'i love you' prompts // accepting.
@starliit // 'did you get enough sleep?' - for aether
FOR A MOMENT, Aether worries whether his lack of rest is obvious — not sleep, per se, for he seeks it out most nights ( except for when they can't, when they're busy enough they don't have a moment to spare for sleep, simply pushing forward until they're swaying on their feet & can barely distinguish the days ) but relaxtion was what eludes him, regardless of how much sleep he has had.
He has found that no cup of tea nor any amount of time staring up at the skies brings him peace any longer. Even his sleep has become restless, filled with memories he wishes he could hide away from & his daydreams are plagued with visions of ancient pasts he has yet to discover. No amount of attempting to unwind would ever take the lessons of this world away from him.
( no other world has left them feeling as if everything they have done was for everything & nothing all at once. )
Aether does not relay his train to thought of Kaveh — there is no place amongst friends to do so, for positivity is all he finds he can offer these days & so he will keep all emotion aside from joy under lock & key, not unlike an infection living within his very soul — & instead offers a small smile, the sort of which he hopes does not reveal his weariness.
❝I think I should be asking you that, really.❞ He points out, a softness to it that he hopes adequately displays some sort of care or concern in the midst of a bone-deep exhaustion he tries his best to keep out of his voice. ❝I've been getting more than enough sleep, recently, really. I'd hope I don't look that tired.❞ Then again, Aether wonders if there has ever been a time since he left Liyue that he hasn't looked tired in some form.
❝Have you been doing alright, Kaveh?❞