for @councillor-roland
He had stopped worrying at some point about the consequences, come the next day. Perhaps come the next hour. Adrasia's drunken thoughts were too slippery to wrestle into coherent shape at the moment and the most solid of them had been around how badly his feet hurt. He had taken to carrying one sandal, the one that had broken again after he fled, then both when that proved too uncomfortable, but the street was hardly any kinder on his soles. Why had he been in the street? For a moment's break from Euphoria's oppression, Adrasia remembered now, but it had been far longer than a moment.
He could hear low hum of party-goers still chattering as they walked through the square and the distant sound of music still pouring from the clubs. He would have to summon the courage to go back there, though the celestial couldn't remember why. He was shivering slightly, his costume half-pulled around his shoulders like a cloak, the cold stone of the fountain's edge seeping through the fabric he sat on and chilling his thighs. All he'd thought was how nice the water would feel on his feet. They certainly weren't sore anymore, that was blessing. But it was so late. He had to go back.
Adrasia summoned up his willpower, extracting his legs from the fountain slowly as if he was moving through honey. Still too fast, the lamplights were spinning dangerously. He only managed to half-turn himself, perched side saddle on the stone with his damp calves folded under him before he grunted and braced a hand against the stone. Only the click of heels on the cobbles roused the celestial from his trance, the faintest lingering caution making Adrasia try to lift his drooping head. The other was only a smudge against the trees before the sight of him coalesced to something real and solid, the celestial making a soft noise of surprise in recognition. "Oh. Hello, Roland," His voice sounded faint even to him, completely lacking his normal formality. "It's you. I think I need - to apologize to you."
