He could wear a forcefield, as it would not only show off his body still, but add a nice gleam in the right places. That is not a shirt at all, and he could still breath.
I'd kiss him myself if I was there. That tail is also awesome.
I am thinking of him and Eldingar having a nice night, and how maybe that means sandpapper skin + blue dragon scales = Eldingar getting very shiny and polished. (I hope I don't attract Slaanesh.)
And also again;
Camellia is the secret god of this world.
"It would be myyyyyyy informed opinion," you reply, trying to focus your gaze on the people in the room who aren't Tala because she scares you a little bit, "that Datu deserves the lamp the most."
"Uuugh," she groans, undercut by Datu's hissed 'yesss'. Thankfully her ire seems reserved for him and not you. "I see you're already hard at work sleeping your way to the top."
Datu makes a kissy-face back at her. It's not something you ever thought you'd see a jagged fanged shark-maw do. It's a curious experience. She gives him a half-playful echoing slap between the shoulders, hard enough to make him lurch forward an inch and suppress a grunt, but that's where the vengeance ends. Datu just grins, hand-on-hip with his chest thrust out like he was just crowned king of the world. Which is absurd because that crown belongs exclusively to dragons but he's your brand new boyfriend so you humour him. Tala offers the lamp dangling from her speartip and her brother deftly transfers it to the tip of his own, resting the shaft against his brawny shoulder.
"Did you find any other riches here besides the lamp?" you ask.
"Oh yeah, loads." Datu inclines his head at the ruined fountain. "We were getting all our ducks in a row when we heard the commotion and came running. Looks like your number one fan only wanted to wake up for you."
You grimace. The less you're reminded of your close brush with 'ownership' of the corrupted marid the better. You glance at the mystic artefact dangling from his enchanted spear, perched so precariously it's beginning to give you anxiety.
"You're planning to first return home with your spoils, I take it?"
"Mhm!" Datu glances back at the lamp momentarily. "Why, you really angling for this you sly devil?"
You shoot him a flat-browed Look, lips pursed. "One of the many individuals I've encountered following my magic map is an expert in the creation and study of magical items. They don't live with me permanently, but they're never more than a portal away. If you bring it with you when you do decide to visit, I have the utmost confidence they would spring into action and diagnose anything you could ever want to know about it."
"Cool cool, sounds like a plan. Where d'you live?"
You raise a talon, then pause. "(Mrgh, this was easier with a physical map to show.) Hopefully you've heard of Söfnun?"
"I know of it, yeah." Datu shrugs. "Our tribe prefers the warmer water down here, so we haven't really visited much. You live there?"
"A spire a few miles out of town," you clarify. "Rock formation at the tip of the peninsula - no sea-level access so you may have to surface at Söfnun and catch a ride or hike."
"You'll be okay, won't you?" Jun-ho asks. "You won't like, dry out or anything?"
"Nah, I could get by with one or two showers a day. You have all that at your place, right?"
You fall silent a few incredibly awkward moments longer as you think about the state of your spire and how you didn't even properly check it when you got back from meeting Lyrros. You hide the worst of the sudden, visceral panic and reply. "I'm in the middle of renovations right now, so you may have to bear with me for a few days."
"No problem. I'll be a couple days heading home and offloading our loot anyway." Datu grins at you. "If you're remodelling why not throw in a hot tub or two, eh?"
"Hot tub?" Jun-ho asks blankly.
"Like a small personal pool with heated water," you explain.
Jun-ho gasps deeply. "Eldingar can we get a hot tub can I get a hot tub can each of us get our own hot tub?"
"Now is not the time for making interior decorating decisions!" you snap at him. His enthusiasm bleeds away all at once and he looks at you with those eyes, those damn big round hangdog puppy eyes. "... maybe."
"YES!" He pumps both fists in the air. Tala, otherwise content to let her brother have his own conversation, chuckles and leans over to scritch Jun-ho between the antlers. Jun-ho lets out a half-embarrassed "(eeheehee~)" and lets it happen, eyes half-lidded like a happy cat. Datu shoots her a grumpy look of sibling-anger that you know all too well, and Tala snickers in reply.
