( there were a lot of kids just like ephemera looking for a home in all the wrong places, during the war. one in his unit. quiet guy, too serious, until someone or several someones got him drunk and then he was all sorts of friendly and affectionate. ephemera reminds him of him sometimes.

he hums softly. )

Lost my entire unit within a few hours when shit got really bad in New Alexandria. ( he drags his thumb from his mouth to the corner of his jaw, lightly touching the edges of the black ink that curves around the back of his ear. august 23rd, 2552. his sacrament of penance. his last confession. ) It was just me and Locus left, at the end.

( then his entire company, wiped out like animals when reach was finally glassed. a common thread binding him to ephemera, except the paths they took were drastically different. end result was the same, though. both dead. both rotting in the ground on chorus.

felix inhales one last slow, deep drag, smoke curling in his lungs. he flits his cigarette to his feet, crushed under his heel, and turns into ephemera, sliding his hand over his bicep. should've let me leave, he thinks. should've just left, jesus christ, isaac. ephemera is solid, bulky in rig, and felix leans into him, angling his fist into his hair and pulling him closer, down to him.

he hovers, lashes shuttered, then touches his tongue to his bottom lip and exhales smoke into his mouth. the touch buzzes through him like gasoline. too much. he sighs against him, loosening his hand in his hair. )

I don't know how to do anything but take, Ephemera.