[PRP] Moving Back in with the Folks (Barth + Calder + Zar)

[Toshihiko Two]

Ardenter's pointed, almost piggish ear pricked up at his name. Suddenly, Calder had several sets of teeth aimed at him, as Ardenter smiled widely all over, and lifted his glass in Calder's direction.

His lower tongue hung out through the grin, like a panting dog.

Then Ardenter knocked his sizable drink back and drained the whole thing.

Babs looked slightly surprised, but looked over from the conversation she was having with an old acquaintance and gave Calder a wink. For the most part, the hustle and bustle ignored Calder. The hall was anything but intimate.

Barth was trying his best to be completely invisible.
 

[Baneful]

Zar cringed as Calder stood up, drawing the attention of his parents. Both of them just looked at the kelpie as if he had gone completely mad. "Is that monster talking to us?" Aura said distantly. "I think so." Alva replied distantly.

"Urgh." she said loudly, looking away. "Zar certainly doesn't get his tastes from me." Something flashed under Alva's hood. "Do not try and blame this on me." She rolled her eyes.

The Incubus shook his head in despair. "Thanks Calder." he said grimly.

Thor had been slowly but surely making his way along the extensive table, taking samples from almost everything along the way. He was already quite tipsy and only growing moreso and had not yet found one single thing he didn't like. He did not notice Ardenter until he was reaching between him and the nearest other individual for a delicious looking slice of meat.

He paused in startled and slightly scandalized surprise. "Oh!" he said. "Its the gracious host! LOVING this banquet I can't even express how much. You certainly know how to party!" His own tusked smile was almost to his ears. "Thankyou for the invitation." In between every last one of these comments, he made sure to keep snacking.
 

[MoonKitsune]

"Do you have a problem with my son?" Finley said, raising his voice as both he and Ailsa looked at them with darkening eyes.

"His tastes stand, and you are a guest for their celebration." He reminded them both. Ailsa meanwhile tore off the head to a fish and pulled it free from the body along with it's entire skeletal frame along with it.

Calder heard this as well. "HEY! Zar has excellent tastes! See!" He said, pointing at Barth.

Calder flopped back down in his seat and reached for a carrot to bite. He liked some of the relatives, and tried to remember their names. As Ardenter raised his glass, Calder reached for his and mimicked the action. So far, Barth's dad seemed great. Well, as far as a few seconds and a smile told him.  

[Toshihiko Two]

The party, as Barth warned, showed no signs of slowing or stopping. If anything, the crowds increased- but if either Zar or Calder showed inclinations of wandering off, Barth warned them with headshakes and the most pleading panic he could muster.

They were visited by a parade of relatives- mostly Barth's, half-siblings and second cousins and so on. Barth, it would be noted, had no Uncles, Aunts, or Cousins (at least on his father's side). His grandfather didn't partake, a thin and reserved presence, who somehow looked distinctly...vulture-like.

His mother's sister, and her mother, and a few other Mudds were in attendance. Not all of them were slime. Some were swampy and earthy and mossy, and in spite of the herbal stew of ground and gravel, the only thing they oozed more than dirt was wealth.

Eventually, there was a deep gong-sound, and Ardenter (slightly drunk) stood up to offer a very, very, very long congratulatory speech. To his credit, he (like Barth) seemed to be good with names and it was similar to sitting through an en-mass graduation ceremony. He mentioned it all- anniversaries, birthdays, scarelings, graduations, engagements, new business partners...

Barth sat up straight and nodded courteously at his part, and Zar, Calder, and Obsidian's names, and the names of their parents, and after this seemed to relax considerably as Ardenter made his way through the rest of the list.

"Alright," Barth said under his breath, "that's sorted, at least- we'll have a bit more freedom to wander the grounds, but do be careful. I've still got to talk with my father, he'll want to...check in, with things, and I've got to manage some, ah, business anyway..."  

[Baneful]

Zar felt trapped in the party as it went on, he wasn't a fan of crowds or particularly a fan of other demons. It was stressful and meant the whole time he had been determinedly attempting to project an aura of being less stressed out than he truly was. The only good thing had been the food which was admittedly of exceptional variation, and admiring the eye candy that most demons generally provided.

