taxonomites | 052 [text | location: around the island] on the shore just long enough to leave our clothes there

Entry tags:

052 [text | location: around the island] on the shore just long enough to leave our clothes there

Glitch is so very happy to be back on land where he's 100% less useless. Sure it's not the city (or home) but it's better than being on that miserable boat.

In the jungle (the mighty jungle) there is a large hamster idol carved from limestone. It sits up on its haunches and smiles a benevolent hamster smile, and atop its head is a floral headdress. More interestingly: its right paw is definitely a hatch touchpad, and it holds in its left paw the traditional hatch replicator box thing.

Glitch stares at it dubiously, then slaps his hand down and thinks desperately of toothpaste. The box produces a bottle of rum, which gets tucked into the satchel he's fashioned from the sleeves of his giant white pirate shirt. He tries again, this time thinking of ball-peen (...wait, who even came up with that name?) hammer and some nails. The hatch responds with directions for making a shelter with palm fronds and vines.

After some trial and error (and another bottle of rum and some paper umbrellas), the hatch does produce useful things like a length of insulated copper wire, a Hawaiian print shirt and some Bermuda shorts, a pair of pliers, and sunscreen.

"...well, it's a start," Glitch mutters, then hauls everything back to the shady spot he's claimed a little ways from the beach. There he lays the pliers and wire down beside the metal-containing ship debris that had washed up, and set about composing a text to everyone.

NOTES:
- Found a hatch, marked approx. location on map. Temperamental but will give useful stuff (!SUNSCREEN!) plus random items.
- The temple: have not explored, not sure if safe, be careful if you check it out. Do not go alone.
- Swear I heard drumming last night. Might be delusional.
TO DO:
- Work w/tablets. Have more tools & materials now. Power boost? Antenna? Help appreciated.
- Go back to ship for supplies: sailcloth, rope, anything useful. Build raft for this? Volunteers? (~~Not it!~~)
- Build hammock.

That done, he heads back into the jungle for his daily swim. The island is fortunately riddled with cenotes to provide drinking water and places to cool off without getting saltwater sticky. Glitch has found a favorite with a good mix of shade and sun, water crystal clear and deep enough for diving, and just secluded enough that he can get away with skinny dipping.

That last bit is likely inaccurate.

OOC: Oh hey it's another huge note! WELCOME TO THE ISLAND enjoy your naked headcase. He will be out there every day, so go bug him or join in and fret not about continuity. Or bump into him anywhere, godmoding of that nature is go. TABLET FOLKS: there is going to be so much handwaving with this plot I can't even tell you. To the point of "let's congratulate ourselves on how awesome our geniuses and electric lady are" and moving on with end results.

This post can also be used as a log post for non-Glitch related hijinks like setting up shelters, building rafts, and other mingling.
DETAILS ON THE TEMPLE: Think Temple of Doom meets Legends of the Hidden Temple meets The Mummy. There are 100% godmodey deathtraps, the nature and degree of dangerousness is totally up to you. There are also treasures...also godmodey, but a chest stuffed with toiletries is definitely in there somewhere.

DID GLITCH HEAR DRUMMING: Yes. Yes he did, and your folks may have too. ~Details to come~.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bagoas shrugs his eyebrows, curling his hands around the bend of Josef's arm, coming to lean into him. With the context, it wasn't too difficult to guess, but he's glad just the same he understood correctly.

"Until the stars come out and the moon has come a respectable distance towards its destination," he says, gazing upward. Though the forest is dense here, one can just make out the night sky above the canopy.

"Nonsense. You know who volunteered, and from whom you are to partake next; we all do who have made ourselves available. It would be rude to ignore such courtesies."

Leaning his head on Josef's shoulder, he squeezes his forearm softly. One ought not tell a lord his business, though Bagoas himself often can't help but speak his mind.

"I am as well as I can be. No danger, no lingering effects of my most recent misfortune. I do however miss the amenities of the city, and my own home. But one must make do."

He looks up, reaching to run one long finger down his friend's jawline. "Glitch is teaching me to swim."

The easy way with which Bagoas moves in against him makes Josef smile. It is a small curve of the lips but a true delight. While most know the stories and legends, and those in Taxon were getting a crash course in the feed and care of vampires from a few different worlds, Bagoas had faced Josef and not because a glitch but because he’d been a fool.

“Your way of telling time is a lot more romantic than eleven pm, or just before midnight,” he noted, reaching over and sliding his fingers along one silken length of Bagoas’ hair. “More should talk like that but then I suspect a lot of people would get lost too.”

