OPEN :: A golden bird was singing

[baedalites]

Who: Everyone!
What: St Kelley's evening
Where: The Apache and surrounding environs.
When: Veerdi evening.
Notes:
(1) The topic threads are just suggestions; if you've got somewhere else that your characters simply must be, make your own thread.
(2) All mementos will appear overnight in some part of your character's apartment.
(3) Dance!

St Kelley's is one of the more sedate occasions in Baedal, at least as holidays go. It passes more or less unnoticed by the majority of the population as many of them feel it doesn't concern them. It's not their holiday; it's for the others. Those with severed ties and broken hearts. The temple and church preach that it's a time for reflection or for glorifying the generosity of the gods. It's one of the few days on which no one looks askance at first generation Citizens mourning their missing loved ones publicly.

As night rolls around and floating lanterns are set to sea, the Apache in Mog Hill prepares to accept guests from the newer cohorts. It's something that happens every year, making it a practical tradition. The alcohol will be cheaper for first timers, and the music will be kept at a reasonable level.

Comments

[fish]

"Oh hey, thanks." He's not going to drink right out of the pitcher, so he needs a cup. Is there a cup? Aha—someone left theirs sitting empty on the table behind him, so he leans over to steal it, dumping the tiny left-over bit of brown whatever onto the floor between the tables. Fish cares not about cooties, apparently. "It's been pretty good, I guess... I mean, the boat part is depressing, but it's good to see people around anyway. You?"

[wontturntofoam]

"I thought the boat part was nice. I liked all of the tiny fires." Shrieky may be biased about this by a small but growing interest in fire, but he can't help but feel that if people had occasionally floated tiny lights into his moat then perhaps he would have hated them all a little less. Sure it's possible he would have taken the opportunity to lure people to their deaths, but since he'd gotten around to that eventually anyway, it doesn't seem like too substantial a risk for them to have taken.

It occurs to him that it's possible Fish finds the whole 'lost loved ones' thing to be the depressing part, however, so he gives a careful little wave of his hand, "I think probably those who find it very sad, must be those people who have been the most loved, in their lives." He smiles, a lazy, reassuring smile, "Not for me though, I think every part of these proceedings has been very enjoyable."

[fish]

That's a nice sentiment, he thinks, although he won't comment on it himself; he'd want to refute it, and that might get awkward. So he just pours himself a mystery beer into this mystery glass, licks the spillage from his thumb (he keeps doing that tonight, ugh) and settles.

"Well, hey, that's good... and actually, you're right about the fires. It did look kinda pretty out there. Like a fairy tale or something."

[wontturntofoam]

Shrieky isn't entirely sincere about it either, to be honest, but it seems like a nice way to dampen a little of the depression associated with having lost your loved ones. He takes a swig of his own beer, and gives an agreeable hum, "I thought so. Like little orange stars in the water."

He lowers the beer and rubs a thumb across his mouth, to dry away the excess, "How are things at the Inn? Have there been many new people lately?"

[fish]

"The usual amount, I guess. Usually there'll be a couple new people, then nothing for a while, then a few more. Nobody really, like, intense has been through in a while... no big meltdowns or anything. Mostly it's just like, welp, uh, this sucks and they kinda deal with it."

He goes for a sip, pauses to add, "Maybe they try to pick people who won't freak out so much."

[wontturntofoam]

"Maybe." Shrieky concedes, a little thoughtfully, "So, do you think it's true that they choose people carefully? Instead of just picking them out at random?"

He rests his chin on his hand, and watches Fish curiously. He's probably in a particularly good position to monitor the city's intake, now that Shrieky thinks about it. He wonders also, how calm Fish himself had been upon first arriving, but there is no non-creepy way to ask that question.

[fish]

When Fish agreed to work the inn desk, being able to keep an eye out for newcomers wasn't exactly his goal—mostly he was just relieved that nobody cut his head off—but it is indeed a convenience now that he's here.

"Maybe. It's kind of... I've got no fuckin clue, actually. But it's nice to think there's some kinda reason behind this. Like, any of it. Otherwise everything is literally pointless now. That's just how I feel about it, I dunno." Beer now. Beer go in mouth, stop words happening. (More words follow his swallowing anyway, but at least they're on a different train of thought.) "You took it pretty well, though. I mean, you seemed to be okay... uh, were you? Actually okay?"

