Prince of Feathers

4 - conversations by the fire

Eventually, the sound of footsteps on the tavern stairs filled the air again.

Tango looked up from the fireplace. He'd dangled his hand over the fire grate, and once his fingers cooled down enough, he'd started petting Yellow around their fluffy neck feathers. The bird was happily chittering at him, pausing for a moment when Bdubs entered the room. The moss-covered man waved a greeting and made his way over to the fireplace.

"I've returned!" Bdubs declared with a toothy smile. Etho, still manning the bar, chuckled under his breath before blowing Bdubs a kiss from across the room. Bdubs made a show of catching the kiss and blowing one back to the fox hybrid.

Void, those two are a cringey couple, Tango thought. He loved them for it though, they were goofy and sweet.

"So, how have you been, Tango?" Bdubs asked, plunking himself down in one of the plush armchairs by the fireplace and directing his attention back to the blazeborn.

"Good, good," Tango hummed. "Here, let me step out so I can hear you better." He already felt freshly cooked enough by the fire at this point, and it was a bit hard to make out Bdubs words through its crackling roar. Tango unlatched the grate and brushed the coal and soot off himself before stepping out. After waiting a moment to cool down, he sunk into the armchair next to Bdubs, and Yellow fluttered up to sit with him. "There we go," Tango said with a smile.

"So, whatcha been up to lately?" Bdubs asked, voice sing-songy.

"Not all that much. I've just been traveling around, visiting places." Tango gave his planned answer. It wasn't really true, but it was enough so that Bdubs wouldn't pry. "Oh! And I saw Zed a while back, he visited the Underground," he added on.

Bdubs' eyes widened, "Zed's always fun time," he smiled. "He stopped by here two- no, three weeks back or so. Last I heard from him, he was headed up to this big redstone convention in Rivendell- it's later this month."

"Oh yeah, that thing!" Tango had heard about the convention. He hadn't been planning on going though, since he'd been a bit... preoccupied. But now he probably could! "I might travel out for it, but I haven't decided yet. If I do I could see Zed again I guess, and all the new contraptions he's probably selling."

"That's nice. Etho was thinking of going, but he's decided to stay back and just run the tavern instead." Bdubs explained.

"How's tavern life going for you two?" Tango asked, giving scritches to Yellow when the bird squawked for his attention.

"Oh, it's great, Tango. I just love it here- and Sanctuary is such a beautiful town too," Bdubs gushed. "The tavern is doing wonderful, it's like living in paradise."

"I can imagine it is, surrounded by all that beer and ale all the time," the blazeborn commented back, chuckling under his breath. Bdubs laughed too, with a playful, "Hey!" Tango just gave him a 'what can I say?' shrug.

"Aside from alcoholism— which there is none of in this establishment— it is really nice." Bdubs shifted in his chair, fluffing up his moss coat.

"Yeah," Tango nodded in agreement. Sanctuary was such a lovely place. He wanted to stay, but he needed to make sure it really was okay with Etho and Bdubs. He sighed, pausing a moment before spitting it out. "And, uhm, you guys are okay with me staying here for a bit, right? Because Etho said it was fine, but I really don't have that much coin on me right now, and I don't want to be taking advantage or anything like that."

In response, Bdubs just smiled, waving his question off. "Of course, Tango! You're our friend, of course we're gonna let you stay."

"Even if it's for an... indefinite amount of time?" He didn't want to overstay his welcome, but he also didn't want to leave, so it was definitely a bit of a conundrum.