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psychoshenanigans2019-02-17 03:33 pm
birdsbirdsbirds) wrote in psychoshenanigans2019-02-17 03:33 pm
GRATIA // PSL
"The Archive", as people call it, is the single-greatest collection of written information in all of Skeleton City. It is a massive, multi-leveled cylindrical chamber filled with concentric rings of tall, imposing shelves made from wood, metal, and occasionally, the cave walls themselves. Large platforms are suspended on stone bridges above and below the main level, allowing for study spaces and the occasional, separated collection. The space is hushed, as these spaces usually are, with most of the sounds of shuffling feet or conversation reduced to muffled background static between the rows of soft binding and thin parchment. High up in the ceiling is a large, back-lit, stained-glass window, which casts the entire chamber in dim, gently-shifting colors.
Despite all this, it's actually rather boring. There are very few actual books in this library, and most of those are recently-written biographies, historical accounts, philosophical texts, or extremely repetitive business ledgers. The rest of the space is taken up by scrolls, loose files, and what amount to simple index cards. A significant chunk of the Archive is taken up by identification records and police procedural. You could probably look up any recorded crime from any day in the past three decades, but good luck finding simple field guide or a scrap of poetry. The only people who frequent this building are religious scholars, hired detectives, and the spies who actually know how to read.
There are treasures to be found, of course, interesting folk stories or old books that have been lovingly hand-copied by someone onto a six-part series of scrolls, but the effort is not worth the prize for very long. The Archive also has a significant lack of information regarding magic or the existence of monsters, which is why it has taken Robin so long to find anything even remotely relevant to his current plight.
He's still where Tek left him, tucked into a desk near the edge of the room, mostly out-of-sight of the main walking paths but not so hidden away that he couldn't be wandered-upon by another visitor. At this point he's amassed several stacks of old-looking articles, genealogy charts, and weathered journals, and has slowly progressed from sitting like a human to hunching over some written account with his legs crossed and his head propped up by a gloved hand.
He hasn't found the answer he was looking for. He has some ideas, vague scraps of information that he could scrape together into a cover story... But if worse comes to worse, he'll be going up against someone almost as smart as he is, so vague ideas will only buy him time. They won't fix the problem.
The big... dragon-shaped, magic-using, monster-attracting problem.
He's not actually confident on the causality of that last one, but his research into that has not gone much better than his research into a new cover story. He's very wrapped up in his own busy thoughts by the time his aforementioned problem comes looking for him.
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If you're lucky, the first person to happen across the scene won't be of the sort that are paid to stop these kinds of things. Even if it's someone who happens to have a personal stake in whatever property is being disgraced, there is always that pause where they must decide if stepping forward and interrupting is worth the risk. It buys time, at the very least.
So, in the midst of eagerly sinking into the warmth and heady sensation of Robin's mouth working over him, Tek opens his eyes when he hears a gasp. He would love to see the face of their hapless intruder, see what sort of person is having their day ruined, try to guess exactly how long it will take them to act, or leave, or stare, or find someone else to hand the problem over to.
And he grins. His eyes are only open to blissed-out slits, but he grins right at them, clearly showing that he is undaunted by the fact that he has been discovered. If anything, by the way that his breathing is only growing heavier by the moment, he might love the fact that they're watching.
It's their move. Fingers winding more insistently into his partner's hair, it looks like he has absolutely no intention of leaving until he's done here.
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She squeaks, and then makes herself scarce, hurrying in the opposite direction as fast as her mortification will allow.
Robin groans appreciatively; it might have something to do with Tek's enthusiasm for destroying other people's lives, but it could just as easily be because of the fingers in his hair.
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No, he's focusing on the bigger picture here. This is the first part of an encounter that he fully intends to continue after they're interrupted here, and whatever happens between now and the ultimate resolution is just going to be part of the game.
He's a little surprised at how much he likes the idea, honestly. It's just scandalous, drawn-out, and complicated enough to strike the perfect chord with him.
With that thought in mind, he's going to make sure that Robin knows exactly how much much fun he's having. He's not exactly trying to rush things along, but his fingers do tighten a little more aggressively in Robin's hair. A purr is finally drumming up between each breath. He's having a harder time holding still and letting Robin do all the work. He's just expressing enthusiasm.
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The only thing he regrets now is that they have to stop. He would have loved to have seen this little act through to the end. Almost in defiance, he slides his hands up to hold Tek's hips down against the table as the hurried footsteps of the Archive guards come winding closer to them. Robin doesn't do it with any real insistence, just enough to hint at something rougher.
