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]

[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.]