The aquean siblings wind up leading you and Jun-ho out of the temple and back to the surface. Maram led you deep enough into the complex you're not entirely confident about getting back to the sinkhole you dropped in through, let alone tackling the logistical issues of getting back up between your wingspan and Jun-ho's inability to fly in bipedal form. Nor are you particularly complaining about the opportunity to let your eyes wander all over Datu's back, tracing the repeating designs of his tattoos, the scars he's accumulated over his career and meticulously tattooed over again to repair the damage they did to the patterns. You're pretty sure he knows you're looking and loves it. You're not sure if that's better or worse.
In any case once the four of you return to the cold night air they bid you farewell, stowing the corrupted lamp safely in one of Datu's waterproof bags of holding while presumably Tala carries the majority of the other loot. The pair gracefully swan-dive off the edge of the island and splash down in the dark waters all around, visible only briefly as a pair of grey fins slicing through the water in the monochrome twilight of your darkvision before disappearing into the gloom. You let out a relieved puff of air.
"I like them!" Jun-ho says.
"I gathered that." You take one more look around - you'll be glad to see the end of this place, make no mistake. You flare out your wings in preparation for the return home. "Now we just have to-hhahhhhhooowww"
You immediately cringe, tucking your right wing back against your shoulder. Jun-ho's head immediately snaps around, the eastern dragon getting all up in your personal space.
"What? What is it? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," you say, sucking air through your gritted fangs. "Just a bit of-hhhaaaashit." You try to extend it again and it hurts even worse. The delicate limb quivers, reflexively flattening against your scaly back. Jun-ho slips around behind you and carefully probes at the area, talons prodding in a steadily shrinking circle until he reaches the joint where the armour thins to admit your wings.
"Okay so I'm not gonna touch it but I'm pretty sure it's your joint that hurts."
"Yeah no kidding."
"Which means you probably sprained it and shouldn't go flying," he adds.
"uuuuuugggghhhhhhhhhhh." You bury your face in your hands, slowly dragging your talons down your armoured snout with a sound a lot like nails down steel, daggerlike tips digging into every seam in the overlapping scales as they pass. "Look at me. Used to be I had a nice life, just relaxing and taking it easy on my gold, doing as I pleased. And now? Now I'm off having adventures and getting in fights. Now I'm getting injuries. Injuries, Jun-ho!"
"What d'you think did it?" he asks.
"Probably the part where the marid violently introduced my skeleton to the floor from 30 feet up," you say.
"(yeah s'probably what did it)" he murmurs, looking at everything that isn't you.
"Ugh. No, don't- I should have managed to take that no problem," you add, grinding the heel of your palm against your brow. "Armour like however-many-shields and all that. I got a far worse beating from Lyrros over the course of meeting him. No there was something... something else about the marid. Something about that black water tainting her, making her stronger but driving her mad."
Trying to drive you mad. You don't even get as far as opening your mouth to add that part. You just think it, a hairline hesitance in your words. How to explain it to Jun-ho, when he couldn't even hear its whispers? Is it something to do with him or something to do with you? Ugh, either way that's a question for Abzu and nobody else. You don't want to think about the black water, its whispers or your visions a second longer. Luckily you're a lifetime master of suppressing things you don't want to deal with, so a few moments later you couldn't be better.
"So how are we getting back with my sprained wing?" you ask.
"... I could carry you?" Jun-ho offers.
"What? No! Absolutely not!" you exclaim, folding your arms resolutely. "Dragons don't ride other dragons unless- well- you know what I- it's not done! No, no, no, a thousand times no! You should go steal us a boat to sail back to shore or something!"
Silence falls, filled only by the muted crash of waves against the rocks and the shore across the strait, wind whistling through the lonely salt-soaked crags of this recently-risen land.
"... my mane's really sooooooft," he singsongs. You glare at him suspiciously out of the corner of your eye, narrowing them to thin azure slits.
"... tell no one of this."
A minute later you're sitting astride Jun-ho's true form, clinging to his scaly body with your thighs and clutching at tufts of the long strip of thick, bushy, golden fur that winds all the way down his body from skull to tailtip. It's a bumpy ride at first, the extremely long dragon bucking and rocking and roiling like a ship in stormy waters, and for the first time in your life the idea of falling from a great height is worrying. But then he reaches cruising altitude and levels off, restricting himself to simple serpentine side-to-side wiggles as he 'swims' through the air. He calls back, asking if you're alright. You're already facedown in his fur.
