2022-12-12: I'm Okay, You're Okay
- Log: 2022-12-12 I'm Okay, You're Okay
- Cast: Lan Lilac, Hicalu Wilwisp
- Where: Hicalu's Room, Guild Galad
- Date: December 12, 2022
- Summary: After the events of Splendor Solis, Lan cares for Hicalu.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She should have killed Seraph Harmaus properly the first time.
The phrase had repeated over and over in her head like a mantra for most of the journey. It isn't supposed to be Lan's job or place to kill at all. Not unless she has no choice! That's not what being a shaman is supposed to be about!
In the end, it -- HE -- had been a vessel. Throat crunched underneath her heel, and a swirl of freed Ley energy escaping a dying man's body on the steps of the Temple of Yevon.
She doesn't want to think about that now.
She didn't know where to bring Hicalu afterward, but Guild Galad seemed like the only real option. That's where his job and his friends are. The room he's been staying in is warm, at least. Lan has made him tea, and brought him food, but mostly has let him sleep. When she's tired, she crawls in bed next to him like she did when they were children. There's a kind of peace in the quiet, eternal night underground.
Sometime while he was gone, she finished his shawl.
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
At the very least, one of Hicalu's fellow victims was looking out for him, throughout that whole ideal. Tristan refused to leave without Hicalu, and he was so, so grateful.
Back to Guild Galad, Hicalu's room is modest but well-served; there's a bed and a chair that can be pulled up to it, a kitchenette which serves well enough for preparing meals, even a window. (Not much of a view, though...)
Hicalu has never been a sound sleeper. He whimpers and twitches, ears flicking down reflexively on his head; when Lan climbs into the bed, he latches about her, half-asleep as he clings to her bedclothes.
When he wakes properly, he only buries his head more firmly against her shoulder. "Lan," he murmurs, unsettled, "Lan, I'm sorry... he tricked me...!"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Loren had never mentioned it weird that Lan's nightclothes (a chemise and bloomers) cover more than her dayclothes, but he'd definitely thought it. But to be fair 'a long-sleeved t-shirt' covers more skin than Lan's usual duds.
When he whimpers in his sleep she pets his hair until he can sink back into dreams. Lan is tired too, but at least she doesn't have any wounds to speak of. She's treated what she can, and the rest will heal up in time.
Eventually his body has recovered enough for Hicalu to wake. Lan wraps her arms around her brother and pulls him into a hug. "I know. He's a bad cat, and he tricked me once too." But not like this. "I'd thought he was just a weird Seraph. And then ...well it doesn't matter much. As long as you're okay."
As long as they're both okay.
"You were away a while. But I saw that guy - Eleanor's brother, uh... Tristan, right? He was there too. He protected you." Lan heard a little bit while they were sorting out who belonged to who. "And Gwen was there." Gwen, who'd been a big enough deal for a Primarch to get involved. She always did have a way with folks...
She ducks her head a bit to try and look him in the eyes. "You're home safe now. Okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
It's colder in the desert at night than it is during the day. Warm nightclothes are just logical! Hicalu even has sleeves. And... whatever the word for leg sleeves are. Listen, he's never really had much time for pants when shorts are so comfy and easy to wear, he doesn't know these things.
"Y...yeah!" Hicalu sniffs, looking up to Lan. "Tristan was lookin' out for me... I-I dunno what I'd of done if he weren't there... it was really miserable, Lan." His ears wilt, as he says: "everyone was in trouble, and I couldn't do nothin'..."
There's a way he talks about everyone -- else -- being in trouble, despite the fact he was gone for a while himself, which might be a little strange. Perhaps Hicalu is just too preoccupied with the people around him, and not worried enough about himself.
"That... that was Gwen, huh...?" His lips wobble, but he gets to a smile, eventually. "Too bad I didn't meet her in a nicer way... but it's okay," he repeats her reassurance, again. "It's okay now. We're okay now."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
She could have explained it if anyone had bothered to ask! But they'd all had more important things on their minds then, with the Stranger at the forefront of it all. Assyria Base feels like a lifetime ago. If she thinks about it the right way, it really was.
"That was really good of him, huh? When you feel all the way better maybe we can go visit him and say thanks." They can take him a huge basket of muffins or something! No way have the Kleins ever tasted anything as good as Hicalu's cooking. "Eleanor wanted to ask a favor of me anyhow. It'd be a nice visit!"
It doesn't escape her that he was worried about the others, maybe even more than he worriedabout himself. Well, that's Hicalu for you. He's got a big squishy bleeding heart. It's just usually covered up by mortal terror whenever something like this happens. ...Stuff like this shouldn't be happening to him so often! First Xander and then Riley and now being kidnapped... oh no, what if he got cursed at some point?
