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...Thancred, this is-- it's beautiful. Is this really your home?
[a little awed, there. he honestly didn't anticipate this-- yes, he's said he was well educated, told ryn how he earned his tattoos, but rynlan wouldn't have guessed that the place where that happened would also be home to him. he assumed he came from somewhere else, left for somewhere else afterward.
he's staying still right where he is, just... taking it all in.]
[a little awed, there. he honestly didn't anticipate this-- yes, he's said he was well educated, told ryn how he earned his tattoos, but rynlan wouldn't have guessed that the place where that happened would also be home to him. he assumed he came from somewhere else, left for somewhere else afterward.
he's staying still right where he is, just... taking it all in.]
[He's smiling softly when the biome shifts to accommodate his memories like this — fond, but not quite surprised. This isn't the first time he's seen the home biome do this particular trick, after all. Not that it ever stops being magical to live it again.]
As much as any place could be. Nostalgia is a funny thing, isn't it?
[Silly as it is given their height difference, he walks around behind Ryn anyway, wrapping his arms around him as he presses up close against his back, and just kind of leans to the side to see around him by way of accommodating for how tall Ryn is otherwise.]
Shall I give you the tour? Of what we can see from here, at least; I doubt the biome will accommodate to properly fit all of it.
As much as any place could be. Nostalgia is a funny thing, isn't it?
[Silly as it is given their height difference, he walks around behind Ryn anyway, wrapping his arms around him as he presses up close against his back, and just kind of leans to the side to see around him by way of accommodating for how tall Ryn is otherwise.]
Shall I give you the tour? Of what we can see from here, at least; I doubt the biome will accommodate to properly fit all of it.
[oh- that's cute, honestly, the way thancred just holds him from behind despite being shorter. he can't help a fond little laugh at it, his hands folding easily over thancred's arms-- falling right into place.]
Please. But I don't think you can guide me very well from back there.
Please. But I don't think you can guide me very well from back there.
As though I couldn't navigate this place blindfolded. And have, as a matter of fact; one gets up to all sorts of interesting endeavors when training in the ways of espionage.
[As if to prove his point, he bumps his forehead against the middle of Ryn's back, between the shoulderblades, before turning them to pivot to face the harbor.]
Our patron deity, Thaliak. Also the upstanding gent from whom I take my name — not that I was much eager to embrace it at the time.
[As if to prove his point, he bumps his forehead against the middle of Ryn's back, between the shoulderblades, before turning them to pivot to face the harbor.]
Our patron deity, Thaliak. Also the upstanding gent from whom I take my name — not that I was much eager to embrace it at the time.
A scholar. That Sharlayan chose him as their patron was no coincidence; he's held as the god of wisdom, associated with water to quench man's thirst for knowledge.
[The faint smile is evident in his tone, even if his face is harder to see.]
We have twelve major deities. Also some...other unusual specimens.
[The faint smile is evident in his tone, even if his face is harder to see.]
We have twelve major deities. Also some...other unusual specimens.
[he's about to say that thancred does, in fact, quench him often enough, but then he's being fucking TICKLED. what the fuck!
rynlan gasps and squirms in his grip-- he is still kind of injured but i trust in thancred to be doing this gently.]
S-stop-- stop it, Thancred, you can't-- you can't tickle an injured man!
[thancred is also injured,]
rynlan gasps and squirms in his grip-- he is still kind of injured but i trust in thancred to be doing this gently.]
S-stop-- stop it, Thancred, you can't-- you can't tickle an injured man!
[thancred is also injured,]
[Cute. He lets Ryn wiggle and suffer a little bit, but relents before he can get too breathless or escalate to thrashing that might actually make him stumble or hurt himself.]
I most certainly can — come here, you.
[But he is, in fact, taking pity on Ryn and just kind of gathering him up again, holding steady so he can slump against him and catch his breath if he needs to.]
Going to behave yourself?
I most certainly can — come here, you.
[But he is, in fact, taking pity on Ryn and just kind of gathering him up again, holding steady so he can slump against him and catch his breath if he needs to.]
Going to behave yourself?
I can't argue that.
[Hello.]
Now, then, where were we? Ah, yes, the Twelve. Just as there are six elements, there are six heavens and six hells, with a seventh heaven and hell to hold the others. Two each of the Twelve are aspected to one of the elements, and are said to reside in that corresponding heaven. Thaliak, for example, shares the Heaven of Water with Nymeia the Weaver, our goddess of fate.
[Hello.]
Now, then, where were we? Ah, yes, the Twelve. Just as there are six elements, there are six heavens and six hells, with a seventh heaven and hell to hold the others. Two each of the Twelve are aspected to one of the elements, and are said to reside in that corresponding heaven. Thaliak, for example, shares the Heaven of Water with Nymeia the Weaver, our goddess of fate.
[Anyway, following a positively Mandervillian return from CYOA on the part of one (1) ThanBoy SuperThan FanCred, Rynlan Dawnslight, these two idiots will be heading for the onsen because there are like three whole locations that Thancred defaults to holing up in around here in Superhell, and this seems like one of the best for warming up after being wet and cold in the bitter chill for so long.
