Alcuin

[willysilver]

Willy had found a shitty bar with a stage and had gotten himself a Firday night gig. It was just him, a mic, a stool, and a bottle of water. No lighting, no show. Just a giant with a guitar.

Nyx had convinced him he could find his own music. He'd taken that to heart and had begun to write. He may not have Nyx's music, but he found the nymph was still his muse as every song was about him. Love, pain, sorrow, violence, he had an entire setlist.

"Believe it or not, this is a love song," he told the few people in the bar, most not paying attention, though they couldn't help but feel the music seeping into their blood.

Her eyes and words are so icy
Oh but she burns
Like rum on a fire
Hot and fast and angry
As she can be
I walk my days on a wire

It looks ugly, but it's clean
Oh mamma, don't fuss over me

The way she tells me I'm hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine

Calls of guilty thrown at me
All while she stains
The sheets of some other
Thrown at me so powerfully
Just like she throws with the arm of her brother

But I want it, it's a crime
That she's not around most of the time

Way she shows me I'm hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine

Her fight and fury is fiery
Oh but she loves
Like sleep to the freezing
Sweet and right and merciful
I'm all but washed
In the tide of her breathing

And it's worth it, it's divine
I have this some of the time

Way she shows me I'm hers and she is mine
Open hand or closed fist would be fine
The blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine

One person clapped. Three were weeping.

Willy smiled and took a sip of water before finishing his set and stepping off the stage to get an actual drink.

Comments

[alcuin]

Alcuin didn't go out much. And when he did he usually had a reason. A mission. But tonight... he just wanted to go be a normal person. Maybe even, frankly, find someone to go home with. Not because he needed anything from them. Just because he could.

He made his way to a part of the city far enough away from the brothel that he wouldn't run into anyone there, and wandered into a random bar.

When he realized what a shithole it was, he almost left, but then... he heard the music.

And soon he was sitting near the stage nursing a gin and tonic and watching him intently.

He waited to make sure that the musician wasn't mobbed (how was no one approaching him?!) and then left his seat and went up to him at the bar. "Can I buy you a drink?"

[willysilver]

Willy flashed a smile and gave a nod.

"My wish come true," he said. "I'd love a drink."

[alcuin]

Alcuin leaned over the bar to speak to the bartender, another gin and tonic for him, and whatever the musician would like.

And once the bartender was working on their drinks, he looked back to him. He was sure now, that he felt something. Like when he'd met Rain. Like the lingering feeling in Hannibal's bedroom just after he'd fucked a fae who had apparently used all kind of sex magic. (Ugh.) This was part of what he'd been feeling in the music.

"You're very talented," he said. "Your music... spoke to me."

[willysilver]

"Did it?" he asked, pleased to hear it.

"A terrible thing, love. And the most wonderful," he continued, leading the man away from the crowd to his table near the stage where they could chat without interruption.

[alcuin]

"Yes," Alcuin agreed. "That's exactly it. It's terrible and beautiful at the same time. Is that what makes it so magical?" He sat down close to him at the table.

[willysilver]

Willy looked into his eyes and for a moment seemed confused.

"What an odd question," he said. "Of course not."

[alcuin]

"Oh, that was kind of... a rhetorical question," Alcuin said, a bit off balance from that. "But in any case, like I said it... made me feel something. Your music."

[willysilver]

Curious became skeptical and the sidhe tilted his head.

"What do you mean when you say something?" he asked.

There was 'something' magical about that particular word...mostly because Willy practically shoved his magic at the man.

[alcuin]

Alcuin felt it. Was he doing that on purpose?

"Well, it made me feel complicated emotions," he said. "About love." Pause. "But I felt the magic too, of course. Though I confess it took me a bit to realize what it was."

[willysilver]

Willy leaned in close, lips near the man's ear to be heard- but also to breathe him in and feel him.

"My love is complicated," he said. "My little bird is ruin and redemption, and I am deeply flawed."

[alcuin]

"Yeah? Me too," Alcuin said quietly. "But anyway... thank you. I think I needed to feel something like that."

[willysilver]

"Did you?" he asked, leaning forward with interest.

