Aldderyn, Kai Tighe
Alddy and Kai have a very, very drunken heart-to-heart.
Warnings: There is so much alcohol consumed in this.
Aldderyn lifted his helmet and brought the flask up to his lips only to realize it was empty. He let it drop to the ground beside him, clattering against a field of other canteens and bottles of various shapes and sizes. The spores wafting off of him lifted into the air unsteadily and lazily, carrying the scent of alcohol wherever they happened to go. The drunk warrior searched for another bottle amongst his belongings, swearing under his breath that he knew he carried more.
Kai Tighe picks his way down the slope with the exaggerated carefulness of someone who is just drunk enough to have lost faith in their coordination off of flat ground. A heavy pack is slung over his shoulders, clinking with each step he takes, his sword tucked in behind it. The expression on his face is neutral, perfectly blank, but his emotions are a seething mess - rage, guilt, fear, shame, all completely unguarded with the certainty that he's alone as he reaches the bottom of the hill. The sight of Aldderyn stops him dead; he's back on guard instantly, presenting a calm front to the other Sylvari.
Aldderyn heard the sound of footsteps that were too carefully placed, too focused on appearing normal. He thought that was excellent meaning there was another drunkard nearby, which meant drinks. Though normally possessing excellent eyesight, when Aldderyn craned his head around awkwardly to see his new companion, all he could see was a giant red robed figure standing as silent as could be. Squinting did nothing to help focus on the figure and after assuring himself that he did not eat anything strange or pink and that it was probably something wrong with his visor and not the fact that he could barely feel any of his extremities. Nevertheless, none of that was any reason to not be friendly, hallucination or not, waving for the figure to come and hollered loudly for the figure to join him.
Kai Tighe puts on a thin smile as he approaches. It's clear Aldderyn hasn't recognized him, given how cooly the other Sylvari had greeted him last time they met, so he takes great pleasure in dropping his bag next to the warrior and saying, "Hello, Aldderyn." He sits, his pack between them, and looks out over the water. "How nice to see you on such a beautiful evening." There's a sharp undercurrent of sarcasm to his voice; deniable, but there. He flips open his pack and draws out a bottle.
Aldderyn was looking forward when the figure approached and called out his name. Slightly relieved for his sanity, he nodded toward the figure and grinned widely in greeting, albeit hidden under his helmet. Though the voice was familiar and the tone reminded him of someone who he once knew deeply, the name escaped his grasp. He tried to look at the figure when he sat next to him, but the sun shining harshly into his eyes stopped him from seeing anything, his mysterious companion hidden in shadow. "It seems we know each other then already! Fantastic," he slurred out. "You'll have to forgive me though friend, for my mind is /quite/ muddled, to put it lightly," he chuckled, his head falling into his lap. "But enough of me, what brings you to this lonely hill?
Kai Tighe glances at Aldderyn, almost unable to believe he couldn't place Kai; he must be drunker than Kai assumed. Instead of giving his name, he waggles the bottle before popping the cork out. "I am going to work myself into the exact same state as you, my outrageously drunk friend, because although the evening is nice, very little else is! I'm sure you agree if you're so drunk you don't recognize me." He takes a swig from the bottle and dabs his mouth with the back of his hand. "Just my luck that someone would be here. What /are/ you doing here?"
Aldderyn belts out a thunderous laugh and slaps the figure on the back, except the figure was much further away than Aldderyn realized and accidentally knocked over his companion's pack. The pack fell, a cacophony of gear and more importantly, bottles. He apologized profusely, fumbling with the bag for a little while before finally getting upright again and getting a good look inside. What he saw made him slightly envious, his throat tightening up in dryness. "My friend I am out here hunting the most dangerous of prey: an idea! But not just any idea, it is an idea of the most insidious nature! An idea that seeks to corrupt all that's arguably good and moral and - " At this point Aldderyn burst into a fit of laughter, tears coming to his eyes that he could not wipe away due to something blocking the way. "To be honest friend, I don't know. I heard fanciful rumors, tales of the Nightmare Court doing something in the area. And I found out that it was true, and I found out who it was! I think. I'm not entirely sure. I could just be here because I like getting drunk," he finished, absentmindedly nicking one of the bottles in his companion's pack and popping off the cork in one quick motion.
