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from the start - Astaroth - 10-29-2024
With the ore deposited in their shared room and a quick change of clothes to something far more comfortable to soak in, the butcher has been far more lax on the trek back to the warmth of the Climb now that he doesn’t have a bag full of heavy metal to topple him over should Danta nudge him.
As such, his hip brushes by Danta’s as he flashes a bright shark toothed grin and a nod as the cavern opens to them, revealing the melted candles and the hot springs beyond. “[say]Are you intending to soak as well? Given all of the hard work you have done?[/say]” Hard work in terms of ogling him the entire time he worked. His eye muscles and his neck are probably quite sore, as far as Asta can imagine.
Still, he’s still in his impeccable mood, even if his arms are still quite sore.
RE: from the start - Dantalion - 10-29-2024
[say]"I didn't put my shark shorts on to just sit around and watch,"[/say] Danta fires back with a toothy grin - granted, there will be a lot of sitting around and watching going on as well, but yes, he will be right there in the springs alongside Asta. Wearing said shorts, a loose linen shirt that seems far too big for him (it is not the butcher's, in fact, but a deliberate aesthetic choice) and a pair of sandals, he lets out a long, relaxed sigh as they step into Frey's Breath.
[say]"Mm, it's very hard work admiring you,"[/say] he agrees, nudging the other man in return and setting down the bag with towels in it before promptly shrugging out of his shirt. [say]"I'd offer to rub your shoulders but I think you might be afraid of me after what I did to you the other day."[/say] Granted, he wouldn't be trying to literally break down scar tissue with his fingers this time, but still. Asta does have a penchant for dramatics.
RE: from the start - Astaroth - 10-29-2024
A soft and low chuckle slips from his lips at Danta’s retort, because yes — he is wearing those notorious shark shorts just as the butcher wears his red and white floral pair (as if the intention of doing anything but swimming and looking for lilies were apparent). Either way, the butcher’s content to embrace the warmth, pausing by where Danta sets the bag down and starts to shed out of his oversized shirt while Asta shrugs out of his own and kicks off his sandals, left in the red and white floral shorts.
“[say]I am sure it is.[/say]” He drawls cockily, before he’s approaching the edge of the hot springs and dips a couple toes in to feel the heat. “[say]Perhaps if we try that again, the fountain in Torchline may be worth it.[/say]” To soothe any pain as soon as it appeared.
Just as it had the bite the butcher had granted Danta in their little fight in the water. Hopefully this time won’t end similarly, given that he isn’t pulling or pushing Danta into the water. And before he gets the chance to enact his revenge, Astaroth flashes him a knowing look before he promptly hops in, splashing the blonde with the warm water.
RE: from the start - Dantalion - 10-29-2024
Setting down his shirt and slipping off his own sandals, Danta is at his hard work all over again as he watches Asta approach the edge of one of the springs, his bronzed skin made darker by their spell under the Longheat sun in Torchline, his scars like liquid silver striping across his skin. [say]"Mm?"[/say] Glancing up, clearly having been distracted, he soon pads across the warm stone after the other man, nodding. [say]"Maybe I could bottle some of the healing water and soak it into a hot towel,"[/say] he suggests, before Asta is promptly hopping into the springs and splashing him.
[say]"Hey!"[/say] Danta's complaint is half hearted at most, his grin audible and his arm lifting to try and block some of the water; a useless endeavour, honestly, given that he follows the butcher only moments later. Letting himself submerge briefly in the warm cocoon of heat and steam, as the Maverick surfaces he's already feeling much better. Which is ironic, given that he was feeling fine to begin with.
RE: from the start - Astaroth - 10-29-2024
He meshes well with the low din of Frey’s Breath, with the blackened horns that appear above his head, the deeply tanned skin revealing the pale scar lines and towering, willowy figure full of mischief and amusement as he promptly hops into the water, unable to respond to Danta’s very good idea until he surfaces and brushes back the long hair from his face, wet and slick and hanging off the tines of his horns as he flashes that beaming, sharp grin up at the Maverick. “[say]I adore that idea, darling.[/say]” He’d been blissfully under water to not hear the hey! that escaped him.
But he joins him shortly after and Astaroth scans the area for a moment before he draws up beside the Maverick, tugging at him backwards until he can rear against the edge of the springs with his scarred back taking the brunt of the stone, arm lifting to wind around Danta’s shoulders to tug him in against his equally scarred chest before he’s nuzzling into the blonde’s temple just below his own diamond horns. “[say]You look quite comfortable.[/say]” He hums contently.
