"Ah, alright… thank you." Flick dipped his head politely and headed over to the bar, looking very out of place and still a bit nervous. They didn't see any sort of menu, so he figured he was just supposed to know what he wanted or ask the bartender. They swallowed nervously and sat on one of the barstools. "Um… sir?" He hesitantly waved one hand to get the bartender's attention. "May I have a drink? I've never had any before so I'm not really sure what to order…"
The bartender scowls at Flick. "Those retards are accepting just about anyone these days. You're lucky to even be able to set foot in our shack." He gives them a drink, a sort of tequila with some blue stuff swirling around in it, before grumbling off back to work, moving bottles of alcohol, stacking spell books, and hiding a bottle of blue liquid behind a plant that he also keeps on the wooden shelf behind the bar. "Shoo, go back with that little sinner and drink your souls away. I don't care 'bout you."
"Ah…" Flick flushed a bit, feeling almost guilty for… inconveniencing the bartender? He felt bad, but they couldn't quite determine the cause. "Um… thanks, sir. I'll get out of your way." He dipped his head in apology and took his drink back over to where Bea was. "Do you know what this is?" They asked Bea curiously, examining the swirling blue drink in the glass with his eyes wide. "The bartender didn't say…"
Bea's eyes widen when they see the swirling stuff, they had seen Scruffy drink it, and he always left the room afterward. There was no reason to scare Flick. It was likely just nasty. "Nope. Never seen it." Bea shrugs, laying back in their straw hammock. "By the way, whenever you go, I have to follow you, to make sure you don't rat us out to the authorities. It's a shit rule, especially when we can see, uh, you being a deer." They drop some sort of bloody meat in Larry's tank, awaiting response.
"If you say so…" Flick looked down at the drink again with a soft hum. It was probably fine. The bartender wouldn't give him anything that unsafe, right? They glanced up at Bea's last comment and nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. I don't plan on doing anything stupid anyway." After a few more seconds of considering, he just chugged about half the drink in one go. They shuddered and choked a bit, coughing at the burning sensation. He started feeling somewhat dizzy soon after, and very confused.
Bea suddenly jumps up when Flick begins choking on the blue stuff. They put a hand on his shoulder, watching them for a second to see if they're just shocked by the alcohol. When he continues coughing quite violently, Bea drops down onto the dirt floor and sifts through their pile of books. After a few seconds of this, they hold out a greenish, glowing healing potion, in a desperate hope that someone wouldn't die their first day 'tutoring'. "Here. Drink this, it'll help."
Flick held his throat with one hand and managed to put his drink back on the table with the other. Their eyes were watering from coughing so much, and when Bea handed them something else to drink, he accepted it with trembling hands despite being skeptical. He was worried that this drink might hurt like the other one did, after all, but they decided that they trusted Bea and downed the potion. He shuddered again, and it took a few seconds, but eventually he was able to breathe again and wasn't coughing so much. "Nngh… what… w-what did he give me…?" They asked weakly.
Bea is shaky, in a slight panic, and is relieved when the potion seems to help Flick. "I-I dunno. I've never seen anythin' like it." They looks down at the other half of the drink left. The swirling stuff continues in a circle around the rim of the drink, almost as if it's alive. The dark blue in the drink was typically used to represent necromancy in magic, but obviously that couldn't be it…Bea looked up to see if the bartender had given any of the other newcomers a drink of similar sorts, and nothing. Everyone was partying around, drinking, practicing spells, and doing other usual activities. Bea sighed, and sat back down on their hammock, finally looking back up to Flick. "You doing all right? Seems like the potion helped you out."
Flick pushed the drink away and exhaled shakily, closing his eyes for a moment to compose himself. "Yeah, I think I'm fine… thanks." They ran their fingers through their hair, still a bit frazzled. It made sense, considering he'd gone to a new place for the first time and more or less got poisoned. "Did I do something wrong that made him mad? I-I dunno why he'd want to give a random stranger a drink like that… mmnh…" He touched his throat again and winced.
Bea shook their head softly. "I dunno. He's pretty good to me. Taught me proper ice magic. " Bea examined the bartender from across the room. He seemed like he was doing normal things he usually did, stocking shelves, serving drinks…Bea decided to drop it for now, and move to a different topic. "Where do ye live? I could try to get a teleportation rune between here and there, so you can get to the shack in a pinch. Great place, I swear."
