....Yes they are, but not this fucking ass.

"You sure ain't working with me if you're not even hearing me out! Also, you're a dickhead."

"Okay," She rubs her arm a little uncomfortable. She's never called anyone older than her by just their name. ".....Elias." It was a little bit hard, but she managed to correct herself.

"Yes, I saw that it changed some people's voices, but I think there are other effects to it." She wasn't one to try something so questionable, minus that tea but....Perhaps it was her fault for not paying attention to what she was drinking.

"Worried? No...not really." Elias scratched the back of his neck. "In fact, I'd like to see it really does have an affect on me. There aren't very many things that do." Besides getting blasted in the face with fire and destructive magic. Of course.

"It's too complicated of a story, dude. Why can't I just trip and fall, and pretend I broke something? Then blackmail 'em for the cash."

It's-- brilliant, in theory, but also Badou doesn't know if he can follow all of that. How is Elias going to follow all that? Well, he's a bartender so that probably makes sense there.

Also--

Elias was seriously starting to doubt if Badou had it in him. He knows for a fact that his group in Viriath would have been down to clown for this.

Today, however, she shifted a bit nervously upon her usual seat; her infectious smile still there but hidden a bit by the solemnity she felt Elias’ art only deserved.

“Oh, please do not apologize. The fact you are willing to go so far to me is a gift itself, you see – back where I am from we also have connected divination and tea but never have I been able to experience it myself.”

She sympathized too with the flow of aether turning her magic to an unfamiliar pulse inside her but kept that to herself for now, nodding at the next question.

"I'm glad to be able to show you then," he began to pour some water over the leaves in both of their cups. "My mentor did this for me a lot, but I don't think he was always entirely truthful about his readings...Especially when I was younger." Elias was chagrined to remember these times, and it showed on his face.

"First things first--you're going to think about a question you want answers for. The next step is probably going to be your least favorite part. We have to carefully sip the water down until there's about a tablespoon left, without a strainer of course. So if I get any leaves in my teeth you have to promise not to tell me. Then we're going to swirl that remaining water from left to right. That gets all of the leaves settled. Then we can start to read the symbols."

She couldn't really do much. It was like a weighted blanket was muffling her whenever she tried to use a spell. Without her winged boots, too, getting to this house was a pain. "Can't believe I forgot how hard walking sucked," she muttered, staring at her key as she looked for a house with a matching number. Was she really getting so spoiled?

Suddenly, someone grabbed her, and suddenly, she was being spun around in someone's arms. Genna squawked at the sudden man-handling and was about to start kicking and squirming to turn around and go for the eyes, but, she'd recognize those scrawny nerd arms any day.

"Elias?!" Her husband was here, too?!

Still a bit dazed, she had no clue what he was yammering on about. This was all so, so weird. She'd pinch herself to check if she was dreaming, but Elias promptly took care of that for her.

"Waggh—cut it out!" She grabbed his hands, pulling them off her, and stuck out her tongue. He was such a kid!

They were going to go back to a home burned to the ground. Guaranteed.

"Extra-planar stuff. Right. Right." Elias tried picking through his studies to decide what exactly this place could be. "It seems like a demiplane. Like where our home is. But this demiplane has some kind of strong magical resistance that the body gets used to." Elias waved his arms as if he was trying to grasp his thoughts and connections into physical existence. "And I don't recognize it--I mean sure it looks familiar to many places I've been, but...I'd never heard of a place called The Aevum Isles on either Viriath, or Krynn, or The Forgotten Realms, or any of the outer planes. With magic neutralizing effects I would think it most similar to the Outlands like the Hidden Vale but I know that realm like the back of my hand..."

His history knowledge was making him spiral. It was made all the worse at her very simple observation. She was right. He hadn't remembered stepping through the portals either.

Elias calls over a waiter at the bar and whispers something in the guy's ear. The two both nod at one another and Elias starts to get up from his seat when he takes a drink on the waiter's round tray and splashes a little on Badou's shirt. "...Real messy. Disheveled, even." Elias reaches over to adjust Badou's collar. "This guy here owes me a favor or two." Elias motions with his head over to the waiter, who was standing in the line of sight of the men playing cards to block their view. "So he's gonna let me borrow a suit to look the part of a waiter, and every time I come around and try to explain the daily specials, you should know that you need to fold your hand. Bring up the sports scores or criticize the teams to start some infighting. Then what do you know? Cigarette money."

"The 'Gilded Captain,' huh..." Grimm repeats the name of the elusive fish that the sailors had been chattering about, idle gossip perhaps turning into a local legend before them. It was said its species was not known for golden scales, yet multiple sources had reported a sighting of a fish dotted in that lustrous shade, glowing beneath the now calm spring waters of the barrier islands. And it was not even a gem fish! A blessing of the Aether, they said, though there seemed to be debate about whether it really was a sign of good fortune or merely a wonder of nature.

"Think you we might actually see such a thing, Elias? I know not how I feel myself, but it makes a little outing to the beach far more exciting, does it not?" he laughs, turning to his new companion for this trip. The fellow was of immediate interest to him—much more than the Gilded Captain, really—with that gentle feeling of divinity laying over him... Was it him, or was he merely touched by one? Grimm wanted to know more, and oh! How odd it was that he'd sensed so much divine energy of such varying types in this small place. Assuming that his senses were correct, that was...

But Grimm was quite willing to leave it all unsaid, and no god he'd stumbled upon yet other than Loki seemed to feel any reason to speak on it either—like the elephant in the room was wearing a suit and tie and walking around and still ignored. What impressive humbleness, he'd thought.

The boat then approaches and comes to a slow stop at the beach of Arcus Cove, the soft sound of treading water replaced with the caws of cumulus gulls. The last time Grimm had come out this way, it had been a churning sea horror... but now, spring had calmed it all.

Truth be told, Elias knew that there was something a bit off about Grimm's presence as well. He sensed a great magical power that permeated his presence, but he couldn't really tell what kind of power that was. At least it didn't feel particularly good or evil either way, regardless of how his appearance reminded him of a yugoloth. If anything it just felt foreign. There was a bit of tension there between the two about their origins, surely, but Elias refused to make any judgments or bring it up. He didn't like to step on toes if he could help it.

The island was approaching, regardless, and the man set his sights to the waters once more, offering Grimm a look into the spyglass. The boat slid peacefully towards the dock and the crew began to filter off the vessel to do some maintenance. Elias and Grimm disembarked together bidding the captain farewell for now. Elias walked over to a small wooden stand that advertised the seasonal catches, as well as sold some cheap touristy beach equipment. He handed over some money and came back with two pails for collecting shells and some rented fishing poles.

Kids, huh? So he was a father. She wonders how many. It must be tough being away from them. She wishes she had the power to send him back if only so that way he could be with them. Unfortunately, no one has that power.

Her own gaze meets the tapestry. Her heart feels so, so heavy and she looks back at the gentleman. "My name is Luna. It's nice to meet you Mister Elias." She bows her head in greeting.

Oh. She hadn't expected to come across someone tearing. Honestly, she felt this. She felt how he was feeling. A holiday like this would bring and remind people of those they left behind, those whom they may never see again. with that in mind, the young teenager digs into her bag and pulls out a Kleenex for him to use to dab away those tears.

"I know it isn't much, but the most we can do is just....have fun in their name." hypocrite. She's such a hypocrite.

One question ripped him from that sentimental thought, however.

If he were to have fun in someone else's name...did he really deserve it? Would they have forgiven him?

Elias dabbed at his eye.