forum Give me a drink, and I’ll give you my soul. (1-1, Closed)

Started March 31, 2023 by @Serpentess health_and_safety language

tune

@emilyevewrites

For Kyliin and Farah. I’ll work on a starter here in a bit.

Also, how you like the title, lol?

Awesome! And my jaw hit the fucking floor, yaaaas!!!

(Also, I figured out that Lucitius’ human form is 6’7”, compared to Kyliin as a 6’9” human, lol)

---

Kyliin sighed as they entered the two-story tavern. He wasn’t too fond of this location, but the group they were trying to meet had said they would only meet here. It was a tedious situation, but Kyliin had managed to convince Lucitius to just do it and get it over with. Unfortunately, that meant Lucitius was in a mood. And, even in his human form, he was frightening.

“When were we to meet these rogues? Tomorrow?”Lucitius asked, his deep voice so eerily out of place to Kyliin. How was his voice deeper as a human than it was as an Ahkrethian? It made no sense!

Lucitius looked at him impatiently.

“Noon. They said noon. I suppose we should get a couple rooms here, that we will not have to travel far,”Kyliin replied, his silky voice a sharp contrast from the low rumble of Lucitius.

An irritable snort was Lucitius’ reply. Kyliin sighed again.

“I know this be not ideal, yet it be a better chance than we will ever get to calming these rogues before they become a colony. You know as well as I the risks of a colony of rogues. And, I know full well that you, as much as I, do not wish for a civil war among my kin,”Kyliin quietly mentioned.

Lucitius didn’t react, but Kyliin knew he was listening. He could tell by the way Lucitius’ broad shoulders relaxed, just barely.

“If you wish, I can linger down here for a bit, after getting the rooms, in case they come early,”Kyliin offered as they approached the bar.

Lucitius considered that a moment, then nodded.

“Aye. That might ease the annoyance of having to deal with these rogues,”he said, rubbing his temples.

Kyliin nodded, then went up to the bartender. He bought two rooms, with some gold he’d gathered specifically for this purpose, then bought some food and drinks. Lucitius didn’t need to eat, but Kyliin did, and it also kept up the guise that they were humans.

Lucitius was posing as a strange monk, while Kyliin was keeping close to what he actually was, an ambassador. Their story was that they were old friends that had crossed paths again after some years, which was actually true, though for different reasons.

Kyliin led the way upstairs, though Lucitius clearly wasn’t pleased. He then gave Lucitius the key to his room, and went to his. After quickly eating, Kyliin went back downstairs as he’d said he would and sat down at the bar. To keep up his guise, he ordered a drink, and sipped at it. He stayed there for a long while, becoming lost in thought when it became clear that the group wouldn’t be arriving tonight.

Farah was completely exhausted, so when she saw the two-story tavern not too out of the way from her route, she was eager to stop and rest. Traveling had never been her strong suit, yet here she was. Sometimes, Luna could understand some of Farah's situations better than most, and the two women got along well because of that. Other times, Luna could be a real bitch.

Like now, sending Farah into a completely new world in search of a Burned One that was reported to have escaped through a haphazardly made gateway. This wasn't even Farah's line of work. She was a headmistress for the gods' sake! She wasn't meant to be searching for escaped Burned Ones in other worlds. Farah didn't know exactly whose job it was, but she was sure it wasn't hers.

And here she was, tying up her mare to a post outside of the tavern and adjusting her hood over her elegant hair before entering the establishment. Trying not to draw any unwanted attention to herself, Farah stayed along the outskirts of the room and took an unoccupied seat at the bar. The closest person to her was a very tall man with green eyes, black hair with several other colors thrown in, and a goatee.

Immediately, Farah tried not to look at him. His appearance vaguely resembled Saul's, and even though it was only vaguely, she didn't want to be thinking about Saul right now. However, thinking of Saul by default led her to think about Ben as well. Subtly, she reached into her pocket and checked that the little vials of Zanbaq were still there. Good, they were. Farah hoped she wouldn't need to use any of it on her little mission, but it never hurt to be careful.

