Its-a me, your friendly neighborhood sw writer
So is it just me, or do all you fellow writers make specific playlists that have the same "mood" as the fic or work you're working on, and just have it kinda… playing in the background as you write? Because that's what I've done with one of my novels, and now I'm working on playlists for the other two and this fic!
As I write this, ToAH just reset and I spent a solid 30 minutes on the Zaiross-Akroma stage. In case you guys are still stuck on that stage, the team I used is Dias (L), Shaina, Maruna, Harmonia, Eladriel. You just need a monster who can revive and a dark tank, but you absolutely need a Harmonia. She has done WONDERS for me, even more so than Garo.
Moment 3
Let My New Friend Get Blackout Drunk
"You told that guy about where you work, right?" Katarina struggles to keep her eyes open, pressing her forehead against the table in front of her laptop.
"Yeah, I did," Baleygr hums as he ties his hair up into a tight ponytail. "But hey, it's up to him if he wants to visit or not."
He's singing softly under his breath as images of Taranys flicker through his mind. Why is he so obsessed with that man as of late? Maybe it was those eyes of his, the gentle gaze with eyes the color of sunflowers. It doesn't help that a gaze like that's almost always accompanied by a sweet smile and the low rumble of his voice. He's pretty damn jealous of the length of Taranys's hair, too; the silver locks tumble down his waist almost effortlessly.
He likes Taranys; he really does. After the Guild Wars incident about a week ago, he'd more or less been coming to watch every battle Taranys was put in. It also helped that Baleygr had pretty much all but dragged Taranys to the Infirmary, despite his protests that he really was okay and absolutely did not need to go there again. The "again" didn't seem to really register at the time.
"Oh my god, just ask him out, will you?" Katarina sighs as she all but stabs the Backspace key on her keyboard. "Seriously, it's pathetic watching you two dance around this issue."
Baleygr smirks and calls out from the other room, "Quite tempting, yes, but you know how guys get when some handsome man randomly asks them out. We got lucky with Tesarion all those years ago."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," She says. "I don't really know much about Taranys, though, so I'm no help here."
"Oh, you did your best back then," He says as he shrugs on his work uniform. Today was a night shift at that bar near the edge of Mt. White Ragon. The chilly air around the base of the mountain was uncomfortable for a fire monster as is, but at least Ragon is a popular tourist attraction for its hot springs and for being the place where legendary Summoner Taihan had first met with the young lady, Stardust, who had singlehandedly saved the world from the Dark Summoners and Lady Arang.
Even though she'd stopped total chaos from unleashing, Baleygr couldn't help but wonder why no one had done anything about those Dimensional Rifts that'd ripped open during the final confrontation between Stardust and Lady Arang.
Ah well. That doesn't matter, anyway.
"God, you would not believe the amount of drinks Frigate can slam down," Hwahee groans, mixing two liquids together in a glass. "I counted it once, and he'd gone through thirteen shots of rum in five minutes. Thirteen! He was all fired up, and probably would've had more if I hadn't cut him off."
"Well, at least it wasn't whiskey," Baleygr shudders. "And besides, he's a Pirate Captain. What'd you expect?"
"I mean, yeah, but not all Pirate Captains are raging alcoholics. It just so happens the worst of them is a regular here," She sighs, finishing up the drink and pushing it across the counter to the patron. He grabs it in one hand and makes some comment at Hwahee that seems innocent enough, but clearly makes her uncomfortable and want to puke. She looks at Baleygr with the kind of expression that said nothing out loud, but spoke dire urgency to him.
"Hey, keep those kinds of thoughts to yourself, buddy," Baleygr calls out at the patron. It seems to do the trick, and Pervert Guy shuts up. If it were up to him, though, that creep would be halfway out the door by now, but alas, it's company policy that the customer's gotta stay 'till it's clear harassment.
"Thanks," Hwahee exhales in utter relief.
Baleygr waves it off. "Ah, it's nothing."
The two bartenders look up as the bar door opens, kicking up freezing gusts before it's shut almost instantly after.
Baleygr leans over with a massive grin on his face and whispers to Hwahee, "That's him. That's the hot guy I told you about."
Hwahee glances over before whistling, "Damn, nice."
