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 Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:55 pm
Celadonite hated winter. He hated every bit of it, and thus far…he had done nothing this winter but stay as close as possible to the fireplace and under as many blankets as he could find.
He had been promoted, and though he couldn’t quite understand the rationale as he was literally the most useless that he had ever been right now…he appreciated the warm fur around his neck and shoulders that his cape provided. It was nice.
Cozy.
Perhaps though, it was more of an incentive for him to get back to work. To go and be the agent he had been prior to this…stupid…
Cold.
Of course the first place that the newly minted General went to was Faustite’s office, and he made sure that he looked his best before knocking on the door. Hopefully…this wouldn’t come as a bad surprise…and hopefully Faustite would be pleased by his growth and his new cape…honestly, everyone should be pleased by his new cape. It was perfect.
Shifting from foot to foot, Celadonite waited for Faustite to answer the door or just to invite him in. Hopefully…a General at his door would warrant a personal greeting but…
He’d be fine either way.
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 3:39 am
Faustite had grown tired of trying to rest. Resting was a fine suggestion, but perhaps better suited to someone with a confirmed disease, for he hadn't gotten any better in the few days he spent at home. Some of that time had been spent with boys, and he had gotten to visit a few he hadn't seen in a while, and demand that other people go fetch him tea from some old haunts he liked when he was human. All of that had its perks, and it was even fun for a while, but he wanted to return to the office. He wanted to do things again, and stop sleeping away half the day.
So he came in to a small mountain of tasks. Requests for reports, some second drafts on reports, submissions from subordinates (holy ******** there were a lot of those; Faustite had his eyes opened to just how large the team had grown), suggestions and requests to have a meeting… It would take the entire night to sort through all the bullshit so he could start going out again.
He had only gotten through sorting the paperwork into stacks — reports, requests, suggestions, submissions — before someone had knocked. Some General. If Aquamarine was coming to his office to complain about his ******** weapon —
Sighing into a streak of angry coughs, Faustite ragged himself off the seat and started for the door. He waited until the coughing fit subsided before he opened it, mood already soured, already expecting to come face-to-face with a boy who was truly and terribly not a fan of him and —
Then his shoulders dropped with relief once he answered the door. He immediately went to hug the boy, face smashing into the pile of puffs that now adorned his shoulders. "Congratulations," he offered, muffled by the fur.
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:27 am
Celadonite paused and then relaxed as Fausite hugged him, reaching up to play with the other half youma’s hair. “...Think that they were just tired of me hibernating and wanted to give me an excuse to try and really work during the winter…not that…I blame them. It’s been hell even trying to function with the cold.”
Leaning down, he pressed his face onto the top of Faustite’s head and just relaxed. This was the warmth he had been really craving, and now that he had it once again…well.
He half wanted to sleep, wanted to just bask in it, but at the same time, he felt substantially more energized so…that was something.
Trying to press closer, though he wasn’t sure such a thing was possible, Celadonite sighed. “...Please tell me you need help with something just so I can stay with you for a little longer?”
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 7:43 am
Celadonite was ever an ice block, so it was of little surprise to Faustite that Celadonite had been sleeping away the winter. He hadn't seen much of the snake boy of late, either, and hadn't wanted to disturb him if he wasn't up to being awake. He hadn't known the cause at the time, but Faustite had periods like that before — where he wouldn't, or couldn't, get up for days or weeks on end.
As Celadonite tried his best to fuse with the fiery General, Faustite began slowly shuffling backwards to urge them both inside his office proper. It was always warmer in there, especially since this bullshit cropped up with his body. Now most of the others found his office to be sweltering while he was in, though there was little to do for it but leave the door open. This time, he nudged the door shut with the toe of his boot.
"Got a pile of s**t to do." However, he wasn't terribly interested in letting go of his first real relief from feeling like burning since they'd gotten back from the mission. If this was a fever, he hoped that enough chill would bring him back down to his normal temperature.
"Got reports that need editing, submissions to parse and pass on, a calendar to make out of meetings, and some feedback from the mission." He turned his head away from his boy to cough hoarsely, venting more smoke. "Any help's welcome."
Finally he pried himself away from Celadonite enough to take him by the hand and lead him around to the other side of the desk. He snagged a chair in his free hand as well, dragging it noisily over to his stool so Celadonite could keep close. "Was starting to think you'd passed away. Didn't expect winter to be this brutal." Which would explain why he loved it this year.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 3:51 pm
“I’d be happy to help with any of it. All of it. I feel alive with you next to me, if that doesn’t sound…well. I know it sounds as pathetic as it does so, I guess whatever. But. I feel like I’m living with you next to me and I won’t apologize for it. So.”
He winced slightly at the slight jab…it had felt as though he had passed away, kind of. All he did was sleep. Sleep and shiver.
