success is no accident

SUNJATA

i'm drowning in all these voices in the sea
and meeting all my vices in the ring

“Yeah, he is.” Sunjata agrees with that easy smile shifting toward something a touch smaller, almost strained if one has enough of a trained eye to see it. He doesn’t have anything against Deimos, not anymore at least, but he does wonder how he’ll take the news when it spreads. The Heartless isn’t sure whether or not there’d be some empathy left for him from the Sword or not.

He pushes all of that aside in order to focus on his clumsy attempt to flirt back with Niki, to make it blatant that he is interested if the necromancer is, but it seems he’s quite rusty at this game these days. Especially when it becomes clear that Niki almost seems to brace himself, to pull himself together and pretend his face wasn’t a shade of crimson that could’ve matched the Cataract.

The question takes him by surprise, on the back foot as he huffs a little sound and subconsciously straightens too. “I.. No, that’s not what I meant.” He isn’t sure whether or not he can backtrack entirely, far too late for that now. But it’s with his grey gaze that meets the other man’s blues that Sunjata tries to explain so Niki might put that shield down before it smacks the Archon in the face. “I must’ve misread the room. I’m sorry.” It’s an apologetic smile sent Niki’s way, one that has him looking away from the other man at last to get his thoughts together.

“I’ve always been shitty at wording things.” If Niki didn’t know it before, well, he’ll likely find out with how much of a hole he’s currently digging himself into.

so step inside, i ain't afraid to bleed
there ain't a casket strong enough for me

NIKI

Niki, at least, feels a little more at home with the situation, feeling his cheeks return to a normal temperature and part of him relax, in fact, as if Sunjata has finally revealed himself to be what the boy had always expected. Polite, conversational even, but capable of all the same sharpness as anyone who suffers from the affliction of being devastatingly attractive.

So when the demigod starts to fluster and seem awkward, to say it takes him by surprise is an understatement. "I... wh-- you were serious?" he asks before he means to, voice pitched low, heat threatening to bloom into his face all over again. "I... no, I am sorry," he says, feeling his hands start to clench into fists and forcing them to relax.

"I am not... it is not a subject I have much experience discussing." The words are as stiff and awkward as the tone, Niki's gaze dropping to the rug where he can try to navigate these suddenly choppy waters. "So believe me when I say it was likely not your wording that was the problem." He is. Always has been.

stay your pretty eyes on course
keep the memories of who i was before

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

SUNJATA

i'm drowning in all these voices in the sea
and meeting all my vices in the ring

It becomes very apparent to Sunjata that Niki has not experienced the niceties in his life that he probably should have. To assume that the comments Sunjata had fumbled through were entirely based off of a jest or a joke at the other man’s expense has him thinking for a moment of whether or not he’s got that general jock/bully aura.

“No, don’t be sorry.” Sunjata says, still finding his gaze focused elsewhere away from Niki as it seems like the abandoned does the same. Muscles feather in his jaw, chewing on the inside of his cheek for a brief moment as he hears the stiff and awkward tones that leave Niki’s lips and gods if that isn’t a sentiment Sunjata understands. He spoke with his body and his emotions, words had never favored him.

He shrugs his shoulder, a hand rising to rub over one of the feathered wing tattoos, a touch awkwardly. “I do find you attractive, for what it’s worth.” He admits a little warmer, trying to let the awkwardness fade away in favor for some of the truths that he doesn’t have to try and pry out in a way he thinks would be easier. Perhaps with Niki, honesty is the best.

so step inside, i ain't afraid to bleed
there ain't a casket strong enough for me

NIKI

Niki doesn't laugh, to his credit, but it's a close one, because of all the things he'd expected Sunjata to say next, I find you attractive is not one of them. His brows flinch towards an expression that falls somewhere between confusion and disbelief, the boy glancing up sharply despite himself. He's either misheard the other man, he's passed out from heat exhaustion somewhere in the woods and this is some fever dream, or Sunjata's standards are shockingly low.

Or a secret fourth option, the worst one of all - Frey's demigod is offering to sleep with him out of pity.

