Closed [Alements] Night Terrors (Caelum)

[Aoren]

Aoren couldn’t say he was surprised at being ushered into another kiss. How could he? The feel of Caelum’s fingers digging into the muscles of his body, the way Caelum had opened up to his kiss echoing the desire that Aoren himself felt, with such actions there really couldn’t be many room for surprises. Or so the Drykas man thought.

“Goo-“ Before Aoren could finish his one word query his lips were locked in another heated kiss with Caelum. He gave himself to it. A small gasp escaped him as he felt the frame of the bed touch the back of his knees. He tumbled backward but pulled the Ethaefal down with him. Aoren first wrapped his arms around Caelum’s waist pulling the man close pushing back into the kiss with a hunger that was anything but tender. It was bruising in its intensity as Aoren gave himself to repressed feeling and buried emotions. These were things that Aoren had locked away in himself a very long time ago. He felt a surge of arousal spike through his body. The warmth flowed downward and it would not be long before the pressing need of intimacy rose to prominence between his legs.

“Caelum.” Aoren whispered the man’s name between a brief reprieve from the kiss he loathed to break. Leaning forward the blonde trailed his nose along the line of Caelum’s jaw before pressing his lips to the man’s jugular. His warm breath ghosted over the Ethaefal’s flesh before Aoren moved lower to the base of Caelum’s neck. He teased there for a moment nipping lightly before bringing Caelum closer grazing his teeth over the Ethaefal’s skin as he transitioned into a firm kiss there. Once done Aoren captured the man’s mouth in another kiss . His hands began roaming over the body on top of him.

For all of his passion, Aoren was still inexperienced in the ways of intimacy. His hands were clumsy, shaking ever so slightly as he ran them over the firm muscles of Caelum’s arms. He pressed his thumbs into the swell of Caelum’s deltoids before tracing his fingers along the length of his arms following the lines of definition with trembling hands. Aoren couldn’t quite contain himself. He wanted to feel as much of this man as he could. He wanted to be closer to him in a way he had denied himself for many years. Aoren found his way to the hem of Caelum’s shirt. Probing fingers edged their way up urging Caelum to remove it that his torso might be exposed. Aoren’s breathing was slightly elevated. His face was flushed with desire. There was no mistaking what he wanted but through the haze that now clung to his mind Aoren paused just as a hand came to rest upon Caelum’s taut belly. Lightly, he brushed his fingers over the definition to be found there before leaning back to meet Caelum’s gaze.

“I don’t want to rush this. Is this what you want?” Aoren knew what he wanted. But what he wanted, no matter how much the ache in his loins reminded him just how much he wanted it, came second to what Caelum wanted. It was simply in Aoren’s nature to be mindful of the needs of others. Albeit he had been a little selfish in days of late but in a moment like this he wanted to be certain.

[Caelum]

Heat infused his limbs as they fell onto the bed. His forearm slid to the mattress, propping him up even as Aoren explored with his mouth, with his hands. He slid a heavy thigh between his and let his spine stretch with a sigh in reply to trailing hand. His pulse leaped and he attempted to hold himself still enough for Aoren to learn, to map. Windmarks spilled over his skin by night, sleeving in intricate patterns down either arm and snaking a strange but provocative pattern down the ladder of his ribs and stretched over his back, from shoulder to shoulder, in ghost patterns lost to the stories of ages. They were the stories that he did not remember until a few short years ago, but these same tales Aoren himself had enlightened him to in the walled city of Syliras. Caelum remembered that now, and he ducked his head to press a kiss to the delicate glimmer of divine gnosis on Aoren's face. Feathers of hair spilled down in darkness, trailing even as he found Aoren's mouth to steal a long, languid kiss from. With one knee bent to the mattress on the outside of the seer's thigh he settled his weight heavier still. When Aoren tugged at the hem of his shirt, he shifted his shoulders and let him draw it free of him. Need was a murmur inside of him, inevitably tangled with whatever request rested in the back of his mouth and the insides of his bones. The color of the chains that stained his skin was wine, like an color of lips flushed and joyful. Nikali's gnosis mark hook over the sharp jut of his left hip and curved down on either side, trailing over the flat of his abodemen and also his back muscles to disappear into his waistband front and back. It would coil into into his groin and cease just at thigh. Muscles tightened beneath Aoren's hand when it brushed his stomach and a chuckle rolled up from somewhere deep inside. "Aoren," he murmured, a dark sound even as want bolted through him. The corners of his eyes winced, but it was happily. He felt as if he didn't quite know what to do with being asked if this was what he wanted. He did want it, but he was unaccustomed any more to considering wants of his own. "Yes. And again, yes." An admiring gaze trailed down and shifted backwards, and lower, seamless and fluid as any man with his amount of practice. Teeth scraped and lips soothed, his thumbs brushing across his nipples and down. A gentle kiss was placed to his sternum, directly above the beat of his heart, and he slid his hand down between the seer's legs to cup him intimately. Breath left him in a sigh and dark eyes brushed over his with a wide and wicked growing grin. "Is this what you want?" He asked, almost as if he had to. His senses opened to warm breath and quick, strong thrumming heart to feel the full breadth of Aoren's desires.

