requiem

Tabbris awakes with a start. Nightmares again, he thinks. Though he blames this haphazard sleeping setup more. He can't believe he let himself get roped into more of Paschal's nonsense, but then again, he was always a little bit of a pushover, and the man's chaotic nature is nothing like he's ever seen. He rolls over to fall back asleep in their little camp in the forest, when he...hears something. Music? He sits up, and as he does, he notices Paschal gone from his place on the opposite side of the dead fire.
Like a sailor lured by a siren, he follows the music to its source. It's a beautiful tune--haunting, a requiem for a funeral Tabbris can't find. He finds himself walking deeper into the sea of trees, his legs moving on their own. The sound is getting louder now, and the voice is-- Is that? 

"...Drowning..." 

Paschal? 

Sure enough, Tabbris finds a small clearing with an old, not yet rotten tree stump. The smell of a still-smoking pipe hits his senses in time with the song. The song...Tabbris feels it would be fit for an audience in the heavens rather than the trees of an empty forest. He watches on silently as Paschal expertly, and effortlessly plays his lute. Eyes closed, head facing the stars as if the gods themselves are weeping as they listen. Why does he waste his voice on tavern shanties and comedy shows when he's been capable of this, this whole time? The messy braid and dirty plainclothes would fool any passerby, but Tabbris saw now what others haven't--he must be watching an angel. Something snaps him out of the trance he found himself in. He looks down, seems he stepped on a twig. He curses under his breath as the sudden sound stopped Paschal's playing. When he looks back up, mismatched eyes meet his. For a moment, as he stares into those eyes, Tabbris feels almost as human as he does.