Quote: Prompt 5 (Ice Bath): Rainfall is rare in Destiny City during Winter; there have been a few light showers between the occasional snow but it’s never been enough to be significant. In some places, it’s just enough for a thin layer of ice to cover the ground and make it a little slippery, but ultimately it’s not enough to worry about. In an inconspicuous place in town, you step into one of these icy puddles and the thin layer of ice shatters. The hole itself seems maybe three feet wide and if you’ve ever been in the area before you know it’s just a pothole a few inches deep at most. Except, when the ice shatters, you fall, plummeting into it as if it were a lake of icy water. It’s pitch black around you and only pale blue lights shimmer above you. The darkness is never ending and you can’t make out the details of anything except the shrinking hole above you. Maybe you remember how to swim and pull yourself out, maybe you black out and feel someone else pulling you out--either way, your frozen, soaking body is pulled from the puddle. The chill is immense, but if you look at the hole after being pulled out, all you can see is the ground below. There’s no sign that what you just experienced is real--except for the fact that you’re still soaking wet.
“Firebrand — I love you ‘n all — but I’m about to freeze my tits off!” Felt like he’d whined to edge up closer to the warmth that his boy emitted effortlessly, because he was on ******** fire!! Walking space heated b*****d — how it seemed to have become a game almost, keep away that kept him moving. Had him hedging slippery shingles and skipping alley gaps just to keep pace.
Faustite made it look so damn easy — like gravity loosed a hold on him. Every time he stepped through space, levied himself over a lamppost. A spiraled hot spot that wafted white spirals of steam…
“I could cut glass through this corset, I freaking s w e a r!!”
Bitching, though it was all for fun, all in jest about things that didn’t matter. He’d missed this - getting out to play, where it was just the two of them. Stupid little games that were as much like training exercises as they were like bonding time. A show of everything returning to normal — except not — so as normal as it all could’ve been maybe?
He hadn’t asked about Nembus, tenuous thing that he feared broaching, didn’t want it to shatter the tentative peace. Not just yet — not just — “ — Also!! <********>—” how he was going to comment on the strange weather when a patch of black ice caught him, and sent him straight to sitting, sprawled on his stinging a**.
He was gonna commission Haymitch and Celadonite to make him some snow boots at this point!
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 7:42 am
"Why didn't you bring a ******** coat?" Faustite wasn't sure what Albite was on about; it felt perfectly fine outside. Better than usual. He could move and duck and dodge and run and feel refreshed by the cool wind while he did it. But Albite? That boy was ******** around in a bra while everyone else that they saw was bundled up in a coat, hat, and gloves.
It turned his subordinate into a moth — always fluttering around him, trying to huddle close until he got burned, then he would only back off so much. Annoyed, Faustite reached back and snatched off one of the split ends of his cape and handed it off to him. "Use it like a scarf. Warmed it up for you."
Not that he expected it would do much for Albite's glass-cutters. Maybe he could cut it into strips with his nipples and use it to pad his bra.
"You want more heat, hurry up." He was done dawdling — flame wicked through the rooftops and lamp posts of the city, from one to the next, arced over the gaps between buildings, each footfall sure as metal crunched through loose snow. There was a benefit to rooftops beyond being seen: in the areas where people trod, the ground iced over. And up here, where only senshi, knights, and agents played? They could track each other beyond an aura.
"Found some tra —" heard a skitter and thump, "— …cks. Albite, why the ******** are you like this." He sighed smoke as he turned about, found the boy on his a** on the building behind him. He pivoted in place then leapt, adding a corkscrew to clear one of the flagpoles on the way.
He landed, but before he could speak, the ground gave and he fell into water. Which led to three thoughts: who the ******** had a rooftop pool, who the ******** left their rooftop pool uncovered, and ******** did it feel refreshing.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:37 pm
So many good questions, for all that he knew he had a locker he could’ve filled to the brim with things - warm this - cold things - boots!! He was suddenly glad he hadn’t, the tail end of the split piece of cloth offered up smelled so good…
Made him sigh, as he breathed in iron and fire, bitter carbon and the bite of some magical ozone taint that stayed caught in the fine bright fibers. Wrapped it around his fat neck, little it would’ve done for his torso, but that didn’t matter to him nearly as much as the opportunity to wear it.
