Private - Three Musketeers Revisited

Walking through Brisshal, the Faerin looked at the lively trees. A weak smile covered his face, as that newbie area was pretty much like his own sweet home at this point. Even after the incident, Hanno didn't lose the habit of visiting Brisshal constantly. He had good memories from this place, he liked the ambient of the forest and it's fruits and he also had a companion that had a workshop in Honeyhome village, that he frequently visited to help out or to just give his greetings.

But today the reason for his visit to Brisshal was different, and of extremely importance. The Faerin opened his UI, that showed a group chat between the Trio. He looked at it intently, with a neutral expression... At first he was feeling very happy about the chance of meeting up his friend, but for some reason his heart was shaken, and his mind filled him with a certain insecurity.

'He won't run away from me again, will he?'

It took a long time to the Faerin understand completely how Rivers was feeling about what happened, and now that he knew he had the frightening feeling that his friend would once again run away from him.

He shook his head, vainly trying to erase those feelings, and with a sigh, Hanno decided that he would probably only be able to get over that when he actually see Rivers. 'It has been a while since I last actually talked to Aristides too, huh...' He pondered, they still exchanged a few messages, but nothing more than that.

With the bad thoughts and feelings going through Hanno's heart, the Shield stared at him and slapped his head making a very loud slap sound. "OUCH- What was that for?!" The Faerin looked at his Gargantuan Buddy, that just looked back at him with a concerned expression, making Hanno sigh lightly and look forward again. "Don't worry, I'm fine." He nodded. "Everything will be fine."

The Shield gave an positive look at the Faerin, patting his shoulder with a tentacle that made Hanno chuckle weakly. "Okay Mr Worried, thank you for your concern." Hanno smiled at the Shield, that curled it's tentacles finally satisfied.

When Hanno finally reached Honeyhome Village, he strolled to the Inn and got himself a table close to the wall, making sure it had enough seats for everyone. As always the Faerin got to his destination earlier than needed, so he just took his time to look outside of the window, taking a deep breath. It was the same view he saw on the first time they shared a table in this same Inn.

The Faerin crossed his arms and placed them on the table, resting his head on them and closing his eyes. Only raising his head and opening his eyes when he heard the sound of footsteps getting close...

@Rivers Asteire @Aristides

 

Aristides made a note to himself to invest in a mount.

The walk from Astorea to Brisshal wasn't unpleasant, naturally it was quite beautiful, but making the trek twice within an unexpectedly short amount of time by foot wasn't the most interesting way to waste a few hours. A horse would make it go much faster. Perhaps even enjoyable. Friends would probably also make it a more bearable experience but...well, this trip was hopefully going to help with that part. As of right now the only thing he had to converse with was Reva, the useless miniature Titanius that occasionally spawned right on top of him, scarring the living daylights out of him, or kept spooking him with creepy inhuman noises that escaped from its mouth-less, writhing mass of flesh and tentacles.

Reva was not a substitute for friends. At least she kept him from breaking down in the middle of the huge, empty forest from fear of being alone. What a lovely thought.

Finally, after exactly too much time avoiding mobs to get there as quickly as possible, the telltale scent of honey made Aristides sigh in relief. Honeyhome village hadn't changed since he'd last seen it. Same little town, full of little people, every day like the one before. Their church was much more in-tact still than the ones he'd been working on in Astorea. Maybe he should visit so he could make out some minute stone-work and statues to help him better do repairs back there. For now, though, more important things required his attention. He went right up to the inn, looked in the window, and...

...stopped dead in his tracks.

Ah. There it was.

Why am I so nervous? It's Rivers and Futaba. We're friends. Yes, we haven't spoken in-person in a while, but we've been exchanging messages. Sort of. Me and Futaba have been. Rivers...Rivers is going to come, though. And we're going to talk about what happened, and make it okay again. He won't be alone in dealing with this. God, I hope he isn't. I hope he's at least found somebody to talk to about it. I know I needed to. But...will it be okay? It has to be.

Have I ever had friends I was so afraid of losing?

