Home to Roost. [Florian]

[Eitan Angevin]

54th Ash, 121 Steel
White Knight Hall

After returning from the expedition, Angevin had thrown himself into his work. Vacations of that length were unheard of for him, and he found himself wanting to prove himself all over again to Vigilant Richter, to Captain Merovech, to his crew, and even to Aeseth, who seemed to have floated in his absence. The training had commenced, but while command was not new to him, mentoring was. He knew he could rise to the occasion; Aeseth's problems were more mundane than, say, Albrecht's. His service to the State couldn't all be pilot programs with aether siphoners and top-secret expeditions, but he would apply himself to all that was required of him with the utmost diligence.

Not on duty today, he found himself at home with a bit of time to kill before his next appointment. The matter of the servants wasn't yet finalized, but Delia and Stefan had both brought theirs with them, and so the townhouse wasn't in terrible shape. Certainly, having Delia there to add a woman's touch had already improved matters, and going forward, Stefan would likely not be leaving Zaichaer as often as the Noble Gambit and duty took Eitan away, so his home would be properly managed even when he was gone.

It was Delia's maid who answered the door when Albrecht came knocking. If she had any judgments regarding Lysanrin calling, she made no show of it, but rather brought him to Angevin's room. It wasn't the master suite—he had offered that to the married couple for as long as they were residing there. It was the next largest room, however. Albrecht's name was on a shortlist of people who were to be brought directly to him should they arrive unexpected, and so it was Albrecht that found him doing pushups on the rug. There hadn't been a convenient time to go to Stefan's club or to the barracks to exercise, but he had done much to improve himself physically, mentally, and magically before the expedition and it seemed as though he was continuing that trend.

Work hard, play hard, he had said.

"Private Albrecht to see you, Commander," the maid said.

"Thanks," he said explosively while pushing up.

She curtsied and left them to it.

"Albrecht."

[Florian]

How do you say goodbye to someone who doesn't know you're leaving?

It was a question that plagued Florian his entire trip from his apartment to Eitan's home. It was not long enough for him to think of an answer. It was not long enough for him to reconsider keeping the secret. He had realized that there was not much he actually hid from Eitan since they had met. There was no real reason to hide things from him since they had met, almost a season prior. Almost exactly a season prior.

The maid who answered the door, if Florian could detect any surprise, composed herself in the span of a blink, and he just as soon found himself standing rather awkwardly in Eitan's room. He did not know what to say. He did not know what to do. He had enough self-awareness to know why he wanted to see him.

"Angevin." He replied, halfway between a mimicry and a mockery of his greeting. He was quiet for what felt like a bit too long, but maybe his own nerves were playing with the passage of time. He crossed his arms, and then uncrossed them, and then fiddled with their position for a few moments before they returned to being crossed. If he had any intention of hiding his anxiety, he could tell well enough he was failing.

"I just came by to say hello." He didn't bother with the flimsy excuse that he was 'in the area'; both of them knew he had no reason to be close enough to stop by today. His gaze traveled across the room and inspected everything but Eitan. His eyes were white enough with his nerves to rival his hair. Some part of him hoped that he wouldn't look, but it wasn't much of a hope. His eyes were the first thing Eitan checked any time he looked at him. A Lysanrin curse.

"How has your day been?"

[Eitan Angevin]

"999,999..." he joked. "1,000,000."

However many pushups he had actually done, he jumped up and stretched out his arms and chest, taking a sip of water from a glass on the side table and glanced askance at the quiet Lysanrin. He didn't question his presence here. Without many friends, Albrecht tended to spend a fair amount of his free time in Angevin's orbit as well. The Air Commander didn't mind—noblesse oblige and all that. He was just glad he wasn't expected to make a spy out of Florian Albrecht. The man didn't have the presence of mind or self-control to keep his eyes a cool shade of blue when he was upset.

"Well enough, I suppose. Busy, but intermittently so. Hence the home workout."

He sat down with his back to a storage chest, then brought the heels of his palms up to catch the edge. He began to extend his arms, lifting his rear off the floor; repeating the lifts and dips, he began to breath more consciously. In the privacy of his own home, he was only wearing a pair of trainer pants. No sense in soiling finer clothes with sweat, after all. After a set, he paused and looked over at Albrecht again.

