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Yesui had already grown used to the Lemure lingering around, at the time knowing him as Allric , simply a smirking hyur with a fancy scythe. He'd been handsome, the type that Yesui would surely have tugged into her sheets if- Yesui hadn’t wished to think of any occupying her, not since Ardbert . Fury forfend the way Doll slipped across the hyur's lips would cause a little stir in her heart, as moments later, she'd see those blue hues in her mind and bite her tongue so hard she ought to feel the stinging metal taste lingering of crimson.
Allric, though…he'd been a persistent scoundrel. She'd known him a modicum back when Tuelex and her were taking care of 'Warrior of Light' business back in Ul'dah, a handsome face around the Adventurer's Guild, the helpful sort who'd helped them with some voidsents over at Camp Drybone. He always had just seemed there when they needed an extra hand.
Mayhap the xaela had yearned for something that ought help her forget, and Allric did well to dangle himself in front of her like godsdamned bait on a line. Smooth as he could possibly be, even in the worst of times. He hadn't a break in his composure.
But that fucking bandana of his, he seemed to protect that with ever onze of his being. By the Fury, she wished to climb him and just yank the fucking thing off. She had been tired, so fucking tired. Zenos, Ala Mhigo… Mayhap she simply thought tugging the hyur down a peg would help.
"'M sure you'd make a man bene, aye," he cooed to her, that day, and she could not curse his words more. Allric hadn't known about Ardbert. The scions oughtn't speak of her travails. "'F that pretty face of yours would smile every once in a while, Doll. Know we're in the thick of it, but you…" He smirked that smirk that surely ought have gotten him away with much and more if the situation differed. "You'd be a proper beauty with a smile." He lifted his drink to his lips, and by the Fury, looking back, she was sure he ought have had good intentions with his words. Mayhap he had simply wanted to cheer her up, mayhap…
"Aye, me with a smile, and you without this," she had to reach up to grab it, though fuck if she hadn’t regret for it moments later. Yesui's heart stopped in her chest the moment she exposed his third eye, a glistening glimmer in the moonlit sky.
His sneer glistened just the same as he growled. "'M sure a simple no ought have sufficed," he spat as he tugged the bandana from the xaela’s grasp back upon his head. "Ain't needin' to remind me of the monster I am."
Fuck, I oughtn’t have known , hadn’t dropped past her lips fast enough as she watched the hyur…the garlean , in all fairness, used Hell's Ingress to teleport as far away from her as he could. She knew she oughtn't cry to Tuelex, to Melmi as she stared off to the sands of Ala Mhigo. This had been her mistake. Yesui knew her actions hadn’t been something she could write off as playful . Allric, or whomever he really was hadn’t deserved her ire, but fuck if she ought deserve his.
Upon the morrow, Allric had been nowhere to be found. Three suns passed, worrying, wondering all because of her godsdamned mistake. Yesui could feel a weight upon her chest settled and crushing as she took her own leave of the group, the outskirts of the Peaks. Tears streaked down her face as she drove her greatsword into the nearest rock, the furthest from civilization as she could muster.
" You were all that was keeping me together, aye," she spat, a lump in her throat she oughtn't be able to swallow. The xaela's hands shook as she attempted to hold the godsdamned sword. "Ardbert… fuck ." She seethed as she plunged her greatsword into another rock, accidentally getting it stuck . Rash, surely, her actions had always been rash. She hadn’t learned a godsdamned thing, she realized as she tugged upon her sword to attempt to free it. Though the xaela may have taken the title, taken the mantle of the Warrior of Light when Tuelex needed it the most…she was no hero . All she'd been able to do was drive those people who gave a modicum of a care away.
She hadn't heard the imperial approach. Yesui had been a proper mess, cursing Hydaelyn and all she wrought as she tugged her weapon free from the rock she lodged it into. Tears she couldn't quell, a lump of regret in her throat she oughtn't swallow. Fuck if the breeze that passed her hadn’t shaken her to her core, the clang of metal behind her reminding her quickly that she lingered a war zone as she tugged the sword free, hasty to wipe her tears from her face.
The first imperial was felled easily, and by the Fury, she was sure the garlean hadn't broken a sweat. Allric , the xaela felt a momentary pang in her heart as her green rimmed hues landed upon her savior, his deep amethyst hues lingering her merely a moment before they turned back to the ambush. She worried for three fucking suns for a man she knew little and less of, but as she rough divided upon the middle imperial, taking the attention of all of them, she knew better than to muse upon it overlong.
"Missed me overmuch, Doll?" Allric questioned with a hum as he sent his voidsent out to fell the group. "So bad you nearly got yourself killed, aye?"
By the Fury, they went down fast, she mused, before being quick to shake her head, hastily tucking her greatsword upon her back. "Don't flatter yourself," she spoke, a soft sniffle still lingering in her tone. "I-" The xaela moved to grab the garlean's arm, holding for dear life as she bit her lip so hard it nearly bled. "Pray, forgive me…" Her voice cracked . "Please. I-" Her green rimmed hues were quick to meet his amethyst ones, before they were even quicker to shift away. "Haven't been myself, and I know it oughtn't be an excuse. I…care for you, aye. Allric…I don't care what you are. I care who you are." The xaela hadn’t even realized her tears began to drop once more, nor the way she held his arm overmuch, practically cuddling into the godsdamned thing.
"Cassius…" he spoke, a slight strain to his tone, but the way his large hand moved around the xaela, tugging her against his large chest had been warm. “I…you can call me Cassius, Doll, if your keen to. Been a while since I used it, to be honest, but…”
“Pray, come back, will you?” she choked out, her teary green rimmed hues shifting upwards to Cassius. “ Cassius …I…” She giggled softly through her tears. “I’m keen to it, aye.” She hadn’t cared that he was a garlean deflector. “The others are worried, and by the Fury, I…” Yesui choked back a sob as she closed her eyes. “I oughtn’t have been fair to you, or any. Been a mess since…” The xaela bit her lip hard as her shaky hands finally let go of the garlean man’s arm, in sans wrapping around herself.
Fuck , she hadn’t the words to explain what had happened. To explain Ardbert. Strong arms wrapped around her, engulfed her, before a single stumbled word toppled her lips.
“‘M sure you have your reasons, Doll,” Cassius murmured as he pressed a soft kiss to the crown of the xalea's head. "Ain't gonna make you relive it, jus'...mayhap one day you'll talk, an' when you do…I'll listen, aye?"
His words meant he’d been lingering , surely, as the xaela could feel a steady warmth in her chest. She wrapped her arms around him tight, nuzzling her horn into his chest gently. “...thanks, Cass,” she breathed out finally. Though she knew they ought to head back to the others, Yesui simply wanted to revel in his embrace, just a modicum longer.
His steady chuckle had warmed her as much as his strong arms wrapped taut around her frame. “Cass…” he repeated, noting the xaela’s hasty nickname for the garlean man. “‘M keen t’ it. Jus’ from you, aye? Makes it special that way.” The xaela hadn’t realized at the time as she agreed to it, but she had been the only he’d ever called Doll.