Aristides drew in a deep breath, shook the thoughts away, and entered the inn. There he was the easily recognizable head of teal hair that was the Faerin Futaba, and his smile came back with very little effort on his part. No sign of Rivers, but this was okay. He could start this conversation off on the right foot.

"Did you get taller, Futaba? I could have sworn you were much more portable the last time I saw you."

Nailed it.

 

Rivers had been in Brisshal for a while now. Not like... days or anything, but hours for sure. He paced around the forest, waiting for the designated meet up time. God. So many things could go wrong. What if neither of them showed up? What if they did show up and were annoyed by Rivers calling them out to Brisshal? What if he'd seriously inconvenienced them by calling them to Brisshal. Actually, he knew he'd inconvenienced them. Damn it. How much was the appropriate number of times to apologize? Once per hour they spent travelling? Twice per mile walked? Did he apologize based on distance or time? None of this was in the Terrasphere manual! Where was the etiquette section?!

Rivers had spent so much time pacing that he hadn't noticed the rendezvous time had crept up on him. Oh damn! He began to make his way towards Honeyhome village. Suddenly a ping alerted him that wasn't his only concern. Rivers continued walking while he checked his UI. Oh double damn. A PM from Mist. He'd forgotten to tell her he was going to do this meet up. Should he cancel? No, that was rude, and she was his girlfriend. Rivers wished it would be on better terms, but it looked like it was time for her to meet his friends. Rivers replied and told her where he was and where he was going. She told him she'd meet him in Honeyhome in a few minutes. Well, that worked out at least.

He picked up his pace towards Honeyhome village. His friends were waiting on him. He was sure of it! They wouldn't let him down! He'd meet up with them and they'd talk and there would be laughs and adventure and everything would be great. Yeah! On the way to the inn, he met up with Mist. They exchanged a hug, quick peck on the lips, and they walked towards the inn together.

The inn was in sight, and Rivers stepped in front of Mist. He needed to see them first; he had to mend some friendship before he dropped the "girlfriend" bombshell on them. Rivers stepped inside the inn, immediately caught the eyes of his friends, and...and oh shit. He saw them again, but not as they were now. Rivers saw them...as they died. Aristides with a tentacle through his chest, a look of surprise and pain on his contorted face. Futaba pounded to a bloody pulp, more liquid than solid.

He wasn't ready for this. He'd jumped the gun on trying to see them again. He couldn't. He couldn't. He couldn't. Eyes widening, Rivers took a tentative step back, ready to run once again. But, a pair of hand pressed against his back and gently nudged him forward.

No. He couldn't run from this. He wouldn't run from this. He took a step forward, and another. Rivers felt water roll down his cheeks. Each foot in front of the other mended his distorted perception of his friends. Looks of pain and horror were replaced by reassuring smiles. Wounds mended. Tentacles faded into nothingness. Finally, Rivers just saw his friends, sitting at a table waiting for him.

"H-hi guys. It's um...it's been a while."

 

With his eyes closed, many things passed through the Faerin's head... The whole Titanus catastrophic memories flowed in his mind, even though he tried to push them away. 'This is in the past... I can't think on that right now... Not now.' His heart pounded with dissonance, even though he wasn't completely alone since he had his Shield beside him. But even with his loyal buddy there, the feeling of loneliness slowly crawled on his heart.

"Kukuku..."

The laugh made him flinch and hold his chest tightly. Why he was feeling lonely when he was surrounded by people in that inn? Why he was feeling lonely when he was just about to meet his friends again? Could it be that it was because deep inside, he was scared that they wouldn't be there?

He clenched his teeth, it wasn't time for that... It wasn't time for that... IT WASN'T TIME FOR-

A familiar voice suddenly made all the Faerin's loneliness disappear. Something about his height changing... A weak smile covered Hanno's lips as he slowly recovered his expression, raising his head to look up at his Caenis friend. "Just a little bit." He chuckled. "Sorry for not being as portable as before, but I thought it was necessary-" The Faerin tilted his head. "It has been a while, Aristides." He looked at him, trying to say something.