... they are quite exceptional wiggles, come to think of it. Now that he's settled into a rhythm it almost feels like being rocked to sleep, side-to-side in an even, regular sway. It's still strange for him to fly without wings but you can't help but admit it has its own charms. The big scaly noodle makes for a far better bed than any human's too, properly armoured and hard-edged like a treasure pile, yet soft and smooth at the same time. You can even faintly feel the snakelike muscular contractions rippling up and down the length of the long dragon's body as he wiggles homeward, and you have to admit it's all... all very...
soothing...
You awaken with a start on your treasure back home, eyes leaden-lidded, a string of drool dangling from your jaws and extremely confused. You stare at nothing in several different directions, brow furrowed as you try to remember what exactly happened yesterday, a few loose coins rattling down the slopes of the pile as your weight shifts. You're... still in bipedal form and your wing is- sssss haaahh owwwww yep your wing still hurts, last night was definitely real and not some very strange indigestion-induced nightmare. A meeting with Mother and smacked around by a djinn in the same day, 'nightmare' is still a fairly accurate descriptor.
Well. At least you have a ready-made excuse not to leave the lair for a few days. Part of you's almost glad you've been temporarily crippled. Maybe your boyfriends will take pity on you and do as you say for once. One boyfriend in particular. Not naming any names. Makram.
You glance over at Jun-ho, visible by the grey morning light filtering through the upper entrance to the spire. He's all tightly wound up like a scaly spring, chin resting comfortably on his topmost coil as he dozes. You never actually checked, did the contractors carve out enough rooms for everyone? Is Jun-ho sleeping in 'your room' by choice or for lack of space? You should follow up on that, get to work on making space for everyone. Not yourself, of course, you're infirm.
You shift slightly again, kneading your claws against the glittering south-facing slope of your pile as a few more coins tinkle and rattle their way down to the bottom layers. Mmm... mrgh. It's one of those lovely lazy mornings where you should just fall back asleep, but the dull throb in your wing joint is making it hard to relax, and you just know sooner or later you'll unthinkingly roll on your back and scream. No, probably best to get up and go wandering around. 'Do something' (ugh) all day. But who shall you spend time with?
[ ] Jun-ho. Probably not. He just had an outing with you yesterday, and flying into the night to carry you home probably tired him out.
[ ] Makram. It's been a while since you last had some one-on-one time with him, and you suspect he's the kind to start breaking things if left alone too long.
[ ] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
[ ] Issachar. Maybe he's finally willing to tell you what the hell his deal is. Maybe he'll feed you more banana bread so you can eat the pain away.
[ ] Abzu. You can give them a heads-up that Datu's showing up with the lamp in a few days, for what it's worth. But honestly you just want to spend more time with them, their ability to be excited about things is quasi-infectious.
[ ] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
Adhoc vote count started by ZerbanDaGreat on Jun 24, 2018 at 1:09 PM, finished with 2714 posts and 41 votes.
[X] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
[X] Abzu. You can give them a heads-up that Datu's showing up with the lamp in a few days, for what it's worth. But honestly you just want to spend more time with them, their ability to be excited about things is quasi-infectious.
[X] Makram. It's been a while since you last had some one-on-one time with him, and you suspect he's the kind to start breaking things if left alone too long.
This chapter was once more filled with Jun-ho cuteness and it was wonderful.
Jun-Ho is a pure boi.
His wiggles are mighty.
We need to get that boi a hot tub.
So we have had personal outings with Makram (has been awhile), Issachar and Jun-Ho.
I am tempted to vote for cooking class but I think Jun-Ho would want to join and that boi is tired right now me thinks.
[X] Abzu. You can give them a heads-up that Datu's showing up with the lamp in a few days, for what it's worth. But honestly you just want to spend more time with them, their ability to be excited about things is quasi-infectious.
When was the last time that Abzu had some one-on-one time with us? Too long ago I say.
that said if we do get a hot tub and stick him in it would that technically make him a pot noodle
Voting, torn between Makram and Abzu. Makram because he should have insights on the Marid, and also the 'pay attention to me i'm injured' routine sounds like comedy gold, and Abzu because advance warning of creepy corrupted artefacts is only polite.
