#there is no way this man inst a d.... like there must be something else... but big mom is weirdly strange too and isnt one either...

[hauntingblue]

[candy-corps]

Lonely Hearts Club

Bahadir belongs to @bahadir-wintergreen

"So .... you're friends with Amelia" Dae said in an accusing tone, speaking up in the very second the poor elf opened the front door. With arms crossed, he glared at the man, squinting as he stared into the other one's eyes. He looked kinda ... ... innocent. "Hey, I'm Dae" he added more friendly all of a sudden, reaching out a hand in greeting.

Bahadir had almost expected somebody, who wanted to sell something or who wanted to convince him to join a religion he didn´t know. But this guy wasn´t anything of this. Friends with Amelia? This guy seemed to know her as well…Bahadir straightened himself and lifted his chin, arms akimbo. At last, the guy had been polite and used the doorbell insted of hugging and kissing im from behind. Surprised the elf looked down at the offered hand when the guy´s tone of voice went more friendly.

“Yes I am,” Bahadir replied still not sure, if he should take the hand to shake it, “Hello Dae. I have the feeling, that you also know already my name.”

“B. Wintergreen” Damien replied, sure of himself, a smirk growing on his face that he tried to hide half-heartedly, tilting his head aside. “ - the doorbell says so” he revealed, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down as he stepped back from the doorway.

So he man didn’t mistake him for his father … that was good. Damien assumed they hadn’t met yet … personally. The hood of his jacket hanging loose on his shoulders, Damien didn’t make a secret out of his origin, bat ears well visible, just tail and wings covered by clothing.

Bahadir followed Damien´s glance to the shield and rolled his eyes. Sure, his name stood there, how could he forget? Turning back to Dae, the elf looked him over. “Right, Bahadir Wintergreen,” he said and repeated again, “Yes, I´m friends with Amelia. And you seem to know her as well.” It was strange. Hadn´t Amelia mentioned, that she barely had friends? Dae must be despite one. And there was something familar. Bahadir wondered, if he was related to Bruce, the bat-like man he had met only a few time ago.

“I do” Damien affirmed, taking in Bahadir’s appearace. “But I do not know you… Which is strange. May I come in side for a moment?” he asked, not eager to talk about this here.

Bahadir, hen. Strange name. One he would remember, had he heard of it before. Something about this was strange … very, so.

Bahadir tilted his head. The man seemed to harmless. Harmless approximately. The elf nodded at Dae and stepped aside and opened the door a bit more, to welcome him in.

“You can leave your jacket here at the hallstand. My landlady went out to play bridge with her friends and won´t be back so soon. So we can talk without ruffle or excitement. Let´s go to the living room…this way.” Bahadir pointed to a door at the end of the hall.

“Nice of you” Damien had to say. He wasn’t quite sure yet whether or not he liked that on Bahadir. Coming inside, he stripped off his jacket, glad he could stretch his wings. When he was little, they didn’t bother him too much … Now, though, it got bothersome to hide them all the time. “There.” The possibility to hang up his jacket all by his self seemingly not even crossing his mind, he reached the jacket to Bahadir and walked down the hallway while he took in the surroundings.

Bahadir glanced at Dae´s wings. There was something familar and now the elf knew of who the visitor remind him of. But he would ask him later about the circumstances.

Bahadir took the jacket without any comment. He was too polite to let his guest hang up his jacket by himslef. Then he opened the door to the living room and lead Dae in.  ”Take a seat, please,” Bahadir said and offered, “Coffee or tea?”

Oh god, he landed in an old people’s home. Dae walked into the room, taking a look around and studying the pictures hanging on the walls.

“Uuum … Water, please” he said, seemingly absent-minded.

“Alright,” Bahadir said and rubbed his hands. He was kind of glad, that he didn´t have to prepare coffee or tea, because his creations always went way too strong and bitter. He just hadn´t a feeling for how much to use and how long to brew. That was also the reason, why the elf did his best to avoid making potions by himself and bought them instead….they always turned out to be a big failure…Same with cooking, which he never really tried because of the same reason.

