RP: Daylen (NSFW Ahead)

[fereldans_king]

Alistair came awake briefly during the night (day? how was time even told around here, with no sun to mark the hours?) as something in the castle rumbled, his sense of the ambient magic in the fortress vibrating like a plucked harp string. But the bed was warm and his arms were full of a comfortable, sleeping mage. After a moment, Alistair made up his mind - he maneuvered himself and Daylen under the bed's blankets and drifted back off to sleep.

There were plenty of people out and about in Skyhold who could handle whatever problem that was. Right now, he needed to be here more than he needed to be a hero.

Comments

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

The wash of Alistair's affection, his desire, made Daylen curl tighter into the mattress for just a moment, holding the sensation close. He sighed, humor belying the put upon inflection of the sound. "Grey Wardens and their appetites," he grumbled, and sat up, smirking, his eyes flicking up at down Alistair's form, not at all subtle about the double entendre.

He arched, stretching back with his hands over his head and then stood. There were faint lovebites on his neck, and darker bruises from Alistair's hand on his hip that he rubbed at idly, smile catlike and eyes warm. He conjured a pair of warm yellow wisps of light with barely a thought, adding to the glow of the fire, and the effect was incredibly welcoming, homelike.

He glanced up at the wisps with a quirked eyebrow, curiosity and a bit of chagrin flickering in him. "Well, have to get used to that again."

(OOC: I'm sort of here and there tonight, so responses might be slow, fyi. :) )

[fereldans_king]

(OOC: Hey, no problem - take your time!)

Alistair blushed faintly, still unused to someone returning the level of desire and affection he could hear from Daylen. He stood up from his kneeling position near the hearth, and moved back towards the bed, shivering slightly at the cold floor and loss of the fire's immediate heat.

The faint flicker of simple magic tickled his senses, and Alistair gazed at the glowing wisps with curiosity. "You weren't able to do that before?" he asked, honest interest in his voice. Snagged the last remain loaf of bread from the basket on the table, as well as a wedge of a sharp, firm cheese and a knife, before sitting down next to Daylen on the bed. He sliced a chunk of cheese and tore off a hunk of bread, offering them both to Daylen.

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

Daylen took the food as he sat back down, turning so that his leg curled toward Alistair, knee brushing his hip. He chewed a bite, mulling the question. "Well, yes, but, not easily or well. Everything about my magic was... sickly. A struggle. Being with your Voice makes a mage more powerful, losing them... guts you. So, the fact that I barely had to think it?" He glanced up at the wisps. "Plus they're not all watery and grey?" He shrugged.

He smiled sidelong and then leaned forward to run a hand down Alistair's shoulder. "I'm just going to have to be careful I don't set half the room on fire the first time I try to light a candle."

[fereldans_king]

Alistair listened intently, and then closed his eyes, focusing his sense outwards. He could feel Daylen's magic, much as he always had, though now it felt more...intimate, as if he could reached out and touched it. It did feel different - stronger, more solid, more tangible. And....

"You aren't bleeding into the Fade anymore." Alistair opened his eyes again. "That must feel...really good."

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

It wasn't that Daylen could feel Alistair measure his magic, not exactly. But he could see his eyes closed and feel the focused attention in the other man, the thoughtful scrutiny. Daylen flushed, squirming a little as the silence stretched, eating his cheese and bread in quick, poorly chewed bites until Alistair spoke again.

He looked down at his lap, brushing a crumb off his leg onto the floor and nodded, trying to hold back the idiot response of tears that seemed to rush forward anytime he reflected on the profound and complete sense of relief he felt.

"Yeah. Uh, good. I don't know how to describe it." He grimaced. "Okay, so wound that's bleeding. And wolves are constantly circling waiting for you to weaken. So you have to stay tense to keep them away. All the time. Especially when you're asleep. Plus it hurts. A lot." He took another bite with a slight shrug. The casual manner was a lie. Inside he was a nothing but relief and gratitude and devotion pointed at Alistair.

[fereldans_king]

"...I can't imagine feeling like that all the time." Alistair reached out a hand, and gently caressed Daylen's shoulder. "You are really incredible."

Alistair looked about, and sighed as the heat of the fire began to suffuse the room. "So...shall we adventure out? Or would you rather remain here?"

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

"Stubborn more than incredible, probably." Daylen brushed the crumbs from his hands and then ran them through his hair.

"If you want to adventure, we'll adventure." He took Alistair's hand from his shoulder and brought it to his face, kissing the knuckles individually and then the fingertips, watching his face. "Although being indolent slobs has it's own sort of charm." He kissed the palm and then wrist, before bringing the hand to the side of his face. "There's nothing I need but this, so as long as you're not opposed to holding my hand now and again when we're out in the world, I'm willing to put on clothes."

