I don't want to steal your freedom
you don't have to change your mind
The brothels and bars of the world are familiar to him after over a season of visiting little else. Harper does not often venture into the Grounds anymore, the region simultaneously too different and too full of memories and ghosts. Unfortunately, King's End has become more of a hot commodity recently, and Harper prefers the increased anonymity of the Dusklight to the House of Midnight.
The dancing and the drinks are the same regardless of where you land. When you seek to forget your own face, and never aim to remember the ones you come into contact with, things start to blend together. Harper likes it better that way; a watercolor collage of experiences and sensations.
Stark white, however, tends to stand out.
Harper is used to seeing ghosts. There are more in his life than people these days, and drinking tends to bring them out more vividly - but he can't fool himself this time. When he looks twice, it's Maea, without a doubt.
Normally this is where he would close his tab and slip out unnoticed, unwilling to intrude on Maea's personal time or wrangle with his own feelings about her presence. Normally he's not tipsy. Unless you only count recent months. Still, he finds his feet taking him to her, abandoning his dance partner without a word and only vaguely recognizing their miffed response. All that matters is finding his way to her side, where he slides in next to her with too much grace for a man as many bottles deep as he is. He leaves ample room - isn't sure if he's worried about his welcome, or if she should be - but his eyes scarcely blink as he takes in the new horns and the flush of life in her skin. "Maea," he murmurs, like speaking her name will break the spell, and only taking a shuddering breath when it doesn't. Her ring still sits on his finger, and he feels like he has found something he has been missing, but he doesn't know what. "I...wow. I thought..." you were dead. Luckily, he's not drunk enough to let that one slip. Shaking his head slightly in a useless attempt to clear his head, Harper laughs quietly. "Sorry to intrude, I should say. I didn't think I'd find you here of all places." Most everyone Harper knows isn't the type for these establishments; precisely why it's the only place he visits now.
The dancing and the drinks are the same regardless of where you land. When you seek to forget your own face, and never aim to remember the ones you come into contact with, things start to blend together. Harper likes it better that way; a watercolor collage of experiences and sensations.
Stark white, however, tends to stand out.
Harper is used to seeing ghosts. There are more in his life than people these days, and drinking tends to bring them out more vividly - but he can't fool himself this time. When he looks twice, it's Maea, without a doubt.
Normally this is where he would close his tab and slip out unnoticed, unwilling to intrude on Maea's personal time or wrangle with his own feelings about her presence. Normally he's not tipsy. Unless you only count recent months. Still, he finds his feet taking him to her, abandoning his dance partner without a word and only vaguely recognizing their miffed response. All that matters is finding his way to her side, where he slides in next to her with too much grace for a man as many bottles deep as he is. He leaves ample room - isn't sure if he's worried about his welcome, or if she should be - but his eyes scarcely blink as he takes in the new horns and the flush of life in her skin. "Maea," he murmurs, like speaking her name will break the spell, and only taking a shuddering breath when it doesn't. Her ring still sits on his finger, and he feels like he has found something he has been missing, but he doesn't know what. "I...wow. I thought..." you were dead. Luckily, he's not drunk enough to let that one slip. Shaking his head slightly in a useless attempt to clear his head, Harper laughs quietly. "Sorry to intrude, I should say. I didn't think I'd find you here of all places." Most everyone Harper knows isn't the type for these establishments; precisely why it's the only place he visits now.
I just want to make you love me
so please let me take my time
HARPER
