#SidRino

[jackidy]

FFXIVWrite Prompt 4: Off The Hook

Pairing: SidurguWOL (Sidurgu/Rino) Characters: Sidurgu Orl, NB!Vie'ra WOL (Rino Benitoki), Rielle de Cauignont Warnings: End of Shadowbringers spoilers, lvl 70 DRK job quest spoilers Rating: T Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV

Summary: "She's not here anymore, is she?"

Any other time Rino would have laughed and say Rielle was right there, ignore the questions relating to the void parasite in its entirety. Whatever had happened between Gyr Albania and now, had certainly opened Rino up to being more open about it all.

"No… Not anymore."

[AO3]

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They seem different now, older and yet lighter, Sidurgu content with simply just watching Kiva - no, Rino, they were Rino now - as they devoured the food of the forgotten knight. 

Odd, really, they had always seemed to hate the 'bland' food of Coerthas and yet the other was eating it like it had been years not weeks since they were both last in Ishgard. 

"You know its rude to stare." 

It's not even the warrior of light who calls him out on it, both au ra and viera looking at Rielle, their ward, as she sat opposite them both seemingly observing them. He almost missed when she was quieter and less likely to point these things out. 

" I'm not star-" 

"You can ask abou-" 

They both pause, both staring at one another with surprise before Rino at least laughs a little, giving him that all too familiar reserved smile. "You can ask about it." 

He reaches for their face, gloved hand brushing against the light scales that decorated their cheeks. They used to be black, just like his, Rino having once commented that they hadn't always been that way. A throwaway remark that perhaps the other hadn't expected him to remember. 

"She's not here anymore, is she?" 

Any other time Rino would have laughed and say Rielle was right there, ignore the questions relating to the void parasite in its entirety. Whatever had happened between Gyr Albania and now, had certainly opened Rino up to being more open about it all. 

"No… Not anymore." They sound almost sad, leaning into Sidurgu's touch, catching the auri man off guard. Affection between them was never this public, never this open, both too shy about it to dare. 

"I feel emptier." Rino continues with a sigh but he can tell they're conflicted about it, doubting the feeling of that emotion in its entirety. "Zem was with me for over 13 years, everything is just silent now." 

"Is that not a good thing? You…" 

Compliments are still difficult, especially ones like this. It's too forward to state they now look as they always did to him, beautiful and content, finally relaxed and less akin to carrying the weighted fate of not just this star on their shoulders. As ironic as that statement seemed to be. 

"It is!" Rino suddenly exclaims, hands up in front of their chest in mock surrender and jolting away from him before curling in on themselves. As if to be louder than a murmur was a crime in this otherwise busy inn. "It is, it's just a change I'm not yet accustomed to." 

Sid frowns as Rino stares at their hands, noting the bow on their back as opposed to the usual tome at their hip and he inwardly swears at his lack of observation. The change was more than just a loss of a voidsent, could Rino even still summon as they did before, the constant presence of the bow seemed to state otherwise. 

"Y'shtola got me in contact with her sister, they're both looking into what I lost and what can be recovered." 

The answer is unknown then, at least for now, silence stretching between them but it's not stilted now at least, comfortable as it had always been. "I have to make my way to Gridania in a few days." 

That makes Sidurgu pause. The last time they had ventured south to the Shroud it had gone badly, the viera in a constant state of discomfort until they've crossed the border once more and the other had let out a heavy sigh and complained of elementals. 

"Do you want-" 

"We're going with you." 

Rielle cuts him off, smiling in that coy way she does when she's up to something - the one he can read clearly and then one Rino has always fallen for. "I would love to hear more about where you've been whilst he was worrying." 

She turns more and more into Fray with each day, Sidurgu folding his arms and sighing as Rino and Rielle talked. 

To Gridania it is then.