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 Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:21 pm
Syrie There is no sympathy from a devil...
The night was still and strangely silent - not because anything unusual were happening, but more because there had been a disturbance. The crash-tinkle sound of glass shattering against a hard surface and a scream that was more animal than human had caused even the most stalwart of night-creatures to go deathly silent.
Not more than ten minutes later, a lithe body clothed in black came staggering out of a rather unsavory looking building. It was the sort of place one kept on the side if one had some sort of wicked little secret they wanted to indulge in. The neighbors had a policy: Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and whatever you do -- Don't Look.
Colin spat blood on the door before he pushed away from the building and moved shakily down the stairs. The sleazy reporter had been exceptionally violent that night; he'd refused to respond to a few things the man had been saying about his former lover and had gotten a glass bowl of hot soup thrown at him for his troubles.
His side - under the large black hoodie and the baggy black jeans - was burnt badly from the scalding liquid (the reason for the animalian cry of pain). Funny how that had hurt more than what the disgusting pervert had been doing to him earlier. Not that being raped was particularly pleasant, but it had been going on long enough by that point that the curly-haired blond was almost able to block it out.
And the reason that Colin continued coming out to this place to accept the grease-ball's advances despite loathing him with everything he had?
This guy had dirt on Adrian and Colin. Originally, the actor had payed this guy off - an insane amount - but more recently he'd come up later with more dirt, claiming that the payoff hadn't included the new stuff. He also claimed that if Colin didn't come to him when called...he'd see neither of them ever found work again.
Maybe it was stupid to believe the slicked-haired con artist, but having grown up knowing hunger and existing for years without money, Colin was terrified that the man would make good on his threats. So he went. Dozens of times. He was beaten and subjected to so many indignities and torments that the hours after each 'session' were spent in water as hot as he could take it, scrubbing his skin until he nearly bled.
Tonight was a little different. The lithe dancer was at the end of his rope - this was killing his spirit; he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't. Nothing was worth losing who you were. Under the flickering, jaundiced light of a street lamp half-way down the dingy lane, Colin shouted his rage up at the heavens; cursing his lack of power.
He would have sold his soul to destroy that b*****d. Ivynian  The Heavens answered. The roil of low-hanging clouds churned, pulsed like a slow beating heart, spewed blood down like rain. Blood and ashes. The build up was rapid, thunder recalled his rage in taiko rhythms and the putrid precipitation was falling and congealing into a shape. A great statue, like to David, only with some mad man's additions. A adonic-demon form, perfected but crowned with horns, clothed with wings and tails. It took maybe thirty seconds. The creature opened its abyssal eyes, turning his gaze, rich and flesh stripping, to the mortal who limped and growled in fear and pain as a pit-dog thrown off for too many uses. "Colin," The two syllables were thickly said, charged with throbbing base and charnal veneer. Further syllables felt slow, licentious, "Would you really? "Syrie The odd movements of the clouds gave the blond a moment of distraction from his anger, from the focused rage boiling through his body. He'd never seen clouds that beat like that. As thought they were alive.
When the clouds bled down into the world, his expression contorted further from his rage; the emotion was still solidly there, but there was also a bit of awe and trepidation. Never had it rained blood. "What the hell--" Something that was not a man, but was man-shaped grew from the blood-rain before him. Hulking, demonic in appearance and wholly terrifyingly intent on speaking with him.
Apparently, Colin had summoned the Devil. For a moment, he was too stunned, to frozen by this...creature's appearance, his gaze to respond.
When he finally did, he barely recognized the strained, foreign-sounding syllables as his own words. "Yes--" He breathed in, the metallic scent of blood was still on the air, on him; it appealed to the darker side of his own usually-sunny nature. "Yes. Anything." Absolutely anything to have a chance to get back at the man that tormented and all but ruined him. Ivynian Destruction's lips half upturned in a rakish grin, the issuing chortle half made up of a great purr that rattled the nearby windows. "I am not the Devil, Colin. My name is Harmodius, and I am a god. I am Destruction....do you know what that means? It means I can help you. "One stride, and the distance between them closed, though the creature crouched like a baseball catcher to even up to the mortal. "I want you, Colin Hargrove. I will give you the grace of a god, the powers and strength, and you may close the mouth and hands of your tormentor for all eternity. "
"All I ask in return, " Glistening red, impossible like Chinese laquer, the creature's lips were only a breath from Colin's own. The six great wings curled up over them both, and behind the youth, so that the rain and greater ash, the wind could no longer touch him. "Is that you keep your word on that. And a kiss, to seal the deal. " Syrie Harmodius' purring set the glass panes to rattling in their flimsy frames; Colin's eyes flicked from the god calling himself Destruction (and oh, he believed it! This creature's aspect screamed ruin) to the halogen light dancing on the surface of the shaken glass and then back quickly.
"You know me. You want me--" The boy - for before this great diety, he was naught but a babe, trembling in awe and fear and perhaps a ting of want - breathed the words; not a question, he was parroting Harmodius' words as though saying them would help the meaning to sink in deeper somehow.
A kiss? For this...god? This terrifying, terrible, beautiful creature-that-was-not-a-man wanted a kiss?! 'Why not? This is what it comes down to - my body is my currency once more...but for power!'. Power and grace and godhood.
And he would silence that ******** paparazzi forever. Crush him. Destroy him utterly. Yes, for that he would have fallen to his knees before the god. "Yes. Anything. I want the power to silence him forever." Colin's eyes were half closed as he spoke - there was something about Harmodius that he could not have said no to; something wholly alluring.
It was power. The gods power. Power like he'd been promised; all that he had to do was offer his mouth up to those lips, red like liquid rubies, no...more so. Only a moment's hesitation and Colin's soft mouth was pressing against Harmodius'; a kiss was a very, very small price to pay for power, was it not?
Never mind he was shaking slightly. Gods were fickle - that's what all the legends said. And this one was exquisitely terrible to behold. The man-that-wasn't could just as easily kill him as kiss him. Ivynian One hand lifted, hot thumb fingers touching lightly the shivering chin, and pulled down to open the boy's mouth and deepen the kiss. Destruction's other hand lifted the boy's left, twining their fingers together as lovers' pressed against a flat surface. But there was something hard and faceted between their palms. The kiss felt to last for hours, but after only just seconds Harmodius pulled back, "In to your keeping I give the jewel of a god. Press it to your body, wheresoever you would wear it, and the power will be yours. It will start faint, as the essence mingles and adapts into yours, but it will grow. If you have need, follow the stone's will, and it will guide you to the abode of others bearing jewels...where you may find comfort, food, and safe lodging. These are now your right, in such halls. I look forward to your ascension, Colin." Syrie Colin didn't resist the dark god before him; he couldn't have even had he wanted to. This was the closest to kindness involving intimacy that the blond had been privy to for a good long while; he didn't want to resist.
Something hard was pressed against his palm, but his mind didn't wrap around that fact until Harmodius pulled away from him and spoke again; he was lightheaded and blood thrummed through his ears, making it hard to listen to what was being said.
"Thank you..." Something about this man creaturegod made him feel that he should be very grateful (later, he might come to regret thinking that) - being offered power and a kiss that made him want to swoon? No, he was grateful...and more than a little bit...enamoured with Destruction.
Colin looked down at the beautiful gem cupped in his hand, it was warm - very warm - and felt...alive. Hadn't Harmodius just spoken so? The blond thought about where he might want to 'wear' a gem that apparently had to pressed to skin - it didn't take long. The gem would go the last place that Adrian had kissed him: his left hip. Even out in the open, Colin had no qualms about pushing down the loose pants and pressing the trilliant cut gem to his bare skin. He didn't want the god to think for even a moment that he wouldn't hold up his end of the bargain.
Warmth became heat, searing flesh as the gem sank into his pale skin. The world dimmed and shimmered before him as though something were in the way and though there had been plenty enough in typical 'night' sounds...the youth was rendered deaf temporarily. Not even the sound of his own heart beating reached him -- it, like Harmodius' kiss, lasted mere seconds but felt to him like ages. Searing heat spread through his body, dissipating as it went from hip to the tips of his toes and fingers to the top of his head. As it did so, sound returned to him; the ordeal left him feeling drained, languid.
'Unreal...' Ivynian Harmodius waited, whether to watch the boy fall on his face or to catch him if need arose could not be determined. When it seemed he woudl keep his feet, Destruction turned away, raising his face to the sky and spreading out his great wings, "Do you need food and lodging now? Where will you go from here?" Syrie "I should go home." He would go home, once he felt more steady. The gem in his hip was back to just being warm; cooling even where it wasn't fused with his flesh. Slender, delicate fingers danced under his waistband, tracing the lines of the gem. There was no voice, not yet...but he sensed now that he was not alone in his body -- it was just a little frightening (or would have been if he wasn't so wholly exhausted).
Harmodius had turned away from the blond and he watched the god with just a bit of longing -- here was a creature that reminded him something of his former lover...only even more dangerous and terrible. He was being stupid, comparing the two, but his exhausted mind did as it wished.
"Am I supposed to be so tired...?" The dancer's voice was thick and muzzy; he would go home, but it would take him a while. And later? Later, when he'd rested and eaten and wasn't newly joined with his gem, he would seek out the others that Harmodius had mentioned. Ivynian Almost disappointing. Almost. He would have carried him, but let the youth stand on his own and fend for himself. His life was now cursed, and the magic would revenge itself on any that dared harm him in the end. "The mortal coil is fragile, like old glass held by gravity too long. It flows down, leaving the barest supports to its own shape, and when charged with a greater power then meant for even in its youth, it may shatter. He shall start as the glue in your cracks, holding you together from the inside. "Eventually the broken pieces will grow off and fall, the spent egg that housed the phoenix....or dragon...or what-have-you. Syrie And there again was one of the problems he'd always had -- too stubborn to ask for what he wanted, he either stumbled into it (literally) or it was pressed upon him when one realized how he worked.
The words that Destruction spoke didn't make too much sense, but they comforted Colin greatly. After all, Harmodius was imposing and a god -- it would be okay. That was the gist of it.
"Will I find you again, Harmodius?" Tired. Bed. That's what he wanted. In a minute he could work towards that goal. First he needed to know -- he wanted to see the god again; call it compulsion, call it a crush, call it hero-worship (of a sort). Whatever it was, it pressed the youth to ask. Ivynian If you come to where the others gather, the Pantheon, seat of the Twin Crown, you will find me there, if you desire my company. " He lowered his upped wings on one side, looking back over his shoulder, lights of magma and spiders of red frost kindled beneath the surface of his skin.
"Good night."He turned away for the last time, powerful wings giving a single beat as he jumped to loft him up into the dark airs. Syrie He would remember - or if he wouldn't, Silence would. He would find Harmodius at the Pantheon, oh yes...but first he would lean against one of those horrible street lamps that made everything look jaudinced. "Good night, Harmodius..." Colin murmured the words as he rested there against the cold metal.
It wasn't long before the dancer was on the move again - he still needed to clean up and get some rest. There was much to do yet that week; strange encounters with gods and abusive black-mailers notwithstanding. Belatedly the blond wondered if the gem would show up too badly under his unitard. Oh well, if it did, he'd just cover it with a bandage and say he was injured doing a jump or something.
But first? Home.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:22 pm
...//Solo - Fever Dreams A horrible shrieking tore through the morning quiet, disturbing the form in the bed from his slumber. "...nnng." One long-fingered hand slid out from under the blankets and reached, fumbling for the tab on the offending clock that would silence it so that he could return to the blissful arms of slumber. He felt like s**t, to put it bluntly. Colin's entire body ached as though he had the flu or something equally nasty; he was chilled yet sweating profusely.
An after-effect of being implanted with the gem? Or perhaps an after-effect of the night he'd had with his sleazy reporter? Quite possibly a mixture of both -- the trilliant-cut gem was warm to the touch, but cold compared to the rosy flesh surrounding it.
The blond youth fell back asleep quickly, but was unable to return to the deep, healing sleep his body needed; instead he was plagued in the shallows of sleep with fever-dreams. Things too bright to really be real, but that felt as though they were simply because one was so close to consciousness.
Several times the strident tones of the phone's ringer cut into his "sleep", he could hear them, but was unable to answer, trapped in memories that were now just dreamscapes that taunted him."Come again?" His jade colored eyes narrowed with irritation that he fought to hold in check; this man couldn't help being an a*****e, it came naturally when you had half the world shoved up your a** so far they were waving to people from your mouth. But still, just because the man was "nicely" offering to keep him, he wasn't going to stand for it. "I'm not your errand boy, Mr. Gray, I'm a dancer. You have half a dozen lackeys here to kiss your a** and fetch your coffee. I'm not one of them. Get it yourself or get one of them to do it for you."
***
Nevermind that he wasn't weak, Colin was no match for the taller, bulkier man. Adrian had him pinned thoroughly, it was all he could do to breathe at all with how hard he was being shoved against the wall, the kiss. Oh god the kiss! He couldn't help the little shiver that went through his body - he was scared, this was a side of the actor he'd never seen, and honestly a side of the man that porbably no one had seen. The violence of that contact had his heart beating so hard in his chest it was all he could hear.
By the time that Adrian moved back to let him breath he was gasping and shuddering as though he had chills; only he wasn't cold. He was burning up and his cheeks were flushed; mouth bruised from the assault the actor had given his mouth. "No... I mean...I didn't come to..." Thoughts were quicksilver in Colin's head, he couldn't get them to organize themselves in a manner that would come out properly; the actor's mouth on his skin sending little jolts along his spine...
***
Adrian wasn't just panting, he was practically melting. His fingers had finally stopped moving and had finally come to rest on top of Colin's head, threaded into his hair, and the actor had tilted his head back, eyes shut and his front teeth worrying his bottom lip. It shouldn't feel this good, it shouldn't. Maybe it was the wine - he could still taste its flavor in his mouth, dry and sweet all at once. It was no doubt having some sort of influence, what it was Adrian couldn't exactly pinpoint. A light buzzing between his ears, a soft glow somehow thrown into his field of vision. Maybe it wasn't the source, but something was definitely enhancing this moment for him, and god above was he thankful for it.
"Nnn - Colin," he gasped, hand twisting into the sheets. The actor's mouth now hung open slightly as he rocked his hips up and down, shuddering under Colin's attentions. No doubt it was a bit of a power trip for the blonde - the man who had consistently brought him down and made him miserable, prone and panting beneath him. Nearly mewling, really. Hard to believe that Mr. Gray was so incredibly sensitive!
