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[Jinyel]

Rickith was a very agreeable man. He accepted the difference between ‘lost memories’ and ‘destroyed memories’ fairly easily, though only time would tell if it was possible to treat one the same as the other. Describing the event which had destroyed those memories would be another task entirely ― a task Jinyel wasn’t entirely sure he was capable of.

‘My dreams were broken and so was I’ tended to sound like lunacy to those who didn’t know the taste of lucidity. How to explain to one whose dreams were still only dreams? And how much was Jinyel willing to share with a man who was still more a stranger than a friend, even though neither of them were to blame for that?

The old Jinyel who had met Rickith in the Eternal Empire, how much of that person even existed?

Questions for another time. Rickith was willing to help with the divorce, which was reason enough to treat him with friendship even if those roots were gone. Jinyel nodded, and with a quiet To me he summoned Monya back to his heel. He held the door open for Rickith, and the she-wolf trailed after the two men as they made their way out of the laboratories.

The University was no less austere than it had been before, but it was less imposing with a proper student at his side. Someone who knew the layout, someone who could actually read the signs on the wall. Someone to whom traps of paper were breakable.

The Cylus wind gave them a bitter welcome as they stepped outside, running icy claws down Jinyel's spine no matter how tightly he pulled his cloak. With impatient steps he led the way to the stables, where the starry-eyed watch-boy was still fawning over Ailuhn in her stall.

Move. Jinyel dipped past the boy and to his animals. Aside from the sarkin, all remained saddled, which made it a quick task to choose Rickith’s steed.

“This is Divi.” He circled the gelding, adjusting stirrup straps to better match Rickith’s height. “He is strong, and his gait is heavy. He is nervous when left on his own, but will remain confident so long as he follows another horse. I will ride on Masoch, here, and Lotus and Ailuhn will be tethered behind you. You can tell me where to go and I will ensure the rest follow.”

Jinyel stepped back and gestured at the stirrups.

“Do you know how to ride? I can tether Divi to Masoch, if necessary.”

[Rickith Lanza]

It had been a while since Rickith had ridden anything, a horse included, and in that fact, he was probably a bit rusty at it, but he did recall from a year ago, how Jinyel had taught him to ride a horse, and would put those memories into practice now. "You were actually the one who first introduced me to riding horses, last Cylus, and I haven't ridden since then, but I do recall how to ride from what you had taught me..." he replied to Jinyel, as his dark gaze looked towards him. Gently placing his hands upon the saddle, gripping the handle on it, and placing a foot int he stirrup, using his legs to lift him up, and swinging his leg up and over the horse to place his other foot in the other stirrup. Once he was situated, he looked towards Jinyel, and would smile. "I'll direct you where to go to get the the Scalvoris Council Hall, and hopefully someone is still working there this late in the evening.

Once Jinyel was mounted himself, Rickith would explain how he could get to the Scalvoris Council Hall, and as they made their way there, Rickith would focus on keeping himself steady on the horse, so as to not fall off or spook it in any manner.

It took a few bits to get over there, but once they had arrived at the Scalvoris Council hall, the lower rooms Jinyel and Rickith could see happened to have candle light on within them, so Rickith said, "Looks like someone is working here this late, hopefully they can assist use with what you need done..." As he said that, he would dismount, and wait for Jinyel to do the same. "Let's head on in there and see what we can accomplish," he then said, and motioned for Jinyel to follow him.

Once they reached the building, Rickith would push open the door, which made way into a room filled with tables and chairs, along with a desk directly in front of them. Behind that desk sat a biqaj woman who seemed to be busy writing something down that was in front of her. Motioning for Jinyel to follow him, Rickith would make his way up towards the desk, and said, "Hello Ma'am! How are you doing today?"

She looked up a bit of surprise in her eyes, and said, "Hello... you two... give me just a moment to finish what I am doing, and I'll be right with you..."

Rickith turned to Jinyel, and hoped the man would have the patience to wait, but in case he didn't, Rickith would smile and say, "Let's give her a few minutes to finish what she's doing and then she'll hopefully be able to help use, or point us to someone who can help us..." Once he said that, he motioned for Jinyel to perhaps take a seat at a table nearby, so that they could wait for her to finish up what she was doing before trying to help them out...

