No, he didn’t know enough yet. But he was good at observing.
He would keep coming back to the pub. He was sure that an opportunity would present itself.
After several days of observing the Mage Warriors and Warriors in the pub, Trill had concluded that they were confident, brimming with energy, and full of muscles. Trill couldn’t imagine why carnalions and children of two worlds didn’t seek them out more—except for that small detail of them being sworn to kill people like Trill.
But they were sopretty.
And worse, he’d found one who was in pain, and that pulled him like a moth to a flame. He didn’t like to see the pretty man limp. The man even insisted sometimes that his partner go out and dance, and then he stared out at the dance floor with his bright blue eyes so full oflongingthat it was painful to witness.
Trill admired that he insisted the other man go dance. His mother would have tried to make everyone around her as unhappy as she was. But this man tried to put a brave face on it.
It meant that even though it was stupid, Trill pretended to stumble into him. He grabbed his shoulder to steady himself, trying not to let his fingers wander along the strong muscles he could feel beneath his hand.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Trill said, flashing a smile as he pushed a bit of energy into the man, directing it to his leg, trying to remove the worst of the pain. “I hope you’re all right.”
The man smiled back, not perfect but brighter than it had been, some of the lines of pain smoothing out a little bit—yes, yes, that was exactly what Trill wanted. He couldn’t be stupid, couldn’t take too many risks, but he could try to help a little.
“Yes, of course,” the man said. Up close, his blue eyes were even more stunning. The large round gender beads in his dark hair were a similar color, even if they couldn’t quite match the beauty of his eyes. “Maybe don’t drink too much, all right?”
Trill nodded. Of course he assumed that Trill had been drinking. “You’re right, I should probably go. Have a good night.”
“You, too.”
Trill could feel eyes on him as he tried to look like he was a little unsteady on his feet. He wanted to look back and make sure the man was really all right, but he knew that wasn’t the smart thing to do. Trill had already done one not-smart thing today. He should probably limit himself. He shouldnottry to go home with any of the pretty Warriors. He shouldn’t keep coming back to see this pretty one.
Yes, he was going to be at least a little sensible. (Yannoma had despaired of making him altogether sensible.)
He headed to another pub, where the people didn’t have quite so many muscles, but they also didn’t pose quite so much danger. He felt a little bit unsettled in his skin, like he’d made the wrong choice.
Shouldhe have listened to his instincts? Should he have helped the pretty Warrior more? But how could he without revealing what he could do? Could he… just keep running into the man? How many times could he stumble across someone accidentally before they found that suspicious?
Or… could that actually work? Oh, no one would believe it was accidental, but if they simply thought he fancied the man? Probably people tried to touch him all the time, right, because he was so pretty?
Trill smiled to himself. Yes, he was reasonably confident he could make this work. He just wouldn’t let any Mage Warriors or Warriors take him home.
Trill spent the next two weeks checking the pub every night to see if the pretty man and his partner were there. If he was, Trill contrived to touch him somehow. He managed to brush against him once when they arrived later than Trill did. He managed to slightly jostle him as he was getting up from the table. He brought him a drink once, and he made sure their fingers touched when he handed it over.
“Someone so lovely should definitely have a drink,” he told the man.
And then he stumbled into him again just because he could.
“Is this getting to be a habit?” the man asked, his lips curling up.
“Maybe the ground isn’t so steady when I look at you,” Trill suggested.
The man laughed, his eyes gleaming. “It’s not me who affects the earth. That’s Arvus.”
He gestured towards the dance floor, and Trill assumed that was his partner.
“And what do you do?”
Yannoma would be telling him that engaging wasstupid, but Trill really wanted to know.
The man gestured, and his drink swirled out of his cup, circled around Trill, and then settled back into the glass. Trill laughed.
“That’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing it with me.”
“I’ve been seeing you around here a lot recently,” the man said, eyes curious. “Are you new?”
