Chapter Text
Kremy was not one to believe in fate. So far as he was concerned, too many folks were willing to attribute to fate what could better be explained by chance. Pure happenstance. Which is why, when Kremy Lecroux first looked into the handsome face of Gideon Coal, he saw nothing more than opportunity brought to him by absolute coincidence.
“Say, kid,” Kremy said with a flash of teeth behind a winning smile, “you’re lookin’ down on your luck. Buy you a drink?”
“‘Kid’?” the man repeated, lip curling in displeasure. “You can’t be more than a few years older than me, fella.”
A smart mouth, then. Hopefully there’s nothing about him smarter than that, Kremy thought, assessing the lean bulk of the genasi. He was a fire genasi, of that there could be no doubt. Despite his ragged and unkempt appearance, small flames licked at the edges of his hair and a scraggly, half-grown beard. Two short horns jutted from his forehead, but most notable were the fiery manacles that adorned his forearms. Kremy decided not to assess those yet. Best warm him up first, then find out what sort of predicament this fella had found himself in or gotten himself out of.
Calling the genasi ‘kid’ had angered him. He was an easy read. Ought to play poker with him, though he looked as though he didn’t have a copper to his name. No, it would be a waste of time to try to fleece him out of coin, but his strength? Well, that was another matter entirely. Kremy ran with dangerous folks, and as such, needed a bodyguard. This half-starved giant of a man would make a good one once he put some meat on his bones.
“Well,” Kremy said, drawing out the word charmingly, “you may be about right. I reckon you’re what, twenty-eight, twenty-nine?”
“Thereabouts,” the genasi replied, his eyes soot black against a sclera of campfire yellow. The same yellow as Kremy’s own reptilian eyes. "Regardless, I ain't a kid."
“Why, me and you, we’re two peas in a pod, then,” Kremy went on, pulling power from his patron to strengthen the words, testing a new spell he had recently learned. He pretended to wipe sweat from his face with a pocket square, but he had actually secreted a honeysuckle petal within it. He licked it covertly, warming the spell components in his hand as much as he could. “Two men out in the world, lookin’ to make our way in it. You’re lookin’ mighty lean, if you don’t mind my saying so. Your fire’s burnin’ low and you look awful hungry. I said I’d buy you a drink, but how about a meal too? Would you kindly let me buy you dinner, Mr….?”
The honeysuckle petal disintegrated within Kremy’s hand and the genasi’s eyes went a little glassy for a moment in response to the enchantment before a dumb smile spread across his face.
“Well, I ain’t never turned down a free meal, or a free drink. Name’s Gideon, Gideon Coal,” he said, reaching out an enormous hand.
Internally relieved both that the new spell had worked and that he hadn’t been caught while casting it, Kremy took Gideon’s hand with his own fine-boned, scaled-covered one, his palm resting against the genasi’s red skin. He was absurdly hot to the touch, like a furnace and Kremy had to resist giving a soft sigh of pleasure. It was a cool evening in Pineview.
“Whattado, the name’s Kremy Lecroux, it’s mighty fine to meet you Mr. Coal. Now, I happen to know an excellent diner just up the way. It’s a short walk.”
They found a natural pace, Kremy walking just slightly faster than he usually did, cane rapping against the dusty ground with each step, while Gideon seemed to slow his own pace. There was an easy companionship between them, thanks to the suggestion spell, and they were soon seated at The Shed, the local eatery in the small town. Kremy had only planned to spend a night or two here on his way to Cypress Holler, but this new opportunity might change his plans.
“It’s been a minute since I had anything to eat,” Gideon said, something akin to shame in his voice.
“Well, get anything you want. It’s on me, provided you hear me out.”
“Now, listen, I ain’t interested in any gods or whatever, so if you’re some sorta fancy preacher and expectin’ to get a convert–”
Kremy cut him off with a guffaw, laughing with true amusement.
“I have been accused of being many things in my day, Mr. Coal, but not once of being a holy man. No, I’m no preacher. I’m more of a businessman.” This did not seem to ingratiate him at all with Gideon, who narrowed his eyes slightly.
“I don’t know much about business,” he admitted.
“Well, lucky for you, you don’t need to, I just need–”
“Howdy, welcome to The Shed, my name’s Ellie. Can I get y’all something to drink to get started?” interrupted a fair-haired elven woman, a notepad and quill in her hand. She wore a grease-stained apron over a blue-checkered dress.
Gideon sat up a little straighter, running a hand back through his brown and fire hair.
