𝐓𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐓.

"Well? Go on. Practice your healing," Ren scoffed as he looked away, offering his bare arm to the Nameless, skin shimmering in the low light. Well, at least they were in the Archives. It felt... familiar. Almost like instinct, but he gritted his jaw against the notion. Yet, he became lulled by the undulant floor, gradually slouching with hooded eyes as he lost himself in a feeling that was never meant for him to feel in the first place.

@houyin.

vidyadhara were born along the scale of visually human to a divine celestial beast. to be blessed with the attributes of their progenitor was to be closer to long. even amidst such a proud race, there was still hierarchy, and disparaging levels of disrespect dependent on whether one possessed a naturally forked tongue, whether their ears were slender and long enough, or whether the presence of scales glittered like jewels across their skin. some vidyadhara turned to cosmetic surgeries, going through the most extreme modifications to reach unattainable levels of beauty for ‘ spiritual enlightenment ’ or social acclaim. ren had wanted none of it and still paid the price.

the lights of the archive were low, lulled down to the point where most of the illumination came from the raised deck. projections of galaxies and star systems were shifted slow and rhythmic across the ceiling, moving about as casually as a screensaver so long as the monitors remained idle. even with the lights dimmed, his own reflective eyes saw the shifting blue-red scales in great detail, taking ren’s arm in both of his so he could bring it closer. he ignored the hunter’s sardonic encouragement, expression remaining neutral until it shifted, minutely, to something more like awe. he believed dan feng had dreams of scales like these ones. at least, this colour flitted between the more vivid of those reoccurring memories.

this wasn’t the first time that he’d seen ren pluck the scales out. the shape of them, meant to overlock one another in a seamless pattern, grew wild and chaotic, against the skin instead of moving with it. his own cloudhymn, instinctively, knew this ache, knew this body, even, and moved to each painful intrusion, every wound where the red diamonds had been plucked out. this spell moved over his body like mist, settled on each affected area and became denser and denser, until it engulfed the inflamed area like a numbing, cooling salve. it hurt, knowing that this was the most he could do, and that this was the true nature of one of dan feng’s debts, one it would take his entire lifetime to repay. he hadn’t cared, at all, for the one that would satiate ren until he became someone in dan heng’s eyes, instead of the twisted shadow yingxing left behind. maybe that was why it felt all the heavier, knowing that the only solution to this lie in more heinous experimentation, or permadeath. curse this bleeding heart.

the treatment coaxed out one of the loose scales, healing and fortifying ren’s skin there temporarily, at least as long as dan heng’s cloudhymn lingered. dan heng caught the jewel-like fragment, looking away while the swirling hymns reapplied themselves as if on their own, transfixed by the way the scale changed colours when it shifted this way and that.

“   beautiful …   ”   he breathed, and for a moment he looked a millenia older, more poised, more burdened with the weight of his race’s future. but, only for a moment.

he wondered if dan feng had ever felt this sick possessive desire, that whatever transformation had become of ren was successful, and another new vidyadhara had been born. maybe then, his scales would grow in harmony instead of dissonance, maybe then they wouldn’t hurt him, a perpetual reminder of what it meant to love with reckless abandon.

“   you’ll come back when they bother you.   ”

when the pain is more than what you can withstand. when you are done contesting with your pride. when you can allow me to help beyond that which is destructive.

the dragon tried to sound authoritarian, tried to keep the request out of his voice entirely, but failed. the hand still on ren’s arm, more plea than anchor, no matter how much dan heng wished he could be that steadying presence, had he been made of sturdier stuff. the foundation on which they built this thing between them seemed to crumble at the slightest tremor, and yet they still somehow managed to keep from collapsing. the dragon’s grip tightened, the light suggestion of talons promising to dig in further than any scale.

There was another that lurked beneath it, beating in time with the Dragon's Heart. Whether it was well and true as his, or inherited from the Half-Draconic Abomination, he couldn't say. All Ren did was glare sidelong at Dan Heng being utterly transfixed, visibly frowning while that gaze was defanged by the entranced expression on the Vidyadhara's face. Like imagining the ocean, it soothed him because it was familiar. Because it belonged to another face when his voice would tenderly scold that man for overextending himself, for working too long and too hard. Then, that wretch would only grin sunnily with small, pronounced wrinkles around his eyes at his husband, and cajole that he liked having an excuse to see him during the day. Ren couldn't remember, but he knew how it felt. An old, fetid emotion exhumed from its grave he was forced to feel. Like hot blood spurting from the veins of another body, forced to feel its rapidly cooling warmth until it lingered, like cold latex on the skin that made him sick with revulsion.

