sorserer | ( office hours & overflow )

[Stephen's brand of presentation is, as Hakkyuu has mentioned before, the sort that would be very much at home in the fancy districts of any human city in Tyria with all the showmanship in virtually every area that he'd normally find pretentious and off-putting. Instead, Stephen is both pretentious and attractive which is awful.

It's all done in such an easy way though and with a certain degree of awareness that means if Hakkyuu teases the whole thing it's going to be taken in stride. It's what makes the balance work and probably what tips the scale so far in Stephen's favour; anyone who is too precious or takes themselves too seriously tends to not be someone Hakkyuu invests a lot of time in.

The glass lands neatly in the cushion provided by Hakkyuu outstretched and expectant hand before smoothly scooping it with the momentum to chime it to the base of Stephen's. Look, it's not that Hakkyuu isn't showy too, it's just a little different.]

Guess we're drinking to you outrunning them coming to collect then, huh?

[...it's actually a damn good paloma too and he doesn't look mad at all for that first sip.]

[ stephen winks. ]

Exactly.

[ he takes a long drink, hums. ]

Heading elsewhere later?

[A little shrug.]

Not especially. Figured I'd come make trouble for you as long as I can get away with until you drop me into one of your swirly holes.

[He lifts the glass, only mildly hiding the immature grin there.]

Probably not a euphemism.

I was just going to unpack, but it’s not like I’m in a hurry.

[ there are, like, three boxes in a corner, two of which are large and simply labeled as ‘books’. the cloak hangs comfortably in a corner. ]

We could order in. [ he takes another long sip of his drink, eyes up over the top of the glass, peering consideringly down the hall. ] Break in the place.

[Taking his time over the current sip he's working on, Hakkyuu shifts his eyes over the humble amount of belongings Stephen has to unpack as it briefly occurs to him that he has even less to take from one location to another when it comes to it; if it can't be carried in one go and kept on his person, it's probably not worth keeping.

This time, he studiously doesn't meet Stephen's gaze at the final suggestion, though having the feeling he knew it was heading that way.

He sucks his lips in as he swallows, then presses his tongue between them as he swivels his head back to glance at Stephen.]

Sure. [He lifts the glass.] Whatcha think pairs well with Bad Decision drinks?

[ stephen has only been back in duplicity for a month and he’s already re-accruing an impressive book collection. eventually he’s going to drop by the manor and whisk away some of the books he and the other strange had left there, if vrenille hasn’t seen fit to find them new homes already; stephen likes to stay on top of his studies. ]

Something with noodles, probably. I’ll find a place.

[There are no complaints from Hakkyuu's side of things, though there are things he'll bellyache over and things he won't. Food is virtually never one of them. Nor is weather. Or just about any of the shitty things the city throws at them arbitrarily. In fact, his areas of complaint are over incredibly inconsequential things and often align with something he can bicker about with someone, which basically makes complaining a social activity for him.

As Stephen sets himself to ordering something, Hakkyuu takes up the bottle of tequila and takes a brief sniff from the neck before setting it down on the counter again with a thoughtful hum as he looks down into the glass.]

I used to drink a lotta this stuff out in the desert. Made a bunch of it ourselves out in the camp and just... [He shakes his head with a faint chuckle, then glasses at Stephen.] It's just really not that great, is it? Like some real "you're in a sandy wasteland, so what else are you gonna ferment" levels of suffering.

[ stephen scrolls through his phone, makes ready selections. hope had been generous about his purchasing power too, for which he’s grateful. hakkyuu is right; he really has to be ready to ask how high when she tells him to jump. ]

It enjoys certain cultural associations back home that are similar to the ones it has here. Party drink. But yeah, I imagine the origin story is pretty similar.

[ once the order is submitted he leans halfway over the counter on his elbows to work on his drink. ]

That was with your guild?

[Nostalgia generally isn't Hakkyuu's thing, especially not in Duplicity where, as Stephen already alludes to, so many associations seem to overlap with earth. So many people take that sort of thing for granted and it's one of the things Hakkyuu always notices with Stephen--if he's talking about something very earth-specific, he takes the time to add context, just as he had with the piano. Most people overlook that and he and Vrenille end often play informational catch-up as a result.

