emet_sulk | [avalon] IC Inbox

He stiffens and glances away, setting his mouth into a firm line. Gods above, what an embarrassing man his friend is.

"When we return, you are taking a hot shower immediately. Understood?" he says, more irritably than he feels. "And I will boil some water to make you tea."

Do not think about using his own body's warmth to keep the chill at bay, he tells himself. Do not.

For better or for worse, Hythlodaeus has long been adept at reading the difference between Hades's outward reactions and the way the man is actually feeling. The grumpy proclamation of caring is heartwarming, if not quite enough to be bodywarming, too... but Hythlodaeus is more than certain he hasn't taken nearly enough revenge for the sudden soaking, and so he leans in close to Hades, lowering his voice to murmur in his friend's ear.

"And had you let me pull you in, you would be taking that shower with me."

Oh, now that murmur sends a sharp jolt up his spine. He sucks in a sharp breath, bites his lip, and elbows Hythlodaeus away from him.

Mayhap his friend doesn't realise the effect those thoughts have on him. One doesn't spend a year in a city of pleasure and come away unaffected by it. In the same way Hades had not been able to help his thoughts straying towards taking his friend to bed a little while ago, he finds himself wondering how his friend must look stripped bare.

"Don't be ridiculous," he grates out. "Then we would both be freezing to our deaths. Now stop playing about and hurry up."

He walks a little faster, just enough to keep ahead of Hythlodaeus so the man can't see his conflicted expression.

Hythlodaeus can't help snickering triumphantly as he follows, letting Hades take the lead for a while and get his bearings again. Despite what his friend might think, Hythlodaeus is not entirely unaware of the effect he's having.

"Yes, yes, father. I suppose this means we shall have to have breakfast at home, then... I dread to think where else you might push me out of embarrassment, should we go out again!"

He shakes his head ruefully. Missing out on breakfast may be the most disappointing part of this day. Must they really?

"No... If you feel better after your shower then I would not mind heading out again. I would like to know where you planned to take me," he says awkwardly.

He catches up with Hades again, brushing his fingers against his friend's arm. How adorable it is when he worries...

"I think you know as well as I do that in this case 'tis the company that matters, not the setting," Hythlodaeus replies with a smile. "Though, of course, I do want to take you somewhere nice."

Fortunately, the inn isn't far, and Hythlodaeus spends the rest of the way much more quietly than anyone would expect, for the sake of conserving body heat and not tiring himself out too much. Once inside their room, he beelines straight for the bathroom, pausing only to take off Hades's coat and give his friend a quizzical look.

"Where should I leave it? 'Tis a little damp, I fear."

He reaches out to take the coat from Hythlodaeus and makes a shooing motion with his other hand.

"I will leave it out to dry. Make yourself warm."

Meanwhile, he shall get started making some tea. He would make himself coffee, but if they decide to head out again then he may as well wait.

Fortunately, Hythlodaeus at least does not want to make his friend wait for too long, so instead of lounging for an hour he takes a quick hot shower - though not so quick that he doesn't get warm through and through. He emerges about half a bell later, thoroughly dried but with only a towel around his waist, and pokes his head into the kitchen.

"So, how about that tea?"

He turns, pausing to give the other man an exasperated look when he sees their attire. Does Hythlodaeus intend to lounge about with only that towel? Sighing, he turns back and pours out some hot water into a mug, the string of the little tea bag inside wound about the handle to stop it slipping in. A modern convenience he has grown used to.

He sets this mug on the table and falls into the opposite seat, gesturing. "Your tea," he drawls.

He certainly intends to lounge about half-naked, evidenced by the fact that he sits down like that. He... seems to be perfectly aware that it's exhausting his friend.

"Truly, what a lucky man I am! To be able to sample tea made by the Architect himself," he says with a grin as he takes the mug. "I am filled with reverence at the thought of how much effort it must have taken out of you!"

He wraps both hands around the mug to drink. He's plenty warm, but more can't hurt.

"Oh yes, and what was your other curious title? Emperor? I gather I should be honoured about that, too."

"Don't you start."

