Private Tales To the City Between the Seas

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
"I know I mean... look. I'm not used to being seen, naked."

He began to drift closer to the shore and stood to the waist to wash his clothes.

"No one has had that privilege for a long time. What with me, looking like this."
Gesturing to his tail and horns Voe could not help feel he was explaining the obvious a bit.

"You're not serious about the leeches and turtles are you?"
His eyes went down to inspect his body for unwanted passengers then the water about him for anything drifting too close.

Phelaia Hope
 
“The water’s moving, so maybe not leeches ‘less you stand right in the reeds. Turtles, well, you never know till they let you know!”

Phee grinned, shaking water from her arms before covering her own bits to hurry back ashore to indeed grab her bow and an arrow. Then she stretched out to bask, dark blue arms doing the Venus de Milo over the dark blue rest of her.

Voe
 
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Gingerly Voe left the water and put on his underclothes to lay on the shore next to Phelaia on his stomach, he found it easier to lay down that way on account of his tail.
He tried not to stare and failed, his eyes drawn to her body. The robes she wore looked like something a monk might wear. She did not look particularly pious on the grass under the sun and he didn't feel all that pious either.

Tearing his eyes from her he looked the other way already feeling the heat of his body dry spots on his body. Being warmer than average had some merit.

"So eh... you wanted to hear about my spine? The spine, I mean. Right?"

He was really bad at this but thankfully Otho same over, crooning at him to rest at his side.

Phelaia Hope
 
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Phee wrinkled her nose in the general vicinity of his knickerbockers.

“You ain’t washing those, too?”

She let out a long low whistle, imagining how ripe those must get.

“I s’pose that might be one way to discourage bandits… and turtles.”

Phee grinned at her now officially fully sophomoric running joke, turning over to now give her tail side some sun. She set the bow down. You could hear every splish of the river and every singing whisper of the wind blowing though the fig leaves. She imagined the presence of a largish blue sunbathing dragon might well be the cause for the unusual peace and quiet. Sometimes she wondered whether she’d ever hear proper bird and animal noises again. Then she remembered Voe.

“Yeah. What’s it like? Is it near Alliria?”
 
Voes head lifted and he watched Phelaia turn over, with interest.

"They're, fresh I changed behind the tree... do you have only one pair of underclothes?"
Failing to keep the surprise from his voice he feared it became judgemental but he was feeling a bit stung by her jokes at his expense. It usually did not bother him but his skin did not seem as thick around her.

Not wishing to dwell on it he turned his eyes back up the hill, resting his chin on his arms.
"It's many miles from Alliria. North bound. Follow the east coast for a week and a day and you'll see it soon enough."

Thinking of Ketu he added.
"Or a day or two as the dragon flies I suppo...oh!"

Turning his face down he grimaced into the grass at the sensation that was becoming all too familiar.

"Our tails have tangled again haven't they!"

Phelaia Hope
 
"Mister Balta always said, "The more ya got, the more you gotta carry.' And it barely takes an hour to dry in the Wastelands, and there's mostly nobody to see you naked there but cuudruus..."

Phee's eyes widened, and then she laughed hard, punctuating it with another snort. And she just rolled over to put her back against him.

"Still don't think we're cursed, huh? An' Voe... I'm sorry about the mean turtle jokes."

Her tail retwisted to take up the new slack, making her gasp softly.

"An'... I liked it when you called me 'Phee' in the river. You can call me that if you want. I just feel bad that I can't give you a nickname back. I mean, Voe, right? No room left to make it any friendlier'n that."

Voe
 
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The pressure of Phelaia's back on his, the mass contact of skin bid Voe to drive his head into the grass.

Sweet mercy was she for real with this?

Stifling his own gasp Voe thumped the ground hard as their tails tightened seemingly to stay that way forever.

"You know... it's okay."
His voice was muffled slightly.
"It was pretty funny really. Now that I'm not embarrassed about you seeing me naked. Hah!"

Everything in him screamed to act, to turn around and grab her and hold her and all of that.

"Hoooooooo! I'm glad, I'm glad you like it. It's a habit I have. I just shorten names to whatever is easiest. I'll happily call you Phee and don't worry about Voe. It's not even really a name so don't sweat it."

Daring not to move, he found his hand was gripping the grass rather intensely and Otho, keen to his moods was not lapping at his ear to check if he was hurt.
He wasn't hurt.

"Hey boy. I'm okay, just... a little tail tied, go lay down!"
Otho did not let up but instead went to bother at Phelaia. walking about and pushing his face into hers to sniff, checking for bad smells with his wide nose.

Phelaia Hope
 
Phee grinned, rubbing Otho affectionately, nuzzling his muzzle.

"OOooo, who took a bath and got way less stinky!"

She laughed as Otho romped off, snuffling the air.

"I think you got about ten seconds until he figures out the cuudruu jerky is in my pack! But I gotta ask, how is Voe not a name exactly? People call you it, you answer to it, that's a name, right?"

Voe
 
At last Voe pulled his head up and turned as much as the tail tangle would allow to look at Phelaia.

