never to meet again

OLIVER

Within the eye, mysteries of the soul burn deeply beneath the fiery chasms of love

and patiently wait for an awakening

While Loren could try to find some sort of humor in the situation, it was impossible for Oliver to feel the same. "And yet... people will continue to go outside... and this year, all we have is the Temple.. meaning if we lose the Temple... fuck." His eyes grew worried and he shifted them away, looking down at Astra once more. "I... I'm stronger than I was before, Loren.. I told Ronin I'd stay." To betray someone he had just met sounded just awful.

The man's words were nice, but Oliver couldn't shake the guilt away. And then, rather than accepting the box like Oliver wanted, Loren instead seemingly tried to hide it. It wasn't what Oliver wanted. Someone needed to take the box and Loren was the person who seemingly cared the most about him.

Arms pulled him close and Oliver found himself wrapping his own arms around Loren's torso. Closing his eyes, he rested his head against Loren's shoulder. There was a hushed silence for a few seconds- Oliver wasn't sure how much time had passed but eventually he felt awkward, like he had to say something. No words really seemed to be fitting for how he felt about Loren nor what he wanted to say. 'Love' was too strong... but everything else felt awkward. "We.... we will see each other again, when this ends... right? When LongNight is over we can meet up?" It wasn't like he didn't know it was possible, it was a request. Oliver wanted to hear confirmation that he and Loren would see each other again soon.