etrayalogs | FEBRUARY MINGLE

Entry tags:

FEBRUARY MINGLE

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: February 14th - March
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: The arrival of newcomers, a mini mission, and some new city features!
NOTES\WARNINGS:

⏵ arrival ⏴
Welcome to Etraya!

Arrival goes as expected - characters awaken on hospital beds and are offered an explanation of their situation: that they have arrived in the city of Etraya, and they are their world's only hope. They are welcome to wander the hospital if they would like to - the upper floors are mostly empty, full of pristine hallways and numerous rooms filled with supplies, cots, and things one would expect from a relatively average 21st-century hospital.

In the hospital's lobby are several party tables set out with miscellaneous baked goods: croissants, cookies, breads, cake slices, as well as tea and coffee to accompany them - or hot chocolate, for those who are opposed to the other offerings.

Outside the hospital, the last remnants of snow are melting in the sunlight as the weather begins to warm up. It's still chilly enough one might want to put on a coat, but not so cold a jacket is necessary for wandering around without freezing off one's fingers.

We hope you enjoy your stay.

⏵ heroes return ⏴

As the Quantum Rail train glides to a halt, returning passengers step out onto familiar ground - the train station, right where they had initially begun their mission. When exiting the station, their earpieces vibrate, indicating the automatic download of a detailed map which highlights key locations, transit paths, and notable landmarks. As Aurora promised, she had been working on a few renovations around Etraya! A sleek trolley system now winds through Etraya, following clearly marked pathways through the city bubble to make travel across the city smoother. However, the trolley only moves one way, eternally following the loop Aurora has set it on. And because of this, it takes six hours to complete it's loop all the way around. Don't miss your stop!

Pets and animals have been returned to their usual preferred areas, some awaiting the arrival of their owners, and others keeping to themselves in the forested areas throughout Etraya.

Beyond the small upgrades, things seem relatively unchanged - until one familiar sign catches the eye. One marked by four vertical lines, methodically crossed out one by one: the final slash has now been drawn through. The tally is complete. What it indicates has yet to be made clear, but it has to mean something, right? No one would go through the effort of making an ominous-sounding sign without following through.

⏵ love in the air ⏴

This Valentines Day, Aurora and the companion bots have opted to try something a little different: they have scattered mystery valentines across the city. Hidden within mailboxes, tucked into cafe menus, slipped under doors, on the outside of high windows for those wall-crawlers to spot. There are countless of these little slips of papers, strewn throughout the city. And within each valentine, is a challenge or gesture to complete. Please feel free to make these up yourselves as long as they fit in with the theme!

Some examples include:

Deliver a flower to a stranger.
Write a heartfelt poem for someone.
Share a box of chocolates!
Confess your feelings for another.
Play matchmaker for two people - this can be platonic, or romantic!
Gift a friend with a stuffed animal.
Give five different people a genuine compliment.

While not mandatory, completing five tasks will earn an individual an additional ten points to use towards anything they would like!

Each little Valentine is signed "Your Secret Admirer. ♡", and some of them may even be addressed to specific individuals. Don't be surprised, Eddie, if you see one or two that are specifically addressed to you lurking around your collection of chicken friends!

And while most of these are harmless, some of the valentines cards come with effects for those who come into contact with the paper. Perhaps they thought it was a piece of garbage, or were just kicking it out of the way rather than intending on taking part. It doesn't matter! They get to join in on the fun, too.

Heart Eyes - your pupils literally turn into hearts for a few hours, making it hard to focus on anything other than things (or people) you find attractive.
Love-Struck Stammer - You can only speak in poetic compliments or romantic declarations, regardless of whom you're speaking to.
Chocolate Bliss - Everything feels good. Simple. Easy. As if there's nothing in the world to concern yourself with. You feel happy, without any concerns or worry.
Rose-Tinted Vision - everything looks soft and romantic, as if you're in a romance novel. You know the ones.
Magnetic Attraction - regardless of what you had been doing, you suddenly find yourself unable to leave the side of the person closest to you. Had you been eating chocolates while walking down the street? Well, have fun getting stuck to the guy who'd been out for a jog!
Serenade Syndrome - you find it impossible to resist the urge to sing your words, turning all conversations into love ballads.
Heartstrings - A thread appears, connecting you to someone close by who you share many similarities too. Perhaps you had never met this person before, but the threads tied around your pinky fingers that refuse to let go until you allow yourself to open up to them clearly means you should be a little more familiar with them.