***
Something had to be wrong. So why hadn't the bigger man said anything about it to him? Was he afraid the dancer wouldn't show if he knew? No no, calm down...there was probably some very logical reason for all of this; Colin tried shutting his brain down at the same time he smoothed the soft gilt curls atop his head. Into the diner, where he looked a moment before spotting Adrian...and some sleazy looking Italian? What was going on?
***
"Just - " The actor hesitated, not really knowing what to say. How did you say goodbye in a situation like this? They weren't like to see one another again, or so Adrian assumed. So this was it. Their last meeting. Despite all the precautiouns Adrian had taken they'd been found out and it had endangered them both. It was just - harder than Adrian expected, to say goodbye. He knew this would come one day as well, he'd simply figured he wouldn't care. It surprised him that he did.Over and over, throughout his drug-and-fever induced sleep Colin relived his time with his Adonis. A curious thing started happening as things progressed: a new voice slid into the dreams, a new face. Adrian's voice was sometimes his own, and sometimes that of another - the same with his face.
Fever dreams were like that though, and in the evening when he woke up he would be a bit dismayed to find his sheets soaked, but also a little bit pleased to find that his fever had broken.
"Oh wow, what ******** up dreams..." The blond groaned and threw back his damp bed-coverings, sitting up and twisting so his legs came out to hang over the edge of his bed. Sitting up like that reminded him of the gem embedded into his flesh and he went to touch it, curious. "I wonder if some of that was your fault, gem."
Perhaps...
A silky voice purred into Colin's head - it was freaky! He nearly fell out of bed because of it. "What? Wait, what's going on!?" The blond recieved no answer and sighed a little, pushing his fingers up into his sleep and sweat matted hair. "Sheesh, probably just hearing things from the fever..."
With that, he shrugged off the voice and the nagging feeling he had that there was something...perhaps someone else in the apartment with him and went to shower and eat.
Nestled quietly in the youth's limber body, Endiovar waited. Not yet, the boy wasn't yet ready to know he existed - nor was he strong enough to do more than murmur at him. It had been a long time since Silence had been 'awake'. Soon enough, perhaps the next day, he would make himself known and have a little 'chat' with his new host...
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:23 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:24 pm
...//Solo
Getting the alien Illario back to the apartment without having someone see them/freak out proved to be much easier than either man could have hoped for. No one was out and about -- it seemed that there was some sort of street party going on two blocks over and just about everyone was there.
That made it much, much easier to sneak the blue-skinned man up to his apartment. Once there, both sighed with relief -- there would be no worry of government sanctioned alien probing that day!
All they had to worry about was food. Illa had mentioned that he was mostly vegetarian, which worked quite well as Colin kept mostly health food on hand and much of that happened to be vegetable based. The two would have to work on a grocery list though, because even with what he had on hand, they would need more food fairly quickly.
At least he could drag Illa over to his laptop and they could browse some of the stores on the internet - start their shopping list from there and then Colin could work out a little more of what he wanted while at the actual store. All things considered, it was an arrangement that worked fairly well until the blond ended up having to cart the purchased items upstairs all by himself.
Illario would have helped, but he was blue. Literally. They couldn't risk his being seen - they could, however, risk going out at night. People didn't think so much at night...plus, it would be really frigging boring being stuck in a small apartment all the time; especially when Colin went back to work.
Speaking of, thanks to his meeting with the alien and his subsequent return to work, Colin wouldn't be able to attempt the trip back out to the shop Harmodious had directed him to for well over a week.
And by that point, the itching in his hip was driving him crazy, never mind that the skin around said gem felt strange...and on top of that, the voice in his head - Silence - was becoming a bit louder, more...stable, more real (as though being possessed for short, short moments hadn't been "real" enough!). Colin had and absolutely need to know what was going on with himself and the gem...and why.
Especially since it seemed that the passing of time gave the gem more of a...hold on him.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:26 pm
...//Solo
Days pass in limbo and yet Silence offered no further information to his host. He was busy - entombed in-gem-inside-flesh - learning his host from the inside out. Endiovar (for that was his name though it was one that had not passed lips and found voice for ages) "piggy-backed" Colin during that time; staying just under the boy's notice so that he could get a feel for the body he would one day be taking; changing into his own.
That's not to say that he didn't 'speak' to Colin. When the blond would accept that yes, the gem in his hip housed a sentient, intelligent life-form that co-habitated his physical body, Silence was more than willing to offer commentary about the boy's actions and words. There were no further "possessions" as the first had put a heavy strain upon the energies he had available, but that was neither here nor there.
What was unsettling was that the boy did not seem to want to acknowledge him very much. There was very little communication between them - and Endiovar knew this wasn't acceptable. True, he was for all intents and purposes a parasite, waiting to devour his host...but at the very least he wanted to ease Colin through the process so he wasn't wholly disturbed.
Deity Silence was not cruel. Silence knew what it was like to be winked out of existence, to be trapped behind a spiritual prison and be unable to act and react and just move when and how one wanted; he would spare his host as much of that particular pain as possible. After all, Colin wasn't a bad person. He'd been through a lot of pain and a lot of torment; he'd borne it silently and had been able to work past it.
It was that strength that was a problem. Colin didn't realize that he needed Endiovar: needed to work with him towards understanding what would have to happen in order for his end of Harmodius' bargain to be completed.
Body for power. Mind for power.
Silence had hope that he would be able to allow Colin to survive in some form or fashion inside of their his body once manifested. At the very least, long enough to see the Italian's fate at his hands.
'Perhaps my Lord Harmodius will be able to convince him to cooperate more fully...'
Endiovar would have to try to get his host back to the shop...that shouldn't be too hard as Destruction had bid them go. It was just a matter of timing...
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:41 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:42 pm
...// PRP - Meeting Enekepe the Pooka! Meepfur 
A small creature with a rough coat made up mostly of dull gray-browns turned the corner to the street on which the Edelsteine 'shop' sat - though she had no idea there was such a thing, much less where it was - and paused for a moment to peer, straining, up at the street sign. Why couldn't people ever take into account that there were things much shorter than them who wanted to know where they were, too?
Granted, Enekpe didn't have any actual destination in mind; she was simply combing the streets, looking for her missing bonded. The human woman had gone out to get groceries weeks ago and never come back, and finally the pooka had decided to leave the condo and find Alice herself.
It was hard to find anything in a big city when you were the size of a small cat, though, no matter how smart you were. Still, Enekpe was undaunted - she'd always had an odd lack of fear. So, making note of the street she was on now, she started to toddle down it.Syrie  Colin made his way down the street towards the Edel shop; this would be the second time he'd made the attempt to go and check the place out - get his answers. He was listening to Static X through his headphones and whistling a little bit when he noticed a very strange looking little animal staring intently up at a street sign.
The blond's walk slowed - that was strange behaviour for a ....what the hiell sort of animal was that thing anyway? A really messed up cat? He tugged one of the earbuds out and peered at the creature. Why was it he seemed to have the luck of running into wierd things when he was coming to the place Harmodius had bid him come? First the Andorian alien, Illario (now living with him...oddly enough) and now...some weird winged-cat...thing.
It was kind of lucky that he'd left the car behind today; had he been driving he might not have noticed the little creature. It was bad enough he was wondering if he should try catching it...maybe take it to the local animal shelter (was there even one of those here?).Meepfur En's short little tail flicked busily back and forth as she walked, looking intently all around her. She'd been at this for days, and she was beginning to suspect she might have to start somehow wiggling her way into buildings if she was going to find Alice. Maybe she'd be in one, instead of out on the street...it was hot out, after all.
Just as she was considering it, she spotted something human-shaped, and her ragged ears perked. It certainly wasn't Alice, but...maybe they'd seen her?
The pooka called out in a light, young voice, "Hello, Mister!" Syrie The curly haired blond tugged the other earbud out and let the cords dangle down around his neck freely; one hand reaching to the little device clipped to his baggy pants to stop the almost industrial metal music he'd been listening to.
The little creature had spotted him; the tiny ears perking as it seemed to -- wait...no. Not seemed. It was talking to him. 'Hello Mister!?' Colin wasn't certain if he was hallucinating or if the little winged creature really was talking to him. His fingers moved from the mp3 player clip to his left hip, tracing the still-itchy gem shape under the fabric.
After getting this thing...should he still be skeptical? Probably not. "Uh...Hi?" Colin moved closer to the Pooka (though he didn't know that's what she was) before crouching down a little bit. "Um...did you just talk to me?"
Seriously, this place he'd been drawn to was just...too weird for words. Sometimes he felt like he spent half his time in a place that wasn't quite the place he'd come from, but some alternate reality of that place. Talking animals and aliens from the future...gems that talked and huge monstrous creature-men that gave out said talking gems in exchange for a kiss....
Definitely too weird for words! Meepfur Enekpe giggled at the man's response. Although not a baby, she was still quite young, and it tended to show. "Mm-hm!" she replied cheerfully. "My name's Enekpe! What's yours, Mister?"
Her little mothlike wings fluttered as she stepped closer to to take a politely curious sniff of the stranger. She hadn't forgotten that she meant to ask him if he'd seen Alice, but there were just certain things you had to go through first! Courtesy and all that. Syrie Well, at least the little creature didn't seem to be the sort to bite fingers off - much to cute and...kind of child-like sounding. Colin let some of his wariness go and tried to keep an open-mind about talking to a beast-creature.
He just kept reminding himself there was a gem in his hip...that talked to him and others (and sometimes took over his body to speak or whatnot) and that alien with blue skin lived with him. A talking bitty-fluff wasn't so out of the realm of possibility.
"I'm Colin." The dancer blinked a little bit and then looked around. "I uh, saw you looking at the sign...are you -er- lost?"
Being a nice guy meant being nice to animals too. Talking or not! Meepfur "Nice to meet you, Colin!" she chirped, giving her tail another flick. "Lost? Oh no, I'm not lost. But my bonded is." Her ears drooped. "Have you seen her?"
If only things were actually as simple as Enekpe thought they were. Syrie Such a cute little thing, he wanted to pet Enekpe almost, but seeing as she was chatting with him like any person (and people weren't usually fond of being petted like "dumb beasts") he reasoned it was a bad idea and kept his hands to himself.
"I'm not certain...I passed a good number of people coming here. What did your, ah, bonded look like?" What the hell was a "bonded"?? Meepfur "She's, umm..." Enekpe 'hmm'ed, tilting her head in thought, "She's really tall, and she's got blonde hair. It's kinda long. Her name's Alice!" Vague enough, wasn't she? And of course tall was relative when you weighed a whopping eight pounds and were sized accordingly. Syrie Okay...well, the little creature wasn't very descriptive - and did she mean "tall" as in tall when compared to Enekpe or "tall" as in - just tall? He frowned just a little bit and shifted his position a bit; being crouched down like that wasn't precisely comfortable but it seemed rude to stand his full height when he was talking to the Pooka.
"A tall blond with long hair named Alice? I don't know if I've seen her or not, sorry." He reached up and rubbed at the back of his head a bit - he really needed to get his answers (nevermind that he was a little freaked out about talking to a tiny furrball...that talked back), but maybe he should offer to help her look?
"Er, Enekpe?" Colin stumbled a little over her name, "Do you want some help finding her?" He just really couldn't help himself. Mr. Nice-Guy, to the rescue! (Again.) Meepfur Enekpe's ears fell again. Oh, she'd so hoped this man would know where Alice was! But unfortunately, it hadn't turned out. he did offer to help, though! The pooka brightened at the kindness, although she didn't want to be a trouble to anyone. Still, he'd offered, and that was really nice. "Oh, it's okay. It's a lot of looking, and I don't want your feet to hurt."
"I am...hungry, though?" she ventured hopefully. Maybe he knew where she could get something to eat! Syrie The blond watched Enekpe's little ears wilt - so cute! - and then perk a little again; he could only imagine that she'd been dissappointed to hear he didn't know where this Alice-person (was it a person?) happened to be, but had been pleased when he'd offered to assist her.
"Oh, that's okay. I'm used to walking around a lot. It's not a big deal." He blinked a little bit when Ene mentioned food. Sheesh, how long had the little fluff been wandering around? "Oh ah, what sorts of things do you eat? I saw a sandwich shop a little ways back..." But seriously....what did a talking fuzz-ball eat? Meepfur "I'll be okay," she assured him, "She's gotta be somewhere." As readily as she would go out of her way to help someone, Enekpe didn't like to be on the receiving end very much. It made her feel bad.
"Sandwiches? Oh, I could never eat a whole sandwich!" Her eyes went wide at the very thought of it. "But...maybe a half of a half?" That was just about the right size. Meepfur "Sure!" she agreed, finding absolutely nothing offensive in the idea of being carried. Really, she quite enjoyed it! She liked being petted, too. It kind of went along with the existence of a small and fuzzy creature.
Enekpe wiggled her tail, waiting patiently to be picked up. She was still unsure about making him help her find Alice, but maybe she'd think about it while they ate. Syrie Oh thank god. Colin really hadn't wanted to fight with his need to get answers and his want to help Enekpe. He leaned down and gently, carefully picked the little Pooka up, cradling her against his chest like he would any small fluffy and grinned.
"Food first, then we'll take a look, alright?" The blond straightened to his full height (granted, he wasn't that tall) and then turned back around so he could start off towards the sandwich shop.
Really now, he'd met some of the strangeest people, er...creatures ever since he got this gem! Meepfur "Okay!" Enekpe beamed happily, enjoying both the ride and the view it provided. She was so high up! How did people not get dizzy from being up high all the time? Unable to hold it in, the pooka let loose with a delighted "Whee~!" Syrie Ene's happy demeanor and excited little "whee" was kind of infectious. Colin couldn't imagine very well how it must feel to be so small and be up so high...but he could definitely tell she was enjoying it!
"So, Enekpe....what exactly are you? You're not a cat..." Just making conversation as they walked, really. And smiling like an idiot because her delight in such a small thing as being "up high" was bubbling over onto him. Meepfur "I'm a pooka," she answered proudly, "An evolved pooka really. We can't all talk, you see, and most of us don't get this big, but some of us do! Like me." En nodded, tail wagging like that of a happy dog. "You've never seen a pooka, really? There are lots of us!" Syrie "A pooka, huh?" Colin shook his head a little bit and peered ahead for the sandwich shop. It had been tucked back a little bit behind a larger building's signboard and he didn't want to miss it.
"Nope. Actually, I've never even heard of them until right this minute. Are pooka supposed to be um...pets or something?" Idly, he wondered how many a "lot" was...if her scale on quantity was as skewed as her scale on height was, a lot might really not mean there were very many.... Meepfur "You have now!" she chirped, wings fluttering.
