Mistake Goes on a Date

A short story by Rin Garnett

Mistake's lockpicks urged the next door open. They’d crossed three connected attics already, starting from an abandoned warehouse at the end of the street. This was the last threshold to cross, then they’d be in the tavern attic.
Mistake had planned everything out over the preceding days. She’d practiced the route five times and triple-checked that there would be a band playing tonight. With the added privacy, everything would be perfect. No interruptions, no mishaps. She could finally kiss her girlfriend.
The door popped open. Mistake stepped back, twirled her lockpicks around her finger, and bowed with a flourish.
"After you," she said to her date, motioning into the next room.
Darkness hesitated, but her curiosity overruled her caution and she skipped ahead. Mistake followed, shutting and locking the door to hide their tracks.

by Katie

They entered an attic like all the others they’d passed through – a rickety wooden triangle coated in dust and full of forgotten boxes. It would be a great place to find bits of fabric, old tools, and other items Joy or Rezzy could use at home, but Mistake brushed that thought aside.
Her attention was on Darkness, who poked around the attic seeking any clues for why Mistake brought her here. The purple of her skin helped her blend into the shadows as she nudged boxes and checked corners.
She stopped short of asking the question as vibrations filtered up through the floor. The muffled sound of a lute soon followed, along with a grin across Darkness’ face.
"Music?" she pondered, then pieced it together. "We’re above the Mermaid’s Tale!"
"I figured if humans can have a night out, why can’t we?" They were King’s sentiments more than Mistake’s, but they seemed appropriate for the moment.
Darkness began swaying with the music. This is why they had to come here. Because Darkness loved to dance, and Mistake loved to watch. The moonlight streaming through cracks in the roof shone against Darkness’ silky black hair and reflected off the silver of her horns.
She spun closer to Mistake, her skirt twirling around her. "Do you think we could get closer?" she asked.
Mistake had never tried to get inside the tavern, but she couldn’t say no now.

---

The hay within the mattress sank as Mistake dropped down from the ceiling onto it, then sank further as Darkness joined her. They’d only had to remove two boards from the floor of the attic to climb down into the unused tavern bedroom.
For both of them, this was their first time in a human room. Though the Mermaid’s Tale was the worst Tavern in the city, it was nicer than any tiefling home in Redfell.
"Look at the size of that mirror." Darkness hopped off the bed to investigate the vanity.

by Katie

"I’m still admiring the actual bed," Mistake responded. Back home, their beds were piles of straw on the floor. No proper mattresses there, or bed frames to keep it off the floor. She sat on the edge and let her feet dangle. Looking up, she caught Darkness’ eye in the mirror and had a sudden, sinking realization.
She’d brought her girlfriend to a private room in a tavern. A room that had little in it save for a bed, that Mistake was drawing a lot of attention toward. Mistake’s tail coiled in fear of the accidental implications.
"My cousin does some cleaning here," Darkness said. "He says the mattresses often have bugs in them, so maybe don’t get too comfy?"
"Great idea!" Mistake leapt off the bed and strided to the opposite side of the room to admire the wardrobe. "Definitely no interest in any of the beds, they sound awful. It’s not what we’re here for, anyways. Hey, the closet has some robes in it."
The music from downstairs saved Mistake from the yawning silence. Though still muffled through the floor, it was much clearer in this room than it was in the attic.
"That’s right," Darkness said, "we’re here to dance, and I need a dance partner. Oh, look, I found one!" She grabbed Mistake’s hand and pulled.
As Mistake stumbled back, Darkness twisted her around into a spin. The music picked up and Darkness moved in perfect time with it, leading Mistake through turns and dips and moves she didn’t know the name of. She was certain she messed up most of them, but Darkness didn’t seem to mind.
They continued dancing through one song, then the next, until their hearts raced and their hands sweat. They collapsed to the floor, laughing with what breath they had left.
"My parents would be so angry if they knew we were here," Darkness said once she could speak again.
"We could always go back if you wanted."
"And miss out on more music?" She nudged Mistake’s shoulder with her own, then added in a whisper: "and the good company."
A single instrument began playing again, soft and slow. The perfect backdrop. Mistake shifted to face Darkness. "There was… something else I wanted to do."
"What else is that?"
"Well… Um." Mistake brushed a strand of hair out of Darkness’ face and leaned closer. This time, Cess wouldn’t interrupt, Mistake wouldn’t trip, the chair wouldn’t break, no parent would storm over with a list of incomplete chores. It was just them, alone.
Darkness’ eyes fluttered shut as the distance between them closed. Mistake held her breath, feeling her girlfriend’s on her face.

