i saw you again, theres some room to move on [senna]

Elias sat on a large staircase on campus, looking up from his sketchbook every few seconds for another view of the large fountain in front of him. The sun had just barely set, which made for some gorgeous colors and dynamic lighting, especially from this side of the fountain.

Elias was challenging himself to explore new mediums -- he was a senior after all, and would have to learn some new techniques if he was going to pursue this post graduation -- and so he was trying out a set of oil pastel crayons that his aunt and uncle had gotten him years ago. He had always found them to be a bit childish and thus had never opened them, but when his art instructor had shared some of her own pastel work with him before break, he realized that it was probably his own internal family shit that he hadn't been willing to let go of yet rather than anything in particular about the crayons.

He smiled down at his sketch as he saw it coming together. Not bad for my first try, he thought to himself as Rhiannon chuckled at him.

You'd be a pro at this by now if you'd just opened the gift when you got it, Rhiannon responded. Elias just rolled his eyes and added some more color.

It was just dusk, and Senna was out for an evening run. The school year had only just begun, so sports practice hadn't started yet, but Senna liked to stay healthy and in shape throughout the year. It made her a better athlete during the season. So many of her teammates lost all their progress in between school years, because they'd get lazy and never practice. Not to mention, she found evening runs like this rather relaxing.

Up ahead, she spotted a familiar face that she wasn't quite sure how she felt about. Her cousin, Elias. Growing up, they'd been close as brother and sister, but nowadays he always seemed to avoid Senna and her siblings. On one hand, she knew he'd gone through something awful, but on the other hand, she didn't like how he had just pushed everyone away after a childhood of being best friends.

She decided what the hell, it couldn't hurt to stop over and say hey. Who knows, maybe he'd actually talk to her this time. "Hey! Elias!'' she called, jogging over to him. She saw that he had an art book in his hand. She'd never been much of an artist herself, but Elias and Poppy used to draw together all the time when they were young.

Elias' head turned quickly as someone said his name. At first he thought the voice was coming from Finley, one of the only friends he'd made during his time at Redfern, or maybe his art instructor -- but when he looked he saw another, yet still familiar, face.

"Senna," he said softly as she approached, the corner of his mouth curling into the smallest smile. Seeing Senna was like seeing a ghost.

And whose fault is that? Rhiannon pestered, happy to see Senna and Paz.

Elias somewhat instinctually turned his sketchbook toward himself to hide his art. He didn't mean it disrespectfully, but his art was one of the only outward representations of himself and he probably wouldn't excitedly show it to anyone, even his best friend...or family, apparently.

At this moment, Elias knew he had to make a choice: keep the distance that he had forged between him and his cousin, which served no real purpose other than to make him feel like he had some sort of control over the power that others had over him; or take the risk of being close with someone that he had grown up with.

He glanced at his sketchbook, thinking about all of the art that he could have created had he just used the damn crayons. He looked back up to Senna, who had reached him now, and smiled genuinely.

"How are you?" he asked, setting his sketchbook back down on his lap where she could see it if she wanted to.

Senna watched as Elias hid his sketchbook, and got a look on his face like he was debating whether or not to get up and walk away. She started to frown, just about at the point where she was ready to call him out on his attitude, when his expression softened and he actually asked her how she was. Her eyebrows raised, and then she smiled and plopped down next to him, elated that he wanted to talk.

"Oh, you know. Just getting ready for sports season," she said breezily, as if they sat and chatted like this all the time. 'Awkwardness' was a foreign concept to Senna. "Hey, that's a cool drawing. I wish I could draw, you and Poppy got all the artistic talent in the family."

"Oh, you know. Just getting ready for sports season," she said breezily, as if they sat and chatted like this all the time.

"Oh cool," Elias responded. He had always loved running, and still did it often, but he didn't like clio enough to be on a sports team. Frankly, he couldn't comprehend how so many clio could get along well enough to play sports, let alone for years on end.

"Hey, that's a cool drawing. I wish I could draw, you and Poppy got all the artistic talent in the family."

He looked down at his sketch with a light grin. "Thanks," he said, laughing lightly at Senna's comment. He wondered how Poppy was doing, and what her art looked like nowadays. "How are Poppy and Henri?" he inquired, trying to remember the last time he had genuinely interacted with them.

He was still hesitant about rebuilding those intentionally burned bridges, and deciding to talk with Senna today didn't mean that he was completely committed to bringing the whole family back into his life. It was hard to get close to clio after his mother had been taken, and his tenacious personality made it difficult for him to let go of the idea that keeping his loved ones at a distance meant that he wouldn't be hurt if anything happened to them.

He wanted to protect himself, and that meant staying guarded. But he had to admit, having Senna sitting and talking with him felt really nice.

Senna was practically beaming. Not only was Elias actually having a real conversation with her, he was asking about Poppy and Henri too. She wasn't sure what had brought this change, but she wasn't gonna question it. "Oh, you know," she said, waving her hand. "Henri's always hiding out in the library, and Poppy's always out being a social butterfly. The usual.

"They miss you, you know," she added without any hesitation whatsoever. It was the truth, after all. "Especially Poppy. Remember when you two used to paint together?"

Elias smiled and nodded as Senna described family business as usual. He had been thinking for a while now that he had ruined their relationships beyond repair, which had been both a safeguard and a regret of his. He had avoided his cousins at Redfern, or at the very least ignored them, all because of his disdain for his father and the pain he felt for his mother.

How much of your life will you let your father ruin for you? Rhiannon asked, as she often did. Even as Elias had thought about his cousins, as well as his aunt and uncle, he had accepted that this was the way it had to be. Maybe he was wrong -- maybe he wasn't. But what was he missing out on in the meantime?

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at Senna directly. "I thought you all might hate me for the way I've acted. Maybe that's what I counted on." He looked down at his hands, his fingers nervously picking at his fingernails.

"I've treated everyone so poorly, but after Mom, I just...thought it would be better to be alone than to ever feel like that again, or make anyone feel that way about me."

Senna looked right back at Elias, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "We could never hate you," she told him, even though that totally went without saying. What had happened to Auntie Estela had been...well, Senna couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like for Elias. But at the same time, she hated the way he acted towards Uncle Henri now, and the way he had pushed everyone else away. But she'd never hate him."Look, I can't imagine what that must've felt like, but being alone and miserable can't be that much better."

Elias let out a light laugh. "Yeah, I guess it hasn't been any better. I'm still just miserable and grumpy."

He looked around, noticing that the sky was quickly getting dark. "Thanks for stopping by during your run," he said, nudging Senna playfully, like he used to when they were kids. Senna truly was like a sister to him, and he was so grateful that she still gave him a chance after all he'd done. Knowing himself, he'd continue to make mistakes -- he had a feeling she wasn't too pleased with the status of his relationship with her uncle, which wasn't going to change anytime soon -- but it was good to know after all these years he still had support.

"Maybe we can go running together sometime?" he offered.

Senna gave Elias a half-smile. It was a start, after all. A part of her really wanted to keep talking, and to bring up Uncle Henri, but she didn't want to push her luck when Elias was finally opening up and coming around to talk. If she mentioned her uncle now, Elias probably wouldn't talk to her for another four years.

"I'm taking you up on that," she assured him. She hoped Elias didn't think he was ever going to be able to get out of hanging out with her now.