Danny gives Kal a hooded look, and starts ticking off items on his hand, eternally patient. He does, at least, keep his voice low. "First off, saying he 'likes them young' because Miki's not as old or older is just the sort of petty rudeness I'd think you'd be above. Second, you seem to think because you're a Mage, he wouldn't want you. Did it ever occur to you that because he has to be your teacher, wanting you and taking you as a lover would abuse the relationship between a teacher and a student? Third, all I mean is, you're not alone, and you might find people who understand you sooner than you think, and in the strangest places." His ears flatten briefly, and his tail twitches.

Now a door of the house =does= open, but it's only Ren who emerges, humming to himself and looking generally pleased with the world at large, hands in his coat pockets as he catches sight of the Havenite pair and saunters toward them, his head tilting a bit to one side and expression going briefly appraising as he approaches. It clears quickly though, leaving a faint grin as he joins them, looking from one's body-language to the other's, and asks Kal casually, "Tellin' him about your thing for Justin, huh?"

Kalisto was sitting casually on the walled side of the porch, using one of the many rockers there as a cup stand for his tea. His clothing is still the native casual he's been wearing so far, only he's got a head scarf of black material to ward away sunlight from his precious pale skin. "First off," he tells Danny in a clipped tone, "if you think I'm above pettiness, we clearly haven't spent enough time together. Second, if I wasn't a stupid Mage, he wouldn't have to teach me. Third..." When Ren emerges, he lifts his head to regard the newcomer warily. Then relaxing as he sees who it is (or rather who it is not). Then he bristles again. "If only I could call down lightning on purpose."

"It's not about a type of magic at all, Kal," Danny grumbles. "Assuming what might have been if you were different isn't much use either. That's like me pining for Sunset Crater and a 'normal' life. You *are* a magicker, and you're here, and you need teaching. Are you going to spend your whole time here bitter that Justin has a lover who's not you?" The coat along his legs shivers, and he shifts his weight. Anything else he might have said is lost when Ren opens the door, and he nods in a brief greeting that's cut off at Kal's exchange with the Coyote Kin. "Goddess," he mutters, and leans over to take up the heavy duffle bag. "I'm gonna go take this stuff on inside. Don't forget, there's a Moot in a couple days. We'll have Perunka to get folks up the mountain."

Serendipity reaches out and pats Kal's cheek gently with the inside of his fingers. "You're cute when you're bitchy," he remarks cheerfully, then pauses, and adds lightly, without malice, "...you're cute a lotta the time, aren'tcha? No luck, I take it." The hand's been retrieved already, and he flashes a grin of greeting at the Perunka as well. "Heya, Danny. You need a hand with anything?"

Kalisto jerks his head away with a snarl. He's just in that good of a mood. "I'm going for a walk," he snaps, sliding off the wall, his boots clomping on the porch. "Be sure to get some flyers printed up before your moot so everyone can know. I'm not quite humiliated enough yet."

"No, I'm fine. Thanks Ren." Danny glances back at Kal and gives him a disappointed, almost hurt look. "Thanks for thinking so well of me, Kal. If I don't see you before I head back, take care." He then ducks into the house, shifting into his human shape before his hooves hit the interior flooring, and the door thumps closed behind him.

Serendipity watches them each a moment, especially Kal, and while the faint grin remains, it goes a bit wry. "Hey, Mary Sunshine," he addresses Kal's back relatively quietly, and follows the young Mage off the porch, catching up easily. He's used to keeping up with Martin's stride these days; Kal's is nothing. "Hey," he repeats, once he's along side the youth, and the tone, while not intensely serious, does exhibit a certain level of sympathy. "First off, not gonna be spreading it 'round, promise. An' second, c'mere, yeah? Follow me." He indicates a direction with his head -- back toward the farm's spreading lands, but doesn't really start off that way yet.

Kalisto spins on his heel to -glare- at Ren as it becomes apparent the kin is following him. "If you're going to lecture me, guilt-trip me, or bitch me out because I'm not simpering with gratitude, I swear I am going to slap you so hard your grandchildren's ears will be ringing."

Serendipity laughs. Well, to be fair, he snickers, but it doesn't seem to be =at= Kal, exactly. "What, 'cause I'm the local good-behaviour police?" he asks dryly, grinning fully again. "No lectures, guilt, or bitching, 'least not from my end. Promise. Can't recall usin' any of those on you anyway. C'mon." He beckons, and this time does take a couple steps in the appropriate direction, walking backward to be sure Kal follows.