"Uh-huh!" Enekpe replied. "We love people. And us evolved ones, we pick one person and stay with them forever and ever." Exactly why she was looking for her bonded. They were supposed to stick together! Syrie The blond dancer couldn't help but smile and pat at her fur just a little bit. "Yup, now I have." And you know, he was kind of enjoying the little pooka's company....for all she was strange and alien to him, she was really kind of neat.
"Hmm...I wonder. I know cats and dogs aren't allowed at my apartment....but there's nothing in the lease that says a pooka wouldn't be allowed." Because no one at his complex knew what the heck a pooka was! He was sort of just musing aloud though; he was pretty sure he didn't have time for a pet...but Illa was stuck in the flat all day...maybe he'd like a pet of some sort? Meepfur If Enekpe had been a cat, she would have purred. As it was, she made an odd sort of trilling sound. "I bet there's some at the Center! There always is. We could get you one?"
Oh! Oh, goodness! En gasped. "I never checked the Center!"
Maybe Alice was there? Syrie The little sound pleased him almost as much as a kitty's purr would have and he was doubley pleased when he spotted the sandwich shop - just a few moments more and they would be able to go inside the cool little shop and order something to feed them both.
"The Center? Is that where you're from? We can go there too, if you want?" If Enekpe thought her "bonded" was at the Center, they might want to check there first...it would at least be a good place to start, right? --Assume that they had a lovely time at the center; this RP is so old that it's basically finished, will likely never be done via the rp-thread, so there you have it. POOR ENEKPE...he ruined her life and she has a gem nao ;-;--
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:44 pm
Syrie Colin settled himself into a nice, steady jog; his arms moved appropriately to match his strides. Exercise and errand running -- he was killing two birds with one stone.
The errand? Oh yes, that would be trying - for the what, third time to visit the shop that Harmodius had bade him visit when he'd first been given the gem that was now quite firmly settled into his left hip. Actually, he was very nearly becoming desperate to speak to someone about what was happening to him: the skin around the gem had changed...it was discolored now, with little swirls of shifting colors from time to time. Very bizarre in his opinion, especially as it only got worse as time progressed.
The first attempt at going had been...a good while past. He'd met the Andorian, Illario that time. The second attempt he had gotten side-tracked by meeting the tiny creatured named Enekpe...who had a lost bonded named Alice. This time, he was quite determined that he would get some of the answers he wanted.
From anyone that looked like they might have half a goddamned clue!
Luckily for Colin, this one time he actually made it to the shop he'd been directed to without meeting any more small talking animals, and when he entered the building there were no cursing blue-skinned (or otherwise hued) aliens waiting to move into his apartment with him!
Just...rooms. Rooms for him to seek out answers in. Supposing he found whom or what he was looking for, that is! Ivynian  The shop seemed empty. It didn't, however, feel to be so. There was a heavy resin scent to the air, like Byzantium, and in the furthest reaches of hearing, so far it seemed it could be dreamed, there was a steady beating or throbbing. Syrie It was there, he just hadn't heard or felt it because of the blood thrumming in his ears and the thick pulse of his rapidly beating heart. Jogging really got your blood pumping, if you did it right (with the arms moving and the knees coming up high before each and every press of foot to ground. Once his heart rate had slowed more, he realized the place wasn't as empty as it seemed.
"Hmmm...I wonder..." Colin moved slowly through the building, half following a sound that he wasn't sure existed and half following that little whisper of a voice in his head that compelled him to move along towards whatever was making his breast-bone thrum like that. Ivynian The sound led to the stairs that seemed heaviest with ash, though it was disturbed with roiling marks that no foot could possibly make. The source, without looking, he knew to be at the top of the stair looking down at him. "You finally made it, pet."Syrie 'What could have done those..' The marks were strange and he was sort of looking down atthe marks in the layers of ash when he heard a familiar voice. Colin felt a little jolt run across his spine and he breathed Destruction's name as he lifted his head slowly. "Harmodius..."
He didn't have to see to know...but he wanted to look.
In the dancer's head, Silence echoed Colin in addressing the diety, but with a bit of difference; 'My Lord Destruction'... Ivynian Pleasure leaked onto the kohled lips as the boy's answer came barely up the distance. Destruction began to descend, dragging he claws lightly along the stone inlay of the bannister to create a small display of sparks. "You remembered. Good."
"It has been some time since our last meeting. Are you well?"Syrie Again that frission of...something skipped down his spine; this time because of the smile and then the impressive sight of Harmodius -- Destruction -- moving down towards him.
"I wouldn't forget..." The same sort of unconscious submission that had led him so easily to accepting the diety's "gift" (the gem) crept over Colin; his eyes were fixed upon Harmodius. He'd felt this way with Adrian too, only to a lesser extent. Older, powerful men seemed to be a bit of a weakness with the blond - go figure.
"Mm...Yes. I tried coming sooner, but..." He trailed off, not certain any of that would matter to this man. Not Illa, not Enekpe nor Alice. What might matter was the gem changing his skin, or the fact that Silence's voice in his head was getting stronger....he just couldn't quite bring himself to say anything just yet. Ivynian The descent didn't last long, and the warmed hand shifted fluidly from the banister to petting down the length of Colin's body from upper shoulder to upper thigh. "What do you seek?"Syrie He stood still for the petting save for a slight shifting of his muscles; much like a good dog that lived for the touch of it's master.
Colin wet his lips and cleared his throat a little bit; "Answers..." Yes, that was what he'd come for, wasn't it? "My skin...it's changing...where the gem is. Is that supposed to happen?" He was feeling shy, but thinking about the changes to his body reminded him of the way it itched, and his lips drew down into a bit of an irritated pout. "And it itches like a b***h." Ivynian "The small prices of power, Colin, nothing more. There will be changes to your body, the influence of a god cannot easily be contained in mortal form, so it will seek outlet. Do not fear it, enjoy it. Know that your wish is all the sooner granted, your vengeance achieved. " One of the tails snaked around, wrapping think like a python around the dancer's waist. Destruction cupped his hand over the clothe over the gem where it sat, letting an unnatural, but not unpleasant, heat seep through. "I've heard it said that persistent itching can be thwarted by simply stimulating the same nerves with what the brain considers a stronger sensation. Slapping is the norm, but there is little need for it." Syrie "Oh." One simple word fell from the blond's lips when Harmodius explained to him the why of his physical changes. That made sense, it really did...even if it was a bit frightening to think that maybe he'd have to hide himself as much as Illa did.
He couldn't very well go out in public if his body was all manner of strange colors, now could he?
Colin's eyes widened as the other's tail wrapped around his waist; there was so much unspoken power even in that appendage, he shivered a little, thinking about how easily he could have been crushed...should Harmodius wish it. "I didn't know that." But the warmth felt good over the irritated skin around the gem and he smiled up at the imposing Destruction god that held him so easily, so effortlessly.
"Thank you..." My Lord. He pursed his lips again, head tilting up at Harmodius. "Will I change very much?" Ivynian "Not at first, no. You have time. Silence can be sweet, if you listen...paradoxical as that is. But paradox is often the base of things." His second hand lifted to the mortal's cheek, and Destruction traced the pad of his thumb along the pursed curves of the pale lips. The tail on his waist gently started to squeeze, then let go in a sudden motion. The line was only vaguely apparent, temptation to enact his nature strong for the Eldest. Efforts for Endiovar were wasted if He ended the boy. But it would have been sweet. It would have been slow. "Does this please you?" Syrie 'Not at first...' The words from the deity slid into his thoughts and made him wonder just how much he would change with the gem embedded into his flesh; it never, not once entered into the blond's mind that he would eventually be lost so that Silence could come forth and exist in his glory again.
He was far too focused on the diety before him and the touch on his lips and though Harmodius' words confused him very much he simply pushed that aside for later reflection. Perhaps Silence would tell him something of what was meant? Probably not, as Endiovar had not yet given his host his true name.
"My Lord?" Again, it just seemed...right to refer to this...'man' as such. He had noticed the tail-squeeze as well as the subsequent rapid release, but wasn't going to question that when he'd had a question pressed to him. "Yes. It's very warm." Ivynian He remained still for moments after Colin's words, letting the raw mortal regard filter in. Then shifted his hand more centrally in the same location, dipping down at the same time to kiss the boy. As he pulled back, letting go of the dancer completely, he smiled. "If you hold a heated towel over the stone during this stage, it may assuage some of the aggravated skin. " Syrie Harmodius would get a surprised little gasp from the shift of his hand and a soft, throaty sound when he kissed Colin. Whether it was because Harmodius reminded him of Adrian or because it was Harmodius, Destruction...the deity very nearly could have done anything he wished.
"I'll try to...remember that." He didn't mean to be so...malleable towards the god, but he was. And later? He'd wonder just what the hell he'd been thinking to behave in such a manner...but for that moment?
He was very nearly owned. Ivynian He imagined the likely following recreation the dancer may partake in, his lips splitting his smile into fangs, "Think on me later, Colin. Was there anything else I could put to ease in your mind? "Since I have not in your body. His wings were perched high, proud and pleased. Syrie "Yes..." The blond sighed just a little bit; he could only think of one other thing for the moment - if he had questions beyond these, they would have to wait for another encounter; his brain was not wanting to cooperate with him.
"Just one thing...I'm going to change, I know....but...how long--?" There was something in Harmodius' stance that made him feel a bit small and silly for asking how long he would have before he started changing. That he would change some he had no doubt, though he did not quite realize how completely it might be. Ivynian He gave a slow, self-satisfied smile, shifting his wings dramatically. "That depends entirely on you, Colin. Change is inevitable, and necessary, for you to have the power to achieve your desires. The more you bond with the deity in your gem, the more you talk with him, learn from him, the more you act on your joint desires....the faster you will change. The more rapidly you will achieve....everything "The final word implied so much more, feelings on the tip of dreams that flashed like a hazy cinématographe through the recesses of the boy's mortal brain. But they were just ghosts in mist, implications implanted by the smile of Harmodius. "If you want an exact count of days, that I cannot give you. There is no meaning in such an exact, not now that you belong to my race. " Syrie The blond listened carefully, prompted by the little "voice" inside that belonged to Silence-himself; sound in his head swelling without words to show him the import of what was being said. "Thank you my Lord..." He would change, but it would not be him ignoring the gem until something happened -- he would have to participate. Why the blond had ever thought it would be otherwise, he didn't know; likely it had been fear that had kept him from pressing into the mystery of the gem and it's 'resident'.
The word "Everything" sent a slow chill down his spine and sparked excitement in his chest - everything and nothing was in that one word. Here Destruction offered him entire worlds at his fee; yet again he would accept: this time, with an understanding instead of the desperation that had caused him to accept the gem in the first place.
"No," The dancer paused, wetting his lips as they were suddenly as dry as his throat; "Thank you...for explaining that much." A knot formed in his gut. He remembered - how could he have forgotten? The pain and the anger, the abuse - the blackmail and the constant dread that he had pushed aside briefly. The power he'd sought so that he could rid himself of the Italian...so he could finally put Adrian and all of that behind him. So he could live again. How could he have forgotten? But he remembered. One little word from Destruction and it all came crashing back. Everything.
Finally! The boy had forgotten why he had accepted him in the first place; his life was full and he had companionship and other things to think about. It was only when Colin dreamt, when he allowed thoughts of Adrian and Zio to flow through him that Silence had any sway. Destruction reminded his host of his bond and of the pain that had led to it; he would be ignored no longer.
Perfect.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:45 pm
...// Solo - Getting to Know Thyself
Things had settled more between the blond dancer and the Deity housed in the gem at his hip since Colin's rather...interesting encounter with Harmodius/Destruction. Things he'd forgotten - things he'd pushed from his forethoughts with a mulish mindset had been reminded to him; things that made him once more fool-hardy enough to accept that perhaps loosing parts of himself for revenge wasn't all that bad after all...
Colin lay sprawled out on the floor of his apartment; Illa was taking a shower or the Andorian would have heard him muttering to himself (except, really...Colin wasn't muttering to himself: he was "talking to Silence.
"Okay, I know I've asked this a couple times, but just to be sure I've got it straight...you've been getting stronger this whole time you've been stuck inside me? I mean, in the gem inside me?" He sighed and pushed at his curly hair with the back of one hand while staring up at the ceiling and it's network of cracks and shadows. "And that's why my skin looks and feels funny?"
'Something like that, yes.' Words, even ones "uttered without true sound" were hard for the God of Silence. Yes, currently he was forced to use them to communicate his needs, thoughts and observations...but he longed for a time when he would no longer be restricted to the vestiges of sound.
Sound was fine - without Sound there would be no gauge for Silence, but...well, one could imagine that the 'Sachem Aphonic' would be much more comfortable utilizing his own realm of influence.
Besides, Endiovar's silences spoke more than words ever could.
How creepy and weird! Every time he had it confirmed, it made him think just that.
And yet it did make sense. Especially when the blond paired this with the way his skin had been changing recently. Ever since Destruction had warmed the gem and cooled the itch in his hip, his flesh had been changing color and texture (the real reason was that Colin had started communicating with Endiovar more; thus giving the imprisoned God more of a hold on his host).
Colin mused on this and let one hand slide down his face, his neck. Lower past the ribs that stood out under the thin cotton of his white T-shirt and down to where the gem rested in his left hip. He let his fingers run over the changed skin lightly; it felt different, but he couldn't have explained just how it was different.
The coloration was pale and had blues and golds that seemed to blossom from under the surface -- though he was almost certain it was a trick his eyes were playing on him. Colors did not just blossom from under one's skin!
Colin lay on the floor, musing quietly about/with/on Silence while listening to the soft thrum of the water into the shower cut off. Before the Andorian came out, he had but one question for his 'guest':
"So...ah, did you have a name before?"
The answer was short, sweet and simple.
'Endiovar.'
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:46 pm
...//Solo - In the Movies Colin hadn't questioned Illario too intensely when the Andorian had asked him to hit up the local video rental store to pick up a few specific videos from one of those Sci-Fi series. He kind of figured it was curiosity born from spending copious amounts of time on the internet (though really it was that Morgan-girl's fault!) - Illa wanted to know how and why some people (Morgan) knew about what he was.
It wasn't like it was a big deal for him to go pick up a few things for his blue-skinned room mate; really it wasn't. What might have been a big deal was that while doing so, Colin ended up being stuck with an overly chatty, bored and obviously Trekkie video store clerk for what was nearly two hours...it was only after he'd reiterated his "I've really got to get back home to start my research for that paper" spiel for the fifth time that he was finally released; that he was able to pay for his rentals and get the hell out of the store before hearing more about Klingons, Tribbles and...whatever else.
