#( and neuvillette sharing parts of his past with him. i'm fine )

[daybreakrising]

@apocryphis: the chief justice, as is well known in the walls of palais mermonia, only ever takes one day off a year, on the occasion of his birthday. since lady furina had stepped down from archonhood, however, he had surprised his staff by taking another day or two, without any particular event seemingly prompting it. some had heard of the iudex venturing to liyue for the lantern rite festival and expected it must have been a diplomatic visit... for today, however, they are entirely at loss.

it does not matter to neuvillette, considering the only person in the palais who needs to know where he has ventured to, is presently with him.

"i do hope you will forgive me for whisking you away on your birthday." he says, perfectly aware that vautrin has already forgiven him, if he had even blamed him in the first place. "but i thought we might deserve some time away from the palais and its incessant chatter... as well as its prying eyes." and where better to bring him, than one of the few places in teyvat where the two of them are allowed to exist as the aberrations that they are in the eyes of the heavens?

for some time now, they have been swimming in the waters of fontaine; and neuvillette leads his companion upwards a stream where the water changes to take on the distinct shimmer of erinnyes. they swim further, through sinuous underwater tunnels, narrow and dark save for the faint blue glow of the sovereign's essence pulsing from within; and finally, pierce the surface, not outside, but in an underwater cave.

it is a place the dragon has not visited in many centuries. it is all stone, damp with humidity, stalactites decorating its ceiling like accidental ornaments; the walls and ground covered in deep green moss and algae like a plush carpet for any sea creature who would find refuge here. he had been such a creature once. neuvillette turns as he steps into the space, a smile gracing his lips as he holds out his hand for vautrin to take. "this is where i once lived, before furina summoned me to the court of fontaine." while it does look like no human ever set foot here, it would not be difficult for vautrin to observe that something, a creature at the very least, one endowed with cognizance and intelligence, must have stayed here before. neuvillette is a little amazed himself that signs of his presence remain. old tools he had once used to craft makeshift furniture, so loosely fashioned after the old dragons' halls beneath the sea the resemblance is barely perceptible; the furniture in question, of which only an ancient, wood-rotten table and a chest remain; and a few items that clearly had come from outside, treasures collected on the occasion he would leave and swim, other crafted by his own hand as way of decoration. how such items survived the test of time, he is not sure (but suspects pahsiv may have had something to do with it). but he is glad that they did. they can, at the very least, be an amusing testimony to history for vautrin to bear witness to.

two vishaps, who had been laying there, sleeping, shake out of them slumber and, with a rolling grumble akin to a wave unfurling on shore, slip away into the waters, leaving their sovereign and his oceanid companion space.

from the folds of his vest, neuvillette pulls a small wooden box, no bigger than his palm, carefully engraved not with the iudex's seal but with a much more personal signature (the sigil of the hydro dragon himself, a constellation no one but him had devised). "i thought today would be the appropriate occasion to gift you a new one to replace the old. or accompany it, at your preference." inside the box, vautrin will find another hand-crafted medal - this one shaped in the form of something that could equally be an oceanid's fin or his own. the lack of differentiation between the two had been entirely intentional. one and the same - entangled until he no longer would wish them to be. "i do not know that i can ever let go of my regrets for my decisions 400 years ago, but..." neuvillette's voice trails as he carefully pins the medal in place, draconic eyes glowing with all their primordial depths; before lifting a hand and resting it upon his dearest's cheek. "every day i thank the sea for returning you to me."

pahsiv and her vishap companion are meant to arrive any moment to bring them dinner (another surprise he had planned), but not even that knowledge can stop neuvillette from bringing their lips together, giving in at last to the magnetic pull he had so bravely resisted since the two other vishaps had departed. they have time, after all. they have all the time in the world, now. "happy birthday, vautrin."

There is a distinct divide within Vautrin's mind when it comes to the matter of birthdays: for those he loves, it is a day to celebrate them, a chance to convey even a little of the care he has for them, to see them happy; for himself, it is nothing but another day. He could count the number of times he celebrated as an adult on the fingers of one hand - and only then because a certain Melsuine had made sure it did not go unmarked. (To this day, he has no idea how she learned his birthday at all).

