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Chapter 174: To Mercury!
🕑 Added 2023-12-09 04:21:34 +0000 UTCChapter 174: To Mercury!
Mercury liked going out to drink. Even with such a strange, motley crew like his current companions, there was a charm to it. Being able to let loose, and not focus on all the pressing issues for just a little while.
He didn’t like getting completely smashed, though. Having gaps in his memory was something he especially minded. Then again, given his current set of Skills, maybe that wasn’t even really an option anymore, these days.
Mercury sighed, drinking down another cup of milky liquor. It was local and strong, with a slightly sweet aftertaste. Zyl was already tipsy by now, which Mercury found hilarious. If the dragon wanted to feel alcohol at all, he needed to disable a couple Skills, and when drunk he didn’t have the focus to keep them running at lower levels, so off they went.
Of course, there was kind of a balance between drinking and keeping safe, so almost everything that protected him was still running, and even the ones that were off would spring back on before harm ever could come to him, by being linked with some other Skills.
Regardless, for now, Zyl’s face was quite flushed already. Avery was taking it well, and Marcel was drinking too much. Akuhl seemed quite drunk after a single glass, leaning against Esmeralda’s side and clutching her arm, currently. She was blinking slowly, and her eyes were out of sync, which made her look quite tired.
Lucia and Iris weren’t drinking a whole lot, more or less occupied just listening to everyone lse talk. And they were talking, so very much. Stories about the guilds, about rebuilding, about the city and daily life. Funny stories, sad stories, exciting stories. They talked about everything under the sun.
There was much that had happened while Mercury was gone, and quite a bit before he disappeared from Stormbraver as well. The city was busy, after all. Hundreds of people doing hundreds of things every day.
One of those people was Yvette, who joined two hours into the night. The sky had already gone dark well before she showed up, and the whole gang had changed bars by now, with them currently being in one of the new buildings, made post-war. It had nice furniture, but there wasn’t too much decoration yet, so it seemed a bit bland. The company more than made up for it, though.
In that bar, Mercury sat, calmly enjoying another cup. His cheeks were flushed by now, and he had drunk just enough to put him in a good mood, laughing and chatting as the minutes drifted by, when the door creaked open. He wouldn’t have given it another look, usually, but the steps afterwards seemed very specifically directed towards them.
So clearly that he did turn around, and see Yvette walking towards them. She was as imposing as always, almost demanding attention just by standing, long, radiant hair trailing behind her. She looked at Mercury, but on her usually stern face there was a soft expression.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt,” she said. Her voice was quiet. She’d almost only ever yelled at him, so it was a strange contrast. “Mind if I sit?” She gestured to the seat next to him. It was currently more than free. Marcel had slid under the table some time ago.
“Sure,” Mercury said, nodding.
“Thanks.” Yvette let the words hang into the air, taking a seat with measured, slow movements. She looked a little stiff as she sat down, but she moved so smoothly Mercury had trouble even noticing.
For a little while she sat, silently, lips pressed into a thin line. She glanced over at Mercury, trying to see how he was acting, but the mopaaw just sat there calmly.
Because that’s exactly what Mercury was. He had more than enough time, right now. He enjoyed the company he was in, he enjoyed the place he was in. He was happy, and had patience enough to spare some for Yvette.
The silence between them hang in the air for a minute, maybe two, before the swordswoman finally spoke.
“Thank you,” Yvette said. “For ending the blood eclipses. I’ve been able to sleep a lot better since.”
“Sleep better?” Mercury cocked his head at her.
“Of course you’d focus on that,” Yvette said, smirking as she shook her head. “Yes. It was hard to sleep knowing death itself might descend on me anytime I’m not paying attention.”
Mercury hummed in agreement. “Mmmh, I get that. No problem.”
Yvette snorted at that, letting out a low chuckle. “Yes problem. Those eclipses had been keeping me out of cities for years, then. Hadn’t slept in a proper bed, hadn’t had proper meals. And now? I get to walk around in here. Eat, drink, whatever I’d like. Because of you. Thank you for that, Mercury.”
