chaotic

@wardercloud location: Fey Forest, Lupercalia notes: this isn't a date

There were several people that Cloud surrounded themself with and several people they knew they wanted to actually be around in the first place. Just because they surrounded them didn't mean that they wanted those people's presence. All that to say that the elf didn't really mind when Ganymede was around. The other felt like a breath of fresh air sometimes. Very akin to what they often thought of Laer except much more...naive. For some reason, they felt like protecting him even though they were sure that the aspect didn't much need their help. Irregardless, here they were now at Lupercalia spending time with each other. The last thing Cloud had expected to hear in regards to that was that Gany was married with a husband that was a god and that the two of them could only be friends. That was what they had thought they were in the first place, but maybe the sanguine elf had given the wrong impression. They did spend quite a bit of time around each other so maybe that was where the lines might have blurred. It wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't just friends, but...well, Ganymede was married so it didn't much matter. "Yes, we're just friends," they said as they watched the other walk on a log. Arms folded over their chest, they looked up at him. "So how long have you been married then?"

a starter for @wardercloud, where: somewhere quiet

Viola reminded them of Mneme. Somehow, at least. Maybe the elf was looking for pieces of her in anything, but she was gone and they were still here. They had to get used to that. Viola sure as hell talked more than the aspect ever did. That wasn't really a hard task to accomplish though. Still, they nodded their head and looked at the demon. They really wondered how demons came to have the personalities they had. Most were expected to be cold-hearted and uncaring. She seemed to be the complete opposite. Maybe that was a good thing for them. They needed that kind of thing around right now. "I do. It started off as something I was pushed into, but I care a lot about the people around me. Friends or not. I'll come to care about you quickly, too. I already do. I'll...take you to meet Aegnor. I'm tethered to him. You're tethered to me. Seems like the logical next step."

Viola liked them, Cloud had the sort of disposition that the demon most often seemed to lean towards: lost souls in need of a guiding hand. They were resolved to linger in this cave, to hide and to grieve, but Viola certainly was now. If nothing else then Cloud would have to pull themself up for these people they claimed to care for so easily. "I think you and I have a lot more in common than I initially thought." Viola left it at that and took her privacy to finish getting ready for the wedding, the demoness had very few firsts left, a royal wedding among elves wasn't something that the prideful creature had any intention of missing.

"Okay. It looks nice." It was the least Cloud could do to give out a compliment to someone that was doing his best to try and help them. Then again, they couldn't really remember a time where people hadn't tried to help them. They were a noble elf. If people weren't falling at their mother's feet, she would have been disappointed. Cloud didn't much care about all of that though. Not that they had ever gotten the opportunity to care about it in the first place. Still, now they were nothing more than a broken shield to the dead. They might as well have been so themself. That was pretty damn gloomy though. Ganymede probably didn't want to hear all of that. Maybe. They could never tell. "You don't have to apologize. I'm used to it." Unfortunately. Loss was just something they had learned to cope with. All they could ever think about was who would be next. "You can ask. I don't know if I'm ready to answer though."

"Thank you, so do you." It always felt easy for Ganymede to make friends but it was rare for them to stick around, people were always incredibly nice to the aspect's face and then suddenly when he was gone he never heard from them again. It was kind of Cloud to invite Ganymede out to this party, and if nothing else it was a chance to spend the night not thinking about the festival going on dedicated to his husband. "I think that's answer enough, we should go, I don't want to be late and I still have to change." The last thing Ganymede would ever want to do is push someone into talking about something they weren't prepared to open up about.

"You can just say it looks nice." Cloud was clearly struggling, so Ganymede thought he'd offer some advice on complementing someone without making them feel bad about themselves. It wasn't as if he was any stranger to loss; his father had been his best friend, and when he'd passed, Ulthar hadn't permitted him to attend the funeral, something about it being unimportant to mingle with mortal affairs when Ganymede sat among the Gods now. He'd been right of course, his husband... ex-husband... was right about most things, at least that's what the aspect still believed. People made horrible and terrible mistakes, but they could still return from that. So many of his children were gone because of the God and it should have been easy for Ganymede to resent Ulthar for that, but more than hatred, he hoped that the God would return and set things right. Ganymede knew what he was capable of. He knew it was within his power; he just had to be patient. "I'm so sorry..." Ganymede paused before asking, "Is there a right way of dealing with it?" The aspect would have hugged them, but they didn't know each other that well, and Cloud had just left and made a mess of a bunch of bags of blood, not that Ganymede was afraid, but there was something to be said about respecting boundaries. "Can I ask who?"

