Stone Circle Young blood thinks there's always tomorrow

Backdated before Rev's whump <3

@Gunnar, Reverie's voice trembled a little when she found him. He was an old man, she'd known that from the start, but she had never expected to see him grow so weak. She moved to embrace him gently.

I think - I think I'd like to bring Blossom for another visit, soon, She murmured into his embrace, thinking now of the future. But she did not want to. She wanted to stay here, in this moment, forever. Here, with her father — for that was what he was to her, blood or no. He had taken her in, given her his love and his wisdom and his name, showed her what it was like to be truly accepted. He'd never judged her; never turned away from her.

And she knew in some instinctive way that her daughter would never truly know this side of him, but rebelled against it fiercely.

I want her to know you, Reverie went on, as if she might make it true simply by speaking it aloud. I know she'll love you as much as I do.

Gunnar lifted head, eye that could see tilted towards her. The filmy one foggy in his head. A soft smile for her.

Hello sweet girl. He held her tightly to his chest and hummed softly. I'd like that.

Gunnar did not regret those he took in. Just as he loved them fiercely faults and all. Bonnie and Tauris and Skald, Bjarna so many others. Not of his flesh and blood, but his all the same. Just as much as Astrid, Kristjan, Ujurak and Sven were his.

He chuckled softly. Good because i already love her.

How - how do you do it? Reverie asked suddenly, pulling away only enough to meet his eyes. For long months now she had wanted to ask him this, to have another piece of his wisdom to hold close to her heart. Be a - father? A parent?

Her ears lowered slightly as she went on, I don't think I was ready to be a mother. And I still - I don't know what I'm doing. I'm afraid that I'll - I'll hurt Blossom, and it will affect her forever, The way her own parents had hurt her; the way she still carried it with her, even as a grown woman with a family of her own. And I don't want that for her.

I want to be - like you. I want to make her feel safe and loved, always, And I'm afraid I don't know how.

Gunnar thought about it. A gentle sound in his chest. He wasn't sure of the right words, but he would try.

Well i always told myself no one would go fatherless if i could help it. My father died too early. And i just took what i knew and what I've seen. Determined how i didn't want to act and then did it.

A soft chuckle. Reverie my darling girl. The fact that you worry about being a good mother already makes you one.

For a moment Reverie was quiet, thoughtful; she did know what she didn't want to be like, didn't she? Nothing like her own parents, for a certainty; their love had always taken the form of control, bound to strict expectations with the constant threat that if she did not meet them she would find herself cast aside, unloved, unwanted. But Reverie had found other examples, too, of what a parent was not meant to be. She did not want to be like Akavir, who hadn't been present for the birth of his own children. She did not want to be like Lestan, who had always kept a certain distance from Blossom even when he'd been there. Reverie had seen the love he held for her but she had seen, too, how Blossom was always more her daughter than theirs.

Not an absent or distant parent, then, but not smothering either. She was suddenly aware of the fine line she would have to walk, and suddenly overwhelmed by it all over again. But Gunnar hadn't said that it would be easy.

Thank you, Gunnar, She murmured softly, eyes warm. I guess I just - I'm overwhelmed by it. She - she depends on me for everything. And I don't mind it so much, but I - I can barely take care of myself sometimes! There's so much I don't know. How can I teach her about life and the world if I hardly know it myself? Gunnar seemed to know everything by now, old as he was; Reverie could not claim the same.

Ahe grew quiet thoughtful. He held hia silence. Letting her think through what he had said. What else could he do. Thia was a truth she had to find.

You're welcom3.

Gunnar gave her a sad smile and pulled her close. Unfortunately darling girl. The older ones are the ones we grow up with ourselves when we have them young. That doesn't mean anything bad it just means you are a work in progress and she will help shape you.

Fading <3

Thank you, Gunnar, She leaned into his embrace, closing her eyes for a moment. Reverie had no way of knowing that this would be the last time she spoke to Gunnar, the last time he held her, but she sensed that an end was coming.

She wasn't ready. She didn't think she ever would be. Gunnar was her father, the first man she'd learned to love without the taint of things such as fear or lust. He had taught her hope, he had taught her love without conditions or control.

Kvarsheim had been her new beginning, once. Now Bjarna was gone, and Gunnar was fading with each day, and the Stone Circle was filled with strangers, and her heart ached. She sensed an end, and she wasn't ready.

I love you.

Always.