Flashback [The Lady's Lap] An old friend comes to town (Valo)

[Corneliun]

Corneliun watched his friend become more intoxicated by the moment, his mind singling out onto one thing. Women. Corneliun finished the last of his drink, a sense of mellowness taking hold of him. He looked up at Valo, watching the sparkle grow in his eye, the red blush that began to fill his cheeks.
"Cheap women?" he raised an eyebrow "Are you blind Valo?"
He gave a grin and stood as he dusted himself off. He extended a hand out in a gesture to all the larks that floated about the dust, their singing voices echoing out into the sky. He clapped Valo on the shoulder, his golden eyes meeting his "Your women are all around you Valo. You just need to go and grab them."

He took his empty mug and got it refilled, his eyes scanning the pillars for a potential piece of entertainment to keep his friend occupied. If Corneliun could of had a choice he would rather have nothing to do with the women, he was quiet content with drinking and merry making, to disappear behind alcohol with song and foolishness, a simpler way of living. He returned to Valo, taking a slurp of his beer, before straightening.
"I'll get you a woman."

It was at this point that the mixed blood waved at a Lark behind him, a signal that she came over, which she quickly did. There was a slight spring in her step, a small smile, as her eyes laid upon the two men. He spoke to her in Arumenic, followed by a small nod and an incline to Valo. Her lips pursed, her eyes looking the man up and down before nodding.
"I can," she spoke in very basic common before turning her head to him once more.
For a moment, Corneliun turned his back to his friend, a quiet mumbling of voices, before coin was exchanged. It was after that Corneliun Frik stepped away, a giving wink to Valo before drinking more, "Don't be too rough now. You've still got to treat these ladies right."

[Valo]

Valo was in heaven for it seemed Ahnatep was the city for this fool. A city where he could freely indulge in all that life had to offer. All the best parts of it anyway; alcohol and women. And in his merry state, in which he was currently enticed by the tame mistress that was alcohol, he wished for nothing more than f or this day to last forever. He would perhaps feel bad that it was his friend who paid for his good time and he would no doubt pay him back once sober, but it was the woman who rid his mind of any such thought. the woman who spoke very little common and who, in any other case, would not be of his tastes. But it was no other case and he cared little. Single mindedly, his only wish was to indulge and that he did.For she had led him away, abandoning the friend who, just moments ago was his entire world, abandoning his possessions in Corneliun's keep and abandoning the very notion of gentlemanly decorum. Where she had led him, he knew not for somehow his attention was not on the ruins about, but her bosom and her waist, only to remember little of the encounter and even less the next morning when he would awaken. Upon his return, Valo was in a state of merry dishevelment. His hair was in tangles around his shoulders and the top buttons of his shirt were undone to reveal the pale flesh beneath. The artist sat down again, opposite his friend, a silly giggle lingering on his lips. "Your city is a blessing my friend." he spoke, though his eyes did not meet those of Corneliun like they did beforehand. He was distracted and carefree. "I may linger here for the rest of my life if each night is like this one.

[Corneliun]

How long had Valo been gone? Quite a while, escaping into the arms of a lark to perform whatever base desire compelled him. And it was this brief absence that Corneliun let himself relax and merry make in his own way. Through alcohol. By the time Valo had returned in his more relaxed and dishevelled state, Corneliun had managed to drink through another three mugs of the beer, and had a very content and happy expression on his face. In the sand he sat himself, a slight roseyness on his cheeks as he eyed Valo up and down before nodding.
“Glad you enjoyed yourself,” he gave a grin before finishing his mug “Another?”

Stretching out, the Mixed-blood rose to his feet, a brief sway on the spot as he looked down at his friend, a sense of pure fun and merry making having now consumed him. He did not wait for Valo’s answer, for already he had already staggered away to get more. For right now the only thing on his mind was obvious. He returned moments later, accept this time it was not with mugs of beer it was instead returned with two water skins full of the liquid. It most certainly carried more than the mugs, and it also meant that if the two went wandering they would not have to return to quench their thirst so quickly.

