Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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“I can confidently tell you that the world I saw out there was far different from when we were around.” He admits, nonchalantly. While Danta hadn’t had the chance to explore further than the Climb, Asta had. Been there, done that, as far as he was concerned. And it hadn’t looked anything like this. It had put him and the Maverick right back into the same position. A world they didn’t know, one far different from what they did, and having to learn it all from the bare beginning.
Regardless, there’s a new drink in front of him and the Ancient, torn between the burn in his throat for complimenting, to hearing the shut up, you’re welcome, has him settling a little bit internally. He’s struck suddenly with the realization that while he and Danta had interacted a lot in their past, it was mostly under different circumstances. He can’t recall a time where they actually sat and talked like… Regular people.
It was strange, but it was nice, not that he would intend to admit it. Instead, he straightens up after downing and relishing in his drink in the surprisingly comfortable silence. His hand lifts to brush the lock of hair that’d fallen in front of his face back amongst the rest, tucking it behind a currently black horn. “I have not.” He admits, dark gaze lifting to the Maverick, as if gauging whether he’d need to finish his drink quickly to go and explore or if it’s a later endeavor. “Did you craft it for our fellow Ancients?” He has to assume as much, if Danta seemed to be somewhat proud of the feature of a bonfire.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
in space the stars are no nearer; just glitters, like a morgue
"Well at least that's one mystery cleared up," Danta says, both glad and not to have Asta confirm it. (Not that he dislikes his home region, but knowing that he wasn't missing out on anything is nice). He almost follows up, too, with a what was it like?, but he doesn't want to come across too chummy, and also enough people have asked him about his life before the Big Sleep that he knows it's occasionally a sore point.
Grabbing up a rag to wipe at the countertop while they continue to chat and Asta drinks, the pride does seem to roll off the Maverick as he breaches the subject of the Inner Quarter's big ol' bonfire. "Be sure to take a look before you go," he drawls, the implication being, of course, that this is just a visit, because why the fuck would the other man want to stick around?
"I did, yes. Deepfrost here can be pretty brutal, so I petitioned Dygra for help with it. No fuel needed - it never goes out." And it's huge. And warm. What's not to like?
Dantalion
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
A noncommittal response to Danta is all that Asta can offer immediately at the fact that there wasn’t much else going on outside of the Climb. Anything Astaroth had seen had been up and coming civilizations that didn’t take too kindly to what he preferred to eat, resulting in his exile to the Climb. But those are thoughts from a very long time ago that he wasn’t going to relive now, not while he had a delicious drink in front of him.
Dark eyes focus on the Maverick again before he tilts his head a little and snorts, an amused smirk blooming on his face. “You mentioned I could stay. I hope that means you’ve got a room available.” Because he’s actually quite content in the warm atmosphere within the Dusklight, and Asta certainly doesn’t have anywhere else to go.
That and it’s cold as fuck outside right now and he wouldn’t be caught sleeping outside by the bonfire like a lost dog.
Nevermind the fact he is a bit like a lost dog in this moment.
“Mm, and how is dear Dygra?” He hasn’t seen her since he’s been back.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
in space the stars are no nearer; just glitters, like a morgue
Asta really cuts to the quick in a way that Danta can't decide if he appreciates or if he wants to slap him about, and the Maverick ceases in his pretend-cleaning to huff out a sigh and straighten up, his arms folding across his chest. "I don't want you here," he tells him bluntly, as if to get that out of the way before anything else. "And for you, any room I have is going to be expensive. So I hope you've a means of paying." A whole lot of pretense for something that never actually becomes a no.
Talk of Dygra, at least, thaws him right back out, and he sinks back down into his seat and offers his fellow Ancient a smile as devoted as it is near lovestruck, as any good follower of Dygra's ought to be. "I didn't realise how much I'd missed the sound of her voice," he murmurs softly. "She seems as wonderful as she ever was. The time away doesn't seem to have made much of a difference to her at all."
Dantalion
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
The alcohol slinking through his system, burning and relishing and loosening his carefully and meticulously practiced tongue, doesn’t seem surprised when Dantalion returns just as bluntly as Asta had been moment prior. “Dantalion, darling, don’t offer something if you don’t intend to put out.” A dark brow rises as his posture does the same, that grin remaining throughout it. “Mm, it depends on what you’re looking for as payment.” He shrugs casually.
