Everybody sour like a lemon tree
Collecting his seat again, there's a flush of relief that he manages to keep her here, and though he doesn't expect it to return to what it'd been, at least it opens it back up to a conversation instead of only stiff shoulders and too much time sitting in-between. Time always seems to be what kills his disagreements, the fight building up over itself whenever he waits, the little grain of the initial irritant folding over and over in thoughts and rolled across distance until it becomes larger than it ever should have been, smoothed out into a one-sided truth. It'd nearly been what ruined him and Flora, it's what helped further the strain between him and Koa, and it's what has permitted the air between him and Zavien to turn so stale.
Admittedly, Kaisel has no good defense for Koa's actions in this regard. He knew his cousin felt strongly for her, but he couldn't know all the ins and outs of it, and Soh is not in need of the explanation any longer. Still, his mind reaches for it, trying to come to terms with the infallible figure he's known his whole life, the one slowly eroding with every mishap of the heart. "Yeah," he admits, softer than he means with half his attention still trying to push and pull his image of Koa into place here. "You don't deserve that." It's not a difficult admission to make, but his face is wincing as he says it, if only because he's biting back the need to apologize on Koa's behalf.
Glancing up from the table back to her gaze, he sits up a little straighter. "Understood," he nods, proof that he won't be making that assumption again. "Well, I have to say," he sighs out, a touch lighter in the small space that filters in after the sharp brandishing of how wrong he'd been and how wrong she'd been treated. "I was looking forward to being like, your cousin-brother, but I guess we'll have to make up an even better title instead." Soh might be Flora's bestie and his cousin's ex-lover, more so than his friend, but they have been a part of each other's lives through those connections for some time, and he's come to appreciate the slow bloom of their own relationship amid the orbiting of all the others.
He listens as she goes on to explain the situation with Lena, and it causes his shoulders to pull in a touch, regretting how carelessly he'd used Lena as a means to jab at Zavien again. She'd been his friend too, in lesser degrees, but he'd always liked her and her memory deserved better. Although that's kind of his point, but he doesn't bother to speak on that further. It seems he's at odds again with someone else's opinion of love, but then again he had already called that into question with Zavien and Lena when she'd been alive, so maybe Zavien is off the hook, if it's not as strong a tether as originally believed. All he knows, is if Flora ever died, and stayed dead, he'd never be able to find someone else. She'd take his heart with him, and though she never wanted her husband to crumple in her absence, proof enough he should keep living, he'd do it as a man half-removed.
"Yeah, feelings have a way of doing that," he concedes instead, not interested in categorizing just what type of dessert she must be if she thinks so differently from him about the other things. "Well..." he sighs, reaching for his tea to steady things. "You should be happy, Soh." That, at least, they can agree on.
Admittedly, Kaisel has no good defense for Koa's actions in this regard. He knew his cousin felt strongly for her, but he couldn't know all the ins and outs of it, and Soh is not in need of the explanation any longer. Still, his mind reaches for it, trying to come to terms with the infallible figure he's known his whole life, the one slowly eroding with every mishap of the heart. "Yeah," he admits, softer than he means with half his attention still trying to push and pull his image of Koa into place here. "You don't deserve that." It's not a difficult admission to make, but his face is wincing as he says it, if only because he's biting back the need to apologize on Koa's behalf.
Glancing up from the table back to her gaze, he sits up a little straighter. "Understood," he nods, proof that he won't be making that assumption again. "Well, I have to say," he sighs out, a touch lighter in the small space that filters in after the sharp brandishing of how wrong he'd been and how wrong she'd been treated. "I was looking forward to being like, your cousin-brother, but I guess we'll have to make up an even better title instead." Soh might be Flora's bestie and his cousin's ex-lover, more so than his friend, but they have been a part of each other's lives through those connections for some time, and he's come to appreciate the slow bloom of their own relationship amid the orbiting of all the others.
He listens as she goes on to explain the situation with Lena, and it causes his shoulders to pull in a touch, regretting how carelessly he'd used Lena as a means to jab at Zavien again. She'd been his friend too, in lesser degrees, but he'd always liked her and her memory deserved better. Although that's kind of his point, but he doesn't bother to speak on that further. It seems he's at odds again with someone else's opinion of love, but then again he had already called that into question with Zavien and Lena when she'd been alive, so maybe Zavien is off the hook, if it's not as strong a tether as originally believed. All he knows, is if Flora ever died, and stayed dead, he'd never be able to find someone else. She'd take his heart with him, and though she never wanted her husband to crumple in her absence, proof enough he should keep living, he'd do it as a man half-removed.
"Yeah, feelings have a way of doing that," he concedes instead, not interested in categorizing just what type of dessert she must be if she thinks so differently from him about the other things. "Well..." he sighs, reaching for his tea to steady things. "You should be happy, Soh." That, at least, they can agree on.
Kaisel
I'm just smiling down upon my enemies
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
