squint his eyes a little before he shook it off, blaming it on whatever stress he was feeling from work. Tasks that suddenly didn't feel as urgent anymore. “So does getting lost during a tour mean you don't like the place?" He asked softly, and turned sideways a little, gesturing for her to walk with him. He somehow hoped she would follow, if not only for the fact that he would otherwise feel very rood. "Or will I be seeing you in one of my classes anytime soon?"

He was teaching here. Noa nodded a bit as he told what classes he taught. "Sounds like an interesting," she confessed by that thought. She had never really thought about the whole teaching thing, then again her and her school years - it wasn't really school she remembered most. Her heart skipped a beat by that thought before she grounded herself again. With a few elegant steps she mirrored him to get just a bit away from the chaos of people. It was far from everyone who understood how uncomfortable a crowd could be, so she couldn't help but pull her lips up in a warmer smile by his expression. Noa longed to get to know him, even if it was silly things like knowing a favorite color, number, gemstone, his zodiac sign and what else. Everything, she wanted to know everything, and it took much of her not to break out and just ask away. "No, I just - It's weird.. " She expressed with a slight frown and followed him without thinking too much about it. She was way to curious not to. "I might. I still have some time to make up my mind," Noa replied and took a deeper breath in. As far as she remembered Howard had almost every class, at least everything where he could express himself. "I had thought about psychology," she then told looking at him shortly again before watching where she was walking, "one thing is sure that I would pick music – I like playing the piano, so it would be stupid not to,” she added with a soft chuckle. Noa was surprised how easy it was to speak to some people, like a natural connecting that just seemed right. Of course, she had more cards to play than he did, and she knew if she played them, things would get stirred up.

Noa knew from herself that she wasn't too fond of lifechanging news being held back, however, she had no idea when the time actually was right. But as they moved away from the crowd, she was only getting more and more sure that she was right. His scent alone confirmed it. "It's quite the place, huh? It's almost unbelievable that people can get along inside these walls," she chuckled a bit to that statement, having werewolves run around vampires along with angels around demons - it seemed like a dangerous game, and yet it worked. Most of the time she assumed. Noa was stalling time before ripping the band-aid off. He seemed nice, but she couldn't help but feeling a bit selfish for just wanting to blast this information in his face. If she didn't he could just turn to his life like nothing had happened, and she would just have been a stranger on tour at the academy. But didn't he also deserve to know that someone had been searching for him? "I'm also on a more personal search," she stated a bit hesitated, but mostly because she could feel her heart starting to race. "Sounds like something taken out from some movie, but I'm looking for my brother - and I think I just found him," she stopped for a moment and kept her eyes on Lucas, holding her breath not really knowing how to proceed.

Lucas shrugged as he tried to repress a smile. “Between us,” he began, repeating much the same words she had said mere minutes earlier, “I never thought I’d end up as a teacher, but here I am,” he said, clearly hinting that he was loving every second of it. And that he was. Genuinely, teaching had saved him. It had given him a purpose and a place and somewhat of a family that he loved and respected and protected. He smiled softly at her and gave her a little nod. He was in no way gifted at music in any way but he did like listening to it. “There’s no pressure,” he assured her mildly. “Whatever you do don’t stress it. You won’t enjoy it if you feel forced.” Lucas was all for people joining the academy; of course he was - in a way he wanted to save every single lost soul out there the way the Academy had saved him, but he also knew it was no use if the students were feeling forced to go. It was supposed to be a safe haven. He turned a corner, walking towards the less crowded hallways of the teacher-rooms where he knew there'd be less trafficked with people.

Lucas couldn't help a short laugh. "It does create problems occasionally but I think it speaks to the fact that in the end we aren't pre-formated just because we were born a specific species," he said; and he actually believed it. The world wasn't black and white and all should have a shot at a good life. That's what they were here for. He listened to her with a slight smile. He knew all about personal quests. Instead he stopped, surprised at her words. Something about it made his Leopard growl a little triumphantly.
And I think I just found him.
Immediately skepticism hit him and he tilted his head a little puzzled. She had to be joking right? "Now, what makes you think that?" He replied, trying not to sound too skeptic. There was no way. He didn't have a sister did he?