He smirked back. “Glad to help.”
“Do you want any payment or something?” Yvette suggested, a slight nervous tone to her voice.
Mercury shook his head. “No, thank you. I really am glad you get to live in relative comfort again.” He smiled.
Yvette looked at him, quietly, for a long few moments. Then she broke out into a wide grin, shaking her head. “You’re impossible, Mercury.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, somewhat confused.
“Forget about it,” she said, waving him off with a wide smirk. Then she snatched up one of the glasses on the table, which had certainly belonged to someone at some point, and rose it up. “To Mercury!” she called.
Glasses clinked and were drunk. “To Mercury!” Everyone cheered.
The revelry went on, long into the night.
- - -
The next day came soon enough. The sun came crawling in through a window, lazily sneaking in through the glass. The room had turned bright hours ago, but only when the light actually touched Mercury’s face did his eyes drift open.
It took him some time to reorient himself, finding his place in the room. The bright wooden walls, the soft bed, the stunningly hot man he shared said bed with, the blankets… ah. The seekers’s guild, of course. He’d carried Zyl here towards the end of yesterday’s celebrations.
<Telekinesis> saw liberal use that day. He was just too small right now; if he carried Zyl on his back, the man’s legs would be scraping the floor from the knees down at least. Also, he clung onto Mercury very tightly, and having a grown man snuggle his face into his fur while walking through town was still embarrassing.
So, instead, Zyl got relocated via <Telekinesis>. Though once they were in the guild, he did grab onto Mercury and refuse to let go in bed. The furball fell asleep soon after that, though not before hearing Zyl murmur “Love ya, Mercury…” in his sleep. It was adorable.
Now, though, the cruel golden rays of the sun were telling Mercury it was time to awake and seek his proper place. In the warmth. Despite the fact that he felt plenty of warmth from Zyl and the blankets.
He gave a soft sigh, and closed his eyes again. The morning could surely wait a little more, right. “Love ya, Zyl,” he whispered into the room.
He felt the other man’s hand twitch. Shit, had he heard it? He wasn’t supposed to hear it!
No. Mercury calmed himself when he noticed Zyl was still breathing as though asleep. Through his mouth, in small puffs of heated air. It was something the dragon didn’t know how to fake. Mercury calmed again, and closed his eyes. Another small twitch.
“Love ya too,” Zyl murmured.
Mercury flushed, but resolutely kept his eyes closed. Surely, if he pressed them shut hard enough, sleep would come and let him forget this moment.
- - -
Sleep did, in fact, come, though there was no forgetting for Mercury. He remembered it all when he woke up again, this time to a knocking on the door. Zyl gave a small grumble, still asleep. Inside, Mercury breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe that meant the dragon would forget what happened before.
Gently, Mercury began to pry himself from Zyl’s embrace, taking long enough for another knock to strike against the wooden door, slightly louder. “Coming!” Mercury whisper-yelled, trying to both let Zyl sleep and let the person behind the door hear him. Probably unsuccessfully, giving the third set of knocks that started moments before he opened the door, in the middle of the person still nodding.
In front of his door was someone he’d seen before. Jirluc, the sipisc from the ashen fields. He looked down at Mercury for a long while.
“So you made it,” he eventually said, his voice low and quiet.
“I did,” Mercury whispered back. “Glad to see you survived as well.”
Jirluc nodded. “Surviving was troublesome. The water I appeared back in were not safe, any settlement there would have moved on many seasons ago. But I live. As I always do.”
Mercury blinked at him. “Right. It’s good to see you again, Jirluc.”
The sipisc nodded once more. “It is. You as well. Your cities are peculiar. Why so much stone? Where would you get your food?”
Mercury blinked at him once more. “What?”
“Your food. Where does the food come from? Do you not hunt?” he asked, again.
“Uh, like, somewhat. But we grow grain. And make like, fucking bread and shit. I dunno,” Mercury said, stumbling over his words. It was… way too early for this.
