Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reclining into the plush chair, Drav had his wings arched forward and down while he read. He’d finally made up his mind to be an Academy teacher, knowing that the cache still had more stones to awaken, still more orphans growing up with only the schools for guidance, and he himself was just starting to come to terms with the odd emptiness of not knowing that part of yourself. It was a goal, anyway, and now that he had some sense of direction in his life he felt this deep sense of calm. Schoolwork was still hard, sure, but there was purpose now; and of course there was Yue. Smiling gently, he glanced up to see her still gazing out the window. Heh, probably already done with her coursework for the day. Typical. Looking back to his textbook, he reread the same paragraph for the third or fourth time and was nearly done when Yue’s voice caught his attention.

“….What?”

Blinking back thoughts of figures and musical composition theory, he tried to process what she asked again. Lowering the text again, he looked at her with mild shock as his brain furiously worked to switch gears.

“Children? They’re… loud? Sometimes messy. Amusing? Worried about me teaching at the Academy? …That’s… not what you meant was it.”

As he’d stumbled for words Draven watched Yue’s expression and finally realized what she must mean. Oh. Oh wow. s**t, he needed to figure out something to say, quickly, before she got the wrong impression by his silence, but he had to say the right thing and he wasn’t sure what that was in this case. Sure, he’d thought of having kids, and even liked them, he just always thought that was a ‘future’ thing, without really thinking about how far in the future that might mean.

“You mean… us? Imbuing a stone?”

But she was including him in these decisions. He realized this as her sentence trailed off and she looked to him. Offering to imbue a stone with him, her longing to adopt but including him in the decision process; all signs of her dedication to the relationship she had with him. This was one of those moments where it felt like his whole life was shifting. He almost felt dizzy, like the floor was swaying, as he dog-eared the page and closed the text, dropping it on the floor with a soft thud. Maybe this had to do with her missing Tobias, or her young charges. The shift from Academy to University was probably more difficult for her than he realized.

The thought of creating life with her was a warm one, adding part of himself to her within a soul stone. A new child sleeping safely, waiting to be woken. They could always choose to wait if they didn’t want to awaken the stones right away, but Drav didn’t think that’s what Yue’s plan was. What would they do with kids? They’d probably attend the academy, much like they themselves did. However, they’d know their parents, something he never had. How different would life have been if he knew his own parent, or parents? Were they ready for that? Maybe he could take up work or something, bring in some extra cash. He thought back on his life skills class and wondering these very same things. Rocking his body forward he realized he’d been silent this whole time, lost in thought.

“I… yes. Yue, it would be such an honor.”

Standing up, Drav stretched his wings absentmindedly before strolling over to her and the window. This would change their whole lives, was she ready for that? Was he? Did every parent feel this way? Did his own, once upon a time? Leaning against the wall next to the window, he gazed at her with so much love his chest physically ached. She’d be such a wonderful mother, there was absolutely no doubt. The compassion she showed to others, her infinite patience and understanding, her protective streak. His lips curled up in a smile at memories, they didn’t even feel that long ago to him, but here they were.

“Whenever you’re ready, just give the word.”

Thinking again on what she’d said about going to the orphanage, he leaned forward and kissed the top of her head before whispering to her.
“I’m sure whatever child, children, we bring into the world I’ll love just as much as you. That goes for kids you might bring home too. If you want to adopt, Yue, I’m behind you one hundred percent. I’d even be happy to adopt them with you. Be a family.”

Yue had obviously looked/ moved away from the window during the discussion and sat there waiting for Draven to work through what he wanted to say. Her hands innocently laying in her lap as she watched the book falling to the floor. Well that was the sign for at least a very serious discussion. Of course she had dropped a very serious question on him; and she knew Draven wasn’t the type to take it as a passing mere fancy question either. She hoped he wasn’t too put off by her question; they hadn’t been in a relationship as long as some others as they had both met when they were seniors. However the whole Grimm incident that had recently happened had brought up just how much she really appreciated Draven. If he came back with a no, she would just concentrate on she did see Tobias and her other siblings as often as she could.

She was just worried mostly about the month. Did she try to get one of the stones this month knowing that it would mostly likely come out differently or did she talk to Draven and see about trying next month? Well first he needed to speak up. She wasn’t too worried she knew he was sitting here thinking through the different options as well. When he finally did, she gave him a small yet very genuine smile.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I’d like to try this month, but this month is also October and I know about the whole curse Above placed on us and soul stones not being normally obtained by uh legal means… but before I even tried I wanted to know your feelings on it. It makes me really happy, really really happy that you’re with me on this.” She looked up from her lap to notice that he had strolled over to where she was sitting and she smiled back with exactly the same amount of love and gratitude.

“I know you will, love them that is and I also know you’ll be an awesome Dad. Thank you for agreeing to help me with this all” she leaned forward careful of his wings and just hugged him.