Molasses #29. Slow Burn with Hot Fudge and Whipped Cream
Story :
knightsRating : PG
Timeframe : 1251
Word Count : 846
So the chopped nuts I've been working on suddenly spawned some canon, which I took a much needed break and wrote.
Kairn paused at the threshold, cloak in hand. More and more, as of late, he was finding them together, and it never meant anything good. This time Sethan was curled up on a chair, arms around legs, knees to his chest with his chin tucked between them, and bare from the waist up. Reida stood behind him, a jar in one hand, a dainty brush in the other, carefully swabbing some sort of red paste on his back, adding a fresh circle to the array of shapes already traced down his shoulders and spine.
Scowling, he wormed past them to toss his cloak on the bed, the resulting heap of cloth narrowly missing the book laid open on the mattress. Reida shot him a glare as she snatched up the battered tome, but held her tongue.
“Like this?” she said, shoving the open book before Sethan, her thumb lodged down the middle.
He frowned at the page from under the cover of thick, dark locks thrown over his face, and jabbed a finger at the illustration. “Just the center lines,” he said. “The left should be like this.” He tapped the opposing page.
“And the right?” she said, drawing the book back to her.
“Mirror the left?” Sethan suggested.
“Just what are you doing?” Kairn folded his arms and braced himself against the bedpost.
“Nothing that concerns you,” said Reida. The book at her feet, she pulled the brush back from the jar. A few swift strokes and she stepped back to admire her work.
“Done?” said Sethan.
“I think so.” Reida set the jar next to the book, and rubbed her hands together as she sized up the new marks on his back. With a deep breath, she splayed her fingers around the ring and closed her eyes.
Sethan tensed, bones and muscles rippling beneath taut, white skin. Reida’s eyes flew open, a muttered oath falling from her lips.
“You feel that?” said Sethan, barely turning his still bowed head.
“I did.” Reida grinned.
“Feel what?” said Kairn. “What did she do to you?”
Reida scowled, opened her moth to say something, but Sethan cut her short with a wave. “Here,” he said to Kairn. “I’ll show you.”
Her arms folded tight across her breast, Reida glowered as Sethan uncoiled his legs and stretched bare feet to meet the floor. “You’re going to waste time practicing this on him?” she said.
“I’ll only be a moment,” said Sethan, another wave her way as he swiftly closed the distance between himself and Kairn, who inched cautiously away from the bed .
“You know how many tries it took me to get that form right?” she insisted.
“Yes,” said Sethan, with a pointed nod at his pigment covered back, “I am well aware.”
“And you think you’ll have it on the first try?”
Sethan rolled his eyes. “Since when do I need sigils?” He extanded a hand to Kairn. “Give me your hand.”
Kairn swallowed hard and laid his own, suddenly trembling, palm over Sethan’s. Slender fingers curled firmly around him and he tucked his lip between his teeth.
“Relax,” said Sethan, ducking his head to fix him with a cold, blue stare. Kairn forced his lip back into place and pulled a deep, shuddering breath, and Sethan’s eyes fell to their hands.
It started at the base of his spine, deep in his gut, a tingling, a burning, flickering like the sputtering wick of a dying candle. He opened his jaw and left it hanging, at a loss for words as the sensation gnawed its way up his center. Hand still held tight in his own, Sethan leveled their eyes again. Kairn chewed the air in silence, the breath swept from his lungs, torn through his ribs, tugged and dragged along his arm. It pulsed and swelled, bone and muscle aching as it passed through them, slowly working its way to his hand.
The feeling pooled in his hand, palm warm, fingers prickling. Then, in a burst it fled. The room spun, a hazy mass of whirling colors, the floor lurching beneath him as his legs lost their joints. Sethan twitched and blinked, quickly composing himself, as Kairm anchored himself to his hand.
“You alright?” Sethan said, a hand to Kairn’s shoulder as he wobbled and swayed. There was a snort from across the room. “That,” he shot over his shoulder, “was far stronger than yours.”
“Yeah,” said Kairn, still clutching at his hand as the room gave another violent spin. “I’m just a little…” He shook head and willed the walls still. “I’m fine.” He let himself tip back and caught hold of the bed frame. “You found forms?” he said. “To do that?” Letting him go, Sethan nodded. Kairn threw his freed hand to the post as well. “What for?”
Sethan shrugged. “Might come in handy,” he said. “You want to try?”
Kairn slipped a hand to his bunk, groping and fumbling along the mattress until he’d found space enough to lower himself onto the bed. “I, uh, I think I’ll pass,” he said.