Halloween - Open

[suitsahero]

((OOC: Since a few people mentioned this, I thought I'd write one starter and whoever wants can tag in. This is one of my favorite sorts of set-ups so I don't think I'll get tired of playing it over and over if that's how this shakes out. I've tried to leave a variety of actual starting states or reasons to be there open as well.))

Getting up to the castle on purpose is difficult.

It's difficult to get to the bustling town at the base of the mountain. Transport is spotty at the best of times, mountain passes obscured by snow and ice most of the time. It's doable in the spring and summer, but the town is almost completely isolated in the fall and winter. Plenty of people make the journey, though, to enjoy the vistas, the peace and quiet through the winters, or just the ability to eke out a simple living, far from other stresses. The town is something of a tourist destination, both for those reasons and to climb a separate peak from the one with the castle on it. People go missing in the snows most years, but it's not considered dangerous beyond that, and everyone is warned extensively not to go wandering outside of the known routes or without a guide.

Nature is beautiful, but also deadly. It is nothing to be overly concerned about, beyond making sure people know how to be safe.

The people who actually live in the town are a bit superstitious, though, as only people living in relative isolation and in tension with a hostile environment can be. Which provides the next obstacle to getting up the mountain to the castle: no one is willing to take you. Stories vary on what lives up in the castle depending on who you talk to. A monster, a magician, an evil spirit, or just a strange artist who wants to be left alone. No one seems to agree on what is up in the tower, but everyone agrees that you don't go up there, you don't bother whoever, or whatever, it is. People don't come back or maybe people do come back but they're different, strange, don't remember things, or maybe no one has ever been up there at all.

And then, if you happen to still be painfully curious, particularly when you can clearly see lights moving through the castle in the evenings, the way up to the castle is also treacherous, requires skill and luck just to follow the unkept trail through the snow and rocks and trees, the way turned steep and winding through disuse. And the villagers also say there are wolves, though you've never seen any.

On the other hand, it is remarkably easy to find the castle on accident.

Nothing about it is magically easier, but if you throw safety to the wind, if your tent is ripped open by falling snows or you lose a trail you're supposed to be on, suddenly difficult and dangerous obstacles become your means of survival and climbing up to the castle doesn't seem like a journey to be embarked upon with caution but a last, desperate act of someone who doesn't want to freeze to death in the snows. Surely whatever is waiting there is better than that. Surely.

And what of those who fail? Who go out into the wilds only to succumb to the elements?

Well, no eyes and ears can be everywhere, but some few who do have their journeys set to end in the most final way possible might find themselves waking in a warm bed, instead, fire blazing merrily in a hearth. Are you lucky to have survived or not? Only time will tell...

Comments

[darlingdatura]

"Mischief? You?" Mikka laughed softly, tilting his head as he peered over at him. And he must have been feeling especially emboldened by Haurchefant's kind, easygoing nature, as there was a slight teasing slip of flirting as he continued on. "Even still I imagine that you were quite well-equipped to charming your way out of any trouble!"

Hodges bringing the meal in was enough to distract him from being too sheepish at having said as much, Mikka shyly thanking the taciturn man. And really, he knew he was hungry, but the smell of the food was enough to have him feeling it keenly, as he squirmed out of the blanket nest just enough to be able to handle the plate.

[suitsahero]

"I've cleaned up more than one of the master's bouts of mischief, so I can assure you both are true," Hodges says it so dryly, but the way Haurchefant's eyes go wide and he laughs, rich and unfettered, it must be a joke.

"You make it sound like I have some kind of... wiles, when I can assure you the opposite is true. But I suppose that could be charming to some people," he tilts his head to look at Mikka, and that's definitely mischief in his eyes when he adds, "But I suppose you should be the arbiter of that, shouldn't you? Do you find me charming?" He bats his eyes noticeably after he asks, plays it over the top enough to make it fun rather than overly forward.

