middleofsomewhere | Jema'grethy: Memory Cave

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Jema'grethy: Memory Cave

Passengers see a vision, an instance of someone's life, before just as suddenly - they find themselves inside a cave. It is light, a strange moss glowing on the walls and ceiling illuminates the cave nicely, and it is large enough for them to pace around in without trouble.

They're not alone. In the cave with them is another voidtrecker; maybe someone they know well, or maybe someone they've only seen in the aisles of the train. But they are together in this cave, and they will come to find out that it was one of their memories that the other witnessed. And them, one of yours.

The cave has no exit, at least not yet. They know that it will, eventually. When the time is right.

But for that time to come, they first must talk...

(OOC: Memories can be written either in this post or over here)

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Oh, thank Naga. That came dangerously close to Inigo being baby upset there. In fact, even when Tidus is moving on and speaking about something else, Inigo over here may be raising an arm to rub at his eyes with, trying to get rid of the faint remainders of the oncoming tears.

(And he might sniff.

Just for a moment.)

But once he gathers himself again, he instead looks at least a tad more serious when he replies to the question.

"Good, of course. I want them to be happy." That's not even something Inigo has to think about. Just like how he didn't even have to think about going back in time, as long as it was for their sakes. As long as their family could live happily somewhere. "Like you're saying, and like you've seen too.. My mother was amazing. She was gentle and kind, and she deserves to live in a world where she does not have to think about fighting or survival all the time."

Because even though Olivia found ways to deal with it - something Inigo greatly admires about his mother, who had only been a simple dancer before having to pick up a sword - Inigo can't imagine that it was ever easy for her, given her nature.

"Mmm." It's a small hum, acknowledgement, something else on the tip of those pinched lips. He knocks his foot back along the ground, heel hitting the wall of the cave he leans against.

"What was it like, seeing your mom again? Back when you went to help them out." There's a scoff. "I know how things went with your old man..."

There's plenty been said about him. But what about his mother, his time with her? Tidus doesn't have any memories of conversations about her; only the woman who showed up on the train, shy and nervous. Still Inigo's mother, if in a more...timey-wimey other alternative universe babble way.

"Mother?" He asks - like he doesn't know what Tidus is already asking.

It's more just so he has a moment to think about it, because it's true. It is something he's never really talked about, and it means he needs a moment for the right words to come to him to describe something so truly complicated.

"She was.. sweet," he starts, slowly, but then more quickly adds: "Of course she was."

That's what his mother is like, after all.

"She cared about me, I could tell that. But sometimes it also seemed a little like she was struggling with the entire concept. Not that I could blame her-- who wouldn't feel strange after some grown up guy appeared claiming to be your child from the future?" Inigo can't imagine someone not feeling awkward while trying to deal with that, least of all his even-meeker-than-he-remembered-her mother.

"That is strange." Tidus won't mince words or disagree - how would he feel about someone being his future kid? "But you've been gone so long now, and she got to meet your sister and your friends - I bet she worries about you. How long did you get to really know each other?"

In the middle of a war, on top of the oddity around them. But Inigo being since then, or - not really gone, but worse. Comatose, unresponsive.

How would he feel about that outcome?

Inigo shakes his head.

"It wasn't long." He got pulled to the train so soon after he managed to join up with the group, after all. All those years he spent in the future, then the month he spent wandering around by himself after they got separated due to their journey to the past - and the moment he reunites with his sister and the younger versions of his parents, he's gone.

.. maybe it's a good thing, Inigo thinks. It's like a prelude to having to get used to having a life entirely separate from them.

"I think since I joined up with them and I ended up on the train.. It can't have been more than a few days. So of course she didn't have time to get used to it."

Who would just come to terms with the weird future kid thing after a few days?

Inigo thinks the world of his mother, but she's definitely way too fretful of a person to accept it so easily and calmly.

"It's better that way though. I didn't want to get too attached to her. I told myself that already, before heading back to the past." It'd just mess things up. It wasn't his place anymore to be fond of her the way a son would be.

Just a few days.

Just a few days, and all you have to remember about your parents is your dad being disappointed in you, chastising you, expecting better, and that's it. It weighs inside Tidus's gut, that that's what Inigo got before getting dragged away onto a miserable ride far from everyone - and everything - he knew.

It's unfair, in plenty of ways. Tidus mulls over it, the time that Inigo didn't get. Kicking his foot against the ground once.

"...Hey. You never found out if anyone managed to protect your body, did you? When you went back - you didn't go see anyone, right?"

