#gem clan reader

after huey disappears ;;

↳ quincy seems relived, a weight has been removed from his shoulders and he is the first to leave the mansion that would later become both aster and morvay's home. quincy returns to the wood territory, keeping to himself and responding to letters once every so often.

the scent of the forest, deep ancient, and rich clings to the paper when you read it before penning the response of those who remain back to quincy.

it's only when the responses stop that you become worried. a huge gap between letters? not uncommon, but no contact at all? you couldn't keep still, worry turns into adrenaline as you pack for the journey ahead. you ignore aster and morvay's worried tones trying to stop you, to keep what little remained of their now broken and scattered family together.

kuya appears like a specter, beautiful, and ethereal looking in the moonlight. his true self unbound while smoke and mist swirl around him.

"now... where would the weakest of us be running off to while leaving the familiars wailing inside?" kuya's voice is sharp, his eyes glowing despite the question posed to you, the yokai already knows exactly what is going on.

"quincy i'm going to check on him."

"quincy is a big boy little bird, i highly doubt that he wants to be worrying over you again now that he's free." kuya's tone is curt, but you don't miss how his eyes crinkle at the edges just a bit before he waves his pipe in the air. "best come with you or else our old friend would glare holes into me. troublesome, oh how troublesome our little bird is."

with kuya's help, you find quincy, and despite how unamused he is at seeing you and kuya the small smile, the light in his eye, and his hand musing through your hair calling you troublesome feels more like a welcome home.

↳ kuya seems to remain the same straightforward, cunning, criticizing, manipulative and beautiful yokai he was before huey disappeared, but it's the little cracks that show when he thinks no one is watching turn your guts into knots.

after finding quincy in the wood territory kuya decided to take up residence here as well, which makes sense since both he and quincy are from here, but kuya takes it further going deeper into the forest where man and nature blur together.

between the mist, the plants, and the animals reaching kuya becomes a challenge of its own. quincy more often than not is the one to seek out the yokai, coming back with that same tired gaze to tell you that kuya is fine.

"if he's fine then why do you keep looking back quincy?" your question startles quincy, your friend, your fellow clan member smiles before musing your hair.

"he's just lost," quincy's response is all it takes for you to change your form, circling around quincy once, twice before he extends his arm for you to perch on before speaking once more. "stay with him little bird."

quincy lifts his arm and you take to the sky, the canopy of the forest blocking out most of the sunlight, but not all of it. the sounds of the forest and all that lives in it are kept safe and hidden under the canopy as well.

kuya's home is for once not a challenge for you to find, the mist is non-existent for once, and both kuya's scent and essence aren't muddled either. for once, just this moment you see kuya in such a crystal clear quality that you can't help, but wonder.

how someone as straightforward, as cunning, criticizing, manipulative and beautiful as he could be lost. mix-matched eyes land on your form, the lines between reality and the start of kuya's illusion become muddled. he's allowed you in, but that doesn't mean he isn't above blocking you out.

"why do you stubbornly continue to bind yourself to us little bird?" kuya's voice lacks his usual cutting tone and you can't help, but fly down next to him. beak carefully moving through his hair, and chirping in place of your own words. "i could clip your wings little bird, keep you in a little cage for my amusement and our friend wouldn't be able to do a thing about it."

it goes unspoken, that the things that belong to kuya will never leave his sight or side. even with his declaration sending a spark of fear through your body, after spending so much time with kuya-- you can see when he's being all talk.

"if you do that then quincy would be upset and you have such a lovely home, with lovely little things in it-- my clipped wings aren't needed not when i offer my binding to others so sparingly," you butt your forehead against kuya's the yokai grumbling in response while holding you in place.

"until he comes... stay just a little bit longer. my home should be a comfortable enough cage for the night." kuya's voice is quiet, and his body grows heavy against your own as the yokai falls to sleep.

"troublesome." quincy's voice makes you laugh, turning to look at him with a smile hand combing through kuya's hair you ask him to help you get him to bed.

"ah the young master considers himself a comedian. while you flatter me to see us in such a way i'm sorry to say that we are nothing of the sort. if anything i'm just a bother to my two old friends." you respond, again earning a cute little confused head tilt from eiden and a 'huh??' from the young man.

"but... the bite mark on your neck and the cute little trinkets you wear in your hair--" eiden is cut short with you covering his mouth with your hands. your heart couldn't take it if he laid anymore of yourself bare and forced to be acknowledged by yourself at this moment.

"then just think of it as me wanting to spend time with the young master without my two troublesome items." it's either the tone of your voice or the way your face flushes that makes eiden laugh before taking hold of your hand to allow you into his room.

eiden's bed is big, certainly big enough to hold not only himself but also every member of his clan. once he's settled onto the bed, with all of its creaks and groans he waits for you to join him-- it's then when you realize how lonely and cold a bed like this might be for him.

so you join him, another body added to that big, lonely empty space of eiden's bed. the young man seems happy to have someone here with him, carrying the conversation on his own with varying lengths in replies from you which seem to make him even more chatty and happier than he was moments ago. only when he starts to slow down in his talking do you realize his eyes have started to droop, and at some point, he had snuggled close to you.

his words become muffled and slurred. making it difficult for you to understand what he is saying, but the fingers that grasp onto your clothes tightly tell you all that you need to know.

to not leave him alone. not in this big, lonely space and so you do not leave him alone. you remain, carding your fingers through his hair, humming a song that you know by heart all while eiden somehow snuggles even closer to you. holding onto you like a small animal who fears waking up to find itself abandoned by its parent.

so you stay. the unspoken promise that you would not leave eiden all alone with himself, his thoughts, or alone in this empty space. rather you would make sure that until he returns home-- if he should choose to do so you would give him nothing, but love and warmth.