"I assure you, attractive is not the word most use when they think of me," he says with all the dignity he can muster, conjuring his cane and getting himself on his feet so he might return the empty mugs to the kitchen (and give his hands something to do). "Besides I am not... I... never mind." To say that he hasn't had a lot of experience is rather on the nose; Niki has enough experience to know what he doesn't like (girls, it's girls), but little beyond that.

Collecting up the mugs, he heads for the kitchen and wonders vaguely if he can climb out of the window without injuring himself too badly.

stay your pretty eyes on course
keep the memories of who i was before

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

SUNJATA

i'm drowning in all these voices in the sea
and meeting all my vices in the ring

It takes everything in Sunjata not to say so you’re just not their type. The thought subconsciously finishes with the idea that he could say that Niki was his type too, but he’s already gone overboard it seems with the abrupt shift in the room. He can’t help the creep of navy feathers that dance along his neck and chest, filling in the wing tattoos slowly.

Movement catches his eye, though, and Niki’s standing and collecting the mugs and departing down the hallway and he feels halfway like scrambling out just to save some semblance of his own stress – unsure why he’d had to go and blow up a little friendly conversation. He stays silent and gives Niki a head start before he’s standing and following him through, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, trying to pretend like he can’t feel the smooth brush of feathers on his shoulders.

“I’m sorry if I came off a little too strong.” He starts, staring stubbornly at the floor like he might be able to convince himself Niki won’t be more offended if he shifted into the macaw he’s feeling right now just to zip out of the window in the kitchen. “I can be a little intense sometimes, though I guess that’s partially why they used to call me the Flood, huh?” A humorless laugh leaves him as he shakes his head. “Anyway, I know that I’m Frey’s demigod, but I do have a type and whether or not you think you fall into it I can assure you that you do. So.. I think it’s probably better I leave before I end up fucking the conversation up more.” With this, he does pull his gaze up from the floor to look at Niki and offer a gentler smile, lopsided and easy despite the very abrupt unease he feels within.

so step inside, i ain't afraid to bleed
there ain't a casket strong enough for me

NIKI

Niki has managed to wash out the mugs before Sunjata ghosts into the doorway, more silent than the dead he used to care for in this very house, and the necromancer jumps a bit as he speaks. The mug he's holding slips from his fingers, and it's instinct alone that has magic catching it - not the cold chill of reanimation this time, but something a little more familiar to other Abandoned skills. The telekinesis is still wobbly at best, but it does rescue the ceramic back into Niki's hands.

"It is alright," he says quietly, turning to glance over at the other man as if the distance between them might help him keep his nerve. "I am just not used to talking about myself in that way. To anyone." Not even to his own reflection. "And you are... you just lost a relationship that was important to you." That's a convenient excuse, yes, but it's nevertheless true.

"Maybe that would be for the best, yes," he decides, offering a quick and apologetic smile in response. "It was good to see you though."

stay your pretty eyes on course
keep the memories of who i was before

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

SUNJATA

i'm drowning in all these voices in the sea
and meeting all my vices in the ring

The mug is heard slipping more than it is seen with how stubbornly Sunjata stares at the speck on the floor. His jaw works, listening for Niki’s voice as if he’s straining for it when he has to do everything but with the earring in his ear. “That’s fair.” He agrees softly, knowing at the very least where he can back down. “And yeah, I did.” But it was hard to feel the sting of that when there was nothing but numbness in the crevices of his living breathing heart that held any attachment to anyone.

So, rather than explain that and the way he tended to cope, he chooses the easier way out, The one that has them mirroring smiles at each other that mask everything else going on in their heads, and Sunjata pushes off the doorframe. “It was good to see you too. I hope I get to see you in King’s End soon.” He offers, just in case he’d ruined things past the point of Niki wanting to come and visit.

But he doesn’t wait for a response, instead, he doesn’t give into the macaw shift in his chest longing to escape. Instead, he takes the familiar enough path toward the front door, slipping through it and closing the door behind him before he steps out past the line of sight from any windows the Abandoned might have to shift into something else entirely and slip out of the Greatwood, leaving behind the second blue feather to join the first in the necromancer’s entertaining area.

- FIN

so step inside, i ain't afraid to bleed
there ain't a casket strong enough for me