|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:09 pm
Elka 1 With Elias seen to bed, tucked safely into his blankets and his stuffed zanteer held protectively in his arms-though he would argue the next day he didn't need it-and his sister curled in her own bed, Elka had retired quickly to her own room next door. She and Kayde hadn't spoken much on the trip back, only exclaimed their worry over their child and thrown every kind of reassurance they could at him. Whether he actually believed what they had said, it was difficult to tell. He was still so young. Too young to be dealing with something like this. She could remember hearing her own parents fight and how scary that had been, as if her whole world was about to be torn apart. She never wanted her own children to feel that.
But now that her focus was gone, she found her hands were shaking. Her knees felt like she was about to drop at any second. Sitting down on the bed, the Zenan felt hot tears coming to her eyes. What was going to happen next? She didn't even know where Kayde had gone or if he was even going to come back. She so dearly wanted him there.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2024 6:51 pm
Kayde 1 The answer to where Kayde had gone was simple. He went outside. Though he felt bad for leaving all the responsibility of putting a distraught Elias to bed, he couldn't face his son's stare after all that had happened. He had yelled at Elka and Elias had seen it. Of course he had. It wasn't as if the fight had been quiet at all this entire week or that he hadn't raised his voice at her before. That wasn't the first time he would have heard it. Maybe he'd even peeked through the doorway before and witnessed the way his parents were behaving for himself. How terrified he must have been. Kayde had seen families split up for less. Tomorrow he would have to have a talk with the child, make sure he knew there was nothing to fear. It was just something that happened between adults.
Even if that was the first time they had ever fought. It was always Elka getting mad or annoyed at him and he deescalating the situation. As he would have to now. But unlike all those other times, this was a beast of his own making and he would take his penance.
Taking a deep breath in, expanding his chest as far as it would go, Kayde turned around for the house. It was quiet inside, not a peep from anyone. Quiet and seemingly empty, though he knew everyone was here, shut away behind one of two doors. The kid's door was closed completely, giving them some much needed privacy to destress. His and Elka's stood a little ajar. He could see her shadow as she sat on the bed, the candle behind her flickering. He pushed it open slowly, looking down at her with his usual soft stare. He wasn't sure what to say, so instead he knelt down in front of her, taking her hands in his own and kissing the curled fingers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2024 4:42 pm
Elka 2 She heard the front door open and close. How could she not when the door to her own room stood half ajar? It allowed her to hear the all-too-familiar footsteps coming closer. She refused to raise her head as the door creaked open. A small gust of wind blew the light skirt around her legs as the vision of Kayde crouching came into her vision, taking her hands. Oh, now he wanted to be kind, again, was it? Elka could feel the anger slowly rising inside her chest, but still she didn't raise her head or acknowledge his presence in any way, other than a slight flinch at the feel of his lips.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2024 6:50 pm
Kayde 2 The reception he received was no surprise to Kayde. In fact, he was surprised she hadn't slapped his face or even pulled her hands away, just tightened her shoulders and arms against his affections. He didn't blame her, after what he'd put her through. How cruel for him to change his behavior so quickly, going back to his usual self, as if some curse had been lifted. But he was hardly the superstitious type. This was his fault and nothing else.
The Leaf held his wife's hands in front of his face, looking at the slightly chipped dark polish on her manicured fingernails. Elka never let her financial status influence her attention to her own self-care. She would always find the way to look as perfect as she could. If she hadn't noticed the wear on her nails yet, she would be tomorrow, where she would spend as long as possible on them to fix them back up. Whereas he ran a hand through his hair and called it a day. Opposites really did attract sometimes, as strange as it was.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am for my behavior this past week. It was not called for."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 2:36 pm
Elka 3 "No, you shouldn't have," the woman agreed softly, keeping her voice low not just due to the, hopefully, sleeping children next door, but also the weakness in her own voice. Now that things had calmed down, she felt exhausted, as if she'd spent the whole day screaming. Or crying. Elka pried her fingers out of Kayde's, scooting down further on the bed so she could just barely make out his trousers in her vision. Which wasn't too far off the mark. She'd spent a lot of the week trying not to give into the eruption of emotions she had been feeling.
To avoid his touch, the Zenan folded her arms at her stomach leaning over her knees as if she had a stomach ache.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 2:48 pm
Kayde 3 Another unsurprising reaction, especially after the day she had. At least he was able to get away and forget about it for hours by distracting himself with work. Elka would have been here with the kids, alone, trying to find ways to take her own mind off it. That must have been so difficult. What a real cruel person he'd been. So blinded by his own pride and insecurity. How had he not seen how it was affecting everyone? Or even cared about it?
Kayde hung his head, resting his elbows on his knees, but otherwise remaining on the floor. "I'm still so sorry. I was being stupid."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 5:38 pm
Elka 4 That got a reaction. Elka turned her head, glaring at the man crouched on the floor, his eyes staring at the bedspread hanging off the mattress. "Really? So glad we finally can agree on something." She could say to herself she didn't mean those words to sound as bitter as they came out, but that'd be a lie. Or that she hadn't felt a little glad at the wince her words brought to Kayde's face, his fingers curling slightly at the reflex. Not that she wanted to see him in pain. At least not a lot of pain. She just wanted him to feel some of what she was feeling every time he rejected her attempts to talk about it.
