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Throw Some Shade If You Look Good (Avery)

Started by Cobalt, May 06, 2015, 12:02:32 AM

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Cobalt

Absolutely unacceptable. This was Thanatos. Thanati were supposed to have control of themselves. If they were so upset about Avery they could do their jobs with good stoic faces and stiff upper lips and then collapse with relief after he was gone. They could take a half hour break and have a stiff drink to get their courage back up if they were so damned frightened, but there was no call acting like that where Avery could see.

"Two dozen, please," she said carefully. Zea's watchful gaze was still as implacable as before, but her tone was very deliberately cordial. "You see, Avery, on Thanatos we are polite people. We say please and thank you and we do not make people feel unwelcome when they visit us at our places of business." Her voice dropped about half an octave. "Everything is so much tidier when people are courteous to each other."

The untidy way--at least as Zea had been raised--was very untidy indeed, and nobody liked a mess.

Draconian

The barber-surgeon nodded and swallowed carefully, giving the priestess a small polite smile. Having gotten his wits about him - sorta - he managed to count out the hooks carefully and place them down within reach of her, but far enough enough to not have to get any closer. "Apologies Priestess," he started "We so rarely get such interesting looking people here, my mind just flew!"

Avery smirked, tilting his head and then rested his hand on Zea's shoulder. Giving it a light squeeze of reassurance. Or something, he'd seen a mother do it to her kid while he was wandering around with his cloak on. It looked like it was for comfort, so, here he was, trying to mimic it. Seemed like a good idea. "I do not feel unwelcome."

"I believe I am unusual looking, yes?" He started, looking at the hooks for a moment and at the man who stood there, also looking at the hooks simply because anywhere else would be asking for trouble. "Those hooks aren't in me, I would call this a good day." A smile towards the Priestess they'd called her and he held out his hand - another gesture he'd seen - and waited for her to take it.

Cobalt

Interesting looking. That was borderline rude, too, but considering that Zea had just spent the last several minutes asking Avery questions about his gag reflex and excrement, she could forgive the man for focusing on interesting. Rude, but not wrong.

Finally, when Avery said that he didn't feel unwelcome, Zea snapped her smile back on. Perhaps Avery was better with social maneuvering than she'd expected. He was just so blunt. But here he was making casual pointed contact with her, helping her to both be imposing and de-escalate. Full of surprises, this one.

"That is very true." Zea took Avery's hand and gave it a companionable squeeze. "Jin'ta can be so much more cosmopolitan than some of the little hamlets. Since you've made my friend feel welcome, I believe I'll take a razor strop as well. Can never keep things too sharp."

The barber-surgeon being the expert on keeping things well and truly razor-sharp, pointed to a corner of the tent and let the butcher retrieve a strip of flexible canvas with metal fasteners on the end. "On the house?" said the butcher.

"Oh no no," said Zea, offering money to hammer down their difference in positions. "I insist."

Draconian

Avery gave her a smile and squeezed her hand back, unsure of the message of the hand squeeze. Didn't hurt though, so that was nice.  Quietly he listened and stood there, a bit like a gargoyle, ready to freak out just about anyone that looked at him funny. Everyone did, but nothing was causing pain. Good in his books!

His eye slid up to look for the things the butcher was holding, confused slightly. There was nothing on this house. Avery was mostly looking up at the building when she went to pay, still confused. The Butcher accepted the payment and gave her a polite smile and a short bow before he went off to do other far more important things. Things that involved not facing the strange demon man hovering right there.

"Zea." Avery started, still looking up, "There's nothing on the house." Confused, he blinked down at her. He took a few steps back to get a better look without having to actually fly up there, "Why did he offer you something that was on the house?" He pointed to the shop, "Is that yours now?"

Cobalt

Zea finished paying for the last items on her shopping list. The amount of help she'd gotten from Avery in resolving things had been quite a delightful surprise. He must have felt he'd done his job, because as she completed her transactions he was just sort of... looking around. Mostly up. A quick glance didn't reveal anything out of the ordinary, so if there was a problem she'd just have to trust Avery to identify and probably murder it.