Kalisto glowers more at the laughter, all embarrassment and murderous anger. He doesn't attack though. Either yesterday's antics have worn him out, or the magic doesn't flow through him when he's angry, only threatened. It's kind of disappointingly anticlimactic, really. He just stares hatefully at Ren, and then calms down a little, though he's quick to look suspicious as Ren beckons him to follow. "Where to?" he asks, standing his ground.

A bit of a ways out from the house, across one of the smaller fields, which is currently being used as a quite large vegetable patch, there is an intact if somewhat disreputable looking barn. It seems to be this building that Ren indicates as he replies, "Over there."

Kalisto takes a few steps toward Ren, though he eyes the barn like it might be a gas chamber in disguise. Face flushed, mortified, he actually starts to follow anyway. "Anywhere's better than here," he mumbles, then adds, "But you fuck with me, I swear..."

Serendipity doesn't reply to that, just grins, and leads the way to the building. Up close, it doesn't look any better than it did from far away; in fact, it becomes obvious that there are un- and half-patched holes in it still, big enough to let animals escape or rain get inside. Undeterred, Ren opens the large door with a flourish, and makes a sweeping gesture welcoming Kal inside. Inside, it's... very barn-y, without all the pesky animals. There are some half-rotted horse stalls, unused, and... hay. All over the side of the bard without sizable holes in the roof, there's hay. The loft and its ladder have been repaired, new wood obvious among the old, and it's full of hay as well. Several wooden crates are near the stalls, and a very long, thick rope dangles from a beam near the center of the ceiling, ending perhaps four feet above the floor.

Kalisto sniffs indignantly as he steps inside, enough to get out of the sun, but then he stops to give the barn's interior the full brunt of his city-borne disdain for all things hay-scented. As his gaze sweeps the barn, he comments acridly, "If you've brought me here to kill me, make it quick."

Serendipity laughs. "Well, that'd be one way t' put you outta your misery, yeah, but c'mon, you think if I was gonna kill someone I'd do it this close to my own territory?" He arches a brow, still grinning, and grabs the end of the rope, pulling it absently along with him as he heads to and up the ladder, into the loft. "C'mon."

Kalisto murmurs, "Good point." He eyes the rope, then the distance up the ladder. Mr. Dainty doesn't come any closer. "What are you doing?" he demands blandly.

"Come =on=," Ren repeats, more amused than impatient, leaning over the edge of the loft with the rope still in hand. He disappears then, the movement of the rope implying he's gone farther back, and there's some noise from up there -- hay moving, a scrape of wood, and some definite clinking, as of glass.

"What are you doing up there?" Kal asks warily, and his footsteps can be heard below as he ventures closer. "You know, I don't have any good experiences with barns. There's an awful lot of flammable material in here."

"Finding stuff," Ren replies, distracted and muffled, and there's another couple clinks. "...an' I know," he adds, just before a dark hand appears over the edge of the loft, an unlabled, corked green glass bottle of some liquid dangling from it enticingly, "so just don't get pissed off." easy solution!

Kalisto warns, "If bad stuff happened when I got pissed off, Haven would be a smoldering crater by now. It's scared that does it." He reaches for the ladder and hauls himself up, with less grace than he might otherwise, and a little more winded than a climb up a ladder might normally make him.

Serendipity grins when Kal's head appears above the level of the loft, and draws the bottle back like bait, though he offers it over as soon as the mage's hand is clear of the ladder. There are several others, various shapes and colours, all corked and on a small wooden crate, its lid askew. "A'ight, so don't get scared," he counters cheerfully. "How are you with heights?"

Kalisto reaches for the bottle, giving Ren a resentful look for good measure. He makes his way toward the crate and sits beside it in the hay. Out of the potential sunlight, he pushes back the head scarf to reveal curls in disarray. The bottle is sniffed at, and then its contents sampled before he replies, "Heights are fine. It's not the fall the kills you."

It's hard to identify the contents, except that it's almost certainly made from fruit and it's definitely strong. "Mm, hold on," Ren remarks, rummaging in his coat a moment thoughtfully. He brightens slightly as he pulls something out, then looks confused as he looks it over. It's a strange glass bottle sort of thing, twisted back on itself so that it's hard to tell if it even =has= an inside, let alone how to get a drink there. He stares at it briefly, then shoves it back into the coat, shrugging. "Never mind, we'll be manly," he decides, reaching over to snag the bottle and take a swig himself, then hand it back.

