Divine Waters.

     ❛ BRING me some hot chocolate and make it snappy. I’d rather not freeze to death the moment I get out of this blanket. ❜  

The softest of sighs escapes from Mikleo, as if he wishes for the other not to hear it. No need, after all, for Edna to know when she managed to get under her skin. She truly did seem to enjoy getting a reaction out of him. 

@divinaaquis

A familiar grinning face with glowing amber eyes peered out at the seraph from the darkness.

“Why, if it isn’t the water brat. Long time, eh~?” His mouth showed all his teeth. “Let’s play again.”

A gasp, and a visible tensing that follows. The water seraph attempts to mask any fear that is felt, tightening his hold on his staff as he readies himself for whenever the hellion would lunge at him. No, he has to tell himself, I’m not afraid.  It’s always a pain to find himself in these situations by his lonesome, he knows that he has weaknesses, but he --

“That’s right. What about it?”  Mikleo takes a small step back when the kitsune shows his sharp teeth.

“I could take you... easily. That’s what you want?”

Bother your local Mikleo!

@divinaaquis

“Man, I’m beat! I think my bruises have bruises —”

“It’s because you’re always hurrying ahead. 

You should take your time so you don’t end up stumbling so much.

Sometimes there’s guilt. Sorey knows he is lucky to still hold onto so much of himself, but there is an emptiness in him for what he is lacking. Those little bits — even the smallest thing can mean the world. When Mikleo laughs over an old memory and Sorey just stares past him struggling to pull it from the human he had once been only to come up frustratingly short.

Mikleo never faults him, but he’s certain it has to hurt just as much, if not more. At least he’s here. They can make new memories, now, and still cherish the old. What remains of them, at least.

“Say, do you prefer sunrise or sunset?”

And that, he knows. It’s no secret. They were always able to read eachother, and for Mikleo, that fact hadn’t changed. He would hold onto their memories for the both of them. That was what mattered, wasn’t it? For these precious moments to be remembered and cherished. He had held onto them for so long when Sorey was having his beauty sleep, so it couldn’t hurt to hold onto them a while longer. Nothing was said with the intention of hurting -- no, not ever. This was his best friend that they were talking about, his one and only, whether or not he had changed, that truth was an everlasting one. He only ever said anything because it felt right. There was no pressure on Sorey. He could remember when the memories decided to come.

A question is raised, and for a moment, Mikleo’s fingers freeze. They stop their threading, and the water seraph hums in thought. Which was his favorite, sunrise or sunset? Lavender eyes gaze at the sky, searching for his answer. There were elements of both that could be appreciated, especially when knowing someone like Sorey, who noticed the good and beauty in everything. There was a time that he would say sunset, because of the bright colors that touched the sky before it went dark -- because it was that time when the world would grow quiet, when there was such a calm. But, it was harder now. Sorey’s romanticism had brought Mikleo to see more in the sunrise as well.

“Sunrise. Mostly because of something some romantic once told me.”

@divinaaquis from here

“Haven’t you always been my pillow?” Sorey punctuates it with gentle laughter, but there is a lift at the end of his tone. A splash of doubt. Like he’s grasping for a memory that won’t quite form. A feeling in his gut more than a thought in his mind.

He turns his face into the leg he’s restng upon, taking in a slow and deliberate breath. “I guess so.” Technically speaking Seraphim didn’t need to sleep, but that didn’t mean weariness could not settle in their beings. They were still living creatures as anything else, simply composed of different things. Of humming magic that felt both foreign and familiar with every motion. “But let’s stay here for a while. I wanna see the sunset.”

The struggle of reaching out for all of those memories is difficult for Sorey, he isn’t blind to the visibility of that at some times. Even Mikleo could tell. A part of him wishes so desperately that he wouldn’t notice those moments here and there, yet he knows it’s impossible. Even if he could, memories or not, fragments or less, he couldn’t let him be on his own. Sorey is too precious to him, and he wants to continue to stick by him.

“You’re right,” the water seraph responds with a laugh of his own. “I have. At times, you’ve been mine.”  it’s only fair that the action was shared. He shouldn’t have to deal with this big lug’s weight against him all the time. Joking, of course. Sorey was never so heavy, and now, it almost seemed like he was lighter. Like the wind, he thinks.  A hand moves to feather through his hair to provide comfort, knowing how he must feel. He was Sorey, but he was also something else now. Not everything would be so easy. That’s okay. Sorey is here.

“Alright, Sunset it is.

A stifled laugh. Sorey would find a time to make comments like these. What a dork. There really was never a moment that would pass that he wouldn’t make some affectionate comment. It was harder for Mikleo, but in moments that they were alone and he couldn’t be teased, he opens up. Just like the old days, wasn’t it? “Am I?”  Mikleo muses, and allows the brunet to settle against him. It was a long day. He should let him relax.

“I didn’t think I’d be becoming your pillow... but I won’t argue." A breath in, and out again. Mikleo, too, was somewhat tired. Maybe they were too excited earlier, wandering those ruins. “We should get some rest, soon.”

Sorey may claim to him that he’s alright, but Mikleo can’t help this anxiousness. He knows how his best friend could be, they had grown up together, after all. Sorey would put so much on himself. If he knew that it would worry him, would he say that he was alright, anyway? 

That was why he wouldn’t just let this conversation end. It was so hard, seeing his friend on bed rest for so long, and he was saying that he was okay? He really hoped so. If his energy was returning, that was a good thing. They had to be ready for whatever came at them. He would be sure to keep an eye out for anything that could harm Sorey again.

“You’re really up for that?”

Don’t get him wrong, he’s excited at the idea, but he couldn’t get ahead of himself, with the brunet’s well-being on the line. He folds his arms. The way that the other is looking at him though, he ends up caving.

“Better.”  It would come as a surprise to most that Edna had lent a hand, that she was one of the few that had noticed his little act, and decided to help him, despite his stubbornness. Mikleo shifts, attempting to adjust despite his pain. Normally, he would make a comment about how he hoped this wasn’t one of her short moments of kindness towards him, before she would tease him, but now he simply lets out a long exhale.

Exasperation is one of the more general terms of what Mikleo feels with the rather persistent pestering from Sorey. What a pain. It was bothersome enough to have the kind Shepherd worrying over him (as if he didn’t have enough to worry about!), and even moreso that he was in this situation in the first place. It was already hard to deal with, his pride on the line, but the concern only made the water seraph feel weaker.

“Where are you getting at with this?”