...She'd probably better not bring that up.
He manages a smile and Lan can't help but bury her face briefly in his hair and give him a good nuzzle. "Mm-hmm! That's Gwen. We're really good friends." Not because the Stranger made them so - because they made themselves so. "But you'll meet her one day soon, for real this time."
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
Cursed... surely not. Who would be so cruel as to curse a young man as sweet as Hicalu?
"Y-yeah!" He agrees, one ear flicking up -- the other one is trapped against the bed, so don't hold it against ol' rightie. "I want to see him again... he's training to be a knight, so it'd be nice if I could talk to the guard, too. They should know he was so... uhh, what's the word... gallamp, right?" That's not the word, Hicalu. You read a romance novel once and you think you know these things, but you don't.
Hicalu's hair is all curly and springy and GREAT for nuzzling.
"Gwen seems nice, too... I mean, considerin' all that was goin' on there." Hicalu smiles, growing more at ease to talk about nicer people. "I'd love to meet her proper sometime! What's her favourite snack?" Baker logic.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"You wanna see him again, huh?" Lan smiles, absolutely not teasing him a single bit. "That's good though, really. Uh..." Gallamp? Gallop, gall... "...Gallant?" she tries, after thinking about it for a bit. Lan, too, has read those romance novels... "That's a pretty knightly word. Like in a fairy tale~"
Well if even one good thing came from this whole mess, maybe it's that Hicalu will have grown closer to somebody. Lan will take even the smallest crumb of a silver lining when bad things happen, okay. She's not proud.
"We've been through a lot together, me and Gwen. She'll definitely be a good friend to you, too." She wants to ask him if he's okay, okay. But he's here and he's alive and he's talking. Shouldn't that be... shouldn't that be enough for her? And making him relive it would be cruel. "And she likes anything that's sugary and probably a little greasy too. Like funnel cake, if you've ever seen it. I had it at a festival once." It's easier to keep talking, distract him a while. See, they're okay.
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
"Oh!" Hicalu laughs it off, ear flicking to one side. "Haha... guess I got it mixed up. I figured it'd be a lamp because of guiding lights and stuff, right?" It's a logical deduction! Also wrong. "But... yeah... he's really cool, Lan!"
He does totally want to see Tristan again. Hicalu's making friends! All on his own! Look at him go!!
Speaking of friends: "Like funnel cake..? Yeah, I ran into it out here!" Hicalu grins, and he is, yes, distracted. "I can whip something up! Maybe make some nice cherry puffs or almond rolls, too..." Thinking, thinking...
"... and I better make some spice cake, too!" Hicalu declares, brightly. "Since you came to save me again... you deserve somethin' nice, right? And... and that's how I can thank you," Hicalu adds, ear wilting, a little. "I know it's never really much, but... b-but I'm real glad you came, Lan. You really saved me..."
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
"But that totally makes sense though!" she protests lightly. Blame Gwen and her five-gella romance novels. Lan had to learn words somewhere.
"What, even cooler than your big sis?" she teases him, and ruffles his ears - though it's kind of a moot point when she yawns so hard her hand stutters. "Hmmmph... kidding, kidding! I'm just really glad you had people you could depend on. I was afraid you were all alone, or worse."
They'll have to go to see Tristan soon and check on him. And Gwen, and... Ugh, she's going to punt that cat into orbit.
But his ears wilt alarmingly. Oh no, what's wrong?! Did he remember something? Do his legs hurt? "Whu-- Hikky, there is nothing on the face of this world that I would like more than to eat spice cake you made for me. Not even fish from the moon, or beer from Adelhyde, or apple pie from that one place whose name I always forget." She wraps her arms around him and hugs him tight. "You're my little brother and I will always, always come and save you. Got it?"
<Pose Tracker> Hicalu Wilwisp has posed.
"N--no, not like that! It's-- aaahhh, he's just cool, okay?!" Yep, someone's got a crush. (It's Hicalu, because it's certainly not going to be Lan.)
"I--I was scared of that, too," he admits. That he was alone. "But it was okay... I was okay. I'm okay," he repeats, present tense, and smiles.
But -- hug! Hicalu disappears in Lan's arms, and buries himself there, clutching tightly to her. (It wouldn't be the first time.) "G-got it!" He insists, a little more bravely. "Nothing's gonna stand in your way! B-but, I'll try not to need rescuing too much..." Given his track record, that might be hard, but he can TRY.
"And we'll get that spice cake as soon as the bakery opens, okay? Master Erica won't mind if I borrow the ovens for a moment!" He might need to make more spice cake, but that's hardly a punishment.
Something like cake... it's how he can support them.