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 Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2023 3:04 pm
COMING TO VISIT had been the message that he sent off to Taenite, and he hadn't waited for a response. If the boy was in his office, the visit would be pleasant. If not, Faustite would find some mischief to enact while Taenite was away, and the boy would come back to some benign, flirtatious tomfoolery left in Faustite's wake. If whatever was wrong with him turned out to be lethal, then perhaps it would be a fond memory.
"Tell everyone to piss off," he instructed Headache before he left. As he stood, he glanced over to find that the youma had become an impeccable copy of himself, then pantomimed a silent cough with fits of smoke erupting from not-his mouth. Faustite frowned at the creature. "b*****d." Then, inevitably, a few irrepressible coughs slipped ******** you," he added for good measure, then started for the door before Headache could get sassy. He was already seeing Taenite; he needed all of his tolerance for sass intact for that lawless white-haired boy.
It wasn't a long walk. The violets of occasional crystal clusters were overtaken by his orange glow as he passed, casting the darkened stone into a reddish glaze underfoot. He passed office after office, and each door was closed, irrespective of the room's occupancy. Most were locked, he imagined, though he had little interest in most of them. He knew which ones wouldn't care if he had another coughing fit outside, and which ones would get nosy about it. Thus, he knew when to hold his breath if he didn't want to be bothered.
Down and around the stairs, then he was at Taenite's door. "Hey," he half-greeted, half-warned as he shouldered open the door. "It's getting worse." After sidling up to Taenite's desk, he leaned a hip against it and began unclasping his vest.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2023 10:25 am
“Getting worse? Your insatiable desire to be around me?” Taenite couldn’t help but ask. He had his feet up on his desk. Behind him were bookshelves of pretty looking volumes -- most had gold leaf to decorate them -- but whether or not he’d actually read them or had any use for them was a mystery.
Taenite’s desk had various little things on it. A paperweight that wasn’t weighing down anything. A computer that was very obviously not standard issue to the Negaverse. His tablet was open and it looked like he was fiddling with some coding on the computer monitor that synced up with the tablet. He didn’t seem particularly interested in showing off what he was working on, nor was he trying to hide it.
Instead, his focus was on Faustite, and he moved his feet off the desk so he could stand and move around it to be closer.
“What are the symptoms? The same as before? What’s getting worse? Coughing, aches, pain?” If they could narrow down what was going on with Faustite, maybe they could actually do something about it.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2023 12:52 pm
Faustite sighed dramatically, eyes tracking to the ceiling. "Yes," he answered, more exasperated at himself than Taenite's joke. He could've said it in all seriousness and Faustite supposed his answer would remain the same.
He coughed a few times, shoulders heaving with it, while Taenite got up and made his way over. His coughing hadn't lasted long, for which he was grateful. Still, he sounded hoarse when he spoke again. "Coughing's about the same." Swallowing, his attention found Taenite's dark eyes. "Other s**t's started happening. Heat blisters, I think. Had one pop this morning." Taloned fingers deftly unbuttoned his sleeve, then rolled it up far enough to reveal some quick, if sloppy, bandages. As he unraveled them, a wet grey stain became apparent, and underneath, the aftermath of a ruptured bulla.
"Couple days ago, I started getting these… Cracks? Like if your skin's dry in the wintertime. But it's just molten. You can see the steam coming off of them. Hurt like hell, too." His mouth pressed into a line.
"Didn't mean to interrupt." Faustite waved a hand at the tablet and computer setup. "But I'm running out of ideas for how to fix this."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2023 1:40 pm
“That’s disgusting,” Taenite grimaced irreverently, but still shifted a bit closer to try and get a look at the blisters Faustite was talking about, as well as the cracks in his skin.
He waved a dismissive hand towards his work. “Just trying to help solve the other problem we have. Wanted to see if I could hack the network somehow. See if anyone is sending information to each other that would prove someone is selling out information,” he explained, but again didn’t seem too invested in it.
At least not when there was something more pressing in front of him.
“I ordered a pyrometer, in case this continued, which clearly it has. Can’t exactly shove a normal thermometer up your butt for an accurate reading, unless you’re interested in seeing if you’re immune to mercury poisoning. Yeah I know they’re not made with that any more, but I’d find a vintage one just for the fun of it.”
The deadpan way he spoke made it impossible to tell if he was serious -- however, Faustite knew him well enough by now to know he was likely joking.
“But hey, I don’t think vaseline is flammable. We could always buy you enough to fill a tub to soak in.”
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:31 pm
Taenite was right — it was disgusting. Faustite didn't like erupting into blisters just by being alive, nor did he appreciate the blisters erupting whenever they felt like it. They were juicy, and Faustite couldn't even tell what was in them in order to decide if he should be disgusted or not. So, like Taenite, he defaulted to disgusted.
Faustite tried to bite back a smile. "You're sweet." Much as he would've liked to steal a kiss from the boy, it would be no different than putting Taenite's lips to a hot oven right now. As much as separation galled him, it was necessary. No benefit to burning a boy's lips off for a short kiss when he could enjoy them without pain and trauma for three hours later. "Been working on my part, too. Planting information on dummy ops and other false pieces of personal lives to see what spreads. Been slow going so far."
Heaving an exasperated sigh, Faustite shifted to sitting on the desk. The conversation had been going so smoothly, but no, Taenite had to bring up butt thermometers. "You just like putting things up my a**." Was basically a pastime for the boy —
"Wait, those were real? Thought the mercury ones were an urban legend." He doubted that mercury would be doing him any favors, however.
