closed 🪶⚡ i'll be the light to lead you home

[garudas]

Who: Cidolfus Telamon & Benedikta Harman.
Status: Closed.
Where: The Roost, The Farplane.
What: Cid and Benedikta move to a new house in the Roost. Event stuff later.
Warnings: The usual. :)

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[garudas]

[She gives a small shake of her head as she folds it up and begins to tie it to a branch.]

They were doing their job. Following their orders.

[As was she.

She kept the closest ones near her anyway. Those are the names that she's written down. The ones who did not run when things had gone south, and who had stuck by her even when she fell.]

And what of yours?

[ramuhs]

[A light smile as he takes a slip of paper.]

Might need more than one.

[garudas]

[Her eyes soften, and there's a rustling before she steps close to him and offers a few more papers.]

What names will you be writing?

[ramuhs]

First... The ones who fell in the Hideaway.

[Although he wears a light smile, his eyes are somber as he remembers the names Clive had told him before.]

Then it will be the men and women who directly served under me.

[garudas]

[The first gives her pause because she does not know those ones, but she does know that they meant much to him...

But the second makes her freeze up for a moment, old memories rushing back. She closes her eyes.]

... I remember them well still.

[ramuhs]

[He glances at her from where he's started writing the lost Hideaway members.]

Should we write theirs together? They might actually appreciate knowing we're back together.

[garudas]

[That glance has her cheeks flushing as she takes a step closer.]

... Do you think they would know?

[ramuhs]

[A small shrug.]

Who knows? But as we've seen, the universe works in mysterious ways...and no harm in appeasing our own selfish wants.

[Since wishes are also inherently selfish even when made for others.]

[garudas]

I suppose you're right. Apparently our wishes are not quite as private as we thought.

[A small snort of laughter before she's readying the paper for the both of them, spreading it across the tree so that they have a surface to write on. There is a moment where she pauses, remembering the things that they had talked about. How she could not be there to help, and what had happened to them all in the end.]

They were my first friends, I think... Besides you.

[ramuhs]

[He glances at her at that, and there's a warm if somewhat somber look in his gaze.]

They were quite taken with you from the start and always considered you as one of our own.

[garudas]

[She smiles and writes the first name on the list, Owen, before she awaits him to write the next.]

They were good people. ... I should have aspired to be more like them.

[ramuhs]

[She took his first pick— But he just smiles before he adds "Anni"'s name right beneath as it was only fitting for the two to be together.]

Never too late now. I think you still have some of them in you.

[garudas]

[She took it because she remembers what Cid had told her not so long ago in the cabin of that ship. After they had both donned Commander costumes and played the part. That guilt surrounding the demise of his people had followed her all the way to today, and perhaps this is the selfish part of this wish—trying to make it easier to shoulder that guilt now.

Her lips tug at Anni's name beneath Owen's.]

Do you think? [She motions to the paper.] I very much looked up to her. I wished to be like Anni when was just a girl.

[ramuhs]

Did you? I suppose you did look up to her quite a bit back then.

[garudas]

Not that she was much older than me, but at the time... everything felt so very big and daunting.

[ramuhs]

Anni was always the more mature one of the group after Owen, though sometimes she was even better than him.

[A wry grin as those fond memories slowly come through.]

Always used to having to look after and mend everyone, it's no surprise, really. She and Karina really treated you like a little sister of sorts.

[garudas]

[She would have been honoured to be their sister.]

I never grew up with girls, so I think that is partly why I took them so quickly. Maybe a part of me had always wanted to be around them.

[She thinks back, trying to remember if she'd had any other female influence in her life, but... those are the only two that come to mind in a world filled with and ruled by men.]

I do find myself missing them... from time to time.

[Her shoulder bumps against his, a soft and silent seeking of comfort.]

[ramuhs]

[Feeling her shoulder bumping against his, he quietly smiles as he brings his arm around her shoulders, hugging her to him.]

Aye, me, too. But at least we can keep them in our memories.

[And...admittedly, it's been a very long time since he's ever spoken about them. After all, who could he talk to? Otto, perhaps. Mid was still too young to really remember them well. So he really this may be the first time since the night he revealed that grief to her.

With that in mind, he gives her shoulder a squeeze.]

C'mon, let's talk about the others before their spirits somehow make their way here in a fit of jealousy.

[garudas]

[That draws a much-needed laugh out of her, pulling Benedikta out of her thoughts and the old memories. She wondered if they would be lost and weathered by time, but she recalls the day that she met them just as clearly now, as if it were yesterday. Could it be this place helping her remember easier? Or had she cherished them more than she thought...?

Either way, the two of them continue to write, with Rolf and Tore at the end, both with equally fond memories. She'd learned a lot from them, too, especially in the later years. Were it not for them, she might not be as good a scout or a spy as she had been.

Together, they tie the paper to the tree, and Benedikta closes her eyes to the breeze that rustles the leaves and branches. Maybe, somewhere in the universe, they had heard their well wishes.

And just when it looks like they may be finished...]

There is... one more, Cidolfus.

[... She has one piece of paper left, and she holds it with a weight in her shoulders, her voice tense.]

[ramuhs]

[It's actually freeing being able to talk about them like this, and he also wonders if this realm is making it easier. That want to let go of more burdensome thoughts and instead revel in the better memories. To become more at peace of this part of his past. It coming on the heels of Ultima somewhat helps as well. Perhaps this may help relieve him of that guilt, to better help him move forward again. And even if their spirits are not here he can already imagine, practically feel them pushing him. The fallen of the Hideaway, too, their names together so that there are slips of paper tied in a row.]

One more?

[A slight arch of the brow, wondering what else or who else she could wish for.]

[garudas]

[There's a long pause as she stares down at the blank piece of paper that she holds between them, the corners crinkling again under that nervous fidgeting that she's doing, rolling the edges between her fingers.]

I... it's silly...

[And now she suddenly feels self-conscious about it. Embarrassed. Unsure. She keeps her eyes cast down, unable to look at him to see the look on his face as she admits.]

I... want to write a wish for... us...

[ramuhs]

[His eyes widen slightly before he smiles, once again finding her all too adorable. His hand will reach out to gently rest over hers as he steps in closer.]

It seems we think too similarly these days. I wanted to write one for us, too.

[garudas]

[It's her turn to look at him with surprise, her eyes round when she tears them away from the paper.]

... Really?

[She huffs with a soft laugh and hands the paper to him.]

Perhaps it's not so silly after all...

[ramuhs]

[He quietly laughs at that as he takes the paper, smoothing out those wrinkles.]

What, I'd think it more surprising if I didn't take the opportunity to make a wish for ourselves.

[garudas]

[Well, he can certainly consider her surprised about it, but it doesn't take long for it to fade into a grateful, and somewhat somber, smile. Somber because of the nature of things... those things that hang between them that neither of them have said quite yet.]

Do you suppose it will come true right away?