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A gleaner is trained and hardened to endure near any weather. For the sake of retrieving knowledge across the star, being able to survive in all of her diverse environs was a necessity.
A gleaner is trained to withstand near all weather , but every gleaner had their preferred places to go.
For Erenville, it was the colder climes. The velvet that covered his limbs and parts of his body, the fur of his ears– it all worked to keep him warm, especially when he wrapped up his head to keep the chill out.
In the hotter climes, Erenvile… struggled. His ears helped him discard body heat, but his fur and velvet… it trapped heat. Covering up with light clothing helped, but in hotter climes the shade was always preferred if Erenville had a choice.
This was no different, regardless of his company.
“Aaah, come now, Erenville. Are you resigned to sulk in the shade all day?”
Erenville did not roll his eyes, but the tip of his ear flicked. He gave a patient smile to Jet, another rava viera who, along with the Warrior of Light, and others gleaners, were ‘enjoying’ a day on the beaches of Costa del Sol. On the Forum’s and Warrior’s gil, no less. Enjoying, if that was what one called joy to be out in the sizzling heat, high humidity, and burning sands.
“You call it sulking, Jet,” Erenville shrugged, “and I call it lounging. Were we not meant to be relaxing? I am doing just that.”
“You are not even with the others under an umbrella or tent.” Jet sniffed, shoving her hands onto her shapely hips.
Erenville was not moved and leaned back on his arms. The white linens he was wearing slid just a bit off his shoulder, and he felt himself sink a bit into the sands as a wisp of sea air caressed his sweaty skin.
“The breeze is better here,” he said before cracking a yawn. The heat was also making him tired… probably needed some water… but that would mean moving from the shade and breeze…
Jet noticed Erenville’s listlessness, and with a wave of her hand, magicked a flask of water. “At least drink something. Are you not a gleaner? You should know better.”
Honestly, this was true. But Erenvile’s mind was elsewhere, and the heat wasn’t helping. Where he truly could not put it to words, but his legs twitched to move, his eyes and ears craved to be pushed to use to scan horizons and pick up on minute telegraphs of life.
No... he could put it to words. He wanted… to be working.
But Erenville knew that such workaholism was to his detriment. He knew this, he fought the Forum for this, and yet he had no practice in relaxation. He definitely had no practice in shared relaxation.
All of this had coalesced into one miserable funk of a mood he found himself in.
“... thank you,” Erenville grudgingly took Jet’s offering, feeling much like a kit under scrutiny. However, once his hands gripped the flask’s neck, he found his wrist within a vice grip in the shape of Jet’s other hand.
The viera flashed a victorious grin. Erenville’s ears flopped flat in sudden dread.
“Tun! I got him!”
The ground shook as an incoming, very naked, Hrothgar with white fur and deep blue patterns rushed over and scooped Erenville up and over his shoulder. Erenville did not yelp.
“What is thi–! No, there is no need for this!”
Jet barked out playful, albeit cruel, laughter as, along with the one named Tun, began to pull and tug away at Erenville’s white linens. Jet discarded her own beachwear and the three of them barrelled into the cresting waves.
The sudden submersion into the sea shocked Erenville out of the heat dizziness, as well as feeling that shock throughout his body, caressing him from toes to thighs to the tips of his ears. It felt so so good… such a relief….
… perhaps he had been sulking a bit. Too much inside his own head. He’d had much on his mind since the Final Days that he could admit he had not been himself lately. Being reclusive was in his nature, but not completely anti-social.
Erenville smiled. Okay, they win.
He began to swim up to get air back, only for Tun to swim underneath him. The Hrothgar held fast to Erenvile’s thighs against his shoulders as they both crested, and Erenville was now the owner of one furry sea mount.
As Erenville shook his head of water, he began to hear clapping and cheers of other gleaners who beheld the whole scene, and ducked his head into his neck. Between the extra attention and his sudden nudity (not so much the nudity itself), Erenville was taken aback. Especially with the attention being so full of gratitude.
“Thank you, Erenville!”
“Thank you!”
“Cheer up!”
“Yeah git yer head out cha arse!”
Jet, who was treading water besides the two, spotted Erenville’s confusion. She slapped his calf to grab his attention.
“The Warrior told me you were the one who was advocating for the Gleaners well before she stepped in. It is due to your moxie that they can enjoy paid time in leisure.”
Tun nodded, giving a hardy squeeze to the thighs upon his shoulders. “That is also the way of it as I was told. I know not what weighs on your mind, Erenville, but do know you are not alone. Your comrades, and us, will surely not allow it.”
A smile crept across Erenville’s face. Neither of these two were Gleaner. One was a botanist and the other a hunter and fighting fanatic. And yet they knew enough, had heard enough from others about him, to concoct this brief but explosive plan to tug him out into the sunlight before an audience of his cheery peers. They did this with nothing expected in return. It warmed his heart and humbled his spirit.
