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 Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:48 pm
If absence made the heart grow fonder, then presence, perhaps, made his heart a little able to forget. It was so easy, too easy, to shoehorn himself back into the sort of thing they had done before... everything. Horace went to visit Jan and slipped so easily back into the space in Jan's bed and Jan slipped so easily back into Horace's heart - if he'd ever been gone. He made it simple to pretend nothing had ever happened, or that everything was just a simple misunderstanding and these were the kinds of words Horace needed to continue. And so, Horace often wandered back to Jan's room, whenever they were both free, just like before. He sat on the bed a little behind Jan, running his fingers through his pale hair. It contrasted ridiculously with his fingers and he smiled. Jan's hair had gotten quite a lot longer while he had been in the pod, Horace thought. Gently, he tweaked a few braids into place - small, thin things - his hair still wasn't long enough for more. Jan's pale features and light hair gave him a sort of Lord of the Rings elfin feel. Maybe Jan would grow it long, and Horace could do more elaborate braids in it. He wondered if Jan would object to being called Celeborn or Haldir. Finally, he paused. "So, what do you think?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 7:55 pm
Lawrence as a general rule was not amenable to physical contact, it was too much, an excess of firing nerve endings that made his flesh crawl, with Horace it was more tolerable, he'd adapted to the other man over time and the general agitation had become normalised from habit. The contact at this point was welcome as a stepping stone to further bonding and in some ways as rightly afforded tribute to his appearance and beauty.
He reached over to retrieve the mirror and held it up to examine the braids, they were neat and careful, not sloppy but still, for his meticulous tastes, not absolute. He gestured. "This one needs to be further to the left and slightly narrower at the base, this one is fine but has too much extra at the end. With those adjustments they would be acceptable."
At the very least he did not seem to overtly object. He had fairly long hair back in his time in Sweden and without... without.... with the complications surrounding Chantelle, there was no particular reason to maintain the ability to wear a wig, he considered letting it grow.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:55 pm
"Alright, picky." His tone was light and maybe slightly amused as he picked out one of the braids. Horace had expected Jan to find fault with them, even if he hadn't demanded they be redone. Jan was just... precise like that. "You know, I like your hair this length - it feels nice." He continued to play house with his hands, carefully unraveling the braid so there were no knots. After some time (seconds, maybe minutes, although it felt longer), he paused, and the hitch in his breath gave him away before he spoke. He'd been wanting to ask for a while, but the words had always died on his tongue or he'd been busy or he'd... excuses. Now there was nothing but the sort of silence they'd held between themselves before, and, if it felt a little less companionable than before, Horace told himself it was all in his head. And maybe it was. "Jan, when you use, uh, your fear attack, the cold one - what does it feel like to you? Just cold?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2015 1:13 pm
"Perfectionist." Lawrence corrected, sitting dead still to facilitate Horace's efforts. "I find it aesthetically pleasing." he said calmly. "Though I do need to purchase dye if I intend to have it entirely long." he curled his lip. "Grey hairs." he explained as if this was the most dire fate that anyone could ever suffer.
He did not seem phased by the hesitation in Horace's speech and perhaps he had missed it entirely, his mind on the problems presented by his own ageing body.
"My fear?" he repeated, finally drawn out of his reverie. "It is the opposite of cold." he said. "Warmth of an unfamiliar sort, noise, static. It is rather loud." he moved his fingertips as if he was flexing Butch's claws. "It is very difficult to accurately describe, there is a moment where I feel something of the other person." He could not say it was there emotions, he did not know that for definite, he knew nothing for sure.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:10 am
He threaded his fingers through Jan's hair. "Grey comes to us al. You don't like them? I think it looks distinguished." Horace continued to braid as Jan talked, grateful for something for his hands to do. "Like an opposite of what your target feels. Interesting." Horace had felt blindingly cold, then numbed, then cold and empty and it had been terrifying, but enticing, in a way. "Something of a person? Do invidual people feel different from each other?" He took a moment to quickly braid his own hair in a loose French braid. He was not as meticulous as Jan.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:43 pm
Lawrence's posture stiffened slightly. Grey was not acceptable, it was not something that came to everyone, it came to mortals perhaps but it should not be a reality of his life at present, it should not be something that something like him had to suffer through. "I do not." he said with a hard reiteration of the depth of his restless rejection of age.
"And yes, people feel different." And yet every single one of them remained a mystery, a tangle of shapes and sensations which he could not decode, some quiet, some loud, all of them not quite enough to define. It was like a whisper overheard in another room, forming the shape of words but not their meaning. "I presume that it would be some hint as to what they were feeling emotionally at that moment in time. "
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 7:34 am
Horace noticed the slight stiffening and, wisely, did not laugh. Jan's age never bothered him, even if it bothered Jan. "Well, if you want help when you dye it, let me know, okay? It'll be easier to get everything covered if you've a second set of eyes." His arms slipped around Jan's waist, chin resting on his shoulder. That Jan was so worried about aging was kind of cute, in a way, and made him relax, even if talking about Butch was not the easiest subject. "Interesting. What did I feel like, during our spar?" He paused. "Uh, if you remember." Horace had specified the spar, because he wasn't sure he wanted to know what he 'felt' like during their... fight.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 11:34 am
"Yes. I will." he said, he was not used to involving anyone else in any real way in his personal grooming practices, they were intensely private and linked to those transitions between personas. For a few moments he was always left exposed without his masks, like a hermit crab changing shells. Simply tending to the silvery hairs he could not avoid was a fair and straightforward concession and it did not put him in danger. "That would be useful."