“I´ll be right back. Just a second….Uhhh, fizzy water, medium or …still…pure,…I mean,” Bahadir knew that a lot of people prefered different kinds of water. He himself the fizzy version, his landlady still, but they had medium in the kitchen as well….And the elf remembered, that there were some snacks in the cupboard…

Bahadir left Dae alone in the plushy, old-fashioned living room and rushed to the kitchen. If he had known about Dae´s perceptions about old people´s homes, he would have chuckled and kind of agreed, though his landlady´s taste of interior concured with his own. But fact was, that the elf was even older than his landlady though he didn´t look like and was considered as still young among his own people.

After Bahadir had found everything, he went back to the living-room, a bit scared, that his visitor might have touch or made things dirty. The living-room was kind of a sanctuary for his landlady. She would freak out completely, if something might have gotten damaged there….Well, old ladies….

But by the time Bahadir was back, Dae actually took seat on one of the armchairs, waiting for Bahadir to return.

“Thank you” he said, finding some of his manners back as he reached for the water.

Bahadir returned and placed a carafe filled with water and an old fashioned art nouveau chalices made of heavy carved lead chrystal glass on the table. He poured water in both and handed one to Dae.

“Please be careful with the chalice, it´s ancient. Russian from the era of the last tsar. They were owned by the tsar himself as far as I heard. Would be a pity, if they got damaged,” Bahadir said and watched Dae taking the chalice.

Dae looked suspicious from the chalice back to Bahadir. Simple glass had been enough for him … but anyway. “I’ll take care” he promised, drinking from it first before he raised it higher up to study the object.

Tsar himself, huh … Oh, such a shame he gave up on stealing …

Bahadir tilted his head and poured water into the other chalice. The elf lifted it up and looked at Dae.

“Cheers,”  he said and took a deep sip. The elf swallowed the water and put the glass back down on the table.

Dear God, where did he end up here? “Thank you” Dae said, not putting his the chalice back on the table, but keeping it in his hands. He adjusted his wings behind him so could sit somewhat comfortably in the armchair, and began to talk.

“So … You know Amelia” Dae repeated, coming back to the reason for his visit.

“I do,” Bahadir glanced suspiciously at Dae, “Why do you want to know this and where did you met her?”  The elf folded his hands into his lap and waited for his reply?

Dae did not know that he couln’t lie from here on out, but he actually didn’t intend to. For now. “Because I know Amelia. I knew her for years, I … grew up with her.” Or would do so, in this time-line, at least. “But I do not know you. And that is … strange.” To put it mildly. He tried to skip the time travel part for now, not wanting things so be overly complicated. Also, to not make this universe implode.

Surprised, the elf looked up. The boy wasn´t able to lie anymore, thanks to the chalice that had already been pretty usefull for the tsar back then. What did Dae just mentioned? Growing up with Amelia. The elf suddenly noticed, that she had never told him about her family. As if this simply wasn´t important for her anymore. …Probably it wasn´t.

“Excuse me, you grew up with Amelia? She never told me about you,” Bahadir said and took another sip from the chalice, “are you something like siblings?” Of course, that was unbelievable, too. But who knew.

“We’re strangers” Dae said right away, not even getting yet he didn’t say ‘friends’, like he meant to. “I knew her since I was … ” he reached out, trying to guess how tall his 10 year old self was and show Bahadir the height he had. “… ten, I think. But I’m not important. The question is not, who am I, the question is, who are you? And what’s your deal with Amelia?” he returned the question.

“Strangers? You mean no siblings. Not part of the same family,” Bahadir kept on asking and looked Dae up and down, “I doubted a family connection anyways, to be honest."

The next question baffled Bahadir a bit. What actually did the stranger want from him? And why was he so interested in his relation to Amelia? He needed to find out.

"Well, Amelia and me are friends,” Bahadir said and faint but sad smile appeared on his lips, “Just friends. Nothing more. We spend a lot of time together. I take care of her the best I can.”

‘Then why stopped you to’ Damien thought, but kept that to himself. He looked at Bahadir as if that mystery would solve itself after doing so long enough, but shrugged it off, eventually. Some friend he didn’t know about. Maybe he wasn’t too important … but he won’t take any chances. Besides, not that he had anything better to do in his free time at the moment than annoy random strangers.

“So, I see.” He took another sip of water. He didn’t intend that they’d be something else than friends, so Bahadir pointing that out did not get missed.

“She used to be with my dad, but that was before I met her, for the most part at least.” Someone else who never mentioned someone called Bahadir, now that he thought about it.

