There was something nice about the lulls between jobs, those times when the nein could settle in and take a breath to plan their next moves. But there was always a line between comfortable and stifling that Mollymauk did not always tread easily or even well. He was restless at the best of times but he couldn't exactly go and whine that things were too cozy, could he?
So, he found ways to ease the ache in his feet. Going out with the others, helping out projects to do to keep his mind off the fact that they had been in one place for weeks. Tonight, the house was quiet and Molly couldn't sleep so he did the one thing he was trying to avoid doing.
He went to bother Essek.
No knock at the door to the library, no announcement beyond the tiefling flinging himself into the chair opposite the drow as he studied or whatever it was stuffy elves did. Always the reading, always the delving into the mysteries of the universe. Too much trouble in Molly's opinion.
"I thought we might play a game." He said, setting a bottle of the odd blue liquor on the table along with two glasses. "Pass the time and all that."
Essek had found himself deep in several spell theories, had three books spread out while he wrote diagrams and notes in his own manifested spellbook. The firelight was low, the candles pooling wax, and Essek was so engrossed, he barely noticed the dimness or the sound of someone entering. Only when the bottle and glasses came down did he look up, purple eyes inquisitive, before back to the words at hand.
“I think either Beau or Nott might be better suited to games involving that.” He nodded to the bottle, before turning a page.
“I fear I would not make good company at the moment.” The smile on his lips was trained, careful; it was the same one he had used often in court and when he first had met the Nein.
There was nothing wrong with reading, so long as it wasn't dull as dishwater. And to Molly that was practically every book in existence. Except for the dirty ones and even then he liked it more when he could convince Beau and Jester to read to him. Maybe it was his age showing but he had never been good at focusing on the written word. Not when people were so much more interesting.
"Nonsense, everyone has time for a little fun. And you haven't done anything but read since dinner and that was..." His head tilted to the side, considering. "About six hours ago, now. Everyone else is asleep."
He could read the signs, the subtle dismissal in those words and he very politely ignored them as he poured out a dram of the liquor into each glass.
"You're not going to make me drink alone, are you, Mr. Theylss?"
“Only six hours? Then I can clearly fit in another three hours before needing to rest.”
It was a joke, however dry it might seem. If the others were asleep, then it left only them, and perhaps a drink wouldn’t be so terrible. Whatever this was, it didn’t seem like wine, but a single drink had never loosened him anyway; he had little to truly be concerned about.
Slowly closing the spell book, he made a small motion with his hand and pushed the book into the pocket plane. Once it was gone, he looked to him before holding out his hand for one of the glasses, the small smile on his lips again.
“A short break only. I was getting close to several items I have been working on.”
"Breaks are good for breakthroughs. Someone told me that once, I think."
Had someone actually said that to him? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it sounded good rolling off his tongue. That was what motivated a lot of what he said and did, how it felt. Planning was good but impulse guided him more often than not.
Smiling amiably, Molly passed the glass over to Essek and sniffed his own. It smelled sharp, like fruits and ice and some other pretentious stuff. Mostly he was interested in whether or not the dwarf who sold him on it was full of shit or not.
"Apparently this stuff is meant to be sipped, but where's the fun in that?" Molly raised his glass in toast before tossing it back without an ounce of hesitation, half a challenge to see whether or not Essek would loosen his collar and take the challenge.
“And yet, if you break too often, you will get nothing done.” Which was the exact opposite that he was trying to do, even as easy as it was to fall into that space. It took determination, drive to keep him going, but even he wanted to breathe sometimes.
As for the alcohol, Essek did not “take the challenge’; he sipped the drink as it was meant to be, tasting both the flavorful and bitter notes intermingling on his tongue. There was a depth there that he enjoyed; it reminded him of the drinks back home, just as harsh as the land around his city.
He wondered what Molly would have thought of it.
“The ‘fun’ is in taking the time to know the taste, pick it apart, understand and appreciate it,” he offered, sipping it again. “You get to know a great deal about something by examining it rather than rushing through it.”
"I get what you're saying, I do. But, if it wasn't obvious, that isn't really my style."
Being alive, being himself for just two short years meant he ripped through experiences like a hurricane. Whether it was downing a liquor meant to be savored and dissected or joining up with a ragtag band of weirdos because his previous one was falling apart. He wanted to live, wanted to do as much as possible.
Maybe it was an elf thing. They had so much time to waste.
The next sip came slower and he found himself wishing he had brought something a bit more rotgut instead. Maybe Essek would have almost made a face. Almost.