Kai Tighe watches Aldderyn nick a bottle without making the slightest attempt to stop him as cold lead settles in his chest. He lowers the bottle to his lap and wraps both hands around it, twining his fingers together in a painfully tight knot, his desire to drink fading as Aldderyn speaks. "You very well could be. It seems like you must enjoy it to some degree to get that drunk," he says, subdued. He sighs and looks up at the sky; the last thing he wanted to do was ask, but an odd mix compelled him - responsibility to the Court, and sheer gods-be-damned curiosity. Clearly Aldderyn meant him, but what exactly had he found out? He reaches out and straightens the listing pack before he speaks again. "Who's the dastardly Courtier in the area, then?"
Aldderyn nodded and raised his drink in a toast, saying that drinking is a fine hobby indeed as he raised the bottle to his lips. He stopped mid-drink when his companion asked his question as he actually tried to remember who he was chasing. The answer sobered him up quick, if only just a touch, and he put down the bottle into his lap much like his companion. Aldderyn looked to his companion, who was still hidden by the sun's glare, straightening his back and raising his head to look at approximately where he thought his companion's eyes were. "No such thing as a dastardly, dear friend! Only people doing what they think is right. This Courtier is no different." He laughed and drank to his own cleverness as his fave shifted back towards the waters and his mind drifting between past and present.
Kai Tighe said nothing. Taking a quick swig, he tucked the bottle between his legs to free his hands and reached over to Aldderyn. With gentle, careful fingers, he lifted the helmet off of the warrior's head and set it behind him, then returned to his bottle. He took a deep drink, pulling back to cough as the wine seared his throat.
Aldderyn chuckled as his friend lifted the helmet. "You know, if you wanted to see my beautiful face, all you had to do was ask. It's a shame I can't see yours, pre-" The sun had sunked quite a bit, now just crowning on the faraway mountains and the visor helped him see much more clearly. He had his best smoldering look on, which made it all the more awkward when he finally realized who he had been conversing with the entire time. There was a moment of awkward silence before Aldderyn took another sip of his companion's drink. "You know Kai, I couldn't believe it was possible, but somehow you've created whole new shades of red. On your face. How does, intoxicated Kai sound to you? Too long?"
Kai Tighe takes another overlarge swig of the wine, wiping his mouth on his glove again. Manners were for polite company. "Oh, how flippant you are now that you know it's that damn Courtier you're speaking to! Do I not warrant the charm you use on /literally/ everyone else you meet? Rude, very rude." His tone is flat, though; he's speaking into the bottle, his eyes turned out over the water below them. He takes another long pull on the bottle. "And you're exaggerating. I'm not drunk enough for that yet. I am, however, determined to get there."
Aldderyn sipped his wine carefully and shrugged. "Not everyone leaves their friends without a word and lets them find out what has happened to him by having to literally come face to face with him in the midst of a sting operation and ruining it." His tone was flat and even as he drank the last drops of his bottle and pulled out another two for both him and Kai. "But that's in the past, how does it go with the bandits."
Kai Tighe drains his bottle with a final determined pull, then chucks the empty bottle into the water below. It hits the surface and sinks with a flurry of bubbles. "I never promised Yavril, or you for that matter, that I would remain loyal to something I detested, and I am so... so, so..." He waves a feeble, bitter hand, and takes the Aldderyn offers him, wrenching the cork out and throwing it after the bottle. "I am not some hideous betrayer of all that is good! By the Pale Tree's boughs, Aldderyn, I'm dealing with flea-bitten humans who pick their noses at the table while we talk. Can't you find a scrap of sympathy?"
