Complaining

"So what does Twin's Nights entail?"  Cian asked as he and Mercutio followed behind Damien.

The lanky boy shrugged, pushing some messy white locks from his face.  Cian couldn't help but notice the way that the boy walked.  Damien moved like an animal, not like a human.  Light footsteps that were careful, his toes always spread as if they were paws with pads.  He also seemed to be haunched, as if he were expecting things to jump at him and he needed to be able to fall on all fours to escape.  Stretching his senses Cian could feel people in the area, nothing that terribly dangerous.  Not yet at least.

"Twin's Nights is a lot of singing and dancing.  People drink and eat a lot.  Lots of pickpockets too," Damien looked back at them.  "You don't have anything expensive, right?"

"No I don't think so," Cian shook his head.

"What about that," he pointed at Mercutio's anklet.

"I doubt a thief would be able to get this off me," Mercutio smiled.

"They've got twitchy fingers and move fast."

"The anklet doesn't come off, Damien."

That was news, and Cian looked back at Mercutio.  "It doesn't?"

"No, there's no clasp.  It was fitted over my ankle when I was younger, and as I grew it seemed to also grow with me.  It never got tight but it's always there.  I think there's some sort of magic to it," Mercutio stopped and picked up his foot to look at it.  "But it's not one I know."

"Doesn't that bother you?"  Cian knew it would bother him.

"Not particularly," shrugged Mercutio.

No, of course not.  It took much more to bother Mercutio, or very particular circumstances to make him upset.  Though the information about the anklet was new.

"Can't you do something to make it come off?"  Cian asked.

"Maybe do another blindfold thing," Damien suggested, turning around and looking at the anklet more.

"No it doesn't come off, that's what I'm saying," Mercutio seemed to laugh.  "It's not meant to, I suppose."

"How did you get it on?"  Damien touched one of the bells and then recoiled as it chimed lightly.

"My mother put it on me."

"Why would she do that?"  Damien wrinkled his nose.

Mercutio laughed a little softer now.  They were venturing into uncomfortable territory for the eternal.  Cian's hand squeezed Mercutio's.  He didn't have to answer if he didn't want to.

"She said it was so I could never get lost," Mercutio admitted softly.

"Damien where are your parents?"  Cian suddenly asked, wanting to move the subject off Mercutio before he got upset.

"Doesn't matter.  Plaza's this way," he growled.

Parents seemed to be a sore subject for everyone in their little group.  Cian's expression twisted, but he pressed his shoulder to Mercutio's.  His friend smiled and shook his head.

"It's fine, an old wound at best," he murmured.

"Still a wound."

"We all have them," Mercutio shrugged.  "Some we cope with better than others.  My parents went off, to where I don't know, but I know they loved me and that's enough."

Though Mercutio was primarily talking to Cian, Cian could see the way Damien flinched at the discussion of a family and parents.  He started to walk faster, perhaps wanting to be relieved of the two sooner than he originally intended.  Though Damien soon slowed as they came to a wide, open plaza.  It was circular shaped, with a number of buildings on the fringes of the plaza.  There was a large, white stone fountain in the center decorated with a sculpture of a serpent like fish.  Water flowed from the fish's mouth into the pool of the fountain.  There were leaning poles with lanters hanging down all around the plaza, an odd design drawn onto the lanterns that Cian could feel a type of energy coming from.  That energy sustained the fire and kept the light going.

There was a ring of people dancing and there were tables set up throughout the plaza.  True to Damien's statement there were kegs of alcoholic beverages, some others with water, and food all around.  The whole town seemed to be enjoying the celebrations.  Damien didn't look half as entertained as most of the people they were walking around.  Though as he walked them into the plaza an old, rough voice called for him.

"One moment," Damien said, switching courses and leaving Mercutio and Cian.

*

"Do you think we should follow him?"  Cian wondered.

"I'd say no," Mercutio smiled.  "This is his home, he likely knows where he's going.  Might have been family calling him."

Though Cian was still looking in the direction Damien had bounded off to.  Mercutio couldn't help but smile.  He didn't think Cian would allow himself to actually like a random stranger.  The only reason Cian seemed to like Cast'avan was because the Av'ikir had helped him in the past, not because he found his own reason to like and trust him.  Then that boy found them and Mercutio could swear that Cian was already getting attached to him.

"Come now," Mercutio prompted softly, "we're here to have some fun, not worry about a new friend."

"I never said he was a friend," Cian said quickly.

Mercutio couldn't help it as he scoffed and then laughed at Cian.  His friend bristled and glared at Mercutio as he did.

"But you do care a little bit about that boy," Meructio nudged his friend.

"…Only a little," grumbled Cian.

Probably much more than a little.  Cian finally found someone new to bond to, and Mercutio found it somewhat adorable that it was a child.  Even if Damien was a bit odd for a child he was one.  Then again, it was sort of a "pot calling the kettle black" with Mercutio labling someone as odd.  (That didn't change the fact that he thought Damien was odd.)

The music started up, a somewhat lively tune played on string and woodwind instruments.  Mercutio's spirits suddenly lifted and he pulled Cian towards the dancing ring.  Cian groaned and moved sluggishly, but he didn't really hold Mercutio back.  He was just making things difficult because that was how Cian was.  Mercutio wouldn't change it, no matter how frustrating it was.

