fairyland fun! (your levels of fun may vary)

[fair_trouble]

[New day, new town, and hopefully new opportunities. Specifically opportunities to make some money because Zel and Emery’s funds have been running kind of low after their most recent misadventure. This has meant a temporary separation while Zelgadis goes to look for merc-type work and potential cure leads and Emery goes around chatting up the locals without terrifying them.

Or at least that was the plan, until Calanthe showed up.

By the time Zel gets back to the inn, Emery’s still busy talking to Calanthe in their inn room, although the conversation’s just about wrapping up. If he’s perceptive he might even catch a bit of Emery’s words.

“...some funds this time? ...Seriously, is that it? He’s always such a cheapskate. …Okay I got it. I’ll see you later.”

A few moments later a woman wearing a green cloak exits their inn room. Her hood is up, partly obscuring a pale face and hair, and she barely spares anyone a passing glance as she drifts down the hallway.

Emery is still standing inside the inn room looking pensive, but when Zel enters he’ll give him a bright smile.]

Oh! Hey, Zel. Did you manage to find anything?

Comments

[chimerad]

I don't think I ever saw you in that state before. I guess it just caught me off-guard. [it has that same kind of air as sitting in on a cleric or shrine maiden performing some communal rite, just...without all the pomp.

another beat.]

...Left, then?

[fair_trouble]

[In a good way or a bad way? Emery wonders. But he says instead, with another little laugh:] I contain multitudes.

[Just maybe not as much as the guy who's three things at once.]

Sure, let's go left. It's probably safer, right?

[chimerad]

Unless the living things want to eat people like us. [which is never completely out of the realm of possibility, least of all here. he's not supremely concerned about it, given his magic still works here.

that said, he nods and starts toward the leftmost path at a pace to let Emery catch up.]

I take it you've not gone out to this particular region before...or recently, I guess.

[fair_trouble]

Heh.

[Emery really wishes he could entirely dismiss that possibility.

Ah well. Emery is also confident they can handle any people eaters that might show up. He cheerfully moves on to Zel's side.]

Yeah, we're pretty far from the Field Lord's territory out here. That's where I spent most of my time before I was assigned to the mundane realm.

[Mmmmostly inside the Field Lord's manor on top of that, but Emery doesn't need to mention that part.]

[chimerad]

Were you always in this realm? Or did you find your way here through magic or someone else?

[stories of fairies stealing or replacing humans are common, after all.]

[fair_trouble]

[There's a bit of a pause on Emery's end as he considers how to explain it.]

Calanthe took me here, shortly after I turned eighteen. I spent a year on the Field Lord's estate doing odd jobs and entertaining the guests until he decided my familiarity with the mundane realm meant I'd be more useful elsewhere. And a few months after that I joined a merchant caravan that was going through a rough part of Elmekia, and they hired a handsome, mysterious mercenary to escort everyone. You know the rest from there~

[Emery convinced Zelgadis to let them travel together after his shapeshifting powers were revealed, on the grounds that fellow oddballs best stick together, and then set about getting to know Zel/seducing him.]

[chimerad]

[Zel doesn't think to hide his frown when he hears "entertaining," wondering on what that can mean for a fae lord. is it the same degeneracy that regular lords get around to? worse?

would it be bad to kill the Field Lord? would that bother Emery? maybe? much to think about.

the corner of his mouth twitches at mention of the mystery mercenary (whomever could that be truly it is a mystery), keeping his eyes ahead.]

...What about your family before? [did he have any? or was it not worth mentioning?]

[fair_trouble]

[If Emery notices that frown he doesn't deign to comment on it. And he actually expounds on his backstory easily enough.]

I grew up in Stoyard Valley! Have you ever heard of Hill & Dale Printing? My dad's one of the Dales. I grew up with access to all the little chapbooks I could get my grubby mitts on. And I don't have any siblings, but I've got a fair amount of cousins that lived nearby, so I had them to play with as a kid. Though even when they weren't around, I had my friends to play with too.

[Shocker of shockers, the attractive, confident kid from a well-off trade family was pretty popular.]

Oh, and every auntie and granny in town absolutely doted on me. I'm astonished that I never got any permanent marks from having my cheeks pinched constantly.

[This is accompanied by a woebegone look cast in Zelgadis's direction and a forlorn touch to his own cheek.]

[chimerad]

[that seems such a charmed life to lose...Zel can't help but feel confused and even a little anxious in a second-hand way to hear it all in the backward sequence it's being delivered in.]

Do you still keep in touch with them? [or was that a completely removed point of contact in his life? how did all this fey business work with someone who already had a life well lived?]

[fair_trouble]

[Emery looks forward, and very firmly shoves down any pangs at the question.]

My dad knows I'm travelling, but I think it's better if he doesn't know about all the fey stuff.

[And before Zel has time to maybe prod for more detail, Emery whips out an uno reverse card.]

What about you? You've never really told me about your family besides Rezo. For all I know, he could have found you under a cabbage leaf.

[...Or built him in a lab, but the cabbage leaf is a nicer mental image.]

[chimerad]

[Zel looks askance. what about him? don't pivot the focus on him!]

...Blood relatives? Just Rezo. My parents died when I was young. Don't remember them.

But Rodimus and Zolf were more family than that priest ever was.

