[A'erina]

It became something of a normal thing for A'erina to be heading down to southern Thanalan and the Sagoli desert every sennight or two. Although this time was a little different, in fact, it was different enough that she had actually decided to wear her Red tunic, White trousers, and shockingly, not her normal choice of footwear.

She checked herself over. “ This is fine isn't it? Yea, it's fine, I'm sure everything is fine. ” She says to herself as she was approaching the Forgotten Springs. After coming so far and walking up near the entrance to the settlement, she had started to have regrets. “ He's comin' right? He said he'd come with me to see them, I'm sure he'll be here soon. ” Again, speaking her mind to try and reassure herself that what she was doing was a good idea and not a mistake.

As A'erina stood there, half in a daydream about her new flame and the other half absolutely dreading seeing everyone again, she was struck by a slap across the back of her head.

“I'd know that hair anywhere. Dad'll be pissed if he sees you. ” The voice coming from a white haired Miqo'te as A'erina turned around. “ …Hey Ralia.” She says whilst rubbing the back of her head.

“ What brings you here? Come to gloat about how much better off you are? About how your life is soooo perfect?

” She asks with a snarky tone.

“ It's not like that, it never was and you know it. Just remember that dad told me to leave and never come back, and none of you stopped him… Or me. ”

“ Yeah, well, if you'd have just stayed, it wouldn't have been a problem. ”

“ I don't expect you to understand, Ralia, I never expected anyone to understand, but it was my life, my feelings… I can do whatever I want with those, and if it means being happy? I'll gladly do it over and over again. ”

“ …Sorry. ” A'ralia was clearly not as informed as the rest of the family. “ So who're you waiting for? Or were you waiting for one of us to show up? ”

[F'loki]

F'loki appears not long after in the center of the village at the aetheryte, wearing what appeared to be sand colored ankle-high boots, a loose and slightly baggy pair of brown slacks and a slightly lighter brown colored open-chested top. He stretched in place as he arrive before looking around for A'erina with an excessively laid back expression on his face.

[A'erina]

After being left alone with her thoughts for a moment and taking a more leisurely pace into Forgotten Springs, normally not paying much attention to the aetheryte at the centre. She looks up and sees F'loki just appear. “ I'll never get used to that. ” She mumbles to herself before closing the distance with a short jog upto him, and getting up in his personal space.

“You made it! Not how I got here, but still, you're here, and that's important, right? ” She puts her hands together and looks at him. “ I already spoke to one of my sisters, A'ralia, before you got here. She went on ahead to try and calm the atmosphere before I just walk on in after all this time, you sure you want me to do this? ” She looks down at her attire. “ This is fine too, yeah? it's not too much? ” She had question after question for F'loki, although anyone could see that she was trying to stall him for aslong as she could.

[F'loki]

He smiles at her approach, looking around the village with some level of childish wonder before drawing his gaze back to A'erina.

“It's not about what I want you to do. Do YOU want to see them again? Still time to escape if you want to go and all that! And you look fine in everything so far, no need for worries.”

[A'erina]

A'erina nods at him. “ Having come this far, I'd be stupid to not see them. 'Sides, I have you with me now. Atleast if it doesn't go as planned, you'll be able to get me out quick enough, right?” Several scenarios ran through her mind at this point. “I do want to see them, I don't want to see them, turn around and walk away, maybe have F'loki just aether travel you away, you'd be sick afterwards but it'd be worth it, he's kinda cute though… Focus, Rina! Do what you think is best Yeah, got it!”

A'erina grabs F'loki's hand “ Come on, you. Just remember this ain't a date. ” as she begins some powerwalk to assert dominance towards the Maxhavo residence, almost dragging F'loki behind her.

[F'loki]

“It's not a date? Then–”

He is cut off as he is dragged along, thinking it better for now to let things go as they may rather than try to have any established control over the situation, sensing A'erina's clear inner turmoil–although it did help that such a great deal of it was present on her face to begin with.

[A'erina]

A'erina rolls her eyes, and upon reaching the entrance, she loosen's the grip on his hand, but still holding it, she turns to face him. “ We'll go someplace nice for a date after we're done here, okay? ”

She's let go of his hand, so she could knock on the door. After a few seconds, a silvery-blue haired Miqo'te opens the door. “ Ralia said you were coming, I thought she was bullshittin' but you're actually here. ” The cat would run up to her sister and give her a hug. “ It's nice to see you too, Liana.” *During the hug, A'liana looks at F'loki, and pulls away from her sister. “ Ohhhh, now I get it! That's why you're here! ” A'liana seemed to be beside herself that A'erina was actually seen in the company of another Miqo'te. A'liana looked at F'loki, smiled and waved at him. “ Hiya! I'm A'liana! I'm Rina's younger sister. who're you? I'm gonan marry Gair one day, y'know! Do you know Gair too?” A'erina's eyebrows raised as her hyperactive younger sister still seemed relentless in her journey to marry Gair. A'erina just proceeded to shake her head.