Kalisto eyes the bottle Ren extracts from his pocket oddly, looking not entirely certain as he reaches for the more Euclidian bottle containing something nice and fermented. "So this is your stash?" he asks, then takes another swig, stronger this time.

"I was aiming for a couple glasses," Ren explains, and then grins again, glancing over at the box. "Well, y'know what they say, finders keepers... found it a while back, an' now I'm keepin' it. Know it didn't belong t' anyone =else= here, at least." He still has that rope, and he looks up toward where it's fastened high above, expression thoughtful. "Like it?"

Kalisto sizes up the rope, not entirely comfortably. "Beats a lot of other shit that isn't happening instead," he replies philosophically. Then he takes another drink, not doing so well with sharing. He looks a touch unwell. Maybe he's decided he needs it more than Ren does.

Serendipity stands, rope in hand, and cheerfully warns, "Don't drink too much too fast. You'll get motion sick." With that, he shifts his grip on the rope, wrapping his hands about it above one of the knots, takes a couple steps, and leaps off the loft with it. The rope gets quite a nice range of motion, almost reaching the opposite wall, and he gets his feet on one off the lower knots to ride it. Whe he swings back toward the loft, he lets go with one hand long enough to wave to Kal, grinning again.

Kalisto watches Ren do this, and against all advice continues to drink. Eyes wide, with a helpless laugh, he informs the kin, "You're nuts! And I'm fine right where I am, thanks."

Serendipity throws his head back and laughs himself; =he= seems to enjoy it, at least. His hair and coat whip through the air behind him, and he keesps it swinging a while before he lets it get above a particularly large and messy hay pile, which he drops right into. "C'mon," he calls up breathlessly as he clambers out of it, "you gotta try it."

Kalisto calls down, "Absolutely not. I'm supposed to be resting today." Besides, he's somewhere relatively safe, hidden away, and he has alcohol. This might be the closest to comfortable he's been all day.

Somewhere below, Ren fffts. "Party pooper," he replies airily, climbing back up, rope still in hand. He ties it in a slipknot around a post and leaves it there, easy to grab when wanted, then flops down into the hay beside Kal and snags the bottle, gesturing with it as he proclaims, "Y'don't know what you're missing," and has a good healthy swallow. Hey, he's fallen behind here.

Kalisto patiently waits to receive the bottle once more. "Dizziness and puking? I'm sure I'll endure," he says dryly. "I don't feel good today. Ask me again tomorrow."

Serendipity rolls his eyes and has another drink. "Do I look like I'm puking? Exhilaration and fun, more like. I think," he remarks, tone going oddly close to dreamy, "it must be kinda like being able to fly. A little." Another drink, and he hands the bottle back. "Tomorrow. I will, y'know."

Kalisto takes the bottle nigh primly and helps himself to another drink, then burps almost daintily, but with malice aforethought, making him all man. "I've had enough exhilaration for awhile."

Serendipity quirks a brow at Kal, reclaiming the bottle for a good swig, which is followed by an answering burp of his own. There is nothing the slightest bit dainty about it, and when it subsides his grin is back and rather self-satisfied. "...which reminds me, what was all that about yesterday?" Whether he's been reminded by the comment or the belches is open to debate.

Kalisto considers this carefully over another drink. There is something about being in a hay loft, with a bottle of fermented goddess-knows-what, with someone roughly one's own age to cause a youth to cut through the dramatics and explain glibly, "Some guys were going to fuck me but then they caught a bad case of electricity."

Serendipity's grin broadens, and unusually enough, there's decided malice in it. Also, a whole lot of teeth. "Good for you!" he replies, sounding like he means it, "...heh, bet they got the shock of =their= lives. ...'s a handy talent, that." Another drink, relatively long and thoughtful. It's a good thing this isn't the only bottle he took out, 'cause at this rate they'll be through it far too soon. "Wouldn'ta minded bein' able t' do =that= one," he adds, passing the drink back.

Kalisto points out bitterly, "I could've killed someone, and I don't know what it is about the savage outdoors that makes people smile at that thought, but I don't -want- to kill anyone." He takes another drink, a heavier on this time, but he makes up for it by handing the bottle back without a fuss. "That's what happens when I get scared. I mean really scared, like afraid for my life. Only I can't control it, and it's like the power shorts out. I'm a mess afterwards." He darts a glance to Ren, looking decidedly woeful. "Why do you think I used to take so much morphine? Can't freak out if you're too numb to feel fear."