He laid a hand atop Tun’s pale blonde mane and ruffled right behind the ears where he remembered most hrothgar liked. The vibrating purr through his legs and up his spine was a delightful response.
“Thank you.”
—------------
“Where did you put my linens?”
—------------
When Tun and Jet had made their getaway earlier, Erenville knew that he had been doomed to walk about naked for the remainder of the day. He sighed long and haggardly, but it did feel much better now that the sun was lower and pink, and the breeze was a bit stronger and able to whip about his sea-soaked skin. It was almost too drastic a change, truth be told.
Erenville wished that, at least, he had a towel to stave off a few chills. Or something to sit on instead of the bare sand. He clicked his tongue to his teeth.
“Ha ha!! Erenviiille, that you?!”
Erenville turned, and spotted Eiika, the largest viera he’d ever met– skin like the midnight skies, pale eyes in a sea of shiny black, and loc'd hair the shade of crushed amethyst. He was apparently the Warrior’s oldest friend, but Erenville knew and remembered him from his efforts prior to the Final Days, assisting Erenville and many other gleaners, and knew his heart was about as large as he was tall.
Erenville wet his lips. He also remembered how delightful his voice had been, supportive and jolly, low and encouraging, whispers of mirth, tongue-curls of teasing… Eiika had made Erenville feel like an adolescent following dotingly behind his Keeper, and he had not disliked that.
He would have felt suddenly bashful were he not irritated and trying to hide it.
“Did Tun and Jet getcha?” Eiika snickered, and that irritation evaporated along with what little fortifications Erenville had for his voice.
Erenville’s ears resisted the urge to pull back and visually show his placidity. He shrugged instead. “Indeed.”
“We can’t be havin’ tha Ver of th’hour half shakin’ in his velvet. Here ya go–”
“W-wait–”
“--Ah, no no I insis’.”
And there in Eiika’s hand was the towel that he had just been wearing about his waist, rendering the other as bare as Erenville was. Erenville snapped his eye level up to avoid staring where his mouth suddenly craved to be against. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from licking his lips.
Erenville’s silence was taken as acceptance and Eiika gently pressed the towel into one of Erenville’s palms, re-cupping the other’s hand with a pat to his fist.
“I have a towel ba’ there where ya out here with nothin’. Sun’s only pitchin’ lowah and lowah. Unless ya plan on headin’ to the docks. Everyin’one else is headin’ on down there. I plan on takin’ one last wade in them waters first. Only a wade, mind ya– can’t be lettin’ high tide whisk me away.”
Erenvile snickered, because nothing could whisk away someone of your size and you know it , hiding his grin behind the towel in his grip, and immediately regretted the impulse. Gods, Eiika’s smell was drenched in the fabric, and it was a carnally delightful one, making Erenville’s mouth water. His ears quaked as he snuck in another whiff. He was glad the towel was draping over his front.
Eiika’s lips curled just a bit more, and Erenville knew he’d been found yearning. And yet, he found he did not care. Erenville peered up through his lashes, and bought the towel flush against his nose, fully displaying his enjoyment of his scent.
Eiika purred. “Ya not movin’.”
Erenville’s brow quirked up. “Neither are you.”
“Yeeah. Ya fixin’ to be elsewhere then?”
“Nowhere in particular, but not yet to the docks. Do you have any suggestions? I have learned that I am not good at relaxing.”
Eiika’s silvery eyes glittered, then smoldered, and Erenville couldn’t suppress how his cheeks squeezed a bit more at his excitement. “Thaaaat sooo? I migh’ have myself an idea or three. Yah won’t be needin’ a towel where we’re goin…”
“No, I suppose I won’t.”
Eiika stretched out a clawed hand, and Erenville allowed himself to be guided back to the sea, dropping the towel to the sands.
“... but really, need me ta give Jet and Tun a-talkin’ to? Tun especially– he too ol’ f’that.”
Erenville shook his head, his smile still high into his eyes. “No no, but thank you, Eiika. It is alright.”
“Hnm, thank you for lettin’ me have ya to myself for a moment… ya were hard t’get to today, with all the sulkin’ I heard ya doin’. Had I known ya were in somma sorts, I woulda come to ya sooner.”
“Well, now you have catching up to do. And I am sure that will take several more moments.”
Eiika laced their claws together, his larger fingers splaying Erenville’s wide. “You tempt.”
Erenville squeezed their joined hands, pressing his own claws into the top flesh of Eiika’s hand. A tiny challenge. A small shove. Because this… this was fun. This small little private dance of words and gestures. An encroaching play fight that was surely to end in a bout of thorough roughhousing.
“I invite.”
Eiika’s grin turned over into a brilliant flash of teeth, his canines flashing just so in the twilight. Erenville shuddered in delight.
“I accept.”
Erenville was scooped up a second time that day and rushed the rest of the way to the waters. The glee and lightness in his heart matched the accolades rightly earned by him.