Sighing, feeling even more exhausted after her snarky response, the Zenan woman sat up straighter, looking ahead of her at the door, following a natural line in the wood with her golden eyes. "So what was the problem?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2024 5:46 pm
Kayde 4 He deserved that response and more, but it didn't take the bite out of it when it hit him. Kayde couldn't help the wince, his whole body reacting to her tone of voice. He remained where he was, not wanting to rise or especially sit on the bed with her without her permission. He spread his hands palm upwards in a gesture of peace and defeat, not realizing she wasn't even looking at him. "Pride. This is my family and I wanted to provide for it. I never wanted to accept someone's charity. Even if I do agree with the reason for taking the offer."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 3:31 pm
Elka 5 For a while, Elka just stared, letting the silence stretch on between them. It was so quiet, she could hear a light thump as something on Elias' dresser fell to the floor, probably knocked off by the youngling's flailing arms as he turned over. That room would have been suitable for one kid, but not two. Especially a boy and girl. Gods, their own bedroom was a bit too small for two adults. They really needed that bigger house.
"You really are stupid,"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 4:34 pm
Kayde 5 Her voice cut into the silence of the room like a knife, making Kayde flinch once more. Yeah, he deserved that, too. He would take a full week, a month, of it. Whatever it took.
"Yeah." He hung his head, his forehead almost resting against the bed covers. He wished he could crawl underneath the bed, he felt so embarrassed by himself. "I was." Going forward, he would have to work hard to make it up to his family. And the first step towards that would be accepting the grand gift of the manor, something that still riffled him to think about. He didn't even know the size of it, though he could only imagine it was huge. Elka's family in Zena was rich and probably had never known a life that wasn't. Deric wouldn't settle for anything less than what he was used to. Just like he himself wasn't used to having a lot of space. In that respect, they weren't really all that different from each other.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 6:59 pm
Elka 6 Part of Elka's heart went out to him, hearing how Kayde's voice dropped with emotion. She turned her head to look back at him, seeing how he was slumped but not touching the bed, as if there was a giant weight placed squarely on his back, pressing him down. "You can sit on the bed," she told him, her tone of voice making it sound like permission. Which wasn't far off the mark. She did feel like she was in charge here, that she deserved to tell him what to do and where to go, since she was the one who had been most hurt over this the last week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 7:40 pm
Kayde 6 This fact wasn't lost on Kayde. He slowly turned his head to look back at her, noticing her gaze was steady and neutral. As if she didn't care where he decided to sit. He probably could have actually crawled under the bed and she wouldn't have reacted.
With a sigh, he instead stood up, his knees protesting the movement with a crack each. The Leaf gave a stretch, keeping his face turned away from the woman before sitting down with enough space between them for two more people. Getting too close right now felt far too bold. It was like the beginning of their relationship and marriage all over, again. Her making all the first moves because he was too nervous to himself. "I guess....Thank you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2024 5:59 pm
Elka 7 Elka went back to staring at the door, unable to bring herself to watch him move. Looking at him made her feel guilty. She didn't think she should be feeling guilty about how she handled the situation. So many times she'd tried to calmly get him to tell her what was wrong, only to be snapped at and shut down. Many different emotions were coursing through her body. Shame. Embarrassment. Anger. Sadness. But underneath that all there was still that love that had been burning strong ever since she had first laid eyes on him, again, back in the streets of Neued. It made her want to comfort him, to tell him everything was alright. It made her feel weak. It made her spit out accusing words in his direction just to prove to everyone she wasn't.
"It's not charity. You wouldn't even listen to me explain it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2024 6:14 pm
Kayde 7 "I know." The man hung his head, resting his elbows on his knees and looking at the floor. Shame was a powerful emotion. And a humbling one. "I really cannot express how sorry I am. I should never have acted like that." Now he was just repeating himself. Kayde sighed once more, running a hand through his hair and making it stick up even more than it usually did. She hadn't run out on him. Yet. That must count for something. He tried his luck and looked over at her, resisting the urge to reach out and wipe the tear that was clinging to her cheek. "I'm listening now. I really do think it's a good idea. I just..." He spread his hands out, palm up once more. "I rarely get angry or sad or insecure, I....Didn't know how to handle it." Risking his luck further, Kayde placed a hand on the bed, leaning towards the woman a little. "Please...I would like to hear what you have to say."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 6:20 pm
Elka 8 The bed shifting was the only thing that made her look over at him, her eyes blinking slowly like a feline. Elka kept her hands folded in her lap, resisting the urge to go closer to him and wrap her arms around him. For a moment, she simply stared at him, weighing it out in her head whether she wanted to tell him or not. Figuring she would have to eventually. How else were they going to get a house suitable for them, this fast? The thing was almost finished being built.
"It is much bigger than this," she started, watching him for a reaction. Kayde barely made one, just continued to watch her steadily. Elka started to slowly feel more confidence in talking about it, just like his presence always did to her. "It's not a huge manor house, but it is still larger than the normal sized one. It's almost finished. He wanted to share it with us, since we have growing kids and his family stays elsewhere when they are here." Wringing her hands in growing anxiety at having shared all that and not knowing if he'd explode at her, again, Elka looked away, speaking softly. "He was only thinking to help us. It won't even be furnished. That's our job."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