Aldderyn chugged the wine down and put it beside all the other empty bottles and canteens that lay littered on the ground. He began organizing them without thought, placing them semi-neatly in his bag. "Nobody asked you to remain loyal. There were other ways of fighting against the tablet beside poisoning the Dream. We've known each other for how long now, Kai, 24 years? I was chasing after you for four years, Yavril I don't even know how many. I never had the heart to tell her. I was your comrade a year after that, though whether you knew it or not I don't know. Probably not, I left shortly after. I've been drinking ever since, fighting dragons and Courtiers alike. You know," Aldderyn chuckled mirthlessly, "I've never thought of killing you like I have those other Courtiers out of some sick, twisted sense that maybe you could be saved, and I don't know, maybe you can. You've sure as hell done a bang up job showing it though. So for your problems with snot-nosed humans, the Court, you and everything you've done, I can't be bothered to care honestly."
Kai Tighe hunches over himself, only prevented from resting his forehead on his knees by the bottle in his hands, and shuts his eyes as Aldderyn speaks. "What I meant," he says, long moments after Aldderyn has finished, bolstered by the wine coursing through him, "is that if you think I wouldn't go back and undo what I've done so that I am not wretched and alone every instant of my life, then you do not know me as well as you seem to think you do." He twists his hands around the bottle, his gloves squeaking against the glass. He laughs. "At the time I believed it to be the only way to attempt to change things without shutting myself off from Mother. As if this fate is better! More tolerable! Aldderyn, if you would just kill me, you would be doing me a favor." He sits up, brushes his leaves from his forehead. "You would only be doing your duty. One less Courtier in the world."
Aldderyn kept his face even throughout everything, breaking open another bottle and taking small sips as Kai spoke. "I wouldn't be doing my duty as a friend."
Kai Tighe laughs bitterly. "And that comes before everything else, does it? I am actively working against the good of all Sylvari. I am working to increase the power of the Court, which weakens the Dream. But your friendship with me - that outweighs everything. I see." He takes a gulp of wine. "This is the first time we've spoken in years, Aldderyn, and I am not the person I was. Twenty-three years in the Nightmare has rotted me. You should reconsider." He makes an attempt to get to his feet, his legs wobbly and uncooperative.
Aldderyn grabs up and pulls harshly on Kai's robe, forcing him to sit down else he does something stupid like trip and fall down into the water. "Make no mistake Kai, if we ever do cross paths from opposite sides again, I won't hesitate a second time. Everything the Court has done and will do will all be for naught in the end. Obviously you've been doubting yourself and your convictions for a while so how long do you really expect to last with them. The Court has a way of knowing these types of things. You might be the best damn Courtier around, Kai, poisoning the Dream with every step and bringing destruction with your every action, but that doesn't mean you're irreplaceable. And it may have been twenty-three years, but you're still my friend. I've lost too many over the years to take the life of another." He placed another empty bottle in his pack, his mind seeming to clear with every drop.
Kai Tighe lands hard, too uncoordinated to catch himself, and his bottle spins out of his hands; it goes bouncing down the rocks below, shattering into glittering shards. He stares at his empty hands blankly. "...Aldderyn, I... If I could change what I've done..." He pauses, his mouth suddenly dry. "I am very sorry. For everything you've been through."
Aldderyn was quiet for a long while, staring out into the water. He reached for a small flask hidden in a compartment in his bag and gave it to Kai. "Drink this. It's a special concoction of mine, brewed from the finest ingredients all over Tyria and will get you to intoxicated Kai faster than any swill around here. Don't make me regret it."
Kai Tighe takes the flask without protest, unscrewing the cap and taking a gulp. He chokes on it as it burns its way down his throat; choking and sputtering, the cap clutched precariously between his knuckles, he takes a moment to collect himself before taking a much more cautious taste. He still makes a face, but he finishes off the flask, handing it back to Aldderyn. "If I remember any of this, I will be unpleasantly surprised." He's been intoxicated Kai for a while now, cheeks dark and enunciation careful.
It didn't take long for Kai to knock out and lay snoozing on the ground. Aldderyn looked over amusingly at the Courtier and gently took the small flask from his hands. Slightly disappointed that Kai had taken every drop for himself, Aldderyn decided that the best form of revenge was to obviously stuff Kai in his sleeping bag, tie it high up in a tree, and slather the entire bag with honey that he would have to procure from somewhere. Unfortunately the first order of business was going to be standing up, and the drunkard hadn't been able to feel his legs since Kai first sat down next to him.