“I’m going to teach you a drinking song,” he said giving Valo a poke in the chest. It was not an offer, it was a statement, and it was no doubt thanks to the state that Corneliun was presently in. He passed one of them to Valo, and undone the top of his own “But first, drink! Be merry-er?”
There was a brief look on confusion on his face as if to check the word, but then he simply shrugged and drunk heartily.

[Valo]

To his very joy, Corneliun seemed to also have enjoyed the drink. At a slower pace indeed, but it manifested in the blush that lingered in his cheeks and the blissful expression and ever the light sway that was the prerequisite to buying yet more alcohol. The wonderful substance. The powerful one that could render even the most morose and solemn of men, into a state of blissful carelessness and happiness. No wonder that Valo found the allure of it. And a grin broke into his feature, a silly grin that shattered the appearance of a calm gentleman which he worked so meticulously to form. A grin that portrayed his happiness upon the realisation that his dear friend now joined him in the happiness.

A drinking song was perhaps the perfect rose to crown this beautiful day. “But first, drink! Be merry-er?” he announced so boldly and Valo indulged very much in the perplexed expression of his friend as he spoke, before giving his own reply.

"I'd drink to that." he said, his voice strangely charming in the statement. But speech was cut short as the water skin was brought to his lips and the strong liquid rolled down his throat in a cooling sensation. A perpetuation of his state, a furthering of it as he cried out with laughter. Eyes glistening with joy which rooted perhaps in the company of Corneliun and the possession of the magical substance and perhaps even the brief fun he had with the lark.

He had jumped to his feet. Face illuminated with joy. "How about you teach me this song as we go somewhere were less people are likely to complain?" he spoke with just the hint of slur in his words. Though he was still more or less coordinated, the drunkenness took it's toll on Valo's speech as well as his manner.A simpler man is what he became. And without leaving his friend much of a choice, he gathered up his belongings and, looking his arm though Corneliun's, began urging onwards in some unjustified direction.

[Corneliun]

Valo’s statement was one he could hardly argue with, namely because Corneliun’s mind was already dizzy with the fumes and liquid that existed in his system. For although alcohol was a blessing, it did indeed affect him quickly. And so without much choice he was pulled up to his feet, with merry making on his mind. And so the two men staggered away, arm in arm and looking little more than a pair of fools wrapped up in their merry making. It took very little to drag Corneliun away off into the night towards an unknown direction, for now the world was little more of a blur. For however they travelled from the Pillars of Dust to the Coast of Ahnatep was a large mystery to the pair of them, however it no doubt involved a lot of noise and lurching steps. And here with only the star light to guide them the pair stood, the cool sand beneath their feet and the crash of the waves as their audience.

It was safe to say that Corneliun was consumed by the alcohol that had touched his lips, a light weight by any standards. And instead of becoming a man who was obsessed only with flesh and its pleasures, Corneliun was one who became in love with everyone and a man whose emotions were as ever changing as the tide. A man who could so easily be baited and manipulated into doing almost anything. Yet it was also in this state that the man was at his most vulnerable, for just as easy to provide hurt both emotional and physical to him. For despite all the calms and training Corneliun Frik instilled upon himself, at the base of it all he was a sensitive young man and that is the side that came out the most in all his drinking.

Upon the sands he stretched, a loud cry of joy escaping his lungs before he released himself from Valo. He staggered for a bit, his feet barely hitting the sand as he tried to stand on his own. He clapped a hand against the arm of Valo, his eyes twinkling with enjoyment. For now he was little more than a man made to please and entertain, with his old friend being the observer.
“A song! A song for you Valo!” Shouted out the mixed blood with glee as he raised the water skin to his lips, taking a mouthful before beginning his tune though drunk and slurred;

“I got Drunk last night. And the night before,
Gonna ta get drunk tonight like never before,
For when I'm drunk I'm as happy as can be;
For I am a man of the Sot family!

The Sot family is the greatest family,
That came down from Old Wind Reach.
With the Uplands Kalea, and the Lowland Kalea;
And the Unforgiving Kalea, all singing!

