(no subject)

[rootless]

[Tsuyu had pretty much given up on becoming Queen a long time ago, but he did stubbornly stay until Sion won. He stuck around long enough to congratulate him, and disappeared pretty much immediately after that.

But he's pretty predictable, and it's not like he went to some mystery world Sion had never even heard of. (Would it even be an obstacle if he had?) No, he went to that world he would occasionally tell Sion of, the one he invited him to come to, back when things were especially rough for the bishop.

It's a hostile world. A world with its own gods, and humanity's gods at odds with them. After a century much of it is populated with settlements, but the wilds still absolutely want to kill anything sentient that strays into them. So it really shouldn't be a surprise, given that he and his family had lived in the wilds, that the home he returns to is empty, and has been for a while. Whether they're dead, or just moved on without him... he has no way of knowing.

It shouldn't be a surprise, but it was an eventuality he'd refused to consider. Rather than cope, or move on himself, Tsuyu simply starts working to make their old home hospitable again, taking care not to get wrecked by any nature. Who knows how much time passes like that? He very well might go on that way indefinitely.]

Comments

[restorefromsave]

[Becoming queen meant his wish was granted, he could change his destiny. And Sion had done exactly that.] [It wasn't all he'd bargained for, exactly. Being a god wasn't something he was programmed to handle, and a few circuits got a little fried before he tried to rewire himself and fix it. He thought he did a decent job, there.] [And there were a lot of things to fix, for his friends in various worlds. He spent some time trying to fix or destroy whatever threatened those he loved, and that was more important than the occasional clarity that he was, perhaps, a bit insane. He was still himself anyway, so that was fine, wasn't it?] [There were more important things. Like Tree.] [It wasn't hard to find the world of the dead and wild, to materialize in Tree's home one day, simply there, looking around the space with curiosity. He'd expected more people, Aerta and Spider, at least, but there was only Tsuyukusa here.]

[rootless]

[Sion, please, you literally know he's kind of feral and just went back to a world where pretty much everything is trying to kill him.

That is to say, Tree doesn't take well to his sudden guest, lashes out on instinct without any time to register anything but danger. A blade of ice forms in his hand as he swipes for Sion's throat.]

[restorefromsave]

[If he were still human that would definitely kill him, no matter how good his reflexes. As it is he's a little unconcerned, catching Tree's wrist before they can have a repeat of that particular traumatic moment.]

Tempest.

[rootless]

[freezes perfectly still, finally realizing who this is and just. scared to breathe, really, at the thought of what almost happened.

...k-kind of weakly.]

Oh.

[restorefromsave]

Ah...

[That expression is very wrong on Tempest so he just gently tugs him by the wrist until Tree is close enough to kiss, and does that.]

[rootless]

[the ice melts, running over both their hands as he kisses Sion back fiercely, terrified and full of regret and almost]

[restorefromsave]

[He lets his fingers slide down Tempest's arm, releasing his wrist to glide over his skin in a gentle, familiar caress, until his palm is resting at the back of Tree's neck, cradling his head.] I missed you.

[rootless]

I missed you too-! Fuck. How did you get here?!

[pressing into his touches needily, sososo fucked up and desperate.]

[restorefromsave]

More importantly... Why are you alone?

[rootless]

...I don't know. They just... weren't here.

[restorefromsave]

How long has it been for you? [He's not omniscient, the sense of time in one world and universe so different than in another.]

[rootless]

...A year? Maybe two. I'm not good at keeping track.

[restorefromsave]

That long alone? [His fingertips trace down Tree's neck, soft, soothing.] I should have come sooner.

[rootless]

I- didn't expect you to come at all? Why are you here?

[LET'S DRAW THIS AWAY FROM HOW ACHINGLY LONELY HE IS YES]

AND ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE

[rootless]

[Who knows if Sion got comfortable with the idea that Tree might actually stay, never disappear from Court all the way? But one day he's gone, and he isn't back within a month, or the next, or the one after that.

It's probably a thrill to see a flash of green hair somewhere in Court. He's missing the horns, and his hair is short, but it's easy enough to believe he just chose those differences, right? If you're desperate enough.

Are you?]

[restorefromsave]

[He's desperate enough. It's been months and he'd been... Not doing well, but resigned to not seeing Tree again. Except unexpectedly, out of the blue, there he was. And the differences are enough to make Sion hesitate, uncertain, his stomach twisting in apprehension. But it's dismissable, it might just be cosmetic, it doesn't actually necessarily mean anything.]

Tempest--Tsuyukusa.

[restorefromsave]

Tsuyu... Why do you think I'm here?

[rootless]

If I knew I wouldn't be asking?

[rootless]

[It's easy enough to ignore the first name. It isn't his, after all. Obviously that human is talking to someone else. But the second- that requires his notice, and he whirls, hackles raising, because he's been here for all of five minutes and he doesn't know that voice.

This close the details are clearer. His face is rounder, younger, and he doesn't have even the faintest of his facial scars, let alone the ones on his arms. He's a teenager.]

Who the hell are you?

[This isn't Tempest.]