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[weenwoon]

Hythlodaeus

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[weenwoon]

He didn't expect that, so Hades can have the pleasure of seeing surprise on Hythlodaeus's face. It soon breaks into a smile, however.

"Come now, Hades! Is it becoming of a crew captain to take people's food suddenly?"

[emet_sulk]

"Of course. Especially after a crewmate has deigned to steal from him first."

He pops the forkful of pasta into his mouth. Swallows. "You're lucky I don't demand a finger for it instead," he adds with a smirk.

[weenwoon]

... Well. Time to ask himself how much of a nuisance he wants to be.

Hythlodaeus waits until Hades is done speaking and then leans forward again to press his finger against his friend's lips. He looks very smug, too, in a "what now?" way.

[emet_sulk]

[ ERROR! HADES.EXE COULD NOT BE FOUND. ]

Hades freezes in place, eyes wide. A moment later he pushes Hythlodaeus' hand away as his eyes dart towards the diners to see if they've noticed. If they have, they're not looking right now.

"S-stop that. We're in public," he hisses.

[weenwoon]

Oh, he's so satisfied with himself right now. It probably shouldn't be legal.

"Oh? I thought you were the one who wanted to demand a finger from me. I was just being a good crewmate, listening to my captain's wishes!"

[emet_sulk]

Another mortified hiss: "Hythlodaeus!"

Hades would like to self-immolate right here and now.

Finally, he grinds out, "Can we continue this later, in private?"

[weenwoon]

Hythlodaeus, meanwhile, looks absolutely innocent, sitting back to sip at his cocktail.

"Continue what? Were we not simply talking?"

[emet_sulk]

He glowers at his friend before harrumphing and spearing a piece of beautifully seared fish (ruined by Hythlodaeus' flagrant thievery!) for himself. In the end, he had ordered the same thing as before but added a seafood chowder. Good thing it's a great deal harder to steal soup...

"I'm not drunk enough for this," he mutters. "Mayhap I should have asked for the whole bottle."

[weenwoon]

"'Tis still not too late to order," Hythlodaeus replies with a grin, going back to his own food. The idea sounds good to him: it's a day for them (and especially Hades) to relax and fool around, and being a little inebriated can help with that.

"Or would you rather save the drinking for when we return? Since you worry about being in public..."

Look, he's being considerate and wanting to save Hades the embarrassment of realizing he was drunk-flirting with Hythlodaeus at a restaurant he likes.

[emet_sulk]

His brow furrows. "...I suppose drinking at home would be preferable," he concedes. The last thing he needs is to be stumbling back on Hythlodaeus' arm.

He glances up, taking a second to appreciate, again, that his friend is very real and very here, before returning to his meal.

[weenwoon]

The rest of the meal, fortunately, passes without much incident. Hythlodaeus still chatters away and wheedles a taste of the chowder from Hades, but behaves otherwise. In the end he has to ask to pack up the rest of his food to take home, but on the positive side, this means that they have some breakfast for tomorrow now.

"Did you enjoy the wine?" Hythlodaeus asks, turning in his seat to watch the setting sun. "We could get the bottle, or buy some on the way home."

oh my god has it been 5 days

[emet_sulk]

"Mm... I did."

Wine made with grapes grown on the volcanic isle. He has tasted many vintages but truly the soil from those regions is something else.

"We can purchase a bottle on the way home. The restaurant will charge us far more for it," he says as he raises a hand to request the bill.

time is fake!!!

[weenwoon]

Hades's frugality is reasonable, a quality Hythlodaeus still lacks even after the many moons in this world. Finding a decent liquor store doesn't take too long, and Hythlodaeus defers to his friend's expertise in choosing the wine (though, of course, not without proposing to buy instead some ridiculous over-flavoured experimental drink). He chatters away on their way home to keep the mood up, occasionally prompting Hades for input. All in all, it ends up a pleasant walk back.

"Home, sweet home~" Hythlodaeus announces with a satisfied sigh as he opens the door. "Shall I put our purchases away?" he goes on, glancing at his friend. "You could prepare the wine in the meantime. I'm certain it would be much safer to have you open it, not me."

[emet_sulk]

He nods and sets the bottle on the kitchen counter, moving to fetch two glasses. It will be a happy day when they can finally move out of this apartment and into the new home being built above the Forge.

The glass he had earlier had certainly loosened him up a bit but he has had a bit of time to sober up on the walk back. And now he's about to get drunk again.

