karaoke party!

[irresponsibly]

Who: Lucia and you!
What: Karaoke Party Time
When: Fall 20
Where: Cozy Kitchen
Warnings: n/a for now

[ On Fall 15th, a notice goes up on the noticeboard advertising a karaoke party at Cozy Kitchen on Fall 20th. It may be easy to miss with all of the pirate chaos, but Lucia will put a sign at the front of the restaurant to remind her fellow farmers of the event.

When Fall 20th rolls around, the smell of Lucia's food can be smelled from outside in town square. One may also catch another redhead bringing alcohol from his winery into the restaurant, or people from the other neighboring bar moving equipment into Cozy Kitchen. When everything's said and done, the restaurant is left with a nice evening setup. It's a small-ish space but there is plenty of food and alcohol for people to indulge in, as well as non-alcoholic drinks like tea and water. The karaoke machine is set up, and there are board games from the store that people can play while they're here.

People are free to sing, open mic style, as many times as they'd like. At some point during the party, however, Lucia will make it a point to play some slower songs on the machine and cite that it's been a while since the dance in Spring. Now might be a good chance to get one last dance in with someone before Winter hits! Finally, party games will be inevitable, so go ahead and participate or run your own. ]

Comments

[yourlenore]

( He half laughs. cheers i'll drink to that bro.jpg )

I have high expectations. I look forward to meeting Tyria.

( How blissful he'll be when he learns Tyria has no vampires... )

But you say your people are only 30 years old? How old does that make you, then?

[chronosynthesis]

That's right. Our mother tree is much older, but we only started sprouting around 30 years ago.

I myself awoke ten years ago.

[He lets that hang. For a minute.]

... My people are born fully grown so I never developed from being a child.

[yourlenore]

( The glass clinks as it slips in his grip slightly, and touches the counter. He raises

an eyebrow? )

... You are ten winters only?

( okay spawned fully formed so he guesses he should mentally add ten more years to that number, but also. ten? )

How old is Trahearne?

( ELEVEN???? )

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya nods, amusement creeping into his expression.]

Trahearne is... 26? Given the, ah... the date of his death. But he was Firstborn so he would have been, I suppose, 36 otherwise.

[yourlenore]

( Okay, so Trahearne is a normal age, which is a little weird relative to Syrlya, but who is he to argue.

Hm. He rests a cheek on his palm. )

... Really. He's closer to me in age, then.

( maybe that's why hes not into mishka, mishka isn't 3 like syrlya smh

Sips... )

And you are closer in age to a friend of mine... Quite young, as they were, but, I suppose, old enough to marry. ( So he guesses he shouldn't be perplexed, but like? He doesn't think this is an unreasonable reaction... Baby trees... ) Granted, I suppose age and maturity do not quite agree in your case, but...

[chronosynthesis]

Yes, age and relation are not the same for us as they are other races. We are born fully capable adults, and are all sibling to each other, but it would be difficult to compare us to a human family with lineages and infancy. We are, in that regard, very different from each other.

[He understands why it's hard to wrap his head around, trying to draw an equivalent. "Old enough to marry" is quite funny to hear applied to himself.]

[yourlenore]

( And siblings? The lore gets curiouser and curiouser...

But he does understand, if only in the sense that there exist all kinds of strange and bizarre things in Ostoya, and he cannot be permanently offput by this. It is weird that this genre of strange is, like, "we spawned fully-formed and are in the human perspective related," and not, like, something involving flesh horrors or psychological decomposition. It's an almost mundane weirdness he doesn't know what to do with. )

Well, I suppose you've fairly made your point, if anything. ( He says this with some regained amusement, and swirls his glass, the ice idly clinking. ) If Tyria can take your people in stride, I suppose they can take one of me.

( Though, )

... I must ask. Tyria does not have vampires, does it? It seems to differ depending on the place, whether they have them or not, and how they manifest.

[chronosynthesis]

[Oh, right, surely Mishka would have the same reservations that Adelis would.]

Nothing like your Kindred, no. Vampire beasts are just a cave-dwelling animal with necromantic abilities to drain life force, though they still feed on meat. We aren't without our problems, but you and Adelis can rest easily knowing you don't need to sleep with any stakes or silver by your bed.

[yourlenore]

( He listens carefully, and nods when Syrlya completes his explanation. Tyria may have its primordial dragons and all those world-ending problems, but at least it doesn't have the psychological labor that is vampires. )

... Very well, then. I, myself, have learned to live walking a step behind our unpleasant rulers, but... Frankly, it is that much more relieving to know they have not found home in Tyria. I prefer Adelis not be harried by their existence further.

( Look what they did to him. They ruined a perfectly good rogue. Now he's got turbo depression. )

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya nods.] They have caused him enough pain as it is--and you. Your Kindred are a blight on the land and if they somehow step even one foot in Tyria I tear them apart and let them burn to ash under our sun in pieces.

[He's so serious about this. Fuck Vampires.]

[yourlenore]

( The "and you" gives him pause, but not in a bad way. )

... Well, I'm glad you've picked up more than enough of the knowledge you need from myself and Adelis. Tyria will be better for it.

