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The day's events had gone so, so quickly. Therian barely had a moment to breath between the poisoning, the capture, then running and running and everyone just... everyone disappearing. Shtola... Thancred.. Minfillia running back, insisting the he just-- He tugs the borrowed coat closer. Nose burying down into the collar to combat the cold as he steps out of the intercessory.
The bitter wind helps a little to force his mind to focus as he walks up the steps to the battlements. Sitting the evening through with Raelinn, Tataru and Alphinaud had been doing little for his mood with everything that was whirling through his head. Raelinn was never much to talk about his emotions to. He certainly wasn't going to talk to the brooding runt... and Tataru... He passes the guards posted to the top of the battlements without a word, walking until he's alone.
Therian brushes the snow from one of the ledges before he leans on it. It pushes the chill into his hands. Settling into his bones. He sighs to himself. If he'd just done something different then... then what? It would have done worse to kill them. That would have just made it harder to clear their names. It would have made.... Just what happened back in the tunnels? Minfillia was called by the damned goddess and just... she never came out. They hadn't... He hadn't had a chance to talk to them before...
His head bows low, eyes hardly focused on the dark horizon of the Coerthan night. Night crawls by in ilms. With every inch of time passing, the wind picks up as it begins to snow. Therian hardly notices. The heat long leaving his body by the time someone comes to find him.
A sharp inhale. Body jerking when something touches his shoulders. Therian grips his hands tight. The crackle of a flame between his icy fingers for a moment only to let it fall.
"Calm down, my friend. It's only me," Haurchefant speaks in soft tones. He settles a heavy woolen blanket around Therian's shoulders. A guantleted hand brushes the long hair back from his face, the cool leather brushes the frozen tears from his cheek. "You'll freeze if you remain out overlong Therian."
Therian brushes the hand away. Were it not already pink from the weather, he'd have blushed. Despite himself, he tugs the blanket closer. Only now realizing how much he is shivering. He leans still against the ledge. Eyes scanning the horizon. A refusal to look at the man he'd been spending so much time with despite how much he told himself he despised the company. "What do you want Haurchefant?"
"Merely to check on you." Haurchefant lets his hand be brushed away. Instead, he leans beside Therian. His arm brushes against the other man's without being pulled away from. He smiles slightly. "You hold yourself together well enough in company, but you did not come across as yourself earlier... " There's a slight pause. Consideration. "You will find your companions, you know."
Ecca grits his teeth. He wants to bite and claw and just do something... Say something scathing to make himself feel better. Hollow words is all Haurchefant offered. That's how he felt when he spoke those words earlier. That's how he felt about them now. He doesn't do anything, unclenching his jaw and letting his body move on it's own.
Haurchefant blinks at the weight pressing into his side. Therian leans into him. It hurt to see his friend in such a state. He wraps his arm around Therian's shoulder, tugging the man closer. "Will you come in from the cold?"
Therian grunts in response. He doesn't stop himself from being guided away from the ledge, down the battlement steps and into the warmth of the empty chamber that made up the office and war room for the encampment.
Haurchefant sits Therian down in a seat beside the fire. He begins to step away as he speaks, "Remain here. I will be right back with--" He stops. Therian's hand grips his wrist. Turning back, his brows furrow to the shaking shoulders, the bowed head. "Therian?"
Therian tugs on Haurchefant's wrist with both hands now. The numbness the cold had been keeping at bay in his chest threatening to spill over. Aching and feverish. The tears burn down his cheeks. Blurry. Haurchefant is blurry crouching in front of him.
"Therian, I'm here." Haurchefant holds his hands open. He catches a hold of the taller Elezen as wrenching sobs break free of their box. Arms wrap tight, pulling him close. A hand down the back then up. Firm and gentle. He speaks in soft tones again.
Therian grips at the chains of the armor, giving little care for how it feels burying his face into the covered neck. It hurts. The ache of losing family again. A clawing, aching hole that never goes away. Only ripped open again with all the loss. Gone. They were all gone. He just couldn't... "Everyone.. gone... They're gone.."
Haurchefant can feel a vice tightening on his heart. Oh how he ached for his friend. If all he could do was get him to acknowledge that it wasn't all... He presses a kiss to Therian's temple. "You're not alone. I'm here with you."
That only seems to get him to cry harder. Therian doesn't realize he's been moved until the tears have started to lessen. Senses coming back. Sitting now in the warrior's lap as he realizes. He goes to push away only to be tugged close. He speaks with a hoarse voice, "I'm fine."
"You don't have to be," Haurchefant murmurs. He allows Therian to pull back enough. The blue is bright in those bloodshot eyes. A strange beauty to think about. He sighs.
Therian can't bring himself to glare at Haurchefant. It hurt too much to try and put up that wall. He just wanted it all to go away. There were easy ways to do that. This would be the easiest. His hand grips into the collar of the warrior's armor. A tug and he's pressing their lips together.
Kissing Haurchefant felt warm the few times he's done it in the past. Now was no different, the uncomfortable fluttering in his stomache. A warmth that curled down his limbs. His hand grips tighter into the armor when kissed back. The discomfort tightening up his limbs as the lead is taken from him. He doesn't stop it. He doesn't want to. "Mm."
Haurchefant leans Therian back. A hand slides behind his neck, holding him there. Drawing one kiss into another. And another. Slow and languid. Lips part in a pant of breath that he takes advantage of. A slip of tongue. The lovely sounds of the whimpering mage in his lap. If this is what he wanted.
Therian tugs away from the kiss. The back of his hand covers his mouth. Eyes widen, head tilting back. Haurchefant leans right into his neck. Gentle kisses that turn into rough nips. Pulling more lovely little whines from him. "Th-that nngh... That's en-enough!"
"Are you sure," Haurchefant pulls back just a little.
That same knowing smile. Something that irked Therian to no end. Crafty men and their manipulative...
"No," Therian looks away. The redness in his cheeks couldn't be blamed on the cold. "Just... not... not here."
Haurchefant's smile turns into a grin. "Very well, my friend. We'll take this somewhere more private."
Therian grips onto Haurchefant's shoulders as he's suddenly lifted. The man holding him like he weighed nothing at all. "I-I can.... Put me down!"
Haurchefant chuckles. He gives Therian a squeeze before letting him take to his own feet. But he claims his hand before the mage can decide to run and push him away again, change his finicky mind as he was want to do. "Come, I know just the place."
Ecca only gets redder. He lets himself be led from the warmth of the building out into the cold to get to the private quarters of the Commander.
