Kelpwine Sunrise [D3 EM - CLOSED]

[Garth Wayne Ulgo]

Garth does indeed find the taste difficult to savour, but in his life he has definitely tasted worse.

Still better than mess hall kaff, he thought to himself.

"T'...friends." Garth replies as he senses his question being answered before even being asked. " 'n family, wherever one c'n find it."

Looking into Tethys's eyes, he just bites the bullet. "Ah guess y' suspect wha' this 's all about huh?"

[Tethys Carrack]

"I..."

Tethys pauses for a long interval, her gaze sliding away from Garth and out toward the horizon.

She sighs and pulls herself back, to meet his eyes again. "I think... no, I realize I was trying very hard not to suspect. I'm not proud of that."

[Garth Wayne Ulgo]

"An ah guess ah was bein' too subtle t' avoid makin' y' confront it." Garth softly replied, his own eyebrows crinkling together.

"Ah couldn' be 'fraid of th' answer no more. Not after all ye taught me." To his credit Garth doesn't pull back or retreat from his feelings.

[Tethys Carrack]

"Fear." Tethys sets her cup down; the fingers of her other hand, resting on her thigh, tense and dig in a little. "You've learned so much, Garth. Maybe you've surpassed me in this too." The corner of her lips twitches up for just a moment, belying the sadness in her dark eyes.

"You're not afraid of the answer, but I see now that I've been afraid of answering. I value--I've been possessive--"

She sighs at her own inarticulacy. "I like the way we are. But that isn't fair to you."

[Garth Wayne Ulgo]

The tension in Tethys's fingers is obvious to Garth, who was scrutinising her every movement and word with a hope he subconsciously acknowledged was futile.

"Ah've only come as far as ah have because 'f yer teachings," he counters though the twinge in her eyes almost makes him lose his nerve.

"But this ain't about fair or unfair. Ah wouldn' ask y' to change what we've done or what we mean t' each other, it'd fundamemt'lly change what drew me t' ya in the first place." His hands fidget in his lap as he speaks, to keep them from reaching up to the touchstone crystal hanging around his neck.

"But ah had t' know where ah stood, fer better 'r worse."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Of course."

The more their conversation forces her to look at it squarely, the more Tethys begins to see her own cowardice in this matter, over the years. Garth's nerves find an echo in her own uneasy conscience. Emotion, peace. Passion, serenity. She has to face the one--not hide from it--to reach the other.

"I... I don't think I can give you the answer you're hoping for, Garth," she says in a slightly small voice, its pitch constrained by a rare sort of uncertainty. "But I--can we be clear? Ask me what you want to ask. I don't want to make things worse between us by answering the wrong question."

[Garth Wayne Ulgo]

"Might be ah'm askin if there's room in a certain Jedi's heart fer a certain flyboy. Room fer more'n just a friend, romantically?"

Garth takes several deep breaths through that small sentence, it took a lot for him to lay his soul bare like this.

"An don' worry bout th' answer ah'm lookin fer, right now ah'm lookin fer the truth. One way or 'nother ah need t' find peace wi' these emotions."

[Tethys Carrack]

Garth's request for peace steadies Tethys. Of course. Both of them have something to learn in this; even if there were no personal cowardice in dodging the issue, she has not been doing him any favors by denying him the chance to confront and make peace with his feelings.

"No. I almost wish it could be different, but--" she sighs. "Not that kind of room. You have a place in my heart, and you always will. But the kind of place I know you want... I don't know how to make a place like that for just one person, not without failing at everything else."

"You want to make that kind of space for another person. You should find someone who'll do the same for you... maybe here?"
She looks down into her cup of kelpwine for a long moment before taking another sip. "You must be careful, if you're going to keep using your connection to the Force. The stronger you get, the more risk such attachments have. But maybe you're one of the people who can do it. I'm pretty sure you're better suited than I am. "

[Garth Wayne Ulgo]

Garth's request for peace steadies Tethys. Of course. Both of them have something to learn in this; even if there were no personal cowardice in dodging the issue, she has not been doing him any favors by denying him the chance to confront and make peace with his feelings.

"No. I almost wish it could be different, but--" she sighs. "Not that kind of room. You have a place in my heart, and you always will. But the kind of place I know you want... I don't know how to make a place like that for just one person, not without failing at everything else."

"You want to make that kind of space for another person. You should find someone who'll do the same for you... maybe here?"
She looks down into her cup of kelpwine for a long moment before taking another sip. "You must be careful, if you're going to keep using your connection to the Force. The stronger you get, the more risk such attachments have. But maybe you're one of the people who can do it. I'm pretty sure you're better suited than I am. "

"Ah won't lie an' say that's the answer ah were hopin for, but in mah heart of hearts, ah knew it were the one that were coming." The words tumble out of Garth's mouth without real thought, just letting his heart speak, and he gently runs the back of his knuckles across Tethys's cheek.

"Ah know mah understandin' of yer code is far from complete, but ah hope, fer yer own sake, that ye find a way t' open a place like that fer someone, even someone else, without jeopardizing yer path. There's a whole lotta love out there in the 'verse an ye deserve t' find a slice fer yerself, if that's what ye want."

"As fer us," Garth softly whispered as he moved closer and draped an arm around Tethys. "Ah'm grateful fer whatever place there is fer me in yer heart, an if we can't share a romantic love, then ah'll settle fer th' platonic type."

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys closes her eyes as Garth touches her face, ordinary vision replaced by the soft-edged sense of the Force. Garth is a warm presence, bound to her own life force--and also to the grass, the water, the waiting thranta, even the distant sun warming her eyelids on its way around the curve of the planet. Life, full of union and separation, is everywhere around her.

She opens her eyes and smiles at him. "Thank you. It's... I'm glad you understand, Garth." Leaning in to his one-armed embrace, she lets her own arm wrap comfortably around his waist. "This kind of love, it's enough for me."

[Garth Wayne Ulgo]

"Ah didn't understand, not fer th' longest time." Garth admits as he leans into the encircling arm around him, relishing the physical closeness for what it was. "But ah think ah've come a long way in th' last few years. With th' help of a few good people."

"Now ye're gonna have t' help me wi' all this. Ah'm told it's all authentic Dac cuisine, but ah couldn' point out th' difference between one fish an' another." Garth confesses, moving on from the slightly awkward, yet undeniably therapeutic clearing of the air, into the new relationship that would hopefully continue to grow between the friends.

Opening the boxes he exposes a varied number of dishes including pointer fish, sea squid and the infamous nexu fish.