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 Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:27 am
Quinn kicked off his shoes and socks as well, leaving them next to Vale's. His feet were less calloused, however, so he tried to stay on his toes as much as possible when he ran behind Vale.
"Yeah, I'm afraid of the dark. So what?" He was immediately defensive. "Lots of people are! It's a perfectly reasonable fear." He rubbed at his arms, then jerked his foot up in the air. "Ow!" He had stepped on a thorn, or a stick, or something. His foot wasn't bleeding, but it hurt.
He wasn't used to walking barefoot in places like this.
"There are so many trees! I've never seen this many trees ever!" He looked around with fascination. "And plants, and animals!" He scoffed at Vale's threat of jaguars. "They're just big cats. I can talk to them!" He paused.
"I want to talk to a jaguar! Where can I find one? I've never talked to a big cat before. Except for you."
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:39 am
"V'ell," Valeriu started, slowing down so Quinn could keep up, "If you cut yourself up a bit, and v'alk out into the middle of the jungle, and flail around in the foliage as if you are trapped or dying -- then you v'ill meet one. And it v'ill be a short conversation."
His tail twitched behind him in amusement.
"You should've kept your shoes on. It took me over a month to get used to it." One does not simply build a callus in a day.
He could hear the river starting to block out Quinn's babbling, and sped up at the sound. "Come on, just up ahead--" He broke through the leaves covering his sight of the bank, stepping onto pebbly dirt - and stopped in his tracks.
Inner tube.
His hands clutched his towel and shorts uselessly.
A black inner tube. Floating in the water.
But that wasn't the problem, no, no. It was what was in the inner tube.
His god smiled in that winningly, shark-like way at him, lounging in his pool toy while floating serenly. Still decked out in his full dress, with the cloths and metal decorating his shoulders and the skirt-pants combination covering everything Valeriu did not want to see (thankfully).
But still. This was wrong. Wrong, on so many levels.
"V'hat are you doing?" he asked, wondered, and didn't come to any positive ideas.
"Greeting our visitors," Tezcatlipoca drawled back, and it was certain that welcoming their guests was the last thing on his mind.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:15 pm
"Hm. Why do you say that? Do they not talk much?" He didn't really pay attention to what Vale said. He was busy imagining what his conversation with a Jaguar would be like. They were probably smarter than the cats and rats he found around the city.
"You were here for months? That's awesome! This place is beautiful!" He was mostly oblivious to any of the dangers. It was just so alive. He ran up through the leaves, running into the stopped Vale, almost falling over.
"Why did you sto--" He looked up, and saw the man on the innertube, and froze. "Jesus Christ." He said, appropriately.
"Who is that? He's ******** gorgeous." Quinn's chin was on the floor, and he barely noticed the giant snake creeping up behind him.
Until the boa constrictor was climbing up him and wrapping around his neck.
Quinn tried hissing at it. "Quit that." The snake seemed to...to laugh at him.
Slowly, the snake formed into a man whose arms were wrapped around Quinn's neck. He was tall, very tall, and he was wearing a business suit.
Because, of course, Quetzalcoatl wouldn't dress appropriately in Tez's realm. That would be like giving up. Like letting Tez control him.
"Hello, Tezcatlipoca," Said the man, keeping one hand gripped tightly on the stunned silent Quinn's shoulder, the other pulling off his sunglasses. He eyed the innertube.
"Lazy, as always, I see?"
Oh, s**t.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:35 pm
A wider, malicious smile rippled across the god's face, and Valeriu edged back. He knew that smile. It was not a good smile, not at all.
"Quetzalcoatl," the god purred back with narrowed eyes and sharpened teeth and all the dark and wild glory of ages past. "I didn't expect you to actually show your face. The sight of me was just too much?"
Valeriu frowned. Oh, how he frowned (and may have edged an equal distance away from Quetzalcoatl, knowing all too well that gods could injure him here). He frowned, and he bristled, and he puffed up, clutching his swimwear protectively.
"You two should take this elsewhere," he scolded, bringing the full weight of his god's sharp-eyed gaze resting upon him. "But leave the inner tube. V'e are going swimming, and do not need two feuding gods in our midst."
