CLOSED

[sulahnan]

WHO: Kostos
WHAT: Weird friends bonding over drinks!
WHEN: After elf shit I guess
WHERE: The Gallows, and then The Lost Tavern in Kirkwall
NOTES: Drinking, etc.

[ It's late enough that Athessa knows--assumes, anyway--that Kostos will be in his room. She takes the time to press an ear to the door just in case, and when there aren't any sounds that hint at Kostos having company, she connects her knuckles with the wood.

Rap-a-tat-tap. Pause. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-- ]

Kostos? Y'there? [ Her whispered question is quieter than it needs to be, and definitely quieter than her tap-tapping, which doesn't cease. If she's annoying enough, she gets attention. She learned that early. ]

Comments

[exequy]

[ Splits one is obviously true. The other two—he tries to imagine Athessa's life, what he knows of it, without a single broken bone. Improbable. Not impossible, but since he has to guess: ]

Surely you've broken something. A toe.

[sulahnan]

[ More than just a toe, but he guessed right. ] I have broken toes before, and then some. Fingers, too. This arm, these ribs, this collarbone.

[ She takes her loss and drinks it down. Lightly drums her fingers on the table. ]

Your turn.

[exequy]

I’m thinking.

[ Halfway. Self-examination isn’t his strong suit. And he’s distracted. ]

How did you break your collarbone?

[sulahnan]

Don't strain yourself.

[ Hmm. She purses her lips. ]

You want the long or the short version of that story?

[exequy]

Short.

[ Or long. He doesn't care, except that he can't start letting people think he wants to hear them go on for ages about anything, friends or not. ]

[sulahnan]

[ She shrugs. ]

I fell off a balcony.

[exequy]

[ After a moment of reluctant deliberation: ]

Long.

[sulahnan]

A while back I was in Rivain, pulling odd jobs and trying to make a name for myself, and I ended up with a theater troupe who needed someone flexible. I started off just doing the simple bendy stuff, but then they wanted someone to do flips and I said Eh, why not? because I can do flips--

[ This is actually not even the long-long version, so be grateful for this stalling time, Kostos. ]

--but then flips became aerial contortionist tricks and I had to swing from one side of this theater to the other, land on the balcony, and transition to the next trick. I fucked up the landing and ended up falling backwards over the railing.

[ She shrugs again, like it's the kind of story everyone has about their own life. ]

Still your turn.

[exequy]

[ It isn't the sort of story everyone has about their own lives. He's pretty sure, anyway. He doesn't know a lot about people's lives outside of the Circle—all that time, all that space—but he knows enough to narrow his eyes at her like he thinks she might be shitting him but isn't willing to call her on it. ]

Right.

[ His turn. ]

Mm. I bit my first Circle instructor. My great-grandmother was a pirate. And I've memorized the Canticle of Transfigurations, but none of the others.

[sulahnan]

That one. The last one. [ She doesn't know what a Canticle is but you don't just add addenda to something that's true.

Aaand not that he'd need a reason, but...]

Why'd you bite them?

[exequy]

Because I didn’t want to attend lessons. He tried carrying me.

[ But he doesn’t drink. Just gestures expectantly to hers.

He’s not some sort of amateur. ]

[sulahnan]

Does that mean you'll bite me if I carry you home?

[ So disappointing that his great-grandmother wasn't actually a pirate. But she takes a drink anyway. It's hardly losing when you get to get drunk off of it. ]

Ok, ummmm... I have never worn shoes, can't tell the difference between red and green, and... [ She taps her fingers on the glass. ] I almost bit through my tongue once.

[exequy]

[ He nods, straight-faced—he will bite her if she carries him, yes—and then spends a moment contemplating her face (and not her feet) before he decides. ]

The first one.

[sulahnan]

Okay you're too good at this, [ Of course it can't be that she's a notoriously bad liar.

She takes another drink, and puffs out her cheeks. ]

I really gotta up my game, huh.

[exequy]

What? No.

[ He frowns at his drink, then at her. ]

I was trying to lose. I want to drink. Fuck. What do you mean, you can't tell the difference between red and green?

[sulahnan]

They look the same! [ This makes all of three people who know that about her. ]

Gwen had me try on shoes for that dumb etiquette party.

[exequy]

They are completely different.

[ How does this happen! Why didn't he learn about it as a child! ]

Can you tell when the leaves change colors in the fall?

[sulahnan]

[ She frowns and shakes her head. What, no, what the fuck are you on about? ]

I mean they kinda get darker I guess? I didn't know there were different kinds of apples until someone asked if I wanted a red one or a green one.

[exequy]

I suppose that means you can't tell me whether they both look red or both look green.

[sulahnan]

You suppose right. C'mon, it's your turn. The longer we talk about colors the soberer we get.