A Touch of Grace

An old friend drops by for a warm visit.
Grand Tour the Tenth / Afterlife Part Four
-June 9, 2026-
Yancy smoothed Hermann's brow as he slept, glancing at the man who had unintentionally taken his place. He stepped through the bed with an amused smile as he tapped into Hermann's magnificently organized mind.
"Heya Doc." The setting's not one he's familiar with though the café is warm and has a subtle French flair. "Happy Birthday."
"Yancy?" the slimmer man tried to hide his wings and Yancy chuckled softly as he flared his own set with snowy owl feathers. "Ah. Thank you."
"You're welcome. It's been a while. You got the time?" he hummed quietly.
"Seeing as this a dream, I suppose so." The sweet, tentative smile makes Yancy soften his glance. "Yancy?" He shrugged and leaned on the café table as he arched his wings with some pride. They sat down together when chairs appeared, squashy and old like they used sit in when Yancy was still alive.
"You still have no idea, Hermann. Ever wonder who sent those heart-warming bouquets?" Yancy asked, his lips curling up after a sip of his cappuccino.
"Someone I know was able to track it down to the Icebox Shatterdome but couldn't find the trail from there." Hermann murmured quietly before his expressive eyes widened as he turned to fully stare at Yancy. "You. You were Roe of the Brook. I should have known; both of you were quite fond of the original tales."
"As smart as you are, Hermann, sometimes you can be oblivious to love." he states dryly as he reaches forward and laces his fingers with Hermann's slender set. "I loved you 'til the day I died, y'know that? I kept the feather we found against my chest even though it was silly and sentimental."
"You what? I have Newt." Hermann's faithful even in his dreams and it makes Yancy's smile brighten.
"We found one of your secondary coverts under the bed of your quarters after you left. I kept it over my heart in my Drivesuit." he replied with a quick grin. "Well, never said I was an asshole. You two fit together just fine. There's a Scotsman who says otherwise, mind you, but I know defeat when I see it." Yancy furls his wing around Hermann and pulls them close, the warmth Hermann is exuding its own sort of peace. "So what's his best quality?"
"I beg your pardon?" the mathematician makes him giggle a little with the offended tone.
"Your Newt. What's his best quality?" Yancy inquires as the dream serves them coffee and tea respectively as Hermann's brows furrow. "I mean, yours is obviously your ability to forgive and love." Hermann turns a shade of pink Yancy had only had the guts to imagine once when he was alive.
"I do not-"
"You're kinda cute in that shade of pink." he teases lightly as their feathers shush together with their fingers still linked. "But seriously, your Newt is hilarious."
The pink blush that had been fading on Hermann's face flared up again. "Why do you keep calling him my Newt?"
"Don't you love him to distraction even when he's doin' somethin' dumb?" he counters lightly. Hermann opens his mouth to reply, raises a finger and then closes his mouth. "He's yours alright, just as much as you're a part of him. Drift-compatibility is just a nice touch from the universe."
"Newton's best quality would be his acceptance, I think. Did you have a hand in those events?" The mathematician pinned him with the intense gaze he usually reserved for fools and monumental idiots.
"Nah. I told ya, the universe has a funny way of rollin' back around. That friend of yours, the one who tracked my flowers, he doin' alright?" Yancy scoffed before turning his topics to lighter things.
"I never-Ah. Yes, you are connected to a source I do not have. He is as grumpy as ever, I suppose, though he's taken up the recent habit of hiding in my tablet." Hermann chuckled lightly and the sound was so worry-free in the dream that Yancy gently squeezed the hand he was holding.
"They adore you. All of them, even the last to awaken. You've done so much good even through all of the trouble. Now you can rest to your heart's content." he divulges as Hermann looks down at their joined hands.
"My heart is part of the problem." the wry tone is a bit sharp as the man utters it and the owl that normally hides so well flashes briefly to the surface.
"I don't expect to see you for a long time after this visit. Trust that if nothing else, Hermann." Yancy reassures the man as they gaze out at the dream scenery. "I'm not sure if this is your memory or mine."
"Perhaps it is a bit of both as this café is physically located in Berlin near the University I earned my degree in-"
"But it's also in Mémé's hometown of Eze. That explains the sign but why the lettering looked a little strange. It's in German instead of French." he finishes with a laugh.
"I see the sea which I know is not in the center of Germany. I think that perhaps our time is drawing to a close, Yancy." Hermann remarks quietly as they look at each other. There are new laugh-lines in Hermann's face and the pain that is normally present in reality is gone. Yancy knows that he looks exactly the same as the last time Hermann saw him from the J-Hawk that took him away nearly a decade earlier.
"I think so too, Doc. Kiss before I go?" he asks with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "On the cheek if it bothers you too much."
"A little one." the man concedes with a sigh. Yancy takes the inch Hermann gave him and runs with it. He kisses both sharp cheeks with a muffled laugh at the slightly disgruntled face Hermann makes at him. Then he gives the one he'd planned on giving Hermann if he'd lived til the end of the world, planting it squarely on the thin lips. "I said one, Yancy Becket, not three!"
"I love you too Hermann." he murmurs softly right before he disappears with the sun. "Take care of each other, okay?"
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Category:Adventures in the Afterlife
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Category:Grand Tour storyline