[wontturntofoam]

"I wouldn't think it was pointless, even if it was all accidental. Things don't need to start off being deliberately planned in order to take on meaning. I don't know that I like the idea of my life here being part of someone else's machinations any better than the alternative..." Beer is good though, and Shrieky can feel himself steering them into a conversation where they're either random victims or hapless pawns, and that's terrible conversation matter, so he'll follow the change of subject when it comes.

"I was okay, I mean, I am okay. I really didn't like where I was before, so coming here for me was really very lucky." He ran his tongue over his top lip, before venturing, "How about you? When you first arrived, were you all right?"

[fish]

This isn't the first time Fish has heard a sentiment like Shrieky's—about this place being better, somehow, than back home—and so he nods in understanding. The first person who said that to him ended up having to deal with his frankly inconsiderate astonishment and a barrage of nosy questions, so...count yourself lucky, mermaid.

"Uhhh, not really. I basically lost my shit." He seems sheepish about it now, as if reacting poorly to abduction through time and space is somehow worthy of shame. "Not, like... I didn't go berserk on anyone, or anything, but after the shock kinda wore off, it was pretty rough. And I was in my underwear when I got here. So that...happened..."

[wontturntofoam]

"Oh!" He sounds genuinely surprised, and (unusually) genuinely sympathetic about that, "I'm sorry. I thought that it would have been uncomplicated for you. You seem so... at ease, most of the time." His perception of Fish may be slightly warped by cigarette smoking and high fives.

He rests his elbow on the table, and frowns, "I was... ah, I don't know how you would phrase this exactly-- I spent my upbringing, and then most of my life in captivity." He doesn't sound upset about this, his tone is pretty matter of fact, "So, being taken somewhere against your will and not being able to leave? It didn't really come as much of a shock to me, as I imagine it must have done for a lot of people."

[fish]

"Yeah, that makes sense. That sucks, though. I mean really, seriously, that sucks. I don't get how anyone can, like... what assholes would even keep somebody locked up?" Besides whatever ones are running the city, he means.

Also, behold his emphatic hand gestures! Fish seems to have Feelings about this. "Especially, like... you have feelings and stuff, like really obviously, it's not like you're some totally different, like, alien species that humans can't relate to. That's so shitty— oh, uh, I'm just like, assuming it was humans, sorry. Just, personal experience, they're pretty huge assholes a lot of the time." Feel free to contradict him, apparently.

[wontturntofoam]

Shrieky is nodding, because yes, this is something you should have many strong feelings about, "It was humans! I hate them!" Although while he makes this bold declaration pretty emphatically, once he's said it he actually feels a little guilty, because another advantage Baedal has show to have, is that the humans here are actually pretty nice to him, overall.

He drops his hands down to the table, and glances down at it a little uncertainly, "I don't hate them quite so much here, as I did there. Sometimes, I wonder if it was always apparent that I had feelings at first, because I didn't know how to speak, and I was very small. I think perhaps that's why people here treat me so differently."

[fish]

Fish is about a hair away from announcing in indignation that basically everyone is small and can't talk when they're babies, and how fucked up that is, but his train of thought passes by that particular station when Shrieky goes on.

He looks determined, suddenly. "No, man. People here treat you different because those other people were sick fucks. You understand?"

[wontturntofoam]

"I do hate them. I understand that they were wicked." He expresses, because he doesn't want Fish to make the mistake of thinking that he is making any apologies for the people he grew up surrounded by, he just... hasn't quite got his head around the idea that the difference between there and here is everyone else, and not just him.

"Are you a human?" He asks, giving Fish a searching look.

[fish]

If he knew how many times Fish has asked that exact question of himself... well. It's not an easy one, that's for damn sure. Rather than hesitating, though, he leans into it—actually, physically leans forward a touch, his greenish eyes bright and serious, both pale hands flat on the table, the nearly empty pint glass dripping between them.

"No." There, he said it; now he can relax, which he does only slightly. "I was, but not anymore."

[wontturntofoam]

Shrieky hesitates very briefly, then reaches out and touches the back of one of Fish's hands. This might be a weird thing to do, but the conversation between them has turned quite intense, and he sort of feels as though a physical point of contact between them would be nice, even if it's just resting the tips of his fingers on the back of Fish's hand.

"And even when you were a human, you would have thought that was sick? Even, if I was clearly not human, and the only sound I made was screaming, you still believe it would be wrong?" He peers at the other man, as if intensive study of his face will divulge his many secrets, "What are you now?"