[Aoren]

Caelum was several things to Aoren. He was a friend. He was a respected mentor in the field of healing and medicine. He was a man who Aoren believed he could trust on many levels. What he didn’t know or rather, what he wasn’t prepared for was the level of intimacy that trust extended to. As hands ghosted across his body, teeth grazed across his sensitive skin made all the more aware because these sensations were just so foreign to him, Aoren shivered. He gasped biting back a moan as Caelum touched him. He brought a hand to Caelum’s shoulder pulling him in close so that there was the barest of space between them.

“I want you, Caelum.” Though he would struggle with simply giving himself so wholly without restraint, Aoren would give in to this. Capturing the Ethaefal’s lips with his own once more he rolled over so that he lay atop the man who drew his attention so easily. Cobalt eyes examined darker ones for just a moment before Aoren gave himself to his passions. He would, if only for that moment, hope that there was something more in his life than darkness and duty.

If only for a moment.

-----------------

Aoren lay with an arm wrapped firmly around Caelum’s waist his chest pressed against the Ethaefal’s back. At some point they had drifted off to sleep or at least he had. His eyes had opened some time later. The dawn was approaching. Syna would soon be high in the sky and Caelum would return to his daytime form. Aoren wondered just how that transition would take place. He’d never seen such a thing before. Moving as gently as he could he propped himself up on one elbow then ran a hand along the contours of Caelum’s bare arm.

Aoren wondered what lay ahead of them. The day, it felt heavy. The Drykas man could feel something lingering on the horizon. It did not sit well with him. More than that though he wondered what was forming between him and the man that lay next to him. Had what they shared been nothing more than a need being met? Aoren was not unfamiliar with the drive of men and the lengths that they would sometimes go to in order to meet their more physical needs. Such a conclusion was only logical given the existence of whore houses. He had to wonder though, would anything come of this? He supposed these were questions that any man asked when faced with their feelings.

That was another area that he was completely inexperienced with. Aoren was rarely one to leave himself so vulnerable. He was always careful. He was always guarded. Around Caelum though? He just couldn’t be. There was something about the man that called to him. Somehow the Ethaefal wiggled his way past all of his walls and Aoren threw caution to the wind. Anywhere else and with anyone else, Aoren would have held him at arms length. Leaning down he gently pressed a kiss to Caelum’s shoulder. He closed his eyes simply just feeling the closeness of Caelum beside him. It was nice. It was something he’d been missing. But how long would it last? Would it even last beyond that one encounter? In the minutes before Syna would peek over the horizon Aoren spoke softly.

“Good morning.”

[Caelum]

The dreams of an ethaefal were already a rare and ephemeral collection, plagued by a pockmarking of memory and possessed of a patina granted them by innumerable lifetimes. Caelum was a dreamwalker as well and kept a cache of dreams, some stolen from the slideshows of others and still more that had grown from seeds scattered throughout his soul. There were those dreams he visited when the world felt bleak and weary and there were waking nightmares he kept trapped like confessions in a personal oubliette. He had great dreams and tall dreams, infant dreams and bright. There were hard dreams and grey haired dreams, small dreams wrinkled with delight. He could spill dreams through his fingers like prayer beads or divide them into armies to wage wars with subconscious wisdoms. But tonight when sleep reached up to grab him, still tangled in the arms of Aoren Skycrown, Caelum let the dreams just have him, and take him where they would. He woke in the wine dark shimmer of dreams and surfaced slowly through their fog, turning out of instinct toward the warmth of the man beside him. Every piece of him knew without looking that the sun had yet to rise, but was burgeoning in east to grey the night in preparation for the dawn. A hand reached out, fumbling, to slide through Aoren's tawny hair so that when he tipped back his face he could catch a kiss with a mumble. "Mornin'." A pause, and he turned his face back into the pillow. "Well, almost." He lay there, eyes closed mind heavy still with sleep, listening absently to the beat of Aoren's heart and the stir of ranuri and comprehending what seed of desire in him Nikali had reached for and decided to finally force to fruition. Haev Provedan waited for Caelum somewhere in this day, at the end of long seasons filled with subterfuge and data hunting while the ethaefal worried over the slaver's deep desire for revenge. These black thoughts were warded off and he opened his eyes to Aoren. He studied the seer's face and a quiet smile curled over his mouth. He was still smiling when the wolf hour was chased into the gloom by the rising sun. Breath filled his lungs and stilled there as the transformation swept over him in an exultant glow, leeching the shadows from his hair until it bled bright as red maple leaves and limned in gold. Hints of green speckled the base of his horns in the gradual transition of seasons, gearing up for the winter that was coming and would turn daylight horns to the color of pine needles and auburn hair to a pale, golden brown. The lines of his face changed and windmarks were erased by the hand of the dawn and replaced with amber skin and long, noble bones. The only thing that remained the same were the hand prints of the gods pressed upon him. The Dreamer's fractal design peeked out from beneath his hair and a Lacun mark the color of a dove's wing showed a delicate swirl of snowflakes and ashes on his chest. Rak'kelis' winged snakes coiled still over the back of his right hand and Nikali's chain curled over his hip and the hard muscles of his stomach to sweep lower with promise. Caelum stretched, long and quivering, and rolled onto his back with an arm spilling out, hand toward the window and the sunlight. All the sleepiness and hunger haunting him turned to nothing more than memory and he released a low sigh.

