First chapter, just something to get the ball rolling. I'll post prompts and source them here when I use them. These should read semi-independently, but they kind of build on each other.
The monster of a man across from him reeked of gin and smoke, but that wasn't unusual for this part of town. Tobias looked the bulky man up and down, taking in the details of the poor sap. He had short hair and a full beard which made him look older than he was. His prominent eyebrows were drawn into a glare which brought out the strikingly bright blue of his eyes. A smirk on his thin lips showed just how confident he was that he would win this round, and Tobias could not be any more delighted to wipe that smile off his chiseled, handsome face.
An arrogant chuckle escaped Tobias as he laid down his four aces, eying the large prize pool that awaited him. Across the table, his adversary's furrowed brows had gone up, his cigar falling only a little slack as he looked between the two hands. The expression made Tobias rethink his own confidence, and he found himself glancing down at the table to see the other's cards: four aces.
He slowly looked up from the cards and found himself gazing directly into the man's clear, unmasked eyes. Vulnerable eyes, hard and knowing but open and sincere. He was strangely captivated by the gleam in them, even if it was only a reflection of the dim oil lantern that swung from left to right inside the tavern, casting playful shadows on the walls which danced to the clamor of glasses and plates.
"Well, I'll be damned," the man drawled, laughing a little as he sat back in his chair. Tobias still wasn't sure what to do with the outcome, as he had never met anyone who could even come close to beating him in a game of cards. He was even more lost when the guy stuck out his large, beefy hand without so much as a warning. The sudden gesture startled Tobias, and he found himself chewing on his lip absently, a habit he'd never much cared to get rid of.
He eyed the hand suspiciously, unsure as to what he should do with it. A handshake? He reached out slowly, uncertainly, with his own hand, fitting it snugly within the massive grasp of the other. The hand was calloused, rough, much more so than his own, but he liked the way his slender hand fit perfectly, like a jigsaw, into the stranger's beefy one.
A roaring guffaw startled Tobias. "Hah! You're a fine piece of work, kid," the man laughed, shaking his arm up and down with more strength than Tobias had prepared for. "What's say you and me make a little deal?"
The whole of the tavern had turned its gaze to watch the two men speak, and there was no longer any chatter or clinking of glasses around them. Tobias looked at the man who still had his hand around his, and he ran through his mind possibilities of what he could possibly offer him. Falling short of an explanation, he exhaled slowly, confidently, and asked with a dazzling smirk which had ladies and men alike falling to their knees, "What kind of deal?"
The other man broadened his smile, his challenging expression softening to one more sincere. He took back his arm, and Tobias's hand felt strangely bereft without the warm grasp wrapped around it. "Name's Graves. I ain't never seen a man so low-down and dirty. It'd be a pleasure to work with you, partner." He held his arm steadily out toward him, waiting for Tobias to make the next move. His last word seemed to dance in the air around them, almost tangible among the thick smoke of the tavern. There was a glisten in the man's eyes that wasn't from the lantern this time, and though Tobias tried to sense a trap or con from this man supposedly called Graves, he couldn't find one no matter how hard he searched his rugged face for the tell-tale signs of deceit. His amiable expression bore no ill intent, and even someone as skeptical as Tobias felt impelled to trust him.
"T.F.," he said slowly. He reached out and shook Graves's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you. Partner." The word tasted sour on his tongue, but he liked the way it sounded, like the pretty song of the music box his mama had given him when he was a kid. It seemed a bad omen in itself; the thought rang out in the back of his mind even as he recalled the distasteful memories of the river, but against the haze of the tavern, the dizzy feeling that Graves's touch suddenly caused, and the wild cheers of drunkards laughing jovially above the fiddles playing tuneless melodies, Tobias could hardly understand the message his mind was trying to convey.
Graves stood up then, retracting his hand again and leaving Tobias with that strange sense of loss. He pocketed his money and pushed Tobias's toward him, indicating he do the same. As he hooked his Serpents securely onto his belt, he saw Graves beckoning him to a more secluded corner of the tavern, and he followed willingly, having forgotten all the suspicion that he'd felt moments ago.
He studied Graves's back as it moved: wide shoulders swinging with a confident ease; broad muscles rippling under the red coat which looked almost too small for him; ripped-off sleeves revealing large biceps which looked strong and enticing. Tobias couldn't say that he wasn't impressed by the glimpses he caught of the man's backside as the long coat swished from side to side, either. He had certainly hit the jackpot on eligible bachelors tonight, he thought with a low chuckle.
The din of the establishment faded as they moved away from the bulk of the gathering, voices and glasses blending together into a quiet roar as they sat down at an unoccupied table. Tobias placed both elbows pointedly on the uneven table, which shook under its new weight. As Graves sat down with a thud, his muscular and graceless body falling into the chair, Tobias flashed a dazzling, cat-like grin, resting his chin on his hands. He leaned into the table, ignoring the wobble under him, and he cocked an eyebrow, keeping up a pretense of impassivity to hide the burning desire to learn more about the strange man who wanted to work with him.
Graves met his gaze steadily, his crystal eyes twinkling despite the darkness of their corner. He was enjoying himself. "I never had a partner before," Graves said, picking the butt of his cigar out of his teeth and tossing it to the floor. Burning cinders burst from it, scattering across the floor and catching on a creaky-looking bench. The dry, cracked driftwood began to smoke, and Tobias watched it carefully as he spoke.
"Trust doesn't come easy in these parts," he agreed, following the tendrils of smoke as it encircled the legs of the bench, floating up along the walls of the building, mingling effortlessly with the smoky atmosphere. The crackle of the wood was hardly audible over the celebration of the faceless nobodies.
"Sure is a good thing I never had a mama to teach me not to talk to strangers, then." Graves sat back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. His coat pulled apart, revealing his exceptionally toned chest, at which Tobias's eyes widened. Graves was much more buff than himself, and Tobias couldn't help but imagine his massive muscles cradling him, keeping him warm. He hadn't much been on the receiving end of such warmth, but in the few times it had happened in the past, he had always enjoyed the intimate sensation.
Tobias chuckled darkly. "It's a good thing I never listened to mine," he added, sharing a smirk with the man he so desperately craved. Partners or no, he would not leave the man that night without a piece of him.
"Well, we ain't gonna trust each other unless we test the waters," Graves said, his smirk splitting into a toothy grin just as the chair behind him burst into flames, casting deep shadows around them and illuminating Graves in a halo of reds and golds.
As the walls caught fire and spread across the tavern, the civilians screamed and scrambled over themselves to get to the exit. Pleased with the distraction Graves had given them, he stood up, breathing in the thick smoke. He extended his hand first this time, helping Graves to his feet, and as they strode toward the bar and its cowering tender, Tobias promised himself to take what was due to him before dawn broke over the Guardian's Sea.