"Excuse me, sir--" Comes the voice of a young man from down the row of bookcases. His authoritative voice has only a hint of uncertainty in it as he approaches. "Sirs--"
Robin nearly sighs, moving his face away from Tek just enough to wipe at his mouth with the back of his ungloved hand. He glances over to see who's come to interrupt them--and then looks surprised.
"Oh," exclaims a lighter, more effeminate voice from further down the hallway, "For fuck's sake."
"Oh, hey," is all that Robin says in return.
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Robin might know the difference, be able to guess at the vengeful scheming that could be going on in Tek's head as Robin's attention is pulled away from him, but by all other accounts, he hardly seems bothered by this turn of events. He's got his weight braced easily back on one hand, while the other continues to linger affectionately in his partner's hair. When he sighs and finally turns his attention to follow Robin's down the aisle, he regards the approaching guards as if they're only casual visitors happening by.
He lounges and waits and does not look at all like someone who is about to be forced to disengage from his fun.
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The guard closest to them is built like a small refrigerator. What he lacks in height, he makes up for with broad shoulders and intimidating, deep-set eyes. Couple that with his well-kept, no-nonsense beard, and it makes perfect sense that he's found employment within the Police Guard.
He is looking between Robin and the second guard with growing confusion, however. The second guard catches up, revealing a taller individual with a thin, angular face and long, pale blond hair, buzzed short to one side. They also have sunken-looking eyes, but that's more a result of a pale complexion mixed with a classic lack of sleep. Both guards are wearing variations of the pale grey uniform that Tek will have come to recognize, and the taller one is very clearly armed with a sword at their hip.
This person addresses Robin directly, paying their partner no mind and scowling with mild-to-moderate disgust.
"Really, Robin? In the Archive?"
"You sound like you aren't happy to see me, Jules." Robin remarks, somehow finding a way to lean his elbow on the table and casually prop up his face.
"Wait... You're Robin?" The shorter man exclaims with with no shortage of skepticism, frowning deeply into his beard. He looks over Robin for a moment, until his face twists into one of obvious disgust as he starts looking over Tek instead.
"This is--" The blond one is nearly close enough to get in and pull Tek and Robin apart before their attention is suddenly averted elsewhere, towards the other end of the line of bookcases. "--Hey, get out of here! Show's over!"
A few nosy and curious individuals had started congregating at the end of the hall to see what all the commotion was about--but most of them scatter once a uniformed guard starts shouting at them. Robin sighs deeply, turning to look up at Tek from where he still kneeling in front of him.
"I suppose our fun is over now, friend..."
But his lips quirk up into a smirk as he says it, and Tek has known Robin long enough to assume he doesn't mean a bit of what he's saying. It's probably just window dressing for whatever he understands their situation to be, here, between these guards.
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Though... the guard who deigns to look his way does get a lazy, friendly smirk for his troubles. Maybe this man is more fun than he seems--you never know until you try. Tek even lifts his chin a little, giving him a considering up-and-down glance.
But that's only until Robin's attention returns to him, of course. The audience is immediately put on hold while Tek returns the look, lavishing his friend with a creeping, affectionate smile. He reaches to play with the collar of his open shirt.
"That's a shame. I was really enjoying the view."
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Which gives Tek and Robin time to look at each other. The guards' first mistake, perhaps.
Robin gazes back at the other man for a few good, long moments before he gets back to his feet, but it's just so he can lean forward and start making out with Tek again in front of everyone present.
"Hey, hey!" Shout both guards at almost the same time, as they simultaneously realize that the two are back at it again. It isn't long before the taller one forcibly yanks Robin away by the shoulders, and the short one swoops in to grab one of Tek's arms and start shoving him away from the table.
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Technically, he cooperates when he's shoved and dragged. He moves like water, bonelessly conforming to being pushed, keeping his balance and lazily allowing himself to be led wherever the guards want to take them. However, as a consequence, the guards must get much closer to him than they're probably comfortable with if they actually want him to move anywhere. It's more like trying to push around a friendly cat than grappling with a prisoner.
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The tall one hisses this at Robin as they grab the demigod's wrists and twist them behind his back. Robin laughs merrily in response, but says nothing out loud to either of them, instead returning some of the looks that Tek is giving him with cheeky, sidelong glances of his own as he is likewise shoved in the direction of the exit.
The shorter guard would have been more interested in Robin had his captive not been so difficult to herd around. He grumbles under his breath every-so-often as they curve around one of the outer rings of shelves, mostly when Tek proves most difficult to push around. When he sternly tells a couple of gawkers to "go back to your reading, nothing to see here," it's clearly just a vent for his own frustration.
The other guard notices, and shoots him a look. He grumbles again, gets a lot quieter after that... But might shove Tek through the front doors of the place a little more firmly than is strictly necessary.
