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WHO: Cassian and Sanzo in one, Cassian and Amberdrake in another
WHAT: DINNER TIME and A brief material run
WHEN: Shortly after Christmas, before the shops in Fayren close.
WHERE: Everglade and Fayren
WARNINGS: Gore, violence, mentions of cannibalism

4 SANZO
He'd gone too long. He knew he'd over extended himself, the gift he got from Tannusen could only last so long. Wheezing, stiff, the faint sound of flutes beginning to sound in the back of his mind, tonight had to be the night. He wasn't going to risk it all again, he couldn't. He couldn't keep relying on someone else here to patch him up every time he fell into shit.

He was a grown man. He could take care of this.

As it had been for two thousand years, the hunt was on. As it had been for two thousand years, the iron dagger found its mark, the husk soulless yes, but oh how they screamed like any real living thing would. Once, perhaps, he would have shrunk away from the sound. A long time ago, he'd be frantic to silence them, clumsily slashing at vocal cords and sobbing in fear and horror-

He knew how to work now, and the screaming was quickly silenced to pathetic, wet gurgling as the cloaked man snapped ribs with ease, feeling the rippling sensation of that thing pulsing in the back of his head, feeding his meager strength. Peeling the membrane off the heart. Sinking his teeth in and silencing the husk forever.

Blood everywhere. It stank of it, but the pain in his body and his lungs faded with every bite, even if it couldn't fully sate the beast. Just another bandaid.

But for now, it would do.
4 Amberdrake

Of course, Everglade wouldn't have the materials he needed. No one would stock in the type of silver he required, and he didn't even ask any shops there. Seemed like a good way to get a lot of unwanted attention. So, wrapped up in fleece and wool, cranky and miserable and cold, headed for Fayren.

They'd have what he needed, or at least part of it. He could always return home and finish blessing it all later. He had some energy in his step now, so the little man was going to be quite the obnoxious terror in Fayren, picky and fussy with everything he picked up, viciously haggling every single object down.

"I'll only be takin' pure silver, and not anything else. I don't want any steel or nickle in any of this- What else is in this mirror? Oi! Tis a real question, does it look like I'm foolin' with ye?"

Yeah. Not a good day for Fayren.

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Oh good, at least the inside was interesting. He took a moment to look over the place, clearly interested in... well everything. Two thousand years often left one hungering for something different in the world.

He didn't even have to wait long, which was fine by him, and while he did seem genuinely happy to see Drake, the smile still came off a touch awkward and forced.

"Sir Amberdrake, a pleasure." He shifted the bag a touch, shaking his head.

"Nae. I'm not in any need of tea at the moment." Being here actually quite suddenly dried up his need to have much of anything.

"Sorry to contact ye at such short notice."

"Well, no one else is in the building," Amberdrake gestured at all the seating in the room, which ran down both sides. "And I know before anyone walks through the front door. Pick a spot? It's no trouble, we'd already planned to meet up soon, hadn't we?"

For silver, granted.

"I see the splints are still holding up," he didn't need the Gift to know that, with his level of anatomical knowledge, and his study of posture and body language. Drake had no doubt the priest was still in some level of pain, from the bruising at the very least, but he seemed intact. "You'd be surprised how many people ignore my warnings about their bones and re-break everything half a candle-mark after they're out of my sight."

"We did, yes." But that had been before he'd gone and beat the absolute snot out of his lover so... He was frankly surprised this whole thing hadn't been called off right then and there. He pondered if he should ask about Sanzo for a moment-

Aaand then cast it aside. Fuckhead wouldn't ask about him after all, fuck that guy.

"Took a few days off from the shop to let them all rest." As well as a few magical tricks of his own to help bolster healing. He could coax them to knit a bit faster, but it was by no means even a shadow of what the other man had done. More a regimen of potions and supplements. He knew he kept that dragon blood around for a reason.

"I know better than to go about muckin' around with doctors orders. Did ye get any samples from your friends?"

"I did," Amberdrake chose a spot to sit down; on one end of one of the couches, folding one leg up under the other knee as he did so. "Though you understand, I have to ask about whether you intend to use it on Sanzo. I have accidentally supplied ammunition to his enemies before; I won't again." If less literally than in this case.

His gaze was calm and steady, like the rest of him. This was not a place for bullshit, although Drake was quite used to weathering it anyway.

"I used it on him because I had no idea what the hell he was doing." Well, he wasn't lying. "Wouldn't have shot him if I knew he was going to miss." Again, not a lie.

"If I have my way I'll never see him again, if it makes ye any happier to know."

Amberdrake quirked an eyebrow at that, and folded his hands together in his lap. "Having seen the damage, I can tell you he certainly didn't miss. It goes where he wants it to, no more and no less. I've stood right in the middle of it before when we were total strangers, and not been touched by it. In your case, it was used as an interruption."

He shook his head.

"Regardless, this is a very small place. I'll need your word that I won't be digging my clients' silver out of Sanzo's bones."

"He'd be less full o'holes if he'd not done it at all, prick doesn't know the difference between an attack spell and a homing spell. Tis a touch overkill, don't ye think?"

CASSIAN, YOU SHOT A MAN WITH ELEPHANT SHOT.

"I won't shoot him.

I'll smack him in his stupid face."

"Mm," that... sounded very impressed. Super impressed.

(It didn't sound impressed at all. Cassian, you're talking to the guy's boyfriend, you dweeb. And he knows you know it.)