It might seem unrelated, but this talk of family, the sister that Tidus knows was back there, the mother that Inigo adored and the kind of people everyone seemed...

There's a few places his mind is going right now.

That question.. definitely has Inigo looking a little more awkward. Partially since it's kind of awkward to think about the current state of your unconscious body and all, especially when it's got to have been unconscious for so long now, but..

.. well, he's also a little embarrassed about the fact he just plainly ran away the moment he suddenly found himself back in his own world. It's not exactly cool, or brave.. But it is what it is.

"Yeah," he softly says, his cheeks very faintly red with the disappointment in himself. "I just ran away from anywhere that looked familiar, until I ended back on the platform. I didn't go back to my own world after that.."

So he definitely has no idea. He didn't exactly go look for his body, or all the people he knows.

".. Why?"

"'Cause - as weird as things were with your family, they must be worried about you, right? Your sister, your parents... I hope they found your body." He rubs at the back of his head, scratching his fingernails through the strands. A difficult expression on his face, brow knitted and lips pursed.

"I guess what I mean to say is... that I hope you'll give them and you another chance, before you leave. I know how scary confronting a parent again can feel like, and you don't feel you have a place there anymore. But your mom - the one that was on the train, she seemed to really care about you. She asked me about you when we talked, and about your dancing. She really lit up listening about it."

He looks at Inigo, hasn't really been avoiding his eye, but presses his lips into a smile.

"Don't run off too quick when you start your new life. Okay?"

"..."

He doesn't answer at first. Instead Inigo's gaze turns downwards, staring at his feet as he nervously kicks the floor of the cave a little with them. Mostly because Tidus is hitting the nail right on the head here. Yes, confronting a parent again is scary. Seeing his mother again sure would be a lot better than actually seeing his dad again, and he's pretty sure Lucina at least won't scold him as soon as she learns what's been happening to him all this time, but..

.. maybe there's something else to it too, huh.

"I just.." Inigo starts. His voice sounds tight, and he doesn't look up to meet Tidus's gaze, instead still looking down. "I'm worried that it might hurt more if I see them again."

For them. Or for him. Whichever. Maybe it'll only hurt everyone more to have to say goodbye a second time.

It's not surprising. Inigo's securities, his last meeting with his father, the constant loss he's had to endure during his time on the train; beating him down further and further, that turning his back on his family so that the maybes can't come true.

With his figure standing there in its own fragility, Tidus moves from the wall and to him. Hands resting above his elbows, forehead tipping to his; bringing them closer, a weight to his lean than anything too gentle.

"It'd be good to see your mom smiling one last time, don't you think?"

He suggests it low like a whisper, a thought put out there, nothing that needs an answer. No dismissing the hurt that might be there, good or bad; but when Tidus does remember the Olivia he met, and that Olivia witnessed, the one of Inigo's memories-

"You're gonna be okay."

He has to believe it - in the love waiting for Inigo, and a cherished memory.

Inigo often finds himself wishing he could think these things as confidently as Tidus says them. Because he can't. Just thinking about all of it makes him feel almost queasy inside of his stomach. What if it's easier to have let the last moment they saw each other just be that last one? Even if it still hurts a little, it's not like that hurt couldn't be amplified if Inigo took a chance to see her again.

If anything, his baby self has probably been born back home by now. It might only be confusing for Olivia to have to deal with two Inigos.

It hurts. It actively hurts in this moment, even though he knows Tidus is just trying to be kind here. Everything about the other's tone and body language says as much, but Inigo feels his body receiving those words and feelings and only processing them as pain.

He sucks in a breath.

".. Let's not talk about this right now, okay..?"

It's a little too much. It might be why there's something pleading in Inigo's tone, indicating that he appreciates Tidus's effort, but he just can't right now.

In return, he doesn't turn this back around to Tidus's memory either, seeing how it brought back memories of the hurt that Jecht's alcoholism caused the family in the end. Maybe it's better for them to not dig too hard in things that can turn out sad.

"I-- I mean. We still have a memory to go."

And it probably won't as cute as this one was.

It's disappointing, sure, the struggle going on before him. Tidus doesn't need to read Inigo's mind, the hesitance and the expression he makes, the want to push the subject aside. Because he knows Inigo - he knows how hard it is to hope for the best for himself, and Tidus can only sell it so far.

