middleofsomewhere | So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

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So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

Time to leave!

There is not much of the city left, but the park is holding together as those anchoring help those who are not voidtreckers through back to where they belong. Monsters continue to attack and a little further out there is a battle of hearts and minds being fought with the mass of colours and chaos.

Eventually, after the bulk of citizens had been evacuated everyone with SCA's on would hear Jin-Roh's voice after a few frantic beeps, as Chiff aligned everyone's SCA's. "We are almost done here, if you are with anyone not tethered to a voidcraft get them to the evacuation point, as quickly as possible."

Anan pulls out of the anchoring point to call out to any defenders in the park. "Come on! Anyone who isn't a voidtrecker! It's time to go."

Luckily those off fighting the entity headed the message and made their way to the park as Jin Roh spoke again.

"Everyone else get ready. When we call it you need to leave. If you don't have your SCA on then get to someone who does."

As the last people rushed to the park Anan calls out again, through her SCA and outloud to the park. "You need to unanchor, before you can evacuate. Everyone be ready."

She goes in again though, because there are some last people, those from the large battle, getting through as another message was called.

"Almost there. Be ready. On my command..."

Anan unanchored again. "Quick everyone unanchor."

"NOW" Jin Roh's voice came through strong on their SCA's. Hopefully those with SCA's would grab those without.

There is some outside help as well, the train pulls anyone who is unconscious or still under the entity's control, forcibly evacuating them. This includes Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and Zagreus.

Luggage Carriage

There has been a mass evacuation before and that was crazy enough but since then the population of the train has almost doubled and now it is an extremely tight squeeze as everyone crashes into the luggage carriage at the same time.

The train jerks and rolls as they enter into the void at breakneck speed and again as they seem to slow, rather than speeding off though the void.

There's a crackling from their SCA's. "Voidtreckers? Voidtreckers come in!" Anan's voice. "Please tell me you made it..."

There's only a few moments of signal and soon they are flying though the void again, away from the strange non-world, the entity sealed for now. To new adventures, but first hopefully some time to recover from all that has happened.

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He doesn't know, because Caleb shouldn't care for him, not really, because Essek ruined it all, destroyed it with an act of betrayal years before he even met the man. Whatever they've rebuilt, whatever trust and friendship he won back through tirelessly proving himself in Aeor and beyond, Caleb hasn't lived that. How could he care for Essek? The idea that it existed before that... it makes- it reshapes all of that time and he feels like the air is being stolen from him.

"I-" he shakes his head, eyes glued on Caleb's hands, unable to look the other man in the eyes, because he doesn't know how to do this, how to approach this. So many emotions are new to him, foreign, especially when it comes to this man. This stupid, brilliant man who is trying to pull some idiotic self martyrdom. The tears he blinks back wet and clump his eyelashes.

"I cannot say I'm not confused, I'm-.." overwhelmed, "I do care for you, more than I-" he shakes his head - it's too much, too little.

"But," he ducks his head to look up at Caleb, catch his eyes and hold them, "if you are suggesting to push me away because of some intention to spare me pain, to deny decades of happiness we could share before your death - a death that will wound me to my core regardless of how we share our lives - you are a fucking idiot."

Tears finally escape his eyes, overwhelmed, "Nothing I do is safe and I will bring danger into your life, but... I am willing to risk it if you are. Because I trust you, Caleb Widogast."

Edited 2021-07-27 03:20 (UTC)

It's a lot. It's so much, and he tries to breathe, but then Essek catches his gaze and he can't -

The swear gets a bark of exhausted laughter from him. He can't hold the tears back anymore, so he just lets them fall freely. There's no point in hiding them.

"I... I trust you too, Essek Thelyss. If this is a bad idea... we've both had worse, ja?"

There's a laugh at that, a little choked and shakey, because he's so tired, he feels so vulnerable and exposed. But there's no one he trusts that with more than this man. He looks away, wiping at his tears.

"Infinitely so," because Caleb will never be a bad idea. Pulling his sleeve down, he looks up almost shyly at the other man and reaches to wipe at Caleb's tears.

"I will take whatever you're willing to give me, but please do not hurt us both by trying to save me from something I cannot be saved from."