Glorious! Glorious!
One cask of beer for the both of us!
Thanks to Gods that there isn’t more of us;
For both of us can drink it all alone!”

It was perhaps at this point that the man simply staggered to the side and fell flat onto his back, the stars a blur above him. For there the drunk lay, wrapped in the intoxication of alcohol and the sand beneath him, a stupid grin having now plastered itself across his face. He lay their laughing, for that was all the man could do now as he was wrapped up in his own state of bliss and amusement.

[Valo]

Soon they had found themselves on the sandy beaches, with nothing but the hum of the waves and the sound of the night that serenade them. The kings of the world, they were. Two fools, wrapped up so tight in the blankets of their glory that fits of giggles accompanied so idiotically to the music of the night and the sea. Such kings they were, pickled with alcohol and merriment. Kings, naked of sober inhibition.

“I got Drunk last night. And the night before,
Gonna ta get drunk tonight like never before,
For when I'm drunk I'm as happy as can be;
For I am a man of the Sot family!

The Sot family is the greatest family,
That came down from Old Wind Reach.
With the Uplands Kalea, and the Lowland Kalea;
And the Unforgiving Kalea, all singing!

Glorious! Glorious!
One cask of beer for the both of us!
Thanks to Gods that there isn’t more of us;
For both of us can drink it all alone!”

Came the words, though slurred substantially. Came the song that lacked both rhythm and freezable melody. Came the voice of a drunken Corneliun to whom Valo looked with such devout adoration in his euphoric eyes, that he noticed not the slur, nor the nonsense. The serenade was of utmost perfection to him and it brought such simple joy, childish joy to his own drunken mind. And when he joined in, only simple la la la's for accompaniment, horridly out of tune, the drinking song became a cacophony.

Soon the artist joined his friend in the sand, having collapsed so gracelessly. Two drunks they were, witless, in the sand as if nothing else mattered. Two drunks with not a worry in the world. Blissful was this intoxication.

"Oh I do love you my sweet Corn." he spoke in a hushed voice, before breaking into a momentary purr of giggles, much like a little girl would. And yet again he repeated the sentence, rolling to his side and placing a slender arm on Corneliun's chest. The silly smile soon faced from his face as his deep green eyes looked to his friend with a child like innocence. "Not Kalea, nor Eyktol... nor any other place. Let us remain here in this spot until we wither and die." His words made very little sense now, a gentle slur every so often. His expression swayed from that of great thoughtfulness, into blissful grins and then the seemingly serious thoughtfulness again. "Do you remember all those adventures we had as children? I wish you'd have never left me."

[Corneliun]

“Sweet Corn? Sweet Corn!” Came the laugh of the drunk man “You make me sound like a vegetable!”
Corneliun gave a loud hiccup as his laughter rung out through the air, matched with the intoxicated giggling from Valo. He felt Valo’s arm rest across his chest, those green sparkling eyes meeting his. For a moment the drunk was lost in his grace, captivated by those features of the man who laid in the sand next to him. And it was perhaps for a moment that the words of the mixed blood were lost, not due to alcohol but by the bonding between the pair, but perhaps the turbulent emotions that existed within.

For a moment he simply stared at Valo, his mind trying to comprehend once more the nature of the conversation, on how to try and bring his brain out of its pickled state. But instead he just gave a nod with a foolish grin. His mind was elsewhere focusing on those lips of his.
“I remember,” he slurred “I remember… I remember…”
His words trailed off as he looked at the thoughtful expression of Valo’s. So badly he wanted to reach out and touch it, a strange impulse the came from the buzz of the alcohol. He exhaled and rolled onto his side to face the man, his brow creasing with thought. So beautiful was Valo, even with his slurred words and slightly dishevelled state, and it was something he had resisting reaching out and touching.

And so the heart of Corneliun Frik was manipulated by alcohol, and the beginnings of perhaps a cruel fate began to wind itself around him. A gentle hand reached out for a moment, brushing a strand of the red silk out of Valo’s eyes, every small movement taking care. So slowly his hand glided across Valo’s eyes, hiding those green emeralds from sight. If he did not know any better he would of guessed that Valo’s jaw had belonged to that of a woman, with fine lips that seemed quiet impossible to resist touching. The mixed blood swallowed, a small blush having formed on his cheeks. So tempting it was to lean towards them, to become briefly intoxicated not by alcohol but by him instead.

