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Ms. Tymora was taking longer than Tyrion expected. Flinhart McCoy must have been having a discussion where neither side is willing to budge. Tymora usually argues until she gets some variation of what she wants, buy these discussions are usually wrapped up after an hour. That this has taken nearly thrice the normal time frame is interesting, but Tyrion knows better than to push Tymora for answers to things she refuses to speak on. Instead, he continued to play chess until they were finished with their discussion.
At least, he had planned on doing so. But when the white haired girl in the tavern yelled, Tyrion's plan changed slightly. He would still be playing chess, but now he would be playing against another living soul, rather than simply practicing against himself.
Watching Celeste get increasingly understanding of the game was satisfying, especially since, according to her, she had never played before. While he wasn't truly challenged, it was good practice against an opponent who was more sporadic with their moves.
But beyond that, watching her get increasingly frustrated as time went on made his stomach leap. When the girl (Celeste McCoy, he recalled from their introduction) would pout, Tyrion had a strange sensation in his upper abdomen that he simply couldn't identify.
Of course, later that night, when she was arrested for Flinhart's murder, Tyrion couldn't stand aside and let her get convicted.
"I'm going to defend her," he told Ms. Tymora.
“What?” she responded, a rare instance of near speechlessness he had been able to render her. “Why?”
The protogae looked his mentor in the eye as he responded. “Because she’s innocent. I refuse to believe she killed her own father.”
“And not because she’s a cute face around your age?”
Tyrion paused for a very brief moment, processing the accusation, before brushing it off. “Ms. Tymora, I will not stand aside while an innocent life would get sentenced to death.”
But in the back of his mind, he felt something say ‘though she is a cute face’.
“Hey, do you still do that thing while you play?”
Rika’s question immediately made Tyrion cringe. “...No.”
As if the two of them had planned it, Celeste pushed the subject, “What thing?”
Eager to move on from this topic, Tyrion swiftly answered, “Nothing, she’s not talking about anything. Now-”
“Wait,” Rika cut him off as she went wide eyed, “you’re actually embarrassed by it?” Her astonished expression only grew as she thought aloud. “When we were kids, you did it even more than I did!”
Rika’s surprise was rapidly building Celeste’s curiosity. “What?” She pushed. “What did he used to do?!”
Glancing at his bodyguard, Rika had an idea. “Why don’t you show her, Tyrion?”
With a pained sigh, Tyrion explained “I’d…rather not.”
But it was too late. His bodyguard and his former best friend were not going to back down. “Come on, show us, Tyrion.”
“I think I’m a little too old for this.”
“You’re never too old to tap into your inner Chuuni! Do it, Tyrion!”
“Yeah, do it!”
The two of them started chanting, earning strange looks from other customers and seemingly giving not a single care in the world how odd they look chanting to their friend.
Giving in, Tyrion took a deep breath and recited his long forgotten monologue. And when he finished, the three of them sat there in silence.
Until the women both tried to keep in their laughter as much as they could. Which was not a lot, but it wasn’t so bad that the entire establishment was looking their way.
“Well, that’s why I don’t do it anymore!” Tyrion tried to reason, but the two of them were lost in their own world, likely repeating the scene in theirs minds. But as he tried to defend himself, he caught Celeste’s genuine smile at that moment. And for that moment, he forgot he was embarrassed. Again, similar to when they first met, that strange sensation in his upper abdomen. He believed it was his heart, which would check out given that he could hear it beat in that brief moment.
Tyrion wasn’t sure what that feeling was, but his thoughts were drowned out quickly as the conversation continued.
That feeling was attraction, he later realized. Romantic attraction that was specifically felt towards Celeste McCoy, his first client and his current bodyguard. And he realized that because after a bad few days, she resolved to stay with him while he slept, in hopes of giving him comfort.
It was a nice gesture, especially since returning to his hometown has drudged up hiring memories and made him restless. And while seeing Rika again was nice, his past haunted him as his mind flashed through his history with the town. Every building, every person, every flower bed reminded him of something. Even some pebbles around town flashed a thought to a time where he was with his mother, happy and innocent to the horrors of the world.
Celeste letting him vent allowed him to finally feel clear headed and, as he closed his eyes, he felt the warmth of her hand in his. Her presence was soothing and exactly what he needed as he drifted to sleep.
Then, when he woke up, Tyrion had realized that Celeste might have taken that mission a little too far.
There she was, her head resting on his lap and her hand entangled with his own.
Nothing had happened last night. Nothing indecent, at least. Neither drank and both remembered the conversation leading up to them resting quite well. But it seems that, in her attempts to comfort him, Celeste let her exhaustion take over and ended up resting her head on his lap. Tyrion only noticed when he awoke, and it took him a bit to realize that.
He quietly and instinctually whispered her name once he had realized the situation, which caused her to stir. Upon opening her eyes and taking in the situation, Celeste was in as much of a panic as he was, and the two were soon out of bed and avoiding each other’s eye contact.
