Chapter XXII: A 'Spontaneous' Party

(Reyvin's POV)

I tug at the fishing line patiently, the tiniest of vibrations passing all the way to the bait and causing a chain reaction resulting in a rather massive trout landing into the half-filled basked floating next to me.

"That is 23 for me." I say smugly.

"It isn't a competition." Savos attempts to hide his childish pout with a disappointed sigh, failing utterly.

A loud crunching sound draws my attention to my right just in time to see Shalazar simply grab a fish straight out of the water and scarf the whole thing down, chewing it with bones and all like a complete animal.

"Right," I acquiesce, pointedly not looking at the visibly amused lizard wizard.

After some pleasant silence and a couple more fishes caught/devoured Savos comments "I do have to admit, this little exercise of yours is a great idea."

"Indeed!" Shalazar exclaims, his mouth almost disturbingly clean "To think there would be such a method both glorious and entertaining to advance my art!" Almost sensing my discomfort he gives me a toothy grin, almost shark-like in its appearance "Not to mention the food!" He does a chef's kiss "Absolutely decadent."

Suppressing the primal shiver of discomfort I seek anything to distract me from the ravenous lizard and soon notice a bunch of sailors gaping at our trio of fisherpeople, most of them looking completely baffled by the sight of us.

I feel like I should explain just why that is.

After a day of returning from the battlefield and just relaxing, I still didn't feel like jumping back into any of my projects so I decided to do something unusual to relax... And now Savos, Shalazar, and myself were levitating half a meter above water and doing our best to not disturb the fish while levitating for hours on end.

It was fun, especially when some of the apprentices tried copying us after a while and all ended up getting a free cold bath after a minute or so of levitation. All three of us got some free chuckles out of them looking at us with pleading eyes and their utter devastation as we refused to help them at all.

They lived.

As to how the three of us remained floating for almost the entire day?

Two words: Magic weed.

Still, all things must end and so did our little fishing trip, with six full baskets of fish caught by Savos and myself while Shalazar somehow managed to devour four times his bodyweight of trout in a short fourteen hours.

Bloody animal didn't even take a single bathroom break either.

Naturally, all that fish had to go somewhere so another feast at the Respite it was, we even invited the nearly drowned students as a bit of compensation!

The whole thing turned into a party as more and more people arrived and just started... vibing... with the atmosphere and the music grew more and more cheery. Many of the Masters and all of my colleagues/friends who were present joined in on the spontaneous celebration... it was almost supernatural.

'Wait.' My hand holding the completely ineffectual mead stops dead in its tracks as I scan the entire building within an instant.

Morrigan was drunk and attempting to make a very uncomfortable Thorfinn try out her potions as an... advertisement while a bunch of the guardsmen kept encouraging him to go for it.

Marwyn was still talking about necromancy with Phineas, even as the latter was barely listening while going over anatomical diagrams and pretending to drink simple water.

Tolfdir was leading a crowd dance while disguised as a cheery young man, two women leaning on him from both sides.

And Savos was sitting at the counter next to a suspiciously familiar looking man.

No wait, that isn't a man, that is a bloody Dae-

Fuckmothering Sanguine turned his head and gave me a cheerful wink while patting Savos on the back and offering him another ale as the two talked like old friends, a newly formed Sanguine Rose already attached to one of Savos' pockets.

Noticing the staredown, my grandfather gave me a reassuring wave while his aura gave me a feeling of 'I know what I am doing'.

Instead of bothering with dissuading him I simply shrugged and looked back at the Daedric Prince getting drunk in my establishment, probably for free as well. With a flick of my hand, my blade appeared, visible only to the Daedra and I took great pleasure in the widening of his eyes as I caressed the blade causing artificial sparks to fly off of it.

With my message (Read: Threat of vigorous violence) sent to the rowdy fucker I returned to my own game of seeing who is doing the dumbest shit just in time for someone to sit down next to me, someone rather familiar.

"Why Reyvin I was so disappointed that you didn't invite me to your little get-together." Mephala disguised as a sinfully seductive Dunmer lady sat down next to me, a cup of sweet smelling poison in her hand while the other supported her perfectly proportioned face.

Not being bothered by her sudden presence in the least I shrugged "I didn't know about the cause of the 'little get-together' until just now so you will have to excuse my impertinence."

"Oh, how could I ever stay mad at my favorite mortal?" She titters.

"Want one?" I offer her a cigar in lieu of an answer which she naturally accepts.

Two plumes of blue smoke and a couple of relaxed sighs later I decide to ask "You have been oddly silent after the whole Meridia debacle."

She pretends as if she had forgotten all about it before 'awkwardly' chuckling "Ah that..." She offers me an eye smile while covering her smirking mouth "After your thorough humiliation of the sun bitch we all decided to pounce on her while she was down, you've given me a lot of work to deal with young man." Her entire demeanor shifts from a seductive young lady into a teasing mature woman.

