electrod | IC INBOX; AEF

[The days were getting colder and Rude noticed he was getting slower. It irritated him some days, made him snap his teeth at people as if he were going to bite them but at the last second reigned it in. Other days it just made him feel tired and groggy, slow to think things through and slow to move about physically. He found himself wanting to either stay indoors more and warm himself with a fire or magical heater, or head out to the Wildes to enjoy the warmer weather out there. He was always warned how dangerous that was for a dragon though and he was getting tired of it.

One evening he came home just before sunset and all he wanted to do was take a warm shower and crawl under a set of blankets for the night. Except it turned out the sigil on the magitek water heater had faded and there was no hot water for the night. If it had been a normal heater he could have fixed it but no he was stuck in this world without magic and technology that only a witch could fix. He let out a soft growl of a sigh and headed to his room.

Only to find all his blankets missing. His fists clenched. And then relaxed quickly. He was too tired to care. At least he knew where to find them. It was his fault for letting it go on for so long that they had all disappeared over the week anyway. He usually went to gather his things back out of Reno's room more often, he'd just been too cold to care lately.

When he saw the warm, inviting nest created on Reno's bed the dragon was suddenly very interested in laying down. A faint part of him knew it was a bad idea (he would never want to get back up) but he did it anyway, slipping beneath the warm blankets and curling up in the middle of the nest. He nuzzled into it to claim it for his own. New lair acquired, he promptly hooked his wing claws into the blankets, wrapped himself up in them, and fell asleep on his hoard of warm blankets and discarded feathers.]

[On the day of the holiday, a plate of homemade cookies and a sample of herbal tea mysteriously appears on his doorstep. The wrapping is decorated with a fresh lily flower (actually a Fae magic product, designed to fade away from existence in a few hours) and a ribbon. The attached handwritten note reads as follows:]

Happy Modranicht! Let’s have another great year here in Aefenglom!

M⚜️

Rude was feeling a lot of emotions right now and he wasn't attempting to hide any of them from Reno these days. The week after the showdown with the Evergreen Circle saw Rude keeping a close eye on his partner. He insisted that Reno stay home until he was fully healed from the effects of the cwyld infection he had endured at the hands of the crazy cult. The boiling plethora of emotions were ever constant, keeping them company throughout the week.

Rude was outraged at the stupidity of his partner. He had been upset, rightly so, at Reno for getting so involved with that mess that he'd ended up brainwashed for crying out loud. More so, however, the large Turk had been angry at the people in the cult that had forced this onto his friend and had taken it out on them during the final confrontation as much as possible. But now that was over and all Rude has was his raw emotions to deal with. It was hard to hold back; he had so many and on top of that his dragon instincts were causing him to want to hoard protectively over his partner and keep him safe from every possible harm the damn world could throw at him.

All the rage and anger really led back to one thing though: he was concerned with Reno's well being. He just wanted to keep Reno safe and watch him heal. He loved the reckless redhead so much but it was hard to watch Reno be Reno and want to protect him at the same time sometimes. That worry and concern peaked every time Reno passed by the front door to the point that even Rude was beginning to feel exhausted by his own over-protectiveness for Reno. He felt guilt for that, too, but also relief every time Reno simply headed to another part of the apartment with not even a glance at the possible escape from his lockdown.

And then there was the doubt. Rude tried not to think about it, knew that it wasn't right, but he had been surprised to find that Reno had managed to keep the cwyld infection from him for so long. It made sense considering how Reno had done his best to keep his distance and never letting Rude touch him for long moments, always moving away with swift little sidesteps. Hiding it from him. It had...hurt.

Half a month spent away from his partner. Their Bond closed off almost completely, a secret being kept by Reno, and no touch between them for so long. Rude couldn't help but wonder what was wrong. (What had he done wrong? Why had Reno separated from him? Had it fallen apart so quickly between them? Were they...done already?)

He kept it to himself then. Now he let all his emotions ping straight across their Bond openly. Anger, frustration, worry and concern, guilt...the lingering pain of doubt. He was angry at Reno, certainly, but more so himself for letting his partner down. Frustrated that he couldn't do more, even now as he took care of Reno. Worry and concern that had gnawed away at him while he watched Reno grow more and more distant to keep his secret, concern now over the smaller man's health because he had let the infection fester so long. Guilt for not seeing it sooner, not helping Reno keep his head on straight. The doubt...the lingering feelings of how it had hurt to be kept away. He was still wary to touch Reno and ask for that comfort. That feeling of closeness. To be assured they were--

His mixed feelings changed by the hour. He wasn't sure if he wanted to stew in them himself or was more keen to force Reno to experience them now that he was cornered in the apartment with him. He couldn't focus on just one either way. He'd feel guilt for them as he cycled through the bad ones, and in a sense sort of relieved when he settled into the more warm bits like concern and happiness that Reno was all right. He wanted to caress Reno and hold him and tell him it'd be okay, like a stupid worrywart or something; but held off, forcefully keeping an eye on Reno and pretending that he was fine playing hard-ass enforcer. That he could keep Reno locked in this apartment for who knew how long as if it were the right thing to do.

He knew better. He just didn't want to think about it yet.

Hi, grumpy~
It's Aerith. You're okay, right?

I need to ask you something!

sometime in November

Modranicht gift

after the Salvation of Geardagas: Part II event (latter half of February) 1/2

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