for @citer

[cashewlater]

Comments

[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.

[cashewlater]

Either that, or you're very ticklish. [ he nuzzles to that same spot, kissing it again, before, with a hum, he's moving down tighnari's throat, tracing his pulse. ] How about this?

[citer]

[ impossible not to laugh at that as well. tighnari's hand flies up in protest, and then, with a vicious noise, he buries his face into cyno's hair.

his body shakes with it, that kind of laughter. ]

Alright, alright, I concede on this too - Cyno.

[cashewlater]

[ tighnari's laughter is like music, like the ringing of a silver bell, it warms his heart and makes him smile. they're pressed close against the chill, tighnari's voice in his hair, and cyno feels full in a way he's never really known before. ]

How am I going to get anywhere with you, when everything tickles?

[ said through a chuckle of his own, as he pulls his head back to look into tighnari's face. ]

[citer]

[ tighnari, whose face has flushed in the interim, merely wrinkles his nose at cyno. but the thoughtful set of cyno's gaze is something unto itself. above, the stars spin into galaxies; none seem to compare to the bright glow of cyno's eyes.

how strange, that the world seems different than it's ever been. ]

You'll simply have to go slow, then. [ the cant of his head, however, is acquiescence - he presses a kiss to cyno's lips, and then, like a full-body sigh, settles against him. ] I will miss you after all. It'll have been a while since we've last gone our separate ways.

[cashewlater]

Slow, is it? [ a kiss to tighnari's lips. another. ] I would think that would tickle you more.

[ his mouth curves against tighnari's, and when that weight slumps against him cyno gathers it up in his arms, both hands smoothing down tighnari's back, to the base of his tail. once more he dips his head, nudging tighnari's chin up with his nose, dragging a slow, deliberate trail of kisses down the sleek tendon of his throat. the pad of one thumb rubs circles at the space where skin gives way to soft fur. ]

Better?

[citer]

[ cyno's hand smooths down the base of tighnari's tail. the effect is instantaneous - the shiver of his body, the way his tail lashes, just once, before it flicks out like something pleased. tighnari lets his head tilt back to provide cyno access to the line of his neck. the press of his lips is warm, and soft, like the whispers of something low and loved.

better, he thinks, doesn't begin to put it. warmth curls in him. the desire is languid beneath the stars. he draws cyno in so he can laugh again, a single kiss pressed where his ear meets jaw. ]

Better. Though you seem intent on etching your memory into my skin. [ tighnari's hands gently draw up the contours of cyno's face. his fingers rest, with affection, palm against cheek, along the edges of his eyes. ]

Well, I always knew that 'slow' wouldn't work with you.

[cashewlater]

[ tighnari's laugh sends a soft, tender thrill up cyno's spine, his heart skipping gladly against his ribs, and when those warm hands come up to cup his face cyno is smiling, his sunset eyes glimmering as he looks down into tighnari's face with what can only be described as abject fondness. those brown-green eyes captivate him fully, and in this quiet, private moment, cradled by the cooling sands of the hypostyle, cyno feels full and content in a way he's never entirely known.

truly, tighnari's presence is a sweet balm, and despite the relatively short amount of time they have known one another, in the grand scheme of things, cyno is utterly devoted. ]

Well, you did say you will miss me. [ he says, savoring that shiver, his thumb continuing to roll in slow, gentle strokes. cyno turns his head, pressing kisses to the inside of tighnari's soft palm, where calluses are just beginning to form. ] But I'm a patient man when I need to be.

[citer]

[ cyno kisses the dip of tighnari's palm. tighnari allows it. the gentle skim of his lips reminder tighnari of the progress made - calluses in even patches, the physical embodiment of the distance they have walked together. cyno's lips dance over the tender pink of where the knife wound had been. the sensitive skin there sends yet another shiver through tighnari.

of course, he laughs. tighnari can't not. ]

Is this you showing patience? [ but tighnari leans in anyway, to press another kiss to the corner of cyno's mouth. he feels warm; he feels full. ]

[cashewlater]

Is it not? I've wanted you since I first laid eyes on you.

[ there's certainly no denying tighnari's beauty, his soft, delicate features, his glossy hair and fur, his long, lean limbs.. cyno was captivated from the onset, and falling for him was all too easy. far more attractive than tighnari's lovely eyes and soft mouth is his demeanor, his sharp tongue, his wicked intelligence, his fearlessness. from the moment they met, cyno was doomed. and what an odd feeling it is. cyno works with people often, meets with new faces and old, yet no one has ever ensnared him like this.

turning his head, he chases tighnari's lips with his own, pressing a little more firmly, a little more insistently, a low sound rumbling in his chest. his voice is a deep, soft whisper against tighnari's mouth. ]

But I'd wait a lifetime for you, if need be.

[citer]

[ the thought comes first, as it should - cyno is making promises that he cannot bear to keep. and then, the reality of it - that cyno is making these promises precisely because he intends to keep them, that of all people on teyvat, perhaps only cyno would be capable of it. a lifetime, tighnari knows, is a long time for a valuka shuna. their long lives and long memories mean little in the face of mortality. but cyno kisses tighnari. the warmth of his breath lingers; the reverberation of his life lingers. tighnari thinks - he's never been promised like this before. nobody else has ever tried.

he allows their lips to meet. he takes the kiss shockingly deep. tighnari tips his head against cyno's, and rolls him onto his back. the long length of his pale limbs spill over cyno's hips. his hair carves down like a waterfall. tighnari breathes out. ]

I am yours. But I've never been more yours than this moment, I think. [ he looks to him. his eyes are a pool of green moonlight. ] Cyno.

[ his hand lingers down. his thumb draws a line across the kiss-bruised swell of cyno's lips. ] I choose you. I'd like you to choose me.