Taranys pauses and takes a moment to shake the snow out of his white hair before making his way to the counter Baleygr stands behind. The blonde in question turns around and starts cleaning off a glass, in a desperate attempt to make it seem as if he had definitely not been staring at him and commenting to his coworker; no, of course he wasn't.
Taranys smiles as he sits down on a barstool and coos, "Baleygr, hi!"
"Oh, hey!" Baleygr finally turns around, with a calm, customer-service smile he'd plastered on his face. "Didn't think you'd actually come here. Pay's nice and all, but man, it's always freezing out there."
"Yes, it's certainly a bit nippier than I'd prefer," Taranys says, and instantly feels a happiness bloom in his chest as Baleygr barks out a laugh, grin still spread across his face. He has such a nice laugh; loud and deep, but so genuine at the same time. Oh, and those dimples, too; god, he's so damn cute it almost feels like Taranys is in a dream.
"So, you come here often?" Baleygr hums as he pours a drink from behind the counter.
"E- every now and then, yes." The truth is, Taranys had never set foot in a bar before Baleygr was summoned.
As Baleygr slides the drink across the counter in one fluid motion to Pervert Guy –who's barely able to hold his head up as is, looks like he'll have to get cut off in a bit – he raises an eyebrow at his new friend. "Really? Guess you'll have to get used to seeing me around, then."
"Oh, I don't mind," Taranys shrugs.
It's a relatively calm evening out now. Snow falls gently from the grey skies, covering all the buildings in a blanket of fluffy snow. Somewhere nearby the bar, a group of college-aged girls scream in delight and shuffle across the roads; if Baleygr has to guess, they're probably off to one of those famous Mt. Ragon hot springs.
Taranys starts a thought. "Hey, Baleygr, I was – wait, first, can I call you Bay?"
"Yeah, I don't mind," Baleygr grins. "What's up?"
"Well, Bay, I was wondering something," Taranys continues. "What was your life like before you signed up to be summoned?"
Baleygr pauses as he dumps the drink he's mixing into a glass. "It was pretty nice. Kat and I grew up together around the outskirts of Tamor Desert. The place we were out, it was bigger than a town. Like a city, almost. I was the troublemaker, and Kat was more or less the voice of reason."
"That sounded like a lovely childhood," Taranys smiles softly.
"Yeah, it was," Baleygr sighs. "I'm just lucky I showed up in the same island as you and Kat."
The inclusion of Taranys here nearly made him start blushing right then and there.
"What about you?" Baleygr asks. "What was your childhood like?"
Taranys sighs internally, glad for the distraction, but the relief is soon replaced by regret for who he was. Flashes of burning rage zap through his mind, those times even the slightest thing set him off and he barely had any time to hide all that anger from Herne.
"…It could've been better, I guess," Taranys meekly finishes. "I spent a lot of time taking care of my little cousin, Herne. She was about a baby when I was 13. She's a good kid, you know?"
"Mm," Baleygr nods. A comforting silence passes over the two, Hwahee taking care of the few stragglers that hung around the bar.
"You want anything to drink?" Baleygr asks. "I gotta memorize the rest of the menu, anyway. It's pretty dead tonight."
Taranys is caught off-guard, and stumbles over his words before picking the least offending thing he can think of. "…Uh- a glass of white wine? I don't mind what brand."
"Sure," Baleygr says, pouring the drink with a soft smile on his face.
The night passes fairly quickly. The bar stays mostly empty throughout the night, a couple of people coming and going. Hwahee takes care of the other patrons throughout the night, whistling to herself every now and then. Too shy to just have one drink, Taranys ends up having another glass of wine once prompted. And another. And another.
…And another.
Well, it's a good thing that he's decided to put all those drinks on his tab, because Baleygr's pretty sure that, as is, Taranys wouldn't even be conscious enough to pay for the last few. By the time Baleygr's shift ends, Taranys has several empty glasses scattered around him, arms crossed on the counter and forehead resting on them. As Baleygr clocks out and shakes his hair out of his ponytail, he looks over at the half-asleep Druid.
"You're really a lightweight, huh?" Baleygr asks. It's mostly out of sheer curiosity, but it's also to see how responsive Taranys is as well.
"Mmh…" Taranys mumbles. He drifts in and out of sleep every few minutes, and soon falls asleep again.
