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[Keeping busy meant he didn't need to continue thinking about it. But, experiencing all that he did when returning home along with coming back to Ellipsa and be reminded of how death was but a facsimile here... it was eventually got too much.

He tried to hide it from E'kayan. After all, just before Erenville had set off after resigning as a gleaner, he had been well. He was glad to continue his mother's legacy. He thought he had been able to move on, move forward, he thought he had properly mourned and Wuk Lamat and Koana had helped him as they understood better than anyone what losing a parent was like.

But...it was perhaps still too soon, the pain still too near and Ellipsa reminded Erenville of it all too much. He withdrew. He focused on his work, which felt all too similar to gleaning and wasn't that what he decided he wasn't going to do?

Eventually, that grew to be too much. Erenville made the trip from Amberfall to Blossomcrown, using the travel time to simply be and reflect. He had a destination in mind and it reminded him all too well of his mother, the source of his heavy heart.

Cahciua's fussy bunbun sat amongst the colorful flora that resembled the closest to those found in the Unlost World's gardens. He wasn't sure why he chose these in particular, perhaps because it was his last memory of her. But, he parked himself down betwixt the flowers (mindful just where he sat, of course) and wrapped his arms around his knees. He pressed his forehead against them and silently wept.]

Edited Date: 2024-07-01 07:53 pm (UTC)

From:

orangebrained

[Erenville is not the only one with a few things to sort out in his head but what he had experienced in Tural had undoubtedly made E'kayan stronger in himself, more sure of his place in the world and amongst his friends, and although they were yet again facing another terrible threat... as things stood, he couldn't be happier.

But that, of course, did not mean he was ignorant to the feelings of others. The loss that Wuk Lamat and Koana had felt for their father and brother. The gentle, emotional words spoken to him by G'raha Tia on the gondola. Krile finally meeting her parents, only to have them immediately taken away. They would all come to terms with their experiences in their own ways, but there was one person that E'kayan found himself concerned about.

None other than his quiet, taciturn partner.

They didn't really talk about it. He asked Erenville if he was all right. He gently, teasingly called him by his given name. The Viera seemed to be fine. He seemed to be... but as the days wore on, E'kayan could see that something was weighing on him.

Finding him in the botanical gardens is an easy guess. Even if Erenville did not realise it, E'kayan could see the resemblance to where they last saw Cahciua and tracking the man down to that place comes as no surprise.

He heads there and looks around, easily finding the dark-skinned, dark-haired Viera in the flowers. The Miqo'te feels his heart clench, a deep ache for someone who is both a friend and someone he has come to care about as so much more than that, and he picks his way across to where Erenville is to sit down beside him silently. He doesn't put an arm around him, but he gently leans and bumps their shoulders together.

They don't need to talk yet. They can just be.]

From:

gleaner

[Erenville stiffened slightly when he felt the presence beside him, but E'kayan's scent was easy enough to identify and he relaxed. He didn't lift his head, a bit ashamed at having been seen like this already. But the Miqo'te did not speak, he simply sat. So, Erenville remained as he was for a time.

Eventually, he shifted and he leaned his weight slightly against E'kayan as well. He lifted his head just enough to turn away and swipe his sleeve across his eyes and nose. He was a mess, but he doubted E'kayan would tease. He sniffled and eventually dug around his jacket pocket for a handkerchief, pulling it out, he murmured.]

Trust an adventurer to find me so easily.

[His accent was noticeably similar to his mother's right now, not quite in the right mindset to keep up the inflection. Not that it mattered. Erenville had only kept it up prior because he had grown used to the accent that the Eorzean Viera spoke over the years. But now was not the time to blend in... but to allow himself to be himself, for a change.

He sighed softly and laid his cheek on his arm, still not looking in E'kayan's direction just yet.]

From:

orangebrained

You're not too hard to track down, Elene'shpya.

[That is the length of any teasing as he gently nudges himself against the Viera and then sighs, lifting his head up to look around the spot the other man had chosen to sit. Flowers everywhere. E'kayan knows so many of them by name now, but his thoughts are hardly in that frame as he remains all too aware of the distress of the person beside him.

Now he's been acknowledged, though, he does shift to put his arm around Erenville and idly scratches against the back of his shoulder, just sitting with him for a few minutes more before he speaks at all.]

... She would have liked it here.

[It's not that Erenville makes himself easy to read (though he does, in all honesty) and more that... E'kayan has just grown used to him.]

From:

gleaner

[There's a scoff there, soft and not at all mean-spirited at the use of his true name. When he told Gulool Ja Ja that he had grown used to his new name, he had meant it. But, even after seeing his mother (in that robotic form), he never could tell her to call him Erenville. Everyone else, yes, but not her.

Never her. And, he supposed, not E'kayan, either. Although thus far, the man had refrained from saying it out loud in public (this secluded area of the Botanical Gardens notwithstanding).]

..yes, she would have. Flowers were always her favorite.

[Going to the place that reminded him the most of her seemed a bit counterintuitive to his hurting heart, but the floral scents brought him a calmness of mind that he had not felt since... well, likely since the dome appeared. Even after all had been said and done, Erenville still had not the chance to truly... be. To feel and accept. The Gardens were the right choice, even if it embarrassed him a little.]

From:

orangebrained

[Erenville had asked him to keep using his chosen name and for the course of their adventure he had, absent those additional feelings that being here together had grown between them. Here, it rolls easier off the tongue, as if he's earned the closeness needed to use it.]

Mm...

[She had seemed so happy in that garden. He still remembers how she smiled, laughed, how even in the face of Erenville's grousing she had remained bright. It must have been so hard for her, he thinks, to keep on like that...

Gently, he tugs Erenville a little closer to him and plants a soft kiss against the side of his head.]

Is it okay if I stay here with you?

From:

gleaner

Of course.

[The answer was immediate, if soft spoken. While Erenville may have been keeping distant these past few days, he wasn't necessarily trying to push Kayan away. it just came natural, at times. Old habits still seemingly died hard, after all.

But not this day. Once E'kayan sat next to him, there was no other place he wanted the man than right next to him.

He let out a shaking breath after a few more moments of silence.]

It's... different now. Knowing she will not be there when I return home.

[Was Yyasulani even home anymore now? None of the residents remembered Cahciua. Only he and the Scions who ventured into the dome with him, and those in Oblivion.]

Edited Date: 2024-07-01 09:41 pm (UTC)

From:

orangebrained

[He nods again, quiet, understanding well enough when the right time was to just... not say anything. As much as he didn't want to let Erenville sit in his grief he knows the man has his own way of working through things and E'kayan has no experience of seeing him suffer this kind of loss. The best he can do is just... be here with him, so he resolves to just do that.]

I... I don't remember my parents. [E'kayan says after some time goes by. He looks down at his free hand, curled loosely against his lap, his tone slightly hesitant as if he's not sure what he's saying can help.] I suppose I should, I wasn't that little when they left me in Limsa, but... [A sigh.] I don't. Not a single thing.

[He never really marked the absence before, but now, after all they've seen and heard, it feels... strange. Like there's a hollow space.]

I'll remember her with you, okay? Your mother. I promise, I'll never forget.