grayson and era
O infamous city, full of turmoil, I'm terrified at your collapse
The kings, they shudder with horror, their faces distorted with fear
Endless empires gently brushed away in the blink of an eye
All Creation, wilted.
Grayson hated himself. Especially now after seeing his sister in the flesh, how could he just leave her like that? He felt just like his mother, an abandon and he didn’t quite know how to deal with that. So he did the only thing he felt like he could do, he stopped looking at her and stared into the fire. Because looking at her made everything seem so much more real. But it was a rude gesture, it may not have looked like it but that’s what he felt like it was, so awkwardly he stole another glance at her. When his eyes met her she had already picked up Era and curled her in her arms and buried her face in her fur. Good, he thought, she hadn’t noticed but looking at her now shame began to ooze up inside him spreading wildly like an infection. Relentlessly coursing through his body. So he looked away, again and gazed blankly into the fire. Nothing in particular came to mind, it was as if his feelings had taken hold and rode him around like a pony and he just rode it because the only option was to fall if he let go. The last thing Grayson wanted to do was fall.
He didn’t notice when she put Era back down and the little dog came padding back over to him. He didn’t notice her saying anything either. He just continued to stare into the fire, watching the flames dance around like the emotions inside him. It wasn’t until he felt the tug of hands on his arm that he was brought back. He looked up and saw Saffron, his face softened as he let her guide him up and out of his chair. She pulled him into her arms but he felt like he fell into them more than anything. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He breathed in her scent as he buried his head into his shoulder. And for a brief moment he shuddered. He didn’t feel the awkwardness at all. He felt like every single thing he’d been worried about for the last few days just disappear, swallowed up into nothingness. And for once he felt like he was home, truly home. And he never wanted to let that go.
Eventually she pulls away from him, and he looked into her eyes. He half smiles as he touches her hair. “Short hair looks good on you Saff.” And then she, like everyone else, asks about his adventure. So he smirks that tawny boy smirk and pulls up another chair next to his. His hand gently waves towards it, offering it to her before sitting back down in his. He pulls his left leg over the right as he sinks back into his chair, one arm hanging off the edge the other one balled up in his fist under his chin. And just like that it was as if she breathed her brightness right into him and that became infectious. It was stronger than the shame. “It was interesting this time, I don’t really know where to begin. And no, there were no girls. “ Grayson said with a humorous smile has he tossed his auburn hair out of his eyes. He was due for a cut it had gotten overgrown and it looked like a red-brown mop on his head, he’d have to take care of that soon.
Era, who was on the floor, came and sat next to him, her back resting against the leg of his oversized chair. “Tell her about the mermaids.” insisted Era. Grayson smiled and shook his head, “No, I think we should go earlier in the game, when we met that Sloane fellow.” Era scuffed slightly but quieted down quickly. “So, we were up in some mountains out somewhere really fricken far away, not entirely sure where. But we met this kid, he wasn’t much younger them me, but him and his familiar were in a bit of trouble. They lived somewhere up the mountain but had lost their food supply and it was still a few days to wherever they lived and the poor kid didn’t really have any survival skills so we kind of banded together and went to his little village together. Well, when we got there he decided he wanted to join me seeing as there wasn’t much for him there anyways. So for most of the journey he joined us, we went to some inactive volcano, did a little bit of sailing, met a mermaid, and let me tell you they are uglier than you think, at least she was. We spent most nights under the stars, in some cave, or under some makeshift tent. The occasionally person would let us into their house and feed us. We found the ruins to some castle, fought off a few monsters, and just generally explored. I mean that’s basically all we did this whole time. A couple of kids getting into as much trouble as possible, at least that what some woman said.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “We became pretty good friends I think, when I decided to come back here I invited him to come with but he said he was going to return to his village with his dad, he said something about how he’d been gone to long and he was probably getting worried. Which was cool and all, it was just weird because he never really mentioned his dad before. He said maybe sometime soon we’d meet up again so I’m kind of looking forward to that.” Grayson shrugged, “I mean I learned a lot about myself, I feel like I’m always looking for mom wherever I go and I always get so disappointed when I come back because it’s just like she’s disappeared.”
Grayson got quite for a minute, He didn’t think he’d ever mentioned about looking for his mother on his trips and he began to feel pretty awkward. After all it was the whole point, but he made it seem more like a side note. Quickly he tried to break the silence, “Anyways, what about you? What have you been up to? ” He asked, genuinely curious now, It wasn’t like Grayson hadn’t done this before and it was basically the same thing, plus he didn’t want the attention on him anymore. He was done talking about it, he could go into more detail but even then there really wasn’t much else to tell. And it wasn’t like he took much interest in what his sister did as a child because all he wanted to do was learn how to fight, anything else had been pointless, well, except learning how to read. And then he thought about how he really didn’t know much about his sister after all.
And then the shame came swimming back inside him, seeding, growing, and suffocating him. The faintest frown settled on his lips as he uncomfortably shifted in his chair.
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