Eld sort of shrugged to the line about her brother. It sounded familiar to him. "Sometimes, that's how guys show they care," he replied in an attempt to cheer her up. For all that Remmy protected his sisters, he also gave them a harder time than anyone. Of course, had he known who Kaze's brother was, he might have been of a different opinion...

"Well...it's not the most comfortable place in the world, but if you need a place to stay I can see if we have an empty room at the clinic right now." This was definitely the preferred option; it may not be as comfortable as other places in the house, but it was probably for the best if they didn't sleep in close proximity to one another.

"I-- um . . . sure . . ." Kaze shrugged her shoulders.

Coming back here really wasn't so much an issue of wanting a place to stay. It was a matter of knowing only one other person in this area, and constantly feeling in her heart that she had a reason to be here, far too important to leave--and in Galaens, there was her brother. So Kaze did not want to be in Galaens, if at all possible.

"H-he's not like that, though," Kaze whispered sadly, "He really does hate me. A lot. He hates everyone."

A moment passed as she was silent. One might be able to claim that Kaze was completely exaggerating, that no one person could really, genuinely despise every person he knew.

"I mean it . . ." she whispered, "I really do . . ."

He considered this; on one hand, Kaze didn't sound like she was just using hyperbole, nor was she so young that she might truly believe that without justification. On the other hand...Eld was still rather naive about some things, and family was one of them. He couldn't imagine a brother that truly hated his sister.

"I'm sure it may seem that way...he even might think he does himself. But I bet I'll the same he'd be pretty mad if something happened to you." Which was true, but not for the reasons he intended.

Kaze started to walk. Where, she didn't really know, but they had just been standing in one place for the whole time, and it started to bother her. It was slow, but Eld could just as well guide her. Though, it might require something more blunt than just motioning for her to follow. The cheeriness that Kaze had shown earlier was entirely gone. The way she acted now was almost . . . mindless. Lost, in a way.

Meekly, Kaze thought aloud in strict disagreement with Eld. "He's tried to hurt me before."

Kaze squeezed her arms together tight at the area of her diaphragm. As far as her mood went, one thing had lead to another--and now, she was lost.

"I hate him . . ." Kaze whispered shakily.

Eld...did not like that. He did not like that at all. While he was glad that the "tried" implied a lack of success, there were two things in life he held to especially high standards for other people, not just himself: one was doctors, and the other was older brothers. While it was true not every role model could stand up to Remington Vaerbond, whose only real vice was smoking, older brothers were supposed to try. They were supposed to care.

But he set that kind of anger aside for now; Kaze was here, her brother wasn't. Getting angry now wouldn't do him any good. She looked extremely hurt. Seeing her try and walk off in some direction, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"If you want to talk about it, I'll listen," he stated kindly.

"Our father died," Kaze remarked sadly. "Recently."

It was a bit of a random outburst, but it was something she was getting off her chest. More than likely, it was something that she had burdening her for awhile.

"I can't remember when. It could've been three days ago. It could've been two weeks ago. I just can't remember," Kaze

She stopped walking inevitably. Kaze was walking slow, anyways; slower than an elderly woman without a cane, even. She was just . . . drifting. Drifting, because it made her feel a little better.

"And he came back to give everyone the bad news and all he told mother was that father died," Kaze trembled slightly as she thought about it. Recalling it, not the memory itself, but the fact that she could barely even recall such an important recent memory . . . it hurt. "And when she started to cry he just brushed by her. He didn't apologize or hug her or anything. He didn't even cry himself! He just . . . he just walked away from her."

"And he does it to me, too! He always says things about like . . . about how I can't even remember my own name half the time. Or important things . . . like when our father died. I can't remember conversations or names or places or things or anything like that!" Kaze borderline shouted, but as she seemed to be on the brink of tears already, she was choking up far too much to raise her voice, "All I have are feelings and they always get dull and weak after awhile. And he never makes me feel any better. I always see him when I'm not feeling good and he always says something and I always feel worse and I always get like this."

Kaze's eyes were half shut. Talking about her brother wasn't making her feel any better, either. In fact, it was progressively making her want to cry. But she didn't halt the progressive drop in mood. Rarely could Kaze recognize such a thing in order to halt or reverse it.

"I really do hate him."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Eld replied in regards to her father; he knew that must be rough, and it might explain why there seemed to be a lot of tension in her family.

"...Even if you don't get along with your brother, there's plenty of other people who like you, I'll bet." He really wasn't qualified to reassure her about her brother--that wasn't improving her mood, and she seemed pretty convinced he hated her. He also figured that pointing out that she obviously didn't truly hate her older brother wouldn't help either.

"You have your friends you were going to meet--I mean, I like you and I only just met you, so there must be plenty of others who do, even if you don't know or have forgotten."