[F'loki]

F'loki smiled at A'liana and wriggled his ears, taking in ever scrap of information he can while keeping his face as friendly as possible.

“Ah, I am F'loki. It is a pleasure to meet you. As it happens, I have indeed met Gair, and I'm fairly certain the man would be more than passingly happy to have such a pretty bride!”

[A'erina]

“Really, you think so? Sis, you gotta tell him! Gair thinks I'm pretty too, I know he does! ” A'liana is practically bouncing around at being told this kind of thing

“Don't encourage her. ” A'erina quips at him. “ Anyway, Liana, I don't want to be too long. Maybe just clear the air and that's it, and we can play catch up provided everything works out, yeah? ”

A'liana looks at A'erina seriously for a second. “ Dad's been struggling recently, by the way, go easy on him.” A'erina tilts her head, but doesn't ask why. “ You'll see. Come on. ” A'liana turns around and opens the door. Inviting both A'erina and F'loki in. As she walks in through the door, she almost instinctively knew that a hand coming directly to slap her in her face in some surprise ambush would occur, and grabs the wrist before she is struck. “ Tira… ” This time, a dark brunette greeted the pair, but without saying anything A'tira just wriggled her hand free and gave her older sister a hug strong enough that she would lift A'erina a few ilms off the ground. “ It's nice to see you too, sis, and… I'm sorry. ”

A'tira would let her go and put her down before wiping a tear or two from her eyes. Saying nothing, she'd retreat into another room and close the door. Just then, A'rana, Matriach to the family walks in. “ She'll be fine, she just missed you. ” A'erina looked at her mother for a few seconds, and then goes to say something, but no words coming out.

[F'loki]

F'loki breaks the silence with a somewhat heavy arm around A'erina's shoulder and a hearty chuckle before waving at the Matriarch, still keeping the same smile and energy from earlier despite the shift in tone.

“Hello! A'erina didn't warn me at all that her looks were indeed shared amongst her kin. I feel nearly fit to faint from the overcharge of good fortune!”

[A'erina]

A'erina breathes in through her nose, making a small sniffling sound, as if his flattery of them was bothering her.

“ …That'd be my mum… And I've got six sisters.” *She looked at her mother for a second before speaking to her. “ Anyone else home? ” A'rana's ears twitched a little as A'erina actually spoke to her. “ Your dad is in the other room. Uriel and Kyra are around somewhere, Elana is at work and probably won't be back for another six bells…” A'rana looks at F'loki “ Quite the charmer, aren't you? Hope you're treating my daughter better than that midlander did. ” Meanwhile A'liana was standing there with a gormless expression, looking at A'erina and F'loki as if they had Gair concealed in a pocket or something.

[F'loki]

“Oh the mother, I wouldn't have guessed! I might have a talent for flattery, but not having to lie when I do so certainly helps it flow out easily.”

He does a slight bow before pulling at his facial hair a bit, thinking to himself.

“I assure you however, the flowers here have only found themselves second to A'erina here so far today. But I'd rather not overdo it–I am downright ecstatic to meet the man of the house!”

[A'erina]

A'rana looks and raises her voice so that her husband in the other room hears her. “ Honey! Someone wants to see you. ” She's look's at F'loki, then to A'erina, who appeared to slowly be shrinking as the door opened and she looked towards the door as if she wanted to make a run for it. Instead opting to grab F'loki's hand and squeeze it tight, Everything was going okay so far but her dad was part of the original problem

A'xhuv makes his way into the room, using a walking stick to keep himself upright, a somewhat hunched over stature, age had started to settle its way in, and was suffering form something akin to Arthritis. ( I think Eorzeans could get it?) He looks over at F'loki, seemingly standing there all spritely. Meanwhile, A'erina's ears were lowered, and almost appeared as if she was trying to hide from A'xhuv.

“ Who're you, boy? ” He stood there waiting for an answer from F'loki.

[F'loki]

F'loki gives a happy bow, keeping his grip on A'erina's hand.

“I'm F'loki ser, and I've been quite excited to meet you! Its great to finally put a face to the man finally, and a relief besides!”

[A'erina]

A'erina exhales as she's unwantingly urged forward., she looks at her father. A'xhuv looks at her briefly before continuing to talk to F'loki. “ You treating my girl right, boy? ”

[F'loki]

F’loki’s smile went quite wooden as he looked on for a moment before letting out a chuckle.

“You know, id like to think I’ve been doing okay so far, but I really think that’s a question better served to the woman herself! What do you think A’erina? Am I doing an alright job so far?”