by Katie

Before their lips touched, the door opened. They snapped back from each other and stared at the human woman who stood in the doorway holding a pile of sheets. The human stared back.
Mistake jumped up and graciously took the sheets from the dumbfounded human. "Thank you so much," she said, "we were told to set up the room but we’re so new we had no idea where to get the supplies from." She brought the sheets to the bed and began laying them out. Darkness followed suit, and began helping from the other side.
The human, undoubtedly unconvinced, backed out of the room and slammed the door shut. Her hurried footsteps echoed down the hall.
"How do we get out?" Darkness asked. Even standing on the bed, they wouldn’t be able to reach the hole they came down through, and trying to boost each other up would take too long. Mistake ran to the window and pushed the shutters open. The voices of a dozen humans wafted up from below. No way out that way.
"There’s a back door," Darkness said. "Kerrix, my cousin? He said they make him use the back door only, so no customers will see him. It leads into the kitchens downstairs."
Mistake scanned the room, the closet with the robes inside, the light from under the door, and nodded.
"Then that’s where we’re going."

---

The Mermaid’s Tale had the single itchiest robes Mistake had ever worn. Their horns left awkward bulges beneath the hoods, and they had to be careful their tails didn’t stick out the bottom, but drunk and inattentive humans probably wouldn’t notice the two tieflings sneaking past.
Or that was the hope. The halls upstairs were empty, but the music and voices from down the stairs got louder with every step. They were soon going to be in the middle of a lot of humans.
Darkness squeezed Mistake’s hand, and the two turned the corner into the bright lights and raucous voices of the main hall, where the scent of ale mingled with freshly-cooked meals.
Humans were everywhere - they filtered onto the dance floor as the music picked up in pace, others sat around tables and in booths or at the bar, more huddled in groups barely able to stand upright after so many drinks.
Laughter and joviality filled the room. It wasn’t too different from parties at home, just nicer. The clothes, the drink, the instruments, the food, everything. It was what they pretended at. Mistake imagined people she knew in place of the humans, a tavern inhabited by tieflings, where they could feel safe enough to laugh and dance and sing without fear.
Darkness tugged on her sleeve, urging her forward. For now, she was afraid, and she had to make sure Darkness got home safe.
They found the servant’s entrance and slipped through when no one was looking. It led them to a dark hallway with several doorways branching off.
"Which way to the kitchen?" Mistake asked, hoping Darkness had an idea.
Darkness crept ahead and reached for a door just as it opened. A large human man stepped through, trailed by the same woman who found them earlier. Mistake dipped into a closet nearby and tried to reach for Darkness, but was too late. The man grabbed her and yanked her hood back.
"That’s one of them, yes sir," the woman said, "there was a second."
"Maybe this one will tell us where the other devil went," he said as he reached for a knife at his side.
Mistake glanced around the storage closet she hid in and grabbed the nearest item she found. Flakes of rotting wood fell from the empty crate. It would have to do.
"Hey!" she leapt into the hallway and yelled. She swung the crate with both hands as the man turned to face her. It collided with his chest and splintered apart, with little more than twigs remaining in Mistake’s hands. Darkness wrenched herself free and ran past Mistake, grabbing her along the way.
Hearing voices shouting behind them, the two darted into the nearest room and ran face-first into another tiefling.