Serendipity rolls onto his side, the better to talk to Kalisto, and points a finger at him. "'s good. Better never t' want to. All th' same, you got a right to defend yourself, y'know." There's a pause, and he claims the bottle again, adding a little more quietly, "'sides, some folks deserve to die." Shrug, and a drink. "But even so, you're studyin' =to= control it, right? So in the meantime, y'know... don't panic. Save it for times like when someone's got a knife to your throat... or a buncha people decide you'd make a great party game. I mean, you're not flipping out about people just =annoyin'= you, so it seem a'ight t' =me=."

Kalisto drops his gaze, nodding sullenly, and he toes at the hay with one foot. "I don't want to be the guy who decides who deserves to live or die," he confides quietly. "And yeah, I'm learning. That's why I got sent to Justin in the first place. But I've been off the drugs, and I still don't know how to... I think I held it off at least. I held back. But the fear was too much, you know?" He looks up at Ren, shaking his head to toss his curls back as they slide over his eyes. "It's not even every time I'm scared. I'm scared all the time, man. It's just when... like when I know I'm gonna die, or at least wish I had before they're done with me."

Serendipity reaches over and gently pushes the curls out of Kal's face, without lingering. "Say a guy picks up a grenade and pulls out the pin. Is it the grenade's fault if its explosion turns out t' be strong enough t' kill him?" he asks, also gently. "It's not like a mine hidden in some grass, where he just innocently put a foot wrong. I'm not sayin' you oughta =want= to kill people, or even hurt 'em, but if they attack you, you got more'n a right to do what you gotta to get away."

Kalisto smiles a little, countering the slightest of twitches as he's touched. He looks Ren in the eye though, and he doesn't look terribly offended. "I guess," he replies. "Either way, it sucks. I'm just glad it's over."

Serendipity half-smiles back, and nods, having another drink and handing Kal the rest. "Yeah, given the choice, I'll always take =not= havin' people think their force overrules my no, m'self," he agrees. "Some folks just never learned their manners."

Kalisto polishes off the bottle, drinking down the last of the who-knows-what wine. "Well," he says thoughtfully, "at least now I have new interesting memories of Millinockett to take with me."

Serendipity hehs, and pushes up to lean across Kal, stretching as far as he can manage, and just barely snag the second of the bottles he got out earlier, bringing it back with him and setting it between them. "Give it a couple years an' you'll have a story, too. Good story's always worth somethin'."

Kalisto reaches for the bottle, commenting with a sullen smirk, "I'll be surprised if I'm even alive in a couple years. But hey, til then, keep the booze flowing and I'll be happy."

Serendipity lifts a finger in playful scolding, and pops the cork out first, with a touch of effort. A sniff apparently confirms this one's fit to drink as well, since he promptly does so, =then= hands it over. "So, what, you got reservations to kick off next Wint, or what? Pers'nally, I plan t' die in bed. Of old age, preferably, but I'm flexible as long as I'm real old at the time..."

Kalisto scowls briefly, but his expression clears again as the bottle is forthcoming. "Eh, I just don't see me getting old," he replies, sounding untroubled by the revelation. After another drink, then another, he offers the bottle over. His speech is a little slurred, poor thing. "I don't think I've ever gotten very old, and I've died lots of times."

Serendipity tips his head to gives Kalisto more of an investigative look, head to toe and back, brow slightly furrowed. "...Don't =look= dead," he remarks, though he sounds like he's taking it relatively seriously. He reaches out to touch a patch of bare skin that's handy, and shakes his head as he pulls his hand back. "Don't feel dead, either. Not like a corpse or a vampire anyhow." He blinks once, and a conclusion is clear in his eyes. "...d'you remember past lives you had, then?"

Kalisto arches a brow sardonically, leaning against the wall a little too heavily to be casual. "Duh," he retorts. "Some of them, yeah. I mean I guess that's what they are. Unless I'm just batshit crazy and making all this up, then yeah, I do."

Serendipity rolls his eyes. "'s not like everyone can remember 'em, y'know. I've got no idea 'bout anyone I mighta been before, for 'zample. I just know me. So how come you keep gettin' yourself killed?"

Kalisto shrugs, and smiles with the false cheer of the soddenly drunk. "I guess I'm just talented," he says. Speaking of talent, he tries to reach for the bottle, but can't quite seem to match intent with motor control.

Serendipity giggles -- he might deny it if accused, but that's definitely a giggle -- and keeps the bottle teasingly away. "'s a crappy talent," he opines, and takes another drink before setting the bottle back in Kal's hand. "'f I were you I'd stick with th' lightning thing."