"You see..." Hanno pondered, trying to find the right words to explain. "A lot of things happened, and-"

The Faerin eyes glanced behind his Caenis friend's shoulder, widening when seeing someone that he has been so worried about. It has been so long... It has been weeks since he saw his friend.

Hidden: Theme

"Rivers..." Hanno's emerald green eyes glinted with tears forming on them, and his lips trembled unsure if they should show happiness or not... After all, the Faerin was the one that caused so much trouble for Rivers, or at least it's what he believed, was it alright for him to be happy about seeing him again? Did he have that right? Hanno didn't know, but in a fit of selfishness he couldn't afford to care about it right now.

With tears coming down on his face, the Faerin ran at his friend, throwing himself at him as he gave him a tight hug. 'Don't run, please-' "I'm sorry Rivers!" 'Stupid, don't apologize... This isn't time to apologize.' "I... I did a huge mistake back then, I'm very sorry! I should've protected you, Aristides... And myself too. I'm sorry-" He sobbed. "-I made you feel so bad about yourself... And I didn't even realize how bad you were feeling... I knew you were suffering but... I just knew how bad it was a few days ago"

He didn't look like he was going to let that hug go for a while. "And yet, even being a bad friend by not knowing how you were truly feeling- I-I am. I am so happy to see you right now... Am I even allowed to be happy for seeing you? I was so worried, yet I couldn't bring myself to send you a single message-" The Faerin really regretted it, and he knew that he was wrong for not doing it. But he couldn't do it.

"I will become stronger though. I promised to Aristides, I promised to myself... And now I'm promising to you, I will become strong enough so we aren't going to need to go through all this again. I swear I will do my best, I really swear!" Hanno finished, still not letting Rivers go.

The customers and workers of the Inn looked at the scene with a confused expression, apparently all that was catching a lot of attention.

 

Aristides was quietly smiling while Futaba started to speak, letting his friend say what seemed to be weighing on him, before they stopped and a different familiar voice made his ears twitch. With widening eyes he looked towards the door and there, sure enough, was Rivers, saying something almost half as stupid as the opener Aristides had used himself. Suddenly the weight on his chest grew heavier. Crap. He didn't know what to do. Did he smile and tell Rivers everything was okay? Did he tell him it hurt that he'd run away from them? Did he draw attention to how long it had been? No, that would be cruel. Still. He had no idea what to say right now. He was already so terrible at talking to other people. This situation called for so much more tact than he possessed.

Futaba moved first, though, and reminded Aristides that sometimes, tact isn't needed.

His expression softened to a weak, worried smile, and he stepped over to the embracing pair that were his friends and placed an arm around Rivers' shoulders and a hand on Futaba's--even with his additional height, the hand was huge--and gave both of them gentle squeezes.

"Hey, don't you go doing that as well. What happened happened to us all. It shouldn't be on one person, or even two people, to take all the blame. That would be a shitty way to be friends. Besides, I bull-rushed that tentacle by myself. Nobody could have prevented that stupid as hell decision, even you, Futaba."

Was this working. Please be working. He was so bad at words, but his voice was calm and tone even. What he was saying--even if he was saying it strange--was still trying to comfort and reassure. God he hoped he was doing it right.

"You two are my closest friends right now. I don't want any more blaming yourselves, or hating yourselves, or...anything like that. We're all adults. At least, I am. We make our own choices. I vote, instead of any of us saying that they need to improve so that...that doesn't happen again, we all agree that dying was an absolutely horrific experience, but that if I wound up doing it again, I wouldn't want to come back to any other people than you two. And we go from there."

He paused, then leaned a little more of his weight onto both of them, so he joined in on the hug.

"I also vote any further discussion be done with something to eat, and drink, and preferably while sitting. You're very dramatic, Futaba. It's as genuinely sweet as it his attention-getting."

 

After Rivers made his introduction, @Hanno Futaba ran to him with tears in his eyes. Rivers opened up his arms and accepted the hug from his small friend. Hanno apologized to him for not being strong enough to shield all of them. He was blaming himself?! For not protecting them?! That was... that was too much. Rivers felt the water rush down his cheeks. He was ugly crying for sure by now. He wanted to tell his friend that it was alright and that he didn't blame him. But, he knew the words wouldn't come out if he tried right now. Just ugly cry noises. Hanno told him that he was going to get stronger and he'd promised to Aristides. Rivers sniffled before giving his Faerin friend a squeeze.