That small smile widened at being chastised. “Fine. I won’t mention it again,” he said, leaning in against Bagoas, sounding cheery though he felt apprehensive. “I would still understand if some didn’t want to. Or knowing one has volunteered but finding yourself needful when you shouldn’t be.” He needed a better plan for the heat. “I suppose, eventually, I need to face I’m not in my climate controlled environment and have to accept the things that might make me unattractive to certain people,” he said softly.

“Is that what we’re doing? Making do? Are you? You should have your comforts,” he said, knowing he wanted his own but often finding himself focusing on Bagoas rather than himself. It was an odd experience for him, to care about another, but he was finding he enjoyed it. For the right person.

Josef arched into that touch like a cat. “Is he now,” he asked, not sure he felt jealous but curious. It did seem to ease the tension in his shoulders. “Are you enjoying yourself?” He chuckled, looking down at Bagoas’ flowing trousers. “Not risking waterlogging yourself in those, are you,” he asked, the sudden image of Bagoas in swim trunks coming to mind.

"It's how I tell time," Bagoas retorts on the tail end of a yawn. "Without an hourglass or a sundial. And you," he goes on, grabbing Josef's chin between thumb and forefinger for a soft shake to and fro.

"You worry over-much. Find a dark, sheltered place during the day and sleep, wake refreshed come night time and offer your willingness to help. Don't you see your advantages? While I sit here watching the fire and sleep beckons, you're wide awake and fully attentive. Of course we make do: this is survival. Eight years I spent on Alexander's campaigns. Eight years of hard work and beauty in equal measures. Tending a fire is child's play in comparison."

He does miss his house, the dark wooden house framed by big green bushes with white flowers and big windows on every floor. He misses his kitchen, especially now that he knows a bit of cooking. His bed and his bathtub.

"And yes he is, I certainly am," he pauses, looking up with something akin to mischief in his eyes. "And the only risk of waterlogging comes from my hair."

"Not a bad way. Just..." He smiled. "My earliest times of telling time still bore some form of device, even at night." He thought of the sexton, of the charts and all else he'd had in those days before he'd even dreamt of beings such as he was now.

A brow arched as he shook his head like that, one corner of his mouth twitching. "I worry because I care for you," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. It wasn't easy for him to admit, evven if he knew that it was a pretty obvious answer to most of the world. At least their tiny world on this island.

Josef looked away. "I... I feel I've somehow just insulted you," he admitted. "I hadn't meant it that way. Merely that..." He shook his head of his own volition then. "Nothing to worry about," he said, nodding once, definitely swallowing back on whatever the hell those things were rearing up inside of him whenever he even thought of Bagoas. Some of it reminded him of Sarah and that only made the rest of it so hard to figure out and cope with.

He opened his mouth, closed it. He wasn't slow and understood. "Not that I would speak of it but I suppose that answers a bit of a question I was asked recently."

"No insult, Josef. Your concern could never do me any harm. I merely meant to remind you that this isn't so bad. This was a reality to me long before Taxon. ...even if we did have a touch more resources than here and now."

His hand drifts down to run soothing caresses over Josef's chest. He thinks he can hear a conundrum forming right between his ears.

"What sort of question?"

"I haven't had a safe place during the day in over a hundred years," he admitted. "It's... disconcerting, to say the least.' Despite himself he was trying to pull himself together, to sound like himself. Like the self he knew, not the self he was worried he was coming on too strongly.

His eyes closed a moment at that touch. His chest barely moving, just enjoying that soft touch.

"Nothing to worry about. I shouldn't have brought it up," he murmured, the words rumbling through his chest. "I suppose my behavior on deck has some thinking we're dating or something."

"You'll think of something," murmurs Bagoas, full of confidence. To his mind, Josef is a man of action and resourcefulness.

"Dating?" The word holds no meaning to him, and he suspects a guess to its nature would not go half as well as the one about coins and thoughts. He wouldn't want to assume.

"What does that mean?"

"I may consider taking to the temple and setting things up there for the vampires." It was setting up "home" and he hated that but it was better than the suffering they were all going through.

He frowned, trying to consider the word that would be appropriate. "She thought we were a couple and therefor I was overstepping my bounds by flirting with her when I'm with you," he said, laying the words out like he would for a business moment.