by Katie

"Kerrix!" Darkness said in recognition.
Kerrix looked back in confusion. "Darkness? What are you-"
"You!" the large human man stormed in, bits of half-rotted wood sticking into his shirt. "Do you have an explanation for this?"
Darkness ducked behind her cousin and pulled Mistake closer.
The man advanced on the three of them. A vein bulged on the side of his head. "They were caught in one of the rooms upstairs, doing gods know what."
"They’re… my cousins," Kerrix lied. "They were curious about my job. They must have gotten cold." He held his hand out and both girls hurriedly returned the borrowed robes.
The human snatched them from his hand and told him "You’re not to be seen here again."
Darkness gasped and stared at Mistake, urging her to do something.
"Sir," the woman who’d caught them said. "It will be difficult to find someone to fill that position at that wage."
The man grumbled. "Fine. We’ll check over the room and anything damaged or missing will come out of your pay. Get out of here, all of you, before I call the guard."
"Yes, sir," Kerrix bowed his head and kept it bowed as he pushed the two girls through the kitchen and out the back door. He kept pushing them until they were out of sight of the tavern.
"What in Arcavios were the two of you doing there?" he asked.
"We wanted to listen to the music," Darkness said.
"It was my idea, I brought Darkness there." Darkness shot her a look, but Mistake couldn’t let her take the blame.
"I’m really sorry we got you in trouble," Darkness said.
"Yeah, well. Not like anyone will take coin from us anyway." He sighed. "I hope you see now why it isn’t worth it. What would your parents say if they knew about this? And Mistake… what about Joy and Resilience?"
"They wouldn’t care," Mistake muttered with a shrug. She knew that wasn’t entirely true. They’d at least care that someone else suffered for her mistake.
The trio continued walking in silence, the revelry of the tavern fading away as they traversed alleys toward the tiefling slums.
Mistake ruminated on the night. No matter what she did, it would have been wrong. Staying in the attic would have been safer, but being unable to hear the music defeated the purpose of going at all. In trying to make things better, she made them worse.
Would a boring date have been better than this? Or would that, too, have been another mistake?
She’d only had her name for six months and it felt like it’d defined her whole life.
"Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?" Darkness asked as they passed the threshold into the slums.
Kerrix weighed his options before answering. "No," he said, to instant relief on Darkness’ face. "But you can’t keep doing things like this. It won’t always end this well. And I will tell them next time."
Darkness tackled him with a hug, thanking him profusely.
"Yes, I get it." He tugged at her horns to pull her away. "Just make sure there isn’t a ‘next time’, okay?" He turned and left the two of them.
"I’m sorry it all turned out like this," Mistake said, her attention on her tail wrapping around her ankle. "We should have just stayed in the attic, and now your cousin… I understand if you don’t want to–"

by Katie

Darkness leaned in and kissed Mistake. Her mouth was warm but her hand felt cold against the heat rising to Mistake’s face. She pulled away with a grin as she said: "I’ll see you tomorrow?"
As Darkness waltzed away, headed toward her home, Mistake stood speechless in the night. Her heart danced in her chest. In one act and one sentence, Darkness turned the date from disaster to perfection. For the rest of the night, until she finally went to sleep, Mistake’s only thoughts were how she couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

Mistake kissed a boy (once) and didn't like it.

This story takes place in early 4462, when Mistake is 16 years old.

Cast

Mistake

A 16-year-old tiefling living in Redfell

Darkness

Mistake's girlfriend of 1 month

Kerrix

Darkness' cousin

Joy & Resilience

Mistake's parents

Locations

Redfell

A mostly-human city known for being exceptionally anti-tiefling

Tiefling Slums

The worst part of the city where tieflings are forced to live

The Mermaid's Tale

A low-end tavern in Redfell near the tiefling slums