Like a maiden with a token of their nights affection — his inner self squealed and swooned over it — even if on the outside he froze…Sat on his a** atop a roof and laughed; thick clouds of breath that smoked into the air as he watched Faustite come back for his dumb deer shod a**.
Just when he thought he’d gotten walking in heels down? Weather came in and reminded his ego which rung of the ladder it belonged on.
“Easy there on the deep and philosophical firebrand, if we start questioning the cosmos on why I’m like this? ******** knows what kinda assbackwards answers we’ll get back—“ tracked the pretty arc his boy made skyward, snickered around his own words, and went silent for how Faustite landed and then was just…
‘Gone - gone - gone - what the ever loving ******** - then not — so suddenly, he thought his boy had slipped into subspace like a shadow. Was nearly convinced of it; for how he’d taken his aura with him. If not for the barest ripple and slosh of water —- like the puddles that’d followed him n thor months before — like —-
How the fear that clutched his heart spiked into something other. Became action stood upon reaction, that had him putting his fist through some poor ******** roof. Felt the way the glass cracked black, cut like shards of ice trying to freeze over — to keep.
‘He’s not ******** yours to keep!’
How that cold seared as he shoved his hand into biting black— reached— ‘cold wet deep’ - but ******** did he reach..
Up to his wrist, up to his elbow…..
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2021 1:05 pm
Then came a fourth thought: Might be ******** shock of the chilled water robbed him of most of his breath, but Faustite had enough to survive for a moment. He glanced down pawed the thick waves of hair away from his face, and glimpsed his fire bubbling furiously while submerged. A fifth thought: Am I ******** drinking all of this for as long as I'm stuck in here?
People exploded from that, he heard. Imploded, whatever. He didn't want to know what would happen to him if he bobbed around in water for ten minutes, let alone an hour. And the pressure on his lungs —
Turning, Faustite felt for traction on the pool floor, but there wasn't enough light to find it. Told himself not to panic, that he could see the bitter stars up through the placid surface. Could, until Albite's watery face interjected itself, and Albite's hand gained form as it dipped below and reached. Faustite couldn't quite reach himself, and his buoyancy was sabotaged by the new make of his body since the ancient times when he was a boy. Still, he tried for a bottom, assumed he must've fallen in the deep end, and the deep end was eight, maybe ten feet —
Felt something solid, finally, and he pushed off against it, hoping his lack of fluid dynamics didn't drag him back down before he could reach Albite —
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Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:11 am
'Don't die, don't die, don't---' manic little mantra that lit up his mind and drove him in nearly up to his shoulder. Felt the cold ichor lap up and bite. Felt the edges of a hole that hadn't been before, and shouldn't have been possible at all, felt that scrape, and didn't care so long as he got close enough. Didn't care if he soaked himself through. Fabric, hair, skin, if he became something stupid for future generations to study. 'Idiot in an ice block.' Reaching for a housefire trapped in the worlds deepest puddle.
He didn't know if Faustite could drown, if he could swim, if --- if he rusted? Did his metal expand and contract with extreme temperature changes, would he pull him up and find him bent and cracked open, ******** - again. Or was he like some elusive creature who - and if his fire went out did he expire forever and only some fabled rift phoenix's tears would bring him back to life!?
"For the love of ********, Firebrand, I swear to -- godamned Praxidike -- If you make me come down there..." thought he felt the touch of claw, felt something tipped sharper than the shiver that wracked his bulky frame; then remembered that he had ******** magic.
"Choking Retribution!" clenched his teeth around the snarl of sound so hard that he thought they'd chip for wanting to chatter. The words were so easy to hiss free that he'd nearly forgotten, in all of his panic, that he had them on call. Wondered if it would reach a target unseen, if he could hunt for bodies attached to auras blind, or if it was well enough that he knew this thing was there? That he could feel it.