When he got home after having been "thoroughly" debunked on the Andorian race (as it was portrayed in the Star Trek series), he was still laughing about it. Illa got to hear the whole story and just shook his head and smiled.
Colin would leave Illa to his movies after having explained the remote control and the DVD player. Twice. The alien kept muttering that the damn thing should be voice activated - the dancer totally agreed, but it wasn't so the blue-skinned man had to struggle with it while Colin grabbed a shower before going back out.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:48 pm
Prolixity Topaz has nothing to do. Garnet is gone. Opal is busy. Opal shoos Topaz away whenever she tries to go and curl up with her god. (Topaz is a little jealous, too; her god is curled up with someone else.) So Topaz has brought her ball downstairs, and is exploring. She has poked about the throne and the statues, careful of the lava; she has found that physical things can hurt her, since she got her hands. She has poked about the kitchen and eaten a few things. She has gotten bored. Right now, her ball has gotten lost underneath the refrigerator. It is only just beyond her reach. She stares at it and makes unhappy sounds. Syrie Colin had spent a bit of time getting more familiar with his jewel-sealed god, and that meant he was much more likely to return to the Edel shop - as he had that day.
Of course, he was stilll not used to seeing some of the stranger things that popped up while he was visiting such places. For instance - the cat girl that was making unhappy sounds while staring at the fridge that he had been wanting access to (to get a drink, of course).
"Uhh....can I, er...help you?" Prolixity There is someone! Topaz twists around and sits. A human, unless he is not. He looks and smells like a human, though. She folds her tail over her lap and stares up at him with her best forlorn expression. "My ball," she says. "It went under. Help me?" Syrie Yes. Human - but with a gem in his hip. The dancer's lips pulled into a little bit of an uncertain smile...this wasn't the first time that he'd come to the shop and found himself helping out someone....something? First time, it was Illario, the Andorian (he'd found out that Andorians were apparently on some TV show called "Star Trek")...then there was Lorelai the Pooka. Now a girl with a cat tail and uh...yeah.
"Your ball is under the fridge?" His glass was set down and then he came closer the fridge and tried peeking under it, arse in the air. It was too far under for him to fetch...but if he got a broom or something...maybe? "Okay, it's under there...we'll get it out, okay?"
Why on earth did he keep doing this?
'Because you are a kind person...now help the kitten.' Silence's voice rippled quietly across his host's brain, like a caress. He thought the catgirl might be an Aoide...if she were here, it was likely - though from what he'd learned of this place - anything was possible. Prolixity "Yes. Under the fridge, yes please, thank you." Topaz peers under the fridge with Colin, helpfully pointing out the ball. It is a small one, but it is her favorite, and she would be sad if she lost it. "Thank you, nice person." She tries one more time to reach the ball. Just in case. Still no. But the nice person will get it for her; she rubs her cheek against his shoulder happily. Syrie "So...I'm Colin, what's your name?" She was rubbing her head against his shoulder just like any cat (made sense, she had the ears and tail, didn't she?) was...so he might as well know her name!
While he was looking around the kitchen area for a long-handled anything that might help him fish her ball out from under the large appliance, he made more small talk. "How did you get here, anyway? Or do you live here?" Prolixity "Topaz. Master called me Topaz when I got hands. I didn't have a name before." This makes perfect sense to Topaz; Aislin got a name because it was special, and now she has gotten a name because she is special. Before that, she was a korat, and that was all the name she needed. She prowls the kitchen, looking at things. "I live upstairs," she explains. 'With Opal and Garnet and Lord Revei. Lord Revei made me," she adds, almost offhandedly. "I love him, he is my master, but Opal will not let me go and sleep by him." Syrie "Topaz, huh? That's a nice name..." For a girl...that uh...oh man, he didn't want to think about what she meant saying "when I got hands". That just didn't make him comfortable at all - and he was already kind of jumpy around all these strange creatures that he kept meeting. Silence helped though, soothing him a bit.
There were stranger things in the world yet, after all.
"Revei? So you belong to him, like a cat or a book?" Ah! Long-handled wooden spoon - perfect!. Colin pulled his prize from one of the drawers and then went back to curling on the ground before the fridge. It was hard still, 'cause he had to twist and get his arm under there, but he probably could - if he angled right - knock the ball back up to the front so that they could grab it. "C'mon....you little..." Prolixity "Thank you. I like it, it is my name. Colin is your name," she adds, just to prove that she has remembered it and can repeat it for him. "Yes. Like a cat. Like a korat." Topaz nods firmly; Colin has got it exactly right, except that she is not quite all the way a cat. Oh, a spoon? She peers curiously at it - oh! It makes his arm longer, so that he can reach the ball. How very clever! Topaz crouches in front of the fridge so that she can pounce the ball the moment it rolls back out. Syrie 'Like a korat'? But what the devil was a korat? Perhaps someday, if he stuck around this strange building long enough to meet this Revei fellow he'd find out.
Colin smiled at Topaz and then blew the curly hair from his eyes; redoubling his efforts at getting the ball to come to them. He'd get the spoon so it would tap the ball, but it kept rolling back away from him after it moved forward a little. "I think the floor is uneven..." That wasn't going to hinder them for too long...what if he smacked the ball real hard and moved it?
It was worth a shot.
Spoon met ball, ball careened off wall to hit the paneling of the counter next to the fridge and then bounced back to roll into Colin's arm, where it got caught in the loose fabric of his hoodie and stuck. "Whoo hoo! We got it!"
The dancer slowly edged himself out from under the fridge, leaning his body back so Topaz could lean in and get her ball if she wanted. Prolixity "It rolled under and rolled far," Topaz states helpfully. Her tail lashes and her eyes widen as she waits tensely for the ball to come out. She would click her beak if she still had it. When Colin extracts her ball from the depths of the dusty darkness under the fridge, it is very fast; but Topaz is very fast too. "We got it!" she carols in response, and pounces Colin and the ball all at once. Syrie "Yeah, it did." Almost all the way to the back, but that hadn't stopped him from knocking it out so she could have it again. Dusty and with little bits of crumb...but it was her ball, sure as the sun.
Having the catgirl tackling him to get to her ball made the dancer yelp in surprise! "OH hey-- waittaminute!" Prolixity "Waitaminute?" Topaz sits politely, cuddling her ball. "I am waiting." She focuses her ears on Colin. "Thank you," she remembers to say. Syrie The girl-cat-korat sat back with her ball, obviously pleased but waiting. "You're welcome Topaz." Sitting up, the blond dancer dusts at his once navy colored sweater and wonders if maybe he shouldn't just call it a day - forgo the drink?
Possibly a good idea, and one that he felt no resistance from Silence on. "Alright...you've got your ball and uh...I need a bath. "He paused a moment, "I think it's time to get going home." Prolixity "We have a bath! It is a nice one!" Topaz smiles up at Colin. "If you are going home, will you come back and play?" Syrie Aww...she was really adorable in a wierd sort of way - like an overgrown cat with the brain of a small child to boot.
"Yeah, I'll be back to play. I come here pretty often anymore - I've got a stone in my hip." Which meant he wanted answers that he could only get by coming to the Edel shop and these halls. Topaz would likely see him many times from then on out. Prolixity "Oh! You will be a god too." Topaz drops her ball and scrambles up so that she can kneel and bow her head respectfully. Perhaps someday she will carry messages for Colin, too. "I'll be very careful to remember the words right," she tells him. Syrie The blond with the jade colored eyes blinked at Topaz strangely - what was she bowing like that for? "Uh, I guess so...Lord Harmodius said so." Must be true then, right? Destruction might have been saying it just to seduce one of the diety-hosts...but likely not, since Colin heard Silence 'talking' often enough now.
"But you don't have to kneel with me, Topaz." Remember the words right? What on Earth was this strange almost-girl talking about? Prolixity "Yes. If He says so, it is so." Topaz lifts her head. There is a kind of fearful reverence in her expression. "Okay. Then I won't." Topaz bumps her cheek against Colin's arm again. She likes him; he is a good person. She smiles at him. Syrie He sort of felt like...maybe he should be petting her like a cat - it was a compulsion, to reach his hand down to pat and pet her soft hair. Strange or not, she was a good girl.
"Alright. And I'll come back and we'll play - okay?" He smiled at the girl; it's amazing how quickly one can acclimate when one remembers that there is a gem in one's hip that houses a god! Prolixity "Yes. We'll play, okay." Topaz beams. She has made a friend. She picks up her ball again and offers it seriously to him; maybe he would like it. Syrie Colin took the ball and looked at it appreciatively before handing it back. "It's a wonderful ball...will you keep it for us to play with? I'm afraid it'll get lost in my apartment."
Thar now, she got to keep a ball to play with, and he got to feel like a gentlemen without having actually refused her gift. It was his ball now...but she would keep it safe for him! Prolixity Well, it would be terrible if the ball got lost, yes; Colin is very smart indeed, Topaz concludes. "I will keep it safe!" she agrees, smiling brightly. Syrie "Good girl, thank you Topaz." The blond reaches out to ruffle her hair before picking himself back up off the floor. He doesn't mind the weird so much, in small doses - he's starting to get used to it - but really...it was high time he went home.
Home, where an attractive blue alien was crashing on his couch. Oi vey!
"I'll see you soon." Colin smiled, shoving his hands into his pockets as he started out of the kitchen - out of the building. Prolixity Topaz purrs and waves until Colin has gone out the door. What a wonderful person~ she is so pleased. She will go and tell Opal about Colin now. Perhaps, if she is lucky, it will distract Opal and she can get on the bed while he is not paying attention. She ambles upstairs, tailtip up and swaying happily as she goes.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:54 pm
...//PRP - Strange Bedfellows He was a bad, bad little alien lost in the 20th Century. A good E.T. would stay in the apartment unless he sneaked out with Colin to go to the gym: even his furitive journeys back to the place he met Colin weren't exactly advisable. They were productive though, at least in theory. Right now he was just being dumb.
Wrapped head to toe in the same hi-my-name-is-Illario-and-I'm-here-to-rob-you outfit as the one he'd been wearing when he met Morgan, he wasn't visibly blue but he wasn't exactly inconspicuous either. It was a holiday weekend, so there weren't quite as many people out as he usually saw walking by the window, but that didn't mean he was safe. One person gave him enough trouble or even picked up the phone, and the other boys in blue would come. G-men, as the saying went, would not be far behind...
It was sweltering, especially under all his layers of hiding, but it was lovely to be out and feel the wind on his face. The apartment wasn't as bad as living on Andoria where the surface was so cold that it only barely got up to forty below in the summer, but it was still too small. He needed to stretch his legs, walk around... and get away from the couch where all the bad dreams happened. Escaping New Day for a few hours was worth almost sweating himself to death. Not so much the capture by the government, though.
He passed an older woman on the street, and could feel her eyes on his back as he went by. It was to be expected, if worrisome. Look away, look away... a small patch of green caught his eye, and he went for it. A mouldering iron gate barred his way, but it was unlocked and the hinges were greased enough not to scream. In he went - and was suddenly surrounded by children. What the hell? One of the adults came over with a none-too-friendly scowl on his face, and said something harsh and quiet about junkies not being welcome here. Drugs made people wear too many clothes in hot weather? It was a garden, he realized, his brain ignoring the man as a sudden bewildered surge of adrenaline got in the way of his thought process. Look. Tomatoes.
The man - probably a father of one of the kids considering how he was acting - shoved him, and Illario grabbed his hood before it could topple off and bolted. Where he had been wide-eyed and frozen his heart was racing and his legs were burning, the world flashing by too fast to comprehend. He ran down seven streets before he was able to calm down enough to figure out where he was. He was too wired, too muddled after the bad sleep with the dreams to locate the apartment from here. But the gym, that he could find.
He broke a side window to get in, cutting himself and leaving a little blood behind. Jittery and scattered, he ignored it. It was only a little blood, and besides, it was the wrong color for anyone to really worry over it. He fell asleep in the closet, and dreamed of music.
***
Once night fell his eyes snapped open, and the Andorian took a moment to freak the hell out about where he was. Five whole minutes of blubbering and his mind tapped him on the shoulder and held up a sign with the needed information. Oh. Right. The broom closet on the first floor of Colin's dancey-gym thing. Okay. Not fantastic, but a hell of a lot better than the government lab he'd been convinced he'd been dragged to...
He blamed the bad dreams and promptly escaped the building. It took him a good hour and a half of careful study and back tracking, but he finally found the apartment. There was even a light on! The alien rushed up to press the buzzer, moving so quickly his hood fell off.
Bzzzzzz. Be home Colin, alone!It wasn't luck that Colin was alone. He was actually quite pissed off about it, he'd had a girl over but had realized that he could not hop into bed with her because of the damned gem in his hip.
So now he was a little bit tipsy as well as annoyed. He'd started drinking about an hour before Illario's panicked run from the studio back home and was now feeling much warmer - but much more depressed - than before despite having mostly been nursing his drinks.
The sharp, insistent buzzing from the door jolted him from his drowsing on the couch. "Oh for the love of--" But before the blond got too irritated with things, he reminded himself it might be Illa and so he wobbled over to buzz the Andorian inside.
"Come up!"
Maybe he'd chastise him for running out like that!The Andorian charged up through the door and up the stairs, finally pushing his way through the apartment door and leaning against it once it was shut. Sighing heavily, what with it being wonderful to be back in a safe place again, he stripped off his clothes as he walked towards the bathroom, calling over his shoulder as he turned on the water. "I'll be right out."
Ugh. He was hot and sweaty and smelly and shaking from the adrenaline drain from his system. Not good.Illario's swift entry into the apartment sort of shorted out whatever bitching the human had been about to spring from his tongue; instead he followed the blue-skinned alien, dumbfounded.
Just what in the hell had happened to Illa?