Jirluc seemed almost shocked. “You have no hunting grounds in the cities?”
“Nooooo, we don’t.”
“Truly, so very strange,” he shook his head. “But that is not the point. You wished to reconvene. Is there a purpose to this?”
“Wanted to stay in touch, since we went through some things, you know?”
Jirluc looked at him for a long moment. The sunrays drifting in through the window landing on his skin made the scales glean even more pale than they otherwise would. He looked almost ghostly. “I see,” he said eventually. “I find this agreeable. I’ll stay in this city for the next while. Thank you for the invite, and setting this up. I would have forgotten in the moment and gone on to sincerely regret it.”
“Yeah, uh, no problem,” Mercury said.
“Good. Then I will… see you in the area.” Jirluc turned around and walked off down the hallway, not looking back once. His pale scales disappeared around a corner, and his footsteps turned silent the same moment.
Mercury would’ve thought he saw a ghost if he didn’t know the man.
“Who was that, Mer?” Zyl asked, his voice still slightly coarse from being in bed. He was rubbing his eyes while sitting up, legs dangling over the side of the bed. How. How did he look so damned good doing it?!
“One of the people from inside the blood eclipse, Jirluc. He was there the longest, probably, had a whole home carved out for himself. Knew how to survive.”
Zyl brightened at that. “You found one of them! Ouch.” He grimaced. “Hangover. Been a while since my last one, heh.”
Mercury snorted, then laughed. “Hahaha! Well, I’m glad to let you experience such a… unique sensation again.”
The dragon stuck out his tongue. “Careful now, dragons like me are known for roasting those who dare offend us.” The cheeky grin of his face took any threat out of those words.
“Oh woe is me, whatever shall I do! Surely such a generous dragon such as yourself would forgive me if I rejoined him in bed?” Mercury pleaded.
Zyl paused. His smile spread wider as his cheeks flushed slightly. “... I could be convinced.”
With a small laugh, Mercury hopped back into bed, having already closed the door with <Telekinesis>. What an amazing Skill, truly.
He half-tackled and half-hugged Zyl a moment later, the man wrapping his arms around Mercury with a laugh as both of them fell onto the bed. Warm sunshine hit Mercury’s fur, his eyes locked with Zyl’s.
He would have given a lot for that moment to last forever. Of course, it didn’t last until eternity, but it did go on for quite a long time, and sometimes, that was enough.
- - -
Mercury cooked for Zyl. The dragon had fallen asleep again, seeming to enjoy the calm, but Mercury himself couldn’t quite get any shut-eye in. Instead, he set about making breakfast, getting some fresh ingredients from the city. There was a community kitchen in the guild, which he made liberal use of, though his Skills made cooking much easier.
<Sever>, especially, made quick work of any vegetable slices, and he even used it to cleanly cut an egg in half. Then, <Telekinesis> caught the bottom half out of the air, and the remainder of making fried egg went by quick enough. He also prepared some fresh fruit, and a bit of bread, and even fried up some bacon, before carrying it all back to the room, keeping a couple plates and some cutlery levitating around himself.
He entered the room near soundlessly, using <Soft Steps> to make sure Zyl wouldn’t wake. The dragon did stay well asleep, all the way until Mercury was up next to the bed, and the smell of food reached his nose. Zyl’s eyelids fluttered open.
“Morning, sunshine. Made breakfast,” Mercury purred.
Zyl smiled a radiant smile. “You’re amazing. Thank you.”
He slowly sat up, taking a couple bites of everything, same as Mercury. They shared the food, sometimes chatting quietly, sometimes simply chewing. It was a very nice morning.
After eating, Mercury took another short nap in the sunlight, while Zyl got his hangover under control. By turning his Skills back on, he quickly recovered back to top condition, though it still took a few minutes for the pain to entirely fade. Once it was done, though, he was right as rain again.
Once Mercury awoke again, the two went out for a stroll through the city. Sometimes, people would still glance Mercury’s way with disdain, but most simply kept their eyes averted. Some seemed scared, but hopefully that would settle, at least.
