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

[potionandpoison]

[oh, he likes whatever game this is turning into. he already feels like shivering against the feelings that the other is pressing against his wrist--but now he's gone and found something that his guest really seems to like, and he laughs with half a face and smiles just as crookedly after.]

Yeah? This is good?

[the nails on his weird, scarred hand are not as magnificent as the ones on his normal hand, but they do a good enough job as he pointedly runs them down Tek's neck again. you know, for science.]

[heresyandlace]

[really, it's probably a good thing that he's got the more mundane set of nails dragging over his overstimulated nerves. the sharp, beautiful ones might have been too much.

as it is, he reflexively runs his own fingers affectionately over the hand that he still has captured... but he's also beginning to use it to lean his face against as he tilts his head, stretching out more of his neck to the side to be doted on.

there's another happy groan. yes, this is good.]

[potionandpoison]

[part of him almost feels bad. does this count as taking advantage, while the other isn't entirely in his normal state of mind, especially with all those sharp little games they like to play? but whatever the case, it isn't enough to stop him. he finds himself cradling Tek's face with his good hand and continuing to drag his nails along his neck with the other.

maybe it's not taking advantage. maybe it's just thanks for last time. he laughs again at his own thought, but says nothing, perfectly content to let this scene play on.]

[heresyandlace]

[it's all of those meticulous steps in their exacting little games that have allowed them to be here at all, really. it's because of their careful scheming, not in spite of it. if they hadn't laid such thorough groundwork and picked into each other's minds beforehand, neither of them would have subjected themselves to such a threat.

it's maybe called trust.

and at least for now, regret is not visible on the horizon. Tek continues to revel in the magnified sensations running through his skin until his hums of pleasure lower into a true rumble. and it's about that time that his free hand snakes around the waist of the man in his lap to encourage him closer.]

[potionandpoison]

[Tonic has heard this before, but not when he was in any kind of a place to notice it... but now that he's here, and so close, he almost has the mind to be startled by it before he's got a hand snaking around his waist.

he nearly giggles, sidling closer and taking back one of his own hands to adjust his dress as he does so. and that's just a minor distraction before he feels at Tek's chest, fingers running over his perfect skin with admiration--and curiosity.]

What are you doing...? [he asks this just as he reaches back up towards that neck of his, because whatever it is, he doesn't want Tek to stop just because he's been noticed. he'll get as close as the other wants, if he can just get a feel for what he's doing...]

[heresyandlace]

[the rearranging doesn't bother him, and he loves the hand running over his chest... but his purr is interrupted by a curious sound at the unexpected question. inquisitively, his eyes open to slits and his eyebrows raise.

he doesn't seem to follow the question, by the way he glances Tonic up and down, but he at least seems more amused by it than anything else.]

...What?

[potionandpoison]

[ooh, it's gone now... Tonic meets his gaze again, and while he would have been more reserved about it on any other day, their mutual openness thus far has him blurting out what he'd been thinking about before he has the chance to stop himself.]

You were making a sound... [he ducks in enough to rest his face against Tek's chest, looking up at him with his one good eye. it would almost be a cute look, were the person doing it not so inherently creepy.] Like humming...

[heresyandlace]

[the first thing that Tonic gets to hear from the depths of Tek's chest is a lightheaded chuckle. the dragon might not find Tonic's expression cute, exactly, but the whole thing does suddenly strike him as hilarious and a little bit charming. later, the humanness of his partner will surely come back to haunt him, but in this moment, the ridiculousness of it just adds to the fun.]

--Oh. You mean this?

[there are several different purrs and rumbles utilized by his kind to communicate a whole range of affection, but they're all basically involuntary. you can't just fake a purr out of nowhere. so, to drum one up for his friend, Tek indulges in snuggling down toward him, lingering on how electric every point of contact feels, breathes in the herbsmoke scent of his hair. then, he brings Tonic's good hand up to his throat so that he can feel as a deep, heady breath rolls out into a warm rumble.]