Neverwinter Forest on a black throne reigns upright

Rian understood the turmoil Cypress was battling with. The internal struggle between the consuming and the guilt was a familiar weight upon his shoulders—torn somewhere between wanting to make his family proud, and being too bitter to accept the changes in his life. While Kieran's disappearance was the catalyst, the events after was serving as the formative moments in his life so far, and he couldn't quite stomach that the dreams of his childhood were long dead.

Though the space between them was vast, he still felt an undeniable pull of camaraderie towards the eidolon. They were both battered and bruised by the same unfortunate circumstances that dashed their hopes to pieces, but there was still a chance; that wild errant thought that drifted through his mind in the darker hours of the night had taken root after Ondine had ascended. No longer was this Forest home. It was a shell—a ruined bastion of the former glory that he once hoped to participate in.

Now all he wanted was to leave.

Cypress hung on his word though a quivering uncertainty hung suspended in the air between them. It was a rash thing to suggest, but Rian felt himself suddenly protective of the idea. He wanted to nurture it further, allow it to bloom, and become something that could erase the sins of the past and present. The ideology was what drove him to steal yet another step towards Cypress; once more parroting the raven boy, and exposing the delicate patchwork heart to the only one he knew would understand. 

His ears flung forward and he listened while simultaneously drawing strength from the lingering desire to claim the boy's heart, and guide him to the truth he now knew. 

Rian gulped, feeling the sting of his unusually parched throat, and crept ever closer with a sensitive dip of his muzzle. "Yes." his lips formed the words around the exhale of breath, and he waved his tail. "We don't have t'remember them like that, Cy, we can make something better than this. Our parents just wanna have a reason t'be proud of us—" he opened his mouth and smiled, albeit wildly, "what better than following our hearts and finding where we really belong, rather than living for the sake of living?" Rian expressed passionately while his jade eyes danced across Cypress' own eerie yellow.