Also, it's 100% less hazardous than the coffee shop to his sensitive bits. So.]
...And I thought the garb I was sent back in after one of those misadventures was atrocious.
Also, it's 100% less hazardous than the coffee shop to his sensitive bits. So.]
...And I thought the garb I was sent back in after one of those misadventures was atrocious.
I really don't want to think about the outfit.
[the terrible shirt is one thing but also, this is so unlike his preferences, short sleeves?? fuck. he has to lean on him along the way, he's missing his cane, but he's a little more relaxed after they leave snow island. warmth...]
[the terrible shirt is one thing but also, this is so unlike his preferences, short sleeves?? fuck. he has to lean on him along the way, he's missing his cane, but he's a little more relaxed after they leave snow island. warmth...]
And yet when I turn up in cat ears it's "cute" and "wear them all the time, Thancred".
[Honestly he really would rather be carrying Ryn, but he's not that healed from his CYOA injuries yet and knows better than to do something masochistic. So he's just helping him along as best he can, fussing out of his own simmering, barely-suppressed concerns about the strange disoriented behavior Ryn had been exhibiting back up on the mountain.]
...You're not injured, after all that? You'll let me check?
[Honestly he really would rather be carrying Ryn, but he's not that healed from his CYOA injuries yet and knows better than to do something masochistic. So he's just helping him along as best he can, fussing out of his own simmering, barely-suppressed concerns about the strange disoriented behavior Ryn had been exhibiting back up on the mountain.]
...You're not injured, after all that? You'll let me check?
I full intend to have an explanation out of you, just so that you know. For all of it.
[When they get to the onsen, he secures the door the same way he usually does and then takes them through to the hotsprings itself, hesitating near the edge.]
...Let me get you out of those things, then.
[When they get to the onsen, he secures the door the same way he usually does and then takes them through to the hotsprings itself, hesitating near the edge.]
...Let me get you out of those things, then.
[The coat, at least, he takes and hangs so it'll stand a chance of properly drying; the rest of Ryn's attire, he's less careful about, and just kind of peels it off him piece by piece and casts it aside with one cold, wet plop after another.
The more items of clothing he removes, the more he averts his gaze — just a little, just respectfully.]
Do you want me to join you while you warm up? I can keep watch otherwise.
[Several weeks ago, this remark might've been mistaken for the seemingly serious offer it appears to be. By now, Ryn likely knows Thancred well enough to guess what he's really looking for: acknowledgement of his respect for a boundary once set, and a quiet plea to be told what to do about it.]
The more items of clothing he removes, the more he averts his gaze — just a little, just respectfully.]
Do you want me to join you while you warm up? I can keep watch otherwise.
[Several weeks ago, this remark might've been mistaken for the seemingly serious offer it appears to be. By now, Ryn likely knows Thancred well enough to guess what he's really looking for: acknowledgement of his respect for a boundary once set, and a quiet plea to be told what to do about it.]
Let's get you settled, then.
[He leans up and in, drawing Ryn down far enough to kiss his forehead before nudging him toward the edge of the springs, and offers his arm to help him down and into it. Once he's settled, he can make quick* work of his own clothes and join him.
*quick is a relative term when you're seven days off being blown up and stabbed and CYOA'd to within an ilm of your life.]
[He leans up and in, drawing Ryn down far enough to kiss his forehead before nudging him toward the edge of the springs, and offers his arm to help him down and into it. Once he's settled, he can make quick* work of his own clothes and join him.
*quick is a relative term when you're seven days off being blown up and stabbed and CYOA'd to within an ilm of your life.]
Good, is it? I'm glad. This should get you warmed up in a hurry.
[The water sloshes softly as he draws Ryn against him, reaching over through the water to drag his fingertips along his skin. There's no particular reason for it; just an irrepressible desire to make a little more contact however he can.]
[The water sloshes softly as he draws Ryn against him, reaching over through the water to drag his fingertips along his skin. There's no particular reason for it; just an irrepressible desire to make a little more contact however he can.]
It should. Think this was a good idea.
[he leans into the contact easily, accepting it. it's grounding-- real.
eventually he says, quietly-]
It was-- so hard to tell what was real, there. I saw you die-- it wasn't you, I knew that later, but I thought that it was you. You bled out, while I held you.
[he leans into the contact easily, accepting it. it's grounding-- real.
eventually he says, quietly-]
It was-- so hard to tell what was real, there. I saw you die-- it wasn't you, I knew that later, but I thought that it was you. You bled out, while I held you.
Gods damn it all —
[It's soft, hissed through gritted teeth, and he can't help but turn his gaze away for just a moment in a beat of frustration and shame.]
They used me against you. Me. Like — the same way they used Ryne, when I was taken.
[Dammit.]
[It's soft, hissed through gritted teeth, and he can't help but turn his gaze away for just a moment in a beat of frustration and shame.]
They used me against you. Me. Like — the same way they used Ryne, when I was taken.
[Dammit.]
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