Tiefling Boyfriend: Chicory (special preview)

For a while now, you have made your living working as a housekeeper. You’ve worked for a few people as a live-in maid, recently you have taken up a job as a barmaid. The last family you worked for had decided to move and they did not take you with them. It felt like a slap in the face considering all you had done for this family, and the abandonment still hurt quite a bit. 

On a particularly slow evening, you and one of the other barmaids were enjoying a hot cider. There weren’t many other patrons in the bar, so you could relax while they finished their drinks.

There was a Tiefling in the bar that evening, he had come in earlier and had been sitting at his table with some books while he drank. He was talking to himself, mumbling, and fidgeting with the strange goggles over his eyes.

“That Chicory Copperhearth,” your friends whispers to you. “Works up there for Lord Nictis in that tower keep.”

You furrow your brow. “The one that’s always smoking?”

She nods. “I’ve seen him in here a few times, always chattering on about something. I try not to get into his line of sight.”

You glance over at Chicory at his table, writing things down while he reads at the same time. “What does Lord Nictis hire him for?”

She shakes her head. “He claims to be an inventor, as to why he’s working for Lord Nictis, I’m not sure.”

As you are watching, Chicory knocks some papers off his table without even noticing. “Ill be right back.”

“You’ll regret it,” she sings.

Approaching Chicory’s table, you pick up the pages he dropped. There are sketches on them as well as notes written in a language you couldn’t decipher. “Excuse me, sir, you dropped these on the floor.”

He looks up, eyes bugged by the thick goggles he’s wearing. You flinch, a bit frightened by his bug-like appearance. As he lifts up the goggles though, his hair comes free and his eyes look sharp and angled. His skin is dusky maroon, and his hair falls pure white around his face in matted, unbrushed curls. His horns curl from the back of his head and towards his forehead, looking almost like a halo.

“Hello there!” He says chipperly. “Thank you! Thank you!” He takes the papers then heartily shakes your hand. “You’re a new face! Then again, you could be an old face for all I know. Hello there!” He shakes your hand continuously. “Would you like to see something?”

“Hi, and uh sure.” You don’t have much room to speak.

Chicory releases you and pulls a cup from his bag. “This is something I have been working on! It may not seem like much, but I think it is going to be all the rave!” He takes his half full stein and dumps the contents into the mug, but once the beer is inside, it vanishes.

You look under the table in case he spilled it then look back up. “How did you do that?”

Chicory holds up the glass and you can see his hands through it. “Now watch this.” He turns the glass to drink and the beer magically appears.

You stare in awe, even as he sits the glass down the beer vanishes again. “How are you doing this? Where is the beer going?”

Chicory is grinning ear to ear and you can see one of his fangs is gold. “It isn’t magic if that is what you are thinking. It is merely a trick.” He picks the cup up. “The bottom here is false, all the beer goes through here then reappears inside the false glass walls.”

You furrow your brow. “What is such a thing for though?”

“She asks what it is for.” Chicory says to no one. “She asks me what such a marvelous trick of design and hard work is for!” He sets the glass down then plops back into his seat. “I have no idea what it is for!” He runs his fingers through his horribly kept hair. It is a wonder to you that his fingers do not get trapped inside the rat’s nests and knots.

You suddenly feel guilty. “So what did you make it for?”