“I’m not dead, but I will apologize for making you think that…Winter’s been hell, honestly…I had no idea it would be this bad…but…you…”
His voice trailed off as he followed Faustite to his desk and sat in the chair, scooting it closer than it had been, not wanting to leave the heat of his…well.
Not really his General any longer, was he? Interesting. Whatever.
The heat of his Faustite. “You don’t look so good…do you have a cold?”
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2023 1:17 pm
"Think it sounds sweet," Faustite replied, chewing back a smile. Faustite tended to struggle during the summer, so he could only guess that Celadonite was going through something similar. Seemed more debilitating to him to be cold, though — water or ice helped one cool off in the summer, but what did Celadonite have in the winter but for Faustite? It wasn't like the boy could drag around a fireplace with him while he went out draining, and he didn't have enough body heat to sustain himself in a bunch of layers. Perhaps hibernating was all he could do at the moment.
"Stay in my office as long as you want. Always liked your company." And Celadonite looked like he was regaining a little color, now that he was defrosting.
Silently, his claws tamped down on a short stack of papers and he slid them over Celadonite's way — most of them were drafts of reports to be edited and proofread before a final draft could be made for Faustite to sign off on them. Once they were fit to be signed off, the reports would be digitized and sent up the line of command to be committed to that agent's personnel file, but they weren't yet ready for that.
"Mm?" Faustite looked up at the question. "Don't know. Don't feel great. Been pretty drained. Coughing's been a bother. Always thought I was too hot to get sick."
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 6:56 pm
“I’ll always keep you company, and if I can keep you cool too, I’ll do so happily.” Celadonite’s expression grew concerned and he stroked Faustite’s cheek idly. “If you’re not feeling well, I’d rather stay and help you out.” Reaching for the papers with one hand, he snaked his arm around Faustite’s shoulders and kept a hand pressed against his neck, idly scraping the skin with the very tips of his nails.
“Do you need me to make you soup or anything? I could do that, you know. I’d be happy to do that.”
Not that he could really cook…and Faustite would need to have a lot of soup to feel full but…
…It was the thought that counted, he hoped. “I don’t suppose human medicines work on us…that’s a bit bothersome, to be honest.” If they did…or if the Negaverse put research into finding such a thing…that…hm.
“We have a hospital...you’d think we’d be able to figure something out to help one of us if we get sick.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:41 am
"You're too good to me." He cupped the hand that stroked his cheek and pressed it to his skin for a time. Celadonite always felt so cold —
And he'd likely been miserable for all that time, holed up away from the cold. Unable to move. And while Celadonite was always welcome in the house, where it was often warm from Faustite's usual presence, he recognized that some boys wanted their autonomy. Celadonite had lived alone before this; perhaps it wasn't as easy to consider living communally like that.
But he'd been at the wedding. With all that time spent away from his duties — what if Celadonite spent them fraternizing with the White Moon? With youmafying being such an adjustment, what if he missed being human and they tempted him with their bullshit offers for purification at the low cost of however many ******** memories and his identity and his relationship to Faustite? And what if they wanted more than that, what if they asked him to inform on the team to earn his right to be human again?
Faustite's attention met the desk. Cela had offered soup. It seemed like such a simple thing.
"Yeah," he replied at last, looking over at his boy. "Sounds good."
Cela was right that medicine didn't work on him. He couldn't undermine his boy's criticism for it, either, and instead laced his fingers with the hand that he held. "They only work when I'm Eion. Must be something about the heat. Imagine it's different for all of us, but…" He drew a breath that sputtered into a cough. "I know so few youmafied officers. Can't be certain about anything."
He paused, feeling the useless winding of anxiety in his chest. "But Cela —"
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Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:09 am
“If I were too good to you, I’d be more useful in the winter, all I’m good for right now as your own personal ice pack, at least until I come back up to temperature.” He gave a soft, almost sad laugh and shrugged. Thankfully, he didn’t hold the temperature for long so could be reused pretty easily. Which…
…Sounded a lot worse than it was. Ah well.
“I only know us and…s**t. Forgot her name. The dragon one who oversaw my little…experiment. Dragon lady ice woman. Ite.”
Sure that wasn’t even remotely a name but. It got the point across, though.
Drawing away a little, Celadonite frowned, tilting his head. “What is it, sweetheart?”
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Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:58 am
Faustite chuckled for the thorough attempt at remembering the General's name. "Amazonite. Worked with her in the Rift before. Suspect she's kept busy enough with her projects that she's not out much." Faustite wasn't certain if she had been before, and he wasn't aware of when or how she youmafied, either. Was it before him? After him? Had to be after; he couldn't recall seeing her before too long.
"There's Lavendulan too. And Wolframite. And…" Faustite squinted at the ceiling as he tried to recall a name. "That one dog who had Aue for a while. And Tanzanite…" And he was certain there was more.
But Cela wanted to know what he was going to say before he cut himself off. Faustite's attention came back down, came to a stop on the taloned hand he held and the beautiful, iridescent scales that trailed down his boy's arm.