There was always something about dancing that always made Mercutio happier.  From when he was a child to hundreds of millions of years later and then to now, dance always did something for Mercutio.  It was a way to express his emotions, to let him burn all that energy he always stored, and a way to interact and have fun.  Cian didn't seem to be as excited, but Mercutio got his friend to dance once.  And back then they were hardly as close as they were now.

"Must we always do this?"  Cian complained as they were pushed into a ring, their arms locked around strangers'.

"Yes," Mercutio answered simply.

Cian groaned and then made a complaining sound as the ring jerked them to the right, everyone bouncing on their toes.  A moment later they all rushed to the left and Mercutio exploded into laughter.  Dancing was just so much fun!  And this dance was more of a group effort, so there was no way either could be that bad because they were in a crowd!  Or, to be more correct, a ring of people all laughing, and Mercutio was sure a number of the participants were beyond pleasantly buzzed and tipsy.

The dancing ring worked it's own unique magic on both of them.  Soon enough Mercutio could hear Cian laughing beside him even as they both stumbled as they were pulled in one direction and then another.  The people of this town didn't seem to care that they were strangers and happily accepted them into their celebrations.  Maybe that was another sort of magic their people had.  Mercutio didn't pretend to know, and right now he was enjoying stumbling and being caught by Cian, then him doing the same for his friend, and the two of them starting to grow a little breathless as they were tossed about in the dancing.

After a length of time Mercutio definitely did not measure the ring broke apart, most of the people tired and red-faced from exertion and inebriation.  Mercutio felt electricity in his limbs and bounced in place, grabbing Cian's arms and pulling him in for another dance.  Cian seemed to laugh and almost stumble as Mercutio pulled him around like a ragdoll.

"Do you ever get tired?"  Cian shook his head.

"Not as easily as you!  Come now, you can't seriously be winded after so little!"  Complained Mercutio.

"I never said I was!"

"Then why are you complaining?"

"I am not complaining I am commenting on your nearly endless supply of exuberance," Cian accented, trying to frown but the smile on his face refused to wane.

"You know I never comment about your grouchiness," Mercutio pointed out.

"I am not grouchy!"  Cian pulled Mercutio in a different direction as they danced.

"Oh yes you are!"  Mercutio grinned wildly, feeling something in his chest flutter.  "All the time!  Complaining and carrying on and not wanting to ever have fun!"

Most of that sentence Mercutio didn't mean.  In fact, he knew that didn't mean about 90% of that sentence, but he said it anyways.  He liked the way Cian's violet eyes flared when he said that.  Something in him felt so excited when Cian pulled him in another direction, turning their dance into a dizzying battle over…over something.

"I don't complain that much!"

"You complained about coming here!"

"No I commented about coming here!"  Cian nearly shouted.

"You were complaining about the idea of vampires!  And before that with the yeti world—"

"By the stars will you forget the yeti world?!"

Mercutio could so easily forget the yeti world.  I could just be another planet that he passed by and never visited, and honestly he didn't care if they never visited it, but right now he was on a roll and Cian was leading this dance in such a way.  Mercutio hadn't felt this exhilarated in so long, and he just wanted to keep Cian like this, the two of them moving dizzily as the cold Volusian winds bit at them in the middle of the night.

"No I will not!  Because you started this—"

"Will you just stop talking!"

Suddenly Cian pulled Mercutio against him, his hands flying from Mercutio's and grabbing the side of his face.  The eternal smiled, but he only could for a second, because the next second later his lips were forced against Cian's.  Finally.  Mercutio's hands scrambled for a hold around Cian's back.  He shut his teal eyes and reveled in the kiss he had been hoping for…for quite a while.  (Time, such a funny thing for their kind!)  Cian's lips were thin, but they were soft and warm against Mercutio's.  He rather liked that texture and temperature.  When their lips finally parted Mercutio chuckled, he took in a breath to say something and Cian growled.  Suddenly they were kissing again, Cian's fingers curled in Mercutio's hair.  If just inhaling got that response Mercutio had to wonder what a whole syllable might do.  But the second time their lips parted Mercutio and Cian just exhaled.  Cian pulled Mercutio's head down a little bit, so their foreheads could rest against each other's.  Mercutio obliged the movement, his arms pulling Cian in for a warm hug.

A minute (or what felt like a minute) passed and no one seemed to notice.  The music was still playing, the wind was still bitingly cold, and there was still the constant chatter of the revelers.  Mercutio smiled a little as Cian's thumb brushed the hollow of his cheek.

"…Can I talk yet…?"  Mercutio whispered.

"…Depends on what you're going to say," Cian was smiling too, though his eyes were shut in a pleasant way.

The eternal considered that expectation and then nodded.  His hands brushed Cian's back, moving along his spine gently.  Mercutio realized he didn't know what to say, and he just chuckled nervously.  Cian seemed to smile back.

"…Finally figured out a way to shut you up fast," Cian murmured.

Mercutio just chuckled again and had to nod.  Another minute (or more) later the two realized they had no place in the dancing ring since they weren't exactly dancing.  Pulling out of their embrace, Mercutio's hand fit right into Cian's and they headed towards the tables.  Twin's Nights might have to become one of Mercutio's favorite holidays at this point.