"N-no. It's not your fault Hanno. I-It's mine. I was the one who made us charge in at the end. I was the one who hit first and wanted you guys to follow up. We couldn've stayed at the back and lived, but... but we didn't. I'm sorry."

After a spot of ugly crying, Aristides walked over and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Rivers flung his head onto his friend's shoulder and brought him forcefully into the group hug. They'd be there for each other and like it dammit! Aristides suggested they all agree that regardless of how weak they are, what happened to them was pretty fucked up. But, if they had to go through that, it was best that they went through it together. He... he was absolutely right. They had this experience together and they probably should've worked through it together. But... but he'd run away to Astorea after it happened. All's well that ends well? Wait, this wasn't the ending! Rivers hoped it wasn't the ending at least. Then Rivers decided he'd tell them. He'd tell them everything.

"Aristides is right. I'm glad that at least I went through it with you two. And, maybe we should've gone through all of it together. I probably shouldn't have run away. But...when I looked at you, it was like... it was like watching you die all over again. And... I think I was too weak to deal with that. I'm sorry."

Shuddering, he exhaled steadily. Aristides recommended they take a seat and get some food, and also stop drawing attention to themselves. Rivers looked around the inn. Yeah, all eyes were on them. Uhhhhh. That probably wasn't good. Rivers forced a cough and took a step away from his friends before wiping his face. "So, a table?"

 

The Faerin squeezed his face against his friends while hugging them, hearing Aristides's words were... Incredibly good, as much as Hanno would never blame his friends for what happened, the fact that they should and know that they needed to share the blame of this mistake together was very... Heartwarming. Not that mistakes are good, but being able to go through the problem together was.

'I need to stop taking everything to myself. But... I still think I need to feel responsibility for it.' He thought, reminding himself of a few mistakes he had done before, though he shook those memories instantly. 'It's not time for that...'

The Faerin couldn't help but chuckle at @Aristides calling him dramatic, in a way his Caenis friend was right and Hanno knew it. The Faerin took things too seriously, and he would overthink about many things. Like how at this moment can't help but feel a great relief for knowing that @Rivers Asteire isn't going to just run away suddenly. "Y-Yeah... I'm a little dramatic, but it's... Well." He gave a silly and weak smile.

Taking a glance at Rivers, Hanno nodded. "Don't apologize, but still... I forgive you for running away, because I understand how you felt. I probably would freak out even worse if I could only see you two dying every time."

The Faerin smiled warmly. "But... Even if it ever happend, I will do my best to not freak out. Because I know I will have you two on my side!" He said with higher spirits. And he knew it wasn't only meant to be with Aristides and Rivers, it was also meant to be with everyone he has met until now. If he wanted to protect everyone, he needed to take more control on his emotions. Besides, he shouldn't just protect... He should be protected too! That was what being friend meant, helping and being helped!

'I know it will take a while until this enter in my mind, but I will do my best to always remember it... In the hardest moments.' The Faerin thought as he stepped away from the hug, though deep inside he wished it lasted longer. "Well, I got a table right there, don't worry." Hanno pointed back at his table.

While this reunion happened, Hanno's Shield stared intently on the background. It's central eye was twitching while it focused on the group hug, until it finally raised itself with the tentacles, and slowly began to approach.

The Faerin suddenly noticed that he should show his loyal buddy to his friends, clapping his hands together he gave a nod. "By the way, I want you guys to meet someone-" He slowly turned his head backward a bit, blinking when noticing the Gargantuan Shield was a few inches away from him. "Uh- Ghast?" Hanno whispered in confusion.

Ghast stared intently at Hanno's friends eyes. It's expressions were boiling in jealousness as it's shortened tentacles swinged around in agitation. The customers that were staring at the situation in curiosity slowly began to walk away, seeing the Shield wasn't in good humor now.

After all, the Shield never saw Aristides and Rivers.