[darlingdatura]

It was likely the playful batting of eyelashes, putting it in an obviously over the top sort of thing that keeps Mikka from dissolving into nothing but blushing and stammering to be fair. But it didn't stop the way his pulse jumped, or the flush that crept over pale cheeks regardless as Haurchefant was turning his 'nonexistent' wiles on him.

"Y-you are quite charming." Mikka managed after a moment, ears pricked. "Wiles or no."

[suitsahero]

"Well then, I suppose it's settled," he sits back in his chair, as though they had been having a heated debate, with a teasing grin. There's something permanently warm about his gaze, now, it seems, a fondness he is doing absolutely nothing to hide anymore when he looks at Mikka, even without his next words, "I find myself in good company then, I suppose, the charmer charmed."

And he certainly is. The blush looks good on Mikka, makes him want to tease him even more. Unlike Mikka, who keeps convincing himself he's just imagining things, the conversation has solidified for Haurchefant that Mikka definitely finds him attractive. Now it's just a matter of seeing if he can be convinced to act on those feelings-- after all, not everyone wishes to.

[darlingdatura]

"You're a terrible flatterer!" Mikka accused with a sheepish laugh, that more overt fondness he was being watched with just ensuring that the blush stayed stubbornly put. "Saying things like that after protesting your own wiles."

The Miqo'te turns his attention to nibbling at his meal in the hopes of keeping himself from blurting out any other silly, flirty things. Surely Haurchefant wasn't interested in him like that. Surely he was just being kind, and Mikka's overactive imagination was just running away with it in silly fanciful what-ifs.

It certainly wouldn't be difficult to convince him to act, if Haurchefant could squirm in past that certainty that surely it was all in his head.

[suitsahero]

On the one hand, if anyone can, it's probably Haurchefant. On the other hand, he's so overt that he probably hurts his own cause, at least somewhat, if only because surely he's not serious.

Still, it's going to take some mental gymnastics to turn the way he reaches out and runs the backs of his fingers soft along Mikka's cheek for a moment into anything other than it is,

"I don't think it counts as 'wiles' if it's simply the truth. I find you quite charming. Irresistibly so, it seems."

[darlingdatura]

Mental gymnastics that come to a screeching halt in the Miqo'te when that gentle brush of fingers runs against his cheek. Eyes widening ever so slightly as there was a subtle sway to him, as if Mikka was a creature starved for such affections.

He was, as a matter of fact, but liked to pretend that he wasn't quite so overtly obvious about it.

"Y-you really are too sweet." He manages in a faint rasp after a moment, the flush of cheeks creeping further down his face.

[suitsahero]

He's genuinely been trying, conscious of the fact that it's not even been a full day, that he is moving entirely too fast for most people, that the last thing he wants to do is make Mikka uncomfortable, not when he wants to keep him. But he is just too much everything Haurchefant is weak to, and that blush, the way he sways into him at the slightest touch, has him feeling an entirely different kind of ravenous from the night before.

"Hmm... too sweet? Perhaps..."

Even so, he moves cautiously, his fingers slowly settling ever so gently on the side of Mikka's jaw, tilting his face slightly up towards his. There's still a reasonable space between them on the sofa in general, but he leans in, also slowly, looking for any sign he ought to stop. Their noses bump just slightly and he nuzzles ever so slightly as they do, before turning his head just slightly so their lips can brush the barest bit as he speaks,

"Somehow," his voice is soft, a treat all on it's own, "I think you're probably sweeter." It's an absolute tease, his lips just shy of finding out.

[darlingdatura]

If Mikka were anyone else, had been raised in a family more keen to his need for love and attention, had any real experience with the normal progress of relationships of any stripe, this would certainly all raise red flags. And even so, if Haurchefant had taken any other track, been more aggressive in his chase, less gentle and cautious in those touches, even this little Miqo'te might have been spooked off.

But he hadn't. And the Keeper, as much of a romantic as he was, devouring those ten-gil romance novels... well Haurchefant was instead just seeming to fulfill every daydreamed scenario that Mikka had indulged in over those well-turned pages. He'd certainly see no resistance to the way he closed in, his companion's flush brightening as their noses bumped.

