Lani can't remember the last time she'd ever felt comfortable in the presence of an unfamiliar face. To say that Cass had left an impression on the fae woman was a gross understatement. Not only had the man taken the very life from her, thieved away her final breath and heartbeat, but in doing so, he'd taken everything... Once, there had been a radiant smile upon blush-colored lips whenever she might have encountered someone entirely new to her. She might have even turned to give that once-bright smile to the fae man she found herself standing on the beach with this afternoon, given little consideration to the motives that he may or may not have in approaching her. Three years ago, Lani might have very well seized the opportunity seemingly given to her now, seen a chance at making a new friend to talk with, maybe laugh with or even make plans for an adventure in the near future. Back then, she would have extended a slender hand in greeting, hoping that he might extend his own, letting her know that would would oblige her in casual conversation regarding this, that, or the other thing. Stars above, she might have even told him a little about herself, about why she'd come to the city, and the hopes and dreams she'd once chased with eager optimism! The Lani she'd been before would have seen little to no reason why she should question the man's intentions. She would have offered him that very first seed of trust, something that the blue-eyed blonde would have offered to just about anyone whom life's design would have had her meet on any given day. There was a time long ago when she would have wanted nothing more than to share an ocean sunset with a complete stranger with the hope that the day would end with her having made a new friend.

There, behind those eyes of clear summer skies that blink up at the sun slowly descending towards the ocean horizon, had been a young woman so full of hope for what the future might hold. Once, there had been a soul so bright, it could have shone through and had her gaze very nearly glittering like stars on a cloudless night.

How very lost to her that life was now. How... distant the world felt to her now, as though she was both here and not in the same moment. All that ever seemed to feel real to the blue-eyed blonde these days were the nightmares and the heartache. One her worst nights, she would find nothing but shadows encroaching on her thoughts as she kept chasing after even just the faintest hope of finding broken and fickle sleep. She couldn't free her mind of those dark eyes, the way her killer had smiled so coldly at her, it had been nothing short of the way that a wolf might look upon a lamb, trapped and utterly helpless, riddled with fear to its very core of what was to come. She can still see those empty eyes of earthen hue, hair as black as the hopelessness that had swallowed the blue-eyed blonde entirely for seven starved, exhausted, terrified days. Still, she can hear that smooth, masculine voice not too unlike venom seeping into one's veins from the depths of her nightmares..."Don't worry, it'll all be over soon"... The fae woman couldn't count the times she'd been jolted awake in her own bed, sheltered in her bedroom within the protective embrace of that bedroom in Willowhaven with her parents, only to feel her cheeks soaked in tears as she lived her final moments over again. No matter how hard she fought against the darkness, she couldn't get the stagnant air of the cellar she'd died in out of her senses, couldn't forget the wicked gleam of the obsidian ritual blade as it bit into her soft flesh... The stench of her own blood as it spilled from those fatal cuts inflicted upon her so that she would slowly bleed out on the stone table she'd been bound to, the sickly glow of candlelight all but comforting as her vision blurred and soon darkened into nothingness as death wrapped her in his cold, empty embrace... Her death was as vivid within her nightmares as it had been three years ago on that farm where she'd had everything everything stolen from her. Even as she works each and every day to search for peace, hoping to find some small part of herself that might still be there, lost in the shadows of her past life, those nightmares always seem to find her one way or another.

Some days, she feels as though she's making process, carefully putting one tired foot in front of the other as she simply tries to move forward. Sometimes, the fae woman feels like there's hope, the smallest sliver of a chance that she'll be free. But, one days like today, despite the hollowed peace she's found in the ocean before her, she is still so very lost, wondering if ever she'll be found.

And yet, as the fae man lingers there beside her, his own gaze fixated upon the foam-crested waves, the blue-eyed blond could almost... feel as though his mind, too, wandered to a place far away from thr sandy shoreline. There was a distant look that settled upon his handsome face, and it's one that she recognizes somehow. The initial unease begins to thaw from the fae woman only just slightly as something familiar seems to settle between the two strangers. His accented words are smooth, the man obliging her as he reveals that this beach reminded him of his home, before his change. Blinking dark, long lashes over baby blues, Lani turns her gaze away from the ocean and to the man whose gaze remains upon the horizon. There is surprise in her soft expression, perhaps from the revelation that he, too, had undergone the ritual... perhaps because of the subtle melancholy she can hear in his masculine voice, or maybe it might be a little of both that she watches him. Somewhere in her heart, there stirs an empathy, a part of her soul seeming to believe that there was something in common there. What it might be, Lani had no idea. All she knew in this moment was that, for once, she didn't feel as alone. She simply listens to him as he seems to muse of change. Slowly, she turns her gaze back out to the ocean."I'm here because I feel... lost, and I don't want to feel like that anymore...", the fae woman says softly, her words trailing off as a small silence lingers between her and her companion."Ever since my change... I've never felt peace. I don't feel like I really belong anywhere.", she adds slowly, almost breathlessly as she feels a shift in her heart, as if it wasn't as heavy as it had been. This was the first time that she'd ever put words to the ache that always seemed to have a grasp on her body, mind, and soul. And it surprises her that she shares this with someone whose name she doesn't even know, but in the same moment, those thought and feelings she'd held onto for three years put into words and spoken through blush-colored lips had come easily to her then... Despite her closeness with Ellie, she hadn't even confided this in the huntress.

It was as though her heart could feel something that Lani herself didn't understand, like there was something of a common ground between her and the fae man that only those who'd undergone such a change might share. Not even Andras had heard the blue-eyed blonde utter such a confession of the pain she carried with her.

The fae man speaks again, his posture changing as strong arms fold neatly across his chest then, and Lani senses another achingly familiar sensation. Despite them having only met moments ago, there is a note of... concern? It reminds her only somewhat of how Andras would chide her for wandering in the dark before the blue-eyed blonde's entire world had changed in every sense around her. It is then that she allows herself to do one thing that she hasn't done for years. She allows herself to extent the smallest tendril of trust out to him, deciding that if he'd had any wicked intention, surely her instincts would have felt something off about him by now? And yet, there was no wickedness in his gaze, only a subtle melancholy that Lani feels. She doesn't know what to say in return, but before a reply can begin to form in the fae woman's thoughts, she can feel his eyes upon her and she turns her own gaze to meet his. He offers his name... Gideon Reynard... It settled there into her memory, and she offers a faint yet genuine smile, baby blue eyes blinking gently up to the him."Beylani... but you can call me Lani if you'd like", she answers gently, her voice polite. And so, a connection seems to form between the fae woman and her company, the two no longer perfect strangers to one another. How unexpected this encounter has been for Lani, and yet, perhaps it was as though her silent pleas to feel like she wasn't so utterly alone in this world might have finally been heard... and answered. Looking back out to the ocean, she sees that the sun has sunken a little further towards the saltwater horizon, but there was still plenty of time before it would truly begin to set into the ocean."So, you're homesick today, then? Is 'home' pretty far from here?", she asks quietly then, her tone promising that Gideon didn't have to answer it if he felt uncomfortable or simply didn't wish to speak of it. She understood what it might feel like, how thinking too deeply of "home" might thicken that sense of mourning or yearning. She was very much familiar this feeling, the heaviness that would sometimes threaten to become overwhelming, and so, she hardly presses the matter, happy to simply enjoy the ocean scene with someone for the first time in so very long.