#earthrunes

"Aye." He agrees. "You must grieve. You must mourn, and bear this mighty weight. And yet, you must live, that she may live. Every stolen kiss, every heated glance, every lingering touch, and every soft sigh... she lives within you, and you will remember her. With every little death, a thousand memories, of what you shared."

"How?" Thick and sticky voiced.

"Remember her, that is all you can do. It is what you must do. Live the way she would have wanted to see you, filled with love and sharing that love. She loved you, yes? She would not want to see you in such pain."

"Your people here love you as well, and they will take the pain from you if they must, to see you survive. I wouldst see you make it your own. Forge it into a spear against those who would rend love from others, and keep her in your heart forever."

"But ah, I am but a silly puss." He sips from his flask delicately, and offers it back.

Adam DRINKS.

"I know all that. Been thinking about it. I know."

His breath hitches. Tears are intermittent.

"She promised she would leave if I told her to. She didn't. I told her to go and she didn't."

Vince listens, not casting any judgement, sincere as he murmurs soft responses without words that would require a lie.

"I didn't want this...." Adam leans in, a dam having broken as he speaks "... not like this. I had a dream. When we were in Jersey? And my family was Fae in this dream and I was too and Nab was big. She couldn't get big back then, but she was big in this dream and.... and I was Sidhe. And it was good. But it was a dream."

Adam drinks again, sucking at the flask for the last drops.

He turns a bit, facing Adam, and lightly lays a hand to cup his chin.

"Hold fast her kiss upon thy brow, And, in parting her from you now,
Thus much let me avow — You are not wrong, who deem
That her days have been a dream."

He pauses, then continues.

"Yet her love has not flown away... In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or dreamspun, let her be still less than gone. 
For in the end, all that you see or seem, is but a dream within your dream."

Adam SNIFFLES mightily.

"I know I have to keep going. I just don't know how. Or why."

"I cannot fix this, but I shall do what I may to help. I shall give you a draught. If you promise to partake as only I instruct." He brings out a small glass bottle, a red ribbon on the neck, stoppered and full of a deep crimson liquid. "Remember, if is only Lion's Breath if it is made in Earth Runes, otherwise it's just sparkling tonic."

He gives it a small swirl. "Brandy, for sorrow. Absinthe, for bitter memories, and my own pomegranate liquor, for sweet ones. Drink a capful at night - a capful, mind. And it should bring sweet sleep."

"Take time to grieve, and mourn. But do not shut out those who will grieve with you. She was loved, and even those who knew her not, who care for you, will feel for your loss."

"And if all else fails, we will swim again." An impish smile.

Adam regards Vince a moment. "I heard a rumor. You and Zing and Kylie.... Did you make them Dream Dance?"

He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I did not, in sooth, but I... coaxed out what simmered within?"

A toothy grin. "And then POUNCED upon it!"

"But tsk, what ARE you doing out here in wet clothes? You'll catch your death of cold, and then I'll be scolded. Tsk, now, let us head inside. And I will tell you more of the Lovely Zang and Kyree."

Adam sighs "I wish I'd known." dejected. But he'll follow Vince back.

He wraps the cloak over Adam, and keeps his arm around his shoulders. "Next time, it is a promise, my young friend. I shan't go without thee. After all, are we not musketeers?"

"I mean.... if you could have done the same for me, she..... I mean.... maybe it didn't have to be this way."

"I don't know."

"I am no seer to guess the future, I can scarcely guess the past. But if that could have been done, aye, our wisemen and witchwomen here would have seen to it..."

"They'd have said if you could fuck the Fae into me?"

A level look to Adam. "This IS a Fiona hold. Wouldst thou doubt it?"

Adam looks back, then away. "No."

"I wish I'd asked sooner."

Adam walks close to Vince, seeking the warmth of his body, and when deposited back in his room he strips naked and crawls back into bed. He remembers to take a capful, as instructed, and seeks sleep.

Vince remains unless Adam requests privacy, and will check in on him later in the night.