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Entry tags:
TDM 003
| TDM 003: #BEACHBUMS |
I. BEACH  Welcome arrivals, new and old! The skies on Erku may be perpetually gray, but the weather has taken a sudden turn to summertime heat. Fortunately, soaring temperatures have chased away more of the strange fog that conceals so much of the island, unveiling a charming, sandy cove dotted here and there with rustic love shacks. These shabby little lean-tos are dusty and sparse, but they provide everything one (or two, wink wink) might need for a little relief from the sun. Just don’t wander too far... that fog has memory-loss properties. II. DRINKS  The 'bots are very apologetic about the whole fog incident, and they are trying to get on the new arrivals' good sides by giving out fancy drinks. Of course, they still haven't mastered the art of making things properly, so each drink has a little something... extra.
III. SNACKS  Lo! As you ask, the Augur shall provide. Thanks to the efforts of your organic predecessors in restoring the planet’s Eros energy, edible fishes and seaweeds have returned to the ponds and the shores of Erku. If you fancy yourself savvy to basic survival skills, why not fashion up a fishing rod and catch yourself dinner? Just be careful if you happen to hook one of the octopus creatures from the deeper waters - they can be quite forward with their tentacles! Or, if primitive angling isn’t in your repertoire, you can always trade some credits for a tasty catch from one of the food stalls along the coast. Most stalls are manned by 'bots, but there’s nothing stopping an enterprising arrival from setting up shop. No credits? No problem! The robots have also provided a bit of entertainment, and any volunteers to man the kissing booth, get dunked in the wet t-shirt dunk tank, or grill up some fish - among other opportunities - will find credits automatically loaded onto the payment app of their bracelet devices. The 'bots are recruiting especially hard for participants to work in the gloryhole tent! IV. SPARKLES  As dusk descends, the white sands of the beach suddenly come alive with glittering lights. It’s as if the darkened waters have carried a thousand shining stars from the depths of the sea to the shores of the cove. In actuality, each little twinkle is a bioluminescent plankton or jellyfish! Feel free to wade among them and admire their shine; even the sting of the jellies won’t hurt you... though they do pack a different punch. The tentacles of the jellyfish elicit a powerful aphrodisiac response, which gets the heart racing and the blood pumping for an intimate touch. The effects come on within a matter of minutes, and last for a few hours. Only time will relieve the symptoms, but a partner will help to make it more bearable. N A V I G A T I O N |
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Thankfully, Aerith has never been a particularly shy person.
She offers him her hand, her smile no doubt betraying her excitement in having met a man so utterly perfect. Caught up in the magic, she doesn't even stop to think that the drink may have done this to her. ]
If you would have it be a kiss, sir, then please, be my guest.
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Instead he steps forward, raising hers upward between them, then higher. Without leaning, his head dips slightly. He turns her hand over, and it's not upon the back of her knuckles that he places said kiss, but the inside of her wrist. His lips linger upon the flesh, dedicated and tender, yet with the restraint of a monarch, and his eyes flick upward from the focus of his mouth, following the trail of her arm to meet her bright, earthy eyes.
Something appears to shift in his own gaze, from steely to thoughtful, and he slowly lowers her hand. His voice is deeper when he speaks. ]
I would have your name.
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The thoughts barely have a second to register though, because his lips press against her pulse, and the whole world stops for just a moment. Could he have known, she wonders, the effect such a kiss would have on her? Aerith's heart feels like it's going to burst out of her chest, and there's a sudden, not at all unwelcome heat in her cheeks. Her smile relaxes on her lips; despite the fact that he's just asked for her name, despite the fact that she doesn't know his either, something about this whole moment seems right.
He's not just a stranger; he's her stranger. ]
I'm Aerith.
[ It's said with another tilt of her head, the return question clear in her eyes. ]
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Ah, he realizes: he is enchanted.
He is enchanted, perhaps by the drink, but it does not seem wrong. Perhaps that's a part of the enchantment, the want to continue, to lavish her with praise; indeed, such gentle beauty ought to be. He meets her curious gaze with a solemn one of his own, as if he gazes upon someone far out of his reach. ] The earth may never yield... [ He begins quietly, his tone sincere, his gaze humble, as he looks upon her. ] such bounty of green as that found within your eyes.
[ His hand twitches within hers as if it would have moved, perhaps to lift up to her cheek to brush her hair, or perhaps to pull her closer, but something stops him. ]
If you know naught of the shore, walk with me.
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Which is especially easy to do when he says sweet things like that. Aerith, who is usually so good with words, so happy to flirt and play around, is struck speechless at the compliment. Somewhere, under the layers of magic, there's a playful comment -- You know, you'd take that back if you could see my flower garden! -- but it's swallowed in her infatuation, her fingers still loosely holding onto his hand. ]
It would be my pleasure.
[ That's right, they're on the beach. right? Although she would much rather look into his eyes anyway. ]
Have you been here for long, Somnus?
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Otherwordly-born, and nascent to this one, I am as any other.
[ Turning slightly so that his shoulder points towards her, he offers his arm for her to take. Long has it been since he’s offered a woman his arm, even longer still since anyone would have wanted to take it, grim and severe monarch that he was in life. But here, neither does that severeness appear within his features nor display within his movements, upright and with a formal grace as his posture and strides are. Somnus leads, but does so at a pace she can match.
They come upon the evening shoreline. Calmer still, the waves do not swallow his voice, but accent a low lull, as if he’s piecing together a mystery. ] Yet you... [ A pause.
