molly sets a stack of books on the table, though it's a touch precarious. they're piled six high, of varying sizes and thicknesses. molly isn't even sure he got the right books; he's had a hard enough time with learning common, and he thinks half of these are in. uh. undercommon?
"if they aren't, i'll go get the right ones, promise."
this library is massive, and molly knows it well, though he's admittedly only learned how to sort the books by the numbers on the spine. he's learning more every day, and common is coming to him easier and easier. he can read his own name, he can read his mentor's name, and he's learning how to write essek's. it helps that it's short. not like mollymauk, difficult with all of it's curving and weirdly placed vowels.
molly leans on the table, his tail swishing with interest as he eyes essek up and down.
"what are you studying?" he asks, but only after he's been gazing at the other for a while. the two of them are in a similar situation, sure, but they're learning very different things from this mentor of theirs. essek is here for magic, molly is here for... who knows, life skills? to make himself useful somewhere, maybe?
"i mean. aside from magic. is there something specific?"
molly seats himself on the edge of the table, his chains and jewels jingling softly as he leans on one palm.
"maybe i'd better understand arcane symbols than common lettering. what do you think?"
Violet eyes flicker over the titles, pointedly ignoring all of the pestering questions with a patience that is rapidly thinning. Essek is still very much unclear about why his mentor has acquired this stray, always receiving some vague answer before being dismissed back to his studies. For his part, he has yet to ascertain any particularly useful quality Molly might actually possess.
Not for the first and certainly not for the last time in the next five minutes, his teeth clench as he closes his eyes, resisting - once again - to silence the tiefling with any number of spells.
"You've missed four of the six, Mollymauk," Essek returns, short and deadly annoyed. "Look at the list again and go back for the right ones. Now."
molly's leaned comfortably on his arm, watching the handsome drow study with that adorable furrowed brow. he tries to take a peek at his notes, but he gets snapped at before he has a chance, and. well.
molly's normally at ease expression drops to one that is equally annoyed.
"i can't read the list, essek," he snaps back, but he takes it nevertheless and slinks back to the bookshelves to correct his error.
with an arm full of books and eyes cast on the high shelves, molly sighs, exasperated. he's done his best to be nice to this jerk. he's tried to extend olive branches, he's tried to get to know him, and with every passing day, essek seems to close his doors further and harder. and it isn't like he can just leave! molly lives here, and even if he didn't, their mentor assigned him to essek. he has to assist him with everything he needs, and he really hates being treated like the help.
molly returns a book on runes to the shelf, just to search for a different book on runes. aren't they the same?
he supposes if being treated like the help is the worst thing essek does, maybe that's alright. they don't have to be friends... even if molly wishes they would. he could probably learn a lot from him, too.
two books on planar travel are replaced, and one about the astral plane is returned in favor of the astral sea. molly returns to the table and sets them down a little harder than he'd intended, but otherwise silently.
he plans on returning to the shelves to keep out of essek's way, but molly notices that essek's candle is nearly to it's end. he hesitates, watching smoke curl around the air in front of essek's dark skin, and for a moment, he considers not replacing it. he's been a dick tonight, and it would serve him right to have to get his own candle, wouldn't it?
molly turns, his tail's swishing now annoyed, and he leaves to retrieve his own journal and two new candles. there's plenty of space at essek's table to place his own work, and for a moment, he considers that too.
but he continues past him, setting his journal at a table across from him. two new candles are lit from the one that threatens to flicker out, and molly leaves one with essek.
"tell me if you need any more books," he says, doing his best to keep his tone neutral. he doesn't want to be too nice, but he doesn't want to be a jerk about it either. essek can't know it's gotten to him like this-- he'll never be seen the same, he's sure of it. he settles at his table, gives one more glance to essek, and then starts in on the lettering assignments given to him. he's moved on to writing sentences now, and he's proud of that. essek be damned.
An exasperated sigh pushes forth when Molly finally disappears again. The frustration is near overwhelming; he's so close to figuring out this latest spell, but the constant interruptions, the inability to do some of the simplest things because their master had insisted Molly join him before he could even read well enough are wearing through his last resolve. Coupled with far too little sleep, Essek is nearly at his last nerve.
He doesn't have time to teach someone from scratch all of the things he needs to know just to keep up. And worse, Molly is notoriously nosy, trying to force his way into a space where he isn't wanted at all the wrong times. Even so, part of him does acknowledge that the situation is hardly fair for Mollymauk, either. Neither of them had asked for this, after all.