Love is in the air—or maybe just a bit of well-intended chaos! 💕

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Welcome back from the mission, and welcome to Etraya for our newcomers! We've tried to keep this log simple for an easy introduction, as well as some downtime for our mission-goers who worked hard to solve the Quantum Rail mystery.

There is something else going on, but. . . well, no one seems to know what! The computer that had been on the lower floor of the hospital is now missing, and Aurora may seem a little flustered as she flits around Etraya, in search of something.

For all questions relating to this log, please refer to the mod queries comment. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Something non-complicated would be fanciful, but it was hard to come by. Everything seemed complicated these days, but this? It was remarkably easy and comfortable when it had absolutely no right to be. Had Cid passed some type of Valentine's curse on him after leafing through all those papers? The better question was if he cared? Not particularly.

He huffed softly in amusement, shifting his head off of the top of Cid's crown of hair so he could lightly butt then rest his forehead against the other man's left temple. "Oh, that one was nothing. An old friend pinned me to a desk through the arm. It will heal. It always does," he remarked as if the tale was neither abnormal or anything he particularly worried about. His other forearm remained covered in a black leather brace, hiding the more unsightly scar from open view.

"Only if you show me yours," he replied, voice dropping to a sultry tone. "I expect we both have plenty of stories to tell."

This was what he earned for being isolated, lonely and grieving. He should have stuck with push-ups in his room.

“Are all your friends so fun?” he lets out a dark chuckle. Seems he was at least hard to phase. Cid was a good candidate to bear all to- he could take anything in stride, lighten the mood, or take the piss out of it.

“…That can certainly be arranged.” Cid matches the mood with his own voice, hand traveling from his forearm to his shoulder. He turns and tilts his head enough to scratch Vander’s neck with his stubble as he whispers in his ear. “I reckon we find somewhere better to tell them. Unless…”

"Unfortunately not," he remarked with a tongue-and-cheek tone. While the person was an absolute pain in the ass, the fact that he was injured wasn't anything to worry about. "Do you have any fun friends like that, you being so social and all?"

The arm draped from shoulder down Cid's chest released the strings he had been playing with and drew back, his fingers and palm dragging up towards shoulder before moving back to settling a hand on the small of Cid's back as their positions shifted to accommodate whatever they were apparently engaging in right now.

His own head turned, scratching his own stubble against Cid's cheek and temple. "Unless you're embarrassed by me carrying you, I suppose. You might break your neck disembark a moving trolley..." It's not like the trolley hid anything from anyone.

But hey, if they were fast between stops...

“Yeah, I’ve got a friend with a sense of humor like that,” Cid says with a sigh. “Dour bastard.”

He shakes his head, freeing his mind from the tumult of his earlier interaction with that particular man. Cid turns and throws a leg out on either side of Vander’s body so that they’re finally facing one another.

“Would you like to do the honors?” he asks, holding half a beer up for Vander to kill if he wanted.

"Maybe they'll meet up one day and stab each other." It was a light jest on his part; he unfortunately came from a time and place where Zaunites were loyal to each other even when they hated each other. "Or maybe just gripe to each other."

His arms shifted, moving to accommodate the change in position, and he drew his legs together just a touch so it wasn't quite a stretch feat for Cid to straddle him. He set a hand on Cid's hip to limit chances of toppling backwards, no matter how amusing it might be at this stage.

He eyed the bottle and shrugged, taking it from the other man and downing the last of the contents with a few chugs. It wasn't even enough to give him a buzz, but it accented the suddenness of the escalation anyway. "You're not going to sober up and regret this, yeah?"

Just... crossing his t's and dotting his i's here.