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2021 2:09 pm
Felt pressure wrap and wrench, and the surreal otherworld to DC's sky burst, and out he came like he passed through the mirror. Wet and soaked to the bone, but no worse for it — though he scrambled to get to his feet again, he hadn't shivered or clung to Albite for warmth.
Albite was still connected to his wrist by tattoo. He looked at it, then looked at Albite, his appreciation confined to his gaze. Took a moment to pull taut that connection between them and chew through it, cut himself loose once he was standing again. Soaked mess he was, but he had little to say for it; the whole affair left him feeling strange in a way he couldn't quite place, like he'd eaten too much and his body was trying to empty itself out.
Though he felt cold, and the discomforting feeling was alien to him like this. Frowning, Faustite reached up and wrung out his hair. Then he refreshed his uniform with a thought, and all that remained was his clammy skin. It was when he shook out his hair that he realized —
Faustite doubled over, hands on his knees, and retched grey water back into the pool. Paused, coughed a few times, and retched again. Once he was certain more wouldn't come, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
It was refreshing, at least.
"Think I would've burst if I stayed in any longer." he shivered then, if only minutely, and wrapped his arms around the grate. Felt he'd dry out quickly, using himself as a heat source. Warmed from the inside out. Had to be so, he figured — what else was his youmafication good for?
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 4:52 am
The whole damn ordeal was -- alot -- bordering on too much. Sensory overload enough to short circuit every breaker he had. So Albite sat in his own soak for a while, for the seconds and minutes it took for Faustite to gnaw himself free like a fox in a trap and purge his own body of what was - Albite could only imagine - the half-youma equivalent of water poisoning? Of drowning? Of...
Whatever the ******** it was Faustites body had just done. All the insane things he'd never figure out on his own, that he didn't want answers to. Animal stupid and he liked being that sometimes; especially when it meant he didn't have the urge demand answers to the how's and why's of all the unchangeable 'whats' in the world.
N' his firebrand was a ******** of 'whats' right that second. Alive though. The only thing that mattered. Slow steaming being, he could see the contrast between the air outside and how he warmed himself with his own center. Focused on that, Faustite being alive, as he shivered where he was and waited for his brain to quit blue ringing around a death cycle.
Got himself the ******** under control...
"I don't wanna think about you bursting."
Felt that same control slip-- down a slick slope towards a very sheer cliff face; the drop off too high to see the bottom of with any ease.
"Are you okay---"
Asked as he stood and shook himself like a hound, shed one skin for the next - one strangeness for another, because it would never not be the weirdest thing for to go from wet to dry -- ******** 'Magical girl style!!'
Then he hovered, stranded between being curiously concerned over Faustites wellbeing, and being pissed that he didn't own sleeves. He swore to himself he would start packing towels, sweaters, and hospital grade first aid kits into his subspace for the next few months.
Might've tossed in floaties...Never thought he'd have to pack for summer in the dead of winter, but it was DC; magical drinks, drugged cookies, and fae-esque nightmare deer.
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:23 pm
"Then don't." Faustite spat the last of it out, though he stayed doubled over for a time. Was easier to catch his breath under the curtain of his wet black hair with its red ends. Watched the water drip off the ends and into the snow, where it would invariably cool and ice over with the rest of the strange grey water that came out of him.
"I'm fine," he added as he straightened. "Don't act like everything's going to kill me." Shrugged it off with his usual irreverent flippancy, his usual impatience with Albite's care, but he knew just as well that anything could've been murder. He didn't understand his own body any better than Albite did — or perhaps a margin better, but he was no scientist to know when his fire obeyed the laws of conventional combustion and when it didn't.
"Wish I could've swum. Miss that." But not enough to turn into Eion and brave the freezing temperatures.
Though maybe —
No, he reminded himself. Now wasn't the time. Currently, he was supposed to behave like a General. They had a mission. They had a reason for being out that night. And that wasn't the reason.