Tezcatlipoca had to pause a moment, bemused by his godling's audacity, before an entertained smirk tilted his lips and he disappeared from the inner tube, reappearing from behind to sling an arm around his godling's shoulders. There was an entirely suggestive quirk to his smirk and lilt to his voice (not to mention the way his hand was splayed possessively over Valeriu's mirror and chest).
"How cute." And maybe he meant to mirror Quetzalcoatl's action, to mock him. "Isn't he precious?" Although the words were a warning to Valeriu. Not to try ordering his god around again.
Valeriu bristled further at the sudden, unwelcome, and unheard-of touching. His god didn't do things like physical contact - but there were the claws upon his chest and those too-sharp teeth grinning by his neck.
Rivalry made Tezcatlipoca a jackass.
And made Valeriu deeply unhappy. And uncomfortable. And disturbed. So disturbed.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 1:04 pm
Quetzalcoatl raised an eyebrow. "You were being such a gracious host," he muttered, "It would be impolite of me to ignore you." The man let go of Quinn once he was certain the boy was smart enough to not jump Tezcatlipoca and attempt to please him right there. He nodded at Valeriu's suggestion.
"That is a good idea. Tezcatlipoca, let's go. We can talk somewhere else." Quetzalcoatl began walking into the forest, waving his hand for Tezcatlipoca to follow him.
Quinn was still frozen, but he was slowly thawing. And he was still staring at Tezcatlipoca.
"I'm going to change!" he declared, and immediately stripped off his clothes with lightning speed. In the process, he had had to drop his trunks on the ground. He eyed them, but didn't really feel like picking them up.
So he stretched, and did his best to attract attention from Vale. And Tezcatlipoca.
"Hm. Maybe I'll tan while we're here." He shrugged. "I don't usually, but there's always a chance!" He laughed. He was exceptionally pale.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 1:15 pm
It was about that time that Tezcatlipoca decided he'd much rather deal with Quetzalcoatl than with Quinn, and left, hands sliding off his highly-uncomfortable godling and disappearing with a trail of smoke.
It was also about that time that Valeriu felt like curling up on the ground in a fetal position, scrubbing off the bad-touch. He was glad when both gods left. Tezcatlipoca was a terrible, abusive fiend who seemed to be egged on into touching Valeriu inappropriately to show off; and Quetzalcoatl he didn't know much about - sure, he'd had him in his head, briefly, but the man was still a stranger and an enigma in his eyes. He'd been kind before, but kindness from gods was something he'd learned not to trust.
Relieved, he pulled off his shirt, giving Quinn a confused look. The man certainly was stretching a lot. It was strange. And naked - that was not so strange, knowing Quinn. But he didn't blame him. When he was alone here, Valeriu often shunned clothing while swimming; it was peaceful, and relaxing.
He kept his swimshorts on. He'd brought them, after all, and he liked the plaid. Plaid was a good, solid, reserved pattern.
"There's a good tanning rock, right up there." He pointed at his usual perch, hanging over the river. "Just keep an eye out v'hile you are swimming, da?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 1:44 pm
Quinn grinned. "I'm not going to lay around on a rock to tan! That's so boring! I'm gonna do things! Like swim." He leapt onto Vale's back, and wrapped his arms around the man's neck.
"Hi-ho, Catnip! Away!" He tapped his heels against Vale's thighs. "To the water! Hurry!" He laughed, happily.
"We have to go swimming, or the evil jaguars will get us!" He reached one arm up to scratch Vale's ears, in order to quell any dissent.
"You don't want me to get eaten by the evil jaguars, do you?!"
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 1:49 pm
He yelped at the leap, not quite willing to play horsie to a full-grown man, grumbling and muttering up until the point his ears were getting scratched.
Mm. Scratchies.
So with a huff and a heft, he carted the pale man to the water, wading in up to his waist. The water was pleasant, as it always was; cool, but not chilly, and warmed on top by the sun. It was easy to leap right into.
"There are no such things as evil jaguars," he muttered. "There are just jaguars. But they v'ould eat you." The thick, raised, pale skin of the wide and deep scars on his back made that quite clear - Valeriu had almost been dragged to dinner.