RE: from the start - Dantalion - 10-29-2024
[say]"Mm, I thought you might."[/say] Danta smiles across at the other man, biting at the inside of his cheek not to laugh at the way Asta's hair gets caught in the antlered shape of his horns. Luckily for the Maverick, his own blond locks are swept neatly back and out of the way, the light catching against his own horns and casting small prisms of colour as he's ferried backwards.
Raising an eyebrow, only once the butcher bumps against the side of the springs does Danta realise the intention is to relax rather than to commit more mischief, and he melts more than willingly into Asta's arms and against his chest. [say]"I am,"[/say] he assures him, turning his head enough to brush his lips against the stubble along the other man's jaw. [say]"Even more so now. I always forget how nice this place is. I didn't come here very often, before."[/say]
RE: from the start - Astaroth - 10-29-2024
A part of him does wish for the ability to brush back his hair as easily as Danta’s do, but the larger part of him is equally attached to the horns that sprout from his skull. So he fiddles enough with the dreamcatcher strings his hair has made within the tines, droplets falling from their tips as he begins to ferry Danta back toward the edge to simply love and dote on him.
He doesn’t blame him for the initial wariness, though. He doesn’t have a good track record of not starting short within pools of any variety. This one, though, is more relaxed, more comfortable, and Astaroth’s tension bleeds from him with excruciating ease with each second that passes of Danta melting against him and the blonde’s lips that brush against the stubble growing along his jaw.
Humming a soft note that rumbles from his throat, he pulls away briefly to focus on the bright blues of the Maverick’s, admiring the sharp jut of his jawline against the way the water laps against his skin and the prismatic hues that blossom from the lights reflection of his own curled horns. “[say]It is lovely.[/say]” He agrees, cutting himself off before he can say something like just like you. “[say]I used to sneak out and come soak on occasion.[/say]” He’d make an appearance at any parties and then vanish later on — while everyone assumed he’d been in his room, he was spending time here, soothing old aches and pains.
RE: from the start - Dantalion - 10-29-2024
It's this sort of thing that Danta still finds himself struggling to get used to; this casual intimacy and affection, the comfortable way he can settle against Asta without worrying what it might mean or whether it might be used against him. The sex is easy - it always has been between them - but this is new, and the Maverick finds himself feeling quite protective of it.
[say]"Did you? That's smart - I should have thought of that."[/say] Grinning, he can already see it in his mind's eye; the butcher alone shrouded in steam and shadow and the ruddy light of the lava streams. [say]"Of course, it wasn't quite so easy for me to sneak anywhere."[/say] Being locked up will throw a real spanner into the works.
Turning just enough to tip his head back and press a kiss to Asta's throat, Danta relaxes further, watching the ripples on the hot water through half-lidded eyes. [say]"No lilies,"[/say] he points out distractedly. [say]"That's a shame."[/say]
RE: from the start - Astaroth - 10-29-2024
In all honesty, the casual intimacy is something that Astaroth didn’t find himself ever being capable of. To be so close to someone else? While he had tried in the past, it had always ended in disaster. Danta, however, was already fully aware of the butcher’s limitations. He was already fully aware of the extent the butcher could get to if he lost his mind.
And he can handle it. And has, in the past.
“[say]Mm, even if you had I likely would have been very aggressive over you encroaching on what I would have perceived as my space.[/say]” He answers bluntly and honestly, head tilting slightly to offer more space for the blonde to press his lips against his throat. Asta’s arm tightens around Danta’s, tail winding around his leg beneath the water as he also casually glances around for lilies.
Finding none, but having at least made an effort, the butcher twists a little to nose his way in to press a kiss to his temple and the edge of his cheek. “[say]Ah well, I suppose they live up to their rarity.[/say]” He isn’t going to complain, though, not while he gets to sit here and soak with the man he loves and adores.
RE: from the start - Dantalion - 10-29-2024
Scoffing out a laugh at that - because it's true and Danta knows it - he leaves a final kiss against Asta's throat and shifts enough to glance up at him, amusement dancing in his blue eyes. [say]"Can you even imagine if we'd bumped into each other down here?"[/say] He grins; relaxed in the cradle of the butcher's arms, he has no doubt that things would not have been quite so serene. [say]"There would have been blood in the water in seconds."[/say]
And not because of any brutal affections between them, as would likely be the case now. Letting out a sigh that feels as if it comes from his very bones, Danta can't wipe the amused smile from his face, closing his eyes as if he might better feel the kisses Asta leaves against his skin.