Bahadir glanced at Dae when he heard him mentioning Bruce’s name.

“I know that,” he said and smirked, “Your father threatened me to throw me off  Metro Tower because he thought, I would do Amelia any harm. I guess he thought I was seeking after hurting Amelia."

The elf shifted his position and folded his hands. “And you? Are you here to threat me as well?”

Dae shook his head at that. "Nah” he denied. “I don’t treat her like a little girl. I’m here to figure something out - and because I love her.” Dae coughed once he catched what he’d said, trying to cover it. He meant to say ‘is all’, but that was not quite what left his mouth.

“Sorry, I meant I love her. Love her. Love - ” What… the… ever loving fuck? Was that some kind of Magic Anon? Why did it have to hit now, all of a sudden?

Bahadir looked at Dae and remained silent for a while. Dae wasn´t able to lie. A result of the chalices. They were magic and made the person who drank from them telling the truth. That was helf the battle during conferences or even questionings for a ruler like the tsar.

Did the young man just say that he loved Amelia? Bahadir felt a slight sudden stab in his guts. A small sighn of jealousy? Or was it completely harmless. Love…like love between …well siblings? Familistic love? He needed to find out.

Bahadir cleared his throat. The elf was aware, that if it came to questions from Dae´s side, he was forced to say the truth as well. But at the moment, he was still in the position of the questioner.

“And what are you trying to figure out?” Bahadir wanted to know and tried hard not to let his voice tremble.

Dae rubbed his forehead. Okay, what now … He had to find out what kind of magic he was under. Maybe he should come back later ….

Bahadir was quiet, but continued then as if nothing strange happened. Either he was used to strange behaviour like he seemed tostrange people… or … something else.

Should he trust Bahadir? Dae looked at the older man for a moment, and continued their conversation, playing along. “I’m one of the good guys. I try to undo something awful. And for that, I need to figure out who she’s in contact with. I don’t have … the full picture just yet. Would you tell me some things?” he asked, turning the tables.

“If you say this?” Bahadir chuckled. Dae was a good guy, he couldn´t lie…at least some kind of a good guy…probably with some mistakes though. Despite the elf himself was still not sure, if he could trust the young man. But they need to continue to clear everything.

Since Bahadir had drank himself from one of the goblets, he had no other choice to tell him the truth as well. And now it was the elf´s turn to answer questions.

“Well, I guess, undoing these aweful things is very important to you,” Bahadir looked up and smiled, “Feel free to ask me about what you want to know.”

It was relieving Bahadir cooperated. “Indeed” Dae affirmed. Not thirsty anymore, he put the chalice back on the table and leaned further to Bahadir, arms folded in his lap. “First of all, how did you meet?”

“How I met Amelia?” Bahadir looked up. That was kind of harmless. “Well, we literally ran into each other. It was late at night, midnight, when I was on my home from…an observation of an object. Amelia was on her way in the city, in her ghostly form. I ran right through her just before she turned into her living form. Wasn´t very comfortable…this frostiness… She wanted to buy something to drink and we agreed to keep each other´s company. We had a drink, danced tango and later, we watched some movies at my place.” He couldn´t help but knitting his eyebrows slightly wistfully at the memory and hoped, that Dae hadn´t noticed.

Everything sounded so innocent. And it was the truth. Bahadir had no other choice to tell the truth as well. And on the other hand there was no reason for the elf, to provoke Dae with invented stories even if Bahadir hadn´t drank from the goblet.

“Anything else?” Bahadir wanted to know and smiled bravely.

Dae sighed and leaned back in the amchair. His small wings curled over his shoulders automatically. Innocent, was what he thought, too. He knew best she could be a little … clingy, at times.

“You’ve been dating?” he tried, drumming with his fingers over the armrest.

Bahadir looked nervously to the left and to the right. “Hmmm, …kind of,” he admitted, “Well, we haven´t gone out so far, not to clubs and restaurants or so. We just met for several times. She visited me and I visited her at our places and …talked and spend time together. I …comforted her, when she was down,”

Bahadir fiddled nervously with his fingers. “And if you want to know if we had sex? We hadn´t. …I can tell you, that she wanted to sleep with me and tried to seduce me …but I didn´t want….I had reasons for it. Not because I don´t find her attractive. Not at all. She´s so beautiful….,” the elf looked away, a faint, dreamily smile appeared on his lips but then his face expression went slightly melancholy again and he shook his head, “I´m a fool, I should have done it,” he said bitterly and paused for a while. Then he continued, “I haven´t met her for a while….I don´t know, but I´m afraid she doesn´t want to see me anymore because of this…I don´t know…I may be wrong ….I have no idea.”

