Prompted Story Snippets

Woven Threads Moving Through Time (continuation of True Patience)

Woven Threads Moving Through Time (but somehow always coming back to one another).
That's the full title, it just wouldn't all fit.

~~~

Tionin stared out the window at the falling snow, cupping a mug of tea in their hands. They exhaled, looking out at the growing winter wonderland with melancholy in their eyes.
(It'd been many years since the false Fiall had passed, and they'd just started learning how to live again.)

The house had been too lonely for Tionin to bear. They'd started taking in shelter animals, learning how to live by granting a home to others. It wasn't as peaceful as it used to be, but the noise and constant energy was a good distraction from the pain.

They moved away from the window, sipping on the mug of tea. Tionin would've made hot cocoa, but they'd never been able to do it like Fiall did.
They let out a shaky breath, stepping further into the house. A calico cat wound her way around their ankles, purring slightly before running off down another hallway. They smiled after her, some of the tension draining from their shoulders.
(They'd raised her since she was a kitten. Their little Leona.)

Steeling themself, Tionin pushed open the door to the office. The stacks of paper were neater than they'd been all those years ago, but they still held that kind of messiness that they'd always had. There were a couple more organizers dotted about, though the fireplace still crackled as merrily as it had that cold winter day.

Tionin breathed in and out for a long moment. They were never really ready to come back to Fiall's old office, no matter how much time passed. Sure, it might've gotten easier, but the room still echoed with fondness and music and contentment.
(It was something that Tionin had never managed to replicate without him.)

Tionin settled themself into the window nook, staring out at the same winter wonderland once more. They were drawn here every time it snowed, almost like clockwork at this point. The background noise of the fireplace and the slight whisper of the wind made it very easy to fall into simpler times.

Times when this house wasn't filled with animals. Times when Tionin didn't curl up around nothing at night. Times when laughter still rang around the halls and glee filled the air.
Times when Fiall would've brushed the tears away from Tionin's face and soothed their hurts.
(Times... before.)

Tionin set the empty mug down on the desk, opting to stay staring out the window. The papers they could see strewn around the room almost taunted them.
The theories that Fiall had written down had merit, but he'd needed more time. Time that he didn't have.

Maybe next time, Tionin would be able to tell him. Could show him the papers and let him find a way to figure out why they were stuck here forever.

(Maybe. But that was a matter for another time. For now, all Tionin could do was wait.)

~~~

Fiall huffed into his jacket, shivering with the cold. The weather forecast hadn't said anything about snow, yet it was snowing anyways. Of course it was.
At least he didn't have to far to walk. His college campus wasn't all that big, but it was still a pretty far walk in this kind of weather.

At least he could appreciate how it looked. This was his first year at college, so he'd never seen the campus in winter. Fiall had to admit, it looked absolutely stunning. Someone had sent photos of frost on glass to the groupchat a few days ago, and everyone present had agreed it looked so beautiful. He would've pulled his phone out to look at them again but it'd stopped working a little bit ago, probably from the cold.

Fiall huffed, turning to his left like there was someone there to laugh with him about it. There wasn't anyone there, like always.
He started slightly, shaking his head to get rid of the odd feeling.
Winter was beautiful, but still somewhat annoying. It was always like this during this time of year.

Fiall glanced up at the street at his rapidly approaching dormitory. He'd been lucky enough to have a room all to himself for the week, as his roommate had taken advantage of the few days of break to visit some family.

He'd have to send some pictures of the snow to his family who lived further south. Fiall chuckled to himself, thinking of their reactions. He might just have to ask his younger sister to film them for him.

Fiall reached the dormitory as the snow slowly got thicker and thicker. He brushed snowflakes out of his hair and coat, unlocking the building and rushing inside. The heating made his fingers feel all tingly.
He headed straight for one of the elevators, absolutely despising the trek up the stairs that he would've had to take otherwise.

By the time he'd made it back to his room, the snow outside had started to be whipped up in a vicious winter wind. Fiall counted himself lucky that he'd made it back in time as he filmed a video for his family.

Fiall had always loved winter, which was a bit of an odd thing considering where he grew up it rarely got down to freezing. But every winter he was always adoring of any slightly chilly breeze or even the vague idea of frost.
(Snow falling behind a window, mugs of hot cocoa, the crackling of a fireplace. He might never know why he craved those things.)

Something about winter also made him incredibly nostalgic too. It might've been seasonal depression, but it wasn't really depression. More like he was wishing for something that wasn't there.
Like a puzzle piece was missing. Except instead of just a piece, if was as if sizeable chunk of the puzzle had just vanished.

Even just then, he'd looked for someone to laugh with when there was very clearly no one there. Fiall really wasn't quite sure what to do at this point. He'd never really thought he needed anyone, but it just seemed like a part of him was missing.

It honestly could've been hormones, but it felt bigger than that. Fiall didn't even know how he knew that but he did.
He wasn't going that crazy. That much he knew. If anything, he was a certified genius.
(He could almost hear laughter after that thought. Almost.)

After all, none of Fiall's theories had ever been concretely disproved yet. For all he knew, he was right about everything. About his theories of brainwaves and soulmates and maybe even reincarnation.
For whatever reason it felt like he'd thought about this a lot more than he had. Like he'd written it all down somewhere.
(Fiall could've sworn that he had. He'd looked several times but he'd only ever found the notebooks that he knew existed. It was really strange.)

Fiall sat down on his bed with a thump. There were bigger things for him to worry about than his insane theories.
(He ignored the little voice in the back of his head that whispered that if he figured it out, he'd also figure out everything else.)

Sighing, Fiall flipped through his now-working phone to set an alarm and find a playlist. He might be able to think about all of it better if he slept on it.
He kicked his shoes off and curled up under his blankets, inexplicably longing for both a bigger bed and someone to curl around him and keep him warm.

(Little did he know that somewhere else, someone else was having the same thought.)

(He knew even less about how much their lives would soon be intertwined.)

(And Fiall knew nothing about how much he meant to the someone else, somewhere else. Nothing, yet.)