Corneliun felt himself leaning in, lips trembling as he tried to clear his mind. But his body did not obey. He hovered there above him, barely touching as he froze with fear, and soft, silent breathing barely escaping. For nerves had once more paralysed him, and his mind simply screamed to retreat. If not for his own sake, but for the thoughts he may have disgusted his own friend with his momentary act of boldness. For Corneliun was a fool, who despite all the boldness and roughish nature, was a man built upon fragile emotions that were so easily crushed by the words and actions of others.

[Valo]

Valo's eyes were open wide, frozen. The look of profound innocence within them. A questioning, much like a woman would when faced by the bold attention of a man. For if there was anything that alcohol truly did to him, was feminise him perhaps more than he already was. He felt Corneliun's breath on his face, a soft tremble on the man's lips as his body seemed paralysed. Lips just a hair width apart. Eyes locked in awkwardness.

It all had simply escaped him as his drunken mind attempted to add it all up. What, by the love of the fire god, was going on? What was this best friend of his doing? And more importantly, what on earth was Valo doing him self?For him body was beyond his control now and he found him self reaching out just a little to complete that distance between them. A soft brush of his lips upon Corneliun's, in a moment that seemed to last an eternity. He was no longer capable of thought, for Valo simply closed his eyes and kissed his friend, revelling in the momentary sensation that fallowed. And as he did so, his heart rate picked up at an impressive pace and his body trembled, before heating up with a raging fire and into that fire he slipped, unable to control him self. Perhaps it was the alcohol. It was most certainly alcohol.

In that moment, something broke within him. Some invisible chain that had held him back. A metaphorical bindings that paralysed his body from the neck down. It dissolved into the fire, singed before feeding the heat, crackling with sparks into the dark air of the night.

In, what was perhaps much less than a heart beat and strangely coordinated for a man who was fundamentally drunk, Valo found him self upon his friend, still unable to work out what exactly it was that he was doing. Any common sense had withered away completely, replaced solely by instinct of a witless drunk. He was without care, without concern and without thought, having surrendered to his body wholly. He held Corneliun's wrists above in head, clenched firmly in those slender palms of his - so tight that he may have perhaps caused the mixed blood a certain amount of pain. His legs, immobilising those of this friend. His pale lips on his, kissing deep, deeper with each movement of the lip. Pure indulgence.

[Corneliun]

And here he was caught, trapped between the sand and stars. For a moment the mixed blood continued to think he’d caused insult, his drunken mind racing for an explanation to it all. But then the world changed, lips brushed against lips, whilst thought seemed to escape. For a while Corneliun was locked in a state of surrendering to his friend, whom seemed to reviling in the moment, whilst he himself found himself caught in dream between waking and dreaming. It teased him forward, the previous thoughts of being a calm and composed gentleman having crumbled. The rouge was shattered, the boldness discarded, and the sensitive interior was left bare.

He felt Valo’s dominance rise, the actions of a man both drunk with alcohol and passion as he held down the mixed blood. Here indulgence rose, one without care and concern. Corneliun reached for him, his face having grown a fine shade of red, his trembling as he tried to push down his worries. He felt Valo’s hands tighten, his skin pinching as it begun to hurt, the restriction of being able to move. And it was something that he wanted to break out of, despite the strange enjoyment he was receiving from it.

Corneliun’s head turned away, his brow creasing and his jaw growing tight. He simply stared at the ocean, his mind trying to comprehend the scene. He still remained trapped between Valo and the sand, held there, the quiet breathing a faint whisper above the crashing ocean waves. His golden eyes glanced up at Valo, before snapping away. It was in that glance that a thousand words were spoken, care and adoration, with a deep resounding worry ringing out. But the most outstanding of them all was fear, a fear of being hurt, a fear of being cast aside, a fear of being used.

