Somehow, he couldn’t help but doubt as such, regardless of whether or not she spoke the truth or otherwise. It was hard not to assume as such when posed with her, all that she was within those moments. Lamenting, fragile her. Lamenting, disdained her.[break][break]

Lamenting, grieving them.[break][break]

And yet, he sought to do anything aside from voicing his doubts, for he knew better than to push upon the matter when she had already been all too distressed by the topic. So, as a gaze of softened, concerned amber found itself broken from those of emerald, they lingered upon her form for just a while longer before following suit. Yet again, the sight of the grave before them met his vision, and he simply watched. Thought.[break][break]

The silence was a welcomed reprieve, and yet he had been brought back by the voice so familiar to him, yet so…harrowed. Different.[break][break]

”...Formal? What do you mean, Sister?” he asked instinctively, his brows faintly risen as the irony alluded him amidst confusion and curiosity.

DAPHNE STONE [break]
n o t e s

☉

"that." [break][break]

that's exactly what she means when she says "formal". it's always been 'brother' and 'sister', to where saying Leonidas Stone and ALEXANDER STONE are foreign on her tongue. now she can only think of how bitter the names will taste, but she doesn't say, unsure of how she'll feel. [break][break]

she wouldn't have spoken up if the feelings haven't been bottled up for so long. does she regret opening her mouth? maybe she does, maybe she has, and maybe she always will (and she'll think back on it, hold herself, and tremble with a pit in her stomach as it eats her alive, knowing she's squandered a legacy, and a relationship). it's abnormal, misaligned, to how she used to be. when did she start getting so sensitive? when did she get so quiet? [break][break]

formalities have been driven into her, yet they're always slightly dropped around their mother. they're dropped, only rarely, when she sees someone outside of work. they're dropped, only rarely, around one other person who's been trying to pry at a bud closed so tightly. if she can open up, and speak familiarly and casually with strangers, why can't she do the same with family? [break][break]

why can't she? [break][break]

"isn't it odd?" she asks, with a viridian gaze fixated to the side "that i only call you brother." the name will tinge at her tongue, sharply, like bitter iron. [break][break]

"when did i stop calling you leo?"

Leonidas Stone [break]
yo

☉

”Isn’t it odd that I only call you, ‘brother’?”

[break][break]

The thought lingered for a short while as he gazed at her with a processing idleness.[break][break]

”When did I stop calling you Leo?”

[break][break]

…When did she?[break][break]

A silence overtook him within the initial time following her inquiries, though to say it had been from an awkwardness or unwillingness to answer would’ve been nothing short of inaccurate. Truthfully speaking, his mind still lingered upon the prior topics they’d dwelled upon not long beforehand—the remnants of loss and trauma, and anything and everything in between—yet it had been the simple duo of questions that seemed to take him aback just enough to see.[break][break]

To really see.[break][break]

(’...It already feels like she’s lost us from the start, doesn’t it?’)

[break][break]

A thought he’d already known the answer to long for, yet still found himself realizing more and more within the nuances of a strayed gaze; of wavering tones; of pleading requests. They all spoke volumes upon volumes, just as the silence he bore in response spoke for itself, as well.[break][break]

”...I don’t know,” had been his initial response after some time— and for the moment, his only response.

DAPHNE STONE [break]
n o t e s

☉

Another inquiry, simple-worded as it was.[break]
Another bout of silence, just as loud as the prior one.[break][break]

Hues of amber lingered upon the form before him, withered not only by weary visage of his dear sibling, but also by the newfound revelations he found himself stepping into. Although there always seemed to be a consistent glimpse of distance within her eyes, he found himself loathe to admit that the deepness within them had been something he’d dismissed on the account of recent events— because his assumptions had been more than justified, surely. Grief, in itself, had always been a term so negative and sorrowful, and yet one surrounded by misconceptions so plentiful.[break][break]

After all, grief was never anything more than love with nowhere to go, and nowhere to return.[break]
The way he’d seen it, it was always fair and valid for it to consume her to an extent.[break][break]

Yet just as ALEXANDER STONE bled deep within those days long passed—the selfsame days he had the cursed boon of only knowing secondhand—so, too, had DAPHNE STONE bled beneath the shattering weight of the world so pressuring, and so cumbersome, upon the shoulders of the singular being she was. Expectation had already been a close accompaniment to esteem, and to name— yet she had been one of the couple within the family to carry on the legacy, albeit shortly.[break][break]

(’Of course she’d be worried about everything else.’)