“Barney’s not much for talking either, I’m afraid. But he does like talking shit on me, so… maybe he’ll get lucky.” Cid shakes his head as he leans forward to really look at this other man in the eye. ‘Til now, he’d just been cuddling him like some kind of attention starved cat.

“What am I, a blushing maiden? No- no, I’m not going to regret this.” Cid laughs, his eyes crinkling more than they do at the absurdity of it. He takes the empty bottle from his hand and drops it back into the box. He wasn’t feeling quite unruly enough to toss it out the window. Not yet, at least.

Cid wraps his arms around Vander’s neck, taking a steadying breath before he leans in to kiss him.

"Oh well, I have the opposite problem. He talks all the time," he remarked with an exasperated tone as his head briefly fell back against the trolley chair back. That wasn't exactly fair, of course. He tended to provoke an over the top response, but they apparently did not need to talk about this any further. He took the cue as someone whose experienced this sort of suddenness before.

"You're flushed, but I expect that's the beer," he remarked cheekily as he slid his other hand around to grope Cid's ass. He was going to like that laugh; he just knew it. "And I won't know about the maiden thing for about five minutes, I expect."

His hand left Cid's hip as the other man leaned in to kiss him and seized those cross-stitches holding the guy's shirt together and pulled him in further while also unstringing it with two fingers.

As their lips met, he made a point of starting them off strong with a sharp nip at Cid's lower lip.

Cid’s ass was muscular from all the running and acrobatics, but it wasn’t big. Still, he appreciates the assertive attention on it.

“Could be something else,” Cid mutters, grinding himself into Vander’s lap. He shifts himself to press his tented trouser front against the other man. He’d been like this for a little while, but he finally felt the need to call attention to it. Cid allows himself to be hauled around however Vander likes. They were undressing, were they?

Cid groans low and primal, that nip sending something hot through his veins. Cid undoes the belt holding his jacket together for him, revealing the rest of his shirt. Like this, it’s plain to see that his trousers come together with some hidden buttons easily unfastened from their loops.

“Oh yeah? Don’t you worry about me. I can take it,” Cid hits back confidently. He grabs a fistful of Vander’s shirt at the hem and tugs it up over his pecs to expose them.

"Oh yeah, maybe it's all those slips of paper you were leafing through. I hear those can have various effects on a person," he remarked, bemused that quickly changed to a soft breathy moan when Cid ground into his lap. Yeah, all of this had had a reaction out of him as well, and he rocked his hips up in a rolling motion.

They said something-something scars, so he figured they could keep some of their clothes on as long as skin was exposed now and again. His hands were already wandering, sliding into Cid's shirt to drag his blunt nails over pecs and down abs as much as the material allowed with the coat newly opened.

He nudged their noses together, huff of amusement. "You should investigate what you're dealing with before proclaiming that kind of claim," he said, adding a second nip before kissing Cid for real, hard press of lips.

It wasn't as if he came prepared for this; it had never been in the cards when he had thought about exploring the trolley system. Well, lesson learned.

“Ah, that’s right. It had little tasks, too. Surely we’ve done a couple by now?” No Cid, none of the valentines instructed an incredibly public display of sex.

“Don’t you worry your little head, I’m not about to make us spit n’ grit- I’m always prepared.”

And Cid did indeed have several little pouches around his belt. He picks through them as they kiss, rifling through cigars, mints, a couple napkins, empty potion bottles, a quill- he comes to a plastic bottle of lube that looks jarringly modern to pull from such worn leather. It’s half full. He breaks the kiss to hold it aloft triumphantly.

“For whatever you’re packing, eh-“ Cid tucks the bottle into the rolled cloth of Vander’s shirt over the swell of his pecs for safe keeping. “Go on, don’t keep me waiting- let’s see it.”

Cid now had his shirt open and jacket shrugged around his shoulders. He tugs his gloves off one at a time with his teeth and tucks them into his belt- only suspended by how it connected to the jacket at this point. His torso was riddled with scars, though most of them seemed a bit older now. This is certainly a man who had seen a lot of combat in his time.

With gloves off and sleeves rolled up, there was something curious about his revealed skin. It was patchy stone grey, flecked with darker grey in spots. It dominated his left arm, though it came down his shoulder into his chest as well. Cid pays it no mind as he looks expectantly to Vander.