So he woke that morning feeling just as he did every other - in fact, truth be told, he had forgotten what the date was. It was only upon discovering that Neuvillette had not only requested his company but also taken the day off that the day's significance finally clicked.

Forgive me, Neuvillette asks, as if Vautrin's chest isn't fit to burst, as if he isn't choked with emotion because after all these years, he remembered. As if the idea of spending some time away from the Palais, some time together, isn't the most perfect way to spend a day that already holds so few fond memories. Though he doesn't speak the words - doesn't need to - there is something in the way his hand slips naturally into the sovereign's, in the warmth of his smile, that says there is nothing to forgive.

And, truly, there is no better way to celebrate than a swim beneath the waves, a return to the home they both now yearn for. Neuvillette leads and he follows, trailing only a little behind - for an oceanid cannot hope to match the speed and dexterity of a dragon - his gaze fixed with eternal awe upon the ethereal glow that surrounds them. In his mind he sees again that flash of history, gifted to him by an ancient sea, of the sovereign before he became the Iudex Neuvillette, of that truly beautiful hydro being in the midst of the ocean-

-and nearly collides with the narrow tunnel wall as it curves sharply around a bend. Thankfully, his lapse of attention seems to go unnoticed, and the slight flush of embarrassment he feels is quickly subdued when they break the surface only moments later into... a cave? Curiosity blooms at once, as he knows for certain that this place must have some significance for Neuvillette to bring him here. That it resides within Erinnyes is his first hint - perhaps Neuvillette wishes to share a piece of that history with him? Or perhaps this is simply a favoured place for him to seek solace from his more human life.

The truth, it appears, is neither and both at the same time. This is where I once lived. He stands, taking in the remnants scattered about this cave - at the signs of the life that had once called it home. His hand slips free of Neuvillette's as he finds himself drawn to the old tools, the hand-crafted treasures. He picks them up, studies them, passes gentle fingers over those that look more fragile. To an outside eye, such items may not seem all that interesting, but to Vautrin they are pieces of Neuvillette, fragments of his life, of who he is, and he will not dismiss a single one.

"I can... feel you." He utters, turning from the scattered treasures with a gentle smile. "In everything here. It's like... it's like when someone has a distinct scent - a perfume they prefer, or a soap they use - and if you catch it on the breeze you think, immediately, of them. Only, with you, it's not a scent, it's... it's just a feeling, here," he places a hand upon his chest, "and it is so... familiar."

It is no wonder the vishaps are drawn here, he thinks - surely they can sense the sovereign within these walls as he can? He wants to ask about the treasures, the tools, wants to explore more of this precious space, but his gaze is caught by the wooden box drawn from within Neuvillette's robes. Ah, he smiles, of course. As if sharing this piece of himself with him was not gift enough.

A new one to replace the old. For the second time that day, he finds himself choked with emotion, for there can be no doubt to what lies within that box, to what he is referring to. He accepts the box with care, lifts the lid with an almost tentative breath. The pin nestled within is a thing of beauty, and he at once knows that this, too, has been crafted by Neuvillette's own hands. "Neuvillette, this is..." The rest of his sentence is stolen away by the sentiment the medal represents, and he can do nothing but watch as Neuvillette carefully pins it in place.

He leans into the hand that settles upon his cheek, lifts his own to catch at the other's wrist as if to hold him in place. "And every day I thank the sea for giving me this life, so that I can share it with you."

There is already a warm swell of contentment, of bliss, that has settled within the captain's chest, and it only surges further upon the touch of their lips. He leans into him, against him, feels that pleasant hum in the back of his mind that only Neuvillette can summon. His lips curve against his into a smile of pure delight, and it is with a gentle sigh that he parts from him. "Thank you, Neuvillette... for bringing me here."

It is his turn to lay a hand upon the other's cheek, his turn to look upon him with a gaze of primordial waters. "For everything."