for @citer

[cashewlater]

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[citer]

[ tighnari's fangs glint.

anyway, they have alligator stew tonight. the ajilenakh nuts are fragrant when roasted and adds spice and depth to a broth seasoned with only pepper and salt. it's nice, tighnari thinks, as the night chill washes over them and their little campfire by the side of the oasis. the palm leaves keep the night wind and sand at bay. the horses feed on the meat of palm nuts and foliage gathered from nearby. the oasis is at peace. it makes tighnari think that the desert is only terrible half the time.

the stars, however. he's stopped eating to look up. ]

... I hadn't realised, that the city and the forest blocked out so much of it. The starlight, I mean.

[cashewlater]

[ it's rather a nice evening, for time in the desert. the heat begins to abate, making way for the chill of night, and the night sky opens up above them like a bolt of deep black velvet, pinpricked with stars. cyno is not unused to this view, but it is always beautiful, even if the starlight reflected in tighnari's eyes is equally distracting. ]

Mm. There's no better view of the night sky than here.

[ in cyno's humble opinion. ]

[citer]

Do you know much about the stars? [ asks he, as his tail flicks along the side of cyno's thigh. tighnari's eyes pinpoint the brightest of them. a starchart organises itself in his mind. ] I'm no Rtawahist, but that one ought to be Altair, right?

[cashewlater]

I know enough. [ he uses the stars to guide him through the desert quite often, in fact, so he knows them in the sense that he can use them to navigate, if not for astrological reasons. ] Yes. Which means..

[ one hand settles against tighnari's wrist, guiding it to point to another bright star further west. ] Deneb. And.. [ moving tighnari's wrist again, northeast, to the top of the triangle. ] This one?

[citer]

Vega. [ asserts tighnari, with a pleased breath. he lets cyno guide his hand until the tip of his finger alights on a blueish glow of a star the size of a pinprick. it has never seemed to tighnari that the night sky could be such a bright thing. ]

You must be able to call these stars your friends; you use them to navigate, do you not?

[cashewlater]

[ that's right. cyno smiles, before he's dropping to lie on his back on the blanket spread beneath them, both hands lacing behind his head. the sky opens up above, wide and dark and beautiful. ]

I do. I know little about them from a Rtawahist standpoint, but I can map them easily enough. I've spent a lot of time with them.

[citer]

[ cyno lays back. after a moment, tighnari joins him. his tail pools at his side. the desert chill sweeps across the dunes; he feels warm, and unseasonably so. his hand seeks cyno's, tugging at his pinky with his own, and then, letting them sit, side by side, so he can feel the faint echo of his pulse. ]

Is Hermanubis a spirit that understands the stars? Or is it a creature that thinks little of such worldly things?

[cashewlater]

[ tighnari lies beside him, and cyno feels himself relax inadvertently; tighnari's presence alone soothes him far more than he ever could have expected. his honest heart and open mind always put cyno at ease. ]

Hermanubis is.. [ cyno is thoughtful, and he looses one hand to slip fingers through his partner's. ] .. humble. He concerns himself with many worldly things, though not in the sense that you and I might. I can't say I've ever asked about the stars.

[citer]

[ tighnari's hand gives cyno's a deft squeeze. ]

What have you talked to him about?

[cashewlater]

Mm. All sorts of things, especially when I was young, I talked to him about anything I could think of, and asked him many questions. But he was always patient with me. I suppose, for a long time, he was my only friend.

He used to love shaved ice.

[citer]

[ his ears prick. ]

I've read about it. A dessert, whose primary flavour is derived from the sauce that coats it. Though each flavour is supposed to be the same; the perception of the colour is what changes the level of sweetness and the taste associated with it.

[cashewlater]

[ spoken like a scholar. cyno smiles. ]

There should be some available in Aaru Village, if you'd like to try it. It's very simple, but refreshing.

[citer]

You like it as well, I take it?

[cashewlater]

You could say I'm fond of it, yes. It's inexpensive, so I was able to afford it as a child. I suppose there's some nostalgia there.

[citer]

The world is wide, isn't it? The things that remind us of our time in the world is equally wide as well.

[ a contemplative hum. tighnari lets his eyes close, slowly. ] I'd like to have some with you. Two different colours, you see. We can compare to see if it's truly perception.

[cashewlater]

Mm. It's a plan.

[ the chill is beginning to set in, the desert evenings as unforgiving as the days. cyno sits up to snag two more blankets, shaking them out and laying them both over himself and tighnari. an arm snakes around tighnari's middle, pulling him in near. ]

[citer]

[ tighnari laughs. he allows himself to be tugged close. his arms find themselves purchase around cyno's neck - his face against the hollow of cyno's neck. his ears slip, one by one, along the set of cyno's shoulders. he is warm; it is beyond what is reasonable. ]

I keep thinking this, but you're getting very used to this, aren't you.

[ this: them. ]

[cashewlater]

[ yes.. yes, he is. until tighnari came along, cyno perhaps did not realize how starved he was for affection, for touch, the closeness of another person. for all he is feared, cyno is rather soft at heart; he's taken to this like a fish to water. ]

Would you rather I didn't?

[citer]

[ the curve of tighnari's smile, felt against the line of cyno's throat: ]

I said no such thing. I hope you were asking that rhetorically, or I will need to show you definitive proof.

[cashewlater]

Well, when you put it like that - [ a grin cuts his features, and cyno turns his head to nudge their noses together. ] I may require proof.

[citer]

[ bold, tighnari thinks. bolder than he had been before. it's the kind of progression that speaks to trust; tighnari's eyes soften at it. ]

Very well, then. [ and the kiss that he presses against cyno's lips speak of the same: trust, and candor, and gentle affection.

this, too, has become familiar. ]

[cashewlater]

[ trust is something that cyno is quite short of, in his life. he's quite used to it, but nevertheless he can count on one hand the people that he fully, completely trusts. tighnari is now counted among them, and it is the quality of their time together, not the quantity, that defines what they have become.

with a low, soft hum in his throat, cyno presses back into the kiss, hitching tighnari a little more tightly into his arms, tilting his head to slot their mouths more neatly together. the night is quiet around them, the oasis is peaceful, and tighnari feels so warm in his arms, so soft. ]

[citer]

[ cyno kisses him; he kisses back. the warmth of his mouth is a welcome respite from the chill of the desert night. how marvelous it is, that cyno is like both day and night, a reminder to tighnari that the desert, too, holds life. after all, had it not produced a man like cyno? one that the rainforests had not been able to, one that tighnari could trust, and love.

he sighs into the kiss. the night is sweeter for it. cyno is desert, and oasis, and the musk of something spiced. behind him, his tail begins, once more, to wag. ]

Heh. I rest my argument.

[cashewlater]

Mm. [ cyno assents, one hand smoothing up the bare curve of tighnari's back. ] You're correct. I am getting used to it. I could continue to get used to it.

[ nudging his nose against tighnari's cheek, he presses kisses to the tender space where jaw and throat meet, inhaling the comforting scent of his skin and hair. ]

[citer]

[ tighnari laughs. the sound starts in the cloistered line of his throat and ends somewhere in cyno's chest. they seem to be one creature, limbs tangled and hair mixed. it's an oddly pleasing thing.

the place where cyno kissed feels warm. his tail curls for it. ]

- ah. [ a second laugh. ] That tickles. You have a knack for finding weakness here, too, I take it.