[Jinyel]

So it was Jinyel who had first taught Rickith to ride. Jinyel blinked at that, once again trying to find a memory that had shattered with the walls of a dreamt castle. He held Divi’s head as the student mounted, trying to see traces of himself in the movements. Rickith wasn’t hesitant, exactly, but he was deliberate, measuring each motion before he made it. Divi was such a large horse that he barely felt the slowness; any mistake on Rickith’s part was unlikely to make even a dent in the gelding’s attention.

Rickith smiled at him. It was warm. Only after a moment of examination did Jinyel realize it was proper to smile back, and he did so, leaving man and horse to find his own seat upon Masoch.

The black stallion was fine-boned, with a high arch to his neck and a noticeable dip to the shape of his head. A desert horse, Jinyel surmised, with a judgemental eye and reluctant temperament. Which were honestly remarkable traits for an intact stallion; Masoch had never raised a hoof to Divi, nor did he seem entranced by any other horses in the stable. He had been eternally calm since Jinyel first met him, tempted to misbehave only by food.

Jinyel wondered if Sade knew what a remarkable stallion he had.

Masoch let out a weary sigh when the hunter mounted, as if he’d been bearing the weight for two arcs instead of two trills. Still unfamiliar with the horse, Jinyel took a moment to feel the saddle and the reins in his hand. Masoch was accustomed to a novice rider, but turned his ears back to the hunter when knees tightened around him.

Reins pulled back. Heels tapped against sides, insistent and commanding. Back up, Jinyel requested, and after several moments spent to consider, Masoch obeyed.

For one bit, Jinyel circled outside the stable. He tested Masoch’s turns, his tolerance, how quick he was to be annoyed. Jinyel was a confident rider, and the stallion understood as much with every new task. When the time came to leave, Masoch was noticeably less reluctant.

“This is Ailuhn.” Jinyel dismounted and unstalled the sarkin, all fifteen feet of her, to be hitched behind Divi. “Do not be threatened by her appearance. She is docile, and she knows how to follow Divi. At your side is Lotus, the white pony. I will circle you with Masoch as we travel, and be sure there is no difficulty.”

Their little caravan made an odd sight on the streets of Scalvoris, but if it seemed dangerous to anyone, there were no attempts to stop it. Only a few people walked the night in this weather and hour, and so the journey was fairly straightforward. Jinyel kept one eye on Rickith, the other on Masoch, and in due time they arrived at some important building or other. Jinyel could not read the words over the door, but he committed its location to memory.

The caravan was tethered outside, and the two men entered.

The woman at the front desk was surprised to see them, and already in the thick of some written task. Rickith was better at being a person than Jinyel, and offered her a polite smile and greeting.

Just a moment, she asked for. Always another moment in the way of solutions.

Rickith seemed content to wait, and because he wasn’t concerned, Jinyel would try not to be concerned, either. Emphasis on the try. Jinyel approached the table which had been indicated, but didn’t sit. He instead matched Monya’s behavior, pacing the length of the waiting area and back again, glancing constantly at the woman and her task.

Time? he signed to Rickith. How long, do you think? Impatience. Frustration. Need this to be done.

Then he paused, his path close enough to the table that he could whisper, and tried to capture the thought which had been bothering him all night. The warmth, the smiling, the great emptiness in his memories ― it all fell into that category of ‘gestures which could mean nothing or everything.’

“Rickith.” His frown was serious. Concerned. “You and I have never fucked, have we?”

[Rickith Lanza]

When Jinyel signed to him about the wait, Rickith shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Patience, I know you'd like this accomplished sooner than later, but probably best not to push her until she's finished with putting her thoughts to paper..." As he spoke, he was talking from experience, when he's in the middle of a thought, writing something down especially when it related to researching something, he'd rather get his thoughts all out on the paper prior to attending to the disruption, that way he didn't forget what it was he was trying to write down.

And then... Jinyel asked a question that caught him completely off guard.

And his face flushed red immediately upon hearing the question that was asked of him. Had they fucked? The short answer to that was No, they had not. But if Jinyel really didn't remember anything about his time with Rickith, the question could easily be an innocent one born out of curiosity. "I... well... I..." he stammered a bit trying to find his words. "Erm, no, we never did that. I've actually never done that with anyone... though I do find you attractive in some respects, no, that never happened between us..."