"I doubt it, but perhaps we'll manage at least one," Vander replied dryly. Considering Cid climbed into his lap without looking at the paper, he expected that whatever requirements were still in effect. "At least one of us is... this hasn't been a scenario I've been in for a few years. Must be all these charms of yours."

And well, since arriving here, Vander had invested a lot of time to exercising and returning to form, both in a lack of anything better to do and because he knew that everything about this place would be a fight. He tucked his elbows in to hold the roll of his shirt, and there was a distinct ugly black twisted scar on the left side of his abdomen. The skin around it was discoloured and mottled.

He shifted so his fingers to work open his multi-clasp belt, which was meant to look aesthetically complicated but was mostly three latches before he was pulling it open. His eyes followed the motions of Cid's devesting even as his hands worked open the buttons of his trousers, and he set his feet to lift his ass from the seat while still remaining stable for the spot Cid was perched on while also undressing. He slid his trousers down midthigh, having to stop because there was a guy still in his lap and that was good enough.

He had not been lying about his size either; he was well-portioned for being a man over six and a half feet tall. His cock curved up to his belly, bobbing as he moved his hands up to stroke over the discolouration on Cid's arm before leaning in and mouthing the other man's neck. His fingers walked over scars, and his own body showed signs of hard labour and even yellow fading bruises, old scabs from brawling against opponents with weapons and old scars.

"I've showed you mine, your turn, swordmaster."

“Alright, alright- Patience…” Cid makes a rumbling deep in his chest as Vander kisses his neck. For him, it had been a while since anything quite so romantic had happened to him. Utilitarian was usually how this went.

He lifts himself up on his knees just enough to pull his trousers apart, his cock bobbing free. It was average enough, if a little on the girthier side, with the head poking almost halfway from the foreskin. He sighs against the careful attention to his scars, his petrification. He soaks it up as he rakes his fingers up Vander’s chest, squeezing his pecs on the way down- for his own satisfaction in part. He decides not to call attention to the other man’s nastiest scar. That had a long story, surely, one best told over a good drink.

He looks between them in his drunken state, realizing swiftly that he would have to turn back around if he wanted to keep his trousers in hastily-pull-uppable reach. But then he’d have to turn around and have no leverage. Cid sighs, doing his intoxicated little calculations.

What must be done must be done. He unhooks something inside his trousers, pulls the boot off his right leg and pulls his leg through his trousers, freeing it. Then he does the same on the other side, leaving him with his knit gartered hose- clearly some sort of medieval sock, though it looks rather like unclasped thigh highs in this state.

Cid tosses his pants to drape on the seat behind him for what will hopefully be easy reach. Otherwise… from the back, does anyone really need to know?

But now- Now he could focus. He takes both of them in hand and squeezes their cocks together.

“How’s that? Good man. Eager, still properly stiff at your age, too. Good on you,” his praise is genuine, though his voice is laced with a teasing edge. He can’t help but appraise a man, even when he was moments from being taken by him.

Who said romance was dead? He'd only just met Cid about ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago and they were having a go-around. He planned on making it memorable on the off-chance that they ran across each other again and it came to a scenario where they might want to poke fun at each other about the whole affair. Though, Cid was rather comfortable with this, so he doubted this was the first dalliance of this sort.

As much as he wanted to take his time and explore, there was a heated eagerness to the drag of his fingers down those scars. They felt... strange, rather tactile under his calloused finger tips, though he made a point to drag his palm over one pec then the other, catching and pinching a nipple between his fore and middle fingers.

How Cid managed to be that drunk and remove his pants was a feat even Vander was impressed by; most inebriated folks weren't quite so coordinated in the balance department. He made a point to pull Cid back into his lap and slid both of his hands up the back of shirt and jacket that still hung off his muscular torso.

He pointedly dug his blunt nails into Cid's back for the praise, a shudder shaking his frame at the stimulation and he bit his lip to prevent from making too loud of a moan. "At my age? My pants come down and you're calling me old? I liked you better when I was biting your lips." He was teasing of course. He took no offense, given he estimated they might be around the same age.