"Whatever. What's a pyrometer, anyway? Think it'll do anything?" He looked to Taenite quizzically, then stifled a couple coughs. He spread his hand, which pulled at the fissure toward the edge of his palm — a bright, molten orange peered out in an otherwise coal-black hand.
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2023 6:40 pm
Taenite, unlike other lust struck idiots, had more self preservation than to let Faustite kiss him even if he tried. Taenite had his face to protect. Just because he dealt with a lot of Negaverse nonsense didn’t mean he wasn’t vain as hell.
“Hell yeah, they’re real. Mercury is fun to play with too. I wore gloves and other safety gear. Anyway, gotta test the temperature of lava somehow,” Taenite said as he leaned back, resting against the edge of the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. “Figure a pyrometer won’t melt as easily. And if it does, well… you’ll have more problems than just being hot. On its own it won't do anything, but we'd be able to monitor your condition better."
When Faustite spread his hand and made his skin crack some more, Taenite grimaced and nearly reached out to put his hand over it.
He didn’t. He liked his hands, too.
Instead, he reached into his subspace to fumble around for something.
“Anyway, just in case you’re thinking about not getting better,” he grunted, and dropped a black band with a silver colored inlay onto Faustite’s open palm.
“Not a request, by the way. I have my own,” he indicated to the identical ring on his own hand. “Know you’ve already got a crew, but I think they’re all idiots.” He only knew of two, but he knew there were others. But that didn’t mean he also didn’t think they were idiots.
“But if you’re planning on kicking it, I’ll want that back. It’s taenite, of course. Had to get it commissioned and certified that it was legit meteorite.”
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:05 am
Because of course Taenite played with mercury. Faustite shot him a bare, perplexed look; he wasn't sure what to make out of all of that. Even with the gloves and safety gear, Taenite seemed a little mad. Adorably mad, but some of the things he said…
Well, whatever. It wasn't changing Faustite's opinion of him. Once he liked a boy, it was hard to quit.
If he had any thoughts on the pyrometer, or the proposed method of taking his temperature, they were scoured from his mind the instant Taenite dropped a ring into his open hand. It was beautiful, and sleek, and curiously reminiscent of the Negaverse for the way the inlay functioned like piping, and perplexingly, it wasn't melting by sitting in his hand. He looked from the ring to Taenite, thoroughly confused for a moment. It was only when Taenite called attention to his own hand that the gesture had finally begun to make sense to Faustite. He stared at the ring in his hand again as the shock slowly wore off.
"Um," Faustite tried, but words escaped him. Despite that, he sidled the band down his ring finger on his right hand, where it fit snugly. The majority blended with his skin color, but for the brilliant, argent geometric inlay of the boy's namesake mineral. Faustite chewed his lower lip. Reminded himself to breathe.
"s**t," he managed, and he laughed a little wetly as he wiped the black tears from his face. "Wasn't expecting that." He sniffled.
Faustite couldn't stifle the smile. "They're my idiots, but I guess I'll take you, too." He'd never figured Taenite as the type, but he had proof of that, now. Would it have still happened under better circumstances? Maybe Taenite had a different idea for it, but this mess with his health forced the boy's hand.
"I want to get better," he confessed. "Just don't know how. Been trying anyone I can find. Testing their suggestions. Except for the ones that tell me to drown myself."
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2023 10:22 am
“Well after it became obvious you weren’t going to do it, I had to take matters into my own hands. I’m surprised though. I’m irresistible so I thought it was only a matter of time, but apparently not,” Taenite huffed, but it was clearly joking and good natured, like he usually was. There were few things that really irritated him.
The thought of Faustite dying happened to be one of them.
The untrustworthy company Faustite kept was another.
He scoffed when Faustite agreed that they were his idiots, but Taenite kept his mouth shut around his additional comments with his feelings about all that. They were the ones who were going to push Faustite into an early grave. They had everything to take from him, while Taenite already had everything he wanted, so there was no ulterior motive. More power would be nice, but he still reported directly to Axinite.
“We’ll figure something out. And if you let me know who tells you that you should drown yourself, I would be happy to kill them,” he said with a cheery smile.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2023 3:41 pm
"Thought you had everything you ever wanted," Faustite countered, still smiling. "Should've realized you wanted the one thing you couldn't have: a personal youma." It was one of many jokes that Taenite made in the past — one that pissed him off initially, until he learned to warm up to it. Until he learned how to interpret Taenite's sense of humor. Faustite was far from perfect at it, but he had come around somewhat since first seeing the boy during a mission briefing for the Farnsworth.
He coughed a few times, hacked away though his throat burned for it. While he felt overheated and miserable, the giddiness had somehow rendered it easier to tolerate. After fishing around in subspace, Faustite donned his cincher, careful with it for each time he coughed.
Once it was in place, Faustite slid off the desk to abscond with both of Taenite's hands in his own. "You've a lot of murders to commit." He stared up at the boy, at the cast shadows spread by his own dancing firelight. "Hold that thought for a few hours."
It was easy enough to recall the path to Ren's place — how vast and empty the neighborhood felt for its scarcity of houses, its lack of cars on the road. Even if they never made it to the house, it was a far more private and picturesque location for the pair than Faustite's busy office. Even if he'd have to funnel energy out of Ren's neighbor or pool boy or maid service, it was worth spending his dwindling energy to take their conversation somewhere more comfortable and secluded.
By the time he leaned up for a kiss, they were gone.
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