He pointedly refuses to look at Hythlodaeus directly, resting cheek on hand. He will not encourage his friend's shameless behaviour if he can help it - even if he is sorely tempted to peek.

"Who told you I was an emperor?" he says after a few moments. His heart flutters uncertainly but he keeps his tone even. "Are the others spreading stories about me already?"

Bereft of the Sight though he might be, Hythlodaeus is not blind in the more common sense. He narrows his eyes smugly as he keeps his gaze on Hades, as though daring his friend to look at him.

"'Tis not spreading stories if I asked them myself, is it? I wondered about why you look like that... and why you look different from the others. Given everyone else from the new world, I would have expected the... catlike attributes in you, too."

"Coincidence, I assure you. There are several other races besides the feline ones represented here - this body being one such."

Hythlodaeus' persistent gaze makes his cheek burn. He ignores it as he elaborates:

"Felih, Irhya, the Matriarch, and the Exarch - they are of the race known as miqo'te. Then there are the hyur, who look much as we did but with pale or umber skin. Roegadyn, thickset and burly types. Au ra, bearing horns instead of ears, mistaken as relatives of another foreign race called dragons. The elezen, tall and lithe with pointed ears. They live far longer than the rest together with the viera, fierce warrior women with long, furred ears who live as recluses in the forest. And the hrothgar, similar to roegadyn in build but more akin to great cats.

"Finally there are the Garleans, as tall as the elezen but with the features of a hyur. Their main point of difference is this eye." He taps his forehead, still not quite looking at Hyth. "A pureblood Garlean cannot use aether in normal circumstances. I made myself Emperor of their nation. The first emperor."

Hythlodaeus listens with interest as he sips his tea while it's still hot, feeling a brief pang of regret that he would not be able to see the peoples Hades describes. He's always been full of innate curiousity, but satisfying it at the price of their people's lives... no, it does not bear thinking about. It's so much easier to think of the new world as a different one. Not theirs.

Thankfully, there is plenty of distraction from Hythlodaeus's solemn thoughts in the way his friend avoids looking at him, the way his face grows redder. It's very amusing, and Hythlodaeus rests his elbows on the table and steeples his fingers, resting his chin on them and watching Hades with that ever-present smug smile, somehow even more infuriating than normal.

"Ah... Supreme ruler Hades, hmmm? You did seem to me to be more used to obedience now. But is it truly an eye? I thought it to be some manner of crystal ingrained in the flesh."

He snorts. He makes the mistake of glancing over but quickly averts his eyes again.

"'Tis not truly an eye. 'Tis more like...a sensory organ. It gives me greater spatial awareness."

Which may be how he seems to know that Hythlodaeus is waiting for him to slip up and react.

"And before you ask: yes, it is a vulnerable spot. So do not even think of trying to do anything to it."

Hythlodaeus briefly raises his eyebrows at the sudden warning, before reverting to his usual expression of mischievous good cheer.

"I was not going to ask, Hades. And I find myself wondering why that would have been a frequent enough question for you to answer preemptively..."

"I know you, 'Daeus. I would not put it past you to try and flick my forehead at some point thinking 'twould be a bit of fun," he says sourly.

Slumping back into his seat, he folds his hand in his lap and sighs. "I came to admire the Garlean people," he mutters. "Such an industrious lot. Although they lacked any sort of talent for shaping aether, their resilience was unmatched."

Hythlodaeus raises a hand, closing his eyes. If Hades was expecting him to be serious about anything, well...

"I solemnly swear not to flick aught."

His smile grows softer as his friends speaks of the people he came to lead, however. He can understand the admiration.

"...Much like yourself, then. That is not to say you lack for talent or ability," he adds with a chuckle, "but you have always been diligent, a hard worker. Why, 'tis almost enough to make me feel ashamed of my own attitude at times."

Now he's just expecting Hythlodaeus to slap him instead, contrary man that he is. Hades frowns at him but clearly decides arguing isn't worth the effort.

"'Almost,' you say," he says with a roll of his eyes. "Well, I don't expect aught else from you. Especially not when you continue to sit there without putting on any clothes."