"So what part of the universe are you trying to unravel this week? Must be important."
It was late--or early, depending on how you looked at it--and the rest had gone to bed hours ago. The main floor of the inn was silent and empty, except for the wizard sitting at the table that his friends had long ago abandoned.
He was going back and forth between his two books, his globules of light floating around his head so he didn't need to keep a candle burning. It was a quite comfort, flipping through pages there were already full and then back to the beginning when he reached the blank pages.
It was early, at least in Molly's case. He had been dragged awake by a dream which left a sour taste in his mouth that drove him downstairs. Somehow it wasn't surprising to see Caleb camped out at the table, focused on his book like the rest of the world had all but faded away.
Passing behind him, Molly couldn't resist the urge to reach out and tug at his hair as he made his way over to the bar and - after a bit of rummaging - come up a bottle of something that was either the local spring water or some spirits that would burn away his taste buds for the next day or two. Either one was fine with him.
"Did you sleep at all?" He asked, sitting down across from Caleb as he undid the stopper on the bottle and sniffed. Damn. Just water.
Caleb heard Molly coming but didn't look up from his books. He closed one of them before the tiefling came anywhere near him, focusing instead on the other.
The hand in his hair wasn't the first time it had happened, these brief, too candid moments. Caleb was learning that Mollymauk Tealeaf was just like that; he wasn't sure how he felt about it. But this wasn't just an idle hand. Though it was brief, the tug was electric and oddly grounding.
Caleb was glad for the dim light of the orbs, amber and glowing, that might conceal the sudden, embrassed flush as Molly waltzed away to the bar.
He was going to lie, but what was the use? Not right now. "No," he admitted. "It was good to have the quiet."
The sun wasn't yet up outside and the water didn't entirely wash the sour taste of dreaming from his mouth. It was half tempting to go back to the bar and find something strong enough to do the job right. Instead he drank straight from the bottle, figuring the gold he left back on the counter more than made up for the poor manners.
Gold often did.
"Well, I can't fault you there. We're pretty noisy, aren't we?" Resting his chin on his palm, Molly watched him. He didn't seem any more haunted than usual, that was good. So it was just Caleb being a nerd for magic, that was... safe. But safe was often boring in large amounts.
"Since we're both awake at this gloriously shite hour, care to come with me on an adventure?"
A part of Caleb had rather hoped that Molly would take his drink and return to the room he most often shared with Fjord or Yasha. Instead, he had company, which meant he ought to close his book, didn't it?
He didn't do that. Instead, he focused on it more intently until Molly suggested an adventure.
Molly felt that hook sinking in as Caleb responded. Conversations were like a good grift, sometimes you just had to lay the bait to get their attention.
"Well, I've been hearing that there's a tower nearby where the view of the sunset is actually pretty impressive."
It had been a story he and Beau had picked up while they were out on an errand. It had been mildly interesting at the time, but who had the fortitude to wake up before dawn just to climb a million stairs? The joke was on him.
The tower, more than the sunrise or walk, sounded appealing, but Caleb didn't say that outloud. He considered it for a moment. Was he really considering it? He was already in motion, shutting his spellbook and sliding both books into their holsters on his ribs.
They were probably trespassing, but that hadn't ever stopped Caleb. There was a part of him that considered, as the eldest, he should be more mindful of things, of making sure the other, more reckless members of their motley group didn't get in trouble.
He buttoned his holsters closed and looked at Molly.
"If we want to beat the sun, we should go now then."
"Good man." Molly grinned, getting up and taking one last swig from the bottle before abandoning it on the table. He was hardly dressed for a proper adventure. No coat, no swords. Just a loose shirt and pair of low-slung pants he wore to bed after Fjord had, vehemently, rejected Molly's usual habit of sleeping in the nude.
Ah, well, hopefully, they wouldn't end up in a fight for their lives. He wasn't about to go ruining the moment by rushing off to powder his nose.
After that, all it took was telling the sleepy young half elf at the desk to inform their friends they had gone for a walk if they came looking for them. Then it was out into the dark to try and find this tower before the sun got a chance to show its face.
Caleb had noticed the choice of attire when Molly had come down, and though he let his gaze linger for a moment, it was no more or less revealing than what Molly normally wore, and so he had no reason to comment.
But as they stepped out into the street, the cool, early morning air was enough to make him consider it. He took off his coat and put it over Molly's shoulders before looking this way and that in the street like he hadn't done it at all.
"This way?"
He was guessing, but he had a rough idea of where they were going.