[say]"Just an excuse to come back another day and look again, right?"[/say] he says of the lilies, letting his fingers skate across the butcher's forearm beneath the water.
RE: from the start - Astaroth - 10-29-2024
A breathy chuckle escapes Asta at the idea, the picture painted perfectly in his mind despite Danta saying the bare minimum. “[say]As it so happens, I can imagine.[/say]” Blood in the water, the butcher like a shark awaiting a prize. Gods, what he would have missed out on had he succeeded in destroying Danta as badly as he had hoped to centuries ago.
Now, the scene is serene, lips hiding too sharp teeth press against the blonde’s damp cheek, feeling the pull of the smile on the Maverick’s face. “[say]I will take any excuse to come back. Especially if you accompany me.[/say]” He murmurs, and with it being a hop, skip, and a jump to get right here? He’d be hard pressed to not want to spend the majority of Deepfrost within the confines of it.
For now, though, Danta’s hand skates across his arm and Astaroth twists in the water, limbered up thanks to the heat of the soak. His arm drops from around Danta’s shoulders to rest between his shoulder blades as a barrier from the stone while his other hand lifts to gently cup Danta’s sharp jaw, tilting his head up slightly to steal a much needed, greedy kiss.
RE: from the start - Dantalion - 10-29-2024
[say]"Of course I'll come with you - as long as you won't think I'm encroaching on your space,"[/say] Danta says through a soft laugh. He could also happily while away a season here in the springs while the rest of the Grounds is snowed under; alas, he doesn't imagine his duties as theocrat will allow for quite such an extended vacation. A bitch can dream though, right?
Having been quite contently adrift in the hot water, Danta blinks back into focus as Asta begins to move them, and though there's already a whining protest on his tongue at the disturbance, the other man manages to silence it behind a kiss as sweet as it is possessive. Humming approval against his lips, the Maverick smooths a hand up the butcher's chest to curl it around his shoulders, fingers gently working through the back of his wet hair.
[say]"If you listen really close, you can hear the past versions of ourselves screaming in horror at this,"[/say] he whispers once he finally has to come up for air.
RE: from the start - Astaroth - 10-29-2024
“[say]It is our space now, is it not?[/say]” Comes the tease as he twists them, the lilt of Danta’s laugh like music to his ears as he boxes the blonde in to steal a much needed kiss. After all, he’d been mostly all work no play for the beginning half of the day. This part? It’s utter devotion to the Theocrat, and he hopes the idea of such is understood in the sweet kiss he claims.
Relishing and relaxing in the warmth of the Maverick’s hand curled around his shoulder and his long fingertips threading through the hair at the nape of his neck, Astaroth reluctantly pulls away with a slight pang, pulling back to let his dark honeyed gaze take in the warm flush of Danta’s paler skin, the way his blonde hair sticks to his neck, the way his eyes are vibrant and playful with the sentence that leaves him.
It reflects in his own gaze as a soft laugh leaves him and he shifts slightly to box Danta in a touch more, water clinging to his fingertips as he slips his hand back to comb through wet blonde hair from where he’d cupped the Maverick’s jaw. “[say]Which one of us would be more distraught, do you think?[/say]” He asks playfully, head tilting back into the touch but adding to the mischief in his gaze, as if he’s trying to listen for the quiet panicking screams.
Personally? He thinks it would be the older version of himself.
RE: from the start - Dantalion - 10-29-2024
[say]"Our space, mm? I like that,"[/say] Danta agrees, brushing his nose against Asta's until he's moving again and the only space the Maverick can see is Asta. Once, such a thing might have meant imminent danger and violence. Now, though? Danta loops his free arm around Asta's waist, trying to draw him closer still.
Continuing to tease his fingers through damp hair and down the other man's neck, he barks out an automatic laugh at the question. [say]"You, of course. I might have been repulsed and surprised, but I was still fucking people back then,"[/say] he points out. He can't imagine what the Astaroth of old would have made of such easy affection, especially with Danta of all people.
[say]"Look how far you've come, though,"[/say] he continues, his ministrations against the other man's neck stopping just shy of those first deep scars on his shoulders and back.