One hand came around to grope Cid's balls, rolling them in his palm and fingers. Two could play that game.

Cid pants in delight, in the lurid exhibitionism of it all as he’s touched, as his clothing is pushed aside. He lets his clothing continue to slip down his arms. His body is well toned, though the skin is starting to show some signs of age. All that sun and dehydration had taken a toll on him, after all. Still, it looked good on him.

“Oh, everyone says that,” Cid replies as his hips cant forward with the attention to his nuts. Cid gives the two of them a hearty squeeze as he leans in to find his mouth again and reclaim it.

And then Cid’s hands release them, moving to touch Vander’s chest and pluck the lubricant tucked into his shirt. He doesn’t need to look, and he doesn’t bother pausing the heated kissing as he squirts just a bit too much lube over his hand. Like an old pro (and perhaps he was one), Cid reaches back to finger himself with swift eagerness. He grabs Vander’s cock from between his own legs, pumping it to coat it beforepositioning it as carefully as he can.

“Alright,” Cid says, not giving enough information- though seems to be indicating for Vander to do something- as he raises and lowers his hips, pressing his hole against the blunt head of Vander’s cock. Cid stares off for a moment, wincing slightly as he takes a deep breath in through his nose. And as he breathes out, he lowers himself on quivering thighs, sucking breath again as it breaches and stretches so magnificently that his eyes force shut.

That was the hard part done, his shoulders draw up as he presses his forehead against the other man’s collar. Bit by bit he slides it in, ‘til he’s halfway through and his weight suddenly brings him fully down back onto Vander’s lap. Cid groans, grasping the other man around the neck for dear life.

"I have no doubt," he remarked cheekily, though Cid worked a sharp grunting moan out of him for that squeeze. The tail end of it was swallowed up by that kiss, and he willingly parted his lips to assault Cid's lips briefly with his tongue. The man tasted of smokes and beer, which was not unpleasant at all.

And Cid was making it clear that this kind of quickie was a formulated tried and tested method with the way the man prepped himself. This was the kind of quick turn around one normally experienced in a dirty bar bathroom or behind a dumpster back home. It was fast enough he had enough time to settle one hand on Cid's hip and the other made short work to twist a nipple and stroke over the man's chest and belly as they came together.

He growled a low almost feral sound as he felt himself pressing into that heat, shuddering and leaning his head back to enjoy the show. The hand on Cid's hip tightened, almost bruising as the other rose to cup the back of the man's head to his shoulder and it was all of his self control not to thrust up and bury himself.

He was breathing in quick breaths, waiting a few seconds for Cid to adjust before Vander took over. He curled his arm across the back of the other man's shoulders while the grip on Cid's hip tightened and he physically lifted his little fling up his cock and dropped him at the same time he thrust. He fell into a quick and sharp rhythm, breathing against Cid's ear as he chuffed moans at each roll of their bodies together.

"If you crab walk after this, I won't be apologetic."

“Take more than this to ruin my stride,” he manages between a few thrusts. Cid’s clean hand twists in Vander’s hair- his messier one he wipes on his thigh before cradling Vander’s broad jaw with it.

Now Cid was just in for the ride, and he was more than happy to just take it, like he was at the mercy of the ocean waves tossing him about. Cid’s cock gets trapped between their bodies as Cid rides this broad beast of a man. It’s intense, the heat between them and inside of him is unbearable, incredible- The thrust of Vander’s sizable cock is all he can focus on, the stretch, the friction, and every spot it hits from the moment it enters him.

His hands move, comes around to grab Vander’s broad back, short nails digging in best they can as the hot coil of his arousal winds with each thrust. His back arches as every muscle in his body begins to tighten and flex, sweat pricks his skin as he flushes from his neck to his belly. He bites Vander’s neck just to muffle all the deep, sordid noises that the other man pulls from him for a moment. Cid thrusts in tandem with him, trying to get a little more pressure on his own cock.

He catches his breath, just barely. “Come on, is that all you’ve got?”