It was easier than facing how much of a fool he felt like in having this talk. It wasn't anything he'd worried about before but his knowledge of Bagoas' world and the way life was in such things was slim to none and he wouldn't take the chance of hurting him because he hadn't known the conventions.

"Mmm," he hums, eyelids growing heavier despite his efforts. He ought to sit up straight, but sometimes comfort takes precedence over even duty. As noted, the week has been long and wearying (and eventful in a positive way as well), and the solid comfort of a friend's shoulder is ever so tempting.

Josef's clarification, however, serves to chase away some of the fatigue and placing perplexity in its stead.

He pulls slightly back, tilting his head to get a better view of Josef's face. Such tension around his mouth, alas. "I've staked no claim over you, Josef; apart from your affection, however much you hold for me, I'll have nothing of yours unless you give it freely."

He smiles, nuzzling the joint where collarbone meets shoulder. "Affection is a gift from the gods, dear friend, that flows from an unending source. Why should you limit yourself to the enjoyment of one lover? Indeed, why should either of us? We are both free, are we not, to choose our companions?"

Josef was prepared to sit Bagoas' watch for him, willing to sit there and keep the fire stoked and hold that sensual yet mentally sharp man leaning against his arm for as long as was needed, if needed.

He winced though when Bagoas pulled back. So much for that need. He didn't look away though, meeting that dark gaze steadily. "Everything you have of me has been given freely," he said plainly. "I may be shocked by my feelings but I don't regret a minute of having them for you."

The honesty came a moment before the nuzzle, the soft touch making him sigh. "You speak of a time and place that wasn't mine, nor was it Madelyne's, I suspect. Hers seems something like my own, but with mutants. "Why she was concerned. They expect people to be a certain way, with only one person. Sometimes it is difficult to think of a way that allows for emotions without constantly checking them," he admitted.

"It was... For a bit it was hard for me to care about you with Sarah still back there. I haven't allowed myself to be close to anyone but Mick since she... became ill."

Bagoas listens, keeping up a steady, soothing caress of Josef's arm and upper chest through the strange garment. He knew that they would need to speak on these matters some day soon, especially since his own talk with Glitch. He can only hope Josef understands, but if he does not...

"Remus told me about the ways of his...contemporaries. What restrictions there are for love and desire both. It made little sense to me at the time, though I do see some merit to it.

"You and I both have known love in the past. We have both loved and lost, and now stand weighing the options of daring to once more. I hold a great fondness for you, and I do for Glitch as well. I wouldn't want to lose either of you over a misunderstanding."

That touch was perhaps what was helping Josef to stay calm and think about it. Not just what Bagoas was saying but the emotions there between them. He wasn't sure how they had gone from those first angry moments to this. Just as he was not quite sure when he'd opened his heart again. All he knew was that he was glad both had happened.

"They were a way for the church to control people," he said, remembering those times when it began. "Now it's culture and most won't go against the system. In the last times I allowed myself something like this, just spending time alone with Sarah was pushing propriety."

Shifting, he leaned closer to Bagoas. "I feel the same. About it all. I am trying again, though I admit I'm nervous a lot about things. I'm not a good person with social situations. Or conversations. Or shutting up sometimes," he said, trying to smile but it seemed to fade.

"I feel the same. I don't own you," he said, remembering that talk. Nor would he want to. "I just want to know I have time in your life."

He smiles to himself, head bowed against Josef's shoulder, because he doesn't know what a church is. He can guess, but he'd rather not. It's inconsequential: he's never heard of such a thing in Taxon. The culture evolving from its reign, however, that's a different matter altogether.

He sits up better, though he doesn't move away but rather sidles in closer yet to Josef's side right into his arms, graceful despite the hour. "I shall always have time for you, Josef. Always."

Leaning in, heavy-lidded eyes and the hint of a smoulder in their depths, he brushes his lips over Josef's unbelievable pout.

"Some day soon, I'll have you."

Josef doesn't hold him tight as Bagoas moves and then, a moment later, he was there in Josef's arms and that was more than enough in that moment. He was glad to have Bagoas there and always would be happy for moments between them.

The vow eased the tightness in his shoulders, though the kiss made his arms tighten as he pulled Bagoas a bit closer. "That's all I could ask..."

And yet there was a kiss and those words.

"Put some thought into this, have you," he asked in a low voice. "Soon, is it?"

Sliding his arms around Josef's neck, eyes moving between his eyes and his mouth in a non-verbal tease, he thinks he's in the clear. He can feel Josef relax, and that in itself takes away his own nervous tension. He understands. By Mithra, he understands.