He was impressed that Ardenter managed to remember everyone's names, even his own. He hadn't taken the other demon for very intelligent, but part of him wondered if perhaps that had to do with his impressions of his uncle who seemed to be having a great deal of fun around Barth's father.

"We can escape?" Zar asked quietly.

Toshihiko Two

Moonkitsune

 

[MoonKitsune]

Baneful

Toshihiko Two

Calder was excited to meet everyone, and while Ardenter went through the names, Calder repeated, hoping to memorize whatever he could. Some were handsome, some were dazzling, and some were just bizarre to him, but all of them were related and he beamed at each one and rose his slowly depleting glass - which seemed to always become filled shortly after he took a deep sip.

Face warm, he was happy that everyone here seemed just as happy to celebrate everyone else's achievements, and when their names were said, Calder stood up and smiled, waving at everyone - a bit too wildly.

Flushed, he leaned in to listen to the pair of them and got up. "Escape?! Why would we do that?! I want to meet everyone. This is FAMILY, Zar. I want to meet your family and Barth's and..and...JUST EVERYONE! My parents want to meet you too! Like, talk-talk to you two. They love talking. I love talking too. I'm going to go talk!" He leaned down, quickly kissed Zar's cheek, then kissed Barth's. He felt faintly ...off.

He waved his fingers at the pair of them, patted them both on the head (making sure to touch their horns) and then hugged them both tightly.

"I'll be back when I say HI to everyone!" He said, slightly tittering.

He went off to mingle.  

[Toshihiko Two]

A slender hand caught Calder's.

"Oh you have to say hello to me first, stallion," the owner of the hand moved Calder with ballroom grace back towards the chairs. He was small, and ethereal, almost like a fae. His long hair, completely white, was done up in elaborate braids. His touch was warm, and pleasant

"I can hardly imagine it! You, married! And to such energetic husbands. Where's the bride-to-be?"

Barth had turned a variety of colors, and slumped back down in his chair, any relaxation spirited away again. "She err, she sends her regrets."

"No Lilith, either? Although it was fun to see you chasing after her on both knees."

Barth only muttered something about follyjoxes.  

[Baneful]

Zar's reaction was immediately to bristle, there was something about the other demon which sidled onto primal demonic instincts and offended absolutely everything about the Incubus, his hair seemed somehow more bristled like hackles and his movements shed their nervous uncertainty like sloughing off a skin.

He was wounded almost immediately by the questions regarding Siddie, and someone called Lilith - Barth had so many suitors, the internal voice said - but somehow this just made him feel even more hollowed out, showing nothing on the surface but a predatory edge like a concealed weapon.

His pupils narrowed down to the merest slits in his faint violet eyes, bringing out the white near the center of the iris.

"You presume both of us intend to marry him." Zar said cold and clipped, looking over his glasses at the other demon. "Who exactly are you, should we know you?"

 

[MoonKitsune]

Baneful

Toshihiko Two

Calder spun about on one hoof, twirling before landing roughly on his other hoof. Natural grace was best suited for him when he was somber and on four hooves, not two, and it was something he strove to get better at. Right now, he looked at the elegantly slender man and smiled, if not confused as to who of the many names announced that he was.

"Oh, you're hair is lovely. Are you a sister or undecided?" He asked, reaching out to touch a braid of the man's before hearing what else he had to say.

Lilith made him curl his lip, and his eyes narrowed as his ears went flat against his head. The one braid he was caressing was then gripped tightly. "Lilith is a low-down hussy who doesn't deserve Barth's attention, and if she wants to play the game with him again, I'll tear off her pretty head and feed it to the floresce." He warned, letting go of the man's hair before straightening out his own jacket.

"I'm going to marry Barth and if she wants to try, she has to put up with me, and I don't think I'll let her just waltz right in thinking she owns the place…" And his voice dropped down a note. "…or my demon."