Kyliin was sipping at his second drink when someone new came in. He didn’t even need to turn to know that she wasn’t human. Her smell made it obvious. But, what was she?

After a moment, she sat down near him. He glanced at her, curious. She, however, avoided looking at him. Either she wanted to be left alone, or… without even realizing it, he started to scan her thoughts, discovering that she was, in fact, avoiding him because he reminded her of someone she knew.

If she were human, she wouldn’t detect his scan at all, but she wasn’t, so he didn’t know if she would or not. Likely not. But, he couldn’t help himself. It was habit to read the thoughts around him, but this… seemed off somehow. He felt guilty for doing it, and he couldn’t explain why. Unless it was the drink affecting him, maybe? He’d never been drunk before. He’d never even tasted alcohol before this day.

Kyliin sighed to himself, then eyed his drink. He turned his thoughts back to Lucitius and their current predicament. For some reason, it made him feel utterly alone. He was old, and his time had been much simpler than it was now. He missed that. He missed having companions that were his age. He missed a lot.

Without really thinking about it beforehand, Kyliin finished his mostly full drink in one gulp. The burn of the alcohol assaulted his senses, but, at the moment, he didn’t care. He just wanted to forget the loneliness, the longing. He wanted to forget about Lucitius, the meeting, everything.

Farah debated getting a room for the night or just pushing through for the sake of finding the rouge Burned One and putting Luna's insane quest to bed. It felt so good to sit… what more would a reasonably comfortable bed feel like after an exhausting day's ride on her horse. She was about to speak up to the bartender for a drink when she immediately stilled. There was someone else in her mind. Someone was reading her thoughts.

Instantly, Farah bridged the connection and sensed consuming guilt from a close presence. She turned to the man beside her, fully taking in his appearance now. It was a relief and calmed her down a bit that he didn't look as much like Saul as she had thought he did. Maybe that was her missing him. His hair was longer than Saul's and had interwoven brown streaks and grey roots amidst the black. He was also much taller than Saul and had a different build because of it. The goatee was a slightly similar feature. Farah decided that could overlook that, but in her fatigue, she almost forgot the reason why she was staring at him.

This man, this stranger, had entered her mind and read her thoughts. Even though they were surface level, it brought back times when Farah's mind had been violated by those she was closest to. And now, a complete stranger thought he was entitled to her mind as well.

"Excuse me," Farah greeted shortly just as the man swallowed the remainder of his glass. "What do you think you're doing?"

Kyliin immediately felt her presence when she sensed his telepathy. She was a telepath too! And, she was powerful enough to sense him! How?

He didn’t react to it, nor to when she looked at him. He hoped she wouldn’t say anything about it. He wouldn’t know what to say. He’d never met another telepath that wasn’t one of his kin. By the Serpent, what was she?

Luck wasn’t with him unfortunately. He set his empty glass down and turned to the woman.

“I apologize. ‘Tis a habit of mine. I do not mean to intrude,”he said softly.

Kyliin meant every word, but he also didn’t want to irritate her any more than she seemed to be. He wasn’t in the right mindset to properly deal with that. And, if things got heated, Lucitius might get involved. And, that was something he wanted to avoid completely.

Farah frowned at his words, despite the soft apology. She was a firm believer in only breaching another's mind if consent was given or a situation was dire enough. In her opinion, it should never be a habit.

"And yet you did," she replied evenly, arching an eyebrow. "It's a bit of a nasty habit, don't you think?"

Normally, Farah would have been easier to talk to, if slightly closed off. She might speak with the stranger a bit more regarding his beliefs and share her own should he ask. But at the moment, she was too exhausted and pissed off to consider her words. The mind fairy was mere seconds away from burying her face in her arms on the bar and sleeping then and there. She desperately needed a room for the night.

Kyliin winced at her frown and words. He sighed again, then rubbed a hand over his face. He felt off. He wasn’t sure why, but the best explanation was the alcohol. Her words were nagging at him, and the stress of dealing with an irritated Lucitius all day was nagging at him. The alcohol, which supposedly numbed that feeling, had only made it worse.