Keenly aware of how close their lips were, of that gentle touch against his jaw, and he should reply, should say something flirty and sweet and clever back, but words fled him utterly in the face of closing that barest of distances that remained, a kiss offered in a recklessly bold moment that might surprise him once it was broken.

[suitsahero]

It's not a pace that would have made Haurchefant uncomfortable, had someone else used it with him, but he's all too aware that most people are not him, was aware of it even before he was something else entirely. He trembles just a little bit with the effort of holding back, of being courteous, even when he's being more daring than he might normally be, spurred on by Mikka's blushes, the way being this close seems to steal all of his words from him. There's no holding back the soft noise of want, when Mikka is the one that closes that distance, another shudder flowing through him as he fights the urge to take, to deepen the kiss before it's likely the other is ready.

He can't help but deepen it just a little, a gentle nibble of Mikka's lower lip, the barest hint of a tongue to soothe the not-hurt, but he tries, oh he tries, to let Mikka mostly set the pace, aware here, much like the thought of giving him supernatural orders, that if he lets himself go even a little, he's not going to be able to resist anything anymore.

[darlingdatura]

That tremble, small as it might be was misinterpreted entirely by Mikka. Assuming it came from a similar place as his own blush might, made him a bit more comfortable in this sudden sort of new step. Not his first kiss, that had been a thing given on a child's dare, but this was not that, and this was certainly his first kiss with such need behind it.

Lips parting ever so slightly at that little nibble, a soft little gasp of his own want let out against Haurchefant's mouth as a hand lifted, to let slim fingers almost shyly trace along his jaw, against the lower edge of his ear, threading into that mess of silver hair.

[suitsahero]

On a scale across the whole of his life and unlife, Haurchefant has never wanted for lovers. Even here on the mountain, he's taken a few, difficult though it can be. But it has been some time since he has had the pleasure and he can never get enough even when there is someone here, so he almost melts into the touch along his jaw, breath coming stuttered at the brush of fingers along his ear. But it's the fingers in his hair that gets the moan, low and needy and there's no helping the way he deepens the kiss at that.

There's the heated press of his tongue, more urgent this time, but he manages to keep the kiss brief at least, if much more intense,

"Definitely sweeter," he murmurs against his lips, teasing, though it's more to try to rein himself in just a bit, to turn the kisses a bit softer again, trying not to completely overwhelm him.

[darlingdatura]

It would be so easy here and now for Mikka to be utterly lost in what was happening. Especially hearing that soft moan from Haurchefant, the need in the sound just having his heart hammering in his chest as he yielded to the way the kiss was deepened.

Even if the kiss was broken far sooner than he would have liked, the little Miqo'te unaware of how he'd started to purr a bit in a low, soft manner, pupils widened ever so slightly as he smiled shyly against the other's lips. Fingers still twined in his hair, reluctant to move them when it was so clear that Haurchefant enjoyed, needed that touch.

"Y-you think so?" He managed after a shaky breath. "Maybe we should... try again. To be sure, or course."

[suitsahero]

"Of course," he accedes, his tone warm and teasing, still, "Perhaps a longer taste...?" This time, the kiss is slower, perhaps, but heated from the beginning as he slides his tongue more fully against Mikka's. The kiss stays gentle, less the barely restrained passion of the end of the last one, when he had been caught off-guard, and more of a controlled bit of hedonism, sensation for it's own sake, taste and texture. He makes another low noise of pleasure, heady, and shifts himself closer on the sofa.

With one hand more or less made useless by the back of the sofa, he nevertheless can at least wind it around Mikka, pull him closer. The cold of him is a little more noticeable by proximity, now, but he's also still flush with blood from the night before, and so he just seems like perhaps he has bad circulation, rather than being held by something clammy.

