AUDIENCE FOR: Kaeya

[guestservices]

Comments

[guestservices]

[ something about that resonates with aquila in a way that's obvious - the weight of the pause between responses feels heavy, and they turn to meet his look properly.

the shadows in their wings flicker again, purple shooting down through the shape of them vertically, sharp relief and bright light for a moment before it vanishes again, and then form more clearly into feathers. ]

Mouth of honey, heart of daggers. [ they murmur into their glass as they pull it up to the veil. ] We're too alike sometimes, Kaeya.

[ ... ]

's not a bad philosophy to have. Just try not to lose who are you are while you're at it, yeah?

[callalilies]

I won't... I was practically born to lie. Hope that's in my file too.

Either way, it doesn't matter. I know who I am, and who I love, and I'll carry the weight of the things I've done. I think you're similar. Decisions--

[ a pause. a small sip of his bottle this time. he swallows. ]

Decisiveness. We make choices. We live them the consequences. Doesn't mean we have to lose the heart... I still mourned Ragnvindr. I'll mourn those I've betrayed by my actions...

[ he's going to just lean suddenly against them in the booth, head on their shoulder, but gaze (???) respectfully cast downwards. ]

[guestservices]

[ oh, well. the closeness seems to surprise them a bit - they tense up a little, but it doesn't last, as they let their shoulders droop some and allow kaeya to rest there. since kaeya is so close he may note that they smell nice. ]

You're assuming a bit about me, captain.

[ they sound a little amused, softly. ] And so we do. Perhaps the choices we make are the heart, in some ways.

You're right that I'm decisive, though. [ a little hum. ] Ragnvindr. Like Diluc?

[callalilies]

I'm a spy and an information broker, Aquila. This is precisely what I'm paid to do. But it's not an assumption, it's just a guess. Besides, you just said we're too alike, you silly bird.

[ he huffs, holding onto the wine bottle, thumb over the top. ]

No, his father. Crepus. When he died...

[ mm ] It's a story for some other time, maybe. Not right now.

[guestservices]

[ they snort. ]

Maybe I said we're too alike because we have a similar alcohol tolerance, though I'm starting to believe mine is better.

[ but they reach over and

tweak his nose between their clawed fingers, though its more between their knuckles to save him the trouble of the points. honk. ] Test those observation skills of yours, spy. You are more or less on my payroll.

[ considering the dawn watch. this is said with that glimmering amusement, though.

as kaeya lays off of the story, they hum. ] And fair enough. Maybe you've had enough nostalgia for the day, hm? What're you looking for for the rest of the evening. Rest? A distraction?

[callalilies]

[ nasally: ]

I've had a head start.

[ honk honk he is a clown and he knows it. but he just lets it happen, wrinkling his nose when they stop. he doesn't know what he was looking for. maybe someone who had a good answer for the question burning deep in his heart. he wants to believe diluc is fine, but he doesn't trust this contract bullshit whatsoever.

"above my paygrade" his ass, he's going to show these npcs how to unionize stg (no he doesn't even know what that is)

he just turns, offers them a smile, barely there. ]

I'll never say no to distractions.

[guestservices]

[ the nasal noise gets them to huff, a little bit of a laugh. they pull their hand free and pick their drink up, finishing it off and waving down a shadow to fetch them a refill. ]

Hmmm. [ distractions, then. they tap their finger against their glass. ] Maybe it's my turn to tell you a story. I learned of a legend behind my constellation, this week. Have you done any research on us? Our stars, at least.

[callalilies]

Constellations are common where I'm from. You're born beneath a specific one in my world—for example... mine is Pavo Ocellus. The peacock. My brother is Noctua... the owl.

[ he will.

finish the bottle right there. it takes a moment. but it's done (has he just done this before? chugged bottles? it's like there's a science or strategy to it.)

he puts it down. ]

Tell me the story of this one... Aquila.

[guestservices]

[ they don't react too much to the chugging, though they take the bottle from kaeya when it's finished and set it aside. they have a nice voice for storytelling - very smooth. ]

There are many, apparently. The original name is for an eagle that carried the thunderbolts of a great and powerful god. That story sits across many cultures; in another, it's just known as the "heavenly eagle constellation". It guards its god protectively from arrows of Eros that had struck him into love unwittingly, and it has even retrieved a young, beautiful man to bring to the heavens on the request of its god.

[ another tap of claw against glass. ] Aquila is made of many clusters of stars and nebula; the brightest is one called Altair, and that star is associated with a love story.

[ they laugh, then. ] Sort of a lover and a fighter, yeah?

