strangetrip | [EP] The Worst Birthday

Of course, everybody had birthdays - even if they didn't know what day it was on the calendar, that didn't stop someone having them. Vax'ildan hadn't honestly thought much about it, until Joanna had got talking when to plant what one afternoon amongst the herbs in her garden. Seasons, months, weeks, days... They were different in this world from what Vax knew. Nevertheless, when he stopped to do a bit of his own math, he thought it must be very near his own birthday in Exandria.

Their birthday. His, by only a couple of minutes, and then Vex'ahlia's.

It seemed a stupid thing to get hung up about. But once it (she) had wormed its way into his brain, his heart, he couldn't get it (her) out, and it became a crushing reminder that Vex could be lost to him forever. He didn't have much in the way of distractions, and the more he tried to forget about it, the worse it had got until he sank into a drowning sulk. He avoided everyone and everything including his mirror-matched room, effectively vanishing for a few days on end, until gravely admitting that the only way out might very well be through.

Which is how he ended up sitting in the one corner of a booth in the cafe, armor exchanged for a simple sleeveless tunic and loose pants from Songrun, staring at the empty seat across from him with arms folded on the table in a bit of a hunch.

"Get us a drink," he told the passers-by mirthlessly, without so much as turning to look at them or stopping to count how many he'd had already. Did it matter? "It's our birthday."

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Vax actually did get a little greenish, at the thought of losing his own sister in such a way (he'd come damned bloody close enough). Though the drink might also have something to do with the sickly look.

"That's... Fucking awful."

"Fucking awful." Piotr agreed. It didn't matter to him anymore that the feeling had come after hours of torture. He believed it and it was fucking awful.

"It took ten years for me to lose hope and in this place..." Piotr looked around and found Kitty, then shook his head. "Some days I almost think it's possible to see some version of her again."

Following the glance over to Kitty, then back again, Vax bobbed his head in a nod. It did sound impossible, if what Piotr said was true. But Vax himself had seen people come back from death a few times over. And in this place, it certainly seemed as if anything had, could, would happen yet.

But it didn't seem right to prop anyone's hopes up, either. Including his own.

"We should all be so lucky," he left it at that, groping to pick up a glass of beer and toast the big man's bottle.

"It is tradition in Russia to give speech before toast on special occasions." He tapped the bottle against his glass. "But fuck it, let us drink"

Tipping his head back, he let the vodka coat his throat and burn into his belly.

"Your sister Vex, are you twins? You share birthday?"

"Fine speech," Vax commended after his swallow. "...Yeah. Twinnies," he admitted.

He thought on it, for a moment, remembering the thing about manners and names that the other had said at the beginning of all this. "I'm Vax," he explained. "She's Vex. That's Vax'ildan. That's me. She's Vex'ahlia. Vax. Vex. But what's your name?"

"Vax'ildan," It was unlike any name Piotr had heard before and it made him smile. The word rolled around his mouth pleasantly, fitting nicely around his accent and coming out in a rumble. "It is nice to officially meet you, Vax. I am Piotr."

Wow. His name sounded really muscle-y and butch when a giant of a man with a deep voice and hard accent said it. Go figure.

"Peter?" Vax frowned, knowing it hadn't been quite so common as that. There'd been more sounds packed tight in the middle, hadn't there? "Pe-oh-tor," he went at it again, wrangling an unusually thick tongue to make sure he'd got it. He did have a knack for mimicry, when he wasn't sloshed. "...Piotr. There. Have I got it yet?"

"You are close. The yut sound in middle is more guttural." Piotr chuckled. Leaning in closer, he repeated his name slower.

"You must open up the back of your throat more."

Vax gave him an uneasy look that warned Piotr he might be getting too close, and not because Vax wasn't friendly. "If I do that right now, you're not going to like what comes out of it," he sounded rather serious. What a surprise, all of the booze ever wasn't sitting well.

Piotr blinked slowly, realization coming slower than it probably should have. "Oh right! In that case, you should stick with calling me Peter, it is another version of my name."

Softening slightly, he gave Vax an appraising look to decide if he needed to be worried yet. "These are the only pants in this place that fit me, I do not want them ruined."

"We'll try and avoid that, won't we, big man," Vax pledged his best, for what little that was worth. He leaned his head against the wall, the misery of his fish imitation beginning to dawn on him. "Haven't you found a... Isn't there a sewing-person-stress hereabouts? Sew you some more?"

"You want some fresh air, little man?" Piotr always found night air refreshing if he drank too much and it would be an easy thing to get the other man outside.

He began to blush bright red thinking about his failed attempt to learn how to sew. "Not yet. If you know of anyone, let me know."

"One of those nicknames has a decided advantage over the other," Vax pointed out, not that he could argue the comparison. "I do. Know someone. I'm... Pretty sure," he supposed, though he couldn't remember exactly which of them it was as of yet.

"And I... Am not walking anywhere," he muttered, curling deeper into the corner of his booth. "Can't. Now." He'd just sleep it off right here, he thought. Why not?

"I will have to find better nickname for you then," Piotr chuckled. "Do not worry about it now, the name will come to you."

Watching Vax retreat into himself, Piotr's brow furrowed. "This is no place to sleep, comrade. What room are you staying in? I will get you to bed."

"I dunno know you well enough by half," Vax insisted, furrow-brow-ing back at him with a bit of a slur to his speech. He had it in mind that he meant being carried about like a sack of potatoes, but if he'd been a touch more clear-headed, other possible implications would've been pretty obvious.

"Katya will kill me if I let you sleep here and you make mess of her bar." Piotr slid out of his seat and held out a steady hand to Vax. "Come."

"I wouldn't push your luck, friend," Vax warned, not that he came very close to intimidating just then. "...No sleeping here, then. For Kitty. But I've still got some self-pity left to indulge, if you don't mind."

[EP] The Worst Birthday

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