[break][break]

All else that was seemingly neglected in the face of legacies.[break]
All else that was seemingly absent in the light of it all.[break][break]

”...Huh. When did we get so formal…?” he chuckled softly, a straying gaze finding itself upon the selfsame tombstone they’d intended to visit once more. Wryness touched softly upon a vague smile that inched so eagerly upon his lips, alongside the very words that left them in idle inquiry.[break][break]

Before long, his chest rose as he took a deep breath, touching a hand to his face softly as a sighing breath warmed his palm.[break][break]

”...Everything I said before still stands. I’d like to make that clear,” the Stone murmured quietly, brows furrowed softly betwixt a lightly conflicted guise, ”but I’d…also like to say I’m sorry~. I hadn’t even thought about it…”[break][break]

Though bereft of their common shine, those selfsame eyes of amber unveiled once more amidst a pensive glare, lingering idly upon the grave before him as his hand lowered faintly. His fingers cradled the top of his lips softly, all while his thumb tapped gently against his cheek absentmindedly.[break][break]

”It’s weird to realize it became second nature,” he mused on, clicking his tongue. ”...I guess it doesn’t help when everyone’s always been too busy to reconnect properly, does it~?”

DAPHNE STONE [break]
n o t e s

☉

”Probably because everyone else is just as busy.”[break][break]

Or otherwise uninterested for their own reasons, but that, in itself, was something he preferred not to dwell on.[break]
Not when dwelling on it would put him face to face with how those same, other people likely felt.[break][break]

”Not like it’s an excuse, though~...”[break][break]

He definitely wouldn’t insist for it to be one, at least. Especially and specifically knowing how the past several years of his own life had been.[break][break]

Another breath. Another sigh. Though his hand remained touched against his face within a gentle caress for a while longer, it eventually found itself lowering with a slowness before touching the tips of its fingers against the linings of a pocket. They idled for a while, tapping and dancing upon them for a spell before only the thumb lowered to hook against the hem, with the remaining hand following suit before long.[break][break]

”...We’re a flock cut from the same cloth, though; born of the same stuff, and all having left an empty nest,” had been his first choice of words that time around. ”For better or for worse, we’ve all got our own aspirations and goals. …As much as our family weighs us down with expectation, it’s also something that gives us ambition— to chase what meaning we end up finding.”[break][break]

Regardless of morality. Regardless of affections, or lack thereof.[break]
It was anyone’s given right, despite the tension that came with not necessarily living up to the standard.[break][break]

”...Now that we’re talking about it, though, I guess that chasing those ambitions might’ve been what put us here, though.”

DAPHNE STONE [break]
n o t e s

☉

The wryness within his smile dissipated with her more recent words; the similar touch to the secondary chuckle that left his lips that time around matching it.[break][break]

”...I know you do,” he murmured quietly, and murmured simply. A gaze that lingered upon the stone before him only strayed towards the Stone before him, before long; an idle, thoughtful hue of hazel that inspected her with a brief quietness before he sighed, crouching down to meet her level. ”It’s always been hard not to know, frankly~.”[break][break]

He eyed her for a while longer before his lip quirked into a broader—however faintly so—smirk, all while he lifted a hand to gently pat and rest against her shoulder.[break][break]

”I appreciate it— that you’d think that despite the fact that I’ve basically been absent until now.”[break][break]

His smile broadened more, inheriting a similar shine to the type he was more accustomed to, even if soft.[break][break]

”So to show just how grateful I am, I want you to know something.”

DAPHNE STONE [break]
n o t e s

☉

”You’re doing just fine, as is.”[break][break]

Just like the other remarks, simple.[break]
Just like the other remarks, genuine.[break][break]

The words left his lips so easily, all while his smile tugged wider—albeit softly and faintly so—as he gave a shoulder a gentle squeeze in an attempt of further reassurance. With a quiet breath, he lowered himself onto the ground a bit more, kneeling alongside her.[break][break]

”That, and I want you to know you’re not alone,” he added. Auburn hues lingered upon her for a while more before he pulled his hand back, resting it idly within his lap as he sat back against his legs. ”Even though I left to basically avoid the responsibility that came with our family, I want you to know that. One call away— that’s all it takes.”[break][break]

That selfsame smile softened slightly, the spark within his eyes similarly so.[break][break]

”We’re family, after all.”

DAPHNE STONE [break]
n o t e s

☉

”Hah, why? ‘Cause you’re older than me~?”[break][break]

Another broadening of the smile, though worn with a proper warmth.[break]
Familiar. More akin to the norm.[break][break]

”Please. Age isn’t important when it comes to telling the truth.”[break][break]

Sarcasm in its gentlest form, truly. Despite the weight of the conversation they’d found themselves within (and, to an extent, specifically due to it), he’d found a softened hum of amusement leaving his lips before it turned into a proper, musing sigh. Momentarily content with his sibling’s change in demeanor (even if slightly so), he shifted his legs to sit more comfortably, crossing them before him as he rested his hands within his lap once more.[break][break]

He peered towards the placard before them again.[break][break]

”It does, though,” he started off once more, a gentle wistfulness interwoven between his words, ”and yeah— we should. …We really should~...”[break][break]

He sighed.[break][break]

”...It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, now that I think about it.”

DAPHNE STONE [break]
n o t e s

☉