( Falling to their charm is how they get their fangs into you, but he and Syrlya know that more than well enough. )

Do you mind entertaining another question I have?

[chronosynthesis]

[He sure does. That memory dream still sends chills down his spine.

He takes a long sip of his drink.] All right. What's your question?

[yourlenore]

You don't intend to marry Trahearne?

[chronosynthesis]

[Well. That is not the question he expected.] That's...

[He looks down into his glass falling quiet for a minute in consideration.] Marriage is not exactly something I saw in my future--at least, not as far ahead as I was thinking. And not with Trahearne. The possibility is... still something I am wrapping my mind around.

But I suppose I don't have any other prospects, and I can't stay here forever.

[yourlenore]

Ah-ah. That's a cold way of thinking of it, isn't it? That's cruel.

( He takes a sip. )

He will marry you because he loves you with all his heart and soul. If you are going to take to the altar with that attitude, then do it with the knowledge that you use him as a means to the end that is your duty, or do not marry him at all.

[chronosynthesis]

I know he is much more certain in this than I am. [He knocks back half his glass.] It isn't to use him, I just--I've never had to make a decision purely out of love and I fear my heart will take too long to accept it if I really act only on the desire for marriage itself. It is a significant promise.

[And he's not been in a position he could really promise himself to another... ever. Things escalated. His life got ever more dangerous.]

[yourlenore]

It is.

( His gaze drifts to his glass and sits there briefly, before he takes it to his lips again. )

But it is these considerations of external factors precisely that has led me to excise Adelis so often. And now I have been asked to act on feeling alone. And so here we are. As insurmountably impossible as it seems, perhaps you ought do the same.

[chronosynthesis]

[If only his feelings on the matter were that clean. But he doesn't intend to burden Mishka With the actual fate of the world.

Instead, he casts a glance to him to ask:] Do you feel ready to marry Adelis?

[yourlenore]

... He really shouldn't be marrying me.

( ... )

I want Adelis to be mine. This is just the most acceptable means of establishing that.

[chronosynthesis]

... I think he will be. [Syrlya rests his cheek on his hand.] I am not giving up on you, so don't give up on yourself before he even has the chance to give you an answer, hm?

[yourlenore]

( "I think he will be"... lines that will haunt him...

He sinks down into his arms, glass hanging from his fingers as he rests his cheek against his upper arm. )

... Yes, well, find some way to sort out how you feel about Trahearne in the interim as well, yes? I am not the sort to sit idle when there is something I want just for someone to remain uncertain. You won't find any sympathy from me for your position.

( THE RARE... SSR TSUN REPLY FROM MISHKA... )

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya's expression twists wryly.] Now, what works my feelings for Trahearne have to matter in regards to yours for Adelis? If you're worried it will interfere with the two of you making it to Tyria, then don't fret as that is my priority.

[He will ensure that they can escape to anywhere except Ostoya. But Tyria he knows.]

... Or is this about your own feelings for Trahearne?

[yourlenore]

( ... )

If all I were worried about is that one of you marry, I would have nothing to worry of at all, given you would marry quite instantly to return home.

( As Syrlya more or less expressed. Maybe an exaggeration in Mishka's phrasing, but the sentiment is there. And he doesn't disrespect that fact in isolation.

But. )

... I am quite pleased with Adelis, and I endeavor to prioritize him. Even if there existed some reality where you and Adelis were not here, I understand quite clearly Trahearne's feelings for me would find no alternate iteration. I would only ever be his friend.

( ... )

Still. It is frustrating to see that he cares for you so much, but to find you so often an island from him.

( Because duty, because fate, because whatever... To Mishka, they're all the same as how Syrlya felt about Mishka's reasons when he was making life hard for Adelis— reasons, maybe, but not good ones. )

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya's expression slips a little, thoughtful as he stares at Mishka. He purses his lips into a thin line, and then slowly nurses his glass closer to him.

He wonders, for a moment, if Trahearne said anything in the same vein as Adelis did but about him.

He shifts to look back as his drink, then up at the ceiling.] I was... not happy, but I had accepted well before his death that he would not be for me. There were things far more important than my wants, and so long as he loved me as a friend I could live with that. And then I lost him and this is all new territory that I don't really know what I'm doing in.

But I think I understand. I was frustrated with you, too. For the hurt you caused him and... for seeming to take for granted that you had him.

[yourlenore]

( As much as bitter loves to stay bitter, he, unfortunately, does understand him halfway, because this is new territory for him, too. So he listens, and a beat passes before he answers, when Syrlya draws a mirror between them. )

... Then we really are of a similar mind, I suppose.

( He lifts his glass in a half-hearted toast, before raising himself up (weight still on his elbows on the counter, though) to drink more in a sip than he should. )

... I had felt also Adelis could not be for me. His life would always take him out of Ostoya, it would always take him down a path in diametric opposition to my own, and I was allowed only the length of the leash the Syndicate gave me. I suppose it is hard to understand things are different when they are.

( So he sort of gets where Syrlya is coming from. But.

He half laughs, though. )

You know, I was more irate with you for scolding Trahearne at the auction than how you scolded me.

( Though he also didn't enjoy that for sure. )