vatheon | i WAITED FOR YOU, i WAITED SO LONG,

Who: Tavros and Gamzee and ?? oh my
Where: The Island
When: 4/5
Status: Open

Tavros had waited.

For an entire day he'd sat in the plaza and waited, diligently and faithfully, for The Summoner to return. Even when the sun was high enough to start bothering him, the most he did was shift to follow the shade.

The longer he waited, the more frustrated he'd get, but he fought off the burning behind his eyes and was mostly successful. His lower half might be metal but by the time the night rolled on again his lower back and shoulders were aching from remaining mostly immobile.

Where is he?

Lysunder should have been back by now. Tavros was getting frustrated an impatient, until he forced himself back up onto his robot legs. He'd had all day to think and worry and fret and roll things around in his mind until they twisted in on themselves and didn't make sense anymore. A chorus of what if what if what if what if had become his constant companion, regardless of who came to talk with him.

What if he hadn't died? That could be why he didn't come back, right? What if he was still out there, hurting and needing help and he'd been sitting around doing nothing? He'd still hadn't eaten properly, to sick to his stomach, but he'd decided to head up to the island to search for his 'Dad', and no one was going to change his mind.

((ooc: feel free to poke at him while he's waiting around in the plaza, or whatever you'd like.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tavros isn't the only one keeping vigil near the plaza. Ever since he had to finish some... unpleasant business, it was the first spot he went to. Yet the days had passed, and there was simply

nothing.

When he notices the younger lowblood move off, he somehow finds himself following after. He was Summoner's descendent. If anyone, he deserved to know what had happened. Still, despite this, he keeps himself following in the shadows. It almost hurts to look at him. There's just... so much of him in the boy.

Finally, he speaks up. "Tavros."

Tavros was determined, more so than ever before. Even the footfalls of his heavy, metal feet sounded steady as he plodded onward, shoulders tense like he was carrying the weight of the world between them. His eyes were wet and ringed with bronze but his was still biting back his frustration.

It wasn't fair.

He stopped when he heard Darkleer's voice, turning to look back at him. "Hey..."

No, it wasn't fair. Especially not for a place that was supposed to bring back the dead.

"May I speak to you for a moment? It is... rather important, I am afraid."

"Yeah?"

He turns around quickly, his eyes suddenly brighter, hopeful.

"D-did you find him? Is he okay?"

Seeing that look on Tavros' face and knowing the knowledge he must pass on, it almost feels as if he should shoot himself before he goes any further. This is going to hurt telling him, and it will hurt for him to hear it.

"I... am afraid he's not, Tavros." He's been able to give news of death before, but when it's his own matesprit, Tavros' own ancestor, it hurts more to say. "I do not believe he is coming back, either."

His expression falls, melting from his face down through his shoulders. He has an idea of what's coming, but he's not willing to believe it.

"What do you mean. O-of course he's coming back!"

"Not this time." For a brief moment, his throat closes on him and he can't get the words out. It ends, and he steps closer, kneeling.

"He was attacked, Tavros. This time, he didn't win. I've waited, just as long as you have, but... It's taking far too long. You and I both know that by now, he should have arrived. Come back. But for whatever twisted reason of this place... He hasn't."

"Th-that just means he didn't die! He's, uh... he's still out there somewhere, and he needs help! I'm g-going to find him, and bring him home!"

Darkleer is Lysunder's matesprite! Why isn't he still out there looking? He should still me out there looking! Tavros was going to do it alone if he had to.

"Tavros!" His voice becomes firmer and he reaches out to take the boy's arm in one hand. It would be a lie to say he didn't expect this. Darkleer's tone slowly becomes more quiet and heartbroken the more he speaks.

"His name is no longer on the list. He's gone.

Tavros goes very still when he's grabbed, very still and very tense with wide, confused eyes. He doesn't try to pull away. At least, not yet. The news is still a shock even though he'd expected as much by this point, he just isn't ready to believe it yet.

When he first tries to speak it's just a mess of stuttered sounds and fasle starts, needing to pause and take a breath before he manages to get anything out. "I d-don't care what the list says! I have to go... go look for him!"

"He's dead, Tavros, and no amount of looking will make him come back!" Saying those words is as much of a shock to him as it is to Tavros, really. It's a finality. A realization.

Keeping his grip on him, Darkleer moves just a little closer. "You remember how he lived, don't you? He moved, he couldn't stop, and he wouldn't want you to suffer the opposite of that. He wouldn't want you to be trapped by the impact of his death. Mourn if you must, but don't... Do not do this. Do not keep looking."

"He will come back!" He doesn't want to hear this. He really doesn't want to hear this.

"You d-don't understand!" All he ever did was sit still and let horrible things happen to him, over and over again. He'd accept the things that happened because he thought there was nothing to do that could change it. Now he was moving. This was moving. He was trying.

"I have to k-keep looking!" He's pulling now, eyes wide and frustrated and full of tears he's trying to force back. "I have to!

As Summoner himself learned quite some time back, if Darkleer doesn't want to let go, he doesn't. Right now, he truly doesn't. Instead, he jerks Tavros close and blast it he hopes his glasses hide the way his own eyes are getting wet and glassy.

"I am- was- his matesprit," he hisses, holding Tavros close. "Tell me what I do not understand."

"He believed in me!"

That's when he loses what faint control over his tears he has left. He hates crying. It makes him feel pathetic and stupid and thats exactly what he was trying not to be. "H-he actually believed.. that I was worth something, and made me f-feel like, I could do anything."

Tavros starts rubbing at his traitorous eyes with the back of his hand, "I have to believe in him too!"

There's no judgement here. Darkleer just pulls him all the closer and wraps his arms around him. He's doing his best to keep his breath from being too wet; this isn't something he can afford now.

"There's belief, and there's denial, Tavros. He wouldn't want the latter. Not for you."

He doesn't expect a hug, not from Darkleer. At first, Tavros just stands there, trembling and dumbfounded before he lifts his arms to cling to the large troll. This is exactly why he hates crying so much. He keeps so much bottled up inside that once he starts it feels like it will never stop.

Normally, he wouldn't be so touchy with someone hurting, or crying. However, this time, he can share the same loss, the same pain, and goodness if he doesn't know how important Tavros was to Summoner. This is all he can do, bowing his head and just holding onto the boy as he cries.

i WAITED FOR YOU, i WAITED SO LONG,

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