Relaxing the second that Danta does at the mention of Dygra, Asta hums and settles in to finish that last sip of that wonderful chocolate booze bomb. “I should see her.” He admits, wanting nothing more than her warmth to embrace him in the moment, given the new and strange world he’s woken up to. “She’s always been perfection.” And a literal life saver, in his case. He owes her his life.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
in space the stars are no nearer; just glitters, like a morgue
Hissing a breath in through his teeth at the use of his full name - even from Asta, the sound of it slaps the air in a way he doesn't expect, and the Maverick absently rolls a shoulder as if he might shrug the sound off. "I always put out, providing there's something worth putting out for," he fires back, feeling reasonably confident in his ability to win a game of kiss-chase with Astaroth, given the length of the rod he's sure is jammed up his fellow Ancient's ass.
"I'm not sure you could afford it," he continues, unable not to sneer across the counter at the other man. "What do you have to offer?"
Stilling his sass for a moment so they might give their goddess the respect she so fully deserves, Danta nods with no small amount of sincerity. "You should," he urges, of visiting Dygra.
Dantalion
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
The fanged grin blooms at the way Danta responds, even if the words are sharp and antagonistic. His tail lashes out behind him like a cat toying with a mouse as a low chuckle leaves his lips. “Ouch.” It’s quite clear that there’s no actual pain in the words. He knows the Maverick better than that. “You wouldn’t know whether it was worth it, now would you?” He raises a dark brow. His romantic endeavors were never spoken about before, but it was clear that Astaroth never ended up showing up with someone on his arm.
Forever alone, as far as he was concerned.
What he has to offer though, that’s a subject Astaroth has been waiting for, and his tail suddenly stills in the lashing as he seems to perk up, a sharper grin forming on his lips. “I’m quite adept at pest control.” He waves a hand relatively flippantly, as if to encompass anything from a true pest, to pests of the human variety. But, alas, Danta already knows that when it came to getting rid of people or things, he managed quite well.
A nod of agreement is all that’s offered at the mention of Dygra once more, too focused to see just how Danta takes the offer.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
in space the stars are no nearer; just glitters, like a morgue
Rolling his eyes as if the other man's response is disappointing (it is, ugh), Danta can only let that matter drop, since he's got no further ammo to bat towards the other man. The opinion he's formed of his fellow Ancient in the past - one that perpetuates to this day - is that Asta simply isn't into the sort of pleasures of the flesh that the majority of the world finds so thrilling, and ain't that a shame for him?
Danta, on the other hand, is not nearly such a prude; either way, it isn't actually that much of a surprise when the other man suggests that he might be useful in other ways - ones that don't involve diving beneath the Maverick's bedsheets. "Astaroth," he drawls slowly, "are you offering to be security for the Dusklight?" Because he needs to hear this out loud, with his voice, if that's so.
"You want to work for me?"
Dantalion
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Oh but he does indulge in flesh, just not perhaps the way Danta prefers to. And what an impasse that is, as he recalls briefly the memory yet again of his lips just barely brushing by the blonde’s arm, more than ready to bite down. What a shame.
His dark brow rises as his name leaves Dantalion’s lips, his posture still impeccably straight (maybe it is from the stick up his ass, who knows), when the Maverick’s question hangs in the air between them, and Asta – loosened by the alcohol that still buzzes through him, laughs a throaty sound. “A simple transaction. I provide you security, you provide me a room.” He shifts a little, then, slipping out of the stool to stand a little bit taller, to lean over the bar a bit more in the Maverick’s space, a playful (and maybe a bit terrifying in how the edges twist a little cruelly) grin spreads across his face, and a hand extended toward the shorter blonde.
“Do we have a deal?”
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
in space the stars are no nearer; just glitters, like a morgue
Joke's on you Astaroth - Danta has snacked on his fair share of people in his time as well. A crying shame that they don't know of each other's shared interests. (Granted, Danta is more opportunistic than his more particular cannibal counterpart, so perhaps that explains it).
The laughter that hits the air is enough to have a few patrons turning, such is the richness of the sound, and while Danta doesn't move from his seat, his cold eyes track the other man's movements up and up and right into his personal space. "Oh, I see. How silly of me," he rumbles, because it certainly sounds as though he's employing Asta and paying him with food and board. (The former rather unintentionally, as it might happen).
Time seems to pass impeccably slowly in that moment, the two Ancients suspended on a tightrope that could turn dangerous at any moment, before Danta's hand suddenly snaps out to shake Asta's, the Maverick tugging the other man down and towards him. "We certainly do," he says with a fanged smile. "When can you start?"