Flick nodded a bit and sighed, looking back over at Bea. "Where do I live? Ah, um…" He flushed and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of their neck with one hand. "I don't… live anywhere in particular. Just… in the forest, I guess. This is pretty much my first time in the city." He stared down at the table, clearly a bit embarrassed. "I guess I didn't think very far ahead."
(Added the finished drawing to Flick's sheet ^^)
(I love him! You seem quite talented with art.)
(Tyy <33)
Bea was now slightly embarrassed for asking the question in the first place. "We have a rune to the west part of the forest, if ye want to use that." They stand up and open a scuffed wood hatch barely big enough for them to fit through near their area. "It's in here. Are you ready to go? I think everyone might warm up to ye tomorrow."
"Ah… yeah, that's fine." Flick got to his feet as well and followed Bea over to the hatch. "I'm ready to go whenever. And hopefully you're right." They laughed weakly, hesitating before slipping down through the hatch. He caught his hips at first, but managed to get through with relative ease.
When Flick was obviously secured in the room, Bea followed behind them. They were so used to going through here that it felt like second nature at this point. They tumbled a bit and landed on the dirt below, the teleportation room was just the same as ever, if not with a few new runes, which came in every color of the rainbow and a few more. Bea went over to one of the green ones, and opens the portal with a simple spell and hand motion. Without hesitation, Bea steps through the portal, leaving a few greenish sparks behind.
Flick watched Bea curiously. He had magic, sure, but this wasn't a type of magic that they were familiar with. He seemed nervous when Bea disappeared through the portal, and they hesitated for several seconds before tentatively following them through. He kept his eyes closed as he walked through, and when they opened them, he was back in the forest.
Bea was simply looking around at the nature. The towering trees, the small, delicate flowers underneath, the bird that called overhead. All of it was breathtaking to them. When the looked back and saw Flick, nervously stepping from the portal, they spoke slower than usual, as if the nature had calmed them "This is beautiful. I'd live here too, if there weren't bugs." Bea looked up at a bird's nest in a tree, filled with tiny blue eggs. "Woah. Look at that."
"Ah?" Flick blinked a couple times and looked around as well. This place was a little ways away from where he generally spent his time, but they were fairly familiar with it anyway. "Oh, yeah. It's very pretty here." They smiled softly. "The bugs aren't usually too much of a problem. Except the horseflies…" He took a few steps, humming softly to himself. "I know there's a stream around here. I don't run into a lot of other people here, to be honest… there aren't a lot of fauns left."
Bea nodded. "Yeah. You're the first we've had in a while." That was true. The fauns had mostly died out before Bea was even born, due to some sort of religious "hunt" that humans had. They followed Flick, listening to his soft humming. "You've been humming since we met. What is that, anyway?" Bea continued to look around the forest, they still were taken aback by the beauty.
Flick looked over when Bea mentioned his humming and flushed, his ears pricking up. "Oh! Sorry, it's just a habit of mine." They laughed nervously and continued to follow Bea. "It gets kinda quiet here a lot of the time, so I guess I picked it up to keep from going crazy." He bent to pick a flower from beside a tree and offered it to Bea with a bright smile.
Bea nods. "That's fine. Not like it bothers me." They're a little flustered when Flick offers the flower. They take it, chuckling a little. "That's nice." They straighten out their hair a bit with their hands, and continue walking through the forest. "I'd sure feel alone here, haha." Bea is encapsulated by every little thing in the forest, especially when they see a stream out of the corner of their eye. They tap Flick's shoulder and point to it "Is there fish over there?"
"Yeah, it does get kinda lonely. That's why I was wandering closer to the city than usual in the first place." Flick kept close to Bea watching their reactions with eyes wide with curiosity. This was his home, so it never seemed particularly extraordinary to him. "Fish? Ah… yeah, there should be some small ones. Why? Do you want to see?" They asked, starting to lead the way to the stream either way.
As soon as Bea hears about the fish, they grab Flick's hand and practically drag them over to the stream. Bea sits down at the water, puts the flower in their hair, and fishes through the stream with both their hands. Something brushes up against their hand, and they grab at it. It turns out it was a piece of plastic that had washed up from the city. They stick the plastic in their pocket and continue sifting through the water, almost completely ignoring Flick.