But this isn't the mood that Tidus wanted for Inigo, to put him into, by encouraging him into doing this whole cave thing with him. He shouldn't push about his family, he won't, and there's a short noise of affirmation to the last of what Inigo says, following it a beat after with-

"Hey. Inigo."

He brushes the side of Inigo's jaw with a thumb, his hand settling somewhere there to help encourage Inigo's chin up, should he need to. A small nudge so Tidus can dip and bring his lips onto his, a firm kiss that lasts for a few seconds before he pulls back.

"Feeling any better?"

There might be a sliver of an apology in that question, hopeful otherwise. This a better note to end on, bro?

B-Bro!!

Inigo's eyes suddenly grow wide when his head is nudged up like that - a small act of assistance that is definitely needed, since Inigo wouldn't have moved his body by himself. He looks surprised, like he's realising what's about to happen even a moment before it actually happens. Tidus's face getting closer, those lips pressing against his own..

A heart starting to pound faster in Inigo's chest. Maybe it's since he was already emotional in the first place, or maybe it's since he's just such a simple, simple guy, but he just can't help the way it reacts to that kiss.

"That's cheating," he mumbles.

But it definitely seems more embarrassed in a pouty sort of way now rather than embarrassed. B-Bro, can't use your handsome charm against him and his sadness, okay! It's too powerful..!!

A chuckle hums up from his throat and to his mouth, and he lets his hand brush back along Inigo's cheek to the space of his head under his ear, fingers pressing close to the nape of his neck. More of him to hold, and cherish.

"I'll cheat if it makes you happy," he teases. He can make that into a promise, but also: "I'll always have your back, no matter what you do - I want to be there for you. That's part of why I wanted to do this: so we had each other...a little more."

Despite how well they already do, without this bonding thing. But if it can be a reassurance, a touch of brightness to an otherwise gloomy hour, or day-

"But if a kiss can make you happy," he goes on, lightening the mood (and with a sultry edge), "--then I can give you a lot more of those."

heyyy bro.

"It does," Inigo mumbles. It does make him happy.

He'll gladly take the extra physical contact from Tidus though as he's standing there. At first he just seems to indulge in it without doing anything in return, but then his hands reach out, first landing on Tidus's shoulders, and then slowly sinking lower, resting on the other's back, fingers drawing idle circles against the back of his shoulder blades.

Because he's thinking. But in a good way, for once. The sort of way that gets him to calm down a little, untangle the mess of feelings in his chest.

"I know I get all stupidly upset, but it's.. fading a little now. Promise. Knowing you're here, and thinking about it.. that does make me happy."

And having the bond? Well, it'll probably help with that, since Inigo remembers feeling it within himself whenever Gyousou had an intense feeling - it might let the other know when one of them isn't feeling too great, so they can help.

"This. This-- This right now," he says, almost unable to find words for it. How does he call it? This indescribable feeling between them. There's no specific word for it. "It helps."

He hadn't been expecting it, hadn't been thinking about anything but making Inigo feel better, calmer; but as the fingers touch at his back, give him that return in touch, Tidus sinks into the feeling. Small but comforting, encouraging him to weave his own fingers together where they hang, pressing up against Inigo's skin.

This feeling, it's the same as the other struggles to find the words for. This zone around them, the bubble they make that's just for the two of them. Isn't this exactly why he knew bonding with Inigo would be worth it?

"I'll ground you, whenever you need it." A promise, not immediately spoken, but eventually. "I know you'll ground me too."

When he needs it, and doesn't even know that he does. But isn't that all the time? Someone to keep him sane on this crazy ride.

A light spills in from somewhere at their side, a warming presence that brings the knowledge that they can go now, as soon as they're ready. Tidus doesn't rush to move, but feeling that permission to leave, he does get a very brilliant idea, to ask in a low voice:

"Wanna find a private place to go and make out?"

Y/N/Maybe????

A question like that, especially following up on a sweet moment like this, can only have one response.

Or rather - it has a very specific mix of responses. Because a lot seems to be happening with Inigo all at once. He seems very flustered, judging by the blush on his cheeks, but there's a very obvious eagerness about him as well. The ends of his lips curl up, though he seems to be trying to actively fight it in the moment, and he glances away for a moment before his gaze darts back to Tidus, excited and nervous all at once.

"Sure," he says at first, but then it's followed up by an: "Of course," that betrays his excitement a little more.

His hand reaches over to grasp a hold of the other guy's, and he tugs on it, leading the two of them towards the exit.

As if he'd ever say no to that.

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Jema'grethy: Memory Cave

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