"Man, what happened?" Colin stood in the door way, idly rubbing at the changed skin surrounding his gem. Normally he wouldn't have chased the Andorian down, but...well, he was tipsy and curiosity trumped his usual manners."Bad dreams." He answered hollowly, tossing off his boxers and climbing in under the cold water. Beyond the beat of the shower on his skin, he didn't really care what happened. "I think I'm going crazy. Or am crazy. One of those.""Bad dreams beat you up?" At least, that's kind of what Colin got from Illa's strange behavior; plus the Andorian was bruised or scraped up in a few places. The blond padded over to the toilet, pulled the lid down and sat so they could talk. "Why? You hearing voices or something?""No, your gym did that..." Well, and his running around like a blind crazy man, but hey. The blue man turned, putting his face under the spray for a long moment before speaking again. "Sort of. Maybe they're just waking dreams, I don't know. It's been hard for me to sleep for the past... lots of weeks. Yesterday I left the apartment in broad daylight just to escape it, and ended up sleeping my terror off in a broom closet. Ugh."His gem? Wait, no...Illa probably didn't mean the gem in his hip beat him up - so he must have been referring to his dance studio; technically it was a gym of sorts. "Jesus Illa - maybe you shouldn't be sleeping alone, y'know?" Waking dreams? Colin couldn't help but wonder what the Andorian might be dreaming about that was upsetting him so much, but he didn't want to ask.The Andorian laughed softly. "Since my last boyfriend won't be born for another four hundred years or so, I think I have to."Illa sounded a little strange and for the first time, Colin really thought about what it must mean for his alien friend to be in this place at this time. He stood up and peeked his head into the shower, blinking a little as the steam smarted his eyes; "So sleep with me."The Andorian cocked his head, antennae wiggling at Colin in confusion. "What?"After having spent so much time with his alien room mate, Colin had become semi-fluent in "antennae-speak" to know that he'd sort of confused Illa. "Harder to have a nightmare when you've got a bedmate, right?" It sounded right to him - but what did he know, he wasn't exactly sober.He'd been hinting towards this for weeks, and yet now Illario was suspicious. He shut off the shower and grabbed a towel, rubbing the water out of his eyes. "Are you inebriated?"Inebriated or not, he probably would have made the offer; it was just that he had no tact when tipsy. There had been a frisson of tension between them in that vein for a while now; Colin had just pushed it to the side of his mind because of all the stranger things going on (like his skin changing color/texture!)
"A little." The dancer agreed, then pursed his lips a bit. "It wouldn't matter if I weren't. My offer'd stay the same." A part of his brain tried to tell him that this somehow qualified as taking advantage of Colin, but Illa actively squashed it. He'd think more clearly later. "Well, that's all right then."It wasn't taking advantage of him; really it wasn't. If Colin had been "rip-roaring" drunk or unable to walk a straight line...that would be one thing, but he was able to reason and think on his own (albeit muzzily) so it was a conscious offer. Illa could find that out later though.
"So...why were you at the studio?" Had it been anyone but Illario, the dancer would have been questioning the "how" rather than the "why".He chuckled quietly and stepped out of the shower, pulling a towel from it's rack and wrapping it around his waist. "I got lost and it was the only thing I could find in my haze of terror."
His hand throbbed at him, and he looked down to find dark blue blood dripping from his palm once more. "Damn it. Do you have a bandage?"Well now, that certainly made sense. Beyond the confines of the apartment and the charred space where the Pantheon was located, Colin's dance studio was pretty much the only place that Illario had much experience with.
"Man, you must have really been scared.." It wasn't an insult. He actually sounded impressed that something could have disturbed his friend that much...honestly, Colin was super curious about what he'd been dreaming about. This was what the dancer was mulling over when Illa noticed the wounds on his hand bleeding again.
"Oh shi-- yeah, just wait a second." The blond skittered out of the bathroom to fetch the first aid kit he kept handy under the kitchen sink; once it was in his hands he returned to help Illa staunch the bleeding and doctor his wounds."Thanks. See? The inside matches the outside." He was trying to be cheerful, and to some extent it was working. Interacting with a person outside of his brain was a very helpful thing.
"Yeah... I bumped into these people and I wasn't in my right mind and suddenly I was convinced they were going to tear me to pieces-" Illario stopped himself and took a breath. Hyperventilating wouldn't help anything.Colin chuckled at that - he could well remember asking about what color Illario's blood happened to be....and his expression of disbelief when told it was blue. Now he knew. "Yeah, and I already know the carpet matches the drapes. Good to know you're color coordinated."
Humor was good in a lot of situations; it could help diffuse so much tension - lovely thing, that.
"Oh man, I bet -- I would have jumped out of my skin." He whistled and petted the blue hand he had just bandaged gently. "But it's okay now, you're home and there will be no vivisections tonight."The Andorian cocked his head at his roommate's response, confused. "But you've never seen my living quarters back home." Of for goodness- did he just say that? It's an expression, Illa. Stop being a dumb alien about it.
"Oh, good. They can be so messy after all." He plowed on into the rest of the conversation, pushing through a small smile. "I'm dead on my feet here. Can we go to bed?"The look of confusion on Illario's face was comical, as were the subsequent words and reactions. Colin just let his "new" bedmate muddle through and didn't tease him about it; sometimes the differences in time and space got them both into a bit of trouble (the "foot-in-mouth" variety)...he figured it was just easier to move past it.
"And I sure as hell wouldn't be cleaning it up." The blond shuffled out of the bathroom with a head-bob of a nod; bed sounded absolutely divine to him right then - especially since he'd have someone warm to snuggle up to!"You'd have to get a service then, as I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be in any shape to help." He said, following Colin to the one room he'd been good about staying out of during non-daylight hours. He balked at the doorway for only a moment, willing himself to walk through.
"Oh hey - do you have a pair of clean boxers I could borrow? In my brain-breaking terror I forgot to do laundry today."The blond just smiled and shook his head; a service? Oh no - that would have been far to expensive. Best to just not think about vivisections and things of that nature. Illario paused at the doorway to his bedroom for a moment and Colin wondered if he were having second thoughts on sharing a bed...but then he moved forward and that was that.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah...give me a second." Colin tugged his shirt off and made his way to a medium sized dresser, sliding out the top drawer and picking out a pair of soft boxers with a vivid (we're talking almost day-glo orange) clown fish pattern to them. Definitely purchased for sleeping, rather than daily use. "Here," he said as he tossed the shorts to his room mate, "Those should work."Illa raised an eyebrow at the gifted shorts, before dropping his towel and pulling them on. "Classy. And they match my skin color so luridly too!"
He glanced at the bed, clasping his hands behind his back. "So, um, which side of the bed do you normally sleep on?""It's that, or pink hearts. Take your pick." Both had been gag gifts to him from an ex-girlfriend.
Which side did he usually sleep on? Colin thought about it for a minute and then shrugged, "I lay on my right side because of that gem...I'd rather have the left side of the bed but it doesn't matter." He could get up and go to the bathroom or whatever from either side - no biggie."I'll keep these, thanks." He said, making a face.
Illa sat on the bed, not making a move to get under the blankets. "Okay. Right side it is.""I thought you might." Colin tugged out of his jeans and pulled open a different drawer - soft cotton pajama pants were his goal; he refused to wear underwear to bed: it just wasn't comfortable. He turned a little bit away from Illa out of habit while he swapped his boxer-briefs for the soft blue and grey striped pj pants.
The blond looked down at his left hip and fingered the discoloured skin and cool surface of the gem embedded there. When he looked up again, he gave the Andorian a self-depreciating smile. "Sorry." Why was he apologizing? Bah.
Colin kicked his discarded clothes into a little pile near his dresser (he'd pick it up at a later time...like, when he did laundry) and moved to join Illario on the bed. Okay, a little weird to have a bed mate after all this time...but it'd pass. Right?
"So...""I think this is the part where we lie down." Illario said with a grin. "Although it feels weird since... well, I'm used to... um, a 'preamble', I guess."The dancer returned Illa's grin with one of his own; it was weird for him too -- even with his inhibitions down a little. "No kidding." Not since his separation with Adrian had there been anyone he'd taken to his bed; it wasn't a matter of mourning over love lost - just one of those things. "I'm used to arguing first." They had squabbled a lot. :>
Illa's situation wasn't much better - hell, he'd said his last lover wouldn't be born for another 400 years! How crazy was that?"I hope that arguing transitioned into something fun." He said cheerfully, taking a moment to turn purple when he realized how that could be taken. "Cause otherwise it just sounds like a bad way to go to bed with a guy- person- someone- you know what I mean."
Why was his foot in his mouth now? Damn it, he was usually good at this stuff!A mischievous quirk came to Colin's lips, "Oh, you could say that..." Fun? Yes. Being bedded by Adrian had typically been "fun" - among other things. "Holy -- Illa, you're purple!" Blushing? Red blush + blue skin = purple?
Colin reached over and touched the alien's mouth with one finger to stop the word-babble coming from him. "Yeah, I know. It's okay.""Oh, yeah, it doesn't make any sense, since my blood is blue but-" Colin's finger cut him off. He took a breath, looking the other man in the eyes before gently moving his hand away.
"What are we doing here?" He asked quietly. "I need rules."Didn't make sense - you'd think he'd go some royal blue color...but no, purple it was; later, Colin might think back and muse that alien physiology was interesting. Then again, he might not.
"I...really don't know." He was comfortable and Illa was warm and they'd spent so much time together...what were they doing? Finding comfort in another living being, most likely. Also there was their friendship and a definite attraction (at least on Colin's part), which made it even harder to try to sort out what was or wasn't going on between them. "I can't give you rules Illa, I'm trying to learn them myself.""I ask because... well, I'm used to Terrans. You're less used to me." He flexed the hand still on Colin's wrist, pulling it towards himself while he leaned towards his companion. "I don't want to freak you out."Colin had a brief flash back to what it had been like with Adrian when the actor was still "in costume"; only, this wasn't a costume -- Illa really was an alien. The question was: was it a problem?
"I'm used to you now." Colin didn't jerk or startle though he did purse his lips a bit; really now - afraid of what? The Andorian was built very similarly to humans...he knew that. No, he wasn't going to freak out."Good. That would kind of ruin the moment." The Andorian leaned in closer, pausing for a moment before pressing his lips to the terran's. Mmmm. He'd missed even this little touch.Colin watched Illa's head move in for a kiss; it was kind of odd or maybe rude to keep one's eyes open like that, but he'd not gotten to be that close - he wanted to see if his eyelashes were pale too. Wierd thing to want to know, but something that popped into his head at that moment. Now, once his curiousity was satisfied; once Illa's warm lips were touching his own...the blond closed his eyes so he could just enjoy the moment.Illario finally leaned back, hand still on Colin's wrist and his thumb tracing circles on the back of his hand. His eyelashes were pale, although an ashy gray instead of near-sterling white. He watched the other man, surprised to find himself waiting for the moment he leapt away in "Ewww alien!" disgust.
Not that Colin was lovely and everything, it's just that 20th Century terrans were known for their odd hang-ups.Colin's eyes slowly opened and a slow smile spread across his lips; no "Eww, alien!" from the blond - honestly, half of the time he forgot that Illarrio wasn't completely normal (skin color notwithstanding).
"I don't know why...but I was expecting blueberries." The taste, that is. Even though he knew better, he'd still expected that there would be some different or exotic taste. The thought made him smile; as did knowing that the Andorian's lashes were a muted dove-grey and not the same slightly off-white of his hair. Illario snorted. "And that would make you what, peaches?"
He sighed, flopping on his back and stretching comfortably. "If I fall asleep on you, it's because I've had a long day and the bed is comfy, not that you aren't wonderful and hot. Cause you are.""Maybe. Or cream." The blond settled down into the bed next to Illa with an amused smile pulling at his lips. He knew the Andorian had to be exhausted from the fright he'd put himself through; the other's body language clearly spelled out T-I-R-E-D (but interested!).
"Mmhmm...well, don't worry...I won't kick you out of the bed for falling asleep. This time." Nope, as a matter of fact, Colin might just be a really sweet guy and smooth Illa's fluffy hair a bit. Illa wasn't the only tired one either - once the lights were out, it was anyone's guess how long his pretty green peepers would stay open!"How about both? Tis a tasty combination." He snaked an arm around Colin's waist, tugging him close.
"Well, aren't you kind." He smiled languidly, kissing his companion again. "So giving."Colin settled in against the blue-skinned alien and snorted a bit. "Too sweet for my tastes." But he didn't mind being peaches and cream...
"Yup. Regular humanitarian...or Andoritarian. Whatever." Illario would find out just how giving he could be one of these days; for the moment Colin was content right where he was - being able to touch, being touched and kissed - that was a really good feeling.He chuckled against Colin's lips. "I like it. You can be the head of Andoritarian International." He kissed down the other man's jawline and neck, resting his head on his shoulder once he got there."It'll be great, I'll change history." Or...maybe he'd just enjoy being kissed and nuzzle at Illa's hair contentedly while long fingers felt out the lines and muscles of Mr. Alien's body.
The unresolved tension that had been building between them was eased a bit with this closeness and he was relaxing more (even if his hip was itching again). His antennae collapsed against his forehead, limp with contentedness. If he'd been capable, he would have been purring. "If I fall asleep now, it is completely your fault."
He nibbled Colin's collar bone, sliding his hands down his back."Oh sure, blame the terran..." As though he were the reason Illa was sleepy! Ha!
The blond dancer arched his back reflexively under Illa's hands; purring indeed! Too bad humans and Andorians couldn't purr - the most Colin could do was stretch like a cat and press his lips against blue skin. "Mm...you should keep doing that--"Illa grinned and pressed his fingers deeper into Colin's back muscles, kneading in lieu of having any professional idea about massage. "You know, if you're sore from dancing or something you really shouldn't over-exert yourself..."Oh ho, was he going to get a back rub? Because he would totally climb atop Illa and straddle him so it was easier for the Andorian to get at his back. "Who said anything about being sore? That just feels good." "Well, don't expect to much: I'm not trained or anything." He did his best, only his upper hand having any sort of leverage.
"This is completely the wrong angle." Illa huffed under his breath, his lower wrist starting to complain."Doesn't matter, it feels good." Colin snuggled down against Illa with a contented sigh...at least, he was content until the alien started complaining.
"I'm sorry...where do you want me then?" He wanted a rub now; despite the fact that he did know Illario had had a long day and was tired, despite the fact that he himself was generally a very giving person...he was being selfish. Colin was loath to give up being petted and loved on."Hmm? Oh, I just need better access to your back. And I'm lazy, so I refuse to sit up." His hands stilled so he stretch and rotate his wrist in an effort to make it stop aching.Better access...oh hay! Colin had a bright idea; he half-slid back onto the bed where he'd been before but curled with his back towards the Andorian. "Better?" If not...well, he'd just give up and nestle back against Illa anyhow; laying on his right hip as he was felt a lot better for him than laying on his left hip anyway.Illario responded by digging in to Colin's back muscles with his fingers, rubbing and massaging. He worked from his lower back up to his neck, and then back down again, his nails lightly grazing the edge of the other man's bum.
"Much less painful." He said with a grin, kissing his neck."Oh my gooood..." The dancer groaned happily and arched his spine again; even without training the rubbing from Illa felt like amazing. Plus, there was that added something between them that made it even better for the blond.