[Aoren]

Aoren smiled into the kiss that brushed against his lips. He wrapped his arms around Caelum hugging him closer to his body with a content sigh. As he pulled back he watched with rapt fascination as the Ethaefal resumed the form that he was most familiar with. It truly a sight to behold. He wondered if there were many who got the privilege to enjoy such an occurrence with a note of intimacy. When it was over Aoren trailed a hand along the contours of Caelum’s hip tracing the lines of the chain that wove itself around the man’s form. There was no mistaking what it was, a Gnosis, Caelum had several of them as he’d discovered the night prior. The meaning of the mark itself however escaped the Drykas. He would not pry. Everyone had their secrets and the relationship mortals held with their gods was a sanctuary in times of desperation. Caelum would tell him in due time if he so chose. Aoren would wait for that day in quiet contentment.

Well, he wouldn’t be completely quiet.

Gently he threaded his fingers through Caelum’s hair before tracing the horns that curved back over his head. A fond smile spread across his features as he marveled at the man in his arms.

“You are a fascinating man, Caelum. In so many ways.” He leaned down to playfully nudge the Ethaefal’s chin with his nose before untangling himself to sit up. Aoren stretched letting out a groan there was a pleasant ache in his body that brought a smirk to his face. He pushed the linens aside standing up from the bed to more completely stretch and shake off the lethargy of sleep. When he was satisfied he leaned down picking up his undergarments that had been discarded the night before pulling them up over his nether regions to stave off the cold.

“I think breakfast is in order.” Aoren knew enough about Ethaefal to know that Caelum didn’t need food to sustain himself during the day. He was impervious to the frailties of mortality while Syna graced the skies. Aoren felt a small pang in his chest with that realization. The Drykas man was as mortal as they came. As the days turned into seasons and seasons into years eventually time would leave its mark upon him where Caelum would always be as he was right then. He pushed such thoughts aside. That was a reality he would face in the years to come. For now he would focus on simply enjoying what was growing between him and the Ethaefal. That was what was important.

“So, what shall it be? I’ll have you know I am excellent at slicing potatoes.” Aoren had virtually no finesse when it came to the culinary arts. He knew enough to keep himself from starving. That was it. There would be no extravagant meals layered with flavors to delight the senses from this man. That wouldn’t stop him from trying though.

[Caelum]

