[ action | open ] ain't into metal, just leather and lace and the taste of oxidation

[black_black_heart]

Who: Tannusen and whoever!
What: Planned threads: Telsen gets a job, Bracken meets a tiger. Other shenanigans also welcome!
When: After the cure's out for the Quiet Minds event. Tannu was... occupied, during that.
Where: Genessia City - Velvet Lust (Please read that link if you're gonna tag in!)
Warnings: Will add if any are needed.

Tannusen arrived at his bar before the sun began to go down, taking chairs down off of tables downstairs, prepping the first batch of steaks, and stocking the bar with freshly-cleaned glassware from the kitchen. For the first time in a while, he stayed behind the bar when the sun went down and the 'open' sign flickered to life, instead of retreating upstairs or completely ducking out of sight.

He was under no obligation to stay there, of course, but the regular bartender certainly didn't mind the help as the usual crowd started to trickle in. The boss had been scarce, lately; perhaps things were returning to normal, now. Besides, Tannusen never took anything from the tip jar. It was win-win!

Comments

[telsen]

Night was the best time of day, so Telsen thought. He'd arrived in this strange, terrifying place late in the day and he wasted little time in getting to trying to scrub his brain of everything to do with his arrival. The free housing was easy enough to find, he stayed there just long enough to set down what few things he had and head back out. Bracken had given him a name and he had a map.

Telsen arrived at Velvet Lust in considerably less clothing than he'd shown up in. If he was going to make poor choices tonight, he might as well go all the way. The security guard grinned toothily at him as he hurried past, trying not to make eye contact. She couldn't be human or any other sentient race he was used to.

Inside was a lot nicer than he'd expected, a pleasant surprise. A decent crowd already too. Hrm. His flowerbud ears drooped, he was still awfully nervous. Anxiety chewed away at his gut steadily.

There were stairs but he headed for the bar instead, he'd explore once he'd eased his nerves.

[black_black_heart]

Well, someone looked like he was here to make wise, careful, though-out decisions. Really... the stranger was clearly going to tackle that whole new-world situation with a level head and sound planning.

Yep.

Right.

Tannusen watched the guy approach from his chosen place behind the bar, his suit jacket hanging from a hook in the wall behind him. He was unbuttoning and pushing up his dress-shirt's sleeves even as Telsen made it to the bar. "Got something in mind?"

Hey, it was better than the other question that popped into his head at first glance...

[telsen]

A sylvari of great sense and even temperament, Telsen always made good life choices. Like often refusing to wear pants. Thinking was difficult and scary sometimes, he didn't want to think about much.

Telsen mumbled his drink order as he tried to give Tannusen a quick look over. He usually wasn't enough of a prick to be hitting on staff but it was tempting. Maybe after a few drinks.

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen poured the drink and passed it over. He'd caught that look-over, but didn't comment on it. The tiger was a professional, after all.

At a lot of things.

"Were those butterflies I saw on you when you came in?" he asked, instead. Tannu was familiar enough with how sylvari glowed, living with one as he did, but he hadn't realized they could shape it into patterns. And he hadn't gotten a good enough look to know carvings when he saw them, either.

Still, people didn't tend to show off what they didn't want to talk about. Case in point, he already had stage makeup hiding the loops of smooth scarring around his wrists.

[telsen]

Telsen looked over his glass at Tannusen with sudden distrust in his eyes. It was nothing, nothing. He took a swallow and set his glass down. The "shirt" he wore left his shoulders and arms completely exposed so all he had to do was turn his arm to show the delicate carvings leading along his forearm. They weren't deep, there wasn't much of him to cut into, yet deep enough to show a soft blue glow.

"Yeah. Might as well show them off." He had no love for the one that had carved them into his bark but they were eye-catching. Skinning himself would be a chore.

They were the only scars Telsen had on display. A long, thin scar ran from just under his sternum to where a belly button should of been. It didn't glow like the butterflies.

"Have you seen something like these before?" he asked after another swallow. There was nothing arrogent in his tone, he was honestly curious, though the look in his eyes was still wary.

[black_black_heart]

"Mm, sort of," Tannusen tilted his head a little to one side, regarding the sylvari over his glasses. In the far Dreaming, his own stripes lingered in the air like spilled ink, trailing behind his every move by inches...

Not the same, but ornate markings that had a visual catch to them weren't exactly a foreign concept to the Faerie.

Nor was he unfamiliar with having markings carved in by a knife, though he had no way of knowing that Telsen's hadn't been his idea, either. They were certainly ornate enough to be the glowing equivalent to tattoos.

"The sylvari I'm familiar with has a glow, but it's not shaped like that."

[telsen]

Telsen ducked his head quickly to not spit his drink at Tannusen. Coughing and spluttering, he didn't look up until he'd calmed himself. Somewhat. Wariness had turned to outright fear when he looked back up at Tannusen. He'd hoped that the mention of Trahearne would just go away, he'd stop thinking about it and it'd no longer exist. He felt like an idiot now, though it wasn't a given he was talking about him.

"How, uh, how many sylvari are here? Do you know?" He coughed again, that burned something fierce.

[black_black_heart]

"Two, apparently," Tannusen leaned his hip against the bar, and raised an eyebrow when the stranger looked up. Fear, huh? Over... Trahearne?

That nerd?

Tannusen knew a little more about the guy than he usually let on to paying attention to; he knew there was more to the necromancer than polite awkwardness, books, and cats. But even knowing what he knew, the tiger just couldn't see Trahearne as scary.

"Relax, will you? I'm not hiding the other one behind the bar."