"Mmmhmm..." He twisted the top half of his body a little so he could maybe coax a strangely angled kiss from his alien counterpart.Illario happily returned the kiss, hands trailing over Colin's thighs. "You're going to break yourself in half."Colin grinned over his shoulder and winked. "You have no idea how flexible I really am....but you'll learn." "That sounds both fun and ominous all at the same time." He said with a raised eyebrow, attacking Colin's side with tickles.Illa's tickling caused him to curl in on himself, back arching towards the blue-skinned alien. "No no! Stop that!" He was laughing and squirming and trying to get away...only not?Illa wrapped his arms around Colin's waist and tugged him over, trying to roll him on to his back. "You're not very good at escaping, are you?"Since Colin was mostly concerned with not being tickled, he was fairly easy to roll - eyes wide and color high from the exertion of his attempted escape (feeble as it were). "No. Yes. I mean, who's escaping?" But he had been...from the tickling. He just wasn't anymore.Illario chuckled, leaning down and kissing Colin long and slow. When he finally released him, he leaned back on his elbows with a crooked smile. "As long as you're not escaping, shall we do something fun and quick before I collapse?"By the time Colin could breathe through his mouth again, he would have said yes to just about anything Illa brought up. "Mm, I'm up for anything." The blond's color was high and his chest rose and fell in a slightly ragged rhythm quite unlike his usual steady breathing. A blue hand slid slowly down the human's body. "If only I were awake enough to take full advantage of that.""There's no hurry." Colin leaned up for another kiss; the muscles of his stomach bunching and shifting under Illa's slowly descending hand. There was no hurry - they had the night and then the morning, after they'd both rested up of course. Illa was tired, but Colin would wear him out even more before either got to sleep.-Fade to Black-
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:56 pm
...//Silent And Still(( Joined RP of Nergal and Colin/Endiovar. )) Syrie "You're a bugger, you know that? I had errands to run today...but now I find myself here again." The blond grumbled a little as he looked about the barren, charred remains of the area surrounding the Pantheon. He wasn't yet able to actually see aforementioned building, but he knew it was close - for whatever reason, he could now feel it when it was near.
The scent of burning and ash tickled his nose. This place was never kind on his senses.
'You cannot feel the Pantheon, child. You are feeling the power of those that dwell within.' Endiovar's voice slid across the back of the blond's throat - not causing a sound though the green-eyed dancer certainly heard the Diety.
"Harmodius? Or do you think I'll meet someone else this time?" And inside his head, were he still (naively) thought he had some small degree of privacy despite all the evidence to the contrary: 'Preferably normal...'
A sheer impossibility, but the boy couldn't be blamed for dreaming! Thabara
It hadn't been long now since Lien had entered the Pantheon.. Nergal had put some distance between himself and the imposing structure in the meanwhile, and settled down on the remnants of a broken wall, waiting. Just as he had told Lien he refused enter the temple, but the least he could do was to wait for her return and safely escort her back to Echo's house.
Idly he touched the surface he was sitting on - it was surprisingly smooth, the stones looking glazed over, as if they had been exposed to great heat. He had no doubt that this was indeed what had happened. Brows furrowing he glanced up at the looming black silhouette of the Pantheon. He was close enough still to be able to keep an eye on its massive doors and observe everyone who would step outside, but not as close as to be immediately spotted himself. Especially by a certain red-haired, rather hostile acting mother goddess whom he still hadn't figured out how to deal with, he thought grumpily.
At least the direct surroundings of the temple seemed to be delightfully void of the presence of mortals, or just any living being. Only the Shades of the Dead were wandering the devastated streets, whispering and bemoaning their fates, unaware there was someone who could hear their pleas. Yet they still started to gradually draw closer to the quiet deity in their aimless wanderings, as if Nergal was the center of some gravitational pull that was impossible to escape from. Syrie The closer the dancer came to the imposing structure that housed His lord Destruction the more he felt the power that was hidden away within. That wasn't the only thing Colin felt, however; a pin-prickling at the back of his neck...an inexplicable chill running down his spine.
There was something else here too.
"Endiovar...? Do you feel that?" Stupid question, really. Stupider still to be talking aloud to someone that spoke only inside your own head.
'I sense things the same as you, currently.' Meaning, yes. He felt and sensed that there was something else wandering the charred remains of what must have been a lavish, lush and exotic garden. 'There seems to be something nearby drawing energies to it... Silence wanted to find out, and he made that want known in a quiet manner; making Colin's limbs tingle just a little so his host would get the idea.
The blond sighed and closed his eyes a moment, ignoring the tingling feeling in favor of seeing if maybe he could feel out the way the energy was moving. "Man...this place really knows how to creep someone out..." Thabara
Well, almost devoid of mortals, Nergal corrected himself with a slight hint of annoyance when he picked up a male voice in the distance - a voice which clearly belonged to someone still part of the Living World. Not long and the owner of said voice wandered into sight, a young man whose downright normal attire was a sharp contrast to the battered and ruined surroundings, and talking to.. himself?
Unlikely, Nergal thought, the corners of lips twitching slightly. Not here with the Pantheon so close.
So, host and deity it was. Better to make his presence known then, he decided with a quiet sigh and slipped down from his seat on the wall. To remain in hiding any longer seemed inappropriate especially since they already seemed to have noticed 'something'. To not encounter any others of his kind so close to the Pantheon had been wishful thinking anyway.
"Greetings," he spoke softly as he stepped out into the open, the intangible mist of his wings swirling slightly, "to both of you." If his guess was wrong, he realized, this would turn out to be rather embarassing for him. Syrie Colin hadn't been paying nearly enough attention to his surroundings because he was both tuning the desolate place out and also because he was lost in through trying to figure out just what might be drawing the....whatevers.
Which is why he jumped when addressed by the blue skinned (another Andorian - no, no antennae) person; it even took him a few moments to realize that the dark haired, semi-winged oddity had addressed both he and Endiovar.
'Well, greet him - don't be rude. He is one of us.'. Good advice from the peanut gallery; Colin would take it once he'd had a few moments to look over yet another stranger in this strange land. Meanwhile, Endiovar would be puzzling over which of the deities had been reborn into this new flesh.
"Uh...hi." The dancer looked curious and perhaps a little bit wary; after all...he didn't know who or what Nergal was - he knew enough to be a little bit careful in this place, thanks to Endiovar. "How did you know? I mean, that there were - are two?" Thabara
Nergal raised a brow, vaguely amused by the reaction his appearance had caused. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened - though he was never sure if it was that mortals just generally tended to overlook his presence, or if they had been distracted by the spirits of the dead they sensed closeby.
"You were talking to yourself - so you must either be mad, possessed, or another chosen to bear a god-jewel. Considering where we are," his gaze flicked towards the Pantheon for but a moment, "I simply assumed it was the latter." He tilted his head slightly, puzzled that the blonde seemed so surprised. "It really was not that hard to guess. Unless.." He paused, wondering. "Unless you were unaware that there are more like you?" Syrie For the dancer in the baggy clothes, it was the latter rather than the former; he'd been distracted by the chill of the dead; the creepy-cold feeling that slithered across his skin because of the spirits creeping about.
"Sometimes, I think more the first two." Colin shook his head a little bit at the second question. "No...I mean, I know there are others - Harmodius and the cat-thing, Topaz told me there were. I just haven't met any others before." He frowned a little, something about this person was just super creepy to him on a personal level; Silence, on the other hand, seemed to be just fine with him.
"I'm Colin, by the way...and uh...Endiovar?" The young man tripped over the unfamiliar name; he'd always just thought of his parasitic gem-dwelling co-habitant as Silence. Being given his true name hadn't made things any easier. Thabara
So, this one had met Harmodius? He seemed remarkably unfazed by the experience, which - in a way - made it all the more amusing that he seemed so unsettled by the presence of the dead. In contrary to Destruction these poor wandering souls were largely harmless. But sometimes it made a difference to see what 'dangers' you were facing, or not to see them. Eyes half-lidded Nergal extended what little powers he had to shoo the spirits away a little, to give both of them some room.
"Endiovar," he murmured, repeating the name to see if the sound of it would dredge up some memories. There was something decidedly familiar about it, but his fragmented recollection of the past yielded nothing. How utterly frustrating. "The name is not unknown to me, but unfortunately I can connect neither domain nor the slightest shred of a memory to it. Most of what I knew of times past seems to have faded into oblivion together with my powers and my domain."
"I am Nergal, the Overseer of Souls," he introduced himself with a polite nod. "There is no Other. Not anymore." Which was not entirely correct, but seeing that his host's soul would not wake up ever again, there was no need to unnecessarily complicate things. Syrie Indeed he had met Harmodius -- as a matter of fact, he was just a little bit enamoured of the darkly alluring deity: Harmodious had given him the gem that housed Endiovar; had soothed the strange, burning itch that plagued him and had offered all this for "naught but a kiss".
The blond nodded at Nergal's murmuring of the name given Silence and then listened as the full name and title were given; though he didn't realize that the other had sent the dead away, he did feel when they left (and was able to relax a little).
"Nergal, pleased to meet you." Colin went quiet, he had a sense that Endiovar had some inkling of this person and their 'realm'...but nothing more. "Endiovar, the Sachem Aphonic." Green eyes rolled just a little at that, the titles seemed a bit ridiculous to him as he didn't realize how many deities there might be and how many spheres of influence went along with that. "I think it means something about silence. That's what he called himself at first."
Wait...did he say that there was no other now? "So...you took over then? Does that always happen?" Thabara
Ah. Silence..
"A moment of Silence to remember the dead.. Essential to most every funeral rite." Nergal nodded. "No small wonder the name seemed familiar, our paths must have crossed occassionally."
"I would assume that is the norm, yes," the blue-skinned deity answered the youth's shocked question. Apparently he just had managed to complicate things.
"There have been cases in which the deity chose to merge with their host's soul and mind, but even in those cases the host did not remain as an individual." Nevermind that unsettling rumor he'd heard about the Dragon King Tien Lung, which he downright refused to believe until he'd had a chance to confirm the truth behind for himself. Syrie Colin just nodded; what Nergal was saying rang true not just to him, but also to Endiovar. It seemed that perhaps the two had crossed paths quite a bit, though neither seemed to be able to recall.
Another disturbing answer to one of the questions that had been troubling him. "I see." So that was the true cost of his revenge huh? "Well, that's that then." At the very least, he could be practical about it; Endiovar remained quiet in his head - what happened between Colin and Silence would happen now regardless of whether the blond dancer wanted it or not; might as well be practical.
Besides, he could freak out about it later - away from Nergal.
"I guess I'll just have to wait and see." He paused and pursed his lips a little. "Are there a great many others? I mean, like you or me?"
'There are enough that we do not all know each other.' Rather, there had been before the Fall. Endiovar was pleased that his host seemed to be taking the realization that he would be "taking over" fairly well.
If nothing else, his host had proved himself to be reasonably practical. Thabara
"You do not seem too shocked about what awaits you." Nergal tilted his head slightly. Perhaps, deep down, the youth had already known what his fate would be. Or maybe it was simply ignorance, denial - a trait which most mortal races seemed to commonly share - which allowed him to act so calmly.
"It depends on what you would view as 'many', I guess. I have met perhaps a dozen, and heard of about another dozen, though I would asume there are more. Most remain without their counterpart still, and even some of the Greatest Dominions, such as Time, or Death, have not yet returned." Syrie "No, I guess not." Really though, he had kind of guessed from the way Harmodius had spoken; also from the round-about way that Endiovar answered the questions he himself asked internally.
Not that it wasn't shocking to have someone confirm it, but he was half-prepared to hear Nergal's answer and fully prepared to push those thoughts aside in favor of further information.
Here was someone that wasn't afraid to give him the straight answers he'd been seeking all this time - supposing that Nergal knew the answers. "Counterpart? So there's another Underworld somewhere...and another Silence?"
Counterparts? Greater Dominions? @_@ Mind boggling. Thabara
So. Neither the deity he housed in his body nor Harmodius Himself had told the boy much it seemed. Well, depending on Endiovar's decision he would probably cease to Be soon enough, so perhaps neither of them had seen the need to tell him more than they had to.
But for a soul to be irrevocably destroyed.. To Nergal this meant a lot, much more so perhaps than to most other deities, because of the domain he reigned. The souls of those chosen to enable the rebirth of a god would never stand before his throne to be judged for their deeds, for the way they'd led their lives. So, from his point of view, they at least deserved the truth.
"There were very few domains reigned by only one, usually the most eldest, primordial amongst us. Gaia. Death. Time. Universe. These are the ones I remember, and of these only Gaia and Universe have returned so far. Most other domains were ruled by two. Both Loves have been reborn, both Dreams as well, and I remember clearly I had a queen at my side before.. before everything fell apart." Syrie Well...honestly, that was quite possibly his own fault. The blond had kind of...ignored Endiovar for the beginning of their "life together"...it had taken a second meeting with Harmodius to convince him that the should be cooperating with the deity encased in his hip-gem. Since that point, Colin had been trying to learn what he could from Endiovar (who was not extremely talkative, go figure) and others.
He had also begun to manifest more physical changes at that point (mostly in the areas around the gem's insertion point), but that was neither here nor there at the moment.
"Ah, well...that makes sense...as much as any of this does. Gods living in gems that live in humans like a parasite...that take over your body and then go on to rule whatever their domain is. It's like a sci-fi fantasy movie with some drama and gore thrown in for good measure." The blond pushed his hair back a little with one hand and rubbed absently at his left hip with the other. "I know it's kind of messed up to say this, but thanks for telling me. About all this."
The problem with having the Deity of Silence as one's gem-dwelling co-habitant was that 1) he didn't talk much on his own and 2) when he did talk, it was more like...impressions inside Colin's head. Nergal's information might have been painful to hear and understand, but at least he had it. Thabara
"You are quite welcome. I rather dislike the ways of trickery, secrecy and deception so many of my kin seem to have chosen to deal with their respective.. hosts. No offense meant, of course." The apology was added almost as an afterthought. After all, in this specific case it might simply have been the god's very own nature which was to blame for the lack of information. "But I feel that you at least deserve to know what fate awaits you."
He glanced over his shoulder again at the massive doors of the Pantheon. They had not yet opened, so he asumed Lien had found someone - or something - inside. Hopefully it would help her gain some insight on the goddess she was bearing.
"Is there anything else you wish to know? And if not - may I ask a question of my own?" Syrie "I get the feeling that Endiovar just doesn't say much, but I can't say for any others. You're the first I've met so far. I can kind of see why stuff like that isn't common knowledge - if Harmodius had told me everything, I don't know that I'd have made the deal." Which kind of defeated the whole purpose, right?
He paused a moment as though searching inwardly. "Oh, and none taken - by either of us."