It was true that he found Jinyel attractive, in more than one way. But they never had any type of intercourse, at least not to Rickith's knowledge. He'd never had intercourse with anyone, and sometimes it bothered him, but he hadn't found the right person to bridge that gap with yet. And he was certainly a one-person type of person, who felt that doing something that intimate wasn't something that should be taken lightly. He had fancied Jinyel back when they were in the Sacred Forest, and still harbored some feelings for the man, but also felt they'd be too different to actually have anything more than a friendship, unless Jinyel wanted something more. Rickith had a lot of mixed feelings on the sort, but he reaffirmed once more, "No, we definitely didn't do that..."

As he finished saying that the woman behind the desk, set down her pen, and looked up towards the two of them. "Okay, I'm finished, what can I help you out with?" she asked them then, motioning for them to head up towards the desk.

Rickith got up, and headed up there with Jinyel hopefully following behind, and once he was up there, he said, "This is 'Hunter'..." He then motioned to Jinyel. "He had been married recently, but didn't understand the process he was going through, and would like to seek an annulment..."

The woman looked from Rickith to Jinyel, and then back to Rickith, then one more time to Jinyel, "Okay Hunter, tell me how exactly you got married without understanding the process?"

[Jinyel]

Every once in awhile, Jinyel could surmise the appropriate behavior for a given situation. This wasn’t one of those times.

Jinyel stared full-force at Rickith, carefully observing and categorizing every movement on the other man’s face. The rise of his brows, the intake of breath, the way his face flushed red at the question ― it was both emotionally open, and entirely inscrutable to the hunter. A flush of hope, of embarrassment, or shame at being caught? The expressions of ordinary people, especially ones he didn’t know, were so difficult for him to read.

At the very least, he was certain Rickith wasn’t deceptive. He stammered and blushed, he looked askance, and then managed to answer: No, they hadn’t fucked. In fact, Rickith had never fucked anybody.

“You should,” Jinyel stated matter-of-factly. “It’s nice. I recommend it.”

With that sage advice dispensed, the hunter turned finally to the woman at the desk.

Rickith, thankfully, took the lead on asking for what they needed. From his behavior, Jinyel measured his own, and when the time came for explanations, Jinyel’s boiling impatience had cooled to a simmering irritation.

How exactly had Jinyel gotten married without understanding the process? With a series of events that would keep them here for breaks if he explained it all.

“There was a wedding going on,” Jinyel began with scathing disdain. Nasty “Older man with a” nasty “older woman. No idea how they got together in the first place, I know that old leech wouldn’t lift a spoon to feed himself if his son wasn’t there to help him hold the weight. Only Fates know why Sade ― why his son didn’t throw the damned parasite overboard instead of serving him up a whole wife and wedding on a silver platter. Anyway, that” bitch “woman decided she didn’t like him, and didn’t tell anyone, and for one reason or another, decided someone else should marry him in her place. I was there to help with the food. She said she needed my signature for the cake, then sent the paper off with a courier before we knew what happened. Then there was the rope, the hand holding, the cutting, everything else.” Nothing else matters, really, “I just want it undone.”

The woman blinked. Opened her mouth. Closed it. Blinked again.

“The… the paper you signed?”

“Marriage lissens.”

“License?”

“Yes. Was it sent here? I can just burn it if you give it to me.”

She rubbed a baffled, exhausted hand over her face. “You. Ahem. Where were you married, exactly?”

“Faldrass.”

“Faldrass. And… married the groom? You accidentally married the groom? How? Didn’t you read the paper before you signed it?”

Irritation. “It’s over and done now. Doesn’t matter who did what or why.”

“Hunter. What’s your last name?”

“Don’t have one.”

“Oh, well, er… what about the name of your… husband?”

“Pirvek.” Jinyel frowned. What was Sade’s last name again? “Sauterne. Pirvek Sauterne.”

“Alright, well, I’ll have a look in the back…” She rose from her seat, turned, then paused. With a terse frown, she looked back at Jinyel. “But if you're ever going to sign a document, you really must read every word.”

Just go do it. “Understood.”