He smiled--forgetful though she might be, someone like Kaze was hard not to like. He hoped that she would remember that he did like her, even if he didn't want to go out with her.

"I suppose so . . ." Kaze trailed off.

However little of an immediate reaction Eld received from her, there was at least a glimmer of hope: she wasn't crying. Her mood ceased to drop steadily and leveled out. She wasn't just going to become instantly happy again, but Eld at least had a bit of a start established. He had a solid ground on which to rebuild the woman's mood.

"I have a feeling I really drive them crazy sometimes," Kaze lamented, "Or that I make you really uncomfortable . . . a-and stuff like that."

Though, that ground might still be a little steep . . .

Eld broke into a broader smile. It was good to see her start to cheer up, but he also realized something that he couldn't help but find kind of funny. "You know, with how strange my life has been lately, it'll take a lot more than that to make me uncomfortable."

"Besides, you're a nice, honest person. That counts for a lot more than something like being forgetful."

Her honesty was actually rather refreshing, considering how tangled and complex his romantic dealings had been thus far. He may not have liked disappointing her, but it was certainly better than having everything spiral out of control like he was used to.

"You think so . . .?" Kaze asked genuinely.

She wasn't smiling yet, but her mood was definitely growing. She wasn't frowning anymore, at least, and was now far from having the urge to cry. Eld had succeeded in getting her mind to stray from thoughts about her older brother and all the horrible things he'd done regards to family and all the like--one problem that had definitely persisted in her mind until now. And now, Eld was starting to compliment her, perhaps to try and get a smile out of her.

But still, despite saying that she didn't make him feel uncomfortable, Kaze couldn't help but worry about that--and also couldn't help but feel disappointed, still, in the fact that he didn't feel the same way about her that she did with him. It was kind of a complicated feeling, though. She really liked Eld, he treated her like a friend, and romance, in its own right, was an excellent distraction.

Yet as much as she liked him, he didn't like her the same way.

"Hey-- Eld, we're friends, right?"

Friends? Normally he felt like people needed to know each other for longer before being friends, but in retrospect that wasn't always the case. He and Etsu had gotten to be friends pretty fast, and he actually spent less time with Mizuki before asking her on a friendly date.

"Sure, we're friends," he assured her. While romantic entanglements were something to limit, there was no reason not to be friends!

"Why do you ask?" He was curious; she seemed to be awfully worried about what he thought of her, which he supposed was only natural, given her feelings, but it was like she kept expecting negative reactions no matter how often she got positive ones.

He thought so, too, then. That was nice. Kaze really didn't have any other friends outside of Eld and her other two friends. Beyond those three, there was family, and she had already mentioned every member of her family to Eld, and her relationships with them--including the mention of her father's death.

"I . . ." Kaze trailed off.

She was a little worried again. Nervousness slowly started to fester. She looked away from Eld again and stared at the ground for a painfully long moment.

"I kinda want a hug."

And thus, the reason she felt so nervous. The last time she wanted to show any affection from Eld, and therefore want to receive it as well, he'd become extremely uncomfortable, because there was already someone else out there that he loved. But a hug wasn't bad, was it?

Eld blinked, thinking for a moment. On one hand...well, he knew with how Kaze felt about him that might be a bad idea. On the other, they were friends, and he didn't think that she'd try and deceive him and turn it into anything romantic. Though he didn't consider she might forget herself and do something unintentionally.

"Sure," he responded, and encircling her with his arms. It was by all means a friendly hug--not too tight, but neither was he awkward and loose with it. He knew very well just how important it was to have friends support you.

When Eld drew her into a hug, Kaze was visibly surprised. For a moment there, she genuinely thought that Eld was going to so that it wasn't possible or wouldn't work, or something else to suggest that he was uncomfortable with the idea of putting his arms around her, because that was something he reserved for the person he loved or . . . or something like that.

But no, she was wrong about that. Eld was her friend, and a hug was a friendly gesture. Her two friends that were together romantically hugged Kaze, too. Hugs weren't reserved for just romantic interests!

Kaze briefly buried her head into Eld's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him. She couldn't really remember a time anymore since she had been comforted like this. Kaze was pretty sure that even after her father died, she had no one to comfort her. Her friends, after all, hadn't come back home yet.

"Thank you," Kaze whispered into Eld's shoulder.

Kaze hugged Eld a little close and a little tight, much tighter than Eld hugged her, but to an extent that was to be expected. Or at least should have been expected.

Well...of course she was going to hug him that tight. She probably didn't even do it on purpose, either--people held others tighter when they cared a lot for them, and strange as it still seemed to Eld she cared about him quite a bit already. "Don't mention it. That's what friends are for."

He held the hug for a little bit, but then gently pulled away. "Come on; you must be getting tired, so let's figure out where you can sleep for the night."