(no subject)

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric is stretched out on the couches by the fire, looking rather worse for wear. Tired and worn a bit thin, he has earbuds in, singing softly to himself.

Anyone with a particularly good ear for languages might spot that it's Eric Clapton's Layla, being sung in Ancient Greek.

Company would be most welcome.

Comments

[darkeryetdarker]

Gaster still feels pretty bad about straining his new friend so much.

Floating over to Bar, he asks, "I don't suppose you have any...golden flower tea?"

Gaster smiles down at the cup that appears, thinking of all the cups he'd shared with Asgore.

"Could you send it over to Sinric, please? Thank you."

It'll pop over to where Sinric is sitting.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric looks down at the cup in surprise, still singing softly as he lifts the cup to inhale its scent. He pauses his music to look around, smiling when he spots Gaster. "Thank you, my friend. Will you join me?"

[darkeryetdarker]

Shy and a bit sheepish, Gaster floats down to where Sinric is sitting.

"Are you feeling any better?"

[thewidewideworld]

"Still a little tired but it will pass. Have no fear." He reaches for Gaster, wishing he could squeeze his arm in reassurance. "It is just unfortunate those who best know how to restore me are away at the moment. But that is no matter. A few days of rest and I'll be as I was."

He offers Gaster a warm smile. "It was worth it to learn a new use for my magics."

1/2

[darkeryetdarker]

Gaster appreciates the gesture. He lets out a small laugh.

"I know what you mean." Balancing the acquisition of knowledge and one's own safety is a lesson that, even now, he has never quite learned. If he did press the matter further, he'd be a hypocrite.

2/2

[darkeryetdarker]

Gaster nods to the tea.

"A friend of mine would make me cups of tea whenever he thought I'd been working too hard. This blend was his favorite."

[thewidewideworld]

"Thank you for sharing it with me." Sinric smiles, taking a sip and relishing it. "Oh, it's lovely."

"How have you been? Have you had a chance to explore much?"

[darkeryetdarker]

"Oh, yes. I've hardly been able to sit still. There's so much to see, so much we never had in the Underground. I do intend on researching a way to reverse my condition eventually, now that I have access to research and materials, but..."

Gaster gestures in the air.

"There's just...so much to get used to!"

Not that he's complaining.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric chuckles. "The first time I came here, I was quite young, and very high on the smoke of ganja leaves. I was convinced it was all a dream. Luckily I found my way into the care of the right people, people from close to my own time who could help me understand the place."

[darkeryetdarker]

Gaster doesn't know what those are-drugs aren't really a thing in the underground-but he can understand the need for care from the right people. His heart aches at the thought of someone so young feeling so lost, and can't help thinking back to his own children, even if they're now adults.

"How long have you been here, then?"

[thewidewideworld]

"That is not an easy question to answer. Time in not always a straight road. I first came here when I was fourteen and a sweetly naive little pleasure slave. For fifteen years I have come and gone. Through the best and worst times of my life. There have been time that years have passed between visits, only to find mere weeks have passed in the bar. But I have know this place for half my life, and hope I will for many years yet."

[darkeryetdarker]

"So it is possible to come and go from this place?" Gaster hadn't tried it, and has no intention of doing so.

"In any case, you seem to have found peace with yourself. I'm glad."

[thewidewideworld]

"For most, yes. For others it is an afterlife where they may only visit the worlds of others, and even then for a short time."

He nods. "I am a wanderer now, bound to no place and no nation, but guided by the wind to be an instrument of fate. This is the only constant home I have know since my beloved master's death. And such a home it is." He smiles fondly.

[soldier_blade]

Things were progressing well back home, but it meant she'd been too busy and rarely had the chance to visit milliways. She only found the door more or less on accident, or at the very least unintentionally.

Of course, since she was here, she'd taken advantage. Back home, middle of fall had turned cool, so being in milliways during the summer was something of a shock-though only for a moment. The rest was spent in the lake, swimming laps and just enjoying the water.

