Ughh I hate (love) relationships where one is practically immortal while the other only has an average human lifespan
It’s always so sad and so beautiful to see how their lives intertwine and how loss shapes the immortal character
Even worse when the near-immortal is killed during the human’s lifetime by something they never saw coming, and the human has to grieve and try to understand the near-immortal’s culture and how their people deal with loss.
Apply that to John and Taka…
:(
THANK YOU FOR THIS I'VE BEEN STEWING ON THEM FOR DAYS NOW... especially in my own little homebrew world bc it gets so complicated-- i could do a whole like, set of posts about it at this point now that im actively revamping it, but i digress
high elf taka, who comes from a society where death is really only faced in battle and after years and years and years go by, where procreation isn't prioritized bc so often so many people have time, where life moves at a snail's pace and it's accepted that not everyone will be at the same level at the same time, everyone getting into really really niche and specific things because they have the time and can dedicate so much of it to just one thing... compared to john, who is not only human but was born in a monastery and believes in a religion that is way more fast paced and is all about seeing the world and meeting as many people as possible and making the world a better place in your lifetime, which means touching as many hearts and traveling as many places as you possibly can in however many years you can dedicate to it, and it breaks me because they fall in love but dont ever quite say it, dont ever quite reach the point that they're open about it...
so it's john, once they're first adventure is all said and done, committing to being a nomad and traveling the world as much as he can, and taka, his ever dutiful partner, paladin, and friend, following along for as many years as he can and putting his own life and goals on hold because he has time... watching john decay in real time, watching him age and slow down after years and years, and loving him anyway, even as john scoffs and jokes abt taka hasnt aged a day, about how it's a bad look to have someone so young be so strangely sweet to an old man like him, but taka just smiles so softly and reminds john that he is hundreds of years older than he is... and ofc john just snickers and calls him a cradle snatcher, his loose tongue even worse in his old age 😭 and eventually, taka saying his final goodbyes, unsure what to do with the loss bc it's a rarity for him to ever have to face it all, let alone so early in his mind... taka spending what little time he could looking into some sort of life elixir, something to give john even just a little more time, but every corner turned up blank... taka, for the first time in his life, giving up after john dies bc there is no reason for him to keep looking.... taka unable to move on, keeping a piece of john with him as long as he can, whether that's one of his shawls, or a set of beads, a brand of any kind that proves that he was john's at one point, that he was alive and around and meant something...
or god the horrible awful inverse of john losing taka to something, after thinking he has and being promised the rest of his god damn life with taka... watching him fall in battle, unable to save him, or even unable to see him a final time.... john forced to deal with the unbearable empty space that taka would leave, a constant in his life that he always knew he could never live without once he had it... taka's death being the thing to tarnish john's once indomitable spirit, the one thing that made john, if even for only a little while, sort of give up... but of course, john knows taka would want him to move on and so he does.... i do think even though john knows it's a bad idea, he would try and travel to taka's home city, even though it's forbidden to enter unless you were born there, and would try to learn as much as he could if he was ever let in.... or even john grieving taka in his own way within the traditions of his own religion, preserving taka's presence in his life as much as he can and carrying him with him.... good god they are so horrifically attached and devoted to each other it's quite literally awful and horrible
oh but now it has me thinking of a fantasy wedding for them.. trying to mix their traditions or just having two separate weddings bc it's too complicated/opposite 💀 but that's a whole other post bc i have to think abt what kind of wedding traditions/ceremonies would be apart of that, LOL
but thank you so much for the ask!! i love how angsty they can be.. esp mixing that with immortal/mortal?? ugh, a truly horrid heartache...