Welcome to Gaia! ::

The door to the Edelsteine house stood half-open, the light from inside streaming out into the dark garden. Sosiqui was sitting on the ground a few feet from the door, leaning on the wall, looking out at the sky with a vaguely dazed expression. A few moths fluttered around her, but she brushed them away irritably. "Go away. Not yet," she mumbled.

He took the last step down, mumbling quietly a bit. He felt stressed a bit, but at least that part was over. It'd gone well enough for what had happened. Fresh air always worked, as it had, and he slowed up when he noticed the door already open.

A faint stir of something he subdued quickly, and he walked quietly over, looking out. Perhaps, perhaps not. It was the one... the other who had been there that night. "Is it okay if I come out?" he asked.

Khiviance was aware, but let him do as he wished. Relaxation was a good thing, and not having to care about the details a day was better.

Sosiqui brushed the persistent moths away again and forced herself to get up, forced her eyes to focus. Illumin's thoughts had become a constant flow through her own consciousness, and lately she'd had to fight harder and harder to hear the thoughts that belonged to her, and her alone. If she let herself, it was so easy to just drift away along Illumin's stream of consciousness...

She shook her head violently. "Not yet," she muttered again, looking around the garden. She spotted Lucius this time, and walked over to him quickly before she lost focus again. "Hi," she said bluntly, blinking owlishly at the god.

He startled, a few stay blades of grass drifting down as he sat up. "Lady Sosiqui..."

"For a while yet, yeah," Sosiqui mumbled, plopping down next to him in a rather unladylike fashion.

She turned as she heard Johnathan, then shrugged and beckoned him over too. "I think Illumin's finally winning," she told Lucius, with a sigh. "And these DAMN MOTHS!" she added, flailing her arms as the small group of winged insects caught up to her again.

Khiv's attention was caught then by Lucius, and she pushed a bit persistently, drawing him back slightly for her own better attention. Let me see. I want to know.

He hovered between, aware and not of things in flickers. It was disorienting, but in the door between light and dark, he felt at ease, and stable. Afraid almost to leave, to walk into the night, and lose himself again.

I am here, you cannot be lost. She brushed hair from her eyes, watching so carefully through paled eyes. She would wait, a moment. It was impolite for one to interrupt.

Upon acknowledgment he stepped out, teetering a moment as he felt himself slip out and in again. He walked, mumbling something and stood, carefully, nodding to Lucius. "Greetings again," he said to both, swishing at a moth fluttering about.

"And from myself as well," Khiviance added, smiling slightly before slipping back. It would be rude now to say nothing.

He lifted his hands and gave a hiss of breath through his lips, his flesh brightening with stars and nebula. Then he beckoned his hand to one of the moths, inviting its dance over the back of his knuckles and wrist.

"And Mr. Johnathan, " He gave a nod, "You do not sound as though you are pleased with the timing, Lady? Or does the complaint lie in the disorientation of it? If it is very troublesome, then it shouldn't last too much longer, and you'll have peace from errant rantings."
He arched his brows on 'errant', giving a friendly smile.

Sosiqui involuntarily frowned at Lucius, then twitched at the movement. Illumin had done that, not her... "It's confusing," she admitted. "Part of me wants it to just be done with and over, but the other part is thinking... that I should never have done this in the first place."

She glanced up at Johnathan and gave him a questioning look. "You too?"

He nods slightly, noticing changes about. "In between moments, shifting always... we seem to at least have calmed... though I have been less then personable lately..." He let it trail, looking skyward a moment. "I grow tired, much lately, and though I might wish things different, I've accepted."

He scratched idly at his arm a moment.

"Patience is a virtue well practiced."

"Feels like we're a crowd here, not just a small group, " he chuckled, eying the other two, then turning his eyes to cupping a moth. "Regret is natural at the end of stories, I think. Regret for actions taken is tempered by time; it is regret for the things not done that is inconsolable."

Sosiqui looked down and bit her lip. "I guess. Not much point in whining about it now, though, is there?"

"It is our nature, I think, to wonder about what could have been instead," he said, frowning slightly as he looked back down. "But they will fade, as all things will with time to whispers." He pushed his red-tipped hair away again, sighing. "Leaving behind others is hard, but things are over, and understood. I can't regret anything... there's no point to it."

Khiviance alighted a moment with a smile then, and nodded to Lucius. "Perhaps it is... tis bemusing to hear though. I don't believe we've properly met though... Khiviance." She managed a curtsy of a sort, for how she was in what she was. She looked to Sosiqui, nodding slightly and reaching out with a comforting hand. It was the least she could do, and knew he would anyway as she slipped back.

He smiled slightly, although it paled compared to the goddess.

"Khiviance," Sosiqui repeated, slowly. "Pleased to meet you."

She waited expectantly for Illumin to speak, but he made no move to do so. Strange. "I'm sure Illumin is pleased, too, he's just.... I don't know what he's doing," she muttered, annoyed.

"Neither were really. You're both just restless and voicing it. I remember how my host paced ceaseless through the nights before I finally emerged, " He nodded to the new voice, "Khiviance... a pleasure. You should find yourself well in the thick of attention soon enough, being female."

He rolled his eyes, thinking of the antics going around beryl. "And you out of them," he half grinned to Sosiqui. "Though the half stages for either gender bending are always amusing. Child bearing hips on a man and all."

Sosiqui frowned again at the gender-bending comment.
She had to admit, though, that part WAS unsettling. Rather profoundly so. She'd already noticed a few very subtle changes...

"I do not have child-bearing hips," she protested, then, shaking her head again to get her mind focused. "Can't stand kids anyway. Had one once, dumped on my doorstep - shrieked like a banshee. Couldn't take it."

Johnathan grinned slightly. "The closest child I have is Requient... thought I've watched a few in my time." He shook his head. "I'm sure Khiviance will ... deal."

She grinned then, acknowledging Lucius' comment. "Ah, yes... I'll be ready then," she said coyly. "As for ... bending, well... I will deal with what I am given in time..." She laughed then. "I don't mind this body much either, to be honest... it serves itself well."

"Well, you'll be able to stand to pee for a little."

"I wonder what happened to her?" Sosiqui mused, looking up at the twilight sky. "The kid, I mean... ah well. Pointless. Hopefully she turned out okay."

"Perhaps she found love, perhaps she didn't, and leads life as one will without." She shook her head slightly and grinned. "It is convenient though." She winked at Lucius.

Johnathan flushed slightly as he came back as she slipped off to laugh in his head a moment. "I suppose she has a point," he said with a cough. "It's... awkward at times."

He shifted topics, glancing to Sosiqui. "We can hope... I hope all will turn out well for those left behind.

"I hope so too."

She sighed again, and got up. "I'm tired. I think it's been long enough. Thank you both... er, you three, I suppose," she said. "I'll remember this no matter where the days take me."

With that, she turned and walked back towards the house, a small trail of moths following, though some stayed around Lucius' light.