Thankfully, their awkwardness was interrupted by Aster. The rest of the day was much better, now that they had sorted out the feelings of his past, but Tyrion continued to think about that moment when they returned to this room at the inn. How did it come to this? Saving a girl he thought was cute, hiring her as his bodyguard. Now he has feelings for a former client. Even if they were friends now, it left him with a sense of embarrassment. If he just waited out this crush, perhaps he’d get over the feelings.
A few months later, Tyrion had most assuredly not gotten over his feelings for Celeste. In fact, entering the Frega estate, Tyrion was quite sure his feelings had only gotten stronger.
The only reason he was positive of that was because he had to keep himself from staring at Celeste tonight. If he was asked to pick a singular word to describe her tonight, he would settle on the word gorgeous. Her floor length dress highlighted her lean arm muscle, and it matched wonderfully with her eyes. Further, the slit on the left side, the low cut on her chest, and string straps of the crimson dress all collected into an appearance that forced Tyrion to actively avoid looking at her as much as he could. He was almost thankful when she decided she would wander off on her own, attempting to find any information on her true heritage.
That didn’t mean he was alone, however. On his way to visit the exhibits that were visiting from a museum, he got stopped by a familiar prosecutor.
“I saw Celeste earlier,” Aria confirmed, which did comfort Tyrion to know that in his absence, she wasn’t getting into trouble. Of course, Aria continued, “She was being scolded by a lesser nobleman for implying he had an affair.” This immediately made him feel less comforted.
“She doesn’t exactly have any tact. She is a mercenary, after all,” Tyrion noted, sighing in exasperation.
There was a pause, and Tyrion almost thought he misspoke, but Aria merely nodded after a moment and slowly stated, “No, she doesn’t.” It felt like she was staring daggers into him, like he said something so idiotic that she couldn’t believe it, yet neglected to mention it. The Eyes of Horus didn’t catch anything on her surface thoughts, and so he let it go and continued on his way.
Later that night, when he found Celeste again, Tyrion was dragged into dancing with her. This made his prior goal of avoiding looking directly at her impossible, even when he focused on his footwork. But she eventually asked him to just look at her and let his feet figure it out. And somehow, everything around them melted away.
Everything about her gave him more joy than he could ever express. At that moment, he wasn’t even sure he could remember his name if someone had interrupted them. They had a conversation, sure, but Tyrion could not recall later on what that conversation was about. He was too happy to focus on everything happening.
Of course, the murder of William Frega did not help him remember. In fact, the court case that followed didn’t help him remember that dance well at all, despite himself.
Celeste was gone.
Eris used her and now Celeste was gone.
No, the Empress of Discord used her and now Celeste was gone.
Everyone in this crumbling, deserted temple was quiet, clearly stunned by the events that were so personal towards him by this demon. He stared at Celeste’s limp body, devoid of her soul, and couldn’t hear anything. Eris was talking and going on about how she wanted nothing more than to break him. That he was just some toy to her, some thing that she had taken an interest in so that she could destroy and then move on to her next toy. The Empress of Discord had taken Celeste from him.
Celeste, the woman who saved him in the Eyetaker's hideout. The woman who helped him become a lawyer all to his own. The woman who supported him as he stood up against the only family he'd ever known. The woman who, somewhere in the past year, unwittingly, became his family, however that looked.
And now, the Empress of Discord stood there on the stand, continuing to belittle and goad him into breaking. He was about to, as well, the one source of good in his life for the past few months gone without any chance of recovery
Until suddenly, he could feel his heritage calling. Tyrion knew exactly what he needed to do.
He made his declaration and found himself in Hell's court, staring down the Empress of Discord with Celeste by his side once again. She was innocent. He was positive that Eris had made a mistake. He just had to find it. Everything else, he'd think about later, including whatever relationship he and Celeste wanted to have.
Tyrion hadn't done this since his mom brought him out here.
Perhaps that would send the wrong message? Hey, I had this tradition with my mom and I. And she would think, You see me as your mom? That would kill any intention for a romantic trip on the water.
As he continued to row, Celeste looked at him, and she was keeping her thoughts well guarded. He couldn't hear anything from her mind. "Are you okay, Tyrion? You look uneasy."
He rowed again, shaking his head, "Just trying to get us to the right spot. It's been a while." She hummed, but didn't press further.
She was probably just happy to be away from the aristocracy for the time being. Their lives had been totally uprooted by the results of their battle with Aster. This was the first time they were able to really be together for more than business. Aria was getting tired or being a messenger between the two of them while they were both busy, so this was hopefully going to give her a decent break.
Or it could make them more infuriating to be around. He knew Aria was sick of his pining. Maybe this would make it worse. Then he'd be annoying his second closest friend, and he could only imagine what she'd do. She wouldn't kill him, but what if she made him interact with Jaiden von Sanctus for a prolonged period of time? Or worse, Miriam Frega?
He shuddered at the thought, though Celeste was looking away, so he wouldn't have to explain, thankfully.
She looked at him right after, though, and she asked, "Tyrion, it's really dark …are you sure this is safe?"
He simply smiled, though she probably couldn't make it out very well. It was time to finally act on his feelings, the same ones that he kept telling himself were not important or unprofessional or whatever other poor excuse to not just see if they could work. Because they'd been through a lot in the year they've known each other.
What's the last year of stress to a potential lifetime of happiness?