[darlingdatura]

"Precisely." His reply was soft, shyly teasing in turn. Letting Haurchefant guide the kiss this time, lips parting with a soft sigh to let it be deepened, relishing in the foreign but pleasurable sensation of it, of the feel of the other's tongue against his.

Fingers twitching in Haurchefant's hair as he was quite willing to let himself be brought in closer, noticing that odd chill, but nestled into the blanket as he'd been, he excused it partly as him being a bit warmer in comparison. Free hand groping blindly for the edges of the blanket to unwind it from himself, both so he could nestle in closer, and so he could drag the fabric over the both of them, wanting to share some of that comfort and warmth as the kiss lingered on, a soft croon lost against Haurchefant's mouth as he did so.

[suitsahero]

The more Mikka responds, the more he drowns, slipping closer under the offered blanket until they're all but in each other's laps, the kiss deepening further. The softness of him calls up every protective instinct Haurchefant knows quite well he cannot fully control. Some vampires grow violent with the curse, some cold and solitary. Haurchefant has grown possessive, but his own nature makes that manifest as something kind, at least on the surface. He is trying to not let any of it take control, even now.

But Mikka is warm, and sweet in kind, and he feels like he could kiss him forever and still not have enough of the way he reacts to it. He gets both his arms around him now, has to touch him, and his side of the kiss shades slowly hungrier.

Despite that, Mikka will quickly find that Haurchefant is almost comically responsive to being moved around by that hand in his hair, either closer into the kiss or further away.

[darlingdatura]

It was entirely overwhelming, this sort of attention. Mikka was responsive to the sort of kind possessiveness, for all he wasn't consciously aware of that. On some level he needed that, needed to know that he was worth possessing, for all it was a thing that somewhat worked against him here as he was melting into the kiss.

Squirming in as close as he could without all but crawling into Haurchefant's lap, for all it was a close thing, especially with the way it felt to have those arms wrapped around him, the little Miqo'te letting out a soft needy little whimper against Haurchefant's mouth as his hand in the man's hair tugged in a way that encouraged him on, encouraged more, for him to get closer.

[suitsahero]

He manages to temper the possessive growl that rises out of him at the needy noise Mikka makes into a low, purring moan instead and drags him the rest of the way into his lap without any further preamble, less about any kind of friction and much more about those other desires, claiming, keeping. He needs his arms all the way around him, needs him close, needs to be able to fully feel out the shape of him under his clothes.

He finally leaves off Mikka's mouth for a moment, but it's only to kiss a path down one side of his jaw, nuzzling up under his ear for a moment with a soft moan that can only mean he thinks he smells good, before his mouth traces downward...

His breath catches and his eyes fly open, realizing what he was about to do, as natural as breathing. Once, it would have horrified him, now, it's merely something he needs some damage control for. He turns what was about to be a bite into a little nibble instead, barely a scrape against the skin, and surely Mikka has felt his sudden shock, so he chuckles, warm, against his neck, schools his features,

"I should let you eat," he murmurs against his skin, knows he'll look inhuman right now, if he pulls back enough to be seen, keeps himself nuzzling into his skin, hair, smoothes over the moment before, "I don't want to let you eat," he admits, with another chuckle, "But I don't want you to faint, either."

[darlingdatura]

Mikka certainly didn't resist that tug. It was hard to say if he could resist anything in this current mood, with that kiss electric between them, heart hammering in his chest as he willingly squirmed in closer craving the feel of the arms around him, of the soft feel of those lips against skin.

The feel of his pulse all but pounding through his veins likely didn't help matters for all he was blissfully ignorant of what Haurchefant almost did, that gentle scrape just earning another little gasp from him, a shiver coursing through him.

Unaware of why Haurchefant might keep his face hidden against skin, just basking in the attention, in those gentle little affections as he managed a breathless little chuckle of his own. "I-is it terribly uncouth of me to admit that I might not want you to let me eat just yet either?" He whispered, tone a bit shy at the admission, flushing brightly. Quite caught up in Haurchefant's spell for all it wasn't one woven of actual power, but touches and soft kisses.