Robin gets held back just a little longer. The blond one has a strong grip on his upper arm as they get in close to his face, talking just loud enough for Tek to catch but low enough that the few visitors passing them won't overhear.
"Come on, what are you doing?" They ask him, suspicion creasing their sharp features.
"Nothing," Robin answers with a blatantly fake smile, "Just showing a friend around town."
They make a disgusted noise, glaring up at Robin for a moment... before shoving him out of the entryway as well. They call out with some parting words, "Well, tell your friend that if we catch either of you two around here again, you'll be arrested on sight. You got that?"
Robin laughs again, straightening and rolling out his shoulder. "Yes, ma'am."
"Ugh," they say, just before turning to stalk back to their post, "And fix your shirt, for Gods' sakes."
The short one gives Robin and Tek a last warning glare before he, too, turns and hurries to follow. The demigod looks down at his own shirt, which makes him laugh, and he quickly fastens a couple of buttons just to give the illusion of being passably dressed.
"Didn't even get to grab my coat," he realizes, grinning from ear to ear. He barely looks over at Tek before reaching out for his hand, wanting to pull him away from the Archive doors entirely. "Come on, we've got somewhere to be."
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If there was ever a good reason to be seen disheveled in public, it would be this. Even as he clings cutely onto Robin's arm, he's still walking with a distinct air of pride about him. He hopes that someone has noticed two beautiful people getting kicked out of the Archives for something clearly salacious. He hopes they wish it'd been themselves.
And the thrill of their crimes, the potential envy and drama they could be stirring up, tide him over for at least a full minute or two... but after that, he won't be able to help the way that his hand begins to affectionately slither in over skin through Robin's open shirt.
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Lucky for Robin, the importance of this area also means that there are a few places nearby to potentially crash, away from the prying eyes of the whole neighborhood. Overnighting dignitaries need somewhere to stay, after all. He seems to know exactly where he's going, leading his friend as swiftly as can still be considered casual. Up a short flight of stairs, over a bridge, through an easy-to-miss alley where they actually startle another couple that had been trying to sneak in a make-out session where they didn't think anyone would find them.
Robin only laughs as they pass, trying to ignore the way that Tek is starting to slither in very close with those hands of his. They're so close... He can see the building they're heading to right now, a two-story, smoothly-cut structure, silver awning hanging over the door. Still, he lets go of Tek's hand so that he can tug the man in closer by the hip... and then a little lower, until he's really just grabbing his ass in a halfway-romantic, half-way gloating sort of way.
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They're still making progress toward their goal, but the greedy dragon is snuggling up as close as he can to Robin's side as they walk, grinning wide, leaning up toward his neck, and beginning to purr.
Just in case Robin had any doubt about what Tek really wanted to be doing right in that moment.
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He doesn't dare say anything. Another sign of personal growth, perhaps--he knows that telling Tek to wait would just turn it into more of a game than it already is. Tek would only double his efforts and then this whole trip would immediately be a lost cause. Still, the sigh that comes slithering out of him is very deep and unarguably tortured, a sure sign that there isn't much he'd rather be doing right in that moment either.
By some miracle, he gets them to the beautiful, dark wood door, turns the door handle, pushes inwards, and... also pushes Tek up against the doorframe so that he can grab the other's face and smash their mouths together again.
"Uh... Can I help you?" is the vaguely-offended response that floats over from the poor soul manning the front desk this afternoon. They don't sound happy, but really, they don't sound all that surprised either.
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It's terrible. With his back shoved up against the doorframe, Tek has leverage enough to shamelessly roll his hips against Robin's. He digs impatient nails into his back, into his hair.
Hopefully the clerk is a patient sort, because it might be a minute.
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Somewhere between hips and nails, that second one becomes a real possibility--as Robin nearly blacks out, coming back to the present with a couple of seconds unaccounted for and one of his hands digging into Tek's hip to try and somehow get him even closer. The demigod makes a sound of something--Insistence? Surprise? Remembering what he was doing?--against Tek's mouth, starting to disengage in whatever capacity he has left to drag the two of them further into the room. And to the side, down one of the hallways, getting lost between kissing and trying to dig something out of his pocket and walking backwards all at the same time.
"Excuse me," the clerk says, bored, "You can't just--"
Robin (almost blindly) tosses something round and gold in the direction of the desk. It bounces off the counter with a clatter, the clerk catching it with a surprised sputter, followed by silence, and one final, "Uh, nevermind."
The demigod drags Tek into the first hallway, lined on either side with nearly-identical doors. Someone is going to end up getting pushed up against one of them, but with the way they're both practically clawing at each other, it's hard to say which one will find themselves there first.
