[thread] from years before

[face_downcast]

Who: Cain, Emmeline, Riff, Ryou
What: Bringing Emmeline to Ryou to take care of her; reuniting with Riff; general fluff and angst
When: After Cain gets Emmeline from Marik
Where: Cain's house
Rating: PG [subject to change]

Comments

[coh_ryou]

Ryou smiled at Riff, pushing the fact that he had been talking to Malik through the communicator to the side for a moment. He was certain Cain would want to speak with the other man before running off to find Malik.

"Riff arrived a little while ago, Cain..." Ryou said, feeling that somehow there was a certain tension he quickly wanted broken before anything happend. He reached a point where he wasn't sure what else to say. What else could be said?

For a moment he considered confessing to Ms. Emmeline, in private, what he was hidding. If he was to take care of her he'd rather not hide something, or she might not trust him. Though what she had said before was still too fresh on his mind. If that was her same reaction, he wasn't sure what good it would do to tell her.

[[ooc: new order?]]

[face_downcast]

[[ooc: Sorry. Cain was having issues. New order: Cain > Riff > Emmeline > Ryou, yes?]]The voice was so familiar that it barely registered in Cain's mind, simply the whisper of his subconscious, the soft voice which still murmured faintly through his dreams almost nightly despite their time apart. Riff was part of Cain's consciousness to begin with, after all; the world was coloured by the faint constant pulse of knowing the older man was alive

[tea_is_served]

Riff watched Cain tense and begin to shake as he straightened up to his full height. He knew those actions, and that tone, from the nights he had spend comforting his young lord; and now, once again the boy was in pain.

What little color had been on his face immediately dissipated, and his insides began to churn over the fact that this time, it wasn’t memories from the past, worries, or an unfortunate incident… but he himself who was the cause of his master‘s discomfort.

He stepped quietly toward Cain then hesitated, directing a worried frown at his back before slowly taking another step; feeling a desperate need to sooth the boy in some way.

[lady_rotterdale]

She felt his hands tighten on her sleeve and wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort him. Since she knew sdhe could not, though, she hoped for the next best thing - that Riff would come to his senses and stop hesitating, because every moment they were even this far apart was clearly agonizing, and she could not wish that sort of pain on Cain for any reason.

Emmeline felt the stresses of the past few days weigh heavily on her. She wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but... Well, if Riff continued to dally she would never get to sleep, as she wanted to see Cain at least relatively less troubled before hand.

It was almost funny, that she was so willing to share him with Riff, and so unwilling to consider him with anyone else.

[coh_ryou]

As the seconds of silence passed it felt more and more like he had stepped into someone else's world, and he was not a part of it. Ryou watched the entir situation unfold like a story that had finally reached its turning point. The way Emmeline's eyes had looked at one man then the other, even though she appeared very exhausted, it told him that for things to move on, the two men would have to cross the barrier that seemed to be holding each of them in place.

He wanted to tell them to go, to talk out their issues and keep living, because somehow them staring at each other, neither moveing was painful. Ryou was suppressing the urge to do something drastic that would make Riff or Cain jump his normal self.

He blamed it on the stress he had been trying to resolve. The irrational plans kept forming and he kept swatting them back as he stared at the ground. He wished for someone to say something, to leave Emmeline to rest, to move beyond the situation, to go rescue Malik.

[face_downcast]

Having successfully cut out his heart and set it aside, Cain opened his eyes again, lifting his head properly and casting a cold smile down at Emmeline

[tea_is_served]

He attempted to meet the young noble’s gaze with his own, and nearly flinched when the gold-green eyes looked aside, refusing contact.

“Master Cain… I…it…” his voice was barely above a whisper, and his hands had begun to shake.

He had promised… promised to always be by his side, to care for him, to protect him… he’d practically sworn his soul to the boy within a few weeks of coming to work at his home.
He never imagined a day would come when fate would separate them; no, the sanity of each depended to greatly on the other.

But it had.

Though, somehow in all the time he had spent searching for his young lord, after being snatched so suddenly from his own world and being deposited in this one, he had tried his hardest not to think of what the outcome may be like. He’d tried not to think of the possibility that Cain might not forgive his absence.

And now, his greatest fears were coming to pass.
Would this be it? Could it be… that the only valid reason he had to carry on with life…
No, no…Jerking forward into nearly a ninety-

[lady_rotterdale]

Emmeline froze under that look. She carefully rationalized with herself that Cain was extremely upset and not exactly acting like himself, but it hurt nonetheless. And of course, when his eyes changed as he looked at Ryou, all her logic fell apart.

And here it was again. This desperate desire to hate the boy. Where was it coming from? What on earth had he done?

She bit her tongue and listened to Riff, knowing his words came from the heart and praying Cain heard it too. She refused to think about her own pain.