In the time that it takes the tiefling to find the correct books, Essek's pulse manages to cool off. When he finally leaves them on the table, Essek says nothing...until a new candle is being pushed in front of him.
Something sticks uncomfortably in his chest. Finally, he offers a low, but genuine: "...thank you."
molly has resigned himself to being essek's designated help, at least for the time being. until he can be of more help to him. and right now, that's all molly wants. he wants to be helpful to him.
he wants a reason to be here, after all.
molly's lost in those thoughts, staring down at his mentor's professional calligraphy above his own shaky letters. he's long shed the insecurity that came with knowing his intellectual ability is far behind that of his peers, because he has other things that make him valuable. he's smart in other ways, he's attractive, and he's creative. his artwork is beautiful, he knows. he'd like to share with essek, but.
eh.
the soft thank you pulls him through the layers of his thoughts, and molly looks up at him, unsure if he's heard him correctly. there's a silence that hangs, and molly breaks it with an equally low, "... you're welcome."
he keeps his eyes on essek for an extra moment, searching him for some kind of answer, some kind of insight into what he's thinking. nothing betrays, of course. he's as collected as he'll ever be.
molly inhales to say something, then thinks better of it. he returns to his work, but barely finishes the outline of a letter K before he looks up again.
"... will you let me know when you're finished? i'd like to show you something."
The thing about Essek, is that there's a way to appeal to his curiosity. Of course there is plenty he is naturally curious about, but there's also the angle of dangling something in front of him without fully explaining what it is.
Mysteries and puzzles have always been favorited ways of intellectual stimulation. While there's much about Molly that does make Essek curious, he struggles against Molly's blatant dismissal of most of those things, particularly the ones that relate to his origins. It is ironic that they in fact have a mutual interest in one another, yet somehow they've never quite let the other in to figure it out.
But with an opportunity to move past the awkward atmosphere between them, Essek peers at the tiefling across from him. There's a dose of suspicion mixed in, but the rest is true curiosity.
"I could...take a break now." He shouldn't. If he didn't he could finish this spell by morning with no further interruptions. But that would involve working all through the night with very little sleep.
But he finds himself not able to not rise to the bait, if that's what this is.
molly folds his arms across his journal, smirking across the tables to meet essek's eye. maybe this will be the thing that bonds them. maybe he can break down those walls and show essek how this tiefling relaxes and finds a good time.
"well," he starts, his voice a little sing-song already, "i was hoping you would join me on the roof, where the spring is. i have some uh, mushrooms. from a friend. he says they let you see into the astral plane, and i didn't want to try them alone. can i talk you into joining me for that, too?"
his legs cross at the ankles, and he rests his chin on the backs of his laced fingers. his red eyes try to look sweet, but there's definitely an air of mischief, as his tail begins to sway to and fro. he's interested. he's invested.
"of course, i'd see to it that you're in tip-top shape for your lessons tomorrow. naturally."
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no subject
molly sets a stack of books on the table, though it's a touch precarious. they're piled six high, of varying sizes and thicknesses. molly isn't even sure he got the right books; he's had a hard enough time with learning common, and he thinks half of these are in. uh. undercommon?
"if they aren't, i'll go get the right ones, promise."
this library is massive, and molly knows it well, though he's admittedly only learned how to sort the books by the numbers on the spine. he's learning more every day, and common is coming to him easier and easier. he can read his own name, he can read his mentor's name, and he's learning how to write essek's. it helps that it's short. not like mollymauk, difficult with all of it's curving and weirdly placed vowels.
molly leans on the table, his tail swishing with interest as he eyes essek up and down.
"what are you studying?" he asks, but only after he's been gazing at the other for a while. the two of them are in a similar situation, sure, but they're learning very different things from this mentor of theirs. essek is here for magic, molly is here for... who knows, life skills? to make himself useful somewhere, maybe?
"i mean. aside from magic. is there something specific?"
molly seats himself on the edge of the table, his chains and jewels jingling softly as he leans on one palm.
"maybe i'd better understand arcane symbols than common lettering. what do you think?"
no subject
Not for the first and certainly not for the last time in the next five minutes, his teeth clench as he closes his eyes, resisting - once again - to silence the tiefling with any number of spells.
"You've missed four of the six, Mollymauk," Essek returns, short and deadly annoyed. "Look at the list again and go back for the right ones. Now."
no subject
molly's normally at ease expression drops to one that is equally annoyed.