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It only takes him a few moments to realize that Robin isn't leading them to any one door in particular, being that a key hadn't been acquired, so he casts out a quick intangible reach to cut the search short.
A quick moment later, they come up next to a door that Tek is reasonably sure doesn't already have human presences tangled up behind it, and he suddenly alters their course. This is the one--though, with the way he immediately bullies Robin into one spot, it's hard to believe that he's actually expecting them to make it all the way into the room.
He pivots, bringing Robin's momentum around and shoving his shoulders solidly back against the door. And there, he immediately presses his entire body up against him with a heady growl, finally getting him still enough to move from his mouth to his neck. His hands are all over.
They're so close to where they can finally dive into each other, but Robin is still going to have to fight Tek just a little bit if he wants to actually make it there.
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The only thing that keeps him from sinking is a stupid, silly little thought... The foolish, romantic notion that he'd like them to finish somewhere comfortable, because curling up together afterwards would make this the perfect experience. And when's the last time that he and Tek had something perfect?
Maybe never. He wants that for both of them, even if he doesn't realize it, because a couple of months ago, he was starting to think he'd never get a chance to see Tek ever again.
So he finds just enough sense to bring his bare hand to his mouth and bite down hard (maybe too hard) against one of his knuckles, reaching blindly back with it a moment later to fidget and fumble against the doorknob until he can unlock it with a little bit of magic and a lot of reserve willpower.
He nearly falls over when the door suddenly opens in behind him, stumbling back several steps with a startled laugh--but it doesn't matter for long, as he swings Tek around, kicks the door closed behind them, and starts bodily herding him in the direction of the bed in the middle of the room.
It's a nice bed. Queen size, at least. The sheets look clean, and therefor ruinable.
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So, he's busy making out with his friend and getting hands under clothing until his legs bump into the bed. It's that moment that he bites Robin with a sudden fierceness--all sharp teeth without the sort of reservation that he'd give to lesser, mortal partners.
They're both horrible, ravenous monsters, and that's his very favorite thing about them
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He shoves Tek backwards, too, quick to climb on top of him and try to pin him down. He doesn't have to pretend to push him around anymore; Tek's got him riled up enough that he'll have to really fight if he wants to get out of having a demigod ravishing his neck and using whatever he can grind against to get off.
Ravenous is a good word. He doesn't even think to say anything, a rare treat all on its own.
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The way that Robin pins him there, though--that is what he likes the best. He loves the rush of surprise when pushing back doesn't actually get him anywhere. Here, he's with someone who even can hold him down. Half of his struggling is just for the fun of testing it.
However, the other half of the struggle actually does have a point. While he's busy ecstatically writhing under the teeth at his neck, he can easily kick off his boots without distracting anything... but, anything more than that is going to require significant effort.
So, he does fight. He shoves back against Robin's more-than-human strength, and mostly only succeeds in rolling against his partner's body in a way that really isn't going to help his case, at first. It takes him a few attempts until he can bully himself enough room to finally be able to reach down between the two of them and hurriedly claw at waistbands and fasteners--trying to get clothing at least halfway out of the way before Robin can just go ahead and finish without him.
If any buttons are ripped off or zippers broken, he really can't be held accountable.
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At some point, Robin laughs again--though whether it's because he thinks something is funny or because he's just having too much fucking fun is hard to tell. Tek is soon thanked for his consideration, pressed back into the bed again as Robin moves against him and the low, breathy laughing trails away at his ear. There's almost a moment of calm before everything winds back up, and it isn't long before Tek is getting exactly the kind rough time he was hoping for.
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Really, the fighting is the only thing that drags out this encounter at all.
Even with the fun of struggle and contest, it isn't all that long before Tek's insistence begins to change direction. He has writhed until he's properly cornered up against pillows and headboard, and there, when he manages to twist his hands free again, he stops pushing away. This time, as his growling trails off into something more shallow, more tense, he tangles one hand roughly into Robin's hair and hugs the other around his lower back, and pulls him closer.
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For once, there is nothing to think about. Between grasping fingers and sharp nails, there are no whispers or worries or empty, hollow promises to himself. His battling to push the other over the edge leaves no room for false optimism, or even a strategy, just... the feeling of their bodies heavy and warm together, and the sounds of their shameless growling, panting, moaning as they finally drag each other as close as they could possibly get to one another.
In that moment, they're inseparable, and Robin knows they've clawed so far into each other's hearts that they'll never really be apart again. Tek wrote his name on the wall, after all. Not even the Gods could take that from him.
He bites Tek pretty hard as he finishes, but he doesn't remember doing it. It'll leave an ugly bruise in the crook of his neck. It takes Robin a little while to realize that he has thoughts of his own again, like the one about the bruise, before a wave of exhaustion finally starts crashing over him.