"The days of leading pretty young men to a secluded spot are far behind me, my friend. I'll have you somewhere proper, away from the eyes of others, with all the comforts of civilization.

"...unless you would rather write to me in painstaking detail the many ways you'd have me?" He quirks a teasing eyebrow.

The cruise, the fighting, the damn island. Suddenly all of it was worth it for this. No. He'd give up this for Bagoas never to have hit the water and nearly died but beyond that, he could find a life anywhere with Bagoas and the others he was beginning to count as friends, or had been his friend when no one else had.

"I'm a pretty young man, am I," he asked, chuckling at that. "You can have me any way you want," he said, only dropping his gaze a moment. It wasn't a new concept to him, but it had been more than a lifetime for him.

"Would you like that? All those words in my shaky Greek lettering telling you how beautiful you are, how often I think of kissing you, of holding you close to me through the night in a proper bed?" Not the freezer. Not on a ship. Yet he wondered of what he'd write. He suspected it would be more poetry than pornography.

"You certainly look the part," Bagoas notes with blatant amusement while the fingers of his right hand find the nape of Josef's neck for a bit of a fondle of soft hair and skin.

That it was only ever one pretty youth and one tumble in a secluded area is inconsequential.

"I think...words like that are better spent whispered into someone's ear than written down. Face to face, eye to eye. With the promise of a proper bed a valid one, rather than merely wishful thinking."

"Someone is a delightful flatterer, especially considering how nervous I was about talking with you," he pointed out, eyes closing at that gentle touch, savouring it for a long moment.

"Then likely not something we should try now," he said, not sounding upset at all. "Though I'm probably poor at that as well but for you I would try," he admitted, fingers brushing along the curve of Bagoas' spine with a small sound of appreciation.

Oh, but finger-ends along his spine is not entirely unlike cheating; Bagoas' long eyelashes flutter and he lets out a soft sigh.

"Selling yourself short won't work with me, Josef Kostan," he purrs. "I know your worth, and we are not bartering over a trade.

"Like I say: soon. As soon as we get off this island, beautiful though it may be, as soon as we are both ready and willing."

If he's going to make that face, Josef can't be held responsible if he does it more often. There's just something about that face he won't be able to resist.

"When you say it like that, who am I to argue," he asked, leaning in and brushing the softest of kisses to the corner of Bagoas' mouth.

"I keep missing the beauty because it's either dark or I'm hiding," he teased. "As for the rest, we have time and I like things like this with you." Closeness, physical and emotional, was practically new to him.

"We have a saying, where I come from; I can't recall whether I've told you before, that beauty is best viewed in moonlight. The sun has its merits, but we hold the moon in higher regard. So you see, your argument falls on deaf ears whether you speak it or not."

He tries not to grin, but it's a losing battle when kissed so sweetly. "We have time, and we'll make the most of it."

"I suppose it's a good thing you feel that way given so much of the time you can see me will be under moonlight." He was quiet a moment, thinking about that. "Which does make me realize that eventually, whether we get back to Taxon or not, I should take you on a date," he said, ducking his head a bit shyly.

Josef could threaten and kill and run a business with a soft voice and a deadly look but this was new ground for him.

"All in the name of making the most of the time we have," he noted.

Again that word, so familiar yet so strangely used: a marking of time? No. A fruit? No.

Whether he fully understands the meaning or not, it's a significant term. As such, there can be no manner of misunderstanding between them.

"And what, my sweet, perplexing friend, constitutes a 'date'?"

"Sweet and perplexing. Nicer than what most call me," he said with a smile, fingers brushing along the back of Bagoas' neck. "Thank you for that. As for a date... In my world it was what people courting did. A night out together, doing something together. In part just to spend time together, and in part to get to know one another better. Kind of like this, but usually with a shower and my time preparing looks," he said, chuckling because they had little choice with those things here. "Though I am getting used to that brace bath every morning."

"As you well know, I am not most people," Bagoas teases, closing his eyes to rest his head on his friend's shoulder. Just a little while, he tells himself, then I'll get on with my duties.

"It doesn't sound so different from the customs of my world, though a man would hardly court a eunuch in a formal manner. We are...personal diversions; living embodiments of amusement and companionship and camaraderie. However, before I bring a dark cloud over your head, of course we are much more besides."

052 [text | location: around the island] on the shore just long enough to leave our clothes there

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

Re: [Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]

[Jungle/Beach at dusk]