He got her attention before they left. There was nothing on the house.

Unfamiliar idiom.

Holy shit this was adorable. Zea couldn't decide whether she wanted to tweak his nose and kiss his forehead or have him drill her against a wall.

"Oh! Oh, it's just a phrase, Avery. On the house is like saying this drink is on me. He offered me the thing for free, but I declined and paid for it instead." So fucking cute. "Make more sense?"

Draconian

A phrase. Avery looked her up and down for a moment and then she went to explain the phrase with another... Phrase?

"You don't have a drink on you." Avery squinted at her slightly, looking her up and down. "These are silly phrases." His voice took on a dismissive tone and he  put his hand on his hip because he couldn't cross his arms. "I understand though. These are not literal phrases, yes?" Yeah, he could learn things.

Sort of.

"There is nothing on the house and there aren't any drinks on you. These are... Phrases that imply different forms of payment." Pursing his lips he tilted his head and moved his arm to tap at his chin, closing his eye briefly and gave a nod. "I am learning?"

Cobalt

What a funny creature. Maybe he'd train up even more quickly than she'd expected. Of course, outside Thanatos he might run into a few odd surprises, but why leave Thanatos? Those places were weird, and they hadn't been able to help her. The whole lot of them could fuck off.

Look at Avery's sweet face, though. He was checking in with her about his progress. Probably for the best. She was the smartest person in this goddamn place.

"You are! Pretty sure it meant something to do with gambling but now it gets used in other situations. Basically he offered me free stuff because you're scary and I'm important. Time wasn't right, though."

Draconian

Avery offered his hand again for her to hold, because - he could admit it to himself - it was kind of nice. Physical touch wasn't something he experienced often and the warm flesh of someone's hand against his own had a nice feel to it. The warm flesh of someone alive that he wasn't currently eating.

"You're important." The words were a dead pan statement and he looked her up and down, his head tilted because it was hard to do eyebrow things when half your face was a scar. "You look..." Avery looked around at everyone else, "Normal." He squinted at her and leaned down, "How are you important? Are you a goddess, too?"

Maybe that Inima person was taking a break.

Cobalt

Avery offered his hand again, and Zea took it.

The great tragedy of Zea's existence in this moment was that she had to answer him honestly in the negative, or else Avery would believe her. As prepared as she was--and she was--for his worship, Zea was not prepared to be his goddess.

"No," she said. She didn't even add a yet to the sentence, though that was out of respect for Inima. Even if Zea did have aspirations of godhood, it wasn't the sort of thing she felt she ought to announce too far in advance. Felt tacky somehow.

"In part it's because I'm involved with Inima's temple, and Inima is important. So even if I am not the big boss, I get associated with her socially." She flicked a conspiratorial gaze around Avery's wings to make sure nobody was listening too overtly. "The part where some people might find me intimidating isn't polite to mention, and as you observed it's important for everybody to be polite."

Draconian

There was a pleased sound that came from his chest and he looked a bit like a happy bird. His eye was closed and his muscles moved just so, his wings twitched slightly in a happy movement. A big ol' happy bird.

Again, he made to copy a gesture he'd seen before and swung their hands slightly while they meandered about.  "I see." Not a goddess, just worked for a goddess. Sort of like him. Except Chatter wasn't a goddess so much as a high ranking hell beast. Far stronger than anything Avery could muster, he thought bitterly, gazing at what was left of his right arm - Nothing.

"There are too many people here." He observed, looking around, he could probably kill them all in about ten minutes if they didn't run too far. "Why is being polite important?" He inquired, his head tilted slightly, "What if one does not want to be polite? Is it polite to lie to someone by being polite when you don't want to?"

Cobalt

If Zea broke this kid's heart she was going to have to concede once and for all that she was a terrible person. Of course, if she broke Avery's heart then in all likelihood she'd be beyond caring whether she did, at which point the only lingering concern would probably be him trying to kill her. She did not like thinking about what a big simple monster like him did when his feelings were hurt.

