#this arose from an OC tober prompt but

[snow-system-wol]

It was nice, even if it was impossible in reality. (Something that could've been.)

Ao3

Home was just as S'ria remembered, perfectly unchanged.

It got cold out here sometimes, when the temperature dropped at night, but sitting around the fire was enough to help except for only the coldest times of the year. Warm food helped too. S'ria gratefully took a bowl of soup from his mother as she settled back down across from him. Her hair was a somewhat darker and more saturated color than his (and far curlier besides), but it always had this amber glow to it when the firelight caught it just right.

S'ria waited patiently for her to start eating, gently nudging G'raha to do the same. Normally, the Nunh would be served first, but they must've gotten here late after travel, after others had already eaten and presumably since gone to sleep. It was kind of his mother to stay up and cook for them.

It was halfway through the meal, once S'ria felt fully warmed through, that she got their attention.

"So, Ria, are you going to properly introduce me to this "Raha" of yours?"

Her voice held only a mix of fondness and amusement. S'ria relaxed. The tone, at least, was a good sign. G'raha looked rather the opposite of relaxed and S'ria put his hand over G'raha's where it rested on the ground. It's fine, he tried to convey.

"This is G'raha Tia, my… partner? Yes, that's the best word for us." S'ria realized they'd never had a recent conversation about labels, but – it seemed right. Lovers was not something that needed to be touched upon, and boyfriend just felt…too casual for what this was.

"A G Tribe boy, huh? I assume you two met in Eorzea, not somewhere farther off. What's the story there?"

"Ma, haven't I told you that in my letters?"

She frowned at him. "Yes, but you always leave out so many details." The smile popped back onto her face. "Besides, I want to hear it from G'raha."

G'raha shot S'ria a somewhat panicked look and he just shrugged helplessly. She could be persistent, G'raha may as well. S'ria held back a fond laugh – if she wasn't careful with the whole Allagan research part, she might get a bit more out of G'raha than she expected.

S'ria was anxious as well, but for different reasons than G'raha – they'd talked before this, agreeing to please not tell his mother how dangerous his life was, but it was hard to dance around without lying. She'd… worry so much, if she knew.

"Y-yes, ma'am." (S'ria wasn't sure if anyone had said "ma'am" to her in her entire life before this moment.) "Well, 'tis honestly a rather simple story. My topic of research as a scholar was always the ancient Allagan Empire, you see, and there was a perfect research site in Mor Dhona. Your son lived in the area at the time and was always picking up whatever jobs interested him. We met because he agreed to some material procurement and to helping us with, uh – he was a bit like a bodyguard?"

Well, it wasn't a lie, at least – and it was better than 'volunteered to clear out possibly the most lethal bit of Allagan architecture ever located.'

S'ria's mom gasped delightedly. "Oh, that's very romantic. If S'ria was protecting you, I can see why you fell for him." Her eyes narrowed. "You're able to take care of him too, right?"

G'raha briefly looked terrified. "Of- of course! Archery just wasn't the best thing to use for that situation – and I've since taken up various forms of magic, for both combat and healing."

Her face softened. "...Healing magic, that's good. I'm glad."

G'raha relaxed, apparently having passed whatever test that was.

"Was it love at first sight?"

G'raha seemed to have far less difficulty or hesitation answering that one. "Honestly? Yes."

"And Ria, how long did you keep him waiting again? Three years?"

S'ria's tail bristled. Gods, he couldn't even defend himself here. Technically it was less than one year because he was in suspended sleep. No, that wouldn't do – though there was at least an excuse he could give that was truthful.

"After his work was done at that research site, I… actually didn't see him again until recently." The sense of regret in S'ria's voice was not faked, even if his mother was somewhat in the dark about what caused it.

Her face fell and S'ria immediately wished he had just let her make fun of him and kept the subject light. "Oh, I'm sorry dear – that sounds like a sore subject." She walked around the firepit to collect their empty bowls and pat their clasped hands. "You two are together again now, that's the important part."

"Yes." S'ria and G'raha both spoke at the same time and she smiled at them.

"You both must be exhausted after traveling here. That tent on the end is vacant for you both." That familiar teasing look came into her eyes again. "Do try not to wake anyone up, yes?"

"Ma!?"

"I'm joking, Ria – G'raha seems far too worried about our opinions for that."

S'ria was certain that G'raha's face must be entirely red by now. S'ria had tried to warn him, his mother was very prone to teasing when it came to her son, even if it came from a place of deep love. She would definitely start breaking out embarrassing stories in the morning, S'ria just knew. Ah, but – G'raha would probably genuinely enjoy hearing about his life, wouldn't he? For some reason, S'ria felt as though he hadn't told G'raha nearly enough stories about himself.

S'ria cleared his throat and pulled G'raha to his feet. "Well, we will be going to lie down – to sleep, after traveling halfway across Gyr Abania today. Goodnight, Ma".

She turned to walk to her own tent with a good-natured laugh. "Goodnight Ria, Raha."

G'raha half-stifled a gasp and S'ria squeezed his hand. Once they were sitting down in the tent, S'ria turned and whispered to him.

"Are you all right? Is it okay that she called you that?"

"Y-yes, I. Yes. I am very all right."

"Good."