Stormbraver didn’t exactly have any super incredible sights. It wasn’t necessarily a tourist city. But there were still things for Mercury to show to Zyl. First, he showed him the place where Dave’s inn used to be. It burnt down, of course, and now something new had been built from the remains of the old inn, but it still meant a lot to Mercury.
They stood and looked at the new buildings for a little while.
Then, they moved on to the mages’ tower, probably the most impressive building in the city, which gave Mercury the most impressive welcome. Gilah met him in the receptions, and as soon as even a whisper of his name carried through the air, Elliot barrelled down the stairs.
The boy got so excited at the last step he forgot to look at his feet, stepped on his robes, and was about to smash his face into the floor, but quickly caught him with a mix of <Telekinesis> and his rijn.
He set Elliot back down on his feet. “Good to see you too, Elliot, no hugs today, please.”
A hint of disappointment flitted across the boy’s face, but instantly vanished again. “Okay! I’m just very happy to see you again!”
“Me too, Elliot. It’s been too long.”
“Really has,” Gilah interrupted. “You’ve been out for a while, mittens, but at least I can say it seems to have been worth it. Who’s your partner?” she asked, giving a small wink.
“Oh, yes, of course, let me introduce you. Gilah, Elliot, this is Zyl, my boyfriend. Zyl, these are Gilah and Elliot, friends of mine in the mage guild.”
Zyl gave a small bow. “It’s nice to meet you two.”
“Likewise!”
The four chatted a while longer, and when discussion panned towards last night, Gilah went deathly pale, eyebrows furrowed in anger. She was upset the guild master hadn’t said anything. She was also glad the guild master hadn’t told her anything, because keeping track of quests and rewards and all the other administrative work was more than enough to keep her busy.
After some thirty minutes or so, Mercury and Zyl moved in, checking in with the Merchants’ Guild. Foss had, in fact, set up a small house for them. Two bedrooms, so they still had one for guests, a nice living room, separate showers and toilet, a nice kitchen. It was a lovely little place, close to the bustle of the market, but not close enough to hear much of the noise, more towards the lakeside part of Stormbraver.
Many of the windowsills were a little barren, seeming to once have held plants, but have been scraped clean, now, while the house itself seemed a mix of old and new. Many parts seemed to have been replaced over the years.
“I like it,” Zyl hummed to himself, running his fingers over the walls. “Are you happy with it, Mercury?”
He smiled. There were some bits of carpet and small platforms strewn across the walls, clearly newly installed. They seemed just about the right size for him to run up the walls and find more spots in the sun. Some even had small windows just for him.
There wasn’t too much furniture in there, so they’d have to take care of that, but with the small property, there wouldn’t be many taxes, either. Cores for running water were installed and expected to operate smoothly for another twenty to thirty years or somesuch.
Mercury nodded at Zyl. “It’s lovely.”
The dragon flashed his teeth, smiling back at the mopaaw. “Then we’re taking it?”
“We’re taking it,” Mercury nodded.
Finally, after so very long, Mercury legally owned a house in Stormbraver.
And all it took was an arm and a leg. Specifically, Scarlet’s arm and Avery’s legs to bring the property value down.
… That was a morbid joke, Mercury shook his head at it.
They sent the rest of the day shopping for furniture, with Zyl buying almost everything he liked, and Mercury simply storing much of it in his log or hovering smaller things around himself as the walked.
It was a beautiful day, full of decoration and essentially one whole long date.
By the end of it, Mercury had a house to share with Zyl, now with tables and chairs and lovely beds. Much of the furniture was purchased through Foss, some through other stores, and all of it was lovely and Mercury did indeed love it.
They even had kitchenstuffs and stocked the cooling unit, full of fruit and vegetables and some bits of meat, and even some candy which Mercury could eat now.
Stormbraver didn’t have many confectionaries, but Avery knew where to find one. Of course he did; they also sold sweet raisin bread there, after all.