"Okay. It looks nice." It was the least Cloud could do to give out a compliment to someone that was doing his best to try and help them. Then again, they couldn't really remember a time where people hadn't tried to help them. They were a noble elf. If people weren't falling at their mother's feet, she would have been disappointed. Cloud didn't much care about all of that though. Not that they had ever gotten the opportunity to care about it in the first place. Still, now they were nothing more than a broken shield to the dead. They might as well have been so themself. That was pretty damn gloomy though. Ganymede probably didn't want to hear all of that. Maybe. They could never tell. "You don't have to apologize. I'm used to it." Unfortunately. Loss was just something they had learned to cope with. All they could ever think about was who would be next. "You can ask. I don't know if I'm ready to answer though."

How long? The question was to be expected, given how Din'an gathered that what they were seemed rarer than he had anticipated. His mind slipped over the memories, searched for the moment that the archfiend had greeted him. Had offered him this gift that could never have been ignored. "Many years now, but is that what you really want to know?" His head canted to the side, gaze slipped over the other in a careful inspection, "Or do you want to know whether it gets easier? The hunger, that is."

Cloud had never been the type to mince their words. Maybe they spoke too much of the truth sometimes, but the people that mattered usually never took it to heart. If anything, those people were probably too used to pessimism and bluntness from the shield. "I asked the question I wanted to answer. I don't exactly go around the point like other elves you may seem to know." Their hands lifted with a sigh. "All I know is that I'm really fucking hungry and these blood bags aren't going to cut it for much longer."

Aegnor the departed, Aegnor the leader of the drow, Aegnor the traitor; Inan was among the many that were leery of their presence. He wasn't without questions, though. If someone like Ayi'ig's chosen heir could suddenly decide to defect, perhaps there was hope for others. "Did he ever tell you what it was?" Inan asked, his tone curious, "What made him leave the Court behind?" Somehow he doubted his brother would walk away so easily. "It's not for me." A bunch of elves grabbing at each other? It didn't sound particularly interesting. "Maybe it's a cultural difference." Something divisive between the Sun and the Dusk, though Robin seemed eager to partake after she'd managed to garner her invitation. Undoubtedly, she'd try to get Inan to attend, but fortunately for the warder, her life would not be at risk in the Sun lands above.

"Aegnor is not much of a talker and neither am I really. Our conversations consist of him grunting and hm-ing often. I can take a guess it had something to do with his brothers and his memories coming back to him." Cloud and Aegnor were an odd pair, but they also got along much better than anticipated. The dark elf seemed to have gotten used to his warder's presence by now. With Cloud, it felt like they could deal with anyone's temperament. Someone could be loud like Laer or quiet like Mneme or even gullible and sweet like Ganymede. No matter what, they were going to somehow not be judgmental about it. The same would always be extended to Aegnor. The two of them were tethered to each other after all. "Not for you? Well, you let me know if that changes. You look...breedable."

"I suppose that's where I come in." Protecting them was one thing, but she couldn't be tied to someone who wouldn't acknowledge their own worth. She'd struggled with that with Vinny for ages; she could put in the same amount of effort with this one. Cloud seemed likable enough, at least to her. "I've heard the sun elves are fond of their... traditions." Viola had been around long enough to catch wind of these antics, so many bodies and people; honestly, it sounded like far too much work. "As good a reason as any," Viola didn't feel the need to argue that if they killed enough people in front of an audience it wouldn't matter how good of a fighter they were. Still, their nature spoke to something Viola didn't know about them. Then again, the two were still getting to know one another. "you must care a great deal for people."

Viola reminded them of Mneme. Somehow, at least. Maybe the elf was looking for pieces of her in anything, but she was gone and they were still here. They had to get used to that. Viola sure as hell talked more than the aspect ever did. That wasn't really a hard task to accomplish though. Still, they nodded their head and looked at the demon. They really wondered how demons came to have the personalities they had. Most were expected to be cold-hearted and uncaring. She seemed to be the complete opposite. Maybe that was a good thing for them. They needed that kind of thing around right now. "I do. It started off as something I was pushed into, but I care a lot about the people around me. Friends or not. I'll come to care about you quickly, too. I already do. I'll...take you to meet Aegnor. I'm tethered to him. You're tethered to me. Seems like the logical next step."

