The Youngest Siblings are Always Trouble (For Felix Caelus)

[smartass_captain]

Usually Jim's on the other end of this situation, leaving a lady to guess his intentions and plans. Keeping people at arms length is safer. So why wait around at a winding down party for a guy he's just met?

For one, Schon is a friend and Jim was legitimately excited to come to this. For two, Felix has been incredibly fun to chat and dance with and not at all what the Captain expected. For three, open bar.

By now, Jim is well into tipsy and enjoying watching the little floating candles around the bar area. He's glad he came to this shindig, even if Felix doesn't come back. All he'd have been doing instead of this was sulking in his quarters alone like he does every other holiday.

He'd come back, wouldn't he? Shit, Jim downs his drink. Why does he care? He had fun. It should be good enough.

"Give me another." He murmurs to the barkeep.

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[smartass_captain]

Oh hell. Jim has no idea what to say. He never does this. He licks at his bottom lip while counting the arrows in his borrowed quiver to make sure he has everything he needs to return to Clint.

"You...want a hand there?" There we go. That's progress. Pretend you're back to flirting and not inwardly panicking Jim.

[conjuredskies]

Up to this point Felix has just been hazily contemplating the cold and troublesome process of getting back to his own camp and the disapproval waiting there – with a vague sense of bemusement that hah, for once both he and his companion are sneaking out.

Something in Jim’s voice makes him pause with shirt in hand, frowning at the dark before he realizes it’s the quiver of uncertainty. He shoots a glance over, trying to gauge the other man and think clearly enough to pick the right answer. He’s a little surprised Jim hasn’t disappeared already.

Not sorry about it, though. And he doesn’t want to give that impression.”

“Ah… if you happen across the coat I was wearing, that would help.” There’s a touch of reassurance in his tone: relax, captain, he's not going to make things awkward. Provided he can remember how not to.

[smartass_captain]

Jim would have disappeared if he didn't have a conscience. Magic is an unknown and legitimate concern for him. He'd feel really really bad if he fucked off and something happened to Felix.

"Oh, that." Jim wanders back to the chair Felix had him in earlier, dropping down on hand and knee to peer under the furniture to find just where all of the pieces to Felix's costume had gotten to.

"You got your costume here, right? So we have to get you to the main hall before this place pops out of existence." Great. Just...great.

[conjuredskies]

‘We’? Felix blinks at that, but knows better than to remark on it. He’s not messing about trying to dress neatly, just pulling clothes on as he finds them. It wouldn’t take any time if half of them weren’t black to begin with. Things like the gloves are easy to find. “Local tailor, I think. If they haven’t packed up, we have time.”

And if they have- well, no need to stop and turn the costume in.

[smartass_captain]

"Wait! I have an idea." Jim pops up form behind the chair so suddenly you'd think he was trying to scare Felix. "Why not send your wolf to go fetch it for you? Or guard it until you get there?"

Beat.

"Well, uh...you didn't stay in costume long enough to get it dirty, so that shouldn't be a problem."

[conjuredskies]

Felix is wide-eyed in the darkness, and not just at how fast Jim’s sprung up. He’s all for using his magic to solve life’s problems, but it hadn’t occurred to him under these circumstances. “Oh. I suppose it wouldn’t cause any real trouble here, would it?” He laughs. “Yes, why not? Hard to clear out when there’s a wolf sitting on your stock, I expect.”

He’s quiet for a moment, but he could do this in his sleep: ready the spell, call and bind- and hello again, ghost wolf. This time it shakes itself as if glad to be back, peering around the room and padding over to sniff at Jim. Heading over to the door, Felix silently orders it to heel so he can give it an impression of what to look for. Which is basically 'my normal scent, emphasis on the leather'.

[smartass_captain]

It's okay spirit wolf, there's a lot of scent swapping in the room and it's best just not to ask questions. Upside is, Jim doesn't distract it again by hugging it and cooing at it this time. He's much too sober to admit to something like that now.

Plus, he's busy dropping back down to crawl around and find those blasted gloves of Felix's. Jim maybe shouldn't have been so eager in chucking things earlier.

[conjuredskies]

You can act tough now Jim, but the immortal spirit will remember what you did. Forever.

Of course it has no concept of pride or blackmail so what you really need to worry about is the Imperial with a mind to gain some leverage over you.

For now he's just fishing a belt out from the shadows by the bed. And hey, turns out the other shadowy lump is the coat. "All right- I think it's just the gloves now. Think I tossed them down by the chair..."

[smartass_captain]

"Yeah yeah, hurry up. I hear you keep your shirt on." Ironic given the night's evens and that Jim is flashing his very skimpy underwear as he reaches under the armchair for the gloves. How they got there is anyone's guess but he's allllmost got them....

"Aha!" And snag! Jim wriggles them closer until he can get a hand around them and then pulls back and settles on his heels, holding the white fabric over his head like a trophy.

"Got 'em! That should be everything."

[conjuredskies]

"Thanks!" Felix strolls over to take them, offering a hand to pull Jim back up. Being this close brings back memories of the night, but he knows the rules well enough. Lingering affection would be presumptuous: gratitude is usually fine, so he gives Jim a smile before he steps back.

The wolf's doing its work: he can vaguely feel its excitement as it tracks down the exact pile of clothes to sit on. There's no sense of hostility, which is a relief. "We'd better get downstairs."

[smartass_captain]

"We'd better get downstairs without using the grappling arrow. It'd be a real shame to get all bruised up again after everything I went through getting rid of them." Jim snickers and leads the way back downstairs.


((Scene? Unless you have anything else you'd like to do??))

[conjuredskies]

((Breaking here is good for me!))