psychoshenanigans | GRATIA // PSL

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GRATIA // PSL

The first thing he feels is the cold.

It permeates everything down here on the lower levels. What little warmth humans have made for themselves is greedily gobbled up by the stone walls that surround them on all sides. Despite the stirring of people in the streets, in their homes, and around corners, this place feels like a grave. A similar sense seems to loom over the heads of most who make their way through this deep, dark part of the world, hovering around them like a cloud of inevitability. No one has been outright sentenced to death, but they may as well be.

Upon waking, Tek will have found himself in a dark, wet alleyway. Attempts to orient himself reveal that he has been brought, somehow, to an impressively large network of tunnels that all lead, more or less, to three or four larger chambers. There is far more vibrant life above him somewhere, far, far above the layer of caves he's in now, and there is also a very deep, sluggish form of life somewhere far below his feet.

No one is coming to get him. No one follows him in his immediate vicinity--the few stragglers hanging around doorsteps and windows don't give him a second glance, or even a first one. The place is crowded, but not busy. Everyone keeps their heads down. The people are all dressed poorly, in rags and robes and bundles that suggest a certain level of consistent poverty all throughout the level. The buildings in these tunnels look man-made, either built from scrap or carved straight out of the rock of the cave, but the majority of the actual roads and cave walls seem to have been formed with very little help from human hands.

The place is lit with lanterns and dirty-looking florescents suspended high above in the cave ceiling. The air is thick and stuffy, the smell of mold and mud prevalent over even the smell of human stagnation. It would not be hard to drag someone off, and he gets the immediate feeling that if he did, it's unlikely that anyone would come looking for them.

What does he do?

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[what a funny question... and if they were talking about anyone else, Tonic would have been more coy with his answer. the other man is clearly fishing for something, and his natural instinct is to try and make him work for it.

but they're talking about Robin, so Tonic snorts and laughs at the very idea. Tek can have this one for free.]

Please, that man can't sit still long enough for a fitting without trying to get into my pants. Like I'd go out of my way for that...

[smirking derisively, he suddenly laments that he has no drink in his hand. it feels like a piece missing from this interaction's puzzle. alcohol is what first comes to mind, but even tea would do. he is momentarily distracted enough to look back at his bottles... and some of his vials, potions, and other things.]

[a response like that only puts Tek more happily at ease, and he stretches his legs out to make himself comfortable right where he's at. he even reaches over to snag the nearest cushion, dragging it over to stuff behind his lower back. the hissing of the poisons distilling nearby creates a nice ambiance, really.

and... even though he's not a drinker, he both recognizes and empathizes with the look on Tonic's face. Robin does have that effect on people.]

Oh, goodness. I hadn't even tried to picture him enduring a fitting. There would be no chance of him behaving himself, would there?

[while he doesn't extend this kind of kindness to everyone, he's glad to see that Tek is finally doing some of those "make yourself at home" things that he keeps suggesting. attention now back on the other man and his at-ease posture, he puts his thoughts of drinking any number of things to the back of his mind for now.

it may come up again later. who knows.

for now, he slumps down further against his workstation table, propping up the bad side of his face with a lightly-closed fist.]

None. He'd turn it into a pickup line. He's deplorable.

[he kind of likes complaining about Robin to someone who understands him, after all. the drink can wait.]

[he is a little surprised when Tonic seems to settle into the conversation, as he hadn't expected him to actually want to continue talking about their mutual acquaintance. but, if the other man feels the need to vent, he certainly won't stop him. he folds his fingers together on the table in veiled delight.]

'Deplorable.' I like that one. Do you think he'd recognize that as one of yours if I used it on him?

[he gives this a moment of thought. he bites at the numb side of his lip, running the exact scenario through his mind until he settles on a slick smirk in response.]

There's a good chance. Unless you've found some other well-spoken, cynical gentleman to spend your free time with.

[not that he would want to know...]

[oh, he absolutely mirrors that smile. if his companion can humor his own fishing, he has no problems doing the same.]

...Not any that I've exchanged shirts with, at any rate.

[...he'd almost forgotten about the shirt.

so he chuckles against his hand, at first quietly amused by the answer, but then the chuckling doesn't quite stop as it occurs to him how fucking weird it is that they did that, and what it must look like from the outside, and how it explains everything about the two of them with almost nothing at all.

he ends with his head in his hand, giggle tapering off, somehow looking both charmed and disbelieving in the span of only half a facial expression.]