Then Calder turned about, making sure to flick his hair and looked at Zar. "Zar's much prettier than Lilith anyways, and much better. Don't you agree? I only want to rip his head off half the time. The other half I want to just…just…" Calder went over, light as a feather, and pressed Zar's cheeks together with both hands. "…just smush and cuddle with – even if he wants to kill me." Calder then smushed his face right up against Zar's for another kiss and then released him to then look around.

"Wait, what was I doing?"

He looked to Barth, reaching out to stroke his horn as he thought. "Hmmm. OH! I was going to say Hi to your dad!"
 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Who am I? Family now, of course. What! Don't tell me he hasn't been honorable about all this."

"I have. This is Isander," Barth supplied, hiding his face with one claw and gesturing with the other, "my brother."

Isander seemed, in some way, to enjoy both the twisting malice and Calder's passion. He did not quite release his hold on Calder's hand, giving it a friendly squeeze while fluttering alongside Calder to effortlessly entangle himself the hug.

"So nice to meet you. And to see my younger brother happy. I can tell."

Zar would feel it instantly, and although Isander was not Barth's artifact, there were similarities.

He was a pit, after a sort. Not a deep, cold, whirling vortex, but heated and pulsing, sucking with promises of pleasure all the way down, not unlike a throat or...something else. He did have a dangerous edge, if only that he might be something so good that it would be impossible to stop at just one sample, or several samples, or stop at all, ever. While their shared father was a demon of the Sin of Indulgence, the feeling Barth's brother left was closer to wanting than having. Isander was, in a word, Desire.

"Oh, stay a while," Islander teased. "He's always so busy anyway."  

[Baneful]

Zar ignored Calder. Even when he was kissed he seemed far away, fixated on the other demon like a cat on a meal. Calder was not a threat, he was simply background noise for the time being, unaware of what exactly he was dealing with or too much a monster to care. Zar cared.

Isander was not someone Zar liked. It was a deep and bottomless sort of hatred, on a level that would have startled him if he was not so consumed by it. Normally the Incubus found himself scared of what others might think, uncertain and fragile to the callous comments and flippant judgements of others. But something had changed and there was suddenly no slouch or taut anxiety in him now, his tail dropped low in a flicking twitch at his hooves.

The hug he had expected, but this time he did not hide or try hopelessly to close the link like an over-full cupboard, this time he threw it wide. He looked into the abyss and it made him angry, it pulled him but he was a creature of spikes, claws and horns, a creature that did not care for desire, only climax and satisfactions. Lust was a contract without an end date to him and he had never, ever trusted it. He was the creature that would fight all the way down.

Twisting a hand around in the hug, he pressed his claws firmly - as hard as he could get away with in fact - to Isander and pulled his own smile back until all of his teeth were bared in a grin that was not pleasant at all. And, not sure what he was doing or why he was doing it, he gathered up all of his disdain, all of his anger, irritation and hatred and pushed it headfirst into the link. He let the other demon experience nothing short of pure rejection, the polar opposite of desire. He did not want him, he would not want him if he was the last creature to crawl on the face of the earth. It was an emotional roar and a challenge, sheer cracking fear tinged darkness, and all of it was accomplished without a single movement. His smile softened into a normal one but the roar of revulsion - felt by poor Calder if he remained part of the circuit too - did not abate in the slightest.

"Pleasure's all mine." he said, and curled his lip.  

[MoonKitsune]

Calder beamed. "Brother?! I've never met a brother of Barth's before. Actually, I don’t think I met anyone of Barth's before except his mum. Lovely to meet you." He said, glad to be included in the word family.

Isander was a slender sort, delicate in features and sharing the same demon elegance, but there was something else about his type. Calder only ever saw the rare faes of the wilds and they were nothing close to the elegant demon breed of the royal courts. He gazed in curiosity and wonder, looking over the longer, slender horns to the different patterns and fashion the man wore. "You look so different to him. You sound like you're close. Did you have your own wing too to live in?" He wasn't sure how close Barth even was to Isander considering Barth never seemed close to anyone in his family but his mother.