You won’t enjoy it if you feel forced. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit by that comment, mostly because she had a life time of experience on knowing how true those words were. "I won’t, I promise," she replied on the next exhale. She could imagine it sometimes made issues having so many mixed people in one big place, but it didn't always come down to the species but just the entire personality. Perhaps, that was one of the reasons she had found herself researching different personality types in different people and species - also because she had needed a distraction, and researching stuff made it easy. "I get it, I reckon most people does assume it's species related rather than the manner of someone's behavior," she added to his statement.

Her entire body had already tensed up as she awaited his reaction to her words, and her heart was almost exploding out of her ribcage. Her eyes widened a bit as the nervousness hit her harder within seconds, and she completely forgot to breathe. What makes you think that? She stood there in a few seconds trying to form the sentence in her mind, and her lips parted to speak but it took her a small moment before words even left her lips. "The scent," she breathed out only to take a deeper breath in again. There were also the distinctive features that clearly was running in the family, but she wasn't going to point them out. "You can't really deny the scent of family, it's hard to shake off," she added with a lower still slightly nervous voice. She tried to embrace herself in case he would get mad, expecting people to be mad at her at this point was way to natural. But after all, she wouldn't blame him - their parents had left him, completely alone in the world to fend for himself at such young age. It was an unforgivable act. Noa hadn't forgiven them for it after she learned the truth, and she had no intention on ever doing so. Noa finally took a deeper breath in and exhaled again.

I reckon most people does assume it's species related rather than the manner of someone's behaviour. Luke could only hum in agreement. He knew that too well and it was something he'd always been keen to teach his student. It really wasn't about what you were born as but what you made of it. It was so easy to box yourself in and blame shitty behaviour on your species when in reality you should be held accountable regardless. And that's what they were doing here at the Academy. That was why it worked. Obviously they could still use a few changes and Luke had heard rumours that there would be a change of Principal sooner rather than later. He was rooting for Alison to take the spot, but there had been a few other people in question and nothing seemed to be settled quite yet.

Lucas tilted his head at her. He had stopped walking and somehow everything around them had disappeared. No loud voices, no busy corridors. Just this peculiar girl in front of him. His eyebrows knitted in his forehead. The scent. Just the word gave him goosebumps. Was that what it had been? Was that what had made him stop earlier. As she said, flickers of memories from Moonlight Falls seemed to light up in front of him. She had been pregnant, his mother. Hasn't she? They had been talking about the colours of the walls in the nursery.
"Stephen! We can't paint the walls blue and you know it. It will be a girl." - "Oh Nora, don't be so narrow minded. What if she loves blue?"
His jaw tensed. He hadn't thought of his family for many years. Actually he had really, really, really, worked hard on simply forgetting them. It was easier like that. He swallowed. "I'm - I - I'm not sure - mh." Luke shook his head to clear his mind. "Noa. I'm so sorry. I don't - uh. I don't think." He licked his lips. His mouth felt so bloody dry and his heartbeat was running faster than he could. "Are you telling me I have a sister?"
His voice broke and it sounded more like a whimper than an actual spoken sentence. His eyes teared up immediately. If there is a God please don't make this a cruel joke, he begged.

Noa carefully watched his expression, he had looked so confident earlier even with all the stress of the buzzing hallways and what else he had to think about. Now the news was raining on him, and a part of her knew she had opened up an old wound. The thought made her take a deeper breath in as she cleared her throat, while looking down for a second. He wasn't sure, and but she was. She had not been more sure of anything for a long time. Are you telling me I have a sister? His voice, his face, how his eyes started to tear up, made her own tears starting to rush up to the surface. Noa took a deeper breath in and folded her lips for a second trying to find her words that seemed to have left her for a few seconds. "Yes," she replied in an almost whisper to confirm. Her heart skipped at beat, and she wanted to reach out for him. "It's me.. I'm your sister," Noa took a deeper breath in and held it. She couldn't imagine how his life must have been like, how he had survived, if anyone had taken him in or if he just had lived on the street by himself. Her mind was exploding with scenarios trying to come up with an answer to how he had made it to this point. She didn't know him, but she knew she admired that. She wanted to reached that herself. Noa wanted to tell him that it was okay, and that she had been looking for him ever since she learned about him. But it was overwhelming for both parts, and she blinked a few tears out. "You haven't been easy to find," she chuckled a bit to herself and dried her tears, and took a deeper breath in.