I was trying not to say that I want another drink.

[but, there he's gone and admitted it, so...]

[Tek giggles too--though his is lower, more of a shifty-sounding chuckle--and he waves his hand. go, friend. get a drink.]

[well, he supposes that if his guest is going to make himself at home, he should probably try to do the same. there had been such an emphasis on relaxing last time, after all. their business is already done. no need to stay so professional.

there aren't many people who keep showing up just to be around him. he thinks that's what this is, anyway. the novelty of it clinks back and forth, turning to thoughts of clinking glasses and bottles as he twists in his spot to regard his fancy bottles of alcohol again.]

And you really don't drink? [for fun, anyway. he throws the question out knowing full-well that the answer won't have changed, so perhaps it is more wishful thinking than anything.]

[he doesn't often sound wistful about his lack of drinking habit, but he does so now, as he sighs and returns the side of his face to his hand.]

When it doesn't have any effect on you, it kind of loses the point.

[he taps his foot against nothing while he recalls a subject that they'd never quite gotten around to exploring. exploring of another sort had gotten in the way instead...]

I think I may have implied that it had some effect on me, before... but I was being generous, at the time.

[while still turned, that one discolored eye of his slides back to fix on Tek. this news is apparently not troubling enough for him to fully turn around, but curious enough to take up a significant amount of his attention.]

No effect? [the expressionless side of his face makes him very hard to read, at the moment.] Not just a tolerance?

[he doesn't mind not being able to read the man's thoughts on the subject yet, because he's aware of just how strange the thing he that he's admitting. he knows that it's stranger than Tonic is probably even guessing. and yet he's still being fairly casual about it, stretching his hands behind his head as he answers.]

None whatsoever. It really is a shame.

[Tonic is a smart boy. he finally turns back to fix Tek with a look that is both curious and already several steps deep into a very complicated mechanism of thought. he stares, unblinking, in that increasingly-familiar way that makes him appear a great deal more dragon-like than a fleshy human has any right to be.

and then he glances over to the potions on his wall. the poisons, and the not-poisons. and then he looks back at Tek.]

I'm ready for that answer. [a beat.] If you feel like sharing.

[he loves that look. he loves that Tonic remembers and that he thinks.

he also loves causing at least a little bit of mayhem, so this is how he gets his kicks with someone he likes as much as Tonic. he'd mentioned that he likes wrecking things. this is the smallest amount of that he can manage.

his casual (and entirely fake) expression melts into a wide, sly grin. much more honest. and he brings his arms back down to settle forward again; he can't help but look a little eager. just a little conspiratorial about the whole thing.]

...I'm poisonous.

[because of course he has to start off explaining it in the least comprehensible way possible.]

[Tonic stays right where he is.

that statement does not make sense. he tries, he really does, to wedge this new fact into his understanding of how life and science and reality work, but even when he finds a foothold somewhere where it could theoretically be possible, another part of him retaliates because it sounds, objectively, kind of stupid.

all Tek gets is a slow, deliberate blink as his brilliant mind scrambles to comprehend the statement.]

What?

[he takes the empty incredulity in stride. it might be exactly what he was hoping for, in all honesty.]

I'm poisonous.

[as if the emphasis would be enough to explain. it isn't, of course, but all good things need to be dragged out at least a little. he lifts his hands enough to wiggle his beautiful, perfect fingers a bit.]

It's part of me. It's like water on water.

[on the one hand, this makes a lot of sense. Tonic tilts his head curiously as the alcohol, the antipoisons, and even the other's enthusiasm for poisons in general are slotted snugly into a new context.

but people aren't... you can't just be...

he narrows his eyes while he tries to think his way through this. he has several conflicting ideas about what Tek may actually be, and they're all clamoring against his constant fear that saying the wrong thing will have the other turning on him.

eventually, he lets out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, finally tilting his head as if to get a better angle on the mystery.]

I think you're telling the truth. [this is the most important thing to get out of the way, falling back on the set of rules that seems to have turned into the backbone of their strange relationship.] But I don't understand how.

[and Tek seems pleased as punch that Tonic both believes him and doesn't know the why of it. he seems content with this.]

That's how I did the little trick with your glass. So, you can stop wondering about that one too.