[Rickith Lanza]

When Jinyel told him he really should fuck someone, and that it was nice, Rickith gulped a bit, but then took the lead speaking with the woman, who then asked Jinyel his explanation for how he got married without knowing it. As Jinyel spoke and told the story, Rickith could tell he was quite irritated with the "nasty" older women that this Pirvan was supposed to marry. Interesting, he thought as the story unfolded. As the two of them went back and forth about getting it undone, Rickith stood there thoughtfully next to Jinyel, trying to see his side of things and how he managed to get married without realizing it. The story was sound enough, but it seemed that Jinyel hadn't even read the document that he happened to sign.

One thought led to another, and Rickith, based on what he knew about Jinyel from the last Cylus they were together in, came to a stark realization that perhaps Jinyel didn't know how to read. It seemed plausible enough, knowing what he knew about him, and his way of living back in the Sacred Forest. He wouldn't mention it just yet; he'd simply wait until the woman came back with the paperwork.

A few bits passed, and finally she came out of the back, holding a piece of paper that stated that he was married to this Pirvan. Setting it down in front of Jinyel, the woman said, "Now, to go through the annulment process you'll have to sign another paper. You should probably read the entirety of it, so that you know what it is your signing this time..." Rickith looked towards Jinyel, figuring this might be a problem based on what he had just surmised about Jinyel and him not being able to read. "Do you want me to go over the paper and explain what it means?" he offered to Jinyel, and if Jinyel said yes, he'd certainly do that, but he would leave that decision up to Jinyel. The man probably would just take the paper to burn it, and Rickith wouldn't be surprised if that's what he very well did. It probably seemed a lot quicker method than having to sign another paper to annul the paper he had originally signed...

[Jinyel]

The woman looked in the back, and kept looking, and looked some more after that. Jinyel knew it was pointless to be irritated ― he didn’t know how long it usually took to find these sorts of things ― but that vicious restlessness tingled through his fingers like static.

Out. Behind his eyelids, he saw the image of a ship’s cabin. A bed, a scuffed desk, drawers full of nothing ― Go.

His spark. With a breath of clarity, Jinyel realized it was his spark that was vibrating so fiercely for this to be over.

The hunter stopped pacing. With a bemused inhale, his gaze unfocused. He stared not at the wall, but through it, to the north and across the many, many miles between himself and that cabin. He felt that distance ― or rather, his spark felt it ― in a way wholly unlike anything before Scalvoris. He knew how long it would take to walk or swim.

He knew how much ether it would take to compress that distance into a single soul-splitting doorway.

The woman returned.

“We found no Pirvek Sauterne,” she announced. “But we did find a marriage between Hunter and one Pirvek Dj’Toraj, dated to the eighty-fifth of Zi’da. Is that you?”

Jinyel pulled himself back to the present, and after a moment of blank staring he nodded. Yes.

“Oh, your eyes, are you―?” The woman blinked, opened her mouth to say something, and then thought better of it. “Now, to go through the annulment process you'll have to sign another paper. You should probably read the entirety of it, so that you know what it is you’re signing this time.”

“I…” Jinyel’s hand faltered on the sign can’t.

She didn’t understand it. She just put the paper down in front of him, pointing imperiously at every inscrutable paragraph. Jinyel watched her finger, for whatever good it did him. All those lines and loops might as well have been drawings of a blackberry thicket.

And then Rickith, in all his offhand, casual cleverness, saw straight to the root of the problem.

Shock. It was in Jinyel’s posture as he looked at the other man, underlined by shame and unwholeness. A beat of silence passed, and he didn’t know any lie that could both cover up his shame and undo the mistakes on that paper.

There was no lie that could do that.

Eventually, quietly, Jinyel signed Yes. He took the paper and pen, and he went to the seat furthest from the woman’s prying eye.

Rupture Gleam

As Jinyel looks through the wall, his eyes glow blue. He does not know this.

[Rickith Lanza]

The shame in Jinyel's face was quite clear. It was okay if Jinyel didn't understand the legal terms and such of an annulment, not everyone did. Just because Rickith was more educated than Jinyel didn't lessen Jinyel's worth any more than one might think. And Rickith would be clear to him about that when the reached the distant table he went to go sit at. Following him there, he'd take a seat next to Jinyel, and would sign to him in broken sign language, Don't think this makes me think any less of you. Even some well-read people like me don't understand every term on these legal documents... It was broken of course, and if Jinyel could understand what he was trying to say he'd hopefully get his point across to him.