When he was sure he'd gotten over his shivers, Faustite started to pace as he asked, "you're still thinking about it, aren't you."
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2022 6:46 am
Eion liked to swim? Huh — noted. A future plan laid out before it hit the stunned, solid wall, of ‘that’s what you’re taking away from this?!’
How he resisted tearing his hair out at the roots in the middle of wrapping himself round how to feel. Aside from stupidly numb from the cold.
“Ohmygod I’ll take you to the ‘beach!’ As Eion even! You—-“ hissed the thoughts free over clenched teeth. Breathed past the frantic little flutter as he watched Faustite shiver, slow, and step quick into pace. Watched distractedly, the way his boots clipped, the gentle sway of bands and clasps clicked on. Always in motion that one — Always, that they were chasing tail ends of each other.
Flickered fires catching air and moving - like his breathing - like —- a pair of sharks circling. Endlessly in motion, because if ever they ceased they’d likely die.
“I’m not — anymore — I just…for the love of ********, Firebrand.” exasperated half laugh, how his mind caught up enough to realize in that moment what he wanted. No, Needed - before he’d let them move on…
“Would you just — C’mere, for two seconds!”
Felt his Magic answer his unexpected inner turmoil, and lash out in a basic, gentle, bind. Retribution that swirled alive. Soft ink lines that snatched at limbs - reached for a wrist - an arm - a — something solid enough to tug on. Their mission could wait — ******** — would wait. Just a few seconds More.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 11:41 am
Faustite scoffed. "No, we've a —" words left behind as he was stolen backward, stumbling, by the waist. Or what would've been a waist if Agni hadn't removed it years ago.
Catching his balance, Faustite looked down at himself, looked down at the black band encircling him like he was a ******** dog on a leash. Then he looked back at the boy holding his lead — haughty thing, that Albite, that himbo as Celadonite called him — and the fire in his eyes whorled tempestuously. Could set the boy on fire again, he knew, but he hadn't wanted to chance that so soon after crawling out of ice water.
Could've torn himself loose with little effort and given Albite a fiery backhand for insubordination. Supposed he should've, that it would be the responsible thing to do, bringing a subordinate back in line. Schörl would've expected it, he knew. But this boy had chipped away and taken home so many fragments of the blistering thing he called a heart.
So he paused, felt a curious lack of burn cooking up his ribs and lungs like perpetual patties on a grill. It softened his voice, somewhat, when he asked, "what?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:00 pm
"I know - I know - I know..'" - hissed soft for how he knew. They had places to go, s**t to do, tracks to follow over rooftops and across city lines. A hunt to get the ******** on with. Wound the line that tethered them together just a little tighter, a tease of a tug that weakly begged 'more'. Rung the want in the taught strum and tug.
"I know you're gonna be okay, that you are, yeah? I know -- I can't always check on you - n like - worry - n s**t. This doesn't work that way..." grumbled his troubles heavenward, before fixing Faustite with a 'look'. Picked him apart with it, ever so slowly. Looking for all the ways he might've 'not' been okay. Amazed him how his Boss could be such a godamned drama-queen about wanting his near drowning to be ignored.
All the ways he knew the business end of their doings. Didn't need it hammered in to understand, intrinsically, instinctually, and how that didn't for a second dissuade him from what he was doing. Not while he had the chance to take his time. Knew to steal seconds, whenever he could. Just incase he didn't get those seconds back.
"But if I can? When I can? Damn well better believe I'm gonna." Softer tones to soothe, to meet n match the quiet little query in his Firebrands voice. His own effort to quell whatever sat there, ablaze in his gaze, while he reached out to touch. Biceps, shoulders, reached beneath the hood to tousle quick-drying curls that typically fell flatiron straight beneath the impossible heat Faustite put out.
A familiar path - if his fingers followed where his eyes tracked - as he traced fine features that could've rivaled a porcelain dolls, and pressed the softest kiss between those knitted brows. Where he fully expected, someday, a wrinkle born of his boys sheer annoyance with others would form.