Kalisto holds onto the bottle, then swivels his other hand around to doubly secure it. Then, carefully, he drinks. He still manages to spill a little, but most of it goes in his mouth. "Bah," he retorts eloquently. "Jus' think about it -- thousands of years, and I never died of old age."

"Sounds careless t' me," Ren comments lazily, shifting to sprawl out comfortably on his back in the hay. "I mean, you oughta learn, right? You're at least dyin' different =ways= each time, yeah?"

Kalisto replies unsteadily, "I should hope so." He takes another drink, but then spills more than he gets inside his mouth, and he mumbles amidst a muffled laugh, "I must be full."

Serendipity starts laughing again at that, and reaches over to rescue the bottle. It takes two tries to get a decent grip, but he manages. "Need a li'l see-through bit on th' side with marks sayin' full t' empty," he offers, and tries to have another drink through a brief run of giggles. "Then we'd know when you're a quart low..."

Kalisto doesn't fall back so much as pour himself onto the hay in liquid form, boneless as he sprawls, gazing glassily at the barn's ceiling. He laughs a little, then sighs. So drunk. "I'm always a quart low," he mourns.

Serendipity gestures vaguely in the direction of the crate, managing not to spill any of the alcohol, though mostly because they've already lowered the level sufficiently. "We got lotsa quarts!" he replies cheerfully.

Kalisto sighs dramatically, but is too comfortable (or lubricated) to bother moving, either toward the alcohol or to find a more comfortable position. "I'll just have to stay in this place and drink it all."

Serendipity manages to set the bottle aside where it won't immediately fall over, and stretches out more comfortably, eyes half-closed. "Can't drink it all. 's mine! You wan' it all, you gotta buy it or somethin'." He considers. "'cept I need alochol more'n cash mosta the time."

Kalisto flails a hand toward Ren uselessly, "I don't have money anymore," he complains, then hiccups. Uh oh, maudlin drunk. "I don't have anything. S'all gone."

Serendipity fffts, and getures vaguely, this time with an empty hand. "You're young, you're healthy, you gotta mind, you got phenomenal cosmic powers, an' you're hotter'n the surface of Helios with jalapeno sauce; what more d'ya =need=? Hell, 'sall y'need to get just 'bout anything else."

Kalisto shakes his head, at first in denial, and then because he seems to forget how to stop. The problem works itself out as he drags himself up to lean on one elbow, peering at Ren uncertainly. "If I'm so hot," he counters, "why's everyone treat me like a kid?"

Serendipity turns a bit onto his side to return the focus, and replies, "...hot doesn't mean able t' take carea yerself, =neccesarily=. I mean, lookit Miki, he di'n'have his brother, bet he'da snuffed it long time 'go. Does stupid shit sometimes," -- like Ren's in a position to judge that -- "an' I dunno 'f you noticed, but he acts young, like he sulks an' gets upset 'f he's not gettin' coddled, which don't say t' him or he'll get pissed, an' then everyone'll consider it your fault, fair warning." He actually take a breath after that sentence. "...but he's got magic an' he knows how t' use it, plus he's got apparently this scaryass brother, so he gets treated mos'ly like the adult he oughta be by his age. So, you don't gotta big scary brother, yeah? So prolly it hasta do with not havin' the magic handled yet." Pause. "'cause, if it was all about th' hot? We'd all hafta be callin' you elder or somethin'."

Kalisto's eyes narrow as he growls, "Yeah, but Miki has a brother, and Miki has a lover -- several of them -- and Miki has what Miki wants because when Miki sulks the fuckin' heavens realign themselves to placate him." Uh oh, sore subject, maybe. He drags himself up to sit up, raking a hand through his hair. "Goddess, I hate it here," he whimpers.

Serendipity rolls his eyes at the first part, but not, evidentally, at Kal. "Tell me 'bout it. But see, 's what I'm sayin'. Miki gets what Miki wants even =though= he acts about 14 mosta the time. The resta us hafta actually grow up t' not be treated like kids. No offense meant, man, 'f you haven't noticed I like you an' all, but you =can= be a li'l bitch sometimes." Ah, the joy of alcohol. It does at least have the tone of being honest and non-malicious assessment. "Which, you had t' go through a lotta shit, I get that, no one oughta blame you for bein' upset. But 'f you sulk an' shit, they'll treat you like a kid. 'f you wanna be treated like somethin', you gotta do your best impression of it. Like, you wanna be treated like an adult here, you gotta act like an adult here. 'cause we can't all be Miki. An' we're prolly th' better for it anyhow." Apparently, if one doesn't watch out, Ren can be turned into a philosophical drunk. "'m jus' sayin', if you don't like how people're treatin' you, change stuff you got power over. An' I don't mean the weather." He pauses, and adds, "...don't change =too= much, though. Like you. Surprisin'ly few people 'round here with a sensa humour."