Your own song, he heard Nyx in his head.

But the promise was so tempting...

[alcuin]

"Boy problems," Alcuin said with a smile. Then before anything else he added, "I'm Alcuin."

[willysilver]

"Willy Silver," he replied.

He took a sip and considered what sorts of boy problems the lad could have.

"Tell me," he commanded, a bit of magic there to compel him to speak.

[alcuin]

"The love of my life is sleeping with a fae and also I manipulated someone else into falling in love with me and now I feel guilty about it."

Alcuin's eyes went wide. "How did you do that?"

[willysilver]

"I asked. And you yearn to tell someone, do you not?" Willy replied, taking another casual sip.

[alcuin]

"That doesn't mean I would," Alcuin said.

"Can you tell I'm part fae?"

[willysilver]

"I'm beginning to wonder if the question should be, can you?" he replied.

[alcuin]

"I... don't quite understand what you mean," Alcuin said.

[willysilver]

"Who are your parents, pet?" Willy asked gently.

[alcuin]

"I don't know," Alcuin said after a brief hesitation, and didn't quite meet his eyes. "I don't remember anything from before I was sixteen. Probably um... I mean, a psychiatrist told me it was probably some extreme traumatic event."

[willysilver]

"Would you like to know?" Willy asked.

It sounded less like curiosity and more like an offer.

[alcuin]

"Would I like to know... about my family?"

Alcuin blinked at him, surprised. Looked around, as if maybe he was being pranked. And then said, "Of course."

[willysilver]

"What is the knowledge worth?" he asked. "Not a thing I would gift to anyone, you see. A Deal?"

[alcuin]

Alcuin did know some things about fae.

He hesitated. "I'm not sure. What would you want?"

[willysilver]

Your own song

Nyx could be a curse.

Willy studied him.

"I don't even know what you have to offer. I will always refuse children. Keep them," he said with a note of disgust.

[alcuin]

"I don't have any children," Alcuin assured him.

"I honestly don't know what one offers in a fae deal," he said. "Bake you a pie? Write you a poem? Give you head?"

[willysilver]

Willy's eyes widened as an idea struck.

"Write me poem," he said with a nod. "And give me the rights to produce."

[alcuin]

"... produce? Like turn it into song lyrics?"

The truth was, Alcuin did write poetry sometimes. But he was convinced it wasn't very good.

[willysilver]

"Yes," he nodded sharply.

"I'll tell you what truth I can in exchange for poetry, and the rights, to do with as I please," he said. "And I can tell you before, or after, the poem. Whichever you prefer."

[alcuin]

"I'd like to ask for something else, too," Alcuin said after a moment. "I want to find out if I can use magic. Could you help me?"

[willysilver]

"I can introduce you around," he agreed.

"Is that the Deal? Your history and an introduction for a poem and the rights?"

He felt it fair.

Willy offered his hand.

[alcuin]

Alcuin hesitated visibly. He'd been warned about fae deals, of course, but still... this seemed rather innocuous. And what harm would it do to write some song lyrics for him?

He shook his hand. "Deal."

[willysilver]

Willy took hold of his hand to shake and seal the deal, then caught it with the other and held on. Warmth moved through Alcuin's blood, then withdrew rapidly.

"Dilute. A grandfather, probably, was fae. Probably a nymph. The most beautiful mortals have nymph blood. You'll likely never know, though. Your memory was stolen with magic. Powerful magic," he said, his voice ominously dark and quiet.

He let go abruptly.

"Bitter magic."

[alcuin]

The first part Alcuin did not find shocking, but the second...

"My memory was taken from me?" He'd never even considered this possibility. But it... made sense.

[willysilver]

"Yes," he nodded sympathetically. "With almost surgical precision. Most memory spells leave tattered edges. Your past is simply gone."

[alcuin]

Alcuin still looked a bit stunned. "Is it fae magic? That could do that?"

[willysilver]

"No, this is the wizardry of men. No fae would do...that," he answered with a note of distaste.

[alcuin]

"I see," said Alcuin, looking troubled. "I - I might need another drink."