“I am naturally inclined. I barely realize I am doing it most times. And, I am generally too powerful to be noticed by most. You… you are different. I… I have never met one like you,”Kyliin said, ‘one’ meaning ‘a telepath’.

He avoided looking at her. It was very new for him to speak to someone that had sensed his telepathy, let alone that someone being a telepath as well. He didn’t like that. Not one bit. It scared him a little, if he was being honest.

Farah pursed her lips. "That's hardly an excuse," she muttered under her breath. But chills shot through her body at his words. She didn't realize he was merely talking about telepaths. She thought that he'd somehow figured out that she was a fairy. But was he? Farah was unaware of any other species with mental abilities that were like hers other than fairies.

But before she could say any more, the bartender approached her and asked if she wanted anything. She glanced at him and said "Gin" shortly. Once the alcohol was in her hand, Farah took a sip to settle herself and turned her head slightly to look at the man beside her again.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I don't mean to be so curt. The last few days have not been easy."

Even though her voice was quiet, Kyliin still heard it keenly, and it stung. He was telling the truth though. It was instinct for him, for his entire race. If his kin wanted to, they could become a hivemind with only minor effort, simply because telepathy ran so deep in them.

He sipped at his drink as the woman ordered a gin. He had no idea what ‘gin’ was. Though, he barely had any idea of what his own drink was.

Kyliin glanced at her warily when she spoke again, then quietly sighed.

“They have been difficult for me as well, and the next few days will likely be just as rough,”he said softly.

He rubbed his forehead afterward, and shook his head resignedly.

Farah pressed her lips together and sipped again. Though, this time, she drained about half the glass. Once he finished speaking, she hummed in agreement. "We're living the same life," she murmured, chancing another look over at him.

She would've asked him what he was doing that was so difficult, but she didn't want the conversation to turn back on her once he answered. Farah wasn't from this world, and if this stranger was, then she certainly didn't need him knowing that. What were the chances that he was from a foreign world too? Very small.

"At least we can drink," the fairy added, finishing her glass with a quick flick of her head.

(I forgot in my last post that Kyliin actually had an empty glass, lmao! So, I guess we can say that the bartender refilled his drink when he got Farah’s gin, lol)

---

“I suppose,”he said with a troubled sigh.

Kyliin almost read her thoughts again, but he forced himself not to. It was difficult, and unsettling, but he managed it. He quickly discovered how much he hated holding his telepathy back. Then, at her words, he snorted and glanced over at her.

”This be my first time drinking. ‘Tis not helping at all. In fact, it be making things worse. Yet, I am not ready to end this night. Nor am I ready to face tomorrow,”he said with another sigh.

Kyliin set his drink down and rubbed at his temples, his mind whirling with doubts and horrible possibilities. He didn’t need a drink. It either wasn’t affecting him, or was making his thoughts even darker. What he needed was a distraction. The woman next to him was the best thing he could think of, and she seemed, at least somewhat, willing to talk. It was better than nothing.

“What be your name?”

(Lol fair enough)

Farah could feel that he hadn't entered her mind again, and she rethought her opinion of him slightly. Maybe she'd judged him poorly at first.

She arched her eyebrows at his confession. It was hardly Farah's first time drinking, but she didn't need to tell him that. His words, however, were very true to her. "I'll drink to that," she muttered. She pushed her glass forward by her fingertips, and the bartender picked up on the signal. Once he refilled it, Farah lifted the glass to her lips again and took a lingering sip.

His question caught her off guard. For a moment, the fairy wondered why he was still talking to her. But she supposed that a distraction could work well enough for her. Better than alcohol alone.

"Farah," she answered softly. "Yours?"

Kyliin sighed again at her words, shaking his head slightly. He continued rubbing his temples, his fingers starting to shake as his thoughts bothered him more. Usually, he could control how much he let his troubles affect him, but… he couldn’t this time. Was he drunk? Was he an emotional drunk, trying to contain himself and slowly failing? By the Serpent, he hoped not. Unfortunately, Kyliin was immensely self-aware, and his suspicions were steadily being confirmed.

“Kyliin,”he replied quietly.