He knew Amelia just broke up with his dad, so dating someone new was rather unexpected until it turned out rather … undating. At the question if he wanted to know if they had sex, Dae raised his hand defensively - too much information. But Bahadir aleady talked on and well … it was good to get all the details, in a way. Dae sighed.  Slightly emarassed, he listened to what Bahadir had to say.

“You’re lovesick” he said, matter of fact, his head resting on his elbow by ow. It was more than obvious. He’d have to talk to Amelia to find out more. Didn’t she feel like that for Bahadir in return? And was that the reason they stopped seeing each other? “Sorry to waste your time. That would be all.” Dae nodded and got up from his seat.

Bahadir knitted his eyebrows. He still didn´t know exactely what kind of relationship Dae and Amelia had. The young man had said, that he loved her….and Bahadir had thought, that it was important to Dae to know, who else was there beside his father. And yes. The elf had admit, that he had grown feeling s for Amelia. But it seemed as if it was only one-sided.

The elf looked surprised up when he heard Dae´s comment. The young man had hit the nail on the head. He was indeed. And he felt kind of helpless because of this.

“I am,” Bahadir admitted quietly, “I love her. I can´t help it.” For a moment he went silent, “It seems as if Amelia is loved by many people and sometimes I have the feeling, she has no idea how much she´s loved….Or it scares her."

Looking up again at Dae, when he said his las words, the elf stroked his hair back on his shoulders and got up as well. “Was it that, what you wanted to find out?” he wanted to know and bit his lip, “Well, then….Would you do me a favour? Would you tell Amelia, that I miss her? And that I respect her wishes and needs. That´s all.” Bahadir starighten up himslef and reached out his his hand. “And may I ask you a last question before you go? What did you mean with that you love her, too?”

"Well, I didn’t mean it like that. Just that I love her, too” - and again, the fact that he couldn’t lie hit. How annoying. He sticked out his tongue as if he tasted something bad. Magic Anon, definitely. He sighed. “You do me a favour? Do tell her yourself. I’m no phoneline and I’ll be here for just so long. Get your stuff together by yourself. I’m no relyable guy” he excused himself. He’d probably tell her, but Bahadir didn’t have to know. Better to improve his ability to handle things himself.

In no rush, Dae waited for Bahadir to escort him outside.

Bahadir huffed about Dae´s seemingly rude comment. But then he realized, that he was right. He couldn´t demand this from the young man so he smiled and nodded. “The just say hello from me to her if that´s ok….or no. Say nothing at all. You´re right, that´s my issue and I don´t want to drag you into my stuff. It´s ok.”

Still a bit puzzled, the elf acompanied Dae to the door and opened it. Again, the elf reached out his hand and nodded at the young man.

“Goodbye…or shall I say Farewell?”

“We’ll see about that” Dae said, taking a step outside, before he made a turn to face Bahadir again. He seemed to be an okay fellow. “You give me my jacket?” he asked, reaching out his hand.

“Oh, sure. Sorry, I forgot,” Bahadir went back to the hall and got Dae´s jacket. Back at the door, he handed it to Dae and nodded. The young man seemed to be ok and he had no worries about him, despite he wanted to know more about the relationship between him and Amelia. The elf would ask her about Dae, if they´d meet again, which he wasn´t sure about.

The elf leaned at the doorframe, still a bit puzzled. The goblets hadn´t been a real help this time. He hoped, to see the young man again so that everything would get clearer. But not this time. This time Dae left and let a lot of questions open.

“Goodbye Dae. Good luck,” Bahadir said and looked at the young man again.

“Thank you. Will need it” he said, still under the goblet’s curse. He took his jacket from Bahadir and threw it over his shoulders, just wanting to cover his wings from the public. His tail, he did not care much about, but his wings … something else. Call it a tick.

“Goodbye. Bahadir.” With that, Dae turned, and walked away. He just hoped that M!A would wear off soon …