[coh_ryou]

Ryou looked around at the group. His brown eyes only softened with pain for the man who clearly wished nothing more than to be forgiven. He had seen how much Riff had wanted to return to Cain's side, and now Cain, the one person he thought he knew was casting someone aside. Throwing them away as if they were meaningless. Still, when those golden eyes had looked at him, it said something. It made him act

[face_downcast]

However impassive he was when Riff spoke again, he had to admit he was jolted by Ryou grabbing him. His bright golden-green eyes widened slightly as the other boy's words washed over him, body tense and fragile to the onslaught.

Then, as the words wore off, Cain felt himself starting to smile again, almost to laugh as something warm within him shut down and turned cold.

"Hurt my feelings?" he repeated back with a quiet intensity, eyes dancing as if in satiric laughter. "My servant? SurvivingIt wasn't a question of surviving. He already had survived; every second without Riff had been a second without air. And yet here he was, standing on his own two feet solidly as he reached carefully up to disentangle Ryou's fingers from his shirt. There was still so much this person didn't understand. This hadn't hurt; this had killed part of him. Riff wasn't a servant; Riff was his life force personified

[tea_is_served]

Riff straightened back up at the sound of Ryou’s outburst and watched in near-shock as the young man’s entire persona changed from that of a soft-spoken caring boy, to someone so angry and cold. He stood for several moments, just listening as Ryou vented his opinions loudly to Cain, but nearly lurched forward out of instinct when the boy took a hold of his master’s collar, ready to stop him should he decide to become physical

[lady_rotterdale]

Emmeline watched with the detached eyes of a quiet observer, burying her own emotions down where they would not bother her at the moment. She only flinched inwardly at Ryou's tirade, trembled in her blank shell at Cain's broken laughter, and was, finally, rewarded when the fool stumbled into Riff. She trusted that small contact at the very least would take them far towards stopping this nonsense.

[coh_ryou]

Ryou was growing more and more annoyed with every word Cain said back to him. The only reason he hadn't faught harder to keep his hold on Cain's shirt was because he was trying to contain his anger at the other. The words he said burned as did that horrible half laughter.

Ryou glaired at Cain as he watched him walk away, he made up his mind, even if he had to tackle Cain to the ground and beat scence into him he was going to get Cain to accept the other's appologuie, but then his expression suddenly changed into one of worry as he almost reached out to stop the other from falling only to realize that instinct between the two men had reacted. Cain had reached out to Riff and Riff had done the same.

He waited,eyes glaring at the back of Cain's head only slightly softer than the had just been, determaning that if Cain left he'd drag him back in. If he accepted then he would let him go to Malik.

[face_downcast]

A moment before, Cain had been sure Riff's touch would kill him. Forgiving Riff couldn't have been contemplated. The world had been about to shatter.

Now Riff's strong arms around him, one holding him gently while the other allowed him to stay standing. The universe was falling back into order. Cain had almost forgotten how warm the older man was, even through so many layers of clothes with so little contact. There was simply something comforting about being near the man. For the slightest moment, his grip on his valet's sleeve tightened, eyes dropping shut as he relaxed briefly into the quasi-embrace.

God, but it felt like coming home again.

It was with a sharp, jerky motion that he was able to properly right himself, fingers still clenched in Riff's jacket-sleeve even as he stood solidly on both feet. His eyes opened again, sending an uncertain little look up at his head-of-household as his lips formed a few soundless words. Finally he shook his head, unruly bangs hiding his gaze as he looked away again.

"...when I return, I

[tea_is_served]

The situation, -sans the broken promise, Emmeline, and Ryou- was like taking a step back in time. Cain seemed so much younger, standing there with his hand on Riff’s sleeve, and unsure golden eyes looking up at the taller man through a curtain of mussed bangs.
Riff’s lips parted slightly; though he had little intention of responding to Cain’s words.
He couldn’t take seeing him in that state. But it hurt even more so that he found himself frozen to the spot, being able to do nothing other than stand like hulking statue. Useless.

Cain could very easily finish his sentence with ‘gone’. It terrified him that this could be the end. But… at the very least he could perform one last duty for his lord, couldn’t he?
Pulling his arm from Cain’s grip, he attempted to force to his pale lips one of the reassuring smiles he so routinely gave. Instead, the sadness in his eyes overpowered the false smile and he could feel a crack somewhere in him deepen. I cant even do this one thing for him.While his mind was faltering, exhausted, and overcome by

[lady_rotterdale]

Thank you, God.

She could almost trust them enough to rest now. But she supposed she should not go to sleep entirely just yet, in case Cain decided to throw another tantrum and try to order Riff out of the house once more.

The two men were both, in her opinion, being incredibly stupid; but then, she believed now that all men were relatively lacking in intelligence, so she supposed she could not fault them for it, especially given that - at times - Cain appeared to be more intelligent than most.

Emmeline settled back a little more, resisting the urge to sigh. They would work it out. Possibly.