The dunk in the frigid pit had made him so -- tolerable, temperature wise. Like Faustite was somehow easier to touch with his usual fires banked, but working overtime to get him back up to 'hellfirehot'. Meant Albite could touch.
Without a cincher to dim the fires light, could take a moment to just...
"See? Was that so bad? Now I feel better!" Albite beamed, and held on a second more. Even as he felt the magic unravel. Tether that spooled free; like so many fragile, filigree, threads. Short lived seconds - fifteen of 'em - but they were ******** his.
"Now we c'n go."
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Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2022 9:07 pm
Faustite shot him a scathing look for insisting worry. Worry was a distraction, an aside, an impediment to all they were meant to do with the power they were given. For Albite, his was birthright, painted over by Metallia. But for Faustite, that power was a reason for his existence — he'd be long dead (and perhaps better off) without it. Skipping out on time that could've been spent draining used to stress him out more, and he'd learned to get more lax with it, but the mission Laurelite handed down reinvigorated that stress.
Likewise, he wasn't one to be touched as Faustite. He knew, however, that Albite touching him was as certain and constant as the fire that was his life force, and that if his frequent burns hadn't dissuaded him yet, Albite would never stop. Didn't matter what Faustite said or how he objected, but because that objection came from a place of concern instead of dislike, it would be discarded.
It hadn't stopped the stiffness that plagued his muscles when he was touched, as if flexing them might somehow capture the heat beneath his skin, or prevent it from going beyond the layers of silk and leather. It hadn't — wouldn't — but Albite knew the cost of touching him. Paid it for every second. He wasn't flinching yet, though, and Faustite wasn't completely dry. Must've been how he was getting away with it, and Faustite felt some of his tension evaporate.
The kiss sparked a feeling he couldn't place — something that burned away gently before he could assign it a name. With it came the tether that barely managed its job. With it would depart that moment, but —
"Not yet," he overruled as he looked up at the boy. Before he dried out fully, he framed Albite's face with his hands and brought it down, brought himself up on the tips of his boots (oh, how little they stretched with metal soles, he found), and stole a kiss from him. Quiet, too warm, wrapped in a want and promise of later. Stoked that feeling from before again, but he still lacked a name for it.
Those moments, he decided, were made more valuable for the lack of time they had together.
He broke the kiss, let hands slip from Albite's jawline. "Now we go."
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:47 pm
He savored the kiss, licked his lips to chase the taste of lingering heat — breathed steam — soft, easy, in and out of air. Put a leash on his libido. There would be laters, afters, tomorrow’s - rewards laid out for the good that came from today. He could believe it. That the sun would rise and they'd both be alive long enough to see tomorrow. Even if he had to lash it down into a stranglehold between his own grasping hands. A thing to be caged in and devoured, with tooth and claw.
Tomorrow.
Let that singular thought soothe out all the static that lingered beneath his skin and cried *more*, again! Placed a firm pause on his need to chase those too hot fingertips - baked clay warm touches getting hotter as they dried. How he woulda swore he could’ve basked beneath them a bit more. Could take the sear like a sunburn, like sheets fresh from the dryer, bread outta the kiln.
Faustites rasped command, curled warmth that stole his thoughts - *Now we go* - it echoed in his skull. Made him lean back, only to leer longingly.
“Whatever you say, General.” hot sandy shiff of words poured over a rough purr. Head empty - Heart full.
The marvel of how something simple as a soft touch and warm press of lips could set the sorts of fires loose beneath his skin that would drive him to end a thousand worlds, two, ten. Until the sky was empty of them — not for her — No. For him. Not the gesture itself, even. Just a kiss. Special as it was with all the little sparks let fly. Nah, it was the person giving it. All the ways he knew it meant more because it was Eion - because it was Faustite in fiery form taking something for himself.
Such a good boy. - thoughts that turned as he nodded for Faustite to lead on. He'd follow along. Always.