[telsen]

Telsen downed the rest of his drink instead of taking Tannusen's advice to relax. There was no relaxing here, he'd remain tense until it was physically impossible to do so. The look of fear on his face had only slightly eased when he set his glass down.

"Another of the same. Please." He didn't look at Tannusen's face when he spoke.

"How well- how well do you know the other one?"

[black_black_heart]

"Well enough to know he's not that scary," Tannusen poured Telsen's refill. "Does your whole species act like this with him, or are you just special?"

Because if it was the former, that could explain some things.

[telsen]

"Mmph." No he'd have some of his drink before he replied again. Alcohol would make this whole night a lot easier.

"I have my reasons. He's- I don't know what you know, he's important." Telsen waved a hand vaguely, without knowing how much Tannusen did or didn't know, it wasn't easy to explain.

"And- uh, there's more to it," he finished, lamely. The guy was dead, very dead. Super dead. There was so much fucked up about this situation. Was he dead? Telsen frantically searched his memories for right before he must of blacked out. He was just in his shitty little apartment.

Oh no maybe he was dead. He stared into his glass, horrified.

[black_black_heart]

Oh good, it was clearly existential crisis o'clock. Tannusen sighed.

"What?"

Super smooth, Tannu. A real helpful guy, he was.

[telsen]

Telsen jerked his head up and blinked. Oh yeah, he was still talking to someone. He could worry about being dead later, he had everything else to worry about right now and he still felt pretty alive. Nightmare was still there so either he was definitely alive or the afterlife was deeply unfair.

"Wha-? Oh. What about what?" He still looked pretty afraid.

[black_black_heart]

"You were about to explain what's so terrifying about the biggest nerd I've ever met," Tannusen prompted, even though that totally hadn't been on the table. Shush. "And not to brag, but I've met some pre-tty big nerds in my time."

[telsen]

Telsen leaned back in his seat and glanced at the door. It'd only take him a second and he could be gone. Yet if he talked, maybe he'd get information as well. He really didn't want to leave yet.

"Ideological differences," he said flatly. That was technically the truth. A fraction of it. He still wasn't over the fact that Trahearne was dead.

"We wouldn't get along."

[shy_mage]

Bracken was both excited and nervous to go to the bar and meet Trahearne's friend. He didn't understand why Trahearne was so nervous about it. It was a little strange. But a friend of a friend was a friend.

He paused briefly to take the place in before heading forward. He wasn't wearing anything special - just old tawny robes and a wooden staff, which didn't blend in with Genessia and didn't particularly look in place in such a fancy bar, but he was comfortable in it.

"H-Hello?" he called out hopefully, bouncing nervously on his feet.

[black_black_heart]

"Really," Tannusen's eyebrow went back up again, "you hate cats, or something?"

Nope, he had no clue about the Dream versus Nightmare -- hilariously enough, considering what he was made of.

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen knew vaguely what to look for, at least, and he stepped out from behind the bar when the robed human walked in. He shot Trahearne a curious look as the sylvari lurked in the background, and then turned his attention back to the mage.

"You must be Bracken," Tannusen's voice held that ever-present purring quality to it, save for when he yelled or whispered -- neither of which was he doing now. "I'm Tannusen."

[telsen]

"Why do you want to know?" He wasn't hostile, not yet. Like a nervous dog, his ears were low and he watched Tannusen out of the side of his vision. It was surprisingly easy to tell this strange bartender things. Still, Telsen was wary.

[black_black_heart]

"Well, I live with the guy," Tannusen shrugged, "it would be nice to know if he has a reputation for skinning people alive, or something. But mostly, I'm just incredibly nosy."

And prone to lying, but details.

[shy_mage]

"H-Hi!"

He walked forward briskly to meet with him, but didn't seem to know what to do at that point. Shake hands? He stood a bit awkwardly in place, holding onto the staff tightly with both hands.

"I'I'm Bracken. T-Trahearne... Trahearne says you know magic." His eyes were practically glistening. He was excited to try and learn something new that he could use..

[telsen]

Telsen didn't trust a stranger not to lie, that would be foolish. He didn't think that Tannusen was lying right not, at least not about some things. It would be Telsen's luck to run into the guy that lives with the should-be-dead Firstborn. Of course.

He sipped at his drink. He wasn't even buzzed for this ordeal.

"No, no. That's not a concern. Just- He's very, uh, very good. I'm not. He could kill me." He started to pick at a fresh scab on the back of his hand, near one of the butterflies. "Don't, please, don't tell him you met me. Please."

[black_black_heart]

"Here, please, let's sit down," Tannusen gestured at an empty table, and set his hand on the back of one of the chairs at it. He'd let Bracken pick a spot before he went to sit down, himself. "I do, yes; I'm a Faerie, so one could argue that I'm made of the stuff."

[black_black_heart]

"Why would I tell him anything? We don't generally discuss my patrons," Tannusen watched the new guy carefully, including the picking. Hmm. Trahearne was very 'good', and this stranger was... 'not'.

So... he was Unseelie, then.

Tannusen would have laughed if he'd known how close he was.

"We don't tend to discuss morality, either. Probably because I'm an asshole who eats people," and with that, he flashed a pretty little smile.

What? He'd never tried to hide it. Which just made situations like that Barbara woman trying to blackmail him all the funnier.

[shy_mage]

Sitting down. Good idea. He shuffled over quickly and took a seat, looking up at him.

"R-Really? I... I thought faeries were more like b-butterfly people." Tannu didn't look like that to him. Not that he thought the man was lying - he rarely ever thought someone was lying.

"C-Can you teach me how to heal people?" he at first asked and clearly meant to stop there, but realized after a second he needed to clarify something and quickly added, "W-With water magic!"