Icarus is flying too close to the sun

           “You should try it sometime.” Rhys snapped back a little too quickly as his gaze quickly dropped and he forced his eyes to focus on the glass he was holding tightly in his hands. Taking a moment to himself, the paramedic downed the beer before signalling the bartender for another one as his eyes still avoided looking directly at her. “You could do so much more, but you already know that. Same as it was before, Bex. You know, paramedic and everything that goes along with it.” 

                     “Fate. Or I heard it through the grapevine that you were here and figured it was time for a little catch up.” he responded nonchalantly to the imp that he hadn’t seen in almost a hundred years; she had seemed to enjoy Rhys’ company --- Rhysand, not so much.  

                “And I will repay you in any way that you want for doing said work. If that’s what you’re offering, otherwise I might be screwed.”

               “Anyone ever told you to read between the lines?”

                 “Think I was giving her the benefit of the doubt for the most part, but you’ve just gone and blown all of that away. Didn’t realize I was talking to such an expert; would have kept my mouth shut otherwise.”

          “Maybe there’s some sort of newbie’s anonymous that we can sign up to; meet some people.”

             “I haven’t said that once in my entire life. If I recall, the Twenties were ---- prohibition, flappers, sneaking around. Don’t tell me you didn’t have a blast.”

                “According to the menu its been voted the best beer around five years running. So yeah, I consider that a bold statement.”

                  “The maple syrup comment is definitely shocking and now I’m struggling to believe that you’re Canadian. But I’ll also bite ---- what’s so different about Vermont’s syrup?” 

             “Anything bacon sounds good to me, especially coming off of a fourteen hour shift.”

              “Yes, you.” the Imp stated while pointing his index finger at the warlock while sighing slightly to hide his amusement at his friend’s comment. “There has to be better things to complain about, Cael. My fashion choices are low on the list.”

                 “Fucking gross.” he repeated her words as he laughed breathlessly before taking a large sip of his beer. “Seeing as my first drink of choice has just been ridiculed, what’s yours?”

               “ ---- You did, but I’m not going to sound like a broken record; just had to get that out.” he told her as his drink finally arrived and so Rhys wasted a few moments drinking deeply, savoring the taste of the beer before setting the glass down as she shot one right back; apparently some things never changed. “This isn’t exactly normal and when I came here for a fresh start, I thought it would be just that so give me a moment ----- so, that’s what you’re doing with your life then, huh?” and no, he wouldn’t hide the clear disappointment that laced his words.  

            “You can’t just declare something like that and expect me to say nothing. Pretty bold statement.” 

              There was the smallest of frowns that seemed to appear on his features as the imp moved to sit himself down beside Bexley before turning his attention over to the bartender for a moment. At her question, well, he shrugged slightly while waiting for his drink, only slowly allowing his gaze to drift over to where she sat. “Needed a change of scenery and hey, you’d know all about that, right?” of course he was going to take a small dig considering the circumstances and hey, at the time it was just another person, playing the same role; at least now he got to play the victim. “You know --- actually, no, it doesn’t matter.”

                   Three weeks at playing human and Rhys was already lost to it. This is how it went, and already scattered around town were people who he had assumed different identifies with, and yet the mortal shell of Rhys Terrella was the one the imp so effortlessly slipped back into. It was this version of himself that had at one point in time been in, well, a relationship with the woman who he spotted sitting alone the bar; Red Creek never failed to deliver. “Rhys.” he replied under the weight of a small yet polite smile, hands stuffed in his pocket as he looked at the woman who had actually left him back in Ohio. How strange. “Or have you forgotten my name already?”