Huh. The coat settled over his shoulders, warm and smelling pleasantly of the soap from the last bathhouse they had visited and something that was probably purely Caleb. It was tempting to tease him, to call him a gentleman and see what it took to make the man blush but...
He didn't want to discourage Caleb from being kind.
So he slid his arms into the sleeves without a word and strode down the street like he owned it.
"Yeah, it's not too far. Might have to climb a fence, though." It was technically private property but it was an open secret that the view from the top of the tower was amazing. "I don't suppose you have something in your arsenal that deal with that, do you?"
As they walked, Caleb kept just slightly behind Molly. He noted the exact moment that he slipped his arms into the sleeves, the more confident way he wore Caleb's coat. Not unlike how he wore his remarkable, bright coat normally.
"Unfortunately, not really," he said, shaking his head even though Molly was faced away from him. "I am more in grabbing things than picking locks. Come to think of it, how are we planning to get in the tower, Mollymauk?"
"Good question," He said. And it was! But Molly didn't bother to pretend he had a plan, he just kept sauntering with a bounce in his step. Were you hoping for more planning from the tiefling who paid a gold for a bottle of water?
Molly turned on his heel, walking backward so he could look at Caleb while they talked. Hopefully, the wizard would warn him before he walked into a wall.
"I figured we could climb the fence and maybe push your cat through a window to get a door open. We'll play it by ear."
Caleb frowned at that particular idea, though it was mostly because Molly wasn't looking at him. Frumpkin wasn't even around, probably curled up in Nott's bed back at the inn or doing other cat-like things, and it would be very simple to make him here, but wouldn't you know. He wasn't.
But Caleb just made a mild, protesting noise to the idea of using his cat for this.
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for essek
So, he found ways to ease the ache in his feet. Going out with the others, helping out projects to do to keep his mind off the fact that they had been in one place for weeks. Tonight, the house was quiet and Molly couldn't sleep so he did the one thing he was trying to avoid doing.
He went to bother Essek.
No knock at the door to the library, no announcement beyond the tiefling flinging himself into the chair opposite the drow as he studied or whatever it was stuffy elves did. Always the reading, always the delving into the mysteries of the universe. Too much trouble in Molly's opinion.
"I thought we might play a game." He said, setting a bottle of the odd blue liquor on the table along with two glasses. "Pass the time and all that."
no subject
Essek had found himself deep in several spell theories, had three books spread out while he wrote diagrams and notes in his own manifested spellbook. The firelight was low, the candles pooling wax, and Essek was so engrossed, he barely noticed the dimness or the sound of someone entering. Only when the bottle and glasses came down did he look up, purple eyes inquisitive, before back to the words at hand.
“I think either Beau or Nott might be better suited to games involving that.” He nodded to the bottle, before turning a page.
“I fear I would not make good company at the moment.” The smile on his lips was trained, careful; it was the same one he had used often in court and when he first had met the Nein.
no subject
"Nonsense, everyone has time for a little fun. And you haven't done anything but read since dinner and that was..." His head tilted to the side, considering. "About six hours ago, now. Everyone else is asleep."
He could read the signs, the subtle dismissal in those words and he very politely ignored them as he poured out a dram of the liquor into each glass.
"You're not going to make me drink alone, are you, Mr. Theylss?"
no subject
It was a joke, however dry it might seem. If the others were asleep, then it left only them, and perhaps a drink wouldn’t be so terrible. Whatever this was, it didn’t seem like wine, but a single drink had never loosened him anyway; he had little to truly be concerned about.
Slowly closing the spell book, he made a small motion with his hand and pushed the book into the pocket plane. Once it was gone, he looked to him before holding out his hand for one of the glasses, the small smile on his lips again.
“A short break only. I was getting close to several items I have been working on.”
no subject
Had someone actually said that to him? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it sounded good rolling off his tongue. That was what motivated a lot of what he said and did, how it felt. Planning was good but impulse guided him more often than not.
Smiling amiably, Molly passed the glass over to Essek and sniffed his own. It smelled sharp, like fruits and ice and some other pretentious stuff. Mostly he was interested in whether or not the dwarf who sold him on it was full of shit or not.
"Apparently this stuff is meant to be sipped, but where's the fun in that?" Molly raised his glass in toast before tossing it back without an ounce of hesitation, half a challenge to see whether or not Essek would loosen his collar and take the challenge.
no subject
As for the alcohol, Essek did not “take the challenge’; he sipped the drink as it was meant to be, tasting both the flavorful and bitter notes intermingling on his tongue. There was a depth there that he enjoyed; it reminded him of the drinks back home, just as harsh as the land around his city.
