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 Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:37 pm
No sooner had the figure evaporated into the darkness of his room did a shadow play across the floor in the long, rectangular light cast from the hallway. A bit jumpy Rowan's attention immediately swung to the origin elongated shadow. Golden eyes took a moment to adjust to the lighted backdrop of the figure standing at his door, but did not take long for features to meld out of the shadowed form.
"Elex." He said almost too softly, more as a reminder to himself than anything else. Grabbing the gauze and tape which had been dropped in his haste Rowan glanced back to Elex. A hand was held out and Rowan's own clammy hand clasped onto Elex's utilizing the boy assistance to return to his feet. A moment of flustering and uncertainty caught Rowan's tongue. He practically stared at Elex for several moments before finally turning away to the queen size bed draped in a plain grey duvet. His seat from earlier in the day still indented on the opposite side from where he now planted himself on the closest edge.
An internal struggle. What to say? What to do? how much had Elex heard? Had he seen? Was there any chance that he could wash over what had just occurred? Make it all seem like rowan had just been merely clumsy even though such an admittance would bother him so? The question was, which would bother him more? If he chose wrong, would Elex turn away from him?
Leaning forward to rest his arms on his legs he sucked in a breath as his bite marked protested the position. Perhaps I re-opened them during that little episode?
"I..." He was ready to weave a tale. Ready to go about his habitual lying to save face in front of those who weren't his immediate family. "I am apparently still not well." A hand gestured to the piece of floor her had just been occupying. All the while, the boy wondered why it meant so much to be truthful with Elex. "I am still having some hallucinations and....I thought I was over them. It took me by surprise is all. Having you here as company made me temporarily forget that I wasn't feeling 100% this morning. It's really no big deal. I'll be fine. It's all much less frequent than it was." A wry smile danced upon his face as hands clasped in front of him, still propped up by elbows on knees. "I will be fine, I am sure."
A shift in weight. Another wince and Rowan sat properly with back straight as he glanced down to his jeans. With care he unbuttoned and unzipped them and peeled back the top waistband on the left side of both the pants and boxers just enough to see if any damage had been done. The gauze underneath, just below the hip bone, was spotted with red, but not so much so that Rowan was much worried. At most he probably just broke the scabs and they were weeping. "Going to have to change that for sure now.
Standing up he nodded towards the door where a switch lie off to it's left. "Could you hit that for me? Actually..no, wait, we should probably just go into the bathroom. It'll be easier to see in there and I won't have to worry about any blood getting on anything." He led the other teen to the room in question. Much like the kitchen the bathroom was very white, though flecks of green and brown could be found in the tile work for the stand up shower and around the sink.
He deposited the gauze on the sink and paused a moment. Am I really just going to drop my pants right here? He caught a glimpse of Elex out of the corner of his eye in the mirror. I am being silly. He's just interested in the bites. After all, they were rather impressive.
The remark about his bashfulness returned to memory and Rowan had a moment where he wasn't sure if it was just that, a memory, or the voices mocking him again. Either way he decided to waste no more time and carefully pulled the straight cut jeans down, revealing a pair of black boxer briefs. Between a well muscled legs and butt, the boxers appeared almost shorter than normal in appearance, but the cut worked well with just about whatever he wore. Of course though, he had a whole selection of different types depending on the need.
Pulling down the left side band of the boxer brief, Rowan revealed the marred gauze. With care he slowly removed it with his free hand revealing what he had suspected. The piercing wounds were still scabbed, but skin and scabs had pulled away from each other during his little fit. Blood seeped around the edges and through cracks. "They aren't as terrible looking as they were the first night." He remarked.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 5:44 pm
What do you see when you look at me? The question clawed at him when Rowan stared on, unblinking, perhaps unthinking, and it left him unsettled.
"I see." You're working hard at sounding fine, aren't you? All these easy dismissals… They aren't meant for me. But when you look at me, fever-parched and desperate, you see that black-eyed creature that robbed you your energy. Don't you, Rowan? That's why you couldn't look away. What you saw was perceptibly incongruous. An improper measure. A quarter of an inch larger on the inside than on the outside. That was enough to stay your attention. "Is that what you want me to think? Or are you just trying to convince yourself?" He spoke the words with a measure of his own stark curiosity.