Every muscle in Caelum’s body tensed when Aoren traced the chains of Nikali’s gnosis. Magic stirred beneath the seer’s palm and rolled velvet right through Caelum’s veins, soliciting a sigh that seemed to come from the depths of him. It was not an altogether bad sound. His nose wrinkled right up though, eyes low and drowsy, as he wrestled internally with the compulsion to tell Aoren all about the mark, what it meant, and what it wanted. Only the most foolish believed desire itself did not desire. He shifted toward Aoren, though, rather than away, nuzzling as his lover's fingers threaded through his hair and traced the elegant sweep of a horn. "Not so fascinating," he mumbled, but it was with a faint smile. Why did he fight the compulsion? What was the point in doing unnecessary battle with the ranuri that insisted upon his engagement in so many more? Yes, Nikali's gnosis was a closely guarded secret. Only a handful of people yet living were even aware that he bore it, though everyone whose path crossed his fell into the favor of its consequence. But Aoren was different. Wasn't he? Caelum believed he was. He trusted him already, and that alone was enough to make him fear. There were two terrible consequences of the revelation that Caelum dreaded the most, and so he sought to avoid them, and perhaps to buy time. Aoren was a good man who cared for him, and Caelum had a great deal less to be wary from such a person. But good people who cared for Caelum and understood what Nikali's gnosis meant had a habit of going with their gut, and that meant a swift distancing of themselves in an attempt not to unduly influence and corrode Caelum's sense of self. It made for an awkward loneliness, the sort found among familiar crowds. "Potatoes, is it?" He squinted open one eye and folded an arm back behind his head, propping himself up for the better vantage to watch Aoren crawl into his clothes. "Fried with some onions and chopped ham? I have all of that leftover. And cheese. Eggs too..." He trailed off and the grin that curled his mouth was wolfish. "It's all rather ambitious cooking. You'd think I'd be better at it, owning a place like this. Maybe --" He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed in a fluid motion, unraveling to his feet to barefoot around in search of his pants. Where had his pants gone? (This was a fairly common question in the mornings.) Locating them in a corner, he proceeded to get (mostly) dressed, complete with the knife he had come into Aoren's room with the previous night. He blinked at it, and the pocketed it away. "Maybe you'll be in luck and Elise will already be here," he concluded on a mutter. "But don't worry. We can figure out food. I'm certain of it. We absolutely got this. Right? Right. C'mon --" And he gave a light tug to Aoren's arm as he passed the man for the door to lead the way right out into the hall toward the stairs that led down into Alements.

[Aoren]

“You’re teasing me now.” His stomach grumbled in response to the imagined taste of the food. He placed a hand on his stomach. An entire season practically at sea and he was very appreciative of a well cooked meal. Aoren chuckled.

“On second thought maybe should just let Elise handle the cooking.” Following the tug of his arm, Aoren caught Caelum’s hand just as they stepped out of the room. He turned his head staring at Isikai who had been looking rather pitiful in the corner. The poor dog was very much accustomed to sleeping right beside Aoren in the night. The Drykas gave his companion a smile and a jerk of his head.

“Come on you big baby.” Isikai hopped up with a bark before darting out of the room. Aoren could only shake his head. The canine had apparently become rather fond of Elise’s cooking as well. Still holding Caelum’s hand he followed that hand to lean in close. From behind he wrapped an arm around the Ethaefal’s waist hugging him tightly. Aoren leaned down speaking softly into Caelum’s ear.

“Thank you. Thank you for turning a nightmare into a dream.” Releasing his hold on Caelum, Aoren accompanied him out of the room. There was no telling what the day would bring but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He couldn’t bring himself to sit down and analyze through every piece of interaction the two of them had just shared. Though Aoren was still uncertain of many things he was certain in that he had hope for the future. Now was his chance to reclaim something that had been missing in his life. The part of him that realized exactly what he’d been missing clung to it and Aoren let it. He didn’t recoil from the chance to just let himself feel freely for once in a very long time.

Syna was rising in the sky and with her, Aoren’s belief in his ability to find his place in the world.

[Matthew]

Aoren

Experience Points:

• +1 Diplomacy
• +4 Rhetoric
• +1 Socialization

Lores:

• Caelum: Dreamwalker
• Caelum: Gentle Protector
• Diplomacy: Considering the Comfort of Others
• Dreamwalking: Vague Knowledge of Abilities
• Emotion: Genuine Terror
• Emotion: Total Vulnerability
• Emotion: Utter Guilt
• Mental: How Much the Mind Can Supress
• Religion: Never Truly Alone
• Rhetoric: Finding the Words to Say

Caelum

Experience Points:

• +1 Animal Husbandry
• +1 Deduction
• +2 Rhetoric
• +1 Seduction
• +1 Socialization
• +1 Stealth

Lores:

• Aoren: A Vulnerable Side
• Emotion: Genuine Desire
• Emotion: Seperating Other's Wants from his Own
• Isikai: Talented Watchdog
• Rhetoric: Knowing Just What to Say
• Socialization: Calming the Terrified

Additional Notes :

This was an excellent thread. It was hard for me to grade due to the amount of dreaming, and I feel like I may have possibly missed some deserved points or Lore. Please PM me if there is anything you feel is missing.

If you have any questions or concerns relevant to your grade, don't be afraid to send me a private message so that we can work it all out! Please remember to mark your Grading Request as Graded.

A shout-out to Ollic Rimesage, who was kind enough to make this template for me.