Got you. Hythlodaeus grins, spreading his arms and shrugging.

"I do thank you for the warning you gave me back then, but we are not in public, are we? There is no one to yearn for my bare form here, apart from yourself." He stands up leisurely after delivering that jab. "But if it is my tardiness that you worry about, I must needs agree. I am positively starving! Give me a moment to get dressed."

The glare Hythlodaeus gets this time borders on murderous. He yearns for it, yes, but he doubts his friend realises just how much. And would he still desire me even after knowing...?

So he looks away, almost dismissively. "Hurry up then. I have had naught but that single coffee you made me."

For better or for worse, Hythlodaeus is not actually aware of the extent of thoughts going through his friend's mind, and takes the glare and dismissiveness as the usual sign that he hit close to the mark. He picks out a change of clothes from the wardrobe, sitting down on the bed to pull on his socks first. It's certainly a deliberate ploy to annoy Hades.

"It was good, was it not? You called it passable, which is praise when it's coming from you."

He disappears into the bathroom again to put on the rest of his clothes and brush his hair, and emerges some minutes later, looking quite content about having warm clothes again. Bliss.

"Shall we go? 'Tis not far, just down the road. They do wonderful pastries."

More grumbling beneath his breath. Hades refuses to comment until Hythlodaeus emerges from the bathroom once more, which is when he stands and finally - finally! - looks at Hythlodaeus properly.

"Yes, let's." He starts for the door, apparently having found his equilibrium in the short time his friend had been dressing. He will follow their lead as they head to the cafe.

The fact that Hades would only let himself look at Hythlodaeus properly after he was clothed speaks volumes, and Hythlodaeus counts that as a victory, if not quite enough to make up for the lake trick. But there's plenty of time left in the day.

The cafe is, indeed, not far, and easy to miss--because it doesn't quite look like one. Instead it looks like an antique shop, and the atmosphere inside is rather fitting, furniture of dark wood, a little stairs leading up to a loft space overlooking the ground floor, some bookshelves and glass cabinets along the walls. Here and there are objets d'art, some clearly magical: from a clock seemingly carved out of some manner of jet-black crystal to a collection of small floating spheres, tiny aurora of different colours dancing within them, to a scene of several wooden humanoid statuettes seated around a table as though in discussion that... have an unsettlingly 'alive' feeling to them. They look as though they could move at any moment, and maybe they are, at a snail pace. Every time you look at them again you get the feeling they've shifted.

Hythlodaeus acknowledges the barista cheerfully, a tired but content-looking redheaded man, and it's maybe no surprise to Hades to see his friend chat with the barista as though they've known each other for years. Hythlodaeus did always make friends easily, after all.

After the brief conversation they're led to sit down at a corner table, next to a half-curtained window. This spot's point of interest seem to be the small collection of books on the windowsill along with an assortment of seemingly random items: a square glass box filled with sand, some manner of hair decoration woven of flowers, a quill, several silver spoons, an antique pincushion. It's anyone's guess what they're for.

Hythlodaeus sits down and pulls one of the menus they were handed towards him, but before opening it he gives Hades a curious look.

"What do you think? A rather interesting place, isn't it?"

It's an intriguing establishment to be sure. He casts his gaze around as they're shown to the loft, lingering on the unsettling dolls. If only he could perceive aether. He has a feeling that they would show him something very interesting indeed...

The magic of this land offers some intriguing possibilities. Ordinarily, he would be moved to study it and perhaps even master its techniques. But his curiosity is outweighed by that pressing desire to simply take his ease. He owes the world nothing any longer. His responsibility ended when the Warrior of Light landed that decisive blow.

Even so, he cannot help but feel a faint glimmer of interest.

"'Tis not the sort of place I would expect you to fancy," he says after a few moments. He watches the wait staff go with a lingering look before focusing back on Hythlodaeus. "You really have been quite busy, haven't you?"

hythlodaeus? more like hythlo-gay-as

I HATE HIM SO MUCH?

I HATE HIM TOO

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fun fact hyth thinks the shooing gestures are really cute

Hyth you think everything about him is cute

it's true but he'll still say it

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