(

There was something else. Something he refused to dignify. These scales weren't his. They belonged to the man that had made his immortality function in perfect equilibrium, the one who had caught the flaked scale and admired it in the low light, the burnished gleam of its red to black gradient, appraising it like it was a gemstone to claim. And it was. Ren beat away those thoughts, that intrusive chorus, but it all said the same thing: I'm yours I'm yours I'm yours, 'til the end of time-- And he wanted to tear those words out and personify them, if only to brutally murder the truth he couldn't deny, was incapable of truly resisting.

I'm yours. Until the stars die out and Finality claims us all, I'm yours.

)

"And how the hell is that supposed to happen? Should I just teleport here like a fucking Memokeeper?" he snapped at the Guard, yet he did nothing to extricate his wrist. Too yielding, too wanting. He could bear his throat, if Dan Heng wanted. He could bear his throat and let the other tear it out with his fangs, mauling him until only viscera, blood, and a heap of bones were left. Tearing him apart so long as Dan Heng was the one doing it.

He sneered, baring teeth, maybe more at himself and the sentiments clouding his mind, making him choke on them.

@houyin.

against his better judgement, there were memories that he wished to recreate. they were instinctive, written into his body, into the very cloudhymn that composed his body. his spell work, his power, the very blood that flowed through his veins knew ren’s body intrinsically. that it was not just the fond memories dan feng treasured that kept bringing them back together over and over, but their bodies   ;   this bond that was morbidly biological.   pairs of objects, destined for an eventual reunion.   it was not just the earrings, the pendants, the bracers, but something that ran much deeper. if only memories of exactly what ritual dan feng performed would give way. instead, in this moment, he found himself holding ren’s hands and refusing to let them go, rubbing away the ache just like the last moon drinker had for his beloved.

the hunter lashed out, all the bark of a wounded animal, and the archivist was reminded of his own defensiveness by a spike of pride, a sliver of the petty urge to throw those hands away and leave. but that ire had long since been tempered by the earth coreflame, seeing the lives of all living beings as precious. his most of all, even when ren lashed out, even when he tried to hurt him. ren's words had always hurt more than any wound he could inflict, driving into his weaknesses. it was the only reason they had made any impact on dan heng whereas the kindness of others had been met with that self-made barrier. maybe ren could not remember all of yingxing’s memories, but what he did know was the formula that had kept dan feng coming back   ;   frustrated intrigue, and then an inability to express that in ways that weren’t extreme. dan heng was not as prideful, not anymore.

the archivist squeezed the hand in his own with both of his this time, swallowing any scathing retort in favour of something he hadn’t tried yet   :   sincerity.

          “   please, ren.   ”

for all the great violence shared between them, more than wracking up their share of fatal wounds, this might have been the hardest feat   ;   to stray away from that which was familiar, and destructive, and fruitless. for all the fleeting pleasure, and the needed catharsis of an opponent who would not hold back   …   it simply wasn’t enough anymore. dan heng wanted an understanding that was more than skin deep, one understood not just with their bodies, but with their minds. there had to be something else between these dalliances, something profound, something worth dying for. so, at the risk of being bitten by that fearsome maw, and by growling, sneering teeth, the dragon reached out, hand to hold ren’s jaw. he was willing to accept it all   ;   that he was greedy, and that he was selfish. it was true.

     just let me have you.

          “   please.   ”

a kiss on the top of the head.

a kiss to hair.

a kiss on the forehead.

a kiss on the space between eyebrows.

a kiss on the temple.

a kiss on the cheek.

a kiss on the eyelid or the undereye.

a kiss on the nose

a kiss on the ear.

a kiss on that space where jaw connects.

a kiss on the corner of the mouth.

a kiss on the cupid’s bow.

a kiss on the lips.

a kiss on the chin.

a kiss on the jawline.

a kiss on the back of the neck.

a kiss on the underside of the jaw.

a kiss on the throat.

a kiss on the side of the neck.

a kiss on where the back of the neck turns to shoulder.

a kiss above the collarbone.

a kiss along the collarbone.

a kiss on the space between collarbones.

a kiss on the shoulder.

a kiss on the bicep.

a kiss on the forearm.

a kiss on the elbow.

a kiss on the outside of the wrist.

a kiss on the inside of the wrist.

a kiss on the back of the hand.

a kiss on the palm.

a kiss on a finger.  ( which one? )

a kiss on the side of the ribs.

a kiss on the shoulder blade.

a kiss on the space between shoulder blades.

a kiss along the curve of the spine.

a kiss on the upper back.

a kiss on the lower back.

a kiss on the sternum.

a kiss on a pec / breast.

a kiss under the breast.

a kiss on where the sternum ends.

a kiss on the stomach.

a kiss on the navel.

a kiss on the hipbone.

a kiss on the ‘v’.

a kiss on the front of the thigh.

a kiss on the back of the thigh.

a kiss on the inner thigh.

a kiss on the knee.

a kiss on the calf.

a kiss on the ankle.

a kiss on the heel.

a kiss on the foot.

a kiss on a toe.

a kiss on an nsfw body part not listed here.  ( where? )