[A'erina]

A'erina looks a little confused as her father asked such a question regarding her. “ Y-yeah. Everything is fine! He's a seeker, just like us, I think, are you a seeker?” She let's go of his hand now, feeling a little more confident in her father's presence “ … I'm sorry, alright? Maybe I made a mistake before, maybe you were right all along. I don't expect you to understand how I feel, you know all about the problems I have. I had to find something, I couldn't just sit around and hope the answer just fell into my lap. Eluric knew that and that's why he helped me, it's not my fault I fell for the man, even though I couldn't see that he was using me as a test subject.” She pauses for a moment to catch her breath. “ I was ready to throw everything away, you know. Thanks to Gair's help I got out of that hole I had put myself in, I've made some friends because of him, too.” She looks at F'loki. “ Think I know what I've been missing all along thanks to him.” She gives him a smile and a wink, which was only caught by A'liana, and then looks back at her father. “ I'm not going to ask you to forgive me, dad, but atleast give me a chance to set things right.”

[F'loki]

“This is a little embarrassing, but actually my father was a keeper. My sisters and I largely took after our mother, but save for the eyes I’d like to think I look quite a lot like him!”

He chuckles a bit, but when he speaks again the friendliness in his smile fades away, and his eyes take on characteristics like those of a starving predator looking at a potential meal.

“That aside, I’m afraid I ever follow my heart…and though it may not be my place I feel compelled to speak some unpopular words.”

He pulls A’erina by her waist into a light hug and stares directly into her eyes.

“There is no reality where this rift that has opened has been by your doing alone. It is not all your fault. The mistakes that were made here were clearly made as a family. I might not have the full story, but I have more than enough—but really, it does not matter.”

He draws his gaze back to A’xhuv before continuing to speak.

“What matters is that both parties want to move forward. I can clearly feel the love you all have for each other, so rather than assigning who is or isn’t to blame for what, why not just rejoice at the reunion?”

[A'erina]

A'erina practically melts as she listens to him, each word he uttered seemed to relax her, to reassure her. She was beginning to wonder just what he saw in her.

A'xhuv walks over to the two, propping his cane against the wall before offering open arms to his daughter. It doesnt take A'erina long to make a decision as her eyes begin to well up and she returns the hug and holds her father, now sobbing into his shoulder.

Amidst said sobbing, A'xhuv looks at F'loki, a tear or two in his own eyes. “ Take care of her for me, won't you? She needs a young lad like you in her life, even I can see that.” he resumes holding his daughter for aslong as she stays there. A'rana smiles with content as she watches, somewhat relieved that the two have finally made up. A'liana, A'ralia and A'Kyra traded looks with each other, as though they had been wanting this to happen for some time but A'erina always avoiding them whenever possible.

[F'loki]

He smiles and leans against a nearby wall.

“If things go to plan, we’ll be looking after each other for a good long time!”

[A'erina]

A'erina continues to hug him. A'rana doesn't say anything but mouths the words “ Thank you” to F'loki. Eventually she let's go and her father puts a hand on her cheek, wiping a tear or two away. “ I never stopped loving you, my darling. How could I not… after all, you've always been my favourite.”

Miqo'te ears across the household pointed upwards as he said that and almost in unison, each of the present sisters yelled “ What?!” At his words. A'xhuv had a pretty big shit eatingngrin in his face shortly after saying it, he grabbed his cane and began his walk back into the other room.

“ Anyway, your old man needs some rest, too much excitement for one day. If I'm going to be seeing you more, might need more energy.”

A'erina just nodded and let out an “Okay” as he left the room. Now looking like an absolute mess, she faced her mother whilst sorting her hair out, and trying to make sure that her face was presentable again, as she tried to keep up appearances for F'loki.

[F'loki]

“Well…” He takes a deep breath and gives a toothy smile at the scene, thumbing at his nose as he moves himself from the wall.

“That’s quite possibly the best thing I’ll see for the rest of this moon. Made me want to go dig my knuckle into my sister’s head for old times sake.”

[A'erina]

After sorting herself out. She looks at him, her nose scrunched up.“ Do you have to talk like that?”

[F'loki]

“Like what?”

[A'erina]

“Don't say stuff like that, wanting to do that to your sister. Atleast let me join in.”

A'erina laughs and once again gets up in his personal space. She couldn't seem to do what she had wanted to do, and instead pats him on the head awkwardly before looking at a chronometer on the wall.

“ If you want that date we should get going soon.”

[F'loki]

“After you then. I must say I’m looking forward to a wonderful time. I’m expecting to be practically swept off my feet! No pressure or anything.”

[A'erina]

“ The only sweepin' off your feet you're gonna get is me trippin' you up.” A'erina points him towards the exit “ Go on, out.”