Lucas sniffled. "What the hell," he muttered, touching his forehead before running his hand through the blond wilderness that was his scruffy hair.
"I haven't been easy to find?" He repeated, licking his lips again. Her tears didn't help on his own emotional state, having his own eyes blur his vision again. His eyes fleetingly left her to look at the busy hallway behind them before finding her eyes again. She had looked so familiar. Perhaps she had taken on after their mother. The thought made him slightly nauseous and he reached out to steady himself on the wall next to them. A sister. He had a sister? Did she even count as a sister when she'd been so favoured amongst the people who'd called themselves his parents? Maybe they had just wanted a girl? He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head lightly, shooing away the jealousy that had crept up on him. He didn't even know her story; how could he possibly judge her already. "I think that was the purpose," he whispered with another subtle sniffle, blinking in bafflement. This was too far fetched. "I'm not sure they deserved to find me," he muttered in honesty. They hadn't. But he hadn't had her as part of the equation. "I need air." The walls seemed to close in around them making him even dizzier than he was to begin with. He needed to breathe. His blurry vision made it hard, but after rapidly blinking away his tears, hi fished his phone out of his pocket, opening the group-chat with Jack and Victoria, sending a quick text, asking for a favour. He needed the afternoon off. Desperately. He clenched his jaw before looking back up, studying her soft features. Holy shit. A sister.
"Garden?" He asked a little breathlessly, gesturing to go back down the hallway.

She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a bit small as she kept her breathing under control. I'm not sure they deserved to find me, she breathed out. "They didn't," she confirmed and took another deeper breath in. Their parents behavior was the reason she didn't talk to them anymore, they had never been the best parents, but leaving a child behind was unforgivable. Noa wasn't angry by nature, and it took a lot to make her angry, so she never forgot the expression on her parents face as she had exploded on them. Lucas needed air, which made her nod. Noa wasn't going to hold him back if he needed space. She watched him pick up his phone texting someone, holding her breath slightly not really knowing what words to say, this wasn't really a situation she normally stood in. Noa didn't know what to expect, but as he looked at her again she breathed out. Garden? Noa took a deeper breath in and gave him a few nods. "Yeah," she simply replied. It was hard for her to control her emotions when they got to this stage, but she knew she could handle it. She had to handle it. This was her giving him some life changing information, or at least it could be. It all depended on what he wanted, Noa had been looking for him the last couple of years. She knew she wanted to get to know him. There was a chance that he didn't, and after what their parents had put him through - she didn't blame him.

Noa made her way back down the hallway outside to the garden. Howard hadn't been kidding when he said it was magical, even through most of these flowers weren't supposed to blossom this time of year, they did and she guessed it was magic. It was the same in Moonlight Falls, the plants had another life there then here in Gaia. "I found out a few years back," she broke the silence as she looked around, taking a deeper breath, letting the slightly cold air fill her lungs. "I was in the attic looking through some old stuff when I found an old photo," she took a deeper breath in as her heart skipped a few beats ahead. Noa didn't know how much he wanted to know, if he even wanted to know anything - but then again, would he have asked her to follow him here if he didn't? Noa's eyes finally turned to him again and she breathed out. "I'm sorry for just dropping a bomb on you like that."