"... I will try. I... will try." He reaches out to take Essek's free hand and hold it gently. This wonderful, wonderful man he cares about so deeply.

"We can take it slow. There's no need to rush anything."

He's still confused, unsure, and very overwhelmed, but the feel of Caleb's hand holding his own, it makes him smile softly. Essek doesn't fully understand what all this means, but he'll take what Caleb is willing to give him.

"I would appreciate that," to both things, all of it, beyond that. He has a lot to work through, a lot to digest. For now, he wipes at the tears that streaked Caleb's cheeks.

He nods and tilts his head forward, pressing his forehead to Essek's and keeping it there for a bit.

"We'll work through whatever we need to. This place... at home... whatever it is, we'll get through it. We will keep each other safe." At the very least, that' what friends do, and they're more than that... somehow. He needs to set that down as a start, at least.

Essek feels his heart stutter and pound at Caleb's proximity, at the touch, at the familiarity of it. His cheeks and the tips of his ears warm and darken a little as he blushes, to be cared for so kindly by this extraordinarily brilliant and good man, he feels wholly unworthy of it.

"I-..." he takes a breath, choosing for now to put his fears and guilt aside, his worries about all of this - what this could change - aside. Just for now. "At your side, I feel as if I would be a fool to doubt those words... And I cannot think of a place I would more rather be."

"... I can't think of a better place to be than at your side, either." He presses a kiss to the center of Essek's forehead before pulling away slightly. "I'm here for you. I'll be here for you as long as I can. I promise you that. I will not give up on you, so do not give up on yourself."

The kiss before Caleb pulls away makes him smile so softly, still flushed as he looks up at Caleb through his lashes. He doesn't know what he has done to deserve to be in this moment with this incredible man, not when he's barely redeemed himself, barely begun his penance, but he also doesn't have the heart to deny Caleb by denying himself.

"I will try, though... please afford me the same courtesy and do not give up on yourself," he tentatively brushes some hair from Caleb's face. "Because you deserve good things, especially kindness," he catches Caleb's eyes again, expression sincere and soft, "you do, especially from yourself."

"... I will try. I can only promise to try." They've both fallen so hard, but it was enough to find each other. If circumstances were different, they would never have found each other.

... But he can't change the past.

(Not yet, a small part of him thinks.) He has to deal with what's in front of him, and what's in front of him right now... he cares more deeply about than he has for anyone in a very long time.

"... We should both try to rest. I can... move over if you'd like?" Unless Essek's going to hover, in which case it'd be fine.

Essek was saved from having to answer Caleb's question immediately by a knock on the door. Leia hadn't been snooping, but even with her senses somewhat muted due to exhaustion, it had been easy to pick up the shift in the emotions of the two men in the room. Thus, with them both seemingly more settled, she figured she wouldn't be too disruptive if she entered just then.

She opened the door and walked in, carrying a tray with tea- in an actual teapot and cups, rather than what one got from the hot drink machine- and gave them a small smile. "I hope you don't mind," she said. "I thought I've bring you two some tea. After everything that happened, I imagine you could use it." They all could really, but Leia could get her own later.

Even if all Caleb promised was to try, that was more than enough for Essek, because that's sometimes the best anyone can do is to try their best, that's what the Nein taught him. It settles him, at least until the immediate panic he feels at Caleb's question of... was he inviting Essek to lay down with him? Was this a Nein friendship thing? Everyone did group up in their sleep at times. Or was this a more than friendship thing? Essek and Caleb did share a bed while they were illusion married, so it could be a more intima-

The sound of Leia coming in gives him immediate relief from having to answer that question just yet.

"Ah, yes! Thank you, tea would be wonderful actually," Essek might be a little too eager in replying, standing up to make sure he's not in the way.

He waits for Essek to finish having an internal crisis over the question, but it's interrupted by Leia at the door. He smiles a little bashfully, moving to get up to help, but - no. His head pounds and he slumps back into the bed.

"Tea... tea would be great, thank you."

Leia's smile broadened slightly at Essek's somewhat too eager response, but she nodded her thanks to him for moving, as it made it easier to set the tray on the bedside table. Caleb got a somewhat less amused look for his attempt at getting up when he shouldn't have, though it was a brief one. "I don't think you're quite up for that yet," she said as she poured them each a cup of tea. "Though by all reports, you're doing significantly better than you were." Encouraging, but still demonstrating that yes, he really did need to be in medical just then, no matter how much he disliked it.