[fereldans_king]

Alistair blushes very handsomely as Daylen pressed kisses to his hands - it was sweet and very affectionate, and Alistair could not remember a time when he had received such honest, focused affection before. He brushed his thumb in a caress of Daylwn's cheek, as he gathered the mage in for a loose-limbed hug. "I will hold you and your ands whenever you wish, Daylen."

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

"You're making it more difficult to decide to leave this room," Daylen murmured, sliding with the hug directly into Alistair's lap. He pressed a kiss against the underside of his jaw, then against his earlobe. The need for affection, that void of loneliness in Alistair that Daylen was just starting to take a proper measure of, made him ache. He nuzzled into the hair behind Alistair's ear and added, voice low and warm, "I don't ever want you to stop touching me, though that might make state dinners awkward."

[fereldans_king]

(OOC: I'm sorry for the spotty responses - I've had a weekend. *grimace*)

Alistair made a soft noise of surprise as the hug became a lap full of Daylen, but didn't protest or make any effort to stop him. He sighed happily as Daylen pressed kisses to the underside of his jaw and against his ear, returning the gesture with kisses to Daylen's forehead and temples. "Oh, I'm making this difficult?" Alistair's tone was fond, gently teasing.

Alistair chuckled at the comment about state dinners, blushing faintly. There was something incredible about the idea that Daylen would be right there with him, stuck enduring the inane blather but making the whole evening bearable by his presence. "Oh? Are we going to end up finger-feeding each other and making bedroom eyes at each other all the time?" Alistair was definitely not complaining about that possibility.

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

"Bedroom eyes are more or less a given." Daylen's hand stroked lightly down Alistair's bare chest, around to his side, up his ribs. "But I'll save hand-feeding for when we really need to scandalize someone. Say... Eamon. Or someone who's trying to get you to marry their daughter."

There was a prickle of uncertainty at that last statement. Would Alistair eventually marry? If not what would the succession of the kingdom look like? Maker's ass, he really was going to wind up the king's secret lover, wasn't he?

(OOC: no worries at all. I hope things are better today!)

[fereldans_king]

Alistair laughed aloud at the thought of scandalizing Eamon by handfeeding Daylen during a banquet, but the laugh was cut off as he felt a note of concern and worry sing out through the otherwise happy music in his head.

Alistair stroked Daylen's hair, gently scritching the mage's scalp. "Talk to me, love - what's made you concerned now?"

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

The fingers in Daylen's hair brought a slow coil of heat and pleasure into him. He would shook his head absently. "Just thinking about you having a wife some day." He chuckled softly over the slight twist of vague, directionless jealousy the words dredged up. "Heirs, whatnot."

He laughed again, humor rueful and self-deprecating. "Here we've been together less than two days, we're trapped somewhere far from any grasping nobles with buxom daughters, and I'm worried about sharing you for the good of the realm. I'm ridiculous and you can ignore me." He shifted to slip off Alistair's lap, shaking his head again.

[fereldans_king]

Alistair frowned, and tightened his arms around Daylen to prevent him from slipping away. "Here now..." Alistair used a gentle hand to grip Daylen's chin and lift the mage's face to look him in the eye. "Cousland used to say that even ridiculous worries were worth listening to, because you never knew when that feeling in your gut meant there was something more than simple worry."

Alistair pressed a gentle kiss to Daylen's forehead, and then sat back slightly, loosening his grip to allow Daylen to move away if he wished. "I can't promise that there won't come a time when the question of heirs becomes a relevant issue...but if it makes you feel any more comfortable, Anora has been my designated heir since I took the throne. For all that she's a snake....she will do what is necessary for the country if the situation required that she return to the throne."

Alistair could only imagine a handful of situations where that might be required....and none of them were pleasant to think about. The Calling being the most prevalent, and seeing what it had done to Daylen...Alistair shivered slightly.

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

It was weird for reassurances to actually feel reassuring. Daylen let Alistair keep him in his lap, the wry quirk of his mouth not quite a smile, but he felt... gratified at the effort to keep him close. When the grip loosened he leaned forward into Alistair, finding the questions of heirs and marriage less irritating when he was draped across that that much bare skin.

"I trust you to do what's right," he murmured, placing his lips over Alistair's pulse, kissing warmly. And that was true. But what was right was often not personally comfortable. "And I'll let you be my compass, because I foresee a great deal of selfishness in my future where it comes to you." He continued to kiss along Alistair's throat.

[fereldans_king]

Alistair could feel a pulse of arousal begin in the pit of his stomach, and he unconsciously tiled his head to give Daylen better access. Having such little experience with physical affection before this, and being as starved for affectionate touch as he was, he very quickly began to feel flushed and warm. He let out a quiet groan. "Oh, I'm the one making it difficult to leave the room, am I? And you are completely innocent in this endeavor."

Alistair's hands, however, told a different story, as they crept across Daylen's back to gently stroke the mage's spine and brush the soft skin as his waist.