“Yeah,” he repeated a little stiffly. “They didn’t.”
He had actually thought that he had gotten over it. He’d spent long nights talking about it with Victoria, pouring his heart out and she had helped him heal; as had Jack and Rafael. It had been years since he had even thought of them. It didn’t feel like he had ever actually had parents. It was easier like that and he had been fine believing this until now. His throat felt thick. He regarded her curiously, trying to find physical similarities with himself to back up the claim, even though he felt in his heart that it was real. The familiar smell wasn't something you just forgot, and it overpowered any other smell. He knew for a fact that they probably would be able to communicate by their minds. Families could do that even when not in their animal-forms.

Lucas opened the door to the garden, taking a step back to allow Noa to exit first. Finally the fresh air reached him and he took a moment to close his eyes and breathe in the smell of spring. It made his heart calm down a little. He took a deep breath before opening his eyes, seeking hers. He blinked in surprise at her story. They had kept pictures of him? Tugged away perhaps, but kept them regardless. It made the heat rush to his cheeks. He really didn't know how to take all this information on board. He blinked again, dragging his eyes away from hers and onto the beautiful gardens in front of them. "I suppose there's no right way of doing it," he commented with a low chuckle. She was young. Young and, he could tell, excited about this unlikely discovery. It made warmth shoot through his body, knowing that she had been somewhat looking for him. It was a childish thing to have hoped for, but very obviously something that had always been in the back of his mind. That it had all been some mistake and that his family had been looking far and wide to find him. Even though it hadn't worked out exactly like that, her warm eyes resting on him, made his heart flutter. He somehow wasn't even angry at their parents for having missed out on his life. What angered him more was that they had allowed Lucas to miss out on Noa's. He hadn't been there to see her first transformation. Or her first day at school. Or any other first days for that matter. He hardly remembered her at all; only how scared he had been to cause her any harm and how watching the little baby sleep, had been the most soothing sensation in the world.
He stared at her, furrowing his eyebrows slightly to rid himself of the overwhelming memories he had suppressed. "Man, you were so tiny," he said, his voice cracking at the end.

She had no idea whether or not their parents had known they had a photo in that book, it hadn't changed the fact what they had done was wrong. Wrong on so many levels that she got angry just by thinking about it. There were so many things she had missed out on, and perhaps that was the main reason she got angry. All this time, she had an older brother walking around that they had just removed from her life. It wasn't their choice to make if the siblings would get along or not, and they had completely taken that choice away. She hadn't even cared for their explanation. Noa had always wanted siblings, remembering the times she had been at Zadkiel's house seeing him around his siblings back in the day. It wasn't like he had missed out on a lot regarding their parents, they had always been distant and busy with their own life, making less time to realize what had been going on in Noa's life at that time. Noa wondered shortly if things would have been different if Lucas had been in her life, would he had able to keep Logan away? Would Logan ever had the chance of ruining her life? It was a long shot to even consider that, but she still couldn't help but think about it.

He was also right, there was no right way of doing this, and it was a matter of rethinking if she should shake up his life with the information or not. In the end it also came down to give both the choice, the choice that had been taken away from them all these years. Now they at least had the choice regarding if they wanted to stay in each other’s lives or not. The young shapeshifter was somewhat hopeful for there being a chance for them to actually connect, she always wanted a brother - and perhaps she was naive to be optimistic about it. Yet, she was rarely hopeful nor optimistic about stuff - not anymore, yet it seemed like the child in her found a way to the surface.

Her smile faded slightly, while watching him carefully. It was weird for her as well, maybe not the same. And yet, he had asked earlier if he had a sister, so she expected him to just having suppressed it all due the trauma - that part she related towards, even if it was the last thing she wanted to relate to. Man, you were so tiny, she narrowed her eyes for a second before they lighted up by him actually recalling something. Even if she had wanted to pretend not to smile brighter by that she couldn't hide the excitement. "You remember?" She stated almost breathlessly. She didn't even know how old she had been, and she was just sad she didn't remember him. She had been far too young to even recall having a brother, apart from the familiar scent that followed him. See, that was one thing she found comfort in right away and perhaps it was the only thing she had to hold on to - till now at least.

