( nuno gallego, homosexual, cis male + he/him, class (fighter ) «—◦—→ well met, LORENZO LIOR AGUILAR! the divine born child of IRIS. your name sings in our ears! it’s been 27 years and now they have answered the song in their veins. before they answered the song, they were a PERFORMER and were living in harlan, kentucky. history and myth will remember them for their SPONTANEOUS, WITTY, KIND but will also magnify their DISORDERLY, TURBULENT, SNIPPY if it causes them to falter. now it is time for the world to sing their name with them. | juicy, 25+, any, est + na/. i'm okay thanks.
tw: slight gore, death
You were always the most curious and spirited of the kids in the family, Lorenzo. There wouldn’t be a day when your laughter didn’t bounce across the walls of your home, or even your muddy footprints scattered across the floor, much to your father’s chagrin. I remember how you used to play in the woods behind your home, you’d always be speaking to those so-called friends of yours, the ones only you could see. A child’s innocence, and their imagination is a beautiful thing to witness. At least that’s what I believed back then. For years you’d spend countless hours outside just playing, your siblings would join you from time to time and you’d always introduce them to your friends, sometimes their names would change, or even the way you described how they looked, but every night you’d just be back inside enjoying your time with your family, your eldest brother at your side tucking you in every night as your parents tucked in the rest of the little ones. No one could ever deny the amount of love you had for your family, but you had always been closest to your brother, an inseparable duo. Your first were towards him, you always crossed streets holding his hand, and maybe it was due to sheer admiration, or maybe it was because you shared a special bond. After all it was your brother who named you. Your father had sat him down, and asked if he would like to name you, and I remember him spending days racking his brain looking for the perfect name, something that felt unique and special, and once he had it, he kept it a secret until the day you came into their lives. Lorenzo Lior, he had said, and when asked about why Lior for a middle name, he simply said, it means my light. There was no doubt you were a perfect addition to that large family. Your siblings had always asked about their mother, and your father had always replied that you all shared the same mother, but she was busy being away with work. None of you questioned it much as you were far too young, none except your eldest brother. He always seemed very interested in getting to know the woman who birthed so many children and yet life always seemed to whisk her away far too frequently, there were no pictures, no memories attached to this so called mother, just vague descriptions from your father, and he always said your mother was never one for photos, just said she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, as brilliant and fleeting as a rainbow. Whenever your father called your mother a rainbow, you always seemed to glued to that word, you Lorenzo who were always covered in color, you’d get into all the paint and make a mess around the house, and even your first hand print on a wall in multicolored paint now sits behind a frame on that very wall. That father of yours gave each of you so much freedom, some of the kids loved sports, others were more artistically inclined, but you were just so curious about everything, you took everything in, and it always seemed that you just lived in your own joyous little bubble.
But it seemed that after you arrived your mother had cut contact with your father entirely. The man seemed so sullen for months, wiping away his tears in the shadows, but you never saw this little Lorenzo, but your eldest brother did. He could hear your father whimpering at night, and this was the moment nobody ever spoke of the woman known as your mother ever again in the house. Your father was a kind man, gentle in every way possible, and even in his sadness he tried his best to make all his children smile. It had been a while but with enough encouragement from his kids, your father took to dating again, and it was during this time that he met a woman. Their love was quick and took to all of you like a moth to a flame. There was so much love in her heart for each one of you, and maybe that’s because she couldn’t have kids of her own. She was a teacher, and almost in the blink of an eye the rest of the kids started calling her mom. Life was good once more wasn’t it, Lorenzo? You were still so young when it happened, when that sweet life of yours took an unexpected turn, and you were at such a tender age, I remember the scream, the fear, the way it all went down, but do you? Do you remember what caused it? How your life changed for the worse on your birthday.
Those imaginary friends of yours that you spoke to for years were still there, still in the woods behind your house, but your talks had become most constant over the years, and new ones had popped up, new creatures that looked slightly different from your usual friends. No one thought much of it, just usual Lorenzo with his wild and vivid imagination. Nobody knew it at the time, but their voices grew darker didn’t they, the way they spoke to you was more demanding, asking you to do things, to let them in, and at the time you were but a child, you thought nothing of it. Your birthday was the turning point, wasn’t it? The entire house felt so alive that day, everybody running around with so much energy. Your brother had been taking care of you that entire day, making you your favorite breakfast, watching your favorite cartoon, and the rest of your siblings and parents were milling about rushing here and there as if they were running on a deadline. It didn’t seem like you thought much of it, Lorenzo, you just laughed as if they seemed to be going haywire. The hours of that day went by so fast, you did so many things with your siblings and parents whenever you took the chance to catch their attention. You played, you danced, you indulged in maybe too much candy that would’ve many any other person entirely sick. It was an amazing day, one that should’ve marked your life in nothing but positive ways, little Lorenzo. Yet when the fog of night seeped in and the moon crept up in the sky everything began to shift. Hours before the big celebration you played outside for a bit, needing a bit of time away from the cacophony brewing inside your home, and you saw them again, your friends, and they asked if they could celebrate with you, and you said when the cake comes out, they should come in.
