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[frightling]

Whether you intended to or not, you have reached the Magic Book of Malachai Lynch.

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[thegreatestproject]

Do you like wine?

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[frightling]

Wine? Sure. I mean, there are apparently people who don't like wine but I'm not one of them.

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[thegreatestproject]

Good to know, because those people are wrong.

It's a bit cold for picnics, but I was wondering if you'd like to join me in the dining hall some afternoon. Between meals, when we can have more space to ourselves.

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[frightling]

That would be great, actually. Dinner, or there's lots of little lounges all over the place in the castle. I can grab some wine and snacks, if you like that better.

[The castle is very accommodating for lounge space, fortunately, especially when it comes to privacy for intimate things. For the moment, though, Mal is figuring wine and snacks or dinner would be a good start...until they figure out of their little encounter in the woods made things awkward or not.]

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[thegreatestproject]

I've got the wine covered. A couple bottles of this fairy-made red that mostly reminds me of a Granache.

[If there's a little lounge that's even semi-private compared to, say, the library, all the better. Eliot wants someplace they can get to know each other that isn't a bedroom, where they can be almost certain of some privacy.]

[frightling]

That sounds great. Most of what I've found a lot of sweet white wines, mostly, including mead of course. So that sounds really great.

[Someone else who knows their wine offering him some expertise and suggestions sounds like a GREAT plan. And if he sounds a bit dopey about it, well, he knows wines. Socializing, not quite so much except for his naturally gregarious nature.]

I don't know how you feel about hanging out in other wings, but there's a lounge right in Autumn that's really nice, huge sofas. Or we can just pick a random wing and find a spot we like?

You know, sorta make it an adventure.

[thegreatestproject]

I'd say the Autumn baths are sufficiently picturesque. So long as you don't mind potentially people-watching while people are getting naked.

To be clear, we can keep our clothes on this time. If you want.

[frightling]

Well, hard to keep so your clothes on in a bath, but that sounds great.

And I'm not against other stuff, but might be nice to actually talk a little? =) Get to know each other a little and have a couple drinks before we get distracted.

-> Log

[thegreatestproject]

We can start hanging out poolside and see where it goes.

Time is a little loose here, and Eliot is content to leave it appropriately casual — on a day of their choosing, a short time after lunch, Eliot arrives at the Autumn baths with two bottles of wine. If Mal has been paying attention during their moments in passing. he'll have noticed a serious improvement in Eliot's wardrobe a few weeks back. Today, he's sporting a paisley vest over a plain shirt and a pair of tan slacks.

He scanned the room for a good spot to settle in — or for Mal himself, if the other man had beat him here.

[frightling]

Mal is likewise dressed comfortably in his own clothes, though he's even more relaxed in jeans and a buttondown shirt. If he's going to be taking off clothes in the bath, he might as well make it easier.

Eliot arrives first, but Mal isn't too far behind as he waves and slips into the warm, humid room and presents a cardboard bakery box. He smiles easily when he sees Eliot, and holds up the box in a brief greeting.

"Hey. Sorry, I stopped for goodies. Hope you weren't waiting for too long."

He's going to kick off his shoes immediately. No sense in keeping those on in here.

[thegreatestproject]

Context is everything. Eliot normally wouldn't be caught dead without shoes in this sort of outfit, but they are right next to a pool. He's got on a pair of boat shoes, which can be easily slipped off when they decide to start dipping their toes in.

By the time Mal arrives, Eliot has found a spot, set himself down on the stones, and opened the first bottle. He's nursing his first cup. He hadn't been about to put himself on pause while he waited, but he hadn't wanted to make too much headway.

"You're fine. I literally had nowhere else to be." He lifts the open bottle and pours some into what will become Mal's cup. "...which is still a really nice thing to be able to say."

After he sets down the bottle, he takes up his own cup and clinks Mal's with it, lightly.

[frightling]

And Mal wouldn't have expected Eliot to just sit and twiddle his thumbs while waiting, so he just smiles when he sees Eliot nursing a drink and with a second cup ready for him.

"It is kinda weird, isn't it? Not having anywhere to be, not having to keep a real schedule. If I was lazier, I'd get myself in trouble." He chuckles, and sits next to the taller man, accepting the cup and toast with familiar grace.

"You kept busy back home, then? A lot to do?"

[thegreatestproject]

"I'm dealing with a lot of shit that lands on my doorstep for legitimate but ultimately frustrating reasons."

He isn't leaping to go into the whole High King thing. Or the specifics of said shit. Those things may come up — it might be inevitable, eventually, if he and Mal keep seeing each other — but that's stuff you don't just drop on a person, even when you have both been sucked into an alternate dimension ruled by fairies.

"Someone told me to treat this like a vacation, and I almost couldn't do it." Though he didn't entirely fault himself for that. "I mean, if they want people to fuck for their entertainment and not freak out about it, they could just ask, but that's beside the point." Which is: "Home is very busy."

[frightling]

"Mm. Yeah, I get that." The implication of Responsibilities is more than enough to put them on the same page- Mal has his own back home that he has only barely thought about since coming here.

He flexes his feet on the stone, splaying his toes and then wriggling them idly.

"It's a vacation, but one that goes on forever and you can't leave when you want, that makes it kinda 'gilded cage' territory. Plus, you know. The fucking, which not everyone is really into normally." He flashes a small smile, indicating that he, at least, doesn't mind it so much. As long as he can pretend no one's actually watching him. "But faeries aren't exactly known for doing things by anyone's rules but their own, I knew that even before I got here."

[thegreatestproject]

He's dealt with fairies before. That catches Eliot's attention, and has him thinking back to their first encounter in the fog. That flicker of shadow he'd seen in Mal's presence.

"And knowing is half the battle," he quips. "Even if, with fairies, a little knowledge can get you screwed over eight ways to Sunday."

He takes a sip of wine before going on.

"I had my own run-in with a different set of fairies, shortly before getting pulled in here. Someone made a deal to save my ass, and wound up giving away something she shouldn't have had the right to." His jaw clenches momentarily at the memory. He isn't furious with Margo anymore, but the whole situation... "It made it impossible to take this all at face value, for a while."