"Here. V'ater," he declared, standing for just a minute. Contemplating it. Before dropping at the knees - dunking them both and giving Quinn the surprise slip.
No more horsie.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:06 pm
Quinn nodded. "Yup, they'd eat me. And it would be your fau--augh!" He was tossed off of Vale's back and into the water. When he got back to the surface, he splashed water at Valeriu's face, laughing and backstroking away. "This water feels great! I haven't swam in, like, a year!" He swam back down underwater, then popped back up, floating face-up on the top of the water.
"Thank you so much for bringing me here! This is the best!" Quinn had a huge, child-like grin on his face.
"And not a huge, grey building in site!" He swam around in little circles on his back.
"It's so real! So natural! So pretty!"
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:11 pm
He couldn't help but grin back, ducking away from the splashing as his ears flattened to avoid getting water in them.
"You like it?"
His pride swelled. Truth be told, he'd been sort of worried - Tepin hadn't liked it, one bit. He'd wondered if it was just him who would ever enjoy such things. But it was ten times more fun having a friend there.
A more playful grin smacked onto his face, before Valeriu disappeared under the water for all but a second - and then came a tug on Quinn's ankled as he pulled the other under, mischievously, then lurking like a shark a few yards away with only ears and eyes above the water and an amused look upon his face.
"Gotcha."
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:29 pm
"Of course I do!" The water felt fresh, clean. So unlike the city. Quinn hadn't known he wanted something else until he had it. This was fantastic, perfect.
Quinn was pulled under, and got a mouthful of water for it. At least it was fresh water, but some of it went up his nose. He spat it out, and pushed the hair out of his eyes.
Then he grinned mischievously at Vale. His eyes screamed 'Payback!'. He launched his naked body across the river at Vale, wrapping his arms and legs around him in a deathgriphug in order to force him under. He had to sacrifice himself, as well, but it was worth it. They were both forced underwater, but Quinn had the advantage of getting a preperatory deep breath. He held on to Vale like a huge weight, forcing Vale to bring them back up.
His eyes were open underwater, and he watched Vale intently, despite the slight pain to his eyeballs.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:35 pm
He couldn't dodge in time, falling back with a heavy splash and a yelp and then a mouthful of water, both of them sinking like a rock with the combined weight. Not for too long, though. Even with Quinn latched onto his torso like a leech, he still had his limbs free to flail and then push them back up to the surface, breaking with a combination of sputtered cough and heaving breath for life.
He frowned, oh, how he frowned, and his ears were limp from water inundation and his hair was flattened against his head.
"You're a jerk," he stated, succinctly, petulantly, as he pushed Quinn's head back underwater, trying to dissuade the arms and legs wrapped around him. "And a leech. Don't make me get the fire!"
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:45 pm
Quinn flailed and immediately let go of Vale when he was pushed underwater, first instinct to attack back in whatever way he could. He knew Vale was talking, but it was all a bit lost with his head underwater. He heard him say that he was a jerk, and a leech, but then it was all a bit garbled.
Jerk? Leech? Bah! I'll show him leech.
Quinn reached out in an attempt to grab Vale in the first place he could find in retribution. His hand just happened to be aiming for directly inbetween the cat man's legs.
What? He was underwater. It wasn't like he could see.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:48 pm
He froze, let go of Quinn's head, and a distinctly unmasculine squeak escaped him as his face filled with red.
"Q-Quinn! Let go!"
Oh god. He couldn't jerk him back up. That would be - that would be worlds of pain.
"Quinn!" he demanded, voice rising higher.
Even his fur was frizzed, despite the water.
Awkwardest situation ever.
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:53 pm
Quinn almost burst out laughing underwater once he realized what he'd grabbed, and a grin went across his face again. Vale had released his grip, so Quinn took advantage. He snaked his other hand up and released the first hand just long enough to grab Vale's swim trunks and yank them off. He finally found his way back above the water with them, and gasped for air. He raised the trunks up like a flag, and waggled them around.
"Ha-ha! I have captured your flag! I dare you to catch me!" Quinn turned and started swimming downstream, holding the trunks with him.
"C'mon, slowpoke!"
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