'What has been spoken is truth in it's own way.' What Silence meant was that Nergal's words regarding what would eventually happen to Colin were true, as were the dancer's words to Underworld; he simply did not "speak" much. Had his host asked specifically, an answer would have been given.
"He says we're both right." The blond hugged himself a bit, the overly-large hoodie he'd been wearing making him look larger than he was even with his arms wrapped around himself. So he could listen and understand what was being told to him...that didn't mean that he couldn't feel a little unwell at the thought of no longer being Colin.
"Hmm? Oh, uh...I don't think so. At least, not right now...I doubt you could tell me how much longer I have as me, so go ahead: ask away." Thabara
"A few months, at most, though I cannot be sure as I can only judge from my own case. If there are any affairs that need to be taken care of, I would do so - soon. My own host had about half a year, but the changes I wrought upon her body tired her out a great deal and she spent much time sleeping." Do not waste too much time, the advice remained unspoken but was still rather obvious.
"This 'deal' you made.. It is actually what I wanted to ask about. I was under the impression that you accepted the jewel of your own free will, even if you did not know all the details. Why?" He shifted a little uneasily. "Forgive me if it is not my place to ask, I was merely.. curious." Syrie
Colin nodded at the Underworld Deity's words; he had so little time left if Nergal was right! What would happen to Illa? Better question: what would the Andorian say when told that Colin wasn't going to be "Colin" for too much longer? "I see." No, but he got the unspoken message; since being "infested" with Silence's gem, he'd learned to read between the lines -- he "heard" Nergal's admonition as clearly as if he'd actually spoken the words.
"Oh, well...really, it was my choice. I just...I made a deal with Harmodius - or thought I made a deal with him - power for a kiss." Colin gave a short laugh at the over-simplification of the painful situation that had put him in the position to be speaking with Nergal as he was. "I should have known it wasn't that easy, but at the time...all I could think was that I just couldn't stand to be so weak and helpless anymore."Thabara
For a.. kiss. Suddenly Nergal's ears burned, and he prayed his embarassment wasn't as obvious as it felt. Foolish. It seems no one ever asks for wisdom when such deals are offered. Though, that is probably simply too much to ask for in this Time and Age.
"The power to protect, or the power for vengeance?" he inquired, already placing his bets it was going to be the latter. Syrie
Well now, that was kicker - he'd done it for both reasons: Colin had wanted to protect Adrian and himself from Zio's blackmail...and he had also wanted revenge. Complicated.
Far too complicated to explain when you first meet someone, god or not.
"It's...more complicated than just that, but I'll say a bit of both." The blond didn't know the source of Nergal's discomfiture, but he certainly did notice that he was bothered by what he'd said. It made him wonder what the other was thinking. "I'm going to guess you don't approve..."Thabara "Oh, but I do. Of vengeance at least, it is something I understand rather well. And the need to protect.." A tiny smile crept upon his face as his thoughts dwelled on Echo momentarily. "It is something I understand as well, I think. It is just.. There are other, possibly better things worthwile to offer your soul for. Knowledge. Wisdom." He shrugged helplessly. It wasn't really his business, he had merely been curious just as he'd said. But a part of him couldn't help but wonder what it had been like, to kiss Destruction.
"By the way - if there is somewhere you need to go, do not let this conversation keep you from doing so. I am merely waiting for the young lady I escorted to this place to return and I guess.. I was trying to make conversation to kill the time." He offered the blond an awkward, almost shy, smile. Conversation, this was easy enough to guess, was definitely none of the death lord's strong points. Syrie
Green eyes sparkled a bit as Colin's face crinkled up into a smile, "Yeah. I know. But at the time, it seemed like a good idea." Now though, maybe not so much. It was kind of like time was running out on him -- sure, he'd shared some good moments with Illario, but...he wasn't going to be around too much longer (supposing that his "transformation" followed what was, according to Nergal, typical for their "kind" ).
"Well, I did have a few errands to run today..." But Endiovar was quite happy to be near another god; and Nergal was the first to give him honest answers. "But they're no big deal." He paused and glanced over at the imposing doors to the Pantheon. "So, you're waiting on someone...is she like you- us?" Did she have a gem in her hip, was she changed like Nergal? Was she something totally, wholly different?
Nergal might have been awkward at conversations, but Colin was a nice guy and didn't mind at all; he certainly wasn't going to call Underworld out for being quiet. He was, after all, housing the god of Silence. Thabara
"Lien." Nergal nodded. "She has but recently become host to Cosine, the Goddess of Numbers, and it seems the Lady desires for someone, or something, bearing the name 'Arctang'. Since the goddess seems unable to remember more I advised her- them to seek out the Pantheon for further inquiries. Perhaps someone will remember the name, or perhaps some information may be found in the library. It might take a while," he realized.
So, the youth was curious about others of their kind? Curiosity born from the deity nesting within perhaps, or simply the need to know what would be become of him. Well, the name of Silence had been a familiar one, in a way which suggested he was someone who was to be trusted, relied on..
"If you have errands to run, please, I do not wish to keep you." After all, his time was about to run out, memento mori. "However, I took up residence not to far from here, and the Lady Echo - Music - is my neighbour. So perhaps.. you might be interested to pay a visit at a later time?" Syrie
"Lien. Cosine." Obviously, the hoodie-wearing blond was trying to keep things straight in his mind; to remember for later that there was a goddess of numbers, Cosine, being reborn through a woman named 'Lien'. Why did Colin want to know this? Curiosity. "Doesn't sound familiar to either of us...but I hope she finds what she's looking for."
He knew very well how frustrating life could be when there were only questions but no answers.
Colin cocked his head a little at the offer made by Underworld; it was an excellent middle ground for him: on one hand, Colin wanted to talk more to this quiet man, to find out what else Nergal knew...on the other hand - the dancer had an entire life to lead in a shortened amount of time. He would really like to spend more of it with Illario...
"Thank you, Nergal. I - we would like that. A lot." Thabara "I do hope so as well. We've all suffered immeasurable losses in the Fading, and I guess most of us can call themselves lucky that they recall nothing, or very little of the past.." He stroke a few dreads of his ashen colored hair, his expression thoughtful. He knew what had become of his realm, but the details what had happened back then, or what had become of his queen, still eluded his grasp..
The young god crouched down, pleased that his invitation apparently was so well-received. "Let me explain where to find my house then," he said, already drawing the first line into the ash to sketch out the way. Syrie
The Fading? Colin set that to his mind as a question for later; Endiovar wasn't being very forthcoming with information at that moment - he didn't have to speak so he was not. Nergal was instructing the blond host far better than he himself could have.
"I see...it must be hard on you guys to come uh, back missing so much." Colin could muse on that later; Nergal had crouched low to the ash-covered ground and was drawing a map - he should pay attention!Thabara "'Hard'.." The god's hand froze mid-movement, something deep within his bowels twisting and churning at the youth's careless words; and he looked up, eyes pale and cold like quicksilver. The void left behind by my destroyed realm so complete that it wont even contain Me, the souls of the dead lost and scattered and mingling with the living, my queen gone - perhaps forever.. But of course the boy had no way knowing of this. So Nergal swiftly and efficiently quashed the bitterness and hurt he'd felt, and when he spoke again, his voice was neutral, without emotion. "That would be one way to put it, yes."
He continued with his map, each line precise and looking like it had been drawn with a ruler, explaining directions best as he could. "Come by any time you wish," he finally said, raising and dusting off his clothes, "I sleep very little, so there will hardly be an inappropriate time to seek me out." Syrie
Nergal's tone, the way his body tensed in it's crouch and the little chill that ran through him told Colin all he needed to know: that had been a very careless thing to say indeed. The blond could feel Endiovar's displeasure as well as Nergal's hurt and anger at his words. Ouch.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean any offense." Colin looked very sheepish and unhappy until Nergal stood, leaving him to look down at the map so that he could commit it to memory. "Thanks...we'll come visit soon. I just kind of want to get some stuff taken care of." Truly, he appreciated what he'd been told as well as the offer from the quiet God of the Underworld.
With those words and a wave of his hand the blond dancer went on his way; there was much that he wanted (or needed) to do...and not so much time to get it taken care of...Thabara
"None taken. But I do appreciate the apology."
"I shall look forward to your visit then. Colin, Lord Endiovar." He bid them farewell with a polite nod of his head. The boy seemed to be in a bit of a hurry now that he had become aware that his clock was ticking, and Nergal almost felt a little guilty about it. Almost.
With a small sigh, feeling reliefed to be alone once more, he ceased his concentration to ward off the spirits of the dead. To keep them away from himself had just seemed.. wrong.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:59 pm
...// Solo - All That We Are - All That We Will Be Colin had left Nergal feeling slightly uncomfortable -- not because of anything that Underworld had done so much as what he had said. There was a whole block of time that Nergal's host had lost. He was lucky. Even so, there was just so much for him to get accomplished before his body became Silence's; before he no longer had any sort of control at all available to him.
In the days immediately following his encounter with Nergal, the blond haired dancer did several very important things: he set up a savings account for his sister and closed his bank account, withdrawing everything (including the portion of his savings account that he didn't transfer to his remaining younger sister) so he would have it on hand should he or Illario need it. He also went and paid ahead two months worth of rent and utilities so he wouldn't need to worry about that either. In a way it was kind of freeing, to know that soon you wouldn't be stuck fighting and struggling through life; that it wouldn't be 'your problem' anymore.
Too bad the dancer loved life and loved to dance so much. He would miss that -- er, he missed it? Sometimes Colin would get to thinking about the whole convoluted situation and it would make his head ache until he finally shoved it to the back of his mind and got back to business.
He made certain to at least call the members of his dance studio and talk with them - maybe get together one last time (not that he would tell them that it was the 'last time' they would see him like that) before the 'end'. Colin would take short trips out to visit his family too - never for very long because there was someone at home that he wanted to spend as much time as possible with.
Illa.
Stupid, wonderful alien. Colin adored him. They watched that crazy Star Trek show because Illa insisted he 'educate' himself...except he wasn't allowed to watch it alone -- the Andorian was there to add commentary correcting what the show's producers and writers had gotten wrong. It drove him crazy and he loved it. They rented movies and TV series by the season or went out at night to screw around at his studio - they swam or he would dance for the alien, maybe get him to do a few jerky movements...or they'd play a board game or shout at the idiots on Jeopardy. He'd never spent so much time with a person outside of his Studio.
Some nights they'd just order in and stay at home; sitting on the couch with their feet propped up on the scuffed up coffee table he'd purchased at some Goodwill/Salvation Army type place just for that purpose, drinking beer and nibbling pizza or popcorn (or whatever beverage/snacks they had gotten for the evening) while they watched a movie or TV or better yet distracted themselves pleasantly until they got to the point where drinks were on the floor, the food pushed carelessly aside and whatever programming playing was wholly forgotten.
He was trying to spend as much time with the blue-skinned Andorian as he could without seeming desperate -- even after all that time, he hadn't been able to get up the nerve to re-tell Illario that he was, for all intents and purposes, dying. Through it all, Endiovar was there, settling back quietly and observing things - he felt some pity for his host but as he understood that Colin had all but begged his Lord Destruction for this, he couldn't feel too badly. It was the blond's bad luck to have fallen for his room mate -- a man he wouldn't have met save for Endiovar's having been implanted into his body.
That was something the quiet, solemn god tried to get his host to understand during their down time. And when Colin was sleeping? He was up, enjoying the still-quiet and half-daydreaming about the past in little flashes and snippits. Endiovar certainly didn't mind keeping the 'take-over' slow so that his host could get things done, but he was growing impatient. Time was passing and his hold on the dancer's lovely and expressive body was growing more and more firm -- very likely he could have forced the young man's limbs to move how he wished; he just didn't. Nor did he steal Colin's voice to speak though he could have.
But if Colin didn't tell Illario soon...he would take matters into his own "hands". If nothing else, he felt his host owed his lover this much -- better to have blondie tell him rather than blondie's body with Endiovar at the fore.
'Soon...'
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:00 pm
...//PRP - We All Want Too Much (Colin/Endiovar + Nebula/Phaedra) Syrie Colin found himself wandering in the charred area around the Pantheon. Despite how creepy and just wrong the dead area was, the blond dancer found himself coming out to this place to think about things.
And to chat with Endiovar. The god liked the stillness, the silence. Naturally.
Today, however, he was checking over the mental list of things he just had to get done before Endiovar took over his body completely. He was coming to terms with the fact that eventually he wouldn't exist anymore, and his biggest fear was not being able to set things up for those the loved: Illario. His mother and sibling. He would write a letter to Adrian.
Zio would be taken care of when Silence regained his powers. That was the deal - and the god-parasite within him had promised he would take care of that.
"And I still have to play with Topaz - don't forget, even after you're in charge. You have to play with her - I promised." Talking to himself again. Bad habit, but Colin just could not get it into his head that Endiovar would hear him even without the words.
The god gave his assent - truly, he was fond of Colin (though the boy was yet a tool to his rebirth) so he was making note of all these things deemed so important by his host. Once reborn, the God of Silence would try to see that Colin's wishes had been done. Then he'd move on. Sosiqui Phaedra had driven Nebula downstairs and in circles all around the bottom floor of the Pantheon, seeking someone - anyone - to meet. The goddess' desire for the ebb and flow of divine (or mortal) interaction, for the glories of the Court, hummed like a current in the back of both their minds. But they turned up nothing, to Phaedra's irritation. But she was no fool; there would be no disturbing the gods at rest. Now was the time to play nice and look pretty, her modus operandi of old. Instead, she spurred her host to the streets outside, cocky and heedless of any danger despite Nebula's protests. The Aoide sensed the other host before she saw him, feeling the featherlight pulse of divine power that was clear to all the servants of the gods. Who is it, who? Nevermind that; move, kitten! Phaedra darted back and forth impatiently, sending soft sizzles through her host's mind as she 'paced'. Obediently, Nebula padded around the corner until the source of the power came in sight. "Hello," she said, quietly. Syrie Colin felt a little pin-prickling at the back of his neck: Endiovar really wasn't much for speech, but he'd found ways that Colin understood to get certain points across - this time, it was a warning: something approaches.
When the dark-furred Aoide appeared, the dancer wasn't put off by her ears and tail - this girl looked like Topaz, that cat Aoide he'd met before...did that mean they were alike? Probably, but Topaz had not had something in her eye like this one did. A gem? That meant she was a host too...
