May 2nd, 2017 ;
A Venomous Excursion. @passcridae
“The desert is cold at night.” Yureif remarked, calmly. His nonchalant demeanour could belie many of the dangerous aspects of his personality, the charming, the dauntless, the reckless--although the scar across his cheek would quickly make any stranger who wanted to take the man lightly at face value, backtrack and reconsider. Mallick was not a stranger though, and he knew better than to take the grin pulling at Yureif’s lips as anything else but a warning truth.
The thing was, his brother had this way of giving these warnings as if he was simply testing how credible people would take him. The truth was--Yureif never lied when he let these things slip. Worry might not be creasing his eyebrows and his expression might not betray any of the reasons why he might know certain things to not be recommended but when Yureif stated something, it was with the strong knowledge that if you did not hear him out, if you did not take his advice then you would only have yourself to blame for the consequences.
Mallick wasn’t fond of feeling the blunt edge of consequences that could have been avoided, so he reached over for the heavy blanket on his bed. He still shot a narrowed glare at his brother, who took none of the heat of course and casually waited for Mallick to finish packing and close his backpack and hauled it across his shoulders.
“Anything else you forgot to mention in your initial assessment of how well this trip could potentially not go?”
Yureif gave him a shrug and simply laughed the question off, hopefully by the time they got to the tavern where they were supposed to meet Sparrow his memory would clock back in, rather than his constant mirth. They made their way there leisurely, it was close enough that mere minutes found them entering the tavern. It was not busy at this time of the day, early morning--most likely nearing only 8am. It might be too early for some, but Mallick was used to blinking his eyes open at sunrise and staying up way past sunset. Routine was needed when you had to be on constant alert of what was occuring around, especially if it could lead to some prompt actions to take advantage of in the middle of a peaceful moment in Kadeu.
“When is he supposed to get here?” Yureif asked, off the topic that had kept them laughing and light hearted, Mallick’s nephews. Yureif’s children had the tendency to soften him to a point where even Mallick could admit, he rarely ever recalled his brother ever sounding like before his first child.
“Soon, hopefully. I’m not sure how much of an early bird he is.”
What Mallick was sure of, was that he needed something warm to start the day. Spring was always a bit torn between heat and cold, and he put the packed bag on a table before heading towards the bar.
“When’s Angie coming in?”
Angie, the bartender, who always worked as the cook during morning hours and who could whisp any beverages asked of her, alcoholic or not. An easy smile, tight curls, warm gaze and a magical touch that made customers not think twice about leaving their coins and some extra when needed when she sweet talked them out of their worries. “Just brew your own damn coffee, you don’t need Angie to do that.”
True, but--he was halted from whatever he’d opened his mouth to say at the tavern’s wind chimes singing and the man they were waiting for appearing in the doorway. Mallick gave him a greeting, a short nod of his head that may seemed dry and curt but he had the contrast of his smile invitingly friendly before he promptly let his mind and words back to what he’d been trying to do, “Morning birdie, tell me, how good are your coffee making skills?”