Lucas really wasn’t sure how to go about this. He didn’t know whether or not he wanted to know anything at all really, but at the same time he was bursting with curiosity of what had happened and the childish, desperate need of knowing - of understanding why his parents had left him. He knew he could never forget them, there was no doubt about that, but deep inside he supposed he still needed to know. To have some sort of closure somehow, even if he hadn’t thought he needed it. Most of all he desperately wanted to tell Cecilia and curl up in her arms and feel the soothing comfort of her being there. He felt oddly empty and cold on his own like this. Luke had never talked about his family, he knew. He had always firmly told everyone around him that he didn’t remember his parents, but in reality he had lived with them for 6 years and actually remembered quite a lot. He had just suppressed it all to not deal with it, and now it all came over him like a tsunami.
The way the sun would shine through the kitchen window. His mother humming old Ray Charles songs. The way he would spend his day trying to make the little baby laugh.

“I think so,” he whispered, smiling through the tears that had built up with the memories. Oh man. It gave him goosebumps; a chill running all the way through his body making the hairs on his arms stand up. He moved his eyes away from her, trying to blink away the the tears as he did so. He sucked his bottom lip in before turning back to her, his voice thick with emotions. “Are they here in Aston?” He finally managed to ask. He didn’t know what to expect. She was young enough to still live at home and since she was at the academy, there was a chance that their parents were here too. He somehow hoped not. Really not, actually.

Her own tears hadn't really stopped, but they went to silent down her cheeks that she forgot all about them. Noa wished she could look less excited about him actually recalling something about her, but she also couldn't. How could she, when she had been looking for this long and finally standing face to face with him. Even as he looked away from her, she kept her big blue eyes locked on him. Almost afraid that he would be gone if she looked away. Are they here in Aston? The question made her take a deeper breath in, not because she was afraid to answer that, but also because she knew there could be questions to follow up by her answer. "Not as far as I know. Last time I visited them they were still in Atheria," she replied honest, because she was so sick of lies - Noa felt like he at least deserved her not sugar coating anything, at least to the parts she could handle in the moment. Noa managed to use the use the back of her hand to dry her eyes, hoping it stopped the tears, and it did for now. "I haven't really talked to them for a few years -" she addressed with a small shrug, she liked living with Howard and his family, so it was fine. "We don't have to go into details about them, we can save that for another day."

It felt completely out of this world that this had happened today. The one day she makes the choice to get out of her comfort zone and go on a tour here. It made the shapeshifter feel stupid for not having searched Gaia till now. "So, now to the most asked yet not most asked question," she started and narrowed her eyes a little bit, folding her lips as she tilted her head a little bit. "Animal - What animal are you connected to?" Noa was curious, it was like the one thing all shapeshifters almost always had in common, being curious about another shifter's animal connection.

Luke couldn't help a large breath of relief, pushing out his cheeks as he did so. He dragged a hand across his face to dry off the tears before looking back at Noa. Noa. He didn't even know her last name. Had they kept their names after running off? Or had they changed it in hopes that Lucas wouldn't find them? He had looked for the name when he was younger but nothing had come up. At least they weren't here - not nearby and not at the Academy with her. He nodded, unable to put words on how happy he was that he wouldn't have to face them. Not today and potentially not ever.
"Is it bad that I never want to see them again?" He asked in a whisper. He knew this was probably a conversation he should have with his friends and with Cecilia and that they would be more impartial of the situation, but the girl - his sister - would maybe have another look on it. Maybe she would tell him that she'd grown up looking for him and that they had never forgotten him, but if that wasn't the case, there was nothing he could do to forgive them. Nothing in the slightest.

He looked up as she spoke again, staring at her blankly for a second before his brain registered what she was asking. His entire face softened up and his eyes slowly filled with warmth at the thought. Not just of having a sister but also of her animal. It was as if his own Leopard had recognized her way before he had, and the thought made him smile softly. "A leopard," he replied. Luke chuckled softly to himself and shook his head in disbelief of how crazy this whole situation was. "What's yours?" He asked. They hadn't made it far out into the garden before he decided that he felt awkward standing up talking, and squatted down to sit on the always-green grass. He padded on the ground next to him to signal that she should sit down.
"So where are you staying at the moment?" The idea of her not having a base made him uneasy. It reminded him of himself; of how he had never really had a home until he had met Cecilia. Of how sometimes home wasn't a place at all but it was a person.

