And yet, you are the one that fell for it. Which of us are you mocking, again?
[ Lucius settles back in his seat as Eridanus rises, as if merely having him those few feet closer is enough to settle his restlessness. He might ask what it is that makes Eridanus think Lucius had intended his retorts as anything else, but his thoughts are much the sameâthat it makes no difference either way, when one was as much a flirtation as the other.
As Eridanus moves so comfortably to retrieve the moonshine, Lucius watches him with indolent posture. It isn't until he has returned to refill his cup that he lifts a hand; as if Eridanus' flesh is simply his to take, his palm settles against the back of his thigh, running upward with his reply. ]
Of course, I am far more than a mere warlord. [ Sly, feline eyes fall half-lidded as they fix Eridanus above in their gaze. ] And I hadn't imagined just what a rare jewel had fallen into my sights. Do you know, the precise moment when you made me burn with obsession unlike any I had felt before?
[ Just recalling it is enough to draw up the same rush of giddy desire, the urge to pounce on Eridanus and tear him apart in his mouth. The edges of his words turn breathless with it, their contest truly forgotten now. ]
[The bottle in hand is quick to find the table once Eridanus has finished pouring, and as Lucius trails claws up and down the backside of his thigh, he smiles. Even knowing so much, to be claimed a jewel swells pride and affection so much within his breast that even he cannot resist the call to touch.
Eridanus slides an open palm across Lucius' shoulder blades, feeling over the grotesque bone structure that squirms beneath his skin with fetal twitching. Behind him, his tail swings lazily, happily, and Eridanus indulges that question with his fond gaze.]
When was it that you came to yearn for me, beloved? [He hums, hugging himself closer to Lucius with his hip to his Eternal's shoulderâever striving to close the distance between them completely.] Because I remember when my thoughts and desires became consumed by you â when you dominated my entire existence with a thirst for your blood, and your flesh, and your soul.
[And how every moment since has been a crude bastardization of the eternity he wishes to spend with the man he's so wrapped up with. Every touch leaving him breathless, no matter how chaste, every whisper like the song of angels in his ears. Eridanus' hand slides over Lucius' nape, fingers curling into his blond hair, a gentle and affectionate touch still with the threat of those obsidian talons against his lover's skin.]
[ So close to the cord of his spine, the dagger ends of those beautiful, glittering claws set sparks down its length, the prickle of danger beneath his skin too sweet a call for Lucius to ignore. He rises, his own palms dragging a greedy path up the length of Eridanus' corded thighs and sculpted stomach as he goes, and with his seat left behind him, Lucius squeezes tight against his consort's broader shape just the same. ]
I didn't ask about yearning, dear Archmage, [ he says, and the words would almost sound offended if not for the tremble of a laugh that ghosts them. One hand settles around the small of Eridanus' back, and the other above his chestâabove the rune carved into his flesh, hidden from sight only by the fabric of that buttoned shirt. ] Yearning is nothing compared to the way thoughts of you consumed my mind.
[ The words for it are almost beyond him, that giddy infatuation that had left him to daydream of gifts and painters and heated prose penned in Eridanus' own hand. As if that exchange were minutes past instead of months, his blood races with it anew, the chain only barely held by Eridanus' dutiful presence at his side giving way to the bottomless hunger of his obsession once more. ]
That moment you told me that to feel the everlasting anguish of my armor would be a delight â I could think of no one else. There is no one else â no one else in ten-thousand years of life who has said to me what you have. To find a man unmatched in the depths of his heart's depravityâ [ His voice gives way to a laugh, breathless and intoxicated with something far deeper than moonshine. ] You are a precious stone buried among endless slate, a single golden treasure among billions upon billions of counterfeits. Or do you believe I would even think to have a sword made for just any rabble who asks to duel me?
