GRATIA // PSL

[skeletoncity]

The first thing he feels is the cold.

It permeates everything down here on the lower levels. What little warmth humans have made for themselves is greedily gobbled up by the stone walls that surround them on all sides. Despite the stirring of people in the streets, in their homes, and around corners, this place feels like a grave. A similar sense seems to loom over the heads of most who make their way through this deep, dark part of the world, hovering around them like a cloud of inevitability. No one has been outright sentenced to death, but they may as well be.

Upon waking, Tek will have found himself in a dark, wet alleyway. Attempts to orient himself reveal that he has been brought, somehow, to an impressively large network of tunnels that all lead, more or less, to three or four larger chambers. There is far more vibrant life above him somewhere, far, far above the layer of caves he's in now, and there is also a very deep, sluggish form of life somewhere far below his feet.

No one is coming to get him. No one follows him in his immediate vicinity--the few stragglers hanging around doorsteps and windows don't give him a second glance, or even a first one. The place is crowded, but not busy. Everyone keeps their heads down. The people are all dressed poorly, in rags and robes and bundles that suggest a certain level of consistent poverty all throughout the level. The buildings in these tunnels look man-made, either built from scrap or carved straight out of the rock of the cave, but the majority of the actual roads and cave walls seem to have been formed with very little help from human hands.

The place is lit with lanterns and dirty-looking florescents suspended high above in the cave ceiling. The air is thick and stuffy, the smell of mold and mud prevalent over even the smell of human stagnation. It would not be hard to drag someone off, and he gets the immediate feeling that if he did, it's unlikely that anyone would come looking for them.

What does he do?

Comments

[heresyandlace]

[while Tek's touch lingers there for those last afterglow seconds--nerves coming down from the rush and everything still feeling amazing--his own appreciative sounds unravel out into a little bit of breathless, heady chuckling. he can't help it. just reveling in those moments while he winds down.

then, before he wears out his welcome, he does finally reclaim his hand and leave his friend to his tangled, messy fate. he wilts to the side, freeing his partner's hand in the process, and settles beside him with the most satisfied sigh in the world.

whatever state his own body had been in by the time everything ended, he has gotten what he came here for. he's good.]

[skeletoncity]

[the other's chuckling is contagious; his own sounds end up winding down into loose, giggling laughter as he settles. he can feel the rest of the world threatening to catch up with him, but he fights it for just a moment longer, rolling over to drape his arm over his partner's side.]

You're good...

[he closes his eyes with a satisfied smile, snuggling up close. he keeps his voice low, just between the both of them.]

Do you want... anything?

[because he's still got hands--maybe not much else, at this point, but he's more than happy to be a warm body to move against if it would make his friend happy.]

[heresyandlace]

Nothing at all.

[and he means it. this encounter hadn't been for the sake of physical gratification in the first place--not his own, anyway. he'd had other, subtler goals, and those are all checked off the list now. he's satisfied. besides... he doesn't hate the hum that lingers in his nerves. he knows who to track down if he wants to work the rest out of his system, but for now, it just makes him feel more affectionate and pleasantly covetous.

gazing at his partner's beautiful wreck of a face, he reaches up to draw perfect, shiny nails lightly down the side of his neck (which may be a bit of projecting on his part).]

This has been the best shopping trip I've had in a while.

[skeletoncity]

[instinctively, his eyes open when he feels nails at his neck, but only long enough for him to glance up, chuckle, and decide that he would rather just close his eyes again.]

Happy to provide, darling.

[he starts to move... but suddenly becomes aware of the mess he's made of his poor dress. he looks down at it, as if it is solely to blame for bothering him, and starts halfheartedly trying to wad it out of the way. maybe he can just fold it over himself. something.]

I, ah... [he sounds a little awkward, but not as much as you'd expect someone in his position to be. this seems to be more of an inconvenience to him, than anything.] Sure was into that last part, wasn't I?

[heresyandlace]

[Tek laughs again, just as amused but not quite as lightheaded as before. he's beginning to settle into his body again--sinking into a state of loose-boned and lazy.]

Were you? I hadn't really noticed.

[but it's all in good fun. he's too content to tease him much more than that. he also doesn't look like he's planning on hopping up and leaving any time soon. with the way he's lounging, he looks like moving his limbs at all would be nothing but a chore.]