Cid does not know what tree he’s barking up here, he’s barely holding it together as it is with Vander’s pace. He drags his nails down his back, making a choked noise into Vander’s neck.

Vander rumbled a sound of amusement between the growling moans that their union dragged from his through. "Ha, I always like rising to the occasion for a smart mouth barking up the wrong tree..." he growled into Cid's ear, punctuating the challenge in his tone with a bite to the other man's ear lobe. And he had thought it was progressing so well....

While his set pace did not falter, the arm holding Cid against his chest loosen, slowing withdrawing until he could switch his grip and curl it under one the other man's arms and his hand gripped the back of Cid's neck. His other hand tightened on the other man's hip as he stopped slumping back against the trolley chair and changed the angle of his own hips so he was redirecting himself inside Cid to line up with driving against the other man's prostate repeatedly.

And his thrust rate increased to punishing as he set his feet more firmly on the floor and boy those occasional bumps in the road only helped his case. His height provided him the advantage of still being able to lean in nip his way down Cid's strong stubbled jawline, his gray eyes watching the other man's expression as he panted against sweaty skin, same as his own.

He was aiming for mostly incoherent at this point. If Cid still had some challenge, Vander would rise to it. That was part of the pleasure, the heat that hyperfocused him on the moment and letting all of his worries melt away for brief fleeting moments of such an encounter.

No, no, that angle and power shift onto his prostate with Vander’s sheer size is more than enough to shut Cid up. He adjusts his grip to hold on as he pants wantonly from his slackened jaw. His brow wrinkles in pleasure as Vander still manages to pay attention to all the little details of lovemaking. His ankles cross behind Vander’s waist as all he can do is just take it.

Cid bravely removes a hand from Vander’s thick neck and shoves it down between them to grab himself, stroking hard and fast, cockhead pressed firmly into Vander’s belly. Quickly after that, he comes- freezing in place, then spasming from his core to his limbs. Only halfway through his orgasm does he even become audible as his lungs finally release the air they’d held. He gasps for breath in Vander’s arms and seeks Vander’s lips with his own- face still numb with alcohol and endorphins. He pecks his lips and nudges him affectionately with his nose, chest heaving too hard to keep the lip lock up for much longer.

Even as he tries to catch his breath and his senses have barely returned, he starts to chuckle. “…The trolley’s slowing, isn’t it?”

Ah well, he still had it, didn't he? Well, old skills were never wasted even in a spur of the moment fling on a trolley car. With Cid successfully proven that there was always a way to make a grown man cling to another grown man for dear life, he enjoyed the moment with hot pants against the other man's jawline and let himself delve fully into the heated pleasure coursing through his flesh.

The lewd noises of their body slapping and slamming together was music in the otherwise quiet trolley car, and he growled out moans as his pleasure rose while he held their positions. He was aware of Cid's hands dipping between them, and it seemed like minimal time before he was experiencing the hot liquid effects of the other man's climax on his belly as he pulled Cid down on his cock as he grunted through the last two thrusts before he was buried and twitching as his own orgasm rocked him.

His gaze momentarily whited out with the strength of it, and he rolled his hips to scratch that last little spark of pleasure even as he began to relax. He leaned into that sweet punctuation of a kiss and leaned their sweaty foreheads together as he sought to catch his breath again. His hand slid up to scratch his nails through the short cropped hair at the back of Cid's head.

"Don't care," he remarked carelessly, too intent on enjoying this little moment of bliss. "I'm not the one whose pants are hanging over the side of trolley bench." His were around his thighs, like a gentleman thank you very much.

Cid chuckles. He’s too drunk to really care who sees this, though he’ll surely have some sober regrets about the impropriety- but only if they get caught.

“Prick- Let me down-“ Cid wriggles to free himself off of Vander, feeling an incredible ache through his backside as soon as the chemicals coursing through him start to fade. He curses as he tries to drop his feet underneath him, legs still shaking like a baby deer.

“Shit- Well, if you want to get out somewhere and rest, we should get out at this stop. Unless you wanna just ride this thing all night.”

Off in the distance is the castle of Stonhyrr, lightning crackling in the sky above it.