[callalilies]

[ kaeya frowns as the bottle is taken from him, but... allows this, folding his arms instead. he listens intently, and as he does, there's something in his eye (hole?) that softens. blooms of tired callalilies. then he blinks, and it's blue again, as starry as before. a lover and a fighter. ]

Sounds just like Venessa then...

[ the lion's fang. the dawnlight. ]

Minus the... bringing beautiful young men to the heavens, but. The rest... yes.

[guestservices]

[ it's empty, stupid, no more booze for you

they laugh, though, glancing down at him. ] Well, who knows if that part suits me or not. Venessa?

[callalilies]

Oh? Are you going to spirit me away? Or maybe someone else?

[ he smiles. fine. whatever!!! ]

She helped free Mondstadt from the aristocracy... not long after the Dawnlight's passing. She became the first Grand Master of the Ordo of Favonius, the group I'm part of... the Eagle of the West, the Lion's Fang. Story goes, she said...

"We must fight and claim our own freedom. We can not beg for it. We must not kneel for it. Freedom given freely is only a guise for another shackle."

[ he looks into his lap quietly. ]

When she passed, her spirit rose to Celestia in the form of an eagle. To protect those who wield Aquila Favonius in her name.

[guestservices]

You are very pretty.

[ absently. but, they listen to that for a moment. the dawnlight. eagle of the west.

... ]

I see. Sounds like an inspiring leader.

[callalilies]

She was... sometimes I think Jean tries to be too much like her. Her shoes are too enormous, she lifted the shackles from an entire city of freedom. Jean is different. She can lead in her own way... I think she's learning this.

That is a legacy, we are meant to carry it, not to simply wear the same tired clothes over and over again. You must beget progress, not more of the same. I think... sometimes Jean doesn't realize that. That she can breathe too, that she's allowed that.

[ this is why he does double the work and no one knows except maybe god. he lifts a hand to pluck a stray feather near his eye, flicks it off into ash and then nothing.

in a flash, he smiles, like nothing has happened, turns. ]

You really think I'm pretty.

[guestservices]

I wonder if sometimes, a moment to breathe gets in the way of the progress and goal you'd like to achieve.

[ they say this idly, listening to kaeya as he muses on this jean person. for a moment, they are looking away, gaze focused across the room - maybe lost in their own thoughts.

...kaeya brings them back when he turns towards them, though, and they laugh. it's a similar reaction. like nothing even happened. ] Quit fishing for compliments.

[callalilies]

It doesn't. Like a pause in music. It only serves to better complete the work.

[ but at the last remark: ]

No. Whosoever gave me my good looks deserves to have them flaunted and praised.

[guestservices]

[ they make a noise to the first part, mildly.

and then laugh. ] How bratty. [ teasing, though. they boop him on the nose with a claw. ] Or how spoiled? Maybe both.

[callalilies]

Perhaps. [ at the boop, his nose just wrinkles a bit. ] Crepus did spoil me like one of his own. I wanted for nothing...

But who spoils you, Aquila?

[guestservices]

[ like immediately in complete deadpan: ]

Oh, the Nightman. You know.








[ this is a joke ]

[callalilies]

[ he immediately (playfully) smacks his arm because he knows this is totally a joke. ]

You allowed to talk about your boss like that?

[guestservices]

Our passionate romance is supposed to be hush hush.

[ they are


so full of bullshit, snickering as they are rightfully smacked. ]

[callalilies]

[ STOP!!!! SMACK SMACK, but weaker, babier smacks until he just kind of sinks into the seat like he's trying to melt into it. maybe relief? maybe tired? who knows ur on his eyepatch side. ]

A torrid love affair! Incredible. I know a bard who would love to write a story about you, I'm sure.

[guestservices]

[ they hum. ]

I'm fond of a bard or two. A legendary song about me would be pretty great.

[ teasing, there. they bat at kaeya's hand with the baby smacks gently but mostly just let it happen, preening a bit. as he sinks into the chair, he can feel a strange, sort of soft, if cold presence, as one wing curls around him. ]

[callalilies]

[ oh... a wingie. he pauses a moment and then leans slightly into it again, folding his arms around himself as well, tapping his food on the ground. ]

Don't know about legendary, but...

[ and he will start to carefully carve out a beat on his knee. he's from the country of freedom and revelry after all. ] Let's see...

I once was a bird, so keen were they
With wings so strong, and demeanor quite gay
Aloft the winds of dawn they flew
Despite this miserable cage.

[guestservices]

[ they seem very amused at this. as kaeya finishes his verse, they cut in, primly ]

My demeanor is fond of men and women, thanks.

[ they knew exactly what he actually meant and yet ]