Moongazing with Tea (Patreon)

Milo felt the tears budding up in the creases of his eyes, and he attempted to cut off the misty sting by closing them.

It was his first time establishing contact with someone willing to hear him out.-- a Seasonal Priestess no less. It was the luckiest he'd been since embarking on Professor Cumber's expedition, and expecting another stroke like this one was expecting rain on the Arid Sands.

He felt himself shy away from her admiring gaze as she locked eyes with him.  

Was this how Sonance felt when he dealt with admirers?

Her stare was anything but annoying, though. Where Amelia was brutish and pushy with her affections, Azurai was earnest and pure with hers. She wanted to learn. Wanted to know about his dreams, his ideas, and his belief in what lie beyond this zone of existence. She didn't pine for him romantically... at least it didn't seem that way.

...but the blush on her face got him second-guessing again. Was it normal to blush this much for a stranger?

Milo considered asking but didn't want to make a bad first impression with a misplaced assumption. Asking her intentions felt like the wrong move. He was grateful for her ongoing hospitality, but also so curious about what it was she could really be after.  After all, it wouldn't be the first time someone had feigned interest in his work to take advantage, and the fluttering in his chest reminded him of just how long it had been since someone really cared about his research in the immaterial at all.

It would be so easy to just believe in those indigo pools. He'd already gotten a bit lost in them, and they'd only spent a few days together inspecting Gaia's Temples and deciphering their ties to the duo's splitting tails.

Of all the people to meet, he'd met another kitsune-- one that knew his struggles better than any friend he'd made back home.

He'd felt his chest burning now that the tears were beginning to break through.

"A-Azurai..."

Gaia's grace, you're such a baby, he chided himself.

"That means so much... Thank you."

He moved to rest his cup on his lap, barely feeling the subtle heat build on his exposed legs.

"I've never met anyone who dreamed like me either."

He stammered, noting his elevating pitch. "Do you think... just maybe... we were supposed to meet like this?"

*Special thanks to @Xaigazul for commissioning me. Check out their profile, will ya? And, if you wanna see the timelapse for the latter part of this commission, click here!