"i can't read the list, essek," he snaps back, but he takes it nevertheless and slinks back to the bookshelves to correct his error.
with an arm full of books and eyes cast on the high shelves, molly sighs, exasperated. he's done his best to be nice to this jerk. he's tried to extend olive branches, he's tried to get to know him, and with every passing day, essek seems to close his doors further and harder. and it isn't like he can just leave! molly lives here, and even if he didn't, their mentor assigned him to essek. he has to assist him with everything he needs, and he really hates being treated like the help.
molly returns a book on runes to the shelf, just to search for a different book on runes. aren't they the same?
he supposes if being treated like the help is the worst thing essek does, maybe that's alright. they don't have to be friends... even if molly wishes they would. he could probably learn a lot from him, too.
two books on planar travel are replaced, and one about the astral plane is returned in favor of the astral sea. molly returns to the table and sets them down a little harder than he'd intended, but otherwise silently.
he plans on returning to the shelves to keep out of essek's way, but molly notices that essek's candle is nearly to it's end. he hesitates, watching smoke curl around the air in front of essek's dark skin, and for a moment, he considers not replacing it. he's been a dick tonight, and it would serve him right to have to get his own candle, wouldn't it?
molly turns, his tail's swishing now annoyed, and he leaves to retrieve his own journal and two new candles. there's plenty of space at essek's table to place his own work, and for a moment, he considers that too.
but he continues past him, setting his journal at a table across from him. two new candles are lit from the one that threatens to flicker out, and molly leaves one with essek.
"tell me if you need any more books," he says, doing his best to keep his tone neutral. he doesn't want to be too nice, but he doesn't want to be a jerk about it either. essek can't know it's gotten to him like this-- he'll never be seen the same, he's sure of it. he settles at his table, gives one more glance to essek, and then starts in on the lettering assignments given to him. he's moved on to writing sentences now, and he's proud of that. essek be damned.
no subject
He doesn't have time to teach someone from scratch all of the things he needs to know just to keep up. And worse, Molly is notoriously nosy, trying to force his way into a space where he isn't wanted at all the wrong times. Even so, part of him does acknowledge that the situation is hardly fair for Mollymauk, either. Neither of them had asked for this, after all.
In the time that it takes the tiefling to find the correct books, Essek's pulse manages to cool off. When he finally leaves them on the table, Essek says nothing...until a new candle is being pushed in front of him.
Something sticks uncomfortably in his chest. Finally, he offers a low, but genuine: "...thank you."
no subject
he wants a reason to be here, after all.
molly's lost in those thoughts, staring down at his mentor's professional calligraphy above his own shaky letters. he's long shed the insecurity that came with knowing his intellectual ability is far behind that of his peers, because he has other things that make him valuable. he's smart in other ways, he's attractive, and he's creative. his artwork is beautiful, he knows. he'd like to share with essek, but.
eh.
the soft thank you pulls him through the layers of his thoughts, and molly looks up at him, unsure if he's heard him correctly. there's a silence that hangs, and molly breaks it with an equally low, "... you're welcome."
he keeps his eyes on essek for an extra moment, searching him for some kind of answer, some kind of insight into what he's thinking. nothing betrays, of course. he's as collected as he'll ever be.
molly inhales to say something, then thinks better of it. he returns to his work, but barely finishes the outline of a letter K before he looks up again.
"... will you let me know when you're finished? i'd like to show you something."
no subject
Mysteries and puzzles have always been favorited ways of intellectual stimulation. While there's much about Molly that does make Essek curious, he struggles against Molly's blatant dismissal of most of those things, particularly the ones that relate to his origins. It is ironic that they in fact have a mutual interest in one another, yet somehow they've never quite let the other in to figure it out.
But with an opportunity to move past the awkward atmosphere between them, Essek peers at the tiefling across from him. There's a dose of suspicion mixed in, but the rest is true curiosity.
"I could...take a break now." He shouldn't. If he didn't he could finish this spell by morning with no further interruptions. But that would involve working all through the night with very little sleep.
But he finds himself not able to not rise to the bait, if that's what this is.
"What is it?"
no subject
"well," he starts, his voice a little sing-song already, "i was hoping you would join me on the roof, where the spring is. i have some uh, mushrooms. from a friend. he says they let you see into the astral plane, and i didn't want to try them alone. can i talk you into joining me for that, too?"
his legs cross at the ankles, and he rests his chin on the backs of his laced fingers. his red eyes try to look sweet, but there's definitely an air of mischief, as his tail begins to sway to and fro. he's interested. he's invested.
"of course, i'd see to it that you're in tip-top shape for your lessons tomorrow. naturally."