"I suppose that's as good a statement as I'll get," Amberdrake didn't bother to make any threats about what he'd do if Cassian did shoot Sanzo again. He was sure he'd think of something if that time came. Drake reached into one of the many pockets inside his open, wing-cut robe, and produced a blob of pure silver. And a piece of paper where he'd written his client's chosen contact method. These, he held out.

He doesn't want to lie to you about it, he can't promise he won't hit Sanzo if he sees him again. A good supply of silver is nice, but being able to sock someone he doesn't like is almost just as nice as that.

He took the chunk of silver, as well as the contact information, putting the silver itself through the basic tests he'd been using on the silverware at the shop. When it passed muster, it slipped into the bag he brought with him.

And from the bag, came a startled REEP.

And out hopped a fat, green, golden eyed frog, landing wetly on the floor and staring up at the two men, Cassian with a... slowly horrified look spreading across his face.

The reason for that became obvious enough when the slimy beast filled its throat with air, and instead of a ribbit:

"... what are ye lookin' at ye fabio haired limp wristed nancy?"

SHIT.

The hitting, Drake was pretty accepting of. The explanation for putting three thumb-sized holes through Sanzo and shattering his pelvis... that, he was less than impressed by. But he certainly wasn't going to explain how little nuance magic had on Sanzo's world, let alone how little training the blond monk had had, to someone without Sanzo's permission.

Thus, he was simply unimpressed.

The frog, however, earned a laugh from the kestra'chern. As did Cassian's reaction, both visible and not. "Not an expected passenger, I take it?"

He'd apologize but he's not at all sorry, Amberdrake. He's sorry Drake found out about it though. And he's sorry that Sanzo is someone Drake likes because that just makes hating Sanzo more complicated. But he's not sorry for shooting Sanzo.

Meanwhile, Cassian has yanked the satchel off his shoulder and wildly attempted to snatch the frog up and stuff it back in. However, the slippery beast wiggled free, and immediately fled under some furniture, leaving the man cursing a blue streak at it as he tried to jam himself under there.

Okay yes, broken ribs, but first and foremost

HE'S SO EMBARRASSED.

It happened to be the couch Drake was sitting on, of course, and Drake lifted his other leg up onto the cushions to stay out of the way. "Cassian, it's fine, it's just a frog," he chuckled, "it'll come out at some point, I'm sure. Come on," he reached down to tap the man on the back, his tone gently teasing, "don't re-break those ribs right in front of me!"

hello darkness my old friend

He could not have been more humiliated, currently, and the gray of his face had actually turned a vague pink as he just... went to bury his whole face in the satchel and wheeze out a long, miserable sigh.

That's the image now. Crawled out from under the couch, standing in Amberdrake's office, hoping now that he might suffocate in the satchel and end his pain right here and now.

"I'm going to die."

"Just sit down first, please. You're going to cramp my neck," Amberdrake patted the other side of the couch, and shifted his leg back down onto the floor.

Thump. Aaand onto the couch he flopped, earning a loud, rough "FECK" from the frog under the couch.

No words, he has no words at all, he's just going to sit here and hope the topic gets changed immediately.

Amberdrake half-turned on his end of the couch, leaning against the back. As with everything he did while 'in public' -- yes, that included in his own office -- it was graceful with seemingly zero effort. "There's nothing to be embarrassed by," he chuckled, "that's quite the impressive -- accidental, you said? -- enchantment. It took my people thousands of years of magical tinkering and selective breeding to create our birds."

"Mate, to be fair it took me a straight thousand years of tinkerin' to make that bloody spell." And he missed the cat.

"Wasn't supposed to be for the frogs, tried to catch the cat and tripped over a rock into the frog pond. Whole ponds enchanted now." Frankly, maybe anything that drank out of it might have their language centers fucked with, but he wasn't in any hurry to find out.

"You... wanted a cat that just says whatever comes to its mind?" Amberdrake laughed at that, because has Cassian ever met a cat? Obviously, since he had one he was trying to enchant, but... seriously.

"You're probably lucky you missed."

"Oi, the cat was infertile, the frogs however-"

"ye clumsy cross eyed idjit, couldn't catch a feckin' cold." Someone had some things to say about that, apparently. Cassian shudders with suppressed rage, and relaxes again.

"... I forget what generation this one is."

Amberdrake leaned to the side and put a hand down on the floor, palm-up. His hair shifted with the motion, little bells ringing gently. He sent out a small tendril of an Empathic projection toward where he'd heard the frog, trying to coax it to his hand. Most animals, this worked on. Hell, most people, too... though he rarely needed such a trick on a person.

To be honest, other than being able to talk, the frog was pretty stupid. Will power of... well of a frog.

It was far too easy to coax the animal to his hand, and the chubby amphibian leaped into his open palm with a pleased ribbit.

"Ye can keep it. I don't want the filthy beast back."

"Because what I need is more talking animals around," Amberdrake said wryly, sitting back up with the frog in hand. "I'm surprised Koumyou Sanzo's cat hasn't started yelling in the common tongue, too."

It honestly just looked like any other frog, kinda slimy, pretty chubby, a little spotty. Apparently the only real thing setting it apart from any other old frog was the fact that it managed to be just as big of a douchebag as it's enchanter.

"I'm not walking back to Everglade with that in the bag."

"Well it..." Drake paused, and peered at the frog with his eyes going unfocused for one brief second, "...he, rather, can't stay here. And I can already tell you what will happen if he goes back to the house with me."

Oh he knew it was male? It never mattered much to Cassian, honestly-

"Good, deserves it for followin' me here, the little prick."

... He will take it back if Drake just drops it in his lap, honestly. For all the smoke and mirrors he was throwing up, it would be almost comically obvious he wasn't going to actually argue.