#I'm like 99% sure you're going to understand the symbolism of his name choice right off the bat 8D

[phoenix-flamed]

She waited for him in his room, a large box sitting beside her on the table. In the past it had been easier to make him gifts, but Anabella tried nonetheless. “Merry Starlight, Miles.” And she nudged the box closer to him; quiet noises escaped from the holes she had made into the box’s walls. Inside the box was a chocobo chick in white colour.

“I had to think of you and your companion when I saw it. It is friendly and likes to be pet,” she told him and thinking back on his loyal beast had pushed the urge to give him the chance of a new bond — besides it was not as if she wanted to take care of it or even sell it. Where she had even gotten the chick from, Anabella would never tell.

For some odd reason, the thought of Anabella showing up in his room for a change had never crossed his mind -- leading to the man stopping just beyond the threshold. Not only did his expression make plain just how surprised he was to see her, but if that wasn't enough, he very nearly jumped because of it.

Miles was fixing to curiously inquire as to whether or not she needed help with something, but that same curiosity was turned to the box instead. The holes in the sides of the box already implied that its contents were alive, but those tiny little sounds...

The littlest of cheeps. He knew what it was before her explanation, and before he had lifted the lid from it, yet the sight of the chocobo chick -- its plumage the same snowy white as House Rosfield's former royal chocobos -- still drew a sharp gasp from him.

"..Eleftherios..." His beloved companion had been cut down so abruptly right in front of him at Phoenix Gate, and it was only now that he realized that he had never stopped to truly grieve that loss either. Of course the Cursebreaker knew full well that this baby was very much not Eleftherios, and he would neither seek to replace his old friend with this one, nor try to force this one to grow up to be similar to Eleftherios. No, he would love him as he was, whoever that ended up being.

With the same care and tenderness that he had once upon a time lifted and held their sons with when they were infants, Miles picked the chick up from its temporary home and held him close to his chest. His eyes squeezed shut in an effort to hold back the tears that burned at the corners of them.

"Hello there, my new friend," Miles spoke warmly to the cheeping chick while he began to stroke along the bird's downy head. "Hmm... What do you think of the name "Elpis", little one?"

When the man's gaze lifted back to his unexpected visitor, that same warmth was offered to her through his smile and his eyes -- even if the latter did still glisten with a few tears. "Thank you, Ana. He's perfect."

@creatrix-mea