[and... he can't help but slide a glance over the shelf of Tonic's finished poisons as well. he doesn't want to say out loud that he could do the same thing to any of the vials here--not yet, at least--but he wonders if Tonic might walk into the thought himself.]

[oh, he glances alright. he connects those dots very quickly.

he has a lot of thoughts. a lot of conflicting ideas, a lot of worries. this is the kind of thing he'd hoped they'd never talk about again--and yet, here he is, the one who said he wanted to talk about it in the first place.

he's antsy for something. a drink, or a cigarette. some smoke. but instead of any of that, he moves and drums his fingers against the table and sits up a little straighter, digging deep into his own instincts to guide him forward. his mind is clearly failing him; this is now a matter of survival, not thought.]

I don't know what to do with this.

[another admittance. he's a little nervous at whatever implications this has opened for him, but he isn't ready to bolt yet. he just needs something to go off of, something to give him any idea of how he could safely proceed.]

[as Tek's face leans heavier onto his hand, he tries not to seem disappointed--which, for anyone who knows the fickle reptile, is huge. Tonic is very lucky that he's a fragile, crushable mortal, and that Tek hasn't been feeling particularly antsy lately. he actually has patience enough to cut the guy some slack as he tries to come to terms with something that has the potential to turn his entire world upside down.]

Well... does it change anything?

[are they the same horrible people they were a minute ago? did Tek threaten him with anything? do all the same reassurances and rules and other infrastructure they'd previously laid down still apply?]

[does it change anything?

it's a very good question. he thinks on that for a while, in that way of his, grateful for something to finally sink into. he calculates and adjusts and checks to make sure that the scales are even. he runs over everything they'd said before, and the statistical likelihood that any of it could have changed over the course of a week and a half.

Tek may not have to be disappointed for long; when things finally click into place, the better half of his mouth quirks up into a funny little smile, and the anxiety that had been creeping into his expression melts back to something much closer to curiosity.]

No... I suppose you've got me there, babe.

[he'd been fooling himself, thinking that they could just never talk about this again. but if he hasn't been ruined about this creature yet, and they really have been honest this whole time... he takes a deep breath, leaning forward, committing to diving in. if he's going to risk sinking, he wants to learn as much as possible in the process.

he grins, just the one half of his face, but it is now very genuine.]

So, why is that? How could you possibly be poisonous?

[he loves watching the swift little machine of this man's mind work, imagining all of the paranoid tabulations going on in there--which makes it all the more satisfying when it all adds up in Tek's favor. his easy grin returns, almost looking proud of himself for somehow not scaring him off yet.]

The same reason as everything else, I suppose. It's the way I was born.

[he shrugs as if his eyes, his teeth, his tongue, his mismatched gender, all of it was just some fluke of nature that might not have a huge, important reason behind it.]

[Tonic already had a hunch that Tek wasn't entirely human, and this all but confirms it for him. it's the only thing that makes sense, as startling as it is to think that he may have attracted the attention of a brab'ja without realizing it.]

So is that just your... [he doesn't really know how to ask, he hasn't dived deeply into the vernacular of the scattered, magical community, for obvious reasons.] Your affinity, I suppose?

[Robin has told Tek enough about the magic here for this line of logic to make perfect sense--most people have one trick and only one trick, with only a few very powerful mages able to do a small range of things centered around a single theme or magical element. Tonic is probably guessing that poison is his.]

[half of the pride behind Tek's pleased expression is that the alias that he'd cobbled together is more-or-less working. Tonic is walking the line of logic that he'd hoped... and it's not technically a lie, when you think about it.

he nods, fighting his smirk down to reasonable levels. and he waggles the fingers of one hand again--menacing and cute about it.]

[at least his guest seems to be having a good time, he'll give him that. he shakes his head, earrings swinging back and forth, just the edge of a laugh in response to the ease with which Tek is admitting to some of the greatest sins possible.]

Yes, yes. It's very scary, darling.

[which is meant entirely as a tease. magic is scary, but poison is something he knows all about--and knowing just what kind of things Tek can do with it will better arm him for any trouble-making the man could put him through in the future.]

I'll give you this... [he slumps back down against his table, but now he's leaning in much closer to Tek than he was before.] ...You've certainly ensured I'll have no shortage of questions for the foreseeable future.

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