It's pretty obvious to Baleygr now that even if he weren't falling asleep at any chance given, Taranys was in no state to walk home on his own. Baleygr's been in a position like that before, and even with the danger of being robbed or kidnapped aside, he knows damn well it's no fun at all to try and walk home when you can barely stand as-is. He really needed better friends back then.
"Hey, I'm gonna try and take this one home, alright?" Baleygr calls out to Hwahee, pointing towards Taranys for emphasis.
"Good luck on that, I guess!" Hwahee shouts back from the other side of the bar. Baleygr's not exactly too sure about this, but he can swear he hears her tack on "you're gonna need it" under her breath.
Baleygr makes his way over to Taranys, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as he does. "Hey, Taranys, how're you feeling?"
Taranys groans softly in response.
"Taranys, I'm gonna take you home. You've had too much to drink," Baleygr says gently. "Where do you live, again?"
He has a vague recollection of Taranys saying that he lives in the Arena Defense tower like most monsters on the island, but what floor it was Baleygr doesn't remember.
Taranys stays silent, and for a brief moment Baleygr thinks he's going to have to knock on a lot of monsters' doors at absurd o'clock in the morning, asking if they have Taranys their roommate. Thankfully, he doesn't have to resort to that, because the Druid finally stutters out a room number, and Baleygr realizes that he only lives a couple doors away from Taranys. Then again, Katarina has been on the island longer than he has.
"Alright, alright, this is fine, I can get you home, this is completely fine," Baleygr mutters, though more to himself than anyone else. He repeats Taranys's room number a few times as he hoists him up by the arm, bracing himself as Taranys leans on him for support.
"Buddy, I hope you know that I'm only doing this 'cos I think you're cute," Baleygr says to Taranys, though not unkindly, as evidenced by the friendly grin across his face.
"Really now…" Taranys groans.
Yeah, there's definitely no way Taranys is going to remember any of this in the morning.
"Keys – keys, Taranys, give me your keys," Baleygr urges. It's about 4:30 in the morning right now, and Baleygr can see his breath form in clouds in front of his lips as he rubs one muscled arm of his. Why's it always gotta be so cold in the middle of the night? It's supposed to be autumn, not winter.
The two struggle to grab Taranys's keys from his pocket (it's a lot harder than you'd think), but eventually he does manage to get them and unlock the front door for Taranys. Baleygr had hoped that Taranys had a roommate to open the door for them, but alas, it seems Taranys just lives by himself.
As Baleygr unlocks the front door, he can't help but be surprised that they even made it back home. Apparently, Taranys is one of those sleepy, clumsy drunks. He doesn't seem like that kind of drunk to Baleygr. More like one of the drunks who tear up at the slightest thing and tells everyone he meets "I love you; you're so great, I love you."
It won't hurt to see if he does have any roommates, just in case. Baleygr pokes his head through the doorway, softly calling out into the darkness, "Hey, anyone here?"
He's greeted with silence, and assumes it's safe to step inside, practically dragging Taranys along by the waist. The Druid's fallen asleep again, and is probably going to stay asleep through the night. Baleygr fumbles around, and flicks the light on. Taranys's place is pretty small for Baleygr's taste; there's the living quarters and the kitchen, a bedroom all the way over there, and that's all Baleygr can see at first glance.
"Alright, c'mon, Taranys, let's get you to bed." Right now, Taranys is in more casual clothes (well, casual compared to his regular Druid attire in Guild Wars and the like). Baleygr's got no idea what Taranys wears to bed, and is not about to go digging through drawers and whatnot.
"S- stay with me…" Taranys clutches Baleygr's arm tight, and looks up at him. Well, he tries, anyway, but he's barely able to stay up on his feet as is. "Please? Just for the – the night or some'in'?"
Baleygr opens his mouth to say no and that he's really got to get going, but he really can't find it in him to do so. Taranys looks so vulnerable and real, and it sends twangs of some emotion Baleygr couldn't pinpoint through his heart. Who would he be to say no?
Eventually he sighs and responds, "Alright, alright, just for the night. But I'm taking the couch and bringing you to bed."
"Thank you…" Taranys has a small smile on his face, and it makes Baleygr end up reciprocating the motion.
… Okay, it did, until Taranys suddenly jerks and slaps a hand over his mouth, and Baleygr scrambles to find a trashcan for Taranys to puke into.