Thankful

Solo or RP Format
Counts as 5 RP growth Points
Solo word minimum is 750, RP post minimum is 7

It is this time of the year, when the weather starts to get cooler and the crops are all brought in, that the people of Tendaji begin to look back. They look back at the friends they've made over the past year, the people they've come to love, and those they have lost. It's a monumental time of self-reflection, of examining the world they live in and everything that they went through over the past year.

And it's a time to give thanks. Thanks to their gods, to each other, to themselves. It's a beautiful reflective time of year, and one that many Tendaji natives will celebrate with little gifts, special harvest feasts, or a moment alone with those they love.

[ Sometimes we don't spend enough time thanking others for all they do. Or thanking ourselves for the strength and growth we've gone through. In this prompt, we're looking for self-reflection, contemplation, and moments of thanks between your characters and the important ones in their lives. ]


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It was late into the night when Xipili finally decided to turn in. He’d long since taken out his hair pins, washed the cosmetics from his face, and was in the process of applying his night creams when a noise turned him toward the door. The little hands of his youngest sister pressed up against the doorframe and the girl looked half asleep as it was. Her little night dress hung off one shoulder, grazing over crystals that were so like his own in shape, but not in color. As he set the jar of cream back onto the counter and started to cover it up she carefully padded across the floor.

“Xoti, why are you still up? It’s late.” Xipili reached down to lift her up onto the counter, but instead of allowing her big brother to set her down the little Oban wrapped her limbs around him. She wriggled as close to his silken robe as she could and pressed a yawn into his shoulder. “Xoti?”

She murmured something he couldn’t hear and with a sigh Xipili knew he wasn’t likely to get an answer. The little one was already fast asleep by the time he blew out the washroom candles. With little more than the moonlight to guide him the young scion walked through the halls of their manse toward Xoti’s room. Over the course of his walk he wondered when she’d gotten so big. It seemed like only yesterday that she could barely say his name and that she was ruining his wardrobe with her incessant drooling.

At first he’d been scared at the prospect of his father having more children. He’d always been told by Emyr’s family that true blooded Obans would inherit his lands and the empire Emyr had built would go to them. He should only hope they remembered their b*****d half brother and if he was lucky they would look after him like the exotic pet he was. Even though Varisa assured him they would never take his place a part of him had always wondered….

…and then they were born. Rhea and Xoti. Two sisters that thought their elder brother hung the stars just for them and he wouldn’t have had it any other way. He was beyond thankful to have the family that he did. If it wasn’t for them and their love then he might have given in to the sharp barbs of his paternal family years ago. Every time they called him worthless or a mistake Xoti was there with her hugs. When they spat at his feet Rhea would be there to mock them over midnight tea and snacks. He would have destroyed nations for his sisters and given up all of life’s luxuries just so see them flourish.

Thankfully he wouldn’t have to, but he gladly would have.

When he came to her door, Xipili carefully nudged it open with his hip and looked inside. Rhea was safely tucked away in her bed with a lump….a book, upon closer inspection, tucked under her hand. With a shake of his head Xipili moved to the other side of the room where Xoti slept. In a house as big as theirs it wouldn’t have been difficult to give the girls their own space, but as young as they were they preferred the company. Xoti’s blankets were a mess, something he needed to straighten up, but only after he got her settled. Which…was admittedly harder than he wanted. Once Xoti latched on it was so hard to get her to let go.

He could either pry her off and hope that her nails didn’t ruin his robe or wriggle out of it on the hope that it didn’t get ruined that way. Or…well, he was going to bed anyway, wasn’t he? With a roll of his eyes, the teenager sank down onto his knee into the soft mattress and slowly lowered the two of them down. When they were settled he reached for the blankets and covered them. It wasn’t his preferred sleeping position – he likely wouldn’t get any rest at all tonight – but what was the harm in enjoying Xoti’s affections while she was still small? One day she would be too big to care.

He was thankful for her, for Rhea and Varisa, for a house that could give them everything they could ever wish. Xipili may have been spoiled and vain, but he wasn’t ungrateful. He knew the work his father had put into making all of this happen and was determined to follow in his footsteps. Life was only meant to go up from there, that much he was sure of, but for now he was content just to play the roll of a pillow.

[790]