Was it bad that he never wanted to see them again? Not from Noa's perspective. A part of her wished she could tell him that things were great, that they had regretted their choice, and perhaps they had a few times over the years. But there was a difference in regretting something and actually doing something about it. They had chosen to avoid whatever confrontation that would be followed any choice they made. "No, trust me they aren't worth it." It sounded a little bit harsh perhaps, but it was the truth. They hadn't been bad parents to her, but they hadn't been good either. Noa had mostly raised herself or used her time with Echo and his family growing up. Of course, that was just before everything had gone bad, but even then, they had barely noticed something was wrong.

Her heart skipped a few beats a head firstly, mostly by the short blankly expression. Her shoulders lowered a bit as his face softened, and she cursed at herself for always being slightly on edge. Noa's face lighted up when he replied her question. Leopard. It was something with shapeshifters and their pride in their animals, most of the time at least, in this case it was. So, when the question was returned to her, her smile grew a little bit brighter. "Siberian tiger," she replied with a chortle. Her eyes followed him as he sat down, padding on the ground for her to sit next to him. Noa walked over next to him and sat down, crossing her legs, and looked at him. Sitting down on the grass felt more grounded, and it was like she was more able to reconnect with what was actually going on. It was insane that she had found him. His question about where she was staying made her take a sharper breath in, mostly because there followed an entire story behind why she stayed at Howard's. "I stay with the Findlay family in Moonlight Falls. My friend, Howard Findlay goes here, I don't know if you know him-" she felt like everyone knew Howard, mostly because Howie just seemed to know everyone - perhaps that was what happened when you were so open and kind to everyone. I like playing ‘Loves me, loves me not’, the voice of Locan paid her a visit again, which made her shake her head a bit, pushing him back into the box where he belonged. "I've stayed there a long time, but I moved there after I found out about you. I even tried to find the address I saw on the back of the photo," she confessed shaking her head a little looking shortly around the garden. "As if you would sit around the table eating cereal or something. Then again, I only had one picture to make up stories with."

Noa turned her eyes back to him. "So, how did you come up with the 'teacher at the academy is the way to go' idea?" She asked curiously, mostly just wanting to know more about him, before she would let her own interests take turn. Noa was just curious about his life, what that had made him take this path, who inspired him and what kind of people he had in his life.

Lucas could only nod at the notion that their parents weren’t worth it. Surprisingly enough he didn’t feel his heart shatter; he however felt a little bit relieved. Perhaps he would have never been able to forgive them regardless of if they had searched for him or not, so maybe it was better to just put that thought back in the box where he had kept it all those years. He hadn’t missed them for a very long time, and frankly didn’t miss them even now, knowing they were alive.
Siberian tiger.
Luke’s eyes lit up. He knew it wasn’t rare for shapeshifter families to connect to similar animals, but had always thought it had something to do with their upbringing or shared time together and nothing to do with actual genetics. It made him chuckle softly and he nodded at her again. “Siberian tiger, huh?” He muttered with a low whistle. Funny to think that her, with her small frame, would grow much bigger than him in their animal shapes. “How did you meet?” He asked. It wasn’t unusual to hear of quite extraordinary stories, especially with exotic animals like big cats that didn’t exactly roam around Gaia or Mystic Falls.