[fish]

"Yeah."

It's a little weird, maybe, and Fish does track Shrieky's hand with his eyes the instant it begins to move, but he allows it to happen nonetheless. (His skin is dry and autumn-chilly.) Whether it's this or the increased scrutiny that makes him uncomfortable, or both, he fails to make eye contact again.

"I don't really know what I am. Some undead thing."

[wontturntofoam]

Shrieky (for the first time in the history of his life) manages to make the connection between his actions and the consequence of Fish looking away. However, if he takes his hand away now, it might seem like he disapproves of Fish being undead, and that's an unacceptable outcome when the other man's just been so incredibly great about his life of captivity.

Instead, he decides to veer in the opposite direction, and suddenly he's planting his other hand on Fish's other hand, and squishing down a little with both hands so that Fish is trapped, trapped forever under his approving palms.

"Hey. I'm sorry that you died. However, you are really quite wonderful, I think. Whatever it is you are now, if I thought that it was acceptable to come up with names and identifiers for other people, then I would come up with a more complimentary title for you than 'some undead thing'." There's a small additional hand squish here, for emphasis.

Are you more, or less uncomfortable now, Fish? Is this helping or hindering? He gently de-squishes Fish's hands, in case his incredible mermaid strength is too much for Fish's dainty fingers to take.

[fish]

He is now incredibly uncomfortable, actually. Sitting there rigid in his seat with his hands pinned. He glances up to the merman's face only once during his proclamation; it's very brief, and afterward his gaze darts here and there in a downward cast, focused somewhere in the middle distance.

"Okay." This is mechanical yielding, not a genuine acceptance. He's only waiting to be let go.

[wontturntofoam]

Shrieky frowns deeply, and leans around to try and get into Fish's line of vision. After a minute, he sighs and gives up, looking away and kindly relinquishing Fish's hands.

"I apologise. My friend, with whom I had conversations back home, would remain at such a distance from me that I couldn't reach him. It is becoming increasingly apparent to me why he did that."

There are clearly rules about touching that he doesn't quite understand yet. He's going to have to work on that.

[fish]

"No, it's okay. It's fine." Never mind that he removes his hands from the table, without any hesitation, and gathers them in his lap as he says this. This awkward pause doesn't count, either, just ignore it.

"I'm just gonna... I gotta go. I'll, uh. Seeya later." Yes. Perfectly casual! Excellent work, Fish. He pushes his chair out just in time to bump it against the legs of a passer-by, who is accustomed to the usual tavern jostling and so keeps on walking, unconcerned. And yet: "Shit, sorry—"

[wontturntofoam]

"Oh my goodness, this was terrible! That was a terrible decision!" Shrieky is kind of horrified by the immediacy of the consequences of his bad hand squishing life choices. He actually scoots his chair back at the same time as Fish, moving as soon as the other man declares his intention to leave. "You should stay though, there's-- I mean, there's still beer there? And you didn't do anything strange, or say anything that I was not very grateful to hear said, so I'll leave, and you should stay."

He's actually fairly certain that staying after Fish leaves will just lead to him mentally replaying this now disastrously awkward social exchange a million billion times, and feeling terrible about it. His chair moving goes gloriously unhindered by passers by, so Shrieky stands up, inadvertently looming into Fish's face on his way up.

Oh man, even he can tell that looming into the face of someone who is trying to extract themselves from a conversation with you is not going to help the situation.

[fish]

"No, no, it's—" It's your face. Hi. Fish doesn't jerk back from it, or anything so sudden, but he does remove himself from his seat perhaps more quickly than he would have done otherwise, slipping out from between table and chair without properly making room. The chair's back legs lift and drop audibly behind him.

See, this thing he's doing with his face, it's almost a smile. Sort of. See? Nothing is wrong. "It's fine, it's your table." And now to try removing himself from this place, just quickly enough that it won't stand out in the crowd.

[wontturntofoam]

Shrieky's expression in response to Fish's almost smile is ashen. He is not convinced by any of these claims that nothing is wrong, or that anything is not wrong. What he is quite certain of, is that there has been a disaster here of his own making.

"It's not my table! I was only sitting there!" This is really clearly useless by now. Shrieky covers his eyes with his hands, and exhales, not even attempting to conceal the degree to which he is mortified by whatever has happened here, "No, all right, I'm sorry, I'll see you another time."

That may have been an overly optimistic sentiment he just expressed there.