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

"I never said anything about being innocent." Daylen scraped his teeth lightly over the edge of Alistair's collarbone and then sat back. "See? Selfish." He studied Alistair's face, eyes trying to dip close as his hands stroked his back.

This was a danger. Being so drunk on contact, on the ability to reach and touch and taste that they would never do anything else. Daylen just wasn't sure what else they should be doing right now. If there were people working on an Eluvian with expertise in manipulating the Fade he would mostly be in the way.

"Should I stop?" he asked seriously, even as his hand smoothed over the hard expanse of Alistair's chest, feeling his own desire resonating and refracting against Alistair's arousal. "We can take a walk. Be respectable. I could see how big of a fire I can start in the yard to burn off some of this Maker-damned... heat."

[fereldans_king]

Alistair leaned forward, resting his head on Daylen's shoulder, simply breathing in the presence of the man in front of him. It would be so easy to forget everything else outside of this room - pretend that all he needed to focus on was Daylen and this growing bond between the two of them. And yet...

"A bath might not be amiss," Alistair admitted reluctantly. The two of them did still have the remnants of their last adventure painted across their torsos...which was dry and flaking in a somewhat itchy manner.

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

Daylen combed his fingers through Alistair's hair in several long, soothing strokes, and then kissed the crown of his head, before gently untangling himself and sliding out of his lap.

"Right. Bath. I can help with that this time." He moved over to the tub, clenched and then shook out his fingers, and held his hands over the rim. There was the sharp, cold chime of his magic, and a thick layer of ice formed in the tub. He gave it a knock with his knuckles and cast again, easing a hair more mana into it, and just like that the tub was half full.

He turned his head to quirk his eyebrow at Alistiar, full of bemused pleasure and a small amount of pride, mostly gratitude. He brushed his fingers over the rune and set it melting, then heating. "There, aren't you impressed?" he asked with a smirk.

[fereldans_king]

Daylen's magic rolled through the room, smooth and deep and smothering like the sensation of a humid, warm summer day. As soon as the spell broke and the ice formed in the bath, the humid sensation lessen...and with the second spell, the humidity broke entirely. Alistair found himself almost out of breath...it was a heady experience, and very pleasurable.

Alistair smiled back at Daylen, delighted to see Daylen happy with the results of his own spells. "Well, look at you, a regular Master of the Bath." Alistair stood from the bed, and began collecting the towels and soap that had ended up piled slightly haphazardly on the table and one of the chairs. He looked over his shoulder at Daylen, and asked "Did you want to go first?"

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

Daylen shook his head, gesturing toward the tub that was slowly starting to steam. "You first this time, seems only fair." He went over to take the towels from Alistair, the soap. "I'll even wash your hair."

He gave the larger man a nudge toward the tub. "It's too bad there isn't one big enough for both of us," he mused quietly, lips pursing briefly. There was a fleeting tinge of nostalgia in him, vaguely sad, mostly bittersweet, as he thought about the giant stone tubs in Orzammar, being there with his... former Voice? How was he even supposed to think about them now?

[fereldans_king]

Alistair let Daylen push him towards the bath without any protest, stepping in and settling into it with a hiss of pleasure. The water was the perfect temperature, and Alistair soon found himself relaxing into the water, like a puppet with his strings cut - all loose-limbed and sprawled.

Alistair reaches out a hand towards Daylen, and tries to soothe the bittersweet sadness he could hear in the melody of Daylen's emotions. "I can imagine that we might accidentally drown ourselves in our enthusiasm, if we had access to such things all the time."

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

Daylen pulled the chair around so that he could sit nearby and with a lopsided grin, lifted a foot and stuck it into the warm water, running it over Alistair's thigh. "It would be a beautiful way to go, don't deny it." He twitched his eyebrows upward suggestively.

He shifted, pulling his foot away, letting it drip on the floor so that he could lean forward and scoop a handful of the hot water and carefully dampening Alistair's hair without letting it run into his eyes. "Please tell me there's something suitable in your palace."

[fereldans_king]

Alistair closed his eyes and sighed happily as Daylen's handful of water ran across his scalp and down his back, damp curls beginning to stick to his temples and the back of his neck.

"I don't know if there is anything like those ginormous stone hot spring baths from Orzammar....but I'm pretty sure there is a suitably expansive claw foot rub somewhere on the premise. I think I asked one of my housekeeps if they intended to make Grey Warden soup with it.." Alistair look faintly embarrassed, though he was grinning. "I didn't mean to upset the poor thing."

[daylen_amell_fadewalk]

Several more handfuls of water followed the first, and Daylen started massaging his fingers into Alistair's scalp, letting warmth rise to his fingertips as he kneaded the muscles at the base of his skull and down his neck. "You don't even know what kind of bathtubs your palace has to offer? Are you washing in a basin like a peasant?"

He tsked softly, gently amused, and finding the motion of his fingers, the feel of Alistair's skin and hair distracting.