His heart for a moment twisted, weakened by the alcohol that held him so tightly. His chest heaved, before he tore his sight away once more from the water and stared up at Valo. Their eyes met, the air becoming alive with fire. His eyes slid shut, his mind working through the intoxication. He inhale deeply, taking in the salty air, the cool sweat that clung to the skin of his friend, the slightly bitter taste of lips and beer upon his tongue. The mixed blood exhaled slowly, the last of the air expelling from his lungs.

Those golden eyes of his flared open, bright and glowing. The dashing rogue had been drawn out from the depths of his ego, a curling lip appearing on his face. He raised himself, summoning his strength and guiding Valo back, his eyes ever locked as he did. He was still drunk, but now there was an element of control. Positions were switched, matched with resistance. Yet now the mixed blood held the artist down, the pair of his caught in a single of Corneliun’s, an advantage of both broadness and strength. And so he hovered there above Valo, those golden eyes staring intently into his, the fingers of Corneliun’s free hand now holding his friend’s jaw. His hold was nowhere as tight as Valo’s but it was so easy for him to tighten it, his inherited Isurian strength giving him a lead once more. A torment by any means, and so as he dipped down to his friend- if it could be called that anymore- he met him.

[Valo]

With an apparent lack of comprehension that manifested heavily in his feature, Valo watched as his friend turned away to him/ Eyes locked with the ocean. A s stare that, to the sluggish mind of the artist, seemed far more romantic than that he ever shared with him. The first hatched to his heart. And thus his fingers loosened just ever so slightly in defeat.

Finally, after what seemed like a languishing eternity, the man finally looked back to him and perhaps that was the moment all hell broke loose. The raging fire engulfed them and for those moment, as the beautiful amber of Corneliun's eyes was obscured by the opaque lids, Valo stared at him with lust burning green in his own. There seemed a very clear division between the bipolar nature of his behaviour as he swayed from one extreme to another. The very masculine and the very feminine which what had overtaken him now. He bit down on his lip in the desperate attempt to hold back, to make sense of it all and to break free from this invisible force that controlled him. The heat of the moment precisely. And with that he became even more fragile. his mind, desperately trying to power though the intoxication as he hovered in the darkness, above the beautiful half blood rouge.

A very distinct line between his masculine and feminine behaviour. A moment of utmost femininity as a prerequisite to the explosion of masculine rage as tables were turned and the master now became the slave.

In a flash Valo found him self pinned to the sand, trapped between the cool of the ground and the burning body of the dashing rouge above him. A devilish smile on the man's face as he held him in the trap. Held him mercilessly both in body and in spirit, locked perpetually in those spheres of molten amber. The gems that glowed remorselessly in the night. Corneliun's sheer broadness and strength worked much to his advantage, for despite the thrashing and the squirming, Valo could not break him self free. The resistance was fruitless. And he didn't know why he tried so desperately to break free from the man's hold. Instinct told him to do so and blindly he obeyed. Jaw clenched, chest elevating abruptly, before deflating in jagged motion. He was well and truly trapped.

Corneliun's fingers brought the artist to a halt at once. A direct order met with almost innate obedience, despite him self. Eyes still locked and something fundamentally daring appeared in those of Valo. A challenge of the rouge's authority over him. A flame of internal anarchy that, just as fast as it appeared, was snuffed out completely and melted into the background, for Valo's very mind was wiped clean of thought in one simple motion. A kiss.

Darkness overcame the artist and it was only after prolonged moments that a realisation came over him that this very darkness was due to his eyelids, that shut instinctively. This is where his entire manner became profoundly feminine again as his breathing ceased and his back arched, elevating in near phototropism towards Corneliun's body which was the light. And he trembled with utmost fragility, like a leaf on the breeze. trembled with both lust and passion and feat and all those other emotions that washed over him and overwhelmed him and engulfed him until he was swimming in a sea that made no sense to his drunken mind.

But in this sensation, the very drunkenness was forgotten, which seemed almost a paradox in it self. Valo had relinquished any control, any thought. Blind, dumb and deaf he burned for the man that held him. His tongue, slipping into his lips. A deep desire for more and more.