The shift of pants drew his attention and Elex's gaze lighted on the remnants of the wound. True to Rowan's statement, blood runnels drew down from the long scabs. The damage itself looked large, almost comprised of knife lacerations in the way they dove down into Rowan's muscular leg. I wonder if they'll scar. That would worry you, wouldn't it?
Elex followed at beckon, though he frowned when Rowan turned away from him. As he walked into the bathroom, he was met with pristine tiles and flecks of color meant to offset its sterility. It contrasted heavily with Elex's own idea of bathrooms, stemming from his mother's unforgivable love of seventies colored tiles, sinks, and toilets. Comparatively, everything else looked much more contemporary, pristine, and (perhaps pleasantly) devoid of personality.
The younger of the pair busied himself with rifling the medicine cabinet, bird-picking through its contents until he found a proper first aid kit. He rummaged its plastic container for squares of gauze, an antibacterial salve, and medical tape. The rounds of it felt unsettlingly surreal for how closely it followed Negaverse aide regimens — a duty that Schörl insisted he learn. How strange that he would first need to bandage up a civilian rather than one of their own. He glanced toward Rowan, who now stood indecent before his guest with wounds bared, and snorted. A wry grin disrupted his normally serious demeanor.
"I'm not bandaging your leg in here. That's disgusting. Have you thought about all the bacteria in a bathroom? Every time you flush…" He cut himself off with a scoff. "Maybe you want it infected."
Maybe I want it infected. Wouldn't that be convenient.
He straightened with gauze in hand, then motioned toward the door with a c**k of his head. He took in the sight of Rowan, standing in the middle of his own bathroom in a shirt and skivvies, looking both vulnerable and somehow self-certain. His scent dominated the room, with certainty — down to the notes of shampoo and conditioner still hanging in the air. But those knife wounds in his hip threatened his delicate, grandiose pride. They bestowed a weakness upon him so obvious and inviting that Elex seldom looked away.
He waited until Rowan would turn away to voice his next thoughts. "I haven't been honest with you Rowan. I didn't ask just to look at your bite."
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2017 9:27 pm
Rowan watched with interest as Elex decided to root through his medicine cabinet, revealing the first aid kit he kept stashed there. It was usually liberally stocked with painkillers and ice packs for those days when dance was just a bit worse than normal. Of course, painkillers and ice packs usually went along with ice baths for aching feet. Though, the teen was confused and somewhat amused that the gauze he had procured earlier apparently wasn’t good enough.
“What?” He questioned with his own grin. After all, it was lovely to see something like amusement dance across the younger boy’s face even if it was obviously from his hosts indecency. Rowan could easily imagine his own reaction if the tables had been turned. His smile faltered at that thought and he attempted to disguise the fluctuation with a cough. Reaching down her gathered up the jeans that lay pooled on the ground around his feet, With eased motions he folded up the material with ease and sat them atop the granite of the sink.
“Do you realize how much my mother will have to say if I ruin anything with blood?” He remarked with a raised brow, leaning against the sink with his good hip. “I am rather fond of my decor right now, myself.” He tilted his head slightly, golden eyes tracing his companions jawline, left ear, cheekbones, eyes, nose…lips. “But you’re probably right.” Stepping back away from the sink and Elex, Rowan did as suggested and ambled past Elex towards the darkness of his bedroom.
"I haven't been honest with you Rowan. I didn't ask just to look at your bite."
Rowan stopped at the threshold between the brightness of the bathroom and the dark beyond. Licking dry lips, he didn’t turn to face Elex right away. His mind raced with what it was Elex meant. Those words felt heavy, as if they took far too much effort for Elex to say, even at the almost whisper they were. A part of Rowan was afraid to hear the answer to the question that hung so obviously between them. The other part nearly quivered in anticipation.
“What then?” He asked into the darkness. Turning he looked at Elex. “Hm? What did you come for then? Why did you call me?” Rowan took a step towards Elex, brows knitting softly as he looked down at the younger teen. “We’ve only met a few times, each time a moment of chance we crossed paths.”
Another step forward.
“So why the initiative this time?”
