|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:07 pm
It was getting harder to move. Harder to get up. Harder to eat. Harder to go back to the Dark Kingdom and sit at his desk, with what little was not covered by the others, with the easy tasks and sign-offs that he asked to be left behind just to relive his normalcy. His insistence that it wasn't that bad had been ignored, or maybe it was love that motivated some of his team to take over regardless. Faustite couldn't say, but he knew it hadn't changed how he felt about them. What had changed was only his defiance at his dying body.
It wasn't that bad. He knew it could get worse, that it would get worse. For now, he could still function the way he always had if he popped a starseed or paced out energy orbs throughout the day. He could fight if he had to, too. But using all that energy, all those starseeds, seemed a terrible waste.
So sometimes he went without. Today was one of those days. He'd gotten twelve hours of sleep and woke up exhausted for it, lost interest in his food halfway through and dumped it into his grate, then texted Ren to ask if he was busy. There wasn't much he could do with a broken wrist, with a shoulder that was still mending, and Ren was a beautiful boy. More importantly, Ren knew he was a beautiful boy, and didn't shy away from that if Eion asked to come over and watch him be maddeningly pretty all over his fairytale house. Ren wouldn't mind if Eion fell asleep bitching about how much money he had, because it couldn't be a comprehensible number.
And it helped that he had a good sense of humor through all of this. Maybe that's what Eion wanted most.
He had time to ponder it as he laid across Ren's bed, staring up at the pointlessly expensive crown moulding that was shoved up into the corners. Custom-cut and fitted to those settling, old bones.
"Bloodstone said I was dying." His voice was a hoarse rasp, dried out from the days spent coughing. "He's such an a*****e." He let the comment hang; as he listened to the lull of the room, he didn't hear an echo.
"But he's right in that I don't have a lot of time."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:59 pm
Ren was unhappy. For what he thought were very obvious reasons. He could only keep up being an entertainer for so long before something like what Eion said erased whatever silly grin had been present in his expression.
He couldn’t even joke about punching Bloodstone, because he was seriously trying to decide how he wanted to do it without getting a pick through his skull in the process.
“There has to be something we can do,” he grumbled from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed, scrolling through his phone. He wasn’t used to no win scenarios. He usually had enough money to pay for anything to give him a win.
But even though they were monitoring it, Faustite’s fire kept burning hotter and hotter, and it seemed like at some point it would just… burn out.
“There has to be something you haven’t thought about. I know Axinite’s doing research too, but the guy is always being pulled a million different ways.”
He liked Axinite, but the man was such a people pleaser. And having to figure out everyone’s problems was enough to drive anyone crazy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2023 3:37 pm
"There is," Eion admitted morosely. "But it's not good." Though, he supposed the White Moon thought it was good. Order. Whatever the ******** they called themselves, Eion didn't know. Encke had seemed happy to b***h about the Negaverse in front of him and blame everything on the organization that Eion had depended on for his continued existence, as if that absolved the White Moon of all culpability.
"Spoke to some youma, too. None of them had this problem before; they didn't have solutions for it. Just 'eat starseeds, drain energy'. Helps to hold me over, but… It's no fix," Eion explained as his attention fell on the too-human hands he held out in front of himself. Always felt strange to look at pale white hands with their pink nails and white tips. Their short, clean cuts. "Buys me time, though." Not that anyone knew how long.
"Been looking into any magical object I can find, but the answer's always the same."
Sighing through his nose, he looked at Ren from his twisted, upside-down spot on the bed. He couldn't tell if Ren was doomscrolling Twitter, working, or trying to find a viable alternative. He liked to imagine the boy was doing all three, because he must have been fantastic at multitasking if he could keep up a lucrative business and Negaverse responsibilities.
"Got any wine? Might take the edge off."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2023 7:48 am
“There is?” Ren repeated, frowning over at Eion now. He even went as far as to set his phone down in his lap to give him more attention. “If there’s a way, then what isn’t good about it? You can’t survive on just eating starseeds. What about, uh… what about those aliens that we’re supposed to be allies with? Don’t they do a lot with energy nonsense? Don’t they owe us for not just wiping them out?” he scoffed and shook his head.
Sure, maybe the Queen thought the aliens would be useful somehow, but they hadn’t done much to prove their usefulness.
“Although I’m going to assume that Axinite would have tried reaching out to them.” Unless Axinite was so stressed that he forgot.