"Hello yourself." The young man smiled at Nebula. "I'm Colin, what's your name?" Sosiqui "Nebula..." She tilted her head curiously at him. Yes, there was definitely power there, of some sort. She could feel Phaedra nosing around, trying to get a good view, shoving at the edges of her consciousness. "Nice to meet you... and your deity?" Who is it? Who, who? Mmm, there's a delicious trace to him... desire, need. My, my... what have you done for that desire, boy? Phaedra purred. Introduce me, kitten.Nebula squirmed a bit. "The goddess Phaedra sends her greetings." Syrie The cat-Aoide seemed...intrigued, and more than just a little bit as though she were uncomfortable - could anyone blame her though? No, certainly not.
"Nebula. That's a lovely name." He paused - his diety? Oh, right. "Endiovar. God of Silence." Colin paused yet again and rolled his eyes before directing words at the diety housed inside himself, "Your title is obnoxious, I'm not going to spill it every time."
For once, Endiovar spoke inside Colin's head rather than simply giving the youth the sensations of displeasure. 'When you address another diety, you must use titles. ' The god was not angry, but he felt that titles were important - gods and goddesses reborn may only know the former titles!
He did not recall any goddess named Phaedra...but that was not uncommon - he had always stayed much to himself. Sosiqui Silence? Oh. How dull. Phaedra huffed for a moment before continuing her scrutiny. And my domain, kitten?"Um. Ruthless Desire; Greed." Nebula bit her lip, then nodded quickly as Phaedra continued to prod at her mind, hungry for information. "She says she can tell you... have a great need? desire?" Syrie "Sachem Aphonic; Silence." The blond smiled a little though tiny warning bells were going off in his head - a goddess of Greed? Oh goodness. "We are pleased to meet you both."
'Be warned, young host. A woman having ruthless desire is not one to trifle with. Guard your secrets well lest we both pay for it.' Endiovar felt that he should have known her, but alas, his memories were as dull and dim as the area around them was charred. His warning was the least he could do for the young man housing him.
"Mmm..that's right. It's what gained me the gem and Endiovar from Lord Harmodius." Though he was warned, he saw no reason to hide how he had received the god-parasite. Sosiqui Phaedra grumped at that answer. The desire was going to destroy him, all well and good - but it was going to benefit that other god, not her! That was entirely unfair. Still, it sounded like a delicious tale. What could you desire so much that you would take on a god to get it, boy? Power? Or..."I'm sorry, she's really curious," Nebula apologized, with a sigh. "About what you wanted so much that you'd take a god's gem to get it... I guess I'm a little curious, too," she added, peering at Colin. "I didn't... didn't want this, so..." Syrie
Colin cocked his head at the cat-girl, but continued smiling; he supposed that the situations in which each person got their gem were interesting to another (really, it was, he just...didn't think about it much). What drove them to accept the god-parasite?
"You didn't?" The blond was a little dismayed that someone would have a gem forced upon them -- that was something to ask Nergal later...or perhaps Lord Harmodius himself?
"I guess it's very different for everyone then, huh? Me, I wanted it. I wanted very much to protect someone I cared for...and, I have to admit it...I desperately wanted revenge." He shrugged and rubbed at the back of his neck a little, fingers slipping around to the front to finger the black plug in his ear absently. "Thinking about it now, it's pretty stupid, but at the time Lord Harmodius presented the gem to me...it was the answer to my prayers." He'd been so angry, so wounded and hurt that night in the chill and the dark...Sosiqui Phaedra purred, the sound low and rich as it rolled through Nebula's mind. Such delicious desire... that desperate hunger, yes, show me more... The goddess' full attention was on Colin now. A beautiful offering. Such a lucky god, Endiovar."Um," the catgirl stammered. "She thinks Endiovar was lucky to have found you." The emotions emanating from Phaedra were very nearly arousing, and that was just plain disturbing. She sanitized the goddess' words as she could, making them more fit for public consumption, less bizzarely... predatory. Syrie
There really was something almost creepy to the pauses in their conversation; Colin knew that it was just the goddess inside Nebula speaking, but there was this odd feel to it - totally unlike the pauses caused to his speech while feeling for any input on Endiovar's part (though as per usual, the God of Silence was being, well...silent.)
Nebula was definitely hiding something from him. Like any cat, her ears and tail told more than perhaps she would want known. The blond dancer didn't comment on what was left unsaid, but he nodded a little bit and then laughed. "I don't know that he's lucky, but I'm what he's got. He doesn't say much. Does the goddess Phaedra speak much?" Really, he was curious about what it might be like to have a deity willing to speak living inside...Sosiqui Nebula nodded. "All the time." Whether I want her to or not.Tsk, kitten. You know my voice will be the last thing you ever hear... you'll just have to get used to it. Phaedra's tone was sweet, but there was a thread of wildness running sharply through it. Your voice, now... how wretched. If only I could speak on my own...Nebula's eye lost focus and for a moment she felt the edges of her lips twitching, beyond her control - but the sensation failed quickly, and Phaedra radiated a wave of displeasure. Too weak, damn it. Too weak. You vex me, kitten.The pause as Phaedra spoke had been awkwardly long, and Nebula quickly sought to fill the void. "Um. Yeah. She... talks a lot," she said, weakly. "She'd rather talk herself, but she can't. Not yet." Thank goodness...The time will come, kitten. It will come.Syrie Another pause - Nebula and Phaedra must be conversing...and he couldn't help but send a little mental poke to his own, non-talkative god. "Huh...I bet that's nice - you might actually get some answers. I had to go see Lord Harmodius for answers...and then I bumped into Nergal outside the Pantheon and he was able to give me some more."
"Before that, I guess I'd forgotten that I wasn't going to be me much longer...."
'You listen very poorly, Colin Hargrove...' Endiovar chided his host gently, the words sliding through the blond's mind like soft silk; very unlike Phaedra's insistent and bossy "voice". 'I do not jest when I say to be wary of what you tell this Goddess - she will find ways to use what you have told her to her advantage. Such is the way with Greed...'.
How he knew, he did not know - but this goddess, Ruthless Desire was not unknown. Greed and desire was well known for causing the destruction of many a man...their deaths, so it was quite likely that both Endiovar and Nergal had been in many an encouter with Phaedra. Sosiqui Nebula's laugh was a little hollow. "I'm not me anymore. I'm not sure I've ever been me." Words she hadn't said, not to Tian Yue, not to... well, anyone. Who else was there? Toki? No. No one else. Telling this stranger and his strange and silent god... they could know. She didn't live with them, see Colin's face day in and day out. Syrie Definitely something "up" with this little kitten...she was obviously not a happy camper with her god-parasite.
"What do you mean by that?" Her words were cryptic and piqued not only Colin's interest, but that of Endiovar. Was he not the one that could hear the words she wasn't saying? Interesting indeed... Sosiqui "I only wanted... my Lord's approval and... and he never..." And the tears came, finally, stinging on the edges of the gem and trickling down her cheek from her one good eye. "He never," she wailed, sitting down abruptly. "And then I... and she..." She gestured vaguely at the jewel. Syrie Oh s**t. Oh s**t. As a guy that had dated his share of women (as well as men), Colin could easily recognise the look and sound of a girl about to start crying.
Big softly, from the first hiccoughing words, he'd all but been reaching for Nebula. There wasn't anything he could say - he didn't know the catgirl's Lord or anything about her situation save that she was the [mostly] unwilling host to the Goddess of Greed - but what he could do was drop to his knees in the ash and the dirt and pull the darkly furred girl into his arms so he could pet her hair and make soft "It's okay" sounds.
That is, if she'd tolerate that. Sosiqui Nebula stiffened at Colin's touch, then melted into it as she sobbed. She hadn't cried about any of it before, not really, and all those unshed tears came out now in force. In a way, it was better that the person holding her now was a stranger. No ties to break, no impressions to shatter, nothing. Syrie The cat-girl could sob in Colin's arms for as long as he needed to, he wasn't going to make her stop, she needed to cry - both Colin and Endiovar understood that - and so she would get no hassles from him.
Silent...no words, they were meaningless just then; only soft, comforting hands on her hair, her shoulder. Petting. That was it. Until she cried herself out. Sosiqui Phaedra muttered and grumbled in the back of Nebula's mind, something about foolish kittens and over-charitable idiots, but the Aoide didn't care. Finally, finally... she was done. She hiccuped and coughed and pulled gently away from Colin, wiping at her red and swollen eye. "I'm sorry, sorry... but... thank you..." Syrie Nebula was snuffling now, but her crying seemed to be done - the girl had sobbed for what seemed like ages. After she pulled away, the blond dug into his back pocket and offered her the rumpled piece of cloth he kept as a handkerchief.
"It's okay, here...dry your eyes..." Er, well...she only had one eye, but he didnt' bother correcting himself. It wouldn't matter to the other host. What would matter was that he was understanding: that was the whole of it. Understanding. Super scary to think that you weren't in charge of your own destiny: scary enough to want to cry about it the way she had.
"You gonna be okay?" Sosiqui "For now...? I guess, yeah..." She took the handkerchief and stared at it for a second before blowing her nose into it, hard. Then she peered up at Colin with an odd expression. "Why are you so nice to me? You don't even know me." So disappointing. Such lovely and delicious desire, enough to throw one's life away, mitigated by this... this disgusting display, Phaedra said, snidely. Syrie Why was he being so nice to a girl he didn't know from Adam? He didn't know, not really...maybe he was just that nice a guy..or maybe it was just that he felt a sort of sorry kinship with this poor, traumatized girl.
"I don't know. I guess maybe it's 'cause we've both got the same sort of future?" Being taken over by a god, losing themselves and very likely those they loved in the process. Sosiqui "Maybe," Nebula admitted, trailing one claw through the thin layer of ash on the ground next to her. "I don't know anyone else who's like me... well, I don't think I know anyone else." Ixa...Jahara, Phaedra purred. "Everyone else is... either Aoide or Star or god and what do they care? What do they care?" she mumbled. Syrie "Neither did I really...I think this whole thing is a pretty lonely place to be for anyone. No point in being a d**k to a pretty girl in need."
Charming little S.O.B.
"In my case, everyone's really weird...cat or animal or alien or god...I was really freaked out at first. I'm getting over it." The blond squeezed Nebula's shoulder gently. "Hey, you never know...they might care, but what can they do? Rock and a hard place, right?" Sosiqui They can do nothing at all. I am your inevitability, kitten."Pretty?" Nebula blinked, ignoring Phaedra and tilting her head in Colin's direction. "I... really?" She looked down at the scribbles she'd made in the ash. "I guess. Rock, yeah. Literally. In my damn eye." She laughed once, a harsh and depreciating sound. Syrie Endiovar would have agreed with Phaedra on that: neither human nor Aoide could do anything to change the fate they had accepted (inadverent or no).
Colin had less trouble with the concept than Nebula, but it seemed (from the look of the eye-socket around her gem) that she'd been...infested not that long ago; she hadn't had time to make peace with herself, with her diety.
"Definitely pretty." Even with the big golden gem peering at him out of where her eye once rested. "That's a really wierd place to put your gem...I stuck mine in my hip." And it itched and the skin there was changed and freaked him out. Illa didn't seem to be too weirded out by it though, so he tried not to worry when he noticed that the discolouration was spreading. Sosiqui "I didn't choose," Nebula said, and her hands clenched into fists. "I didn't choose to put it there," she repeated. "She did it. She did it all." Simply improving it, kitten.Syrie Hunh...now that was intersting - so not everyone got the chance to"pick their poison", so to speak.
"She? You mean the Goddess?" It didn't make much sense to him, really...how could a Goddess trapped in a gem make someone do something? That was a question he would pose to Nergal, next he saw the godling - Endiovar wasn't forthcoming with information any more than he usually was. Sosiqui "Yes..." Nebula twitched, and her tail lashed back and forth. "I didn't know what the gem was. I picked it up in a museum, looking for something to bring to my Lord as a gift... but it was so pretty... and I held it up to look through it at the light... and..." One last strangled sob escaped her. "I hate her," she hissed. Phaedra said nothing, only radiated a smug amusement. Syrie
"I'm sorry it happened like that for you Nebula...I wish I could say something that would help, but I think that...in the end, both of us just have to deal with it." Colin sighed a little and rubbed at his left hip, where Endiovar's gem rested securely in his flesh.
"I mean, I chose this - and you didn't - but...there are a lot of things I'd like to still do as me, and I'm not sure how long I'll have to do them." Which was why he could empathize, really he could. Not wholly, but enough that he felt really badly for the kitten.Sosiqui "It's okay... I'm... glad you care," Nebula said, with a sigh. "Is... is your god kind to you?" There was a thread of envy in her voice. Phaedra chuckled. Syrie Colin didn't know what to say to that - Nebula was obviously troubled. Oh, but wait! She'd asked a question he could answer for her: "I guess so. He doesn't tell me anything, but...he's not torturing me or forcing me to do anything." Sosiqui "You're lucky," Nebula said, a wry smile quirking at the edges of her mouth. "Be glad." Syrie Oh, definitely he was lucky. If there was one thing that he was learning from all this...it was that he could be far, far worse off than he was.
Endiovar may not have told him things, but really...he had it pretty damned good. "I am. And I'm sorry you're having trouble..." The dancer sighed a little, his shoulders slumping forward eloquently because he knew that there was nothing he could do for the unfortunate girl before him. "I just...hope things work out. For all of us." Sosiqui "They won't... but thank you anyway," Nebula said, her smile genuine now. "For everything." Phaedra snorted. Syrie What Colin wanted to say was that she was wrong,but he didn't know that she really was. Perhaps for him things would work out in a somewhat acceptable manner (though ye gods, why had he been allowed to find a little bit of love due to the gem in his hip only to have to lose that for the same reason?)...but Nebula? If Phaedra really was as Ruthless as Nebula seemed to feel that she was, as dangerous as even Endiovar felt...then could he really try to say that things would work out?
No. He couldn't. Not without making an a*****e of himself. All he could offer was his ear and his shoulder for whenever she might need it. "Don't worry about it Nebula. Look, if you ever need me...I can give you my address? I don't live alone, but uh...I don't think Illa would mind you coming by." Sosiqui "Um... if you want to?" Nebula bit her lip. She wasn't sure she wanted to inflict Phaedra on more people again, but... "I wouldn't mind. If you don't mind, that is." khiarhu
"Absolutely." He would just have to explain a cat-girl to Illa...though uh, since his room mate was an Andorian alien from the future, he didn't think there'd be too much trouble there.
"I don't mind at all, I'd invite you there now, but...you know, time's running out for me...and there's someone at home..." Now he was fumbling. He was thinking of home and Illa and all the things he needed to say/wanted to do.
Colin didn't want her to think she wasn't welcome or that he didn't care - because she was and he did. It really was just that thinking about home reminded him that there was a blue-skinned alien with light grey eyelashes waiting at home for him...and that he really wanted to be there.
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