Zar's movements and gestures were that of an animal making a stand on his own territory to a interloper, and Calder caught him from the corner of his eye and shut up quickly. Alert and nervous, he looked to the pair. As a monster, his world was based on sight, smell, and hearing and body language that could either say get closer or go away. Isander had held his hand to the point he wasn't releasing and that was nothing but inviting to the monster, even when he didn't know him fully.

Bubbly, he was giddy with the air of celebration that everyone had. He was in a house full of future family, his own family, and among food and drink and song. Monsters lived for celebration. He didn't feel Isander's powers or anything from the link and because of this, he couldn't dive deep into a person to find out how they felt.

But Zar could push out, and still holding hands with Isander, he felt the full wave of such a concentrated disgust, hatred, and general DO-NOT-WANT from Zar that it popped every floating bubble in his system, every high note singing in his head, and every giddy feeling of love and comfort be squeezed until it suffocated.

Quiet and hurt, his hand went slack in Isander's grip and the kelpie was left quiet. Then he tried shaking the demon's grip off him.

"I…I think I'll just…step outside a bit……….instead."

Calder tried to step away to the nearest set of doors. He could find a garden or patio he was sure.

Baneful

Toshihiko Two

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Older brother. Oldest, actually."

"Ancient," Barth muttered.

"I have a room here, of course. If you'd like to see it..."

Isander snapped back his hand where Zar's claws had dug in, but his expression was wild and alarmed. He bent over as though he had been shot through the gut.

It was only one raw, angry moment of weakness. He had a shock. It was an ugly, twisting feeling... and then he settled and smoothed himself, wincing and pouting instead.

"Ooh, ouch!"

He sucked a droplet of clear blood off the back of his hand.

"A pleasure? Not with me, apparently." His eyes slid over to Barth, who was glowering in a slightly-warning way. "But with him... you do still want." And even if Zar did not want him, any wanting at all was a victory. Isander rarely encountered someone who did not want something.

"Oh, and you've upset your...friend," Isander settled pleasantly, taking Calder's waist this time. "Out on the grounds? We have a beautiful garden. You should see the topiary." He brushed Calder's hair behind his ear, returning the favor from earlier.

Baneful

MoonKitsune

 

[Baneful]

Zar's uncomfortable grin twisted genuine at Isander's reaction, his hearts hammering at the daring of standing up to someone he'd never met and who by the sound of it was significantly older than he was. Isander could probably completely obliterate him in a show of fear versus fear, but he had managed to make the other demon flinch and that was more than he'd ever managed.

At the mention of Barth, he was once again all tense bristling. "Him? I don't want him." he said with a stifled laugh. "I am an Incubus, surely I do not have to spell it out to you. I sleep with creeple, I do not want them or get attached to them. I am the end result, efficiency without all that..." and he waved a hand. "Needless want."

He smirked. "Hard to understand for something like you, I know. But if I wanted him, I would not have a monster around. I would not share. He is hardly an ideal anything." He looked Barth over critically.

It is called settling. Not wanting."

He had not meant to catch Calder in the emotions, it had not been part of his plan, but there was no way to soothe the kelpie when he was behind such a wall of defensiveness. The most he could do for now was try to see Isander off quickly.

MoonKitsune

Toshihiko Two

 

[MoonKitsune]

Calder's ears went back and he regarded Zar with narrow eyes. "I tolerate you, Zar. Don't think that you could win Barth over because you don't want him right now. I wouldn't be a push over for you. Monster or not, I've been with him longer." He said, hating that Zar would go so far as to insult the very species he was.

Turning around, he smiled at Isander and the soft touch to brush his hair away. "That sounds lovely. I rather do like wanting more than just someone who doesn't like anything at all. You're a lot less sour than SOME demons who just like to spit poison all day." He huffed, flicking his tail behind him before he curled a hand around Isander's back and gestured.

"Please lead the way. Everyone here is being so stuffy. It's a party and they just want to sit all day. I want to meet everyone. Tell me about your family as we go to this…uh, Top-i-airy."

Baneful

Toshihiko Two