Kieran laughed slightly at Aura’s intoxicated apology, but in many ways, he was glad she had cut the tension. He had been comfortable bearing his soul to her for a minute, but any longer and he knew he’d likely shut back down.

Still—with the alcohol burning in his veins and burning at his cheeks—he found it hard to dwell on much at this particular moment.

Kieran felt a trust as well—something he had not felt in a long, long time. 

Trust was a hard thing to come by in Apex. A harder thing for Kieran as well. Should she keep to her word, and he to his, he could easily see an eastward journey going well. And he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t, in this moment at least, looking forward to such a trip. As Aura spoke, his mind struggled to focus on her words and the thoughts that rang through his head. The idea of collecting materials, cashing in debts, and getting them, finally, away from here.

And who knows? Maybe at the other end of his journey would be some sort of familial solace.

“Yeah,” he muttered, intending to nod instead. A live-in servant in A…he wondered if there was something he could do to help her mother out of that. In this moment, with someone he was actually comfortable drinking this heavily with, he could probably have been coerced into a lot of things.

Was he always this bad at holding his booze? Or had he drank far too much and the day been far too long? It has hard to know for certain at this point.

[I]Twenty-five,[/i] he thought to himself. [I]She likes chocolate, I could get some pretty easily. Not sure what kind to get, maybe just a few different types?[/i]

He felt like he was a port boy again. Back when he would occasionally head to The Square and try to make friends with the butcher’s daughter on 4th street. It was innocent then (as innocent as it could have been at ten), and he remembered racking his brain over what to get her and what sort of object would convince her he’d make a good friend.

Funny enough, it had been about that long since he felt like he actually had a friend to talk to.

As she gathered herself to sleep on the ground, he nearly jumped from the bed. 

“Strong drink, yea?” he said aloud, as he passed her and finished his drink in one fell swoop, before setting his and her cups on a nearby counter. “Here, I gotta thing that’d help.”

He was really slurring his words at this point. He opened a cabinet and produced two pillows, before setting them down by her and nearly falling back into the bed. 

As he did, he remembered that a few moments ago Aura had said something about The Cause. Perhaps he should’ve noted that…what did she say? A meeting in a field, in a few days?

Nevermind it, he thought at he slipped into the bed, positioning himself and quickly feeling his body relax. He’d ask her before he went to get chocolates and see what the laptop had in it.

“A runner forever?” He asked and repeated. “No, never. I mean, you rarely see runners make it to 40, anyway.” 

He thought for a moment, trying to find words as sleep tried to take him.

“I want a family. But not here. There’s too much…shit…I guess, around here…but…. yeah.” He finally settled on a definitive answer. 

The room was spinning, and the last of his filter left him. 

“I’ll go east…sometime, and have a family. I’ll have a family, and I won’t…leave. If only this place would let me.”

The room spun and spun.

And then it was dark.