Candles were blown out and happy birthday was sung, your entire family had surrounded you with hugs and kisses, and they even honored your wishes when the cake was being cut, cutting extra pieces for your imaginary friends. But before anybody could take the first bites the doors of your home were blown wide open, shards of glass and wood flying in every direction, and nobody had enough time to react as with the explosion as a figure almost barreled into the now open entry way. Screams erupted and your world went dark; your brother quickly took your hand running to the back of the room to shield you from the massacre that was about to begin. Your sisters were the first to go, the monster’s grotesque form stumbled in almost clumsily as if it was trying to get used to its large frame. Tendrils whipped around as they grabbed your sisters, and you would never forget the sounds of bones crunching, the tearing of flesh, or just how much red now covered the walls and screams became more panicked, gasps for help were garbled as their words stifled from all the blood pooling in the throats. Bit by bit the screams began to grow quieter, frantic steps suddenly ceased. It all seemed to stop, but that was far from the truth. Heavy steps slowly lurched towards you and your brother, and you could feel his heart beating entirely too fast, his eyes wide with fear as he clutched onto you. Little Lorenzo to this day I still don’t know what came over you, when you broke free from your brother’s grasp and grabbed that foam sword, pointing it at the beast as you shielded your brother with your body, the little cape you wore still wrapped tight around you. There were tears in your eyes, and fear in your body, but even while so small you did not back down. I didn’t see you falter then, not even as your eyes scanned the room, the horrors of what happened fully revealed to you. Your voice didn’t shake as you yelled at the monster to leave, only for it to reply with something that sounded like a mix between laughter and a growl. Its bloody claw slowly rose up, and before it could ever swipe down the beast made a pained sound. Men swarmed through the doors as they surrounded the beast, carving into it and forcing it to flee as they followed suit, the creatures howl of pain stopped soon after.
The young men came forward ensuring you and your brother’s safety and said the police would be coming soon. Your brother began to answer as every word they said became a mumbled mess, a sharp ringing in your ear blurred your vision as your breathing became ragged and erratic. Lorenzo, I remember seeing you stumbled over to your family, almost unrecognizable, you cried for your father, cried out each of your siblings’ names, but your brother scooped you up on his arms, and cradled you. He swallowed his own tears and pain to comfort you. When the police finally arrived, they found you curled up in your brother’s arms, silently weeping as he sat in a corner with you, his eyes focused on the spot where the men who saved you all left. It was ruled as an unfortunate animal attack, one with miraculous survivors. Local news outlets deemed it a tragedy, but nobody ever listened to the little boy who claimed it was a monster who broke into their home. How could they, monsters don’t exist.
The next thing that happened was a shock to no one, both of you were thrust into that broken foster system, and even when they tried to split you apart, they could not. At some point it seemed every figure of authority just knew they could never separate the remainders of the Aguilar family. Your brother took it upon himself to raise you, didn’t he? Even though he was just a child himself, he didn’t hesitate. A boy in his teens was raising a child, and nobody batted an eye because by the time they could even catch a glimpse of what was going on, you guys were already too far in the system. The foster homes were nice enough, your brother looked after you, looking for jobs to give himself some financial stability because he knew the second he turned eighteen he would have aged out of the system. He was smart, as that was exactly what happened, but during all this time he never let your imagination diminish, he spent countless hours with you, Lorenzo, telling you it wasn’t your fault, and that birthday or not sometimes bad things happen. What a burden that must’ve been in that young boy’s mind, to assuage the worries of a child whilst dealing with his own grief and growing up all too quickly. Innocence gone. A small apartment for two, your new home, and life with your brother became a blur of happiness once more. Sure, there were days I remember you being sad, but both of you truly had each other, you cried, you laughed, you celebrated each other’s smallest and largest victories, there was so much positivity in such a tiny space, one would imagine rainbows would appear whenever your doors opened. Even after all your plights, you never lost your smile Lorenzo, you were still that energetic boy throughout the years, sometimes even getting in trouble on purpose as an excuse to see your brother.
But you never saw his obsession, did you? How he wanted to find more about the monster that attacked your family, and the men that inevitable killed it, saving the both of you. In what little spare time he had he trained himself, taught himself how to shoot a gun, how to hold a knife, and how to fight, none of this you saw because you were at school, having as normal of a childhood as you possibly could. Then came the day you turned eighteen, now an adult yourself, and he took you out to dinner and the two of you spent the entire night watching scary movies before he ultimately fell asleep before you. Not long after that you graduated, and you’ll always remember how he said he was so proud of you, and he couldn’t wait to see the man you became. And then, nothing. What was it, a week, maybe month before he disappeared from Harlan, Kentucky? Nothing was left of him, not a single trace, except a letter that told you he was sorry, and that he couldn’t come back, and an exorbitant amount of money left to you. You never cared about money, Lorenzo. All you wanted was not to be alone. You called, you texted, nothing, you drove around town, but no one had seen him, as if he had vanished without a trace. Your only clue was a symbol on the letter addressed to you, something you couldn’t recognize. Lorenzo, I recall the desperation in your voice as you hired private investigators using the very money your brother left to find any clues about him, where he went, why he left, and if he was even alive? Days turned to weeks, months, and then years. You exhausted every option, worked every odd job you could do within Harlan, you never lost your smile, no matter how broken you truly felt. Now the chaos you sewed was seen as sad, because everyone knew you got in trouble in hopes your brother would come rescue you, but he never did. Not anymore.
After all these years you thought you might give up hope, to accept the fact that you might never see your brother again. Then something happened, something that brought you back to all those years ago to when you were nothing more than a child playing in his backyard. A man approached you, man? Goat? Both? He was a paradox for your eyes, but your whimsy and curiosity had you firing rapid fire questions in his direction, and after he hastily explained to you what you were, you took no time in collecting your things, leaving Harlan for good, leaving every remnant of your family behind. You placed blue flowers on their graves, saying your last tear-filled goodbye to them. Then you were mounting a winged horse, and you were whisked away from Kentucky. Maybe this new beginning would lead you to your brother, maybe there were clues here, something, anything that could lead you back to him.