[ With those last words, a cheeky grin cuts his lipsâeven as the flush of infatuation rises to his cheeks. ]
[Lucius presses into him, and in the span of a single heartbeat, Eridanus feels utterly breathless. He's crushed beneath the magnanimity of those words, under the weight of what is no doubt the closest Lucius has come to a confession of love. He swallows around those words and the lump they form in his throat, and any idle desire he had felt a moment prior has made itself known in the racing of his heart. His chest feels as if it's a drum, thundering a war-beat as he presses into his lover with just as much relentless need to be closer.]
I know you are already so aware, butâ [Eridanus murmurs, barely above a breathless whisper as he smooths his opaline fingers over the sculpted curve of Lucius' cheek,] you are unlike any other. You have seen in me a value that I did not see myself, awakened my heart to desires I never thought I deserved â and not just that of the flesh. You have honed me into a blade, perfectly fit to your palm, and I have found... genuine happiness by your side. The first I've felt in so very long.
[He allows his eyes to slip closed, and dips his head down, so that their foreheads touch.] I have come to find fulfilment by your side, you have taught me many lessons. [Blond lashes flutter, his eyes opening and catching his consort's aureate gaze.] You are the air in my lungs, the sun on my face, the wind beneath my wings â I cannot live without you.
[Eridanus doesn't wait for Lucius' answer to his own confession. He knows it will be nothing more than an airy laugh, followed by casual affirmation. Rather, he claims those plump lips set before his own. Impassioned, Eridanus ravages that mouth, enjoying the tender give of flesh beneath the unrelenting opal of his own. He finds Lucius' supple lower lip, digging into it with sudden hunger, and suckling at that caught skin within the cage of his teeth.]
[When he finally pulls away, his arousal is apparent, lascivious desire edging into his breathless words,] forget fethesi â I need to make love to you, now.
[ Eridanus knows his Eternal wellâand why shouldn't he? That airy laugh Eridanus so expects is lost within the press of opal to flesh, Lucius opening his mouth for the pleasure of teeth that could just as easily shear his meat from his bones. And yet, the answering pride that wells within his chest remainsâthe thought that of course, Eridanus belongs to him, and the way Eridanus has ripened into a man he is proud to own. His thigh hitches around Eridanus', as if he might simply climb him to pull their forms another fraction closer.
When Eridanus draws away, Lucius answers him with a chuff of hot breath, the sound no less amused for the way it doesn't quite manage to become a laugh. ]
If you intend to make love as gently as you kiss, [ he teases, unable to keep himself from toying at such sentimental phrasing set against a kiss of ravaging, bestial passion, ] it will be my pleasure indeed.
[ Even now, he can feel those wicked claws where they slot against his form, and a shiver teases his spine at the thought of what their dagger ends might do to his flesh. It should rankle him, the way the pathetic vulnerability of this shape so often doesâbut, caged by the powerful arms of his lover, the feeling twists within his blood to become something else entirely, stinging his senses with the fresh scent of new possibility.
no subject
[ Lucius settles back in his seat as Eridanus rises, as if merely having him those few feet closer is enough to settle his restlessness. He might ask what it is that makes Eridanus think Lucius had intended his retorts as anything else, but his thoughts are much the sameâthat it makes no difference either way, when one was as much a flirtation as the other.
As Eridanus moves so comfortably to retrieve the moonshine, Lucius watches him with indolent posture. It isn't until he has returned to refill his cup that he lifts a hand; as if Eridanus' flesh is simply his to take, his palm settles against the back of his thigh, running upward with his reply. ]
Of course, I am far more than a mere warlord. [ Sly, feline eyes fall half-lidded as they fix Eridanus above in their gaze. ] And I hadn't imagined just what a rare jewel had fallen into my sights. Do you know, the precise moment when you made me burn with obsession unlike any I had felt before?
[ Just recalling it is enough to draw up the same rush of giddy desire, the urge to pounce on Eridanus and tear him apart in his mouth. The edges of his words turn breathless with it, their contest truly forgotten now. ]
no subject
Eridanus slides an open palm across Lucius' shoulder blades, feeling over the grotesque bone structure that squirms beneath his skin with fetal twitching. Behind him, his tail swings lazily, happily, and Eridanus indulges that question with his fond gaze.]