"I hate him," Kal realizes quietly as he takes up his scarf to dab at his teary eyes, sniffling. "He's one of my only friends, and I hate him, because everyone loves him. Because he can do -anything- and be an angel. I hate him." He sniffles again, and the tears come freely. "And I hate them for loving him. I hate them for being stupid. For not seeing... I just hate it. This place, these circumstances. I wish I could just get hit by lightning or something, but it wouldn't help. The shame shit would happen. Different time, different assholes who think they know what they're doing, but in the end, same result."

Serendipity's eyes open the rest of the way, and the look in them's surprisingly compassionate. "...aww," he says softly, and there's no mocking in it. "C'mere," he invites, shifting to offer his arms, and the handy shoulder attached to the closer one, for those tears. "Know it sucks. 's not fair. Lotta things aren't fair t' you. 't any of us."

Kalisto tries to stop the flow of tears, and when they just keep coming, he utters a quiet mutter of frustration and keeps dabbing. "Thing is I don't want to," he whispers. "Don't want to hate anyone. I try so hard to be good." His voice wavers, and he comes dangerously close to giving in and crying. "I try, Ren. But I'm not good. I'm just... I'm bad, and I can't stop."

"Aw, Kal," Ren murmurs, and reaches out further to just pull the other youth in, though gently. "C'mere," he repeats softly. "You're not bad. Promise you're not. 'm a good judgea character, 'kay? Long's you want an' try t' do the right thing, you're good as anyone. Everyone fucks up sometimes, yeah? An' it's not like you gotta like everyone. Or vice versa."

Kalisto leans in against Ren, his head finding the other youth's shoulder as he utters another pathetic sniffle. "But everything I do," he complains, his voice raspy with tears. "I can't even get books in town without fucking it up."

Serendipity strokes the young mage's curls soothingly. "Shhh," he murmurs, distinctly more as a calming noise than an actual request. "'zat what you were doin' yesterday? You didn't fuck that up, the guys that decided they wanted t' juggle grenades did. An' you got out okay, an -- did the books get here?"

Kalisto nods disconsolately, and he sneaks his arms around Ren so that he can curl up to him, going boneless again as the homemade booze continues to saturate his system. "Yeah. It just sucks. Everything sucks. And if Justin finds out how my life is just over. I couldn't handle it."

"If the books got here an' no one who didn't have it comin' got hurt, you did fine," Ren replies, quiet but firm. "An' Justin..." He hesitates, and just holds Kal silently for several seconds. "If Justin finds out what?" he asks, then, "That you're interested in him?"

"Shhh!" Kal hisses, or as some in saner terms might put it, "Yes! Ren, you can't tell him, or anyone. Goddess." He hides his face against the kin's shoulder, snuffling. "Don't ever tell anyone."

Serendipity laughs once, a tiny soundless thing, and kisses Kal's forehead, just above the hairline. "Promise," he assures again, "...won't tell him. Danny won't either, 'least not unless it looks like someone's gonna get seriously damaged if he doesn't, 'f I know him. Anyway, even if he found out, how d'you know he wouldn't be happy? An' even if he wasn't..." Another pause, and when he continues, it's an odd mix of wry and melancholy. "Even then. It'd hurt like hell an' prolly you'd =wanna= die for a while, but it's survivable. Hey, I should know, yeah?" Half-smile.

Kalisto shakes his head, his voice still muffled as his face is pressed against the leather of Ren's coat. "No, you don't understand," he laments. "It'll hurt, yeah. It hurts now -- you think I've never been in pain before? It's not the hurt. What if he won't teach me? What if I have to go back home because he can't teach someone who's in love with him?"

Serendipity is quiet a moment, then a couple more, and then sighs. "He'd still teach you," he replies, sounding as if it costs him something. "'cause you need him. Who else's gonna do it? At least to the part where you c'n control the power, he'd still do it. Even if it made it hard. Long's you were still tryin' to learn."

"Just don't let him find out," Kal mumbles, somewhat sluggishly. The worst of the emotional carnage has passed, leaving him sounding tired and, well, drunk. "I'll get over it. Just don't let him know."