Wrong Kind of Thirst

After his recovery from The Pit, Adam had been a little aimless. He'd gone to Ludo and gotten his drinking horn, sure, but that had been a mission for all of a day and had left him once again without purpose. He had always been a drifter, but here he was trapped. Wandering with nowhere to wander to. He'd just been in the Rathskeller (somewhat pointless to visit a bar now that he had the horn, but he liked the atmosphere) and had stumbled out sometime in the early evening, going to sit on a pew and stare at the altar for a while, ponder whether there being Gods here massively changed his theological outlook. It should have done, probably, but the great weight of apathy on his mind made it hard to feel the impact of the revelation much. Sinking down in his seat, feet sticking out in front of him on the stone floor, he wondered where his fuck buddy had gotten to. Maybe he'd heard about him being kidnapped..maybe he thought he was dead. Oh, that'd be fun. He always liked coming back from the dead. Adam swirled the horn about as it refilled and took a sip, stretching and yawning. adam Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave

NATE

The tragic flaw of charming men
is exactly as it seems,
too much grease,
can break down a machine.

Nate had overheard heard some gossip about a rescue mission into the woods not too long ago, and had been smart enough to piece together the news together with the recent disappearance of his new best friend. Now though, he was hearing that the group had returned, and it had spurred him into action. Nate walked with a purpose, some might say an eagerness, looking through town to try and find Adam.

Disappointment followed him, Nate’s search turning up nothing, until he realized he had skipped the most obvious place. He slipped in through the temple, making a beeline for the bar, when Nate noticed a familiar lanky form sitting alone in one of the pews. On near silent feet, Nate came up behind the bench, then leaned over it in one smooth motion, smiling at Adam as he did. ”You look awfully lonely here. Mind if I join you?”

Without waiting for an answer, Nate hopped onto the other side of the pew and say beside Adam, his legs splayed out just enough the their knees bumped together. ”Heard some stories about where you’ve been.” Nate said casually, doing his best to keep the undercurrent of actual concern out of his voice. ”Any of ‘em true?”

Adam didn't hear Nate until he spoke, which meant he was really involved in his thoughts; usually Adam could pick up on a sound quite a while away if he was being quiet, a symptom of a lifestyle he didn't really like to talk about. The half of his life where he'd been scared and on the run and drug-addled, out of reality yet painfully dealing with the consequences of it. "Pull up a seat." He smiled, still glad to see Nate despite his surprise. The other man's face was more than welcome, the memories of a nice afternoon spent together. He wasn't half bad to look at either, which helped. As Nate sat Adam passed him the drinking horn, not yet explaining it's magical qualities. "I guess that depends on what stories you heard, right? But let's see...I went on a minotaur-killing adventure for a death God, got kidnapped, escaped, and saw a flying whale. So you could fucking say some stuff happened. How about you?" adam Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave

NATE

The tragic flaw of charming men
is exactly as it seems,
too much grease,
can break down a machine.

It was nice to be close to Adam again, it felt simple, and easy. It was easier still to return the grin, and accept the, admittedly weird, drinking cup. Nate took a greedy mouthful of whatever was in it, not caring one way or the other, then held it out to Adam, chalking the renewer weight of it to his imagination and instead focusing on the other mans story.

”Sounds like you had the more exciting time. I didn’t do much. Tried praying, went over... like it does at home, really.” Nate shrugged, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck and his eyes avoiding the direction of the shrine. ”I helped set up a school. A medical school.” He tried to make it sound more exciting than it was, a hard feat, then shrugged, his arm wrapping around Adams shoulders. ”Glad you made it through your ordeals though.”

Ot was dangerously close to being sentimental, so Nate lugged, and shook the other man a little. ”With you gone, I didn’t have anyone to bum a good smoke off.” He winked as he said it, knowing Adam would get his connitation, and hopefully, actually have something he could have.

Adam was a little disappointed Nate didn't seem to notice the magic of the drinking horn, but didn't say anything, wanting it to be an eventual surprise. Taking back the cup he tipped the remainder into his mouth then held it in his hand for a moment, covering it so Nate wouldn't see it refill. "Prayin' here is way better than it ever was back where I came from. And...a medical school, huh? You actually got any business doin' something like that?" Adam was grinning, his tone more teasing than actually doubting; at the end of the day he didn't care if Nate had no qualifications at all. It would make for a funny story. He let himself be grabbed and even (jokingly, of course) leant his head on Nate's shoulder, laughing as he heard the comment about smokes. "Wow, great fucking hint. Best I've ever heard. Alright, I'll get you a damn smoke....just hold this, yeah?" With a smile he handed the now full-again horn to Nate before digging for a smoke in his bag. adam Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave

NATE

The tragic flaw of charming men
is exactly as it seems,
too much grease,
can break down a machine.

”Yea, a medical school.” Nate retorted, not wanting to get into any kind of discussion regarding theology. ”And I do have credentials. At least, enough for a place like this.” Nate laughed. Adams tease was obvious, but it still felt good to actually be able to say yes.

Adams head coming to rest on his shoulder was a surprise, but one Nate easily took in stride. He laughed along with Adam, pleased his request had been heard as such and happily holding the drinking horn again. It wasn’t until after he had taken a sip from it that Nate paused, his brows kitting together in confusion as he stared at the horn. Hadn’t Adam just finished this off?

A decidedly nervous chuckle left him, Nate’s eyes widening as the horn refilled itself to the rim. ”Hey... you didn’t uh... slip something in this, did you?” He didn’t know how else to explain what he was seeing, despite the obvious answer hanging over his head. There were dragons, and unicorns, and all other manner of fairy tale bullshit, but Nate drew his line at magic.