"Yes it's my name but it didn't start like that. The people who found me didn't give me a name. They just called me Voe. It means boy child and I just grew up thinking it was my name. I didn't really put it together until later in life."

Relaxing his chin back onto his arms Voe took a moment to think.

"What does your name mean Phee?"

The tingle up his spine happened again as their tails tightened again.

Good thing they weren't going anywhere.

Phelaia Hope
 
Phee smiled at the little tail tug. It was still weird, but a warm kind of weird. They’d have to figure out what fixes it sometime, but for now they were waitin’ on their things to dry. Her head nuzzled up a bit as she absently shifted toward him to loosen them a smidge.

“You’re ahead o’ me there, Voe. I don’t rightly know what it’s s’posed to mean. I just felt lucky to have a pretty sounding name.”

She suddenly meaned up her voice a bit and made goofy scary claws in the air with her hands.

“Maybe some thousand year old Ascendant named Phelaia is cussing somewhere in Pandemonium cos we shorted it up to Phee just now! —but we’re here and she’s there, if she even exists.”

Voe
 
"Hmph terrifying. Yeah well. That's if you believe in such things. I've never seen one."

Shifting his body he tried not to show the disdain he had grown for the mention of pandemonium, hell, the hells, the abyss, whatever it was. Everyone and their mother seemed to have an opinion and he had one of his own catching the grass in his vision. A far nicer one.

"Phelaia sounds like a flowers name to me. Probably something blue that lasts long after summer is gone."

He waited a few seconds before adding jokingly.
"Probably poisonous though."

Phelaia Hope
 
Phee shifted along with him; her tail pretty much insisted, after all.

"I mean, I never seen one. But that's the story we always get, right? From other folks, I mean. Just cause a girl got horns and a tail and hair don't grow all the places theirs does, an' some of her skin's got scales where theirs ain't. Oh, and them little hooked shoulder bumps like I was maybe supposed to grow wings outta there or something but didn't, that always catch on my shift with it halfway over my head... but your idea's a lot sweeter, Voe."

Phee snorted at the poisonous comment.

"Probably! Otherwise it wouldn't last so long after summer, right? An' what's this poison do when you get as close as we are? Does it give you them itchy hives like plants with waxy leaves sometimes do?"

Voe
 
"Is that what those are?"
He looked at his own shoulders and at Phee's to double check. He couldn't tell if the were supposed to be anything at all but the beginnings of wings made about as much sense as anything.

"I always just thought it was bone spurs I guess. I really don't know anything about us."

Again he rested his head on his arms.
"Could you give me your hand please?"

Offering his own he wanted to test something.
Compared to everyone else he ever met his body temperature was higher, much higher than theirs was and had always assumed it was just being a Teifling but he didn't know.

If he was right then Phee's hand shouldn't be much warmer than his own.

Phelaia Hope
 
That gave Voe a laugh.

"No, I don't mean... I'm not asking for your hand in marriage Phee, slow down. I want you to put yours in mine, literally. Just to, just to see if you're as warm blooded as I am."

Perhaps a bit more explaining was needed.

"I'm hotter than most, I mean, in terms of actual heat. So, I mean I always wondered if, well if it was just me or if... look just humour me okay"

He waited then open palmed for her response.

Phelaia Hope
 
Phee exhaled, laughing, trying to fight her tangled tail to scoot far enough around to reach out a clawed, calloused, nick-scarred hand for his inspection.

"Kalbeth, Voe! Comparin' me to flowers, askin' for my hand, you're giving the impression of a proper rascal! An' I almost pegged you for the quiet sort..."

All in all, she probably felt pretty similar to him temperature-wise. The tingle came, of course, but she was starting to get used to that by now.

Voe
 
"Hmm, oh Phee, that's how I want you to feel."
Satisfied he let her hand go and arched his spine to look up at her.

"A good hunter let's his prey feel safe before striking."
A short laugh followed his statement. He knew if he so much as pinched her Ketu would likely pick him up and drop him from a great height if not devour him whole. He did however give her a wink before setting down again. He did not wish to tempt his eyes to wander much.
Despite how well they were getting along they had only met that morning.

"So you'd better run now, before I spring my trap and catch you."

Gently and with no small amount of pleasing spine tingles, he tugged at Phee's tail with his own.

"Whoops, too late.'
And again he laughed.

Phelaia Hope
 
Phee looked a little puzzled at the first comment, blinking.

"Are other folks' hands different...?

She laughed and snorted at Voe's teasing.

"If I try to run, our tails'll just trip us anyway, Voe...!

Her eyes widened just then at the tug and tingling.

"YEP! Just like that!"

She gingerly disentangled, and went over half crouching to check on her things. She picked up the shift and started to wrestle into it. Sure enough, it got stuck halfway over her head, snagging on her shoulder nubs, probably giving any stray glances more than an eyeful as she wriggled around to try to unsnag them. After half a minute, she got one, then the other loose, and let the curtain fall, as it were, as she tugged her shift the rest of the way into place. She checked the leathers and the robe, and left them be, walking back to sit by Voe a little more properly this time.

Voe