wardercloud:
Drinking. That had been their safe haven for as long as it had been since Theneras was lost to them. They couldn’t find it in themself to do anything else. If Cloud chose to let all of those emotions funnel through, then the floodgates would open and it would be more than just that leaving their system. The summer fey had been nursing a bottle of…something to their chest when they heard Robin’s voice. They had been standing there watching the way things moved around them. There was a sword of flames within their hand that they had not put away. Cloud had always been on the defensive. They had always been in a state of readiness their entire life. It was there more now than ever before. Even as the fall chancellor came upon them, they almost held it out towards her, but they resisted the urge. “I’m fine.” That was what they kept telling themself. They were fine. It had become so ingrained in their head that even saying it was not a lie. Anyone could tell that it wasn’t the case, but they could believe Cloud’s words. “I haven’t had it worse than anyone else. I won’t make this about me.” Their eyes hadn’t met hers yet until they stopped speaking. Even seeing her face caused them to drink from the bottle in their grasp.
...
“Ah, shit,” she sighs, allowing herself to fall down to the ground, crossing her legs and patting the sand next to her in an invitation to sit down. Cloud wasn’t lying, they could not lie, and yet, there is no denying that everything is not as it appears. With a hum, she summons a bottle of feywine from her own reserves and opens the cork, bringing the bottle to her lips and taking a long sip, trying to think on how to approach the conversation. Perhaps it’s true, that Cloud hasn’t had it worse than anyone else, but emotions won’t care about that. Not when their wardee had done as much as Theneras had did and they had lost them, not when their duty had been to protect Theneras and they had failed, in the worst way imaginable. “And if I ask you to? You are my friend and I want to hear how you have been coping, if you want to talk,” she admits quietly. “And if not, can I keep you company? I am anything but fine, and I could use it.”
who? @wardercloud
where? summer’s sands
“How are you doing?” She asks, once she finally finds them amidst Laer’s Summer Sands. The Pilgrim had gone above and beyond designing the Summer Court’s new refuge, but despite everything, it is a pale comparison of the home that had once belonged to them. It’s impossible to compare less than a month of work to the countless years and centuries that had been spent on the creation of the Courts. Young and old had come together to create a home, and now it is all lost to the Drow Queen’s domain. It would make her furious, it does make her furious, but she is weighted too much by the grief of betrayal for that anger to manifest. Not yet, at least. It had been the same with her brother’s death, first grief came and overwhelmed her, then anger and the desire for revenge. Her time would come, but for now, she would follow her grief and ensure those she loves are as well as possible with all the circumstances. “The last few weeks have not been easy on any of us, but they might have hit you harder.”