Angevin didn't ask if he was lonely or if he was said; he knew that he was or, at least, he missed Ava Albrecht's presence and was sad about her loss. "Did you want to tag along or is no boredom so bad as my schedule?" He smirked. Albrecht was always forthright enough about when he thought something was tedious. Angevin would often privately agree with him even when he couldn't publicly. So far, Albrecht's damned pretty eyes hadn't gotten them into any trouble on that account.

[Florian]

"What are you doing today?" Florian asked, but he did not wait for an answer. "I'll tag along."

He still didn't feel comfortable. On some level, he wanted to tell Eitan what was going on, where he was going, what he was feeling, why. On another, he felt it was better if he just didn't. Florian knew he was going to be close enough to Kalzasi to raise more than a few eyebrows, no matter what happened or where he ended up. The invitation beckoned him, and he had to go, even if it meant fucking everything up.

"Sometimes being busy is better than having nothing to do." That was how he had been feeling lately. That was why he was drinking and fighting and working and doing everything in his power to not have any time to think. Even just standing there in Eitan's room was giving him too much time to think. It hurt. He walked over to and sat in a chair that would have been comfortable if he sat in it properly, but he was leaned forward with his elbows on his thighs and his hands propping up his face. He took a few deep breaths to try and center himself, but his nerves continued to win out.

"I didn't have much to do today anyway. I'd rather be a nuisance than bored." He laughed at his self-deprecating joke. He was still avoiding looking at Eitan. His eyes were on the floor, inspecting the pattern of the rug. "I'll even behave." This was another joke. Even when Florian set out to be quiet and unobtrusive he failed, and usually it was on purpose. He liked to talk too much, or ask questions, or make people just a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't a good habit of his, but it somehow tended to work in his favor.

[Eitan Angevin]

Angevin half scoffed, half laughed at Albrecht's thoughtless agreement to follow whither he led, though it was probably for the best considering he was helping him game the system to be useful enough that they kept him around rather than punishing him for practicing aether siphoning out from under the State's jurisdiction.

"At least a hundred sit-ups," he mused, still doing his dips, "shower, bank, Hall." He was flipping through his mental list of things that needed doing. There was something that needed clarification with his mortgage, and he needed to find Beeman if he could and ask her some questions. There were a number of things that might come up while doing his business in the Hall of Reconciliators. Most of his time was spent on the Noble Gambit or with her crew, and so things did tend to crop up for him in the Order. He liked to keep chipping away at those responsibilities lest they accumulate and overwhelm him.

The shower comment was not meant to be lascivious, though as soon as he finished his list, he knew it was likely to make the Lysanrin smirk.

"Oh." He paused long enough to finish his set and then pushed himself up, stepping lively to the bookshelf and pulling an easily recognizable book from the selection and handing it to Albrecht. "A lot of her things are still in evidence, but I managed to have her books sent over here. They're yours if you want them."

The tale of Florian was just the obvious one to stand in for the rest of them, and he fell quiet, unsure what emotional responses this would bring. But Albrecht had so little and so little to remind him of his mother; Angevin thought it was only right to share what remained.

[Florian]

Florian didn't make any comment or even any different facial expression. He stared at the floor until the book was in his face. His mother's book, his book. He took it and held it and even flipped open the pages of it, worn and well-read and something he had not ever expected to see again. He was quiet for a second, and then the familiar feeling of tears in his eyes and down his face came to haunt him again. At least he was used to it now.

He looked up at Eitan. "You asked for them?" He looked at the book again, and then back at Eitan. "You asked for her books so you could give them to me." This was a statement, and more a statement to himself than anything, as if he were trying to make himself believe that they weren't lose forever to whatever bureacuracy might have kept them away or destroyed them. He stood up abruptly, placed the book on the chair, and then hugged him.

"I don't have a real bookcase but I can get one and then I can take the books." He spoke very quickly in an attempt to get the sentence out before he started crying more, though how much Eitan could understand from that was up for debate. Worse than that was that he was lying, and it hurt him to lie through his teeth. He wasn't entirely sure he would be back properly to get a bookcase and to retrieve the books, to set them up in a corner of his apartment and look at and hold and read.

"I didn't think that I would, or that—" He pulled his arms tighter around him. "I mean, thank you. I didn't think they would show up again. That I would see them again."

[Eitan Angevin]

"Well, of course, I did," he said, exasperated that Albrecht wouldn't know that but trying to be gentle about it because as strong as the Lysanrin was, he had been through a lot and Angevin wasn't particularly looking forward to finding the point at which he was under so much stress that he snapped. He watched Albrecht look over the pages, probably without really seeing them. He didn't know if this would make him happy in the moment, but he knew eventually he would treasure what was left of his mother's belongings

"Oh."