But Ren sighed and pushed himself off the bed so he could wander out of the room. Over his shoulder he called back, “Do you have a preference? Otherwise I’m just getting you the cheapest stuff we have. No offense, but I don’t think you really bother to try and taste this stuff.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:26 pm
"Whatever gets me drunk faster," he called back to Ren.
It was true, he didn't try to taste it. He did taste it, though, and while he seldom could pick out the differences between wines, he knew that they tasted leagues better chilled than boiled. Whatever price tags were attached to those bottles, Eion cared not one white for them. So if Ren wanted to dole out the cheapest stuff he had in stock, who was Eion to object?
He laid there for a time, staring up at the ceiling. Letting his thoughts drift as he tried to piece together what he had to say and how he wanted to say it. He could've spent all three of his hours contemplating it and would still fail to come to a satisfactory conclusion, but that was a fact that he would have to accept. Eion lacked the gift of words that so many beloved poets had — and no matter how much or how often he tried to practice his own poetry, or condense his own phrasing, Eion still felt like he missed his mark by a wide margin.
Then Ren was back, bottle in hand. Eion drew a breath.
"Only other option's to get the youma out. Only way to do it is to leave the Negaverse. Go join the White Moon. That's the price they've put on it." Eion tsked. "And that comes with all sorts of stipulations. Memory loss, identity loss, family loss, being human again. They'd be taking all the parts that make me, me. Even if it's only for a few minutes before rejoining the Negaverse. <******** knows what that would do on top of it. Assuming my starseed doesn't explode on the spot."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2023 6:16 pm
Ren came back with a bottle of the cheapest wine he had available, which was still quite expensive. Already open of course. He didn’t bother with glasses.
“You’re sure that’s the only other option? Because that option sounds like absolute garbage,” Ren growled lowly and took a swig from the open bottle before handing it over to Eion.
“Fine, I’ll get a chip and we’ll just implant it under your skin before you do anything crazy,” he shrugged, clearly knowing that this was the best option. He nodded to himself and continued.
“We’ll have you record something for yourself. I’ll embed it onto a chip and we’ll make sure it’s encased in some unmeltable material. We’ll have a copy, of course, just in case, but it’s probably gonna be more believable coming out of your arm or whatever.”
Okay, maybe that was a crazy idea.
“Can’t there be something that could suppress the fire? Axinite was looking at crystals. Have you tried just… blowing up things in the Rift and seeing what resists your fire?” Maybe he was getting a little desperate. And at some point he apparently stared pacing around the room, but came to a complete stop, threw his hands in the air, and dramatically let them fall to his sides.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 2:55 pm
"Only option I know of," Eion answered, still chafed by the steep requirements for being free of what ailed him. He reached for the bottle as Ren passed it to him.
There was no way to tell how any of his boys would react to the news, and thus far, all of them had reacted differently. As Eion took a long pull from the bottle, he listened to how Ren became lightly disgruntled over it, then played it off with an answer that had Eion blinking in confusion. Something about chips under his skin? Must've been something Ren picked up from his tech business, for Eion could make little of the answer. He didn't exactly want anything coming out of his arm, and he wasn't sure something coming out of his arm would be believable so much as astonishing, and possibly horrifying.
"Don't know what any of that means." Eion passed the bottle back to his boy and shifted, sitting at the edge of the bed.
Ren was a font of good ideas, however. As he went on, he shifted to something that Eion understood far better than chips or technology of any sort. Smiling faintly, Eion answered what he could. "Possible that something resists it. Could be a crystal in the Rift, or some youma-made thing. Old trinkets from a bygone era. Never tried exploding anything down there, either." Not without intention; he had assumed that most youma preferred their domains unexploded, unless they threatened him enough that he had to retaliate. But on the rare instances that he had done so, Faustite didn't check his surroundings afterward.
"Want to go try it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:55 pm
Ren didn’t have to be asked twice. He reached over to the bed to offer a hand to Eion.
“Hell yeah,” he nodded, and then glanced over his shoulder thoughtfully. “I’m bringing more booze, though. Hurry up and finish that bottle,” he winked.
Was it probably a bad idea to wander into the Rift while intoxicated? Yeah. But he had a half-youma General with him. Besides, Faustite wouldn’t let anything happen to his boy, much less husband.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