He paused momentarily, unsure if this was some sort of test. "It felt simply strange, a swirl of sensation etcetera. I am not advanced enough in the use of my fear to interpret the results as yet."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 12:28 pm
"Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "I wonder - if your bond got closer to Butch - if you'd be able to more easily interpret. It'd be an interesting skill. Like, if you need practice in it, we could spar again maybe?" It was a little awkward to talk against Jan's shoulder like that, jaw pressing weirdly. It was a little awkward for Horace to suggest sparring again... So he pulled back and took the opportunity to kiss the nape of Jan's neck. He simply liked being around the other man, even if they were doing nothing, or doing separate things.
A thought occurred to him suddenly. He moved back further, sweeping his hands down Jan's back. "Hey, Jan, I've been meaning to ask - d'you like that accent best?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 12:38 pm
He doubted that would ever be the case, but nodded regardless. "Perhaps. I'm still learning at present, what could result with practice is anyone's guess. More spars would likely be useful regardless, any amount of practice is worthwhile."
He almost asked if Horace meant Jan's accent before noting that at present he was technically Jan, albeit pared back to the level of flamboyance he considered appropriate for use on Horace. He nodded. "It is most effective." he said but did not specify for what, seeming amused by the question and ramping up the drawl accordingly. "Almost everyone on this island is American, anything else would set me apart as more "other" than I already am pardner. And you'd be surprised how you can spot the bad eggs by who gets riled by this manner of speakin."
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Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 11:35 am
"I don't get it - it's just a way of speaking." He shrugged. "Like how Nellie speaks in the third person." Horace did not point out that Jan's over-the-top accent likely othered him almost as much as a Swedish or British accent would. He was glad it wasn't so gaudy when they were alone. The accent got lumped under "Jan's Odd Hobbies" along with the repetitive movements, the way the man read and then reread a page. Such things didn't bother Horace - it just... made Jan... well, Jan, he supposed. He liked seeing parts of the other man and pretending that maybe only he saw those parts. He clacked his tongue piercing against his teeth. It was a shame, but Horace only had too accents: normal, not-so-thick Oklahoman, and thick, sleepy Oklahoman. "What's your original accent?" He paused considering. "How many can you do?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 9:34 am
"It is strange isn't it? It worked as a marketing strategy, no one forgot the medium with the accent and the flamboyant clothes. It makes them feel safer you know, to have something that sets the paranormal apart from their daily lives. The fact that it offends some people I feel might say more about them than it does about me." he smiled as if in forgiveness of anyone who had dared to judge him.
"My original?" And at this he wrinkled his nose in distaste. "I barely remember how to even speak in that manner any longer. I avoid it." But simply for the sake of informing the other man he switched to it anyway, a surprisingly urban Mancunian accent.
"What it is right? Is it's way too common to be using all the time like. Too dis'inctive, too embarassin'. The me who used to use it is long away. 'sides me mam always said it sounded well crass an' I had nowt to say against that. Cause it is." He shook his head, reverting back to Jan's accent.
"I can do a lot pardner, but I'm out of practice on most."
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:11 pm
Horace supposed it was important to cultivate a recognizable 'look'. He'd heard, before, of how pretending long enough meant a person could sort of fuse with the persona they presented. It was an odd thought, but not one he felt comfortable voicing to Jan. Instead, he slid his arms back around Jan's waist, fiddling idly with the waistband of his sarong.
"oh," he said, surprise coloring his voice. "I've actually heard you use that once before. Didn't know if was the original. Hard to switch back to it?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 6:11 pm
Lawrence nodded, leaning back against Horace fondly. "From disuse. I do not enjoy using it, it is from another life, one that I no longer consider my own, a lifetime away from all this." He sighed.
"And when did you hear me use it?" he was curious, it was not an accent he used often and he was rarely aware of his lapses.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 8:15 am
"If you could go back - to, uh, I guess, anywhere and when you've been before... where would you go?" Horwace was, of course, rather glad Jan had been conscripted into Deus, even if Jan was not. He wasn't ahappy about the danger, but Horace would never have met Jan without Deus. A double-edged sword, maybe. He hummed pleasedly as Jan leaned back, hands still moving idly. Horace enjoyed physical contact of any kind, every kind - he was kind of... clingy. "Sometimes you've spoken in your sleep, Jan. In English or in Swedish, too." Horace had secretly begun to study up on Swedish. One day, maybe, he could surprise Jan by saying something. 'I loveyou" had already been discarded as a little cliche, but Horace was working on it.
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