"Politeness is mostly a way to avoid confrontation. Keeps us from messing each other up unless it's totally necessary. In Thanatos, if you hurt another citizen, that's a very very big deal. We all have stuff we want to do every day and it's much harder to do it if you're always wondering whether someone's going to rip your head off for spilling their tea."

Not killing made a far better rule. Better to spare everybody as a rule and let killings be the exception nobody saw coming. Made it a lot easier to keep people's trust. Made it possible to do her job.

Draconian

He scrunched his nose and took a deep breath.

The air was nicer here, he'd give it that.

"I am not a citizen." He stated, giving her a look. Avery smiled then, still holding her hand and tugged her along behind him. "I don't rip peoples heads off for spilling my tea." It felt like it had to be said.

If everyone here was so polite, maybe he wouldn't get arrows shot at him. There was something about humans and flying game and arrows. They loved their arrows. More than a few had been shot at him.  What was a thing that humans liked?

"I need to thank you." It seemed like the right thing to do. "You have helped me, yes?" Avery gently removed his hand from hers and took her chin gently in her hands before he tilted her head up and gave her a kiss, right smack on the lips.

Cobalt

Avery was not a citizen, but anybody here he killed probably would be. Even if he just ripped up someone nobody would miss... his having done so would need to remain a secret. Otherwise... otherwise someone would want to get rid of him before he got to anybody who mattered. That would create problems for Zea. She'd never really had to choose between expedience and someone she liked, and did not intend to find out which she'd pick. As long as Avery knew that violence was not a done thing, he'd probably be all right.

They'd gone over his debt to her before, though, so him bringing it up once more came as a bit of a surprise. They'd settled it, right?

Evidently not quite.

When the much larger individual bent down toward her, Zea grinned and had to force herself to stop because she was going to waste the moment if she yanked herself back and pumped her fists in the air to celebrate Avery's apparently sufficient maturity. No, that was for later, maybe when he wasn't watching. Maybe after she'd really gotten something to celebrate. For now, she reached up past a great clawed hand to grab at the nice creature's pretty long braid, tugging on it to keep him down at her level for a few seconds longer.

She was helpful. They'd established it. Zea was helping.

Draconian

The tug on his braid made him smirk. He could understand this.

Though it was in much more gentle company. Usually this involved fangs and claws. Maybe a little fighting. Some literal head butting. Bleeding lips by the end of it. This was different, but nice. Avery pressed against her lips with a little more pressure before lifting his head, watching his braid slide through her hand like rope

"The debt is repaid. You have helped me, I have helped you." He nodded, "That is a thank you. It is more intimate than a handshake," He knew what those were, they were impersonal and they usually stuck the wrong hand out for him to shake. No one wanted to shake the wing hand, either.  "I do not like handshakes."

Avery sighed and looked up at the sky. He'd come here for answers and he'd gotten one. Not quite the one he was looking forward to but still, it was an answer and a solution to his little chattering problem. He moved his hand to Zea's cheek and gently brushed it with his thumb before he gazed into her eyes, deciding that she could at least get this one last thing out of him. He knew she wanted it. Avery could see it in her eyes almost the whole time he'd been with her.

"Would you like to pull on my tongue."

The words were a rumble in his throat, sort of like he was asking her for a hot night on the tongue. Town. Hot night on the town.

Cobalt

Zea involuntarily glanced to the hand she'd have shaken if they had attempted that sort of thing, and reasoned that she'd liked this a great deal more. Avery really could make a decent seal with his mouth, which was both educational and something of a relief. It left a fair number of the usual possibilities on the table where they belonged.

After all. He was nice. He seemed like he might genuinely be nice... just... a tad feral. Avery was nice and Zea did rather like the way he looked at her. She'd never been anybody's introduction to normal before. It was a heady feeling, if somewhat precarious. His eventual offer stunned her into an immediate jerk of laughter. Wasn't he just full of surprises.

Just when she thought she was figuring him out.

The effort of suppressing giggles brought tears to the corners of her eyes and Zea fondly laid a hand on Avery's chest.

"You are incredible. Maybe later, big guy." She gave his chest a single pat, but didn't remove her hand. "Definitely later."

Definitely.

~~COMPLETE~~

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