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]

[Tek is glowing with pride, triumphing more over every other person who hasn't been given this confession than over Tonic himself. At least he's adoring and reassuring about it, staying close instead of leaning back and pinning Tonic with a gaze that would make him squirm more than he already is.

At some point, a hand slips from Tonic's lower back to his remaining leg, settling on his upper thigh.]

What did you ask this time?

[potionandpoison]

[This is somehow less embarrassing by comparison. Tek knows that Tonic likes him--and who wouldn't ask the same question?]

I wasn't thinking very clearly, just... Wondering how I could make this day a little longer.

[He manages a laugh. Or maybe the laugh escapes him despite everything--and he manages to glance in the other man's direction, to gauge his reaction.]

Can you really blame me, darling?

[heresyandlace]

[Even a small glance at Tek's face would show how clearly delighted he is, and Tonic's words only makes his grin sneak wider. He doesn't have to hide the purr in his voice so much anymore when he answers.]

And you saw stars in smoke? That is awfully poetic...

[When he leans forward to kiss Tonic this time, it's more slow and affectionate, drawing it out in a way that makes them both dwell here in the moment for a little bit.]

[potionandpoison]

[Later, he'll probably think back on what a stupid idea this was. He'll run all the disadvantageous little pieces through his mind, tally up all the tactical pitfalls... But for a little while, in the present, he thinks of surprisingly little. Mostly a sort of distant surprise at his own ease, along with thoughts of how much he really, really wants the person in front of him to stay close to him as long as he can get away with it.

He starts running his hands over his the other's sides, his hips, over his shoulders--inevitably getting more of that gold everywhere, if it hasn't drifted off into the water already.]