#efrain 003

[glynwarrensarchive]

date: october 5th time: early afternoon location: a tavern in khaggon status: closed to @efraincrayhorn​

The last three days had been a waiting game, a surreal suspension of time. Avi had started an obscene number of letters, desperately trying to explain everything to his parents, but he wasn’t sure there was enough to explain yet. Their last meeting had been short, and he’d been left even more unsure than when he first approached Efrain. When Avi tried to imagine his life a year from now, there was a gaping space in the middle of it all. He wasn’t sure if Efrain would be there or not, or if he’d want him to. 

The doubt felt a bit less crushing as Avriel arrived to the tavern. It was mostly empty at this time, save for the barmaid and a man slumped over in drunken stupor. It was, perhaps, not the most fitting atmosphere for something he’d been waiting so long for - but it was neutral ground and it was quiet, at least. As he sat and ordered a whiskey, he sorted through all the questions he had for his - for Efrain. His work hadn’t been enough to distract him from them, and he wasn’t patient enough to hold onto these questions for much longer. He was grateful that, soon, he’d get this weight off his shoulders.

[mareonadarkheart]

Date: November 23rd

Time: Late Afternoon

Location: Khaggon, Crayhorn Estate

@efraincrayhorn​

It was a beautiful room. Books rose in towering columns around her to the high arch of the celling and late afternoon light slanted in through the massive windows casting the edges of the polished wood and brass fixtures in gold.

Mare stood in the middle of the Crayhorn library and felt as if she’d been transported back to the best parts of her childhood. Her family’s library had been her sanctuary for countless years, in the warren of tunnels and underground chambers that made up the conclave where she’d been born it was easy to tuck one’s self into the dim corner of the small library and let the rest of the world forget you existed. There were a handful of scholars who would sometimes come to read (or nap) at the long wooden table in the center of the room, but it was easy to slip between bookcases with a volume of history or one of the few novels the room contained and an apple without being detected. The room also had the advantage of never being occupied by either of her parents.  They kept all their own books and journals in the inner sanctum, a place she was never allowed to enter un accompanied and that suited Mare just fine.  The books in this room were older and dustier and far more precious to the young woman she’d been then. She wondered sometimes if any of them had escaped the fire. Of course the scale of that room had been nothing to this one.

She gazed up at row upon row of Efrain’s books and wondered not for the first time what growing up in such a place must have been like. The petty part of her wanted to think that his life had been easy, raised as the favored son, allowed to seek his fortune in the world as he saw fit. It was tempting to think him pampered when she looked at the vast spread of his wealth like this, but the hardness she sometimes caught at the corners of his mouth, the shadows behind his eyes, told her different. So did the little desk in the corner of the room. This might be a grand and beautiful house, filled with every luxury, but she recognized a self made fortress when she saw one. She wondered what it was he came here to hide from.

There was a noise behind her and she turned to see Efrain setting an armful of papers down on the edge of one of the viewing tables near the center of the room. She moved toward him, grunting softly as the mostly healed wound in her side pulled uncomfortably. Yet another reminder of just how in over her head she was getting. She wanted to be of use here, she had no choice but to try, but more and more these days it felt like she was loosing control of the entire situation. It was a thought that frightened her far more than she was willing to admit. She'd nearly lost herself once before, that could not be allowed to happen again. Shaking off the thought she settled into one of the straight backed chairs stiffly, unable to hide the grimace as her side pulled again.

“So.”  She said, ignoring the sensation and looking up to meet Efrain’s gaze. “Where would you like to start?

[thalrahylune]

Time: Mid-day, July 7th Location: Dustspire Status: @efraincrayhorn

“Almost there, just a little more,” Thalra warned, her face just a few inches away from Efrain’s, her hand curled around his chin to keep his head steady, and her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The bed creaked slightly under her weight as she got her knees up under her to get a better angle and her hand tilted Efrain’s face up so it caught more of the light. The fingers of her other hand continued their delicate work then she hummed her content as she pulled them away at last. 

It wasn’t the best work Thalra had ever done, but it was still pretty good. The sealing wax was dry now and she’d covered the prosthetic nose with makeup to make it blend in and look natural to anyone who didn’t already know it was there. His hair was pinned back with some of her bobby pins, but it was now a dark gingerish color and still slightly damp from the recent bleaching and dye job she’d put it through. She’d also done her best to fill in his eyebrows to match his hair and make his brow even more pronounced than it usually was. She sat back on her heels-- the bed creaking again as she did-- and admired her handiwork. 

Efrain was sitting in a chair they’d moved as close to the bed as they could, in a room in a tavern that charged by the hour and was usually rented by people looking to have secret affairs. Thalra hadn’t used this kind of establishment for its intended purpose for nearly a century, but she’d found that they still proved very useful as safehouses or when she needed to be hard to find when traveling. “Very handsome,” she said, grinning down at him and grabbing a small bottle from her bag. “An aquiline nose really suits you, I think. Now close your eyes, please.” After a few generous spritzes with the setting spray, she tapped him on the knee to signal she was done and gave him a hand mirror before getting up from the bed. She was already dressed, but she went over to her bag to get out the finishing touches. 

“Do you want to go over our cover story one more time, just in case?”