He wasn't one to drink. He had never been one to drink. Even when he had been... happy, even when Tallas would bring home a bottle of wine for them to enjoy with dinner, it had only ever been a glass or two. Enough to begin feeling the faint numbing sensation that began at the tips of his fingers, one that accompanied the warm flush that rose from his chest to his cheeks, but never to the point where he was lost to that sensation. No matter how intoxicating the temptation attempted to be.

...but that had been before he knew how painful it was to wake on a day that had been one of celebration a year ago. Alone. The bed cold. His apartment a shell by comparison to the home that had burned down. A grave visited with flowers laid to rest at the stone marker with a name that had belonged to the person who had been his world inscribed upon it. Grief a bitter and festering thing that twisted itself inextricably with guilt, but the alcohol made it much easier to swallow. Or to not feel at all with the way the numbness it granted spread further and further with the more he drank.

Mikael walked in taking a few calming breaths which immediately faltered as he saw the other, his cheeks tinting some as he walked over and cleared his throat “h-hello sable! I um- I have something for you- well since last time I brought sweets you didn’t get to try them… I made another batch” he explained, his tail swaying a bit behind him with anxiety, his gaze shifting to the ground “I also… I also had a question for you. If you wouldn’t mind- may I spend the holiday with you?” He asked before quickly looking up and waving his hands “ah not in a weird way though!” He exclaimed quickly “it’s just I’ve never had a friend or anything to celebrate such things with or we’ll just my creatures honestly but I was hoping if you wouldn’t mind I could see what it was like with actual company- if that’s okay of course”

Sable wasn't one to drink, but he was currently as close to drunk as he had ever been before. Recklessly so. His thoughts and movements having gone sluggish and languid, long slender fingers grasping the tankard by the rim as he lifted it to his lips and drank further, he had discovered that it made things easier, that it hurt less the more he drank.

Even with the questioning looks the tavern workers, those who were familiar with him and knew him never to be like... this, gave him as they refilled his tankard every time he requested them to. Even as he saw and hated what he saw in the reflection of the amber liquid freshly added, using it as an excuse to down more of the offending liquid so that he didn't have to keep looking. Even as he was... interrupted, a thing he was not expecting and didn't care for. Not today.

There was an... instinct, one that had never found him before and was too new for him to understand, to snarl and lash out. Like an animal, wounded and defensive, awaiting death if the bleeding was too much. Despite the fog of the alcohol, though, despite the fire-like urges that seemed to stem from a mark hidden beneath bandages wrapped tightly around it to keep it from sight, Sable kept it in check and instead clenched his jaw the barest amount to bite back his volatile withdrawal into himself where he could suffer in his own misery alone.

Only it wasn't just some stranger or acquaintance that had found him and was intruding. It was Mikael... and that was so much worse.
Icy eyes blinked in surprise, the tankard he had been drinking from set back on the table a bit more forceful than intended, such was his inebriation. He didn't know what to make of the other's sudden appearance, certainly not on a day like this one, and for a moment, a man who was inexperienced with being drunk couldn't find any words and was left to listen.

For all that his senses were dimmed and dulled, filed down by the numbing haze that came with a few too many and not enough all the same, Sable was not blind nor deaf. He saw... what he had always seen in spare glances and flickering moments. A faint blush on darkened skin along sharp cheekbones. Nervous and anxious twitches of a tail. The shifting of a gaze that met his eyes, then trailed away... only to return, to always return.

Guilt, a far sharper kind rather than the dull knife that twisted slowly within him, sprang to life as Sable was forced to look away. Teeth ground together, a frown marring his expression as controlling his reactions was now severely limited by his own consumption, he felt guilt for how innocent Mikael was, for how kind and considerate he had always been towards him, for how... Sable had taken advantage of it--of him despite knowing that he was undeserving of it. Not when he couldn't be what was wanted.

"Mikael..." Sable managed, the name rough in a graveled voice, disbelief and sorrow a hollow note within. "You... you shouldn't be here. Not... now. It is... today is..." He trailed off, knowing that this wasn't what was wanted. "I... will not be good company. Not today... or any day, truly..."

He thought to take a drink then, to try and wash away the sensation of glass cutting his throat with each word that he forced himself to speak. "I cannot be... more than what I am, and what I am is... broken," he added, growing quiet, the faint slur from drinking a touch more prominent. "Today... it's worse, though. Today I'm... broken further."

Sharpened features softened then, wintered gaze still affixed to the table. "I'll... not be a very good friend to you."

Mikael tilted his head with a worried look and set the basket down on the side of the table, looking at the other "Everyone is broken Sable and it can be hard to handle but...With someone by your side it can lessen the burden I think" he replied softly "I'm sorry this day has not been kind to you but perhaps we can improve it. You dont have to be good or fully together. I like being around you, as you are. You don't have to force yourself to be anything other than you" he explained though stayed standing not wanting the other to feel trapped or forced into a situation.