"Mate, I have enough credentials for a place like this, and I can't--" Adam suddenly cut himself short, apparently about to say something he didn't want to. After a moment he started again, but with noticably less gusto. "I don't know shit about medicine." Despite the pause, it was still true. His own world had hardly been at the cutting edge of technology, but it had been more advanced than Sanctuary. He fumbled about in his bag until he brought out a messily rolled smoke, held it out to Coffee for the dragon to blow out a little puff of fire to light it (honestly, most of the work Coffee got on the average day) then passed it over to Nate. As he saw the reaction to his horn (finally) he chuckled and shook his head. "Nope. What you're seeing right there is true, bonafide magic, my friend. From a God and everything. I have a never-ending cup of booze. Just no parties to take it to." Really, Adam knew it was probably a bad thing to be so easily enabled, but he let it happen anyway. adam Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave

NATE

The tragic flaw of charming men
is exactly as it seems,
too much grease,
can break down a machine.

Nate had to nod, whatever Adam had been about to say not really that important when his arguement was so strong. Honestly, he was worried he was going to loop back into being useless, having to work without any of the tools he was used to, but that wasn’t a thiught to share with the other man.

Instead of dwelling on worries, he cracked a wide smile as Adam pulled out a smoke. ”I cannot believe,” Nate began, watching Coffee light the smoke handily, ”that you have a fucking dragon, and you’re using it to do that shit.” Not that whatever problem he had with it kept him from accepting the smoke and taking a long drag.

”Neverending, huh?” Nate laughed, passing the smoke to Adam and framing the horn to watch it fill up again. ”Fuck, I’ll party with you. I won’t even have to feel guilty for stealing your drink.”

"Hey, I use him for all the wild dangerous shit you can think of too. But when I'm sat about not doing anything...he's cooler than a lighter." He shrugged, then turned an affectionate smile towards Coffee. "Sides, he likes it. When he doesn't get to blow fire for a bit, it gets all hot and bothered in his head." Adam did not explain how he knew this, just scritching Coffee's chin. He took the smoke back and took a drag. "A party with just two people ain't a party. But I'll hang out with you. If you can find something interesting to do in the next ten minutes." Challenged issued he grinned and sat back. adam Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave

NATE

The tragic flaw of charming men
is exactly as it seems,
too much grease,
can break down a machine.

Nate squinted at the small dragon, trying to work out how Adam could read any kind of emotion off its face. He gave up his scrutiny easily though, simply shrugging and pulling Adam closer. ”If you say he’s happy, I guess I have to believe you.” The words, much like everything that came out of Nate’s mouth, were less than serious, framed by a grin.

”Depends what those two people do.” He shot back immediately, the hand on Adams shoulder moving to shake some of the party feeling into him. Nate knew what kind of thing he wanted to do, but it seemed Adam was looking for something different. ”We coooould...” Nate cast his gaze around the room, like inspiration would come from the pews or shrine. ”We could explore? Just round here, I can’t imagine you’re eager to go running back into that big fuck off forest.”

"He is. We have a connection." Adam explained as he easily let himself be dragged closer to Nate, smiling at Coffee as the dragon curled up to sleep, ignoring Adam and his new 'friend'. Laughing and letting himself be shook, he rested his head on Nate's shoulder, grabbing his elbow and giving it a waggle back. "Oh, I'm sure you've got a few fucking ideas for what two people could do, but we're in a church. Even I'm not gonna do that unless I'm considerably higher than I am." Whether this was a promise, a joke or a challenge, he slumped further down against Nate for the moment. The suggestion of exploring made him tilt his head back to look up at Nate. "Sure. Where d'ya wanna go? If this is just your way of getting me to a dark alley to fuck in, you can just say, you know." adam Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave

NATE

The tragic flaw of charming men
is exactly as it seems,
too much grease,
can break down a machine.

”Really?” Nate craned his neck to look Adam in the face, his brows lifted in exaggerated surprise. ”A church is your hard limit? Sober hard limit, I guess.” He shook his head. If anyone would be down to have sex in a church he’d have thought it would be Adam.

Having the other man press against him made a warm feeling bloom in Nate, somewhere deep in his ribs. It felt right, to be able to do this and not have to worry about looking over his shoulder. The way the smile grew a little more genuine in the corners came from the new feeling of freedom, but the same unattached excuse didn’t explain the way his arm tightened around Adam. Better to not think of it.

”If I wanted to get you into a dark alley, I’d just ask. I figured you’d want something more interesting than sex.” Nate said with a laugh. ”If you’re that easy to please, then I’m happy to oblige, but I was actually thinking we could check out these tunnels. The streets collapsed, and I just know there’s something down there.” It almost sounded like a real adventure when he described it, a smile on his face. He wouldn’t complain no matter which option Adam picked though.

"Well. Maybe not if you really tried to convince me." Adam conceded, his voice dripping with flirty implication. There were few things he'd say no to really, if the touching was good and various illegal substances were flowing. He didn't notice the smile on Nate's face. For Adam, this was pretty normal - he had grown very used to close bodily contact in his years working with the brothel and had always been a touchy person both with friends and lovers, frequently slinging his arm around the shoulders of someone he'd met in a bar only hours before and declaring them his best friend. "Tunnels, huh? I actually went into the ruins..it's where I found the beast this belonged to." He held up his horn, but then swung himself up, legs flying up before boots slammed down into the ground and Adam was suddenly upright. "Lead the way, then." adam Mistreat your Altar Boys long enough and this is what you get Sad and angry... can't learn how to behave Still won't know how in the darkness of the grave