Dantalion
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Perhaps that subject is better left for yet another time Danta manages to get Asta full of liquor, but for now? Now there are deals to be made and miscommunications to be cleared, especially as Astaroth stands, drawing his full height, the cane in his free hand as he completely invades the Maverick’s space, that grin still blooming and turning more and more wicked as the seconds tick on – completely oblivious to the patrons that turn to look.
This is between them, and he’d take a bite out of anyone that dared interrupt before the answer is given. They size each other up, like two predators that stare at one another waiting for the other to back down. And there’s a hidden amount of dark glee that blooms in the twitch of his grin as Dantalion’s warm hand meets his own, shaking it abruptly before pulling him down and further across the bar. His tail lashes out behind him, but he catches himself from losing his balance completely with the snap of the cane on the smooth floor.
He tugs Danta back toward him in the same breath, remaining entirely in his space and aiming to get them mere inches apart, dark eyes practically glowing with the agreement between them (and the alcohol, lets be honest, he’s still silently charmed by that). “Tomorrow.” He could start tonight, but he’d travelled and he’s feeling relatively peckish, and would much prefer to eat and sleep before starting this new adventure.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
in space the stars are no nearer; just glitters, like a morgue
And gods, if Danta can't decide whether to kiss or to bite the smile off Asta's face. No stranger to sexual tension, it really doesn't matter what the other man's preferences might be - if he's going to go full dom in the middle of his brothel, the Maverick is going to have opinions about it. And most terrifyingly, none of those opinions are entirely bad. Indeed, as they play a tug of war over who has made the deal with whom, for a second he'd not blame the Dusklight for believing a fight is going to break out. A fight or a public sexcapade, honestly.
Eyes widen at the other man's precise response - tomorrow - before promptly narrowing, and for a second Danta considers trying to squeeze Asta's hand hard enough to set the bones to groaning. Instead, though, it's with a small pulse against his fingers - a tease, a maybe next time - that he finally relaxes, letting his expression melt into something more amicable.
"Another drink, then?" he offers. "To seal the deal?"
Dantalion
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
Astaroth has opinions as well – and all of them point to you’re not going to be come off better than me. Which, you know, is a difficult sell for the moment given that Asta has just woken up and a lot of it really resulted back from their pasts together. Perhaps there was a reason they were kept mostly separate from one another, aside from the antagonizing arguments they’d get into on occasion.
It's a tension, regardless, that Asta relishes in, his grin still just as wicked, inches away, a tight grip fully expecting to have Danta squeeze the fuck out of his hand. And when it doesn’t come, and the room around them still seems like they’re holding their breath, the Ancient can feel the pulse against his hands, and it’s enough for him to relax, smoothly letting Danta’s hand go (though absolutely letting his fingertips run along his skin every step of the way until they part), and lifts it to run through his hair to fix the rogue piece of dark hair that had fallen in his face in their tug of war.
“Mm, sure. To seal the deal.” He agrees, setting that cane back up on the edge, smoothly settling into the stool once more, tail waving behind him idly now that the tension is relieved, and he tilts his head toward a group of people that are still staring as if waiting for something more. “It’s polite to mind your own business, you know.” The underlying threat blooming in the tone of a purr, to which the group does precisely that – minds their own fucking business.
Astaroth
i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy, i'm crazy /// everybody in the world knows i'm a little twisted
in space the stars are no nearer; just glitters, like a morgue
Perhaps there was a reason for it, in truth, but given the parts of Danta's past that are kept tightly behind lock and key, and the fact that he has no intention of reliving any of it any time soon, who is to stop he and Asta from whatever brand of chaos ignites from their interaction with each other? No one, that's who, and as their hands finally unclasp (and he feels the liquid fire of the other man's touch as it whispers along the length of his fingers), the Maverick is left feeling surprisingly good about himself. Gods know why.
"Consider it done," he purrs, turning away to whip up another martini for his (lightweight, though Danta doesn't know it) new employee business partner, and another shot of liquor over ice for himself. Only when he returns and notes the very hurried way that other people turn from his fellow Ancient does he realise what has happened. "Hey," he scolds playfully, "you said tomorrow."
And so, pushing the drink towards him, Danta makes a point of raising his glass in a cheers that cements this new relationship between them, and all that they are or might be to one another.
~FIN
Dantalion
Horns: Diamond - they look very similar to #2 in this image.
