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 Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:24 pm
"Ouch," Barth half-protested, kissing him back. He hissed between each kiss with the sudden pressure, then kissed Calder again any way.
Ouch. "I'd rather" Ouch. "hoped you might" Ouch. "say that."
It seemed unfair to be having this revelation and subsequent conversation between bandages, but it was a lot better than behind bars.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 11:30 pm
Calder broke the kiss only when he felt a stream of giggles tick the back of his throat, and he covered his mouth as his shoulder shook a bit, resting back on the couch and thankful that it was plush enough not to hurt his back or upset the bandages. "I'll be saying it a lot more if you let me." He was far too excited that he just wanted to stay here and steal as many kisses as he could, but it had been taxing beforehand just thinking of what might possibly happen if Barth said no that he was tired again. That or the medicine was acting up.
"I'd lift you up on my shoulders right proper, but I don't think either one of us are in any set order to be doing that." Maybe another time he'd carry Barth about and make it official. Then again, he couldn't be fully official with the anklet on his leg.
He then grinned again. "Your beard - it tickles a bit." Calder never kissed anyone with facial hair.
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 2:28 pm
"...Sorry," Barth said, reaching up to rub his beginnings-of-a-beard self-consciously. It was sheer luck and a bit of vanity that it hadn't been entirely singed off.
"What do you err, what do you mean by shoulders? ...What aren't we doing?" Barth asked, trying not to read into the statement.
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:11 pm
"Oh no. It's okay. I like your beard. Kelpies...we really don't have any." Calder pointed to his face a moment and frowned a bit. They were rather smooth just because it made them look more in the middle and made humans less concerned about what they were and more attracted to their beauty - or what humans considered beautiful. That and it just helped with swimming.
"Well, to properly make a claim on anyone, you get up, throw them over your right shoulder, and then you walk around the grounds to show that you are interested in that person and if anyone wants to challenge you for that claim, they can fight you. That way only the best and the strongest get first rights." Calder flushed a bit, remembering the time it had been done to him. If it had been someone he liked, he probably would have been happy, but he had just been mortified.
"It's why a lot of young bachelors practice fighting. That way you can get to start a harem of your own." He puffed a bit, but frowned a little. "I'm not very good at fighting through." No wonder he had been claimed instead of doing the claiming.
He glanced back to Barth. "How do demons propose?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:03 pm
"Err, we're- I'd meant- I'd meant going out officially, I think being engaged is- err, I mean that involves anklets, doesn't it? Not that I- err, I just think that's something that could stand a little more discussion before..." Barth had clearly gotten the wrong idea with the skip in conversation from going out to claiming and proposing. He was mostly worried that Calder had gotten the wrong idea.
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:13 pm
Calder stared at Barth a moment. "I know that. I wasn't, I mean, I can't, not that I wouldn't, nothing against you, but, yeah anklet. It's about anklet. Ya see here, we use anklets as a claim when you are being taken in officially into a band by someone. We're not doing that. I mean, I know we wouldn't. Usually if you were a kelpie and I were a kelpie we'd just go and make the claim with the anklet and be done with it, but there is still dating and you can still claim your interest. That's why you make that claim over the shoulder. It's showing who is taking responsibility of protecting who they have on their shoulder. That way they know you have an interest. Uh.." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I never had to explain this before. Kelpies still date, but you have to show it officially so there isn't any sneaking about. We don't want parents or fights breaking out later down the road and hurting our kind. You make your claim and if no one had the guts to challenge you, then they should leave you alone to date until your of age to claim them officially or someone else does."
He tugged on one ear. "Is that confusing? Or weird?" It made sense to him.
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:43 pm
"Ah," Barth said, trying to discern the difference. Carrying meant a dating sort of claim, the anklet was for an engagement sort of claim. He looked at Calder. Carrying defined who protected who. ...He had trouble lifting books. He very much doubted he could do anything even approaching carrying.
But for a moment, he wondered briefly if... thorns coiled and stirred between the legs of the couch. No. That was silly. They stilled again.
"No, not weird. ...For my family marriage is usually a business matter. My father's choice of spouses is...varied, for reasons related to his sin. Engagement involves a formal meeting between the families. It is, frankly, a very dull process."
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:10 pm
Calder held a cushion, leaning back and thinking of the discussion over marriage. "Then, who decides who wins the right and is deserving to marry? Won't all demons get very weak that way and die? How are you supposed to fight off your enemies and claim territory?" And then he considered it a moment. His brow creased as well as he thought.
"So, is it like your families decide who fits best with who to make a better clan and make it stronger as a whole?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:25 pm
"There is more to power than muscles," Barth said.
He leaned forward towards Calder, resting as comfortably as he could on his elbow.
"But my father has many children. He doesn't care how strong I am, or what I'm doing, or that I marry at all, as long as I stay below his radar."
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:36 pm
Calder frowned even more than that. "Seems a shame to have a kid and not pay attention to it. Doesn't that bother you?" He tugged on the corners of the cushion.
"...what would your dad think of me?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:48 pm
"No," Barth said, "You have met Christof's creator. There are many demons whose attention it pays to avoid. I would not like for him to think of you at all."
And since they were talking about demons, and they were in some capacity official... Barth reached to still the hand that was fiddling with the cushions, and asked quietly,
"Sort on that same subject. Are you still...under contract? With West."
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:55 pm
Calder didn't know what to do with himself when his hands were stopped, but liked the claws on his nonetheless. He guessed that if Barth's father was the Dr. Fell type, then it was best not to meet him. Though, it did make him a little sad. Family was important to him, and he would have liked to meet one of Barth's relatives. To think that maybe they would approve of him, though he guessed, someone as high ranking as a demon and just being a monster, they were worlds apart.
"Yeah. I sorta though it was supposed to go away. I only said 2 weeks." He didn't bother to roll up his sleeve to show the demon, and wondered why he was asking. Did it bother him? "Why?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:11 pm
"You said before...I normally don't pry. With other demons' business. You said it didn't matter which demon, at the time, which is why you didn't... err," Barth held Calder's hand, and considered it, then looked towards where knew the mark was.
"What was it? The Contract."
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:36 pm
Calder sank a bit in the plush cushions of the couch, pressing into the back as he looked at the hand over his and not on the fact that Barth was looking at West's mark as if his eyes could penetrate through the white cotton of his tunic shirt. "Um...if I delivered a message to a friend of his, that he'd ....it's really stupid...I mean, I just asked...well, that he'd have to protect me for 2 weeks." He thought he had been very clever in stating a time period of 2 weeks and not just a few seconds.
"...but it's already been 2 weeks so..." He shrugged. "Maybe the time at the field trip threw it off." He wasn't sure. Not that it mattered. Since Calder had already delivered the message, West was in his debt and not the other way around.
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:49 pm
Very nearly botched that, hadn't he. West couldn't have known. The thorns under the couch thickened, and curled up the back, swaying gently.
"Maybe," Barth said. "So you're in his jurisdiction. For two weeks. Well. It could be worse." He leaned further forward.
"But I don't like it. You being under anyone else's Contract."
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