[suitsahero]

He diverts himself to lean up and rub his nose right at the base of one of Mikka's ears, then his whole face when he discovers that they're as soft as they looked. In any other mood, it might have been ridiculous, but curled in his lap it feels more sensual than silly.

"If so, then I believe we're both guilty of it. Mmm... it's hardly something to be embarrassed about if it's mutual, yes?" he's picked up on the tone, though he's not known Mikka long enough to understand how little experience he truly has, "I want you," he murmurs against one ear, as bold as Mikka is shy, "I've never been good at being the voice of reason," he chuckles softly, "I don't think I can refuse you, if you don't wish me to stop."

[darlingdatura]

As if Mikka would mind that attention regardless of the situation, a soft little purr slipping from him at the attention to his ear, which flickered faintly against that nuzzling.

"I-I suppose you're right in that," He murmured in response, heartened some by that reassurance. At least until the admittedly bold confession from Haurchefant that just had him flushing brighter, with a soft rasp of breath. "Me though? Truly? I... I find that... I feel the same. But I've never- I feel I'd disappoint in my inexperience."

It was embarrassing to admit, for all he was aware there was no way he could pretend at being anything but new to all of this. Surely Haurchefant wasn't wanting to deal with the awkward fumblings of a virgin though, had assumed his guest more experienced than he actually was.

[suitsahero]

It takes every bit of control Haurchefant has to only growl possessively at that and tug Mikka in by the hips firmly enough to roll his own against him. Still, though the gesture itself might be a bit more of an escalation than Mikka was expecting, there can be no doubt that Haurchefant isn't just being polite when he says,

"Would it be uncouth of me to say that only makes me want you more?" hot in his ear. His, his, his, all of him and he wants to absolutely ruin him for anyone else. It take everything in him to keep his hands gentle, to divert all of the instincts in him to take, claim into something softer, more enchanted. "To know that I'm teaching you, helping you to learn what you like," and then softer, more sensual, "You will tell me what you like, won't you? I like hearing it."

[darlingdatura]

Mikka shivered at the sound of that growl, slit pupils widening in response as he shivered when he felt that rock under him, a stuttering little sound of surprise slipping from between parted lips, fingers curling reflexively in Haurchefant's shirt.

"H-hardly," He gasped, unable to help the way his voice quavered with a potent mix of excitement and need. "I... I like this. You."

He had no clue how his responses were leaving Haurchefant struggling with instincts. Quite charmed by those softer, gentler responses he was tempering the need to, quite taken by his soft words and entrancing ideas.

[suitsahero]

Haurchefant chuckles softly, not immune to amusement over how ridiculous it is, the level of his own desire, and he reaches up and finally strokes fingers through Mikka's hair, gives into the desire to pet his ears, the touch so sweet, more so when paired with his much darker, more heated words,

"You have no idea how tempting you are right now," another chuckle and he gives into the desire to draw him back in for kiss after kiss, between his words, "I am not known for being someone who care overmuch about waiting. If the passion is there, why wait at all?" the next kiss is sweeter, but the hand not working on Mikka's ears moves to his thigh, squeezes firmly, "Still, I cannot remember the last time someone has held me so enchanted so quickly. Perhaps never," another kiss, and then he's moving back down his neck again, though he has control of himself now, comparatively at least, "You're impossible to resist..."

[darlingdatura]

It was so easy to tilt his head into that gentle touch, a soft purr slipping from him at the feel of fingers stroking his ears. Gods but he loved that, quite plain in the way he all but melted, with a shy little smile.

"I c-can't say I've ever... inspired such passion in another," Mikka hummed in between kisses, a shiver running through him, easily felt with how close they were, all but wrapped up in one another. A soft sigh slipping from him as his chin tilted ever so slightly, inviting those lips moving over skin without any hesitation, his own hands moving, one still against his back, the other moving again to wind fingers into Haurchefant's hair. "It would... be a shame to resist, I think."