The tent was small, as most were, and the process of removing their travel-dirtied outerwear would probably have been easier outside. They managed. There wasn't exactly room to stretch out side-by-side – the whole tent was probably smaller in floor space than S'ria's bed back in Revenant's Toll – but it wouldn't be the first time they'd slept in very close quarters. S'ria lay down behind G'raha, wrapping himself around his back and pulling the blanket over them both. Even if G'raha had the occasional performative complaint about their height difference, he was the perfect size to hold like this and they both knew it. Warm, the scent of G'raha mingling with the scent of home, S'ria had no trouble falling asleep.

----------

S'ria's face was already wet with tears when he opened his eyes. It was still night, the faint aether glow around Mor Dhona the only source of light from his window. He didn't think he'd be able to fall back asleep any time soon, but it didn't feel bad. It felt… some sort of relief, to be honest, to be allowed that extra moment with her. The dream felt like a rare moment of kindness from the gods.

S'ria wasn't sure what he believed in, but a part of him would like to think that the conversation meant something, that his mother would've truly liked G'raha if she was still alive to meet him. It was nice to think about.

[belltrigger]

Submastober Day 01!

Inspiration: There's an older OC-tober prompt-list here that I am using.

Title: Thoughts of Youth Prompt: Childhood Word count: 639 Synopsis: Sometimes, when Nobori has time to sit and think, he wonders how often others think about their childhood.

Nobori had a problem. Well, if he was taking the time to count, he actually had quite a few, many of which stemmed from the same core issue. Some were minor concerns, such as his thinning hairline (he was much too young for such a thing… maybe?) Some troubled him due to their impact on others (seriously, it would be grand if Melli would simply take a day off from causing such mischief.) And then there was the all-encompassing desperate need to know who The Man in White from his dreams was.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Nobori believed those were all rather valid things to think about. But the current thing that rolled around his mind was something that troubled him simply for the uncertainty it brought. Did others think about their childhood with any frequency? Was it normal to forget your childhood entirely, did that come with his age (how old was he, exactly?), or was that also lost when he arrived in this land? While he didn't yearn as strongly for the memories of his childhood as he did of his present (past after all the time he's spent here?), there was definitely an ache within him over the loss.

Any attempts to inquire how others felt about their childhood was met with mixed results. Lady Irida was so young comparatively that her childhood was mere years ago. Lord Liam was younger still, and thus his 'memories of childhood' were the moments he was living now. He would never say it, but he thought that perhaps it would be obvious that Lady Calaba would not remember her childhood very well. Discussions with the others led him to believe that it was not quite so odd to lose some recollections of your childhood.

However, his youth was just as cloudy as everything else he tried to think about. Perhaps it was foolish to spend so much time thinking about it, nearly bringing himself to tears with longing when he spent evenings desperately begging himself to remember something. Anything! But every night like that ended the same - he was no better off in terms of rediscovering anything, and was exhausted the next day. It was impossible to hide the circles under his eyes in the aftermath of it, and he did his best to ignore the looks of sympathy from his clan.

His familiarity with Pokemon had to come from somewhere. How far back did his connection with The Man in White go? Had he forgotten anyone else? Did he have passions that couldn't be remembered here, things that the people who lived around him couldn't even begin to fathom? (Silly thoughts also arose sometimes, like how long had this coat been precious to him?)

Thoughts about this topic never truly stopped, much like he never stopped thinking about The Man in White. However, there were many times that he distracted himself, threw himself into his work so as to not become overwhelmed. If he let himself think about how much he missed the Man in White without knowing him, how much he yearned for his past, he would become trapped in his thoughts and perhaps never leave the house that had been so generously bestowed upon him.

Still. He continued to observe those around him, tried to match up his own behaviors with anyone he saw. There were so many things that felt new enough, felt different enough that he could believe that people did remember their childhood. And every time he convinced himself that everything he had was missing, he would spend more time thinking on it.

Childhood memories were precious, he decided. And he would regain them just as he would regain all of his other memories. He would remember The Man in White. He would remember his precious partner with brilliant flames. And he would remember Who He Was.

[lunewell]

OC-Tober day 10

Prompt: Silence

This is the first prompt involving my non-human OC Leigh (:

The prompt list I’m using comes from @oc-growth-and-development

————————————

There was something about the quiet of the night that few, in Leigh’s opinion at least, could fully appreciate.

Humans were always so noisy. She loved them, loved them to absolute bits, but they could do without the endless chatter.

Especially when they were talking over a noise so beautiful as silence.

For within silence laid a million sounds, within the blanket of nothingness was everything; every emotion, every thought, every concept conceivable in the universe.

She had tried explaining it once, to a human woman she had met in the 1800. She had been a he at the time, and when he bought it up, the woman he was with simply nodded, though she obviously didn’t understand.

No one could understand.

No one could understand the sheer feelings that arose every time the world turned dark and the silence fell once more, no one could understand the truth that only arose in a world of quiet, and no human soul could ever understand the beauty of true silence, the one that only arose when death showed its ghostly face.

And then, it was gone.

The sun rose, the birds chirped, the city woke, and the true world was replaced with the lies of noise.

Leigh sighed, and closed her eyes, dreaming off the night. But the silence had disappeared, and it would be a long day before she could meet it once again.