“Well, darlin’, you might just be the tall glass of water I need,” he said with a grin. The flirtation may have had more of an effect were he not wearing a ratty, coal-stained linen shirt and sweat-stained denim pants, or if his hair and beard had been combed at any point in the last six months. He would need some guidance to look presentable. The waitress smiled a tight smile at Gideon that told Kremy she was only doing it for the tip.
“I’m afraid I’m not available for your refreshment,” she said sweetly, but firmly.
“He’ll take a whiskey and I’ll take some of your delicious sweet tea, please, Miss Ellie,” Kremy said, dispelling the awkwardness as best he could. Ellie nodded and headed off to get their drinks. “As I was saying, I need a bodyguard. You look like just the thing. Unless of course you’ve already got a job and simply choose not to purchase new clothes when you wear holes in them. Though, given those manacles, I imagine it’s more likely you’re on the run from somewhere.”
“Heh, what, these old things?” Gideon said with careful nonchalance, raising a forearm that was entirely encased in a metal manacle from which dangled a length of chain. “These’re decoration. Statement pieces, you might say.”
“Uh-huh.”
Gideon did not meet Kremy’s eye, instead looking over the menu. When Ellie returned with their drinks, she offered to take their order.
Kremy ordered the catfish.
Gideon ordered the catfish, the chicken fried steak, the cheeseburger meal and no fewer than five different sides. Kremy forced down any annoyance at this, looking at the ribs showing through a hole in Gideon’s threadbare shirt.
“Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself, Mr. Coal?”
“Gideon,” the genasi corrected with a small shrug. “Ain’t much to tell. I was on a train, now I ain’t.”
“And the manacles?”
Gideon looked Kremy up and down, face going thoughtful, as though deciding something. He picked up his whiskey and took a drink.
“Well, now, Mr. Lecroux,” he paused as though waiting for an invitation to use Kremy’s first name instead. Kremy did not invite him to do so, merely gestured for him to continue. Gideon clenched his jaw for a moment before leaning back in the booth, slinging an arm over it. “I only talk about my past with fellas I drink with.”
Kremy smiled.
“Fair enough. Ellie, darlin’,” he called. She finished dropping off a plate at another table and approached. “A gin and tonic for me, please, and another whiskey for my friend here.”
A few minutes later and both food and alcohol were deposited at their table.
“Can I get you anything else?” Ellie asked.
“Keep the drinks comin’, if you would, please,” Kremy said. He watched Gideon shovel food into his mouth, making small sounds of pleasure as the greasy, carb laden foods disappeared into his maw. The fire at the tips of his hair burned brighter and a deeper red colored his skin.
Daintily, Kremy took a bite of his catfish, thinking that he would have salted it less and gotten the oil hotter before frying it. Still, he was hungry and the food was good enough. He sipped at the gin and tonic, watching as Gideon threw back the last of his first whiskey before starting his second. He did not immediately return to the subject of the manacles when he spoke, instead explaining that he had made his way to Pineview by way of a cattle company that had been moving head through the area from out west. He had been looking for work but – and here the manacles did come up – not many folks wanted to hire someone bearing chains.
Kremy looked at them closely, seeing a magical radiance about them. They were both enchanted and engineered, expertly so.
“You know, you and I could make a deal. I could get those manacles off you, for a price.” Kremy leaned in intently, but Gideon laughed, a rich chuckle that went on for an almost inappropriately long time.
“Not ‘no,’ but ‘hell no,’ mister. I don’t mean no offense, but I’ve had enough of deals and being tied down to anything or anyone. ‘Sides. I can take these thangs off anytime I want. Just don’t. Want,” he finished a little awkwardly.
Kremy steepled his fingers together, trying and failing to get a read on Gideon.
“So you don’t want those manacles off?”
“No sir.”
“Well, then, forgive me, what do you want?”
Gideon slammed the last of his whiskey and took a bite of the cheeseburger, chewing for a moment and then giving a shrug.
“Freedom, I guess. I want to travel the world and not have anybody tellin’ me what to do.” He glanced over to where Ellie was drying dishes and putting them away. “And I wouldn’t say no to having somethin’ pretty hanging off my arm after a hard day’s work.”
“Well, that,” Kremy said, smiling and touching his skull-topped cane with a finger, “is something we can both agree on. Listen, I’ve got some dealings with some folks up in Cypress Holler, three days north of here. How about you join me, watch my back, keep an eye on things, and I pay you fair, buy you some clothes and keep you fed? If you find by the time I’m done with my business there that you don’t mind my company, maybe you keep joinin’ me and watchin’ my back and keepin’ an eye on things. What do you say?”
Gideon took a thoughtful bite of collard greens before he spoke.
“What’s the pay?” he asked.
Kremy smiled.
Yes, sir. This fella would do nicely.