The Masquerade

"Well, there was the bar," Kratzer said. "Then there was that weird forest when we were kids, and this strange dreamscape-type-deal where James showed up, and that strange other memory lane thing...so...at least five. Oh, the castle. That's six. At least, anyways."

Auryon blinked. "Holy shit. That's a lot. This is the, uh...let's see...strange carnival, house...That's pretty much it. So, three, counting this, I guess. You?"



"I...am rather suspicious of...whatever that is. I revoke my former statement about getting a drink. So I guess we're now just existing near the...red stuff." Oh, by the stars, what was her tongue doing to her? She wasn't quite sure what she'd meant to say but it had to be smoother than that. Ugh.

James watched Tasha with a growing smirk. "Existing near the red stuff. You truly do have a way with words," he said, looking at the red beverage for a moment before returning his gaze to her and her mask. "I'm sure they have something else at the bar that's more familiar, if you're really wanting something."

"I'm a soldier, not a diplomat, gods d*** it, " she grumbled. "Be satisfied that I'm literate after my upbringing, much less eloquent. And I see no reason for it, really. Grabbing a drink is more of an excuse than much else. You looked like you could use it, and I'm not a fan of such large crowds, anyways."

James's smirk faded slightly. He was glad she knew him well enough that he desired space from the crowd as well, but there was always something inside of him that instinctively squirmed at being readable. He glanced back out into the crowd.

"Neither am I," he agreed, pausing a moment before taking a step closer. "And... I meant no offense, you know. I'm sorry for teasing."

Damascus blanked, his face resembling that of a deer caught in headlights. How did it come to this? Second had just voiced the question he himself had been aggressively pushing down.

Several long moments had passed before he realized that Second was still waiting for an answer.

"I- I'm..." he winced as his voice cracked. He let an answer come, and it was surprisingly honest. "I really don't know."

As if to remedy this truth, he stammered an elaboration, his cheeks flushing ever so slightly. "B- but, I can't, b- because... If I were to.. I can't."

He took a huge gulp of air and turned, now forcably keeping himself from looking again in Boris' direction. What had happened?? He had been doing so well until now.

She looked up, genuinely surprised for the apology. "Oh, don't worry about it. It's true, anyways," she laughed. "I just get s*** for it a lot is all. Don't sweat it."

James nodded, and put his hands in his pockets. "For the record, your common - or, uh, whatever you call it, where you're from - is just fine. I've had no trouble understanding you in the past. If anything, the only language barrier has been due to a difference in definitions because of our places of origin, and certainly not a lack of intelligence or capability on your part. And besides, in the presence of foreign objects or things like this -" he said, gesturing to the beverage, and then the rest of the room "-it's easy to struggle to find words to describe things without a proper frame of reference. I'm sure someone else here knows exactly what this drink is, but for you and I, it just looks... suspicious." He grinned. "For lack of better words."

She smiled back, feeling herself relax for the first time in a long time. Even with her own squadron she had to be something different - to them, she was a leader, and she had to act like one. But with James, she was just...Tasha.

"Well, I'm glad you think so. You should've seen me learning Common, though," she laughed. "I wasn't understandable. There's still some words that trip me up, I must adit. And it smells awfully funny, too," she said with a small grin. "I'm honestly really not sure what to think of it. It's like they liquified candy and put alcohol in it."

James tilted his head towards the beverage curiously. "Ah, so it is alcoholic. I would be, wouldn't it," he commented quietly. "Candy doesn't seem like something that would mix well with alcohol, but I'm sure there are stranger combinations out there."

"Anything's better than just straight alcohol," she said. "I did that once. Once."

James found himself flushing beneath his mask, feeling foolish for making it sound like he knew as little about alcoholic drinks as he actually did. "Oh," he said, looking down to the floor. "Gods. That sounds awful."

She laughed. "Oh, it was. I don't even remember most of that night. Thana did it, too, so she doesn't, either, but Evron won't let us hear the end of it. I did it on a dare, I believe. Oh, no, that was Urag, actually. I think he'd caught us drinking for the millionth time and decided that since we weren't learning our lesson he was going to make us do it, but even worse. We didn't drink much for a long time after that, I tell ya."

James chuckled lightly. "It sounds like you have a lot of stories where you got into trouble on a dare."

"I was a feral child," she said with a chuckle. "Probably had a death wish too, honestly."

He hadn't expected an answer like that. Glancing over at Lorcan--who definitely didn't have a crush on him!--he decided that pressing the matter with Damascus was the only way he was going to sort his own confusion about what was going on between him and his closest friend.

"I don't understand," he said. "Why can't you...Why can't you tell him? Is it because you don't think he'll like you back?"