gildedust-blog - Tumblr blog

[gildedust-blog]

ivan approached his best (only, so far) friend in the guild and sat down next to him, a frown on his face. "gilly," he began and then sighed. there was an air of either dramatic or seriousness. "we need to go on another request soon. my mom is leaving magnolia for a convention and i am not looking forward to staying here with just my father." please gilly, you're his only hope.

nineteen years old & the only monster gildarts had ever encountered that he hadn’t been able to kill was that awful nickname. he couldn’t even remember how it started, if he was being honest. 

but here he was, a grown man, a rising star in the magical world && his best friend called him g i l l y. not exactly a name demanding of respect. heaving out a long suffering sigh, he stared down at his empty mug. ivan was right &&& not just about avoiding his father - the rewards from the last job they’d gone on were beginning to get worryingly low. 

“I don’t know,” gildarts teased, leaning back in his seat. just because Ivan was right, doesn’t mean he needed to admit that right away. in all honestly, ivan’s name didn’t lend itself to embarrassing nicknames. ivy was hardly as bad as gilly. the only thing gildarts had on Ivan was hardly a trump card - but it was something.   “I’ve been feeling pretty fragile these days, nurse naggart.”  

[gildedust-blog]

Ivan was impressed! Gildarts Clive managed to walk into a place without destroying it. Ivan glared at the man, his dark eyes narrowed in turn. “Apologies but I am not taking any social calls. I can assure you Magnolia is still the boring and dull town it always was.” He was only walking away from his own mother’s house. He turned his back on the man—a dangerous move but he found himself rather impulsive these days. “However, if you see our old friend Rab, feel free to kill him for me.”

of all the people that he could have run into, gildarts really wasn’t expecting to see ivan dreyar. in fact, he was so not expecting to see ivan dreyar, he only just kept his palms from deconstructing the door frame he stumbled against. 

but let it never be spoken that gildarts is one to admit defeat to something like shock. he’s too old for that, too old to be inflexible, too old for things like weeping openly, unprompted, just because the last living face of one of your deepest regrets is standing, unexpectedly, in front of you with haughty dismissal burned in their words.  

“well-” gildarts began, only to cut himself off at the sound of his own cracked voice. for as much the ghosts of his past haunted him, he would not let them shake him. he couldn’t. so, he started again, voice as firm as the foundations he destroyed. “I’m actually going that way as well, just thought I’d say hi to your mom while I was passing through,” he lied, promptly shouting a, “hello porlyusica - i’m sure you look as stunning as ever!”  

really, this wasn’t an excuse to avoid porlyusica. of course not. it’s not like he’s scared of an elderly woman living on her own in the forest. he’s just… intimidated by an elderly woman living on her own in the forest. he could always come back, a change in plans didn’t have to be permanent. it’s not like porlyusica’s answers to him would change, if he pushed of asking by a few hours, or days, or weeks. besides, he was sure ivan wouldn’t accept his company && that’d be another wound to tend to when all was said &&& done, but offering, offering had to mean something.  

maybe not, i’m so fucking sorry about what happened that I signed myself up to slay the unslayable dragon because all my friends were either dead or hated me, I hated me, & I think I wanted to die. or even, i didn’t know what was going to happen, to you, to your wife, to your son, i thought me leaving was what I had to do to let you heal. but perhaps it did say, god, so very much has happened, so much pain, so much suffering, so much joy & I wish I could still talk to you about it, could still listen to what these years have been like for you. 

“ - so if you’d like to catch me up on your vague homicidal suggestion, it’d be more interesting than listening to the birds screaming.”