[X] Makram. It's been a while since you last had some one-on-one time with him, and you suspect he's the kind to start breaking things if left alone too long.
The marid that Eldingar and Jun-ho found is going to be here in a few days; Makram deserves a heads up. I really want more time with each of them, in particular Belial, but time management is the real issue with polyamorous relationships.
We are going to need to make time for Belial, and soon; he definitely needs to be reminded that his company is welcome and appreciated. Simply bedding him then walking away for a few days doesn't sit well with me.
[X] Makram. It's been a while since you last had some one-on-one time with him, and you suspect he's the kind to start breaking things if left alone too long.
"YES!" He pumps both fists in the air. Tala, otherwise content to let her brother have his own conversation, chuckles and leans over to scritch Jun-ho between the antlers. Jun-ho lets out a half-embarrassed "(eeheehee~)" and lets it happen, eyes half-lidded like a happy cat. Datu shoots her a grumpy look of sibling-anger that you know all too well, and Tala snickers in reply.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
*cackles*
Jun-ho is just a snekdragon of pure adorableness, we must protect this.
[X] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
This was adorable and I love it. Jun-ho has really grown on me even if I'm still pretty solidly convinced that Abzu is the best nb, and while I desperately want all the harem to interact, it's kiiiiinda not the greatest thing in the world to pump and dump Belial without talking to him at all for a while. He's a good boi and deserves to have a good chat with Eldingar.
[X] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
[X] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
This was adorable and I love it. Jun-ho has really grown on me even if I'm still pretty solidly convinced that Abzu is the best nb, and while I desperately want all the harem to interact, it's kiiiiinda not the greatest thing in the world to pump and dump Belial without talking to him at all for a while. He's a good boi and deserves to have a good chat with Eldingar.
Hrm...agreed. Makram had his time in the sun already when we went to see Abzu.
And while I want to give goo-friend some of our time...I think Abzu is still rather content.
I think, however, that Belial deserves our attention again. It has been awhile since we talked.
And while there were good reasons for it whith all the stuff that has happend, I think we really should talk to Belial again.
[X] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
We have been silent for a biiiiit to long.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
We must talk to everyone, naturally.
Everyone is nice. Everyone is cool. And we want to fuck everyone, so.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
[X] Abzu. You can give them a heads-up that Datu's showing up with the lamp in a few days, for what it's worth. But honestly you just want to spend more time with them, their ability to be excited about things is quasi-infectious.
Abzu has never had some solid 1 on 1 time with us, without Makram threatening to start leaving us dead birds everywhere. Also they are adorable.
[X] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
hhhnnnng such adorable bois, why u do this to me sooo many choices
Between Belial, Abzu and Makram.....
[X] Makram. It's been a while since you last had some one-on-one time with him, and you suspect he's the kind to start breaking things if left alone too long.
Hot and steamy noodle boy, fresh and ready for some fun.
heh... a large number of the harem (at least three or so) are very warm guys, an incubus, a fire-element eastern dragon, and a fiery djinn (or is that just my imagination?).
Jun-ho being adorable reminds me why eastern dragons tend to be one of my favorite types along with wyverns.
He is cute, lovable, cares about others, and has a sense of self preservation. Plus he has back fur, which is fun to nuzzle.
Datu seems like a very in-the-moment kind of person, if I am reading him right. He just rolls with everything, and probably has many stories to tell. He is going to be fun.
[X] Belial. It's been a while since... The Event, and you're starting to wonder how he's felt since. You're starting to wonder how you've felt since, too.
Not only do we need to catch up, I think he will be very insightful to talk with.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.
Maybe this should of been my choice ( and may be after I think some more) as we personally never got to see the developing relationships between everyone while we where away. We got some glimpses like Makram and Jun-ho playing Bejeweled, but we could also see it first hand now.
[X] Gather everyone together for a 'cooking class', starring Issachar. Everyone seemed pretty much on-board with the idea when it came up, and maybe fostering their relationships with each other will make the whole 'harem' even out a bit. Of course you may end up sixth-wheeling it.