Luke couldn’t recall actually having Howard Findlay in any of his classes; if he wasn’t mistaken the guy mainly had artistic classes, but he was a hard guy to miss. Always smiling, always chatty and always very sincere. He smiled genuinely at her. “You found a good one, Noa,” he told her. He could only imagine Howard’s family being absolutely lovely if they had produced such a happy child.
His smile widened at the thought of her looking for him. “You’ve met Mrs. Whitstable then, I assume?”
The old lady that had bought the house had most definitely not heard of what had happened there; and the few times Lucas had visited he had always posed as someone else. A carer. A postal worker. Always to have a chat with her over a cuppa and a biscuit. Firstly he’d been bitter that anyone would move there, but slowly he’d come to see how beautifully she’d keep the garden and how kind she were to her two cocker spaniels. Now he was very proud that his childhood home had seen beauty like that; after all the horrors it had seen before.
Lucas huffed out a small laugh. It was a long story, he thought, but would attempt to keep it short. He stretched his legs and pushed himself backwards to lie on the green grass, moving his gaze to the sky above them. “I broke up with my girlfriend and went down a bit of a rabbit hole,” he admitted. “Ended up in Southside with nothing but was somehow lucky enough to meet a few people who took good care of me. More of a family than anything I ever had. We would help a lot of lost kids on the streets and my best friend told me about an opening at the academy. I thought why the hell not.” He gestured to the academy behind them and looked up on it sentimentally. “I think it saved me more than anything,” he added with a soft smile, moving his gaze back to her.

It had taken Noa longer than the usual shapeshifters to actually gain her shape, and she partly placed the blame on one of her so-called abilities. Not that she knew many shapeshifters, she had known Echo and their friend Vanya. She frowned a bit to the question on how they met, blinked a bit trying to think back. It was a long time she even had attempted to go back in her head, there was a lot of mess to avoid on that path. "I was a bit late to the party," she chuckled a bit one of the only good things Logan had managed to bring into her life. The story itself wasn't colorful, and she didn't want to bring down the mood. "I reckon that I was about thirteen when we met, it not really the most thrilling story really. There was this guy around Atheria trying to sell exotic animals, and he sold the tiger to, uhm," she took a deeper breath in and frowned a bit, "a guy I used to work for." It was a light way of putting it all, and it wasn't like she didn't want to, but now just wasn't the time to drag out all the scars - and not the place either. She looked down at the grass shortly and breathed out. "I guess we both had been waiting for each other and needed each other.. But worth the wait," she added looking back at her brother with a warmer smile. Noa was still angry by the fact that someone would go around selling exotic animals like that, in small cages and leaving them without any chance of freedom - for what, so people could try taming them? "How about you?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm glad he found me," she confessed with a smaller chuckle. In the end of the day, she didn't even know here she would have been if it hadn't for Howie's family taking her in. Noa knew she was lucky right there. The mention of Mrs. Whitstable made her giggle a little by the memory that shortly flashed for her eyes, "yeah. She is the sweetest. Her biscuits are truly the best," she replied. It was a while since she had swung by, but sometimes she saw her in the park. Noa was just glad that someone lived there and was taking care of the place, unlike the nightmare scenario she had feared like a bunch of homeless kids ruining it.
Noa chuckled a bit as he stretched his legs and let his back meet the grass, she thought for two seconds about it before simply just mirroring him. Noa took a deeper breath in and looked up at the sky while listening. She could relate to go down the rabbit hole, it was always easy to get there but so bloody problematic getting out again. Noa had heard stories about Southside, she reckoned Logan even had people he worked along with there - funny enough to the fact he was now locked up in Eichen house.More of a family than anything I ever had, she took a slightly deeper breath in, truly glad that he had found someone in his life that he valued as family, no one deserved wandering around alone. "At least you escaped the rabbit hole, I feel like it’s always way easier falling in than getting out again," she took a deeper breath in, before turning her head to the side and met his eyes again. "But I'm also glad to know that you aren't alone," she admitted with a tender smile. "And that you ended up here - because otherwise I wouldn't have found you here. So, that is another thing I'm grateful for today," she took a slightly deeper breath in, the young shapeshifter always tracked the things she was grateful for.

Noa was also glad he had found something he found something he seemed to be happy about, she was still waiting to find out what she was going to do with her life. One thing was sure, she wasn't going to work at that café her entire life, but right now it was a nice comfortable place. "I work fulltime at Rosa’s Sugar & Spice in Moonlight Falls," she then shared, feeling like sharing something. "Have been the last few years, and it's nice. The people there are really sweet."