He wondered what Molly would have thought of it.
“The ‘fun’ is in taking the time to know the taste, pick it apart, understand and appreciate it,” he offered, sipping it again. “You get to know a great deal about something by examining it rather than rushing through it.”
no subject
Being alive, being himself for just two short years meant he ripped through experiences like a hurricane. Whether it was downing a liquor meant to be savored and dissected or joining up with a ragtag band of weirdos because his previous one was falling apart. He wanted to live, wanted to do as much as possible.
Maybe it was an elf thing. They had so much time to waste.
The next sip came slower and he found himself wishing he had brought something a bit more rotgut instead. Maybe Essek would have almost made a face. Almost.
"So what part of the universe are you trying to unravel this week? Must be important."
caleb+molly
He was going back and forth between his two books, his globules of light floating around his head so he didn't need to keep a candle burning. It was a quite comfort, flipping through pages there were already full and then back to the beginning when he reached the blank pages.
no subject
Passing behind him, Molly couldn't resist the urge to reach out and tug at his hair as he made his way over to the bar and - after a bit of rummaging - come up a bottle of something that was either the local spring water or some spirits that would burn away his taste buds for the next day or two. Either one was fine with him.
"Did you sleep at all?" He asked, sitting down across from Caleb as he undid the stopper on the bottle and sniffed. Damn. Just water.
no subject
The hand in his hair wasn't the first time it had happened, these brief, too candid moments. Caleb was learning that Mollymauk Tealeaf was just like that; he wasn't sure how he felt about it. But this wasn't just an idle hand. Though it was brief, the tug was electric and oddly grounding.
Caleb was glad for the dim light of the orbs, amber and glowing, that might conceal the sudden, embrassed flush as Molly waltzed away to the bar.
He was going to lie, but what was the use? Not right now. "No," he admitted. "It was good to have the quiet."
no subject
Gold often did.
"Well, I can't fault you there. We're pretty noisy, aren't we?" Resting his chin on his palm, Molly watched him. He didn't seem any more haunted than usual, that was good. So it was just Caleb being a nerd for magic, that was... safe. But safe was often boring in large amounts.
"Since we're both awake at this gloriously shite hour, care to come with me on an adventure?"
no subject
He didn't do that. Instead, he focused on it more intently until Molly suggested an adventure.
Was he curious? Of course. Was he foolish?
Also of course.
"What sort of adventure?"
no subject
"Well, I've been hearing that there's a tower nearby where the view of the sunset is actually pretty impressive."
It had been a story he and Beau had picked up while they were out on an errand. It had been mildly interesting at the time, but who had the fortitude to wake up before dawn just to climb a million stairs? The joke was on him.
"I thought since we're both up it might be fun."
no subject
They were probably trespassing, but that hadn't ever stopped Caleb. There was a part of him that considered, as the eldest, he should be more mindful of things, of making sure the other, more reckless members of their motley group didn't get in trouble.
He buttoned his holsters closed and looked at Molly.
"If we want to beat the sun, we should go now then."
no subject
Ah, well, hopefully, they wouldn't end up in a fight for their lives. He wasn't about to go ruining the moment by rushing off to powder his nose.
After that, all it took was telling the sleepy young half elf at the desk to inform their friends they had gone for a walk if they came looking for them. Then it was out into the dark to try and find this tower before the sun got a chance to show its face.
no subject
But as they stepped out into the street, the cool, early morning air was enough to make him consider it. He took off his coat and put it over Molly's shoulders before looking this way and that in the street like he hadn't done it at all.
"This way?"
He was guessing, but he had a rough idea of where they were going.
no subject
He didn't want to discourage Caleb from being kind.
So he slid his arms into the sleeves without a word and strode down the street like he owned it.
"Yeah, it's not too far. Might have to climb a fence, though." It was technically private property but it was an open secret that the view from the top of the tower was amazing. "I don't suppose you have something in your arsenal that deal with that, do you?"
no subject
"Unfortunately, not really," he said, shaking his head even though Molly was faced away from him. "I am more in grabbing things than picking locks. Come to think of it, how are we planning to get in the tower, Mollymauk?"
no subject
Molly turned on his heel, walking backward so he could look at Caleb while they talked. Hopefully, the wizard would warn him before he walked into a wall.
"I figured we could climb the fence and maybe push your cat through a window to get a door open. We'll play it by ear."
no subject
But Caleb just made a mild, protesting noise to the idea of using his cat for this.
"Play it by ear it is."