How 'Ryder Met Figgy
Since he’d left his tribe to explore what existed beyond, Elryd had enjoyed plenty of fey cities and landmarks, booming with life and excitement he’d never seen in the war-torn Dyleebhi plateaus where his people settled. The young drakon quite liked the various places of culture he had found; the open markets and temples, the caravans of traveling tribefolk, the glorious palaces dedicated to young and powerful queens. He was particularly fond of the devilish establishments in the cities, especially their bars.
Now, a devilish bar looks next to nothing like a Thanari one, as children and other non-drinkers are just as welcome as any other patron. These bars are plush and warm, made for travelers and merchants, commonfolk and nobles, natives and the far-traveled. If nothing else, devils are known for their hospitality, and their bars were no exception to this. Despite their posh looks, these places are built like fortresses, and in a time of war or unrest, the first place any fair folk turns to is their local bar, which has likely stood for millennia longer than half of the buildings in its respective city.
Elryd had never been to this particular bar before, surprisingly, as he was known to be rather fond of warm company at night, and devils tended to be some of the sweetest lovers. Bright, delighted eyes grazed over the architecture of the building, a mixture of traditional Sheoli culture and newer, Otherworldly influence. The sound of music, rich and warm but still quick, energetic in its rhythm, drifted out into the street from inside the bar, as well as the deeply alluring scent of Sheoli food, a comforting and starchy scent with a distinct and sudden sharpness to it.
Elryd wasted little time finding his way into the building, pushing through a surprisingly heavy door to have his senses delighted even more once inside. Along with the spicy scent of food lingered a soft but pungent incense, which burned beside an open archway. The entrance was lit with huge, magical candles, their flames surprisingly bright but not too much so; the light that shone from them gently lit the room a soft orange, like the skies in the plane of Enok, or so Elryd had been told.
Following one of the couple hallways that lead to various open rooms, Elryd rounded a corner to enter a commonspace. Nearly every inch of the room was covered in plush fabrics and pillows, fine silks and hand woven chunky blankets stretched gently across floors to climb up couches and loveseats, pillows for resting or sitting upon strewn about almost meticulously. Thick curtains hung from the wall, trailing all the way down to the floor and beyond; the last light from the day trickled through the open window, brightening the room with warm sunlight.
There were several people in the room, mostly lounging about and chatting pleasantly, a few children playing with one another. In one corner of the room were a myriad of instruments, manned by several lavishly-dressed devils and fair folk. They played a delicate tune, background music before a performance, Elryd guessed. There didn’t seem to be a working dancer in sight, though, which was rather unusual.
A quick flash of moment out of the corner of Elryd’s eye caught his attention, though it was so swift, all he caught was a gentle shimmer of gold before it was gone. The instrumentalists’ backs all straightened as they came to attention, and in a matter of moments, the soft music they played began to pick up in speed and volume. The various patrons lounging around the room nearly immediately stopped their chattering, and the children were quickly called to their parents’ sides. Elryd watched them all with a deep fascination, wondering what occasion might warrant such a reaction from the room.
The boy needn’t wait for long, of course, because as the music began to crescendo and burst with a newfound passion, another boy stepped from behind a curtain that had gone previously unnoticed by Elryd. He was a devil, which was made clear by his lanky limbs and two long, spindly tails that denoted his respected age, his horns sitting atop his head which held itself with pride. The boy wore dancer’s clothes, the garb of the old Sheoli and angels, flowing silks that shimmered and stretched across the body with the purpose of enhancing its beauty, rather than hiding it. Gold, pure gold, Elryd presumed, held these articles of clothing together and adorned the boy’s body from his horns to his fingertips to his ankles, shining in the dying sun’s light. Huge and elaborately made earrings dangled from his elongated ears, and a custom golden cast covered the tip of the boy’s tail.
With a flourish of the music and the devil boy’s hands, he went off. Elryd recognized the dance almost immediately-- an old dance, an important tradition for devils of a particular bloodline, descended from the angel of death herself-- and Elryd had always believed it to be a beautifully tragic dance, but tonight… tonight Elryd felt himself being enraptured. The dance lasted a few minutes at most, but the drakon felt as though he’d watched for an eternity. He rested his shoulder against the doorway of the room, having not left the entryway, his mind too focused on the dance before him to pay any mind to that.
In one flourishing sweep, the devil boy arched his spine backward until his hands pressed to the blanketed floor, his bare feet trailing above his body before he twisted in a sudden backwards leap that ended in him facing the audience, on his feet with his arms raised to the ceiling, the last light cast across his closed eyelids. He stood there for one, two… three breathless moments before bowing to the delighted and passionate audience, thanking each of the patrons that had come to see him dance before swiftly and expertly stepping out of the room.
Before he was out the door entirely, however, Elryd caught the boy’s eye. The boy stopped for only a breathless second, but it was enough for Elryd to catch sight of the boy’s dark eyes and the brilliant grace’s light that shone from within his pupils. As he left, the devil gave Elryd a wide-eyed look full of intrigue, his lips curling into the softest of grins as his fingers brushed Elryd’s cheek. Even as the boy’s gold-tipped tail disappeared round the corner, Elryd’s skin crackled excitedly where he’d touched him, and he just knew he had to see him again.
Elryd came back to that bar at the same time every night after that day, but by the end of two weeks he had received no news of the devil boy. Just as he was about to leave one night, nearly two and a half weeks after he’d last seen him, a familiar silhouette ambled into the room Elryd had been lounging in, watching a duo of dancers flourish across the floor. To Elryd’s surprise, the boy wasn’t wearing the garb he’d previously worn, instead adorned in simple commoner’s clothing as he took a seat breathlessly beside Elryd. As Elryd turned to look him over, his eyes were immediately caught amongst the familiar brown eyes that stared curiously back at him.
A short piece on how two of the most powerful mortal deities came to meet one another.
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