He looks sidelong at her, causing half of his pale visage to be casted in shadow, the other half washed gently in the oranges of the slowly waning sun. His voice hushes as if speaking of something to be revered: she is beautiful and mysterious, a stranger, a woman, an question for which he cannot parse. ]
...Wherefore are you ethereal?
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When she feels his eyes on her, Aerith tilts her own gaze back toward him, and the look on his face makes her breath catch. It's for a moment as if she's the only thing in his entire world - as he is right now in hers, her eyes searching his face as the light of the fading sun dances over his skin. ]
Ethereal?
[ She shakes her head, hoping that the orange sky can hide the pink in her cheeks. ]
Hardly. I'm just a girl.
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...
Somnus' free hand rises, and to the side of her face it goes, fingers dusting just at her cheek, brushing back a loose strand of her chestnut hair to tuck behind her ear. She's warm, he realizes then. So is he, for no longer is he a mere specter. ] Such vibrancy of yours is not found upon our Star.
[ --Quiet literally as his world is shrouded in darkness, a fact that he does not volunteer.
His hand lingers upon her cheek, as if hesitant. Now that it's there, he doesn't wish to part. ]
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(It's the drink, she'll realize much later, dragging her deeper into its spell.)
Her head cants into his touch, her eyes closing briefly. His touch is like a drug, sending warmth all through her; she doesn't particularly want him to stop. She feels the hesitation in his movement, and it's enough to spur her to action, reaching her own hand to cover his own as her eyes open again, searching his. In the end, the only words she manages to speak are a surprisingly soft admission: ]
Somnus, I... don't know what to say.
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But her head cants into his touch, and his doubts freeze beneath her gaze. ]
Speak only what you will... [ Quiet but urging, his hand drifts down and curls, a thumb pressing lightly to her lower lip. His eyes lower, following the trail his touch to her mouth, then back up to her eyes. He's struck then: if she is ethereal, then he is blasphemous for this touch, the inkling to remain, the urge to move closer to her, to fall to her. ] ...and only of what you wish.
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What I wish... is that you would kiss me.
[ The admission is just as soft on her lips as the last as they move against his thumb, a new smile playing at their edges, something shy but eager, tinged with hope. Surely he already knows that she wants this; surely he's asking to be completely certain... Yet she still feels so vulnerable in front of him. ]
Is it too much to ask?
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In the end want gives out, for its lion's cry is far louder than any clinical thoughts he may have. Thus, she needn't say more, for his body is already moving to close this distance between them.
With his thumb brushing to beneath the edge of her chin, Somnus tilts her head upward just as he leans forward, two forces enacted at once to bring them together all the more quickly. The touch is guiding, and his cloak shifts forward over his shoulders as he moves. Finally his lips find hers for a pressing kiss, clinging, soft yet urgent, and perhaps stiff, too stiff for his posture-- as if he expects it to end too soon. As if in defiance of that his head inclines, his lips languid upon her bottom one, drawing in a quick, silent breath, taking in her scent. His free hand twitches at his side, raising higher and closer to her body. There's a delay, a conscious one, and then his hand falls upon the curve of her hip as he lingers to taste her more. ]
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It being her wish, it should be of no surprise that the young woman doesn't resist his touch, her head obeying the soft press of his thumb under her chin, and her eyes sink shut as their lips meet. It's everything she never knew she wanted until her eyes first fell on him mere minutes ago, her heart beating a dizzying rhythm in her chest as she presses into him, a soft sigh on her breath.
Her arms lift to wind around his neck, feeling the stiffness in his posture, such a contrast to the way she is practically melting. A smile at the edges of their kiss, Aerith slides one hand up the nape of his neck to bury it in his hair, fingers stroking against his scalp as if to soften him somehow. After all, this is what they wanted, right? It's okay with her, if he wants to melt into her too... ]
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His eyes slide shut, and with the relinquishing of one sense comes the more powerful sensation of others: her scent-- flowers, earth; her touch-- warmth, affection, the way her body melts to his. His hand tightens upon her hip, he tilts his head, angling the kiss. His lips part for a breath, heavy and unlike anything he's taken before. It grants him the final sense, a brief taste of the drink upon her lips, tangy and sweet and mysterious; he feels a shiver of heat travel through him, down him. He swallows, then breathes, ] Aerith...
[ Instead of granting him the clarity of respite, the pause swarms him with a single, sudden want: more. Praise, compliments, are not enough for this woman, and he's always been stilted in conversation. Actions speak louder. If he cannot speak them, then he must show her, to sing praises of her wonder with more of--
No longer will she just be melting to him, and her name whispered had been perhaps a prelude, a warning. His hand upon her hip moves imperatively, pressing, sliding, curling around to the small of her back. Fingers spread, he takes her hard to him so their chests meet, lifting her against him. His other rises to her chin, tugging it down just as his mouth crashes against hers, demanding entrance, tongue, her, as if ignited with a purpose to give her all at words cannot. ]
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Somnus?
[ There's something in his eyes in the split second before his hand presses into the small of her back, something that has her answering the call of her own name in a soft, quavering voice. The reply is the pull into his embrace, the fingers tugging her jaw into a new kiss, open-mouthed and hungry. It's different to the melting she wanted, but there's no complaint on her lips; her fingers seek purchase against his shoulder as she's lifted from the ground and she returns the kiss with a hunger of her own, tongue rising to meet Somnus's as it seeks her mouth, her breath mingling with his in short gasps.
Is it possible, to want someone she's only just met this much? Until today, she'd have said no, but... ]
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