Vander helped Cid off of him, lifting a leg from the floor to keep the guy from collapsing, though his expression was bemusement as he pushed his sweat-darkened hair from clinging to his neck. "You sure you can even walk?"

He was pulling his shirt down, having not prepared a clean-up strategy given the unexpected nature of this encounter in the first place. Then he was tugging up his trousers again, aware both of them were messy and sweaty and this whole trolley smelled like sex. Probably best to make an escape at the offer.

He tossed Cid's trousers to the man. "I'd appreciate a clean up opportunity. If that means stepping off here for it, all the better." There was a sexual ride joke in there on the tip of his tongue, but he decided against it.

He reached down to grab Cid's box of beer and rose to his feet smoothly and the trolley was coming to a slow stop.

Vander smirked. "Want me to carry you?"

“Mind yourself-“ Cid grouses as he tugs his pants on and holds them up and closed with one hand, grabs his boots and belt with the other, and still manages to limp off the train before it completely leaves the station. He only rolls his ankle a little bit, cursing as he lands on his ass.

It was just as well. He goes to reattach his leggings to his trousers and lace himself up even as the lube and sweat cool on his skin. He tugs his boots back on and fumbles with his shirt and his belt as he pats himself down. He had his gloves. Good. He puts them back on and stands gingerly. It was… Just a little twenty minute walk to the castle.

“Alright. We should get a move on.”

Cid takes a cigar from his pouch and lights it with a flame from the tip his finger. “You want one? Pop a beer while you’re at it, eh? May as well lighten our load.”

Vander grabbed his belt, slinging it over his shoulder for the moment as he watched Cid hobble off the trolley and double-checked that nothing had been left behind. No, just all those Valentine's slips of paper the other man had been leafing through, and he wanted nothing to do with those.

While Cid was re-dressing properly, he slipped his belt back on and fastened it before he followed the other man away from the trolley. He ran his fingers through his hair and tugged his shirt more, wrinkling his nose at the moisture rubbed into his shirt and skin.

He stared at the method of lighting and hummed. "Sure, I haven't made enough questionable decisions yet today. And... how did you do that?" Magic was a term brandied around, but it wasn't like Vander had ever seen it in action aside from illusion tricks.

He reached into the box to pull out a beer, cracking the lid off by putting it in the crook of his elbow and flexing. He offered it over to Cid to have the first sip. "Are we walking to the ominous castle?"

Cid is still feeling some effects from the Valentines, but that was a problem for sober him- to attempt to recover all of those off the departed trolley and find out what they were to resolve it. For now, he’s still feeling amorous.

“Oh, that? Just a bit of magic,” he says with a bit of surprise. It’s taken some getting used to- everyone not flipping out over magic here, so for someone to catch it piques his interest. “Never seen magic before?”

Cid takes the beer in one hand and lights another for Vander, flicking that flame up again like it was a lighter. He takes a deep inhale, ensures it’s lit, and passes the second one over.

“Cheers,” he takes a swig of beer. “Aye, that we are. Home sweet home, Stonhyrr. Don’t let the lighting overhead, the vicious beasts guarding the gate, and the waves crashing on the other shore fool you, though.”

"No," he admitted without shame. He'd heard about it, especially here as the term seemed brandied about more often than in the undercity. "Mages nearly destroyed our world apparently, so there's fear around magic. But let's be honest, humanity invents plenty of ways to destroy themselves with enough time."

He took the cigar that was offered, and he jammed it between his lips for a long drag. He was settling into the walk, observing their destination but more curiously the man next to him. Guy didn't seem like a creepy oppressive castle type, which he suspected meant it was inhabited by other people.

"As long as I can keep both of my kidneys after washing up, it won't be the worst place I've stayed," he remarked, blowing smoke from the corner of his mouth. "I assume you'll be disappointing someone bringing home a random guy?"

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happy valentines, this thread is probably turning nsfw from here on out.

/resigned sigh yeah, definitely going places

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it's safe now. they put their clothes back on

As if anyone is gonna skip over the middle

Gotta give then options! Maybe some don't want to see sexy times