He shakes his head at the question though, eyes closing as he does so kind of ruefully.]

Nah, long before the guild. Before a lotta things, really. The Crystal Desert's south of Ebonhawke, so that's where I ended up after everything kinda went to shit.

[After taking another sip, he points at Stephen.]

I would not recommend waking up to a pack of choya rolling through your stuff in the middle of the night. Like, if you can imagine a chunky cactus with arms and legs and ugly jerk faces makin' weird noises and causin' trouble after dark? That's what we're dealing with.

They didn't make it to the morning and... the tequila from them was pretty terrible. Sick for days, man, it was awful. [He rolls his eyes faintly, then mutters into his glass.] Aurus was just fine.

[ stephen nods along. he has a mental compendium, imperfect but well attended to, of vrenille and hakkyuu’s corner of the multiverse; he figures at this point it has the same relevance as being back home and reading from a lonely planet guidebook before visiting italy. at this point, nothing’s off the table in terms of where people end up and how long they stay, and vrenille and hakkyuu are vital enough in his life for this information to be important either way. ]

Overnight fermenting probably didn’t do you guys any favors. That’s pretty much prison toilet wine science.

So like regular wine, huh?

[The alcohol wars may be a cold one, but they're still at war. He gives a little headshake then and offers a mild correction.]

Nah, this was a while after. We already had these dead choya with all their fleshy cactus bodies laying around, so we sort of did what we could with them. It was probably like their belated revenge on us. We didn't make anymore after that first attempt, mostly since I think Aurus felt kinda weird making moonshine from another semi-sentient plant.

[Placing the glass down for a second, he puts his hands on the edge of the counter and hoists himself to perch there. Personal guest behaviour.]

Just a word warning when you come to Tyria—someone offers you choya tequila, I'd turn it down on principal.

[... When? Not if? Huh. Well, he's not going to correct himself or let on he's noticed that slip and instead take up the drink again to sip.]

How's that food coming? You're not ordering from the place that make their delivery folks show up with dildos on their hats, right? They make their stuff way too salty.

Noted.

[ it’s the inevitability of that statement, not hakkyuu’s personal observations about him, that registers with stephen. he hides an inscrutable expression in the lip of the glass and pointedly doesn’t think about how the tools at his disposal have changed since he first came to this realm four years ago, and with them his sense of possibility.

he drains his glass, the first one of the early evening, and tops himself up again with a careless glance at his phone. he turns to lean against the counter too, less string bean than hakkyuu manages but still a picture of easy, pensive relaxation. ]

It’ll be here in ten. And no ... the place with the ... [ thinking out loud, rather than out of any sense of propriety ] couriers with the unfortunate hats ... they don’t serve noodles.

[Casual and relaxed, if he stopped to think about it too long, it would start to freak Hakkyuu out for how easy it is to slot into a version of comfortable closeness where he can just lean over to peer at the tracker on Stephen's device over his shoulder. Then, he flicks his eyes to catch Stephen's with a slow smirk.]

Shame, I was going to ask 'en to leave one of those hats for you. It'd work with any outfit.

After that little gift of yours I think I’m good on bedroom accessories for the rest of my natural life. Plus I don’t really do hats.

[ at this proximity it is difficult to resist the urge to just pull his hair or something, not even to any apparent purpose. since his return--since his first night back in duplicity--stephen has become oddly aware that, when hakkyuu is close and they aren’t fucking, he uncharacteristically doesn’t know what to do with his hands.

he can’t remember if he had that problem before. he drums his fingers on the edge of the counter. ]

What was your favorite thing to drink back home?

[He isn't even remotely embarrassed about the house warming gift he's sent to Stephen and every reference to it just amuses him and confirms the key purpose has been achieved as he finishes up his own drink.]

Same as my go-to here: whiskey. But I'd also take Canthan rice wine like a Skritt on junk if I stumble over a place that serves it.

[He tips the drained glass back and forth to let the stray ice slush shuffle around.]

There's not much from home you can't get here though and most places serve a bourbon or scotch, so I'm easy.