Why such an interest? Are you pulled as if you’re the opposite magnet to myself?
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 12:18 pm
That says a lot about your mother, doesn't it? Maybe we aren't each worth more than our luxuries. To your mother, you're just another status symbol. Pity for you, Rowan Cameron.
Elex sighed through his nose, surrounding himself with the tense silence. He drew the lot of it out, the flecks of time still under his command, until tension ran through his fingers like gritty beach sand. He waited and waited and waited, gathering his thoughts under Rowan's overwrought attention. I live a liminal existence. Unwhole myself, I learned I can only tell parts of the whole. I can only give the pieces of the truth that belong to your world — one of light and science and safety and opulence and expectation. I can give you three hours of that world. Three hours of Elex Yorke. But I'm out of practice and the mask likes to slip when the monster wants to play.
Don't blame me, Rowan. It's hard to keep your hands off a starseed when you feel the need in your teeth.
Elex drew breath and spread fingers on the counter behind him. He felt the cold creeping out of the granite and into his bones, too easily sensitive now to lower temperatures. Elex Yorke felt small and weak and deceptively in control; Faustite hummed beneath the skin-deep reflection. And as he looked upon Rowan, all fire and attention, he felt the connection waning between the old ghost of Elex and the newly-minted monster. Faustite was the new Elex. Monster was the new man. Hate was the new love.
"It's hard to believe in something straightforward, isn't it? I think Occam's razor is to blame. Because of it, convolution is synonymous with reality. Nothing can be so simple. And look where it got us:" Elex paused as he spread arms, "giant spiders can't be giant spiders. The real stories are mass hallucinations brought on by spiked party punch. Miscreants dressed in Halloween costumes while spoiling for a fight. Rowan Cameron, son of the famous designer and clothing aficionado Joellen Faure-Cameron, was stabbed multiple times in the leg. Full hospitals meant that even he was sent home without a bed. Queue public outcry. Queue bids for a greater police force. Queue protests and plucky speeches and public apologies. Complexity is the new truth.
"But there's no wild story behind my intentions. There's no pitiable secret about why I sought you." Elex pushed himself to finish his sentence, to put to rest the tension in the air regardless of outcome, yet hesitance tried to seize him. It loped about his feet and coiled up legs until he stilled, until it nearly wrapped over his mouth. He wouldn't play idle any longer. "I just like you, Rowan. I think you're fascinating."
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 2:51 pm
Golden eyes met black. They searched in the dark depths for something. What? The purple haired teen didn’t know. Couldn’t put to words what he sought in the cool depths of Elex. Words cascaded from the boy's mouth and Rowan listened. Listened and searched.
Hoped.
With bated breath, Rowan waited for the point in which Elex was going towards. Where was he going? What was he alluding to? Bare feet on cold tile were barely registered as each word was carefully held onto. A yearning inside of him that had been swept to the side sat waiting. Waiting.
Waiting.
There.
Brows rose. Eyes widened in response. A truth. Like water from a dam the words rolled from Elex’s tongue like liquid silver. There was no falsehood spoken. No games were being played. Political games were things Rowan was used to dealing with. Things that were easy to spot and navigate. This. This was new. Surprising.
Delightful.
His tongue danced across his lips. Fingers twitched ever so slightly by his side. Motion sprung from within. Slow. Careful. Fluid. Rowan stepped towards the boy, a questioning look in his eyes as eyes trailed from dark orbs to cheeks, nose, and lips. Like a small rose opening its petals for the very first time, Rowan felt a sensation he’d never quite felt before so putting a name to it was impossible. Whatever it was Rowan was acting upon it if ever so carefully.
He hadn’t noticed the height difference between him and Elex. Not in such a way that was so terribly pleasing. With care and a very strong need, Rowan dipped his head down to the other boy’s, hands moving to rest along Elex’s side on the counter which Rowan had effectively pinned the boy against in his advance.
Nose’s brushed. Gold met black again before closing as lips touched ever so gently at first. Not quite committing to the act at hand. Tentative. Unsure.
Determined.
Rowan pressed his lips to Elex’s. A fire burning inside of him demanded the contact it and swelled at the touch. This was...whatever this was, Rowan was needy for it.
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