She then glanced back to Essek. "I'm guessing that you're planning to stay awhile?", she asked. It was a genuine question, but only because she didn't like to assume. She didn't seem displeased with the idea, either way.

Essek is only steady on his feet because he's floating off the ground, without it he probably would have stumbled in his exhaustion and mental turmoil. So much of his mind and head still ache with real and remembered pain, but he doesn't want to let on. Instead wishing to further repress and compartmentalize it, to allow his darker skin tone to help mask most of the physical signs, he wants to keep it tucked away so Caleb won't worry for him. Not when Caleb needs to focus on his own healing, even with Leia's reassuring report.

The question catches him off guard, his eyes looking up at the other woman for a moment. Caleb seemed to want him here, wanted him to stay if the offer was anything to go by... and he wants to be here, wants to stay near this brilliant, but hurting man, so...

"If that's acceptable, I would like to stay," he speaks respectfully, eyes lowered in mild difference to her. "I can make sure that he gets some more rest soon."

"No, apparently not." He slowly makes sure his sitting position is at least stable before he reaches out for the tea. "I am... I will be all right. And... yes, if it's not a problem, I would... I would like him here." His cheeks flush dark and he simply sips at the tea slowly. ... Maybe he should get his hands on some of Caduceus' tea. This isn't bad, but just different.

"I promise we won't be loud or make trouble for the other patients." He grins a slightly lopsided grin at Leia - it's not like the two of them are normally loud, anyway.

"I doubt either of you really have the energy to be very loud at the moment," Leia said giving a bit of a wry smile. She was in the same boat herself, honestly. "But it's more than acceptable. In fact, if I could assign you both to the same recovery room I would; you're obviously both helping each other by being together." She suspected there was a good bit more to it than that, but she wasn't going to pry.

"So yes, you're welcome to stay as long as you like, and to come back after the train decides to return everyone to their bunks, if you wish," she told Essek. "Provided that you get some rest too. Don't think you're fooling me just because you can float. You're still recovering too, so don't overexert yourself, understand?" He got the same sort of mildly stern look that Caleb had gotten when he'd tried to stand up.

Essek hadn't been hiding that he was also recovering, but he had kind of hoped not to concern Caleb with it, so he pointedly doesn't look at the man when she mentions it. But hearing Caleb wanted him here, hearing her say that he was helping Caleb's recovery, it helped, more than he cared to say, eased his doubts.

"Thank you, then I will stay. I assure you, we'll both rest," he plans to make sure Caleb gets some rest and thus will do the same if need be to get the other to.

"She's right. We'll keep an eye on each other. I know when I'm beat, at least in terms of injury." He's not strong in the same way that someone like Yasha or Beauregard is, and while he's gone on for a while with injuries he'd prefer not to. This one is less physical, but he can still feel the effects.

"I think a number of people will be recovering overnight... I'm sure it's busy out there." It's not just them that were hit with the backlash, after all. And then there was the fighting...

Leia nodded her satisfaction at both of their answers with a small smile. It seemed that they were too tired to be especially stubborn about it, which was good.

"It's a full med bay yes," she said. "And a number of other people will be nursing less serious injuries in their own bunks. But it's not nearly as bad as it could have been, and everyone will be back on their feet eventually." Had Sunset and the others not managed to somewhat calm the entity, well.... they could have had worse than injuries to deal with.

"I'll be bringing the two of you a meal at some point later this evening, before the train decides that it's bed time. Any foods that I should tell those cooking to avoid, either for medical or cultural reasons?"

"No, I accustomed to eating almost anything, thank you," he gives her an appreciative smile.

Essek moves to sit on the end of the bed, since he's already been caught and all. It's good things weren't as bad as they could have been, he hadn't been paying much attention to the greater fight, nor to most of the people in the car when they evacuated. His mind was still a mess, it was still hard to focus on much... outside of Caleb at least. Perhaps that's why it took him a second to really see how tired Leia was too.

"Do take a break yourself when you find the chance."

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So Familiar a Gleam: Conclusion

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Sorry this is late!