closed ⚡🪶 and forevermore, i'll be chasing the storm we had.

[garudas]

Who: Benedikta Harman & Cidolfus Telamon.
Status: Closed.
Where: Cid's workshop, Avaleci.
What: Cid is sad about his daughter being gone and Benedikta is horrible at being comforting. Also adventures later!
Warnings: it's cid and benna 🙂 also ffxvi spoilers, if you can find them.

ice skating, hot springs ♨️
volcano, egis 🔥
the price of freedom 🧵

Comments

[garudas]

[She hums, the sound low and pleased from the back of her throat as she takes up that cup of coffee and sips it, hiding the grin on her lips. But she doesn't miss the way that his eyes darken in that way that is unique to her...

He could weather her storm any day.]

I don't suppose you've... considered my offer about dessert?

[ramuhs]

Considered? It's all I've been thinking about.

[He stretches out two of his fingers to teasingly tickle the palm of her hand with a flash of his levin, smiling against her knuckles before he sits back.]

So unless there's anything else on your mind...

[garudas]

[Her breath catches sharp in her throat, the lightning tingling every nerve in her hand and up her arm. If she wasn't awake before, she certainly is now.

But the look on her face is telling enough—there is plenty on her mind at the moment, and there is no getting away from that. How to go about finding the man, how to find the seamstress, and how to protect anyone else who might be in the same position. How to protect the people she has grown to actually care about.

What a pesky thing.]

Even if there was...

[Her thumb traces a small circle over the back of his palm in return.]

I don't want to think about it anymore.

[ramuhs]

In that case.

[He pushes back against his chair, hand still holding hers as he comes around as if to escort her from the table.]

Shall we have that dessert then?

[garudas]

Hm?

[She gets to her feet, her eyes raking over him as she stands, but rather than follow him, she leans against the table.]

You don't want to have it here?

[ramuhs]

Thought about it...however.

[A glance at the cat.

The cat that's watching them from her little perch on her customized cat tree.]

[garudas]

[And her eyes follow, the moment temporarily ruined when she glares back at the cat before she sighs and presses her body to his.]

Fine. But next time, I expect a proper meal.

[ramuhs]

[A quiet laugh as his arm slips around her waist, pulling her closer to him.]

It'll be a more private one, I promise.

[And going to tug her back to his room.]

[garudas]

[She's about to try and steal a kiss anyway, privacy be damned, but his lips slip just out of her reach before she can move in for one. She follows him anyway, the lowest of growls coming from her as her only protest, but she falls silent as she allows herself to be tugged along.

Silent, as her eyes follow the broad line of his shoulders. Shoulders that continue to carry the burdens of so many, including her own. Even in spite of everything, he keeps supporting her and trying to guide her to whatever path he thinks might be better for her... and for the first time in a long time, she doesn't feel like she needs to pull her hand away to protect herself. Instead, she willingly takes his and allows him to pull her along just as easily as he does to his bedroom.

But it isn't just that. It's these new ones that have sprung up since last night... these new discoveries that make her heart twist itself into a knot even still. The difference now is that she thinks she might be strong enough to bear that one with him. They are theirs, after all. Their past, their lives, their secrets... Terrible as it might have been, they are the scars that they must and will bear together.

Yes, it will be painful. Yes, they will hurt. Yes, they will likely have to endure many more nights just like this one... but that is just their way now, isn't it?

The difference is that rather than be stuck in the past... they can see a way forward. Benedikta can see a new road paved out for her. A small light at the end of the tunnel—a sight she is not used to seeing. A light that is his, guiding her true through the darkness and the fog. He is right here in front of her, she just needs to stop being afraid of taking that step forward to reach him.

He tells her not to lean on him too much, but it's hard not to. Not when he makes her feel this way. Not when he holds her hand so tight. Not when her head fits so perfectly upon his shoulder, or his arms around her body.

Not when he is the one who steers her towards a newer path. One that might not be filled with turmoil and hatred, fury and betrayal. One where she makes her own choices. And when she becomes too scared to move forward, there is a place for her to rest her wings until she is ready.

And she knows for certain now that this place is right here. She may not be able to tell him, but she can certainly show him with her actions... and as she closes the door behind them, she intends to do just that.]

fin 🎀

[ramuhs]

[The moment they step into his room and even before the door fully closes, he pulls her to him and crushes her lips with his own, his hand pressing up against her cheek as he cradles her head in place, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Despite the "calmer," relaxed demeanor from before, there's a roughness in his actions, almost fervent desperation as he wastes no time in continuing where they left off. Wastes no time in once again showing that he wants her as much as she wants him.

The dam that had been broken last night still has plenty spilling over, and it would take more than a week, a month, hell it may take years before it finally calms. Too much and too long, that's how it feels right now. Too much and too long have they wasted those precious years, years they will never be able to get back in their world. And while Benedikta may still be not so convinced, Cid has no choice but to be. And he will continue to pull her down that path, drag her if he must.

Because he has her now.

He finally has her now, and he knows this may be his only chance to right all their wrongs. Some may wonder and question why he's so hung up on this woman. She's done terrible things, made unforgivable choices, hurt him in ways that anyone else would have cut off that scar and moved on rather than live with it like he had. And if anyone were to ask—he wouldn't be able to really answer. Not rationally, anyway. Even he knows how crazy he must look, thought of it often himself.

Yet he can't help it. How could he? Brief as it may have been, what they had before it all fell apart, was genuine. What she gave him in those years was something no one else has managed to do. Left such a huge mark on him he could never let it go no matter how deep her claws sunk into him, trying to tear it out. And perhaps, despite knowing how much they both changed, he's still trying to reach for that sliver of that past. That feeling they once shared together. A sense of being whole again.

And as they drag each other to his bed, clothes trailing behind them in their stumbling and staggering before falling on top of each other, they're at least able to make themselves feel whole thismust count. And later, after they've once again lay spent and he watches her sleep within his arms, her face much more peaceful and satisfied than it has been before, he once again makes that vow that he'll be sure to make it so.]