I roll my eyes "Yes yes, as if the whole thing won't revert back to the status quo in a mere century or so. You Daedra are so melodramatic."

"Oh come now" Mephala pouts "You must be at least a bit happy to hear that she got her ass repeatedly and roughly served to her by Molly and the others."

"And I am sure you did not join in the proverbial gangbang." I deadpan at her causing her to giggle disturbingly.

"But of course, who do you take me for?" She retorts cheerfully.

I let out an amused snort, finally allowing Mephala to see my true feelings as my eyes narrow and let out a violent red glow "Of course I love hearing that she got fucked over by you lot." I practically growl out, only the loud music stopping people from noticing my barely hidden fury "If I didn't have things to do down here I would have offered to join in myself."

Letting my frustration slowly dissipate and taking another long inhalation of magical smoke I sigh "...Is what I would love to say if I didn't know for a fact I would end up as a smear on the ground almost immediately upon even dreaming of entering her domain."

The smile, which had disappeared from her face after my previous declaration, slowly returns to Mephala "Good, I thought you grew stupid for a moment there."

I snort "You wish."

She rolls her eyes "Your refusal only motivates me to try harder."

"And your attempts only serve to entertain me further." I retort without a hint of hesitation.

We stare at each other for a moment before bursting into a fit of quiet laughter, Mephala turning somewhat serious after a short while "Back to business unfortunately, I do not have all day."

"Right." I turn serious as well "What did you need?"

"Why do you think I always need something?" She half pouts, and noticing my swiftly developing deadpan she speaks up "I wanted to tell you that many of my servants are eager to get summoned by you, should you ever wish it."

I raise an eyebrow "Oh? That is good to know."

"I expected a bit more awe." The god of lies and murder now pouts fully.

I shrug "Eh, I already have my mortal forces but I guess that a Dremora or two wouldn't be amiss where I am inevitably going to end up. Now, what else did you need?"

She clutches at her heart "Ah, to become predictable so quickly! How shameful!"

"Kindly do not dirty my plush seats with your degeneracy." I narrow my eyes.

"Too late." She gives me an innocent smile and I can practically hear the 'Tehe!' hidden behind it.

Taking another shot of magihuana and counting to ten I open my eyes once more and ask slowly "What did you need, Lady Mephala?"

She seems just about ready to take another shot at bringing me discomfort but thinks better of it as I pull out a mostly fresh fish from my storage and give her a threatening stare "Fine, be like that!" She huffs "I wanted to tell you that if you want to get the mace you should get to it soon, Molag has been focused on the Meridia situation but he will inevitably get interested in the mortal world before long."

"Still interested in the filthy hunk of metal, eh?" I ask lazily but then just wave the question off before she can answer "Fine, Markarth was on my list anyway considering the filthy Namirans crawling in its dark crevices."

Mephala sniffs the air in disgust "Ugh, her."

"Exactly." I nod with vigorous amounts of hatred in my eyes "Though something tells me that another of your colleagues is already involved in the Molly situation." I give her a sidelong glance "Should I be worried?"

She blinks before seemingly remembering what I was talking about and waves it off "Just do what you want, she doesn't care about her servants nearly as much as the rest of us."

"And if she decides to get interested?" I deadpan, fully expecting the final third of the Tribunal to be paying attention to me.

"Then you deal with her as you desire, she knows not to push too far." Mephala responds with surprising amounts of steel in her tone.

"Right." I lean back into my seat "Another one?" I offer her a second cigar and she nods eagerly, apparently taken by the neat little things.

My eyes drift over the gathered people, all of them falling into more and more ridiculous drunken behavior, thankfully all of it harmless.

My eyes widen in sheer horror as I see Shalazar still. devouring. fish.

It is moments like this I regret my newfound immunity to alcohol.

(General POV)

"So that is the reason you don't visit nearly as often?" Sanguine asks Savos, not an ounce of judgment in his voice.

Savos smirks "Indeed, life doesn't seem nearly as dull anymore."

Sanguine pretends to sniff and wipe off a tear "They grow up so fast!" He laments falsely before sending another stealthy glance toward Reyvin, his eyes widening a fraction as he notices his drinking companion.

After a moment of silence Sanguine's eyes gleamed with interest "He does seem rather interesting, maybe I should visit more often."

"Do that at your own risk." Savos deadpans with such certainty it outright scares the drunken Daedric Prince for a split second.

"What do you mean by that Sav?" Said Prince asks, swiftly hiding his discomfort behind a curious gaze.

Savos merely takes a drink and whistles, pretending not to hear anything.

"Come on man, don't blueball me here!" Sanguine begs after a bit more silence.

"Huh? You were saying something?" The Archmage looks at him, genuinely confused.

"Just give me another drink." Sanguine deadpans.

"That is what I thought." Savos Aren smirks.

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