"Do you-- ah... I suppose if you wanted to hear me play, I ought to before I become too inebriated."

[weenwoon]

"I certainly do!"

Hythlodaeus takes his seat with a happy smile. He's brought out his own harp, in the hopes that they might be able to play together.

"I never expected you to learn music, but I must needs say it suits you. Oh, or mayhap painting? Have you ever considered it?"

[emet_sulk]

"No. I would never have been able to keep the pieces."

Too many homes uprooted, and the void was hardly a homely place itself.

Hades leaves the wine and glasses where they are and moves to the closet where he takes out a violin-shaped case. It's nothing terribly fancy but it is a decent enough quality to satisfy his standards. He takes the instrument out carefully and begins to tune it.

"...At least with music, I can carry the scores within my memory," he says quietly.

[weenwoon]

"Then why not start painting here?"

Hythlodaeus's reply is perhaps expected, given his optimistic nature. He makes himself comfortable in his seat - as comfortable as it's possible to be with Hades's utilitarian taste in furniture, that is - before going on:

"You could paint your pieces as Hades, not some assumed identity. And leave them for other riftfarers when we return to our own star."

Lest the conversation get too somber, though...

"I could even pose for you," Hythlodaeus adds with a grin, shifting to strike a pose in the chair.

[emet_sulk]

He rolls his eyes, unsurprisingly. "As if you could sit still for the time it takes to complete one."

But, hmm, he does have that portrait the old lady did for him some time ago. It hangs in his cabin on the Phantom Moon since such a magnificent work hardly suits such a drab apartment. He could learn to paint his friend and have them hung together in their new home above the Forge.

One last draw of the bow before he nods in satisfaction. "I'm ready."

[weenwoon]

"Certainly I can! With the right incentive," Hythlodaeus replies cheekily, making no mention of what the right incentive might be. He hasn't even actually thought of one; it's just for the sake of being contrarian.

Joking aside, though, he settles down to listen. He's heard a lot of music during his stay here, but he is still certain that whatever his friend plays will be different from everything else - and beautiful.

[emet_sulk]

Hades huffs. He sets his bow to the strings again and gives a moment's thought to what song he'll play. Something...characteristic of Garlemald? Yes.

Without another word, he starts to play a sombre melody. Not the triumphant anthems of conquest he grew tired of hearing as he aged but a quieter, melancholic piece written to embody the cold, overcast days out on the tundra. A piece well-suited to the accompaniment of a harp.

[weenwoon]

Hythlodaeus listens peacefully, his attention at first focused on Hades himself just out of the sheer novelty of seeing his friend play music. The piece itself... is perhaps a little more melancholic than he would have expected, yet somehow very fitting the man Hades is now.

Once he picks out the melody properly, Hythlodaeus takes up his own harp to play along, adding accents at first before embellishing parts of the melody. If Hades's violin is the winter day itself, Hythlodaeus's harp is the crunch of footsteps on crisp snow, the occasional glimpse of the sun, the intricate beauty of the snowflakes that stop on your finger.

[emet_sulk]

He can see it when he closes his eyes: the faltering glimpse of cold sunlight between the northern mountain peaks, the way it fractures over freshly fallen snow. His friend had always been talented - is talented - and their fingers can weave a beautiful melody even without their voice.

He eventually ends the piece on a low, drawn-out note that fades to silence. For a few beats, he remains still. Then he exhales and opens his eyes.

"The composer named it 'White Snow, Black Steel'."

[weenwoon]

"'White Snow, Black Steel'..." Hythlodaeus repeats thoughtfully. It does fit the image the melody creates - and perhaps it's the "black steel" that adds to that feeling of grim melancholy.

"Is it a dedication to Garlemald?"

[emet_sulk]

"It is. They wished to convey the serenity of the ice fields, separate from the industry of war which Garlemald developed from. That and the nostalgia for the more fertile lands they were forced to leave behind for those desolate mountains."

An underrated piece, Hades had always thought. It hadn't been terribly popular amongst the younger, war-hungry generations, but he knew some of the older citizens who remembered a time before Solus' rise to power would listen to this song and shed a hidden tear.

[weenwoon]

Hythlodaeus hums thoughtfully in response, his fingers quietly plucking out a short rendition of the melody again. Serenity of the ice fields... It's fitting.

"You know, you never told me much about Garlemald."

Perhaps it's not the perfect topic for what was meant to be a romantic evening, but Hythlodaeus picked up enough to tell that Hades cared about the country, despite his plans for it.