"Now, let's see what this says," Rickith said, and then began to read over the paper. As he read over the paper, he'd point to each individual paragraph and explain to him in laymen's terms what it meant. Finally they got to the definition of Annulment, and he'd say, "An annulment is to make void a marriage, such as the one you're unfortunately within..." He'd then explain the rest of the paragraphs to Jinyel in a way the man could hopefully understand, before asking, "Do you have any questions?"

If Jinyel answered "No." then Rickith would point to the line, hand him the pen, and state, "You'll want to sign your name here that you agree to the terms of the annulment." Once Jinyel had signed, Rickith would motion for him to follow, and they'd head back up to the receptionist to finish the process...

[Jinyel]

Rickith was a patient teacher. That was valuable, not least because Jinyel had the incessant need to understand every piece of what hurt him. When he was struck by a knife, he needed to know the width of its blade and the sinews of its owner. When he was trapped by words, he needed to understand every stroke of the pen.

He couldn’t read. One night of looking at an annulment wouldn’t change that. But as Rickith went down the paper, Jinyel listened to him read it aloud and came to understand the general arrangement of information. The first collection of words, the ‘paragraph,’ declared what the document was and the legal ramifications of it. The second paragraph described the actual event ― the date of the wedding, who officiated it, and at what location.

Under that came the signatures. He couldn’t read either of them, but he recognized the ‘X’ mark he had made beside one of them. The woman who had orchestrated this, Victoria, had written his name down for him and demanded he mark its tail end.

As for the annulment paper, its arrangement was much the same: a declaration of the paper’s intent and purpose, followed by the date, location, and legal changes which would follow. Below that was a blank line. A line to be signed.

It wasn’t that Jinyel mistrusted Rickith. Indeed, Rickith was one of the most open, honest men he had met, and if he said the words meant one thing, Jinyel believed him wholeheartedly.

This. Here. Jinyel pointed to the second paragraph. “Read this one again?”

It was the promise that once he signed, this farce of a union would be over and done. No hidden price, no strings attached, simply done. And once Rickith was done repeating it, Jinyel slowly, hesitantly picked up the quill and put it to paper.

This name. My name. “Hunter?” He pointed to the marriage certificate, and to the mark he had made. Jinyel did not need to understand the letters in order to copy them, and with painstaking care he mimicked the lines and swirls of ink. It was not easy, it was not quick, but it was simple.

HUnteR. Far more jagged than Victoria’s writing, but if legibility was all that mattered, it had to be enough.

[Rickith Lanza]

When Jinyel asked Rickith to read the second paragraph that was on the annulment paper, Rickith did just that, and after he read it, he smiled, and said, "That means it's done, completely, so you're not bound with anyone..." As he said that, he thought about the brief jolt of jealousy or envy that had hit him when Jinyel told him he was married, not of Jinyel marrying a man, but of a man marrying Jinyel. Rickith had grown rather fond of Jinyel even in their short time together, and even more so in the long time they were apart, and now that Jinyel was back in his life, Rickith hoped he would stay in his life for a good deal of time. Jinyel had not only saved him from the warthog that tried to kill him when he had gotten to the Sacred Forest, then got injured by it, with Rickith having helped take care of his initial, care before they got to the Imperial Medical Headquarters, and had also taught him how to ride a horse, and how to care for horses in some shape or fashion, so yes, Rickith had certainly grown fond of him. He immediately felt a bit of guild too, as what he was doing might seem self-serving for him, but he'd just shake the thoughts from his mind after Jinyel asked where and how to sign, and Rickith said, "Yes, Hunter"

Once Jinyel had signed the paper, Rickith nodded, and then said, "Let's go take it back up there to her so she can notarize it. Make it binding"

Again he'd lead Jinyel back up to the woman sitting at the desk, and she'd look up as they approach, and asked, "Finished." And with that, he motioned for Jinyel to hand her the paper, so she could notarize it.

Once she finished notarizing it, she looked up towards Jinyel, then to Rickith and asked, "Who's paying the administrative fee?"