When was it that you came to yearn for me, beloved? [He hums, hugging himself closer to Lucius with his hip to his Eternal's shoulderâever striving to close the distance between them completely.] Because I remember when my thoughts and desires became consumed by you â when you dominated my entire existence with a thirst for your blood, and your flesh, and your soul.
[And how every moment since has been a crude bastardization of the eternity he wishes to spend with the man he's so wrapped up with. Every touch leaving him breathless, no matter how chaste, every whisper like the song of angels in his ears. Eridanus' hand slides over Lucius' nape, fingers curling into his blond hair, a gentle and affectionate touch still with the threat of those obsidian talons against his lover's skin.]
no subject
I didn't ask about yearning, dear Archmage, [ he says, and the words would almost sound offended if not for the tremble of a laugh that ghosts them. One hand settles around the small of Eridanus' back, and the other above his chestâabove the rune carved into his flesh, hidden from sight only by the fabric of that buttoned shirt. ] Yearning is nothing compared to the way thoughts of you consumed my mind.
[ The words for it are almost beyond him, that giddy infatuation that had left him to daydream of gifts and painters and heated prose penned in Eridanus' own hand. As if that exchange were minutes past instead of months, his blood races with it anew, the chain only barely held by Eridanus' dutiful presence at his side giving way to the bottomless hunger of his obsession once more. ]
That moment you told me that to feel the everlasting anguish of my armor would be a delight â I could think of no one else. There is no one else â no one else in ten-thousand years of life who has said to me what you have. To find a man unmatched in the depths of his heart's depravityâ [ His voice gives way to a laugh, breathless and intoxicated with something far deeper than moonshine. ] You are a precious stone buried among endless slate, a single golden treasure among billions upon billions of counterfeits. Or do you believe I would even think to have a sword made for just any rabble who asks to duel me?
[ With those last words, a cheeky grin cuts his lipsâeven as the flush of infatuation rises to his cheeks. ]
cw: SIGHS at the hornee
I know you are already so aware, butâ [Eridanus murmurs, barely above a breathless whisper as he smooths his opaline fingers over the sculpted curve of Lucius' cheek,] you are unlike any other. You have seen in me a value that I did not see myself, awakened my heart to desires I never thought I deserved â and not just that of the flesh. You have honed me into a blade, perfectly fit to your palm, and I have found... genuine happiness by your side. The first I've felt in so very long.
[He allows his eyes to slip closed, and dips his head down, so that their foreheads touch.] I have come to find fulfilment by your side, you have taught me many lessons. [Blond lashes flutter, his eyes opening and catching his consort's aureate gaze.] You are the air in my lungs, the sun on my face, the wind beneath my wings â I cannot live without you.
[Eridanus doesn't wait for Lucius' answer to his own confession. He knows it will be nothing more than an airy laugh, followed by casual affirmation. Rather, he claims those plump lips set before his own. Impassioned, Eridanus ravages that mouth, enjoying the tender give of flesh beneath the unrelenting opal of his own. He finds Lucius' supple lower lip, digging into it with sudden hunger, and suckling at that caught skin within the cage of his teeth.]
[When he finally pulls away, his arousal is apparent, lascivious desire edging into his breathless words,] forget fethesi â I need to make love to you, now.
no subject
When Eridanus draws away, Lucius answers him with a chuff of hot breath, the sound no less amused for the way it doesn't quite manage to become a laugh. ]
If you intend to make love as gently as you kiss, [ he teases, unable to keep himself from toying at such sentimental phrasing set against a kiss of ravaging, bestial passion, ] it will be my pleasure indeed.
[ Even now, he can feel those wicked claws where they slot against his form, and a shiver teases his spine at the thought of what their dagger ends might do to his flesh. It should rankle him, the way the pathetic vulnerability of this shape so often doesâbut, caged by the powerful arms of his lover, the feeling twists within his blood to become something else entirely, stinging his senses with the fresh scent of new possibility.
Anyway, ]