[He blinks, then frowns.]

You used to drink a buncha spirits too when you were here last, but I never thought to ask if that's your go-to left to your own devices or if you're, I dunno, a flutes and suits kinda guy if given the choice.

[ stephen snaps his fingers, a little unnecessary showmanship as a substitute for passing his hand directly over hakkyuu’s glass: it refills. the gradual deterioration of the cut fruit on the countertop is visible, with more on their way; they disappear methodically from a basket in the kitchen corner. sometimes magic, for stephen, is a series of skipped steps. ]

I like the classics. Or at least they’re classics back home. Martinis, gimlets, nothing too ridiculous. I’ve been drinking darker stuff since I got here. [ his head lolls to one side, contemplative. ] That might be on you, actually. And the fact that it’s harder to drug your drink when there’s only one thing in it.

Edited 2022-06-19 16:04 (UTC)

It almost feels like you're calling my tastes basic.

[He gives Stephen a squinted side-eye, though the ghost of amusement dances in his eyes and haunt the corner of his lips.

The kind of magic Stephen uses with ease is similar to what they'd see with Loki, and is a little different from the kind of magic they use in Tyria. It's still pretty fun though and feels quintessentially Stephen to just have the presence of magic floating in the air for even mundane uses.]

Those also exist at home. Or versions of them, anyway.

[There's a fleeting moment where he wants to do something with his hands on Stephen. Touch him somewhere. Anywhere. He manages to push the impulse down by focusing on the crisp cold feeling of the refilled glass against his palm as he sucks a small breathe though his lips then shrugs.]

You do know I'd drink whatever you put in my hand, right?

[ you can’t spend even a brief tenure under the same roof with people like vrenille and loki odinson and another iteration of stephen strange without picking up a few tricks. sometimes the scent of some of his spellcasting reminds him of one or another, stephen cherrypicking influences from among people he will always eventually admit to having respected. ]

Don’t give me any ideas, now.

Oh, your head's so empty now that you need me to give you ideas? I'm not sure I buy that!

[ he huffs, purestrain amusement. ]

You’ve been in the fighting game longer than me. All those whacks to the head do start to add up.

So wait, whose head are you trying to insult now, mine or yours?

[It's a purely rhetorical question that comes coupled with a sideways lean to nudge his shoulder against Stephen as he takes a sip.]

Besides, you just do your best. Set yourself up a nice little bar--[He reaches out with his free arm, casting it across the kitchen to illustrate what's in his mind.]--then get me to try what you make so I can pretend you're bad at it. How's that sound?

[ the kitchen does have the space. stephen folds his arms with his tumbler still clutched in his unsteady fingertips, a thumb swept down to steady it, surveying the layout. ]

I just got a new hobby. Do people normally have more?

[ amused, a little. ]

[He tilts his head, giving Stephen a flat stare.]

You tryin' to tell me that's more than you can handle?

I suppose not ...

[ trailing, thoughtful. the door ringer goes off; stephen lifts his eyes again to hakkyuu’s. he makes that brief amused huff again. ]

Well. If I do it, you’ll have to start tipping.

[ he sets his glass down on the countertop. his hand grazes hakkyuu’s knee in passing, a neutral touch that has shades of guiding someone briefly aside by the hip to get around them in the hall but even more unnecessary, and then he’s going to get the door. ]

[That fleeting touch, accidental or otherwise, has Hakkyuu's eyes flickering downward as Stephen sweeps past before shifting his gaze to follow the planes of his shoulders and back as he heads to the door, not moving himself just yet though as he sort of takes the moment to just enjoy the moment and the view.

There are so many little things that similar to when Stephen was in the house, a difficult reminder of attraction that Hakkyuu had tried to sour and spoil and yet ended up settling into easy comradery with some lingering, unspoken tension around it.

It's also different now too. The tension feels changed, not so oppressive and sharp and instead more like a game of chicken that could last for as long or not as they each want it to.

The problem is, Hakkyuu can't quite keep the incredibly dumb, immature joke behind his own teeth as he lowers his head to stifle a chuckle.]

Wow. You only want the tip?

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