He avoided looking at Farah, avoided facing such a powerful woman. Would she see his troubles? Would she read them from him? Would she sense how part of him just wanted to break down and cry, to scream for all the wrongs to right themselves? For civil war to be averted without the need to be where he was now?

Would she sense his loneliness? His wife, Sūnii, was crippled, her body limited by long ago injuries. Injuries that Synthia, wife of Lucitius, had given to her. Kyliin had never truly forgiven Synthia. For making Sūnii the broken creature she was now. A fragile thing that barely left their room. Barely did more than exist. Kyliin did his best to care for her, but he inwardly craved the woman she used to be. He craved the talks, the fights, the passion. Anything! Anything to take the loneliness in him before it smothered him!

Farah arched her eyebrows a bit. His name was, to say the least, unusual. "I've never heard that name before," she remarked simply.

Being an empath all her life, Farah was good at picking up on body language and social cues. So she immediately noticed when Kyliin stopped looking at her. She tallied it up to a conscious choice, though she wondered the reasoning behind it. Hesitantly, she extended her empathetic abilities to him and picked up his brokenness almost instantly. He was lonely, just as she was. And he craved… something. It was vague to her, and she couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that he wanted so badly.

"Please excuse my forwardness," Farah began, pausing to finish her second drink. "But why is it exactly that you aren't ready to end the night?"

Kyliin shrugged,”’Tis an old name, referencing an even older event in my homeland’s history.”

Kyliin tensed, sensing Farah’s empathetic abilities inspecting him. She knew. She knew! By the Serpent, she could sense his emotions!

He flinched slightly at her words, then warily glanced at her. After a moment of hesitation, Kyliin took a deep breath and shook his head, trying to ward off the troubling thoughts in his head. It only somewhat worked.

“I must attend a negotiation tomorrow. The clans of my homeland are on the brink of war. I, and my traveling companion, the leader of another clan, are trying to subtly calm things down before they escalate. ‘Tis difficult to do, given our nature,”Kyliin explained, tapping his head when he said ‘nature’, meaning that he was dealing with other telepaths.

Farah nodded simply. "My mother named me for the meaning. Farah means happiness."

She immediately noticed him tense and was genuinely surprised. She wasn't even in his mind, only drawing from the emotions he was feeling so she could understand him better. Maybe he hadn't been lying… maybe his telepathy was all too natural for him to resist it.

Again, she noticed the wary glance he gave her at her question. And honestly, that only made her more intrigued. The fairy could also sense the anxieties in his mind, and she nearly extended pathokinesis to soothe his worries. But she held back, recognizing that it would be crossing a boundary. Especially if he could feel not just when she was in his mind but also using her empathetic abilities.

Farah arched her eyebrows curiously as she listened. "I see," she murmured. "Though why would your… nature… make it more difficult? Wouldn't it ease things?"

Kyliin smiled softly,”Among my kin, names can often prove prophetic. A name for happiness could be an omen of an era of happiness and peace, or a much simpler omen of that person having a happy life. I hope ‘tis been prophetic for you, or, if not, will be soon.”

He smelled her surprise, but he was still wary. Did she know all of his emotions? Or was it limited? Did she know everything about him already? Or was she holding back? Did he dare try to figure out the answers?

He shook his head at her question.

“It complicates things. If we are all open, then any lies and doubts are obvious. If we are not, then it be suspicious of those lies and doubts,”he answered.

Kyliin almost mentioned the sheer complication known as Lucitius himself, but he was another story altogether. He would either help or hinder the situation, just by reputation alone.

Farah did her best to keep from scoffing. Though she exhaled swiftly under her breath before reaching for her glass again. A silent nod of thanks went to the bartender, who had generously refilled it again somewhere during their conversation. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but my name has proved not prophetic for me. And I doubt it will be any time soon.”

While Kyliin was answering her question, the fairy took the opportunity to drink again. What he said made sense, she realized, as she set her half-empty glass down again.

“Yes. I understand,” she replied quietly. “And… all of you are… of the same nature?”

Farah turned her soft brown eyes toward him, looking up at him through her lashes. By the gods, even sitting he was tall. Farah couldn’t imagine how he would tower over her if they both were standing.