bass-boosted whitney houston intensifies in the distance;

[doggish]

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[doggish]

She could always leave you. It would be your reputation in tatters, admittedly, but that seems to matter less.

And to what tropical isle will you demand I spirit you away?

[illithidnapped]

My reputation will be in tatters the moment I am spirited away regardless, though I've always been more partial to the romantic notion of faking one's own death. Attending one's own funeral. That sort of thing.

[And it's not (is) because he's addicted to attention in even the thinnest of senses. Let him be a little vain.]

The rest depends on how much clothing you'll wear when the sun is beating down on us. Because if the answer isn't 'I'll be naked at all hours', then I doubt the sweltering tropic heat will be worth the cost. But I hear Rialto's nice this time of year. Or Rivain. Or if we're keen on getting lost in a crowd there's always Athkatla- I expect the lack of magic in the latter might appeal to your preferences.

[doggish]

The heat would be worth the cost, and I could even be persuaded to wear nothing at all, depending on circumstance— but watching you turn bright red and fret over sunburn for weeks on end would not.

We will go to Rivain first, so you can swoon over the pirates and learn any number of things that decidedly don't befit your station. Then Athkatla, for I have heard of their lack of magic, and it seems a far more restful place than here. But we will end in Rialto, for there the climate is mild, and the food— while a bit aggressive when it comes to garlic— is good. And there we will stay, for Rialto is a place that knows it's best not to ask too many questions, especially about one's past.

And I will watch as you grow into your first century, and tend to you as you bemoan all the aches and pains that come with being an adult. You will stay as a magistrate, I imagine, and I will protect you from all the criminals who might think of retribution.

[illithidnapped]

[It takes a moment— twenty minutes, he'd said, before needing to return. (Wasn't it twenty? Maybe it was thirty.) Either way, it's come and gone, much like his own sense of balance as he slips back against the wall with his phone cupped tight between his palms, melting from the inside out. His pulse: melting. His expression: melting. His sentiment: molten. His will to return to his own chambers—

Gone.

But at least his lonely little heart somehow resists the urge to wet his eyes in public, against all given odds. Because he wants that. More than anything, he does.

And if they're lucky, that'll all be in the cards.]

Maybe I want to be a pirate.

[He doesn't.]

[doggish]

[Sweetheart. Sweet, petulant darling. Fussy, bratty magistrate that has his heart and his devotion, and whose pause signifies any number of things, but none of them rejection. He smiles when he feels his phone buzz, and feels a soft warmth flood through him at the response.]

You want to dress as a pirate, you mean, and strut around on deck, barking orders and posing with a sword.

[I know you, little love.]

But if you truly find you have a sudden hankering for dirt and sweat and endless toil under the sun, I will make it so.

[illithidnapped]

Well of course I do. Not ALL pirates toil.



[A long beat, before:]

do they?

[doggish]

It isn't a pleasure cruise.

Do you know what Isabela told me they do with stowaways that cannot pull their weight?

[illithidnapped]

no, but start by telling me what happens to stowaways who own the entire bloody ship

[doggish]

They're thrown overboard to drown, for they're at sea with no witnesses. Especially arrogant young pups who strut around and think owning things commands respect.

I would not let them, but we would have to kill the entire crew, and I cannot sail. Nor can you. So keep your dreams of pirates to bedroom games.

[illithidnapped]

[Tsk.]

well that's bullshit. Has no one ever told them that obviously owning things commands respect? that's how the whole damned world works!

[doggish]

I truly cannot tell if you're joking or not sometimes.

[illithidnapped]

:]

would you care to guess?

[doggish]

I would not. I do not play guessing games. But I will assume you're joking, for you're normally far smarter than your peers.

[illithidnapped]

Indeed I am smarter, and it's because I am that I

2/2

[illithidnapped]

what do you mean 'normally'

[doggish]

I mean more often than not, you're smarter than them.

And then there are times when you get high and drunk at a club and grind up on me before trying to do shots off my chest. Or decide that trying to drink a full keg of dwarven ale upsidedown would be a good pursuit. Or nearly break your neck attempting to walk on the edge of a rooftop.

[illithidnapped]

yet it's all those things that make life worth living sweetheart

particularly that first one.

ergo wouldn't that make me smarter than all my colleagues?

[Oh, he's a little magistrate, all right.]

[doggish]

That depends, little love who thinks he's so very clever.

Have you deleted those photos yet?

[illithidnapped]

['Little love.'

Oh, there's a flutter of sensation twitching light across his fingers. Stuttering his first attempts to type, and making him so docile by sweet proxy.

He never wants to be called anything else again.]

That depends, if I have, what do I earn for such startlingly good behavior?

[doggish]

It's more about what punishment you may or may not lessen once you get home. You're still in trouble, for all that you're acting sweet now.

[illithidnapped]

You ought to be a magistrate, immovable as you are.

[doggish]

You should avoid pursuing acting, quick as you are to drop that sweet tone when things don't go your way. Now be a good boy and answer my question.

[illithidnapped]

I haven't started acting yet. Believe me, when I do, you'll know.

But yes my fretful, endearing love, they're gone, all of them. Now no one will ever bear witness to how much I adore you or how beautiful you are in the late/early hours of the morn with sunlight on your skin, just the way you like it.

2/2

[illithidnapped]

Shall I delete myself while I'm at it? Quite dangerous, after all, having incriminating evidence floating around as they please. Best to nip it in the bud if we're keeping to your rulebook.

[doggish]

How would that even work?