She stepped inside the main bar, track pants and towel draped over a black one-piece, when she spotted Sinric on the sofa. "Hey.." She spoke a little louder than she normally would've, to be heard over the earbuds. "Mind if I sit with you?"

Her friend didn't look too well, but that wasn't to say if he was even in the mood for company or not. Even so, she felt almost compelled to ask in the first place.

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric smiles welcoming and shifts his feet to make room for her. He keeps singing, serenading her. Layla works surprisingly well in Greek, and his tired voice gives the sound a longing, mourning tone.

As she sits, he tucks his feet against her thigh, touching to connect with her.

[soldier_blade]

Draping the towel over her shoulders, she joined him on the sofa, leaning back to just catch her breath a moment. The song he's singing to sounds familiar, something about the tune or melody, but she can't place where she's heard it before and the language was unfamiliar.

For most others, if they tried, Sonya would've politely moved their foot aside; this wasn't the case for Sinric (or Athelstan if she ever saw him again). Far from minding, she reached down and gently started to massage his ankle and foot with one hand.

She'd let him finish the rest of the song before inquiring more. Singing made him happy (or near to it), and this was one of the few places she could think of where she herself could be content just doing nothing.

[thewidewideworld]

His voice takes on a sweetly breathless tone in gratitude for the massage.

He lets the song finish, sighing warmly. "Hello, my dear friend. Thank you, that feels wonderful."

[soldier_blade]

She noted the slight change in his singing and wondered just how tense he had been in the first place if a simple massage felt that good. "Afternoon. You sounded like you needed it."

Perhaps looked it too. "Anything you care to talk about?"

[thewidewideworld]

"As ever, you're so kind to me." he smiles, "I'm well, my friend. Just overly tired. I used my magic to help a newcomer to better understand his condition. It took rather more strengthen than I expected. It will cost me a few days to recover but I don't regret it."

[soldier_blade]

"Call it paying it forward," Even if she hadn't spent as much time around milliways as she'd liked, it wasn't hard to figure that Sinric did tend to stretch himself thin to help people out. "Few days R&R sounds like just the cure you need, at the moment."

She gave his ankle a rather firm, but still gentle squeeze. "What were you singing a moment ago? It sounded familiar."

[thewidewideworld]

"That is my intention. And what better place to relax." he smiles, rubbing his free foot gently against her leg.

He turns the face of the little music player so she can read it. The title is showing as

Eric Clapton
Layla

"Do you know it?"

[soldier_blade]

"Amen to that." She returned the smile. In truth, most of them had been burning the candle at both ends, perhaps that was why the Door showed.

Her hand moved to gently rub the ankle of his other foot, more a rare sign of affection then a massage; nearly absentminded. Not for the first time did she find herself hoping Jax would find or see the door with her by it, but it never happened.

She leaned in a little to the device. "Eric Clapton," She thought back, trying to recall it, but least she knew why it sounded familiar. "Have actually, but it's been awhile. Was popular among some of my family growing up."

[thewidewideworld]

"I rather like it. Something about the passion behind the song. That's why I like singing it in my mother tongue." He offers her the earbuds. "Would you like to listen?"

[soldier_blade]

"I'm more into jazz vocals myself, but I could appreciate the occasional blues music." Hard not to feel something for the genre where she'd grown up.

"Sure, if only to refresh my memory." She moved a little closer on the sofa so he wouldn't have to reach so far, moving both of his feet into her lap so he wouldn't entirely have to curl up; Sinric was one of the few people she could be comfortably tactile with. Rather then take both earbuds, she only took one of them, sticking it in her ear so she couldn't hog them, then pressed play on the device.

A smile crossed her features as the familiar song played into her ear.

[thewidewideworld]

"Will you share some to that music with me some time?"

He shifts closer, leaning against her so he can the earbuds. He sings along softly, warm and soulful.