Ganymede thought that maybe if he cried less he wouldn't be so annoying to people. His husband in particular; Ganymede wondered what it would take to make Ulthar come home and regurgitate their children so they could all be a family again. Maybe being less of a burden and irritant would gain him an invitation back home; Ganymede was still confident that he and Ulthar could work this out. He'd need to make amends with the kids, of course, but the God was the only person who'd ever loved him besides his own father, so there was almost nothing that Ganymede wasn't willing to forgive as long as Ulthar would say it again. I love you. "You don't like it?" Ganymede looked sideways at the elve, the one who'd left a gory mess of blood around them. Cloud's laughter made Ganmede blush as he tucked his phone away, suddenly embarrassed; he thought it looked nice. It probably said something about the aspect that even amid all this playful devastation, Ganymede was relatively unphased. The blood was bothersome, but his friends at the cleaners would be willing to get anything out if he asked nicely. "I'm just... Modest." It was nice having a friend to go to this function with, even if they didn't like what Ganymede was wearing; he didn't hear from people... ever. Which was fine, the aspect knew that his children were busy, his grandchildren too and if they didn't want to come see him then he wasn't going to force his presence on them. It was totally fine. "Were you crying because of all this...?" Ganymede gestured vaguely, "I've met a lot of elves and you're the first who drinks blood." There was a pause before he raised his hands. "Not that there's anything wrong with it."

"Oh, I didn't say I didn't like it. From what I've learned of you since we met, it seems very...you." Cloud wasn't really sure how to properly compliment someone or extend niceties. Really, that was how they had gotten along so well with Mneme. She had been so stoic that it felt like they were anything but. Now that she was gone, it felt like they were always the most serious person in the room. The sanguine elf really did try not to be that way though. It was just difficult to move away from who they always had been. Luckily, Ganymede's natural disposition somehow helped with that. The aspect was very much a mixed bag of things. On one hand, he was sad. On the other, he was just the nicest person they knew. It felt like a good thing to keep Ganymede around. "Modest. Right. I don't think I know what that word means. The sun court is very..." They weren't even really sure how to describe it. "I guess we're just kind of told to be very comfortable with our bodies. Not that that makes you uncomfortable with yours." Cloud was both the former and the latter. While they didn't mind wearing as little clothes as possible, they absolutely did not feel comfortable doing anything with anyone. Hence why they never participated in those yearly orgies. They could kiss someone, but they weren't entirely sure that they'd enjoy it much. "No, no. I've just lost a few people close to me so I just...haven't been dealing with it properly."

where. somewhere secret who. @wardercloud

Clear as day, it became obvious that this elf was just like them. Cloud hadn't been a sanguine elf for long, but they had been trying to grasp it as quickly as they could. That proved to be more difficult than they would have liked given the fact that they hadn't really run into anyone like them yet. Until now. They wondered how long this one had been like this. "Neither did I." The warder figured they would ask the question since it was the only thing in their head. "How long has it been for you?"

"No, no help. I've got it." Meryasek thought it was nice of Cloud to ask, but it wasn't like the other could do something that he needed at the moment. "All you can do – make yourself at home. This place is for you, too. Elves like us." He wanted to know what Cloud wanted, anyway. What their plans were. His friend was always a bit unsettled, something of a shield that constantly stood up. Constantly put themselves in harms way. Yet they always came out the other side. Many warders couldn't say the same thing. "What do you want to do with your life, here?"

"Well, if you change your mind, you know I'm here." That was the least Cloud could do. They'd mostly kept themself holed up in a cave in the distance recently, but they didn't mind exiting it once in a while to visit the few friends they had. Meryasek and Laer were the most important to visit at the moment so they didn't really have to go too far. "Elves like us, huh?" They guessed neither of them had really asked for what happened to them. Then again, Cloud didn't know much about what Mery had become. Maybe they'd ask eventually when the situation called for it. Not right now though. "I don't even know. I'm a warder. I'm tethered to Aegnor. Where he goes, I follow."