A'erina turns to face the rest of her family. “ I promise to come back more often, mum. It'll give me the time to explain everything. ”

A'rana nods at her “ Don't rush it, dear. We'll still be here when you're ready.” She gives A'erina a hug, whispering into her ear “Try and keep this one, yeah?” Before letting her go and moving a ginger lock of hair from infront of her daughters face and smiling at her. “ Now if only your sisters would follow you and get out of my house, I can put my hammer away and get some rest myself”

[F'loki]

He follows instructions and departs the house, opting to go off towards the aetheryte while he waited for A’erina to rejoin him.

[A'erina]

The Maxhavo sisters present all let out a groan, clearly unhappy about A'erina being the favourite at this present moment, it wouldn't last though, but they would all agree that having their sister show up again after a few years and for things to go back to a bit of normality within the family.

A'erina ran upto her sisters, giving them each a quick hug before heading to the door, and shouting towards A'tira's room “ Love ya, Tira!” and closing the door behind her, she lets out one big fucking sigh as she looks at F'loki waiting for her, without a word she leaps at him and gives him a hug.

“ Thanks for comin' with me to see them, should'a done it sooner, huh? ”

[F'loki]

His tail swayed back and forth at her approach, nodding a bit before shrugging.

“Oh no need for thanks I'm happy to meet the folks. Besides, I know well enough how hard it can be to take that first step to approach family again after spending a long time apart.”

[A'erina]

A'erina looks up at him “ You're gonna have to tell me about your family sometime, then. You can't just say that and not expect me to be interested. ” She recalls that she had made a promise to Flloki before. and for the first time, it was one she had intended to keep. “ So! What's the plan? Can't really have a date if we ain't got a destination in mind, can we? ”

[F'loki]

“Oh my family is not nearly as interesting as you are imagining I assure you. I mean, you've met my sister already really so thats more or less everything. As for what we can do….I think I heard that you can ride some giant lizards out in these parts. Is that true?”

[A'erina]

She shrugs “ Guess I'll just ask Lami then. ” She takes a moment to think for a second. “ Someone probably pullin' your leg, I ain't ever done nothin' like that, most people just use Chocobo's even for the Sagoli. Although, if it were true, I think that'd be a great thing to check out.” In A'erina's head: maybe if you stop checking him out first.“

[F'loki]

“Woah woah ask her what exactly?”

[A'erina]

“Family stuff! I'm sure Lami can tell me some things about you that you won't tell me. If it's nothing bad then I'm sure you wouldn't mind, right? ”

[F'loki]

His smile dampened a bit.

“I mean, if its a tale you want I can give you one. Or you can just ask what you want to know. My sister is a uh….lets say she would be quite the unreliable source of information.”

[A'erina]

” You know what? I don't care. I've had my fill of being emotional for the day. Take me to the Saucer. I've never been 'cause no one would ever go with me, that can be our date, deal?“

F'loki]

“As the lady wishes.”

[A'erina]

A'erina grabs his hand and smiles at him. ” It's fine, y'know? You can tell me about your life whenever you want to, I won't pester you about it, promise.“

She looks at the Aetheryte and then to the gates, and backto F'loki. ” So how're we gonna get there? “

[F'loki]

“Well if we head back to the city, we can take an airship there. Have you never been?”

[A'erina]

“To the Saucer? Nope. Never really had the time, and as I said, no one would ever take me. That's why you have to take me, it'll be extra special then!”

[F'loki]

He rubs his chin.

“Well I suppose we should be on our way!”

“Ah, but one more thing first. It’s not like I don’t want to tell you about my family or anything, it’s just that it’s really not a pleasant story.”

[A'erina]

A'erina nods a few times. ” I understand, sweetie. I've seen enough shit to know that not everyone's family stories make for a good story. You can tell me when you're ready, okay? “ She pointed at the aetheryte ” I can't use aether travel so will you take me there using that?“

[F'loki]

He smiles and offers his hand.

“Of course. But take my hand and I’ll whisk you away!”

[A'erina]

A'erina took his hand, and before she knew it, they were at the Gold Saucer, A'erina had never been before, and felt a little woozy after teleporting in via Aetheryte, but soon snapped out of it. She dragged F'loki around with her, eyes wide at the absurd plethora of lights and things to do. She spent a ridiculous amount of time at the Moogle's Paw machines, as well as Getting into a verbal fight with a Roegadyn at the Cuff-a-cur, apparently, walking by and calling the man a ” Weak pansy“ isn't something you should be doing whilst enjoying the amusements. Her constant running around from place to place like a small child seeing new things, would make you wonder if this was even a date at all. Unfortunately for F'loki he was being pulled every which way so she didn't lose him in the rather big establishment, often smiling at him as a sign of gratitiude for putting up with her.

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