[slight embellishment due to emotional scars, okay? sure - Rezo never starved him, always kept a roof under his head, got his lessons in academics and magic covered...

but it's Rezo.]

[fair_trouble]

[Emery's tempted to ask about how his parents died (Random accident? Illness? Victims of earlier Rezo experiments?) but decides that would probably be a bit of a bummer. And also rude to pry into. So instead:]

Rodimus and Zolf? They were your former teammates, right?

[chimerad]

Yeah. Rezo hired them to lead his mercenaries. They worked under me after I was changed.

[he keeps his eyes forward, his tone a touch rigid, the way it does when he's talking around things that he's sensitive about.]

They're dead, too. [thanks Rezo.]

So, no. No family to visit.

[fair_trouble]

[Emery remembers Rodimus and Zolf being mentioned briefly when he was first getting to know Zelgadis better, and Zel was explaining the broad strokes of how he'd gotten to know Lina Inverse the Bandit Killer. At the time, Zel hadn't referred to Rodimus and Zolf as family, and it's likely a measure of how close they've gotten since then that he's made that admittance.

Emery wants to reach out for Zel's hand, but a stony chimera walking brusquely on isn't easy to get a grip on. Still, Emery doesn't back off either, staying close to Zel's side and his voice remaining calm as he asks:]

What were they like?

[chimerad]

[the hand wouldn't be shied away from at this stage, because Emery's instincts are right: he'd only speak candidly about his dear friends to someone he trusts to respect that. even so, he's not paying attention enough to recognize any effort to reach, so he walks on, watching the tree line ahead.

what were they like? it's already been a couple years, hasn't it.]

...Rodimus was a battlemaster. He taught me how to wield a sword and other implements, though he favored axes. He was very even-tempered, but never too soft, since he expected me to work hard enough to survive the things I was putting myself through.

[of the two, Rodimus was most certainly the more fatherly in stature and demeanor...and in how Zelgadis remembers him.]

Zolf was a sorcerer. I practiced my spellcraft under his tutelage. He was... [he makes a face.] Wound up a bit too tight. [IN BANDAGES. LINA.] Hot-headed and defensive. Passionate, I guess.

[like an overeager brother, always in his court, ready to throw hands for him.]

[fair_trouble]

[Emery listens carefully, trying to get a proper understanding of the late men from Zelgadis's description. Both of them must have been a strong influence on Zelgadis, not only in terms of the skills they passed on but as a natural consequence of having a close relationship with Zelgadis. Closer than his own blood relatives were.

Even-tempered Rodimus and passionate Zolf...]

So you were somewhere in the middle, huh?

[...And Emery thinks Zel probably falls closer to the Zolf side of the spectrum, but hey. Zel definitely has his cool-headed moments.]

I bet you were real cute as a kid.

[chimerad]

Tch. [cute?! who cares about cute he's supposed to be COOL. cool and balanced, so the being-in-the-middle remark is acceptable...not the cute kid remark!!!] How should I know? That was a long time ago.

[fair_trouble]

[Emery scrutinizes Zel thoughtfully, trying to imagine a smaller, squishier version of the man beside him.]

I guess Zolf and Rodimus never told you because you were the kind of kid who would take offence at the idea of being considered cute instead of being taken seriously.

[Emery, by contrast, was one of those kids who 1) knew he was cute, 2) revelled in it, and 3) would shamelessly use it to manipulate adults.

He grins.]

Of course, the problem is that your seriousness and stubbornness would only have made you cuter~

[chimerad]

[if Emery was looking to color Zel's face a shade darker, he's succeeding! if it was to see his eyelid twitch in tandem with an ear, he also did that, too!

jeez, he can feel Emery's grin. it's annoying how endeared he is by it now.]

Who cares? And--and why are we talking about that anyway, huh!?

[fair_trouble]

[A Zelgablush and multiple, simultaneous Zelgatwitches? Bless. What an accomplishment for Emery.]

You were the one who started on the subject of our pasts~ I think this direction was inevitable, really.

[What, were you expecting angsty revelations or something? No. Only Zel-bullying. By calling him cute.]

[chimerad]

Be, because I was trying to better understand your ties here! Before and after! I don't have any, so stuff about me doesn't matter right now. [GOSH!!!!]

[fair_trouble]

You do have ties here now though, don't you? You've got me! [The sunniest of expressions is directed at Zel. Though, really, Emery is a pretty tenuous connection, being not-local and only half fae... Emery muses on this.] But y'know, maybe you should try forming some more while we're here. That might come in handy eventually.

[chimerad]

[he glances at him sidelong.]

How's that work? [will there be tricks? there are often tricks in the stories.]

[fair_trouble]

I mean, you should talk to people! Get to know them! That's always the best thing to do when you're somewhere new. [Of course, there's may be a slight disparity in how easy that is when you're a sparkly blonde youth vs. when you're a chimera... And since Emery expects Zelgadis to say as much, he already has a rebuttal handy.] You don't need to worry about your appearance so much, because most people will just assume you're some kind of earth fairy. [Like a knocker or coblynau.]

[chimerad]

[he can't help but make a face, though he does hastily mask it. talk to people? unsolicited? eugh.

flatly:] And when they do find out I'm a chimera? [what then!!!]