"I wanted —" But he stopped, chewed his lip. Swallowed hard. He told himself it shouldn't be difficult, that he'd been trained to work like this, but saying as much didn't brush aside his emotions so neatly.
"It's nothing. Never mind."
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Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 3:52 pm
“Yeah! That’s it. Amazonite. Whoops. Look, names are hard. I’m not sure I can even remember all of those in our group. Especially with the way it just keeps growing and growing.” He rubbed his face and gave a slight yawn, wanting to stay focused, but feeling rather content and sleepy now that he was warm. Not a drained, need to sleep as things had been but…rather…like a nap on the beach in the light of the sun.
Faustite was his sun, after all.
“I don’t know any of those other names that you’ve just said, and honestly, that’s okay. But still…that’s enough of us that there should be some known protocol when we get sick…I don’t know. I have absolutely no head for medicine or desire to practice it, and never have so, it’s none of my concern but you’d think that others would care.”
The dismissal of whatever Faustite was going to say to him had Celadonite looking at the male for a long moment and then leaning to kiss his cheek, going so far as to nibble his earlobe. “...If it were nothing you wouldn’t have started, but I won’t press you if you’ve changed your mind. I love you.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:22 pm
Faustite nodded. Sometimes he needed to consult the roster to remember everyone that had joined. Helped that a handful — like Celadonite — had become his peers, so they were no longer formally designated as under him. Were they still a part of the team? Faustite liked to think so, but they were under no obligation to answer to his beck and call like the Captains, the Supers, the Lieutenants, and the Basics. They each had the ability to start their own teams now, but to his knowledge, only Albite had dabbled in it.
"Feel the same as you," he agreed as he shifted on his stool. "We get injured. Get sick. Won't always be like taking care of a person, I'd think. But — it's hard enough finding someone in medical who doesn't look at us like science projects." Rockatanskite was thorough proof of that. And, he supposed, Amazonite was too.
Before he could shift his thoughts to the task at hand, Celadonite was up, was calling him on cutting away his own words, was teasing him in a way that Faustite shivered as he seized Cela's arms and pulled them around himself. His attention lay on those remarkable scales as he tried to will himself to speak the words.
"Was supposed to lie to you," he confessed as he kept his hands twined with his boy's. "Something small, but enticing enough to —" Swallowing hard, Faustite continued in a strained voice. "To be spread to the White Moon. If you were the mole. Then we'd track it," and his voice had begun to crack, "Across our contacts, see who said what. Suss out our leak.
"Tell me it isn't you." Faustite blinked away the blur in his eyes as he looked up at his serpentine boy.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 5:05 pm
“Lie to me what?” Celadonite didn’t know what he had been expecting, but…this wasn’t it. The emotion in Faustite’s voice made him pause, made him freeze and he hesitated, squeezing Faustite as best he could. “I’m. I’m not a leak. We have a leak?” What would they even be leaking?
He felt suddenly guilty, being so out of the loop with everything, of course Faustite would suspect him…but honestly.
The best defense that Celadonite could think of was that he didn’t…know any leak worthy information.
He swallowed and drew away slightly, looking Faustite in the face and gently tugged a hand away to wipe residual moisture from the fiery boy’s eyes. “...I’m not. Even sure what could be leaked anyway. I’m not. Really the best at keeping apprised to information…do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2023 5:00 pm
Faustite nodded, otherwise quiet in his confirmation. "Albite was the one to figure it out. Been making contacts so we'll be aware if more information gets out." It was all they could do if Nectaris would say no more to Albite about it. Perhaps she'd gotten wiser about it.
Faustite sighed, then coughed heavily. Minutes had passed before he was able to recover himself enough to speak. "Don't have much more to tell. Think it was someone who was present for the wedding. Been looking into everyone that was there — including you. Trying to determine who would let that slip to the enemy. Looked at Albite, too; can't discount the whistleblower.
"But there's just… Nothing." Faustite looked morose for it. Stricken with guilt and caught between his need to do something about this leak and his inability to find it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2023 7:01 am
“Did…something happen at the wedding that was supposed to be a secret? I don’t…” Celadonite tilted his head, struggling to get past the feelings of jealousy that had continued to try and overpower him during the vows but. “I don’t remember any big news other than you two being married, unless something happened after I left, but. I can say for certain that I didn’t tell anyone on the White Moon side any secrets that I can recall.”
And if he had, well…he’d keep his mouth shut in future.
Wrapping an arm around Faustite’s shoulders, Celadonite pressed a kiss to his cheek. “...I’m sorry everything seems like it’s going to Hell right now. If I can do anything ever, please just tell me. I’m mostly useless but. Not when you’re around. You keep me warm. And keeping me warm means I can be productive so. Just give the orders, no matter that I’m a General or not, I still follow you.”
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