He was being hugged. He was a bit of a sweaty mess, but he hugged Albrecht back.

"They ought to be safe here until you have a place for them. Delia is still redecorating, but I've asked her not to throw away anything except this one chair in the lounge. It's atrocious and it was Fverard's favorite so that ought to be reason enough to burn it." He smiled lightly, not trying to push Albrecht out of his feelings if he needed to sit in them, but to offer him a hand out of them if a smile might help.

These were delicate matters and he didn't know what he was doing, but he was trying. He wasn't the sort to give high marks for mere effort, but it did count for something. Sometimes.

[Florian]

"You say 'of course' as if I'm ever supposed to know what expect from you." Florian replied, though it wasn't said harshly or meant as insult. He held the hug for a moment and then pulled away, looking up at Eitan. He was crying, yes, but his eyes were not the color that normally came with tears. Instead, they were a lighter blue than usual. He stared, with all of the signs of someone about to speak. He even opened his mouth, but nothing came of it except a silent exhale.

Then he blinked, and his face reddened as he realized he had been staring. There were things he wanted to say before he left and he did not know how to say them or if he should say them. He could not read Eitan's mind. Then again, what did it matter? It was frustrating feeling feelings for someone as bad at expressing their own as Eitan. The man was all action, few words, and he was not so certain of his ability to read intention to really understand what he meant by the things he did. Was he just nice, or was there something else? The bastard was lucky he was pretty. Florian stepped back and looked away, reaching a hand up to scratch his cheek.

"Sorry, it just means a lot to me. Thank you." He turned his head back, though the color in his eyes remained unchanged. "Not just the books. A lot of things. I mean, I'm terrible at... friends, and you're my friend, and there's more to it but I." He stopped there, mid-sentence, his mouth open and then abruptly closed, as if he could not speak the words that came next.

[Eitan Angevin]

"I know they're important to you," he said, trying to be gentle about it. "That's why I pushed for them, and I'll keep at them for the rest of her effects whenever they can be released from evidence. I know things never happen as quickly as you would like, but I'm on them. For what it's worth."

Though Albrecht had stepped away, Angevin's hand came up to touch his cheek after he had scratched it.

"I don't always know how to be a good friend to you, but I am trying." He didn't know how to be a good friend in general; his friendships were all so different, from Brenner and now Stefan who had known him since always, to comrades-in-arms like Myles, to people who just piqued his interest like Jane. "A lot of it is improvising, doing the best I can in whatever situation, and I know it's still a shit situation for you."

He believed in Zaichaer, but he was aware that it had faults. One day, he hoped to be in a better position to effect change, but for the time being, he could only do small things to make Albrecht's life easier, and continue to shine as an officer of the Air Defense Corps and a Watcher of the Order of Reconciliation. The stakes were higher for Albrecht, of course, but Angevin wanted to make Zaichaer a better place so when he had his own family, they could benefit from a more perfect union of people.

He let his hand drop. None of this needed saying out loud. He already had and reiterating wouldn't make Albrecht feel better or believe him more, so he didn't waste his breath. But he offered a glum smile.

[Florian]

Florian nodded, and his eyes slowly returned to a normal blue. It was unrequited, obviously. Even if it wasn't, it wouldn't work, not now and not ever. He didn't know why he felt so strongly. It was an unfortunate addition to friendship where no one benefitted. He was lucky, though. Eitan was his first real friend, at least as an adult — the first person that he considered a friend, someone he could trust. That was enough.

"I know you're trying. I see it. It's not lost on me." He let out a small sigh. "That doesn't make it any less surprising that you are. That anyone is." As Eitan dropped his hand, he grabbed it with both of his. He wondered if Eitan knew how he felt. He certainly had the benefit of watching every strong emotion Florian felt flash before his eyes. And he answered every time he asked. Eventually. But he had yet to see his own eyes when he felt that way and perhaps they didn't change color at all.

"Please don't lose them." He said quietly, but he didn't expect Eitan to lose anything. He wasn't so sure it would matter much for him anyway, but the thought of her things being lost or destroyed upset him all the same. He squeezed his hand. Every fucking thing in his life happened so quickly. He had no time to think or breathe or rest, and it was his own fault. Maybe there was another timeline where he did things right and he didn't hurt the people around him, or fuck up, or make rash, terrible decisions.