escordvi | [closed] 🔥 but I won't cry for yesterday, there's an ordinary world

[There have been a few things lingering on Joshua's mind. Ever since Dion has returned to this watery star, he's watched and wondered how Dion might change and grow to adapt with it. Joshua has had the privilege of living here for over two years of his life now, finding the peace he's fought for, much longer... But Dion? A soldier and a man that has spent most of his life bound by a strict duty and sense of higher purpose. So what does a man do now that he has the freedom to make whatever choices he wishes to make?

... Ceramics and pottery, apparently.]

Are you certain that this is something you might wish to try, Dion? [Joshua looks fairly amused.] I have to admit, while I can draw a diagram worth seeing, I'm not entirely sure how my hand my take to sculpting clay.

[Dion, for his part, may be trying to force the issue of change. He's certainly trundling forward, embracing Joshua's recommendations of trying new things. It's easier when he busies himself, with training Lucian, or helping others here, or simply finding something he can focus upon thoroughly.

Now he's wearing something he typically leaves for chores around the Roost, but he doesn't know how dirty of a job this particular task may be, and he nods at Joshua's question.]

I am. I admit full ignorance to the craft, and I would understand what the laborers do to supply us with vessels. I thank you for indulging me.

[Joshua looks a bit amused.]

Then I believe this will be something new for both of us to try.

[They're faced with quite the large wooden cart of packed clay and a few tools to be able to scoop and cut large chunks out of it. There is a basin of water to keep the clay moist when needed. And over yonder is the large spinning platform used to make this big clay vessel.]

I suppose we could make something ugly and it would still hold it's charm.

[Much like those charming ugly labrubrus. Could they make a clay labrubru? No, Dion would certainly tease him.]

[He chuckles slightly at that.]

Are you suggesting we ought make something intentionally hideous?

[He rolls up his sleeves and approaches the cart. At least what is to be done with it seems self-explanatory.]

How does one mold a portion of a vessel, I wonder? Do we just...dive in?

[He chuckles softly.]

If we are both inexperienced when it comes to something like this, it may very well turn out ugly, regardless of how hard we try.

[He approaches as well and reaches in to scoop out a big handful of clay. He nods.]

Maybe... We start with a base?

I do know something of symmetry, you know.

[Not that that translates to the ability to sculpt clay into anything resembling usefulness, but it's a challenge he's prepared for.]

It seems as good a place to start as any. [A large, flat disk should suffice for a base for a vessel, shouldn't it? He answers his pondered question aloud.] But how do we go about flattening it?

[Joshua takes his slab of clay and drops it down onto the flat disc. Then he tilts his head...]

I suppose it would be rude of me to ask you for the handle of your spear.

[He's joking...!!]

[Dion arches an eyebrow and turns slowly to regard Joshua.] For the first, it is hardly smooth and not up to the task, and the second, you most certainly can, but only if you also toss your sword into the bargain.

[He shakes his head and instead takes a moment to watch what others are doing, moistening the clay with water from nearby barrels, using their hands to smooth it down...]

[He laughs...!!]

Then we've only our hands to use, it seems!

[Don't worry, Joshua will be the first to get his hands dirty. He leans forward to start pressing the moist clay down into a shape of some sort. But... He might need a little help from someone with a little more upper body strength?]

We each of us play to our strengths, do we not?

[He leans down behind Joshua, quite close, to add his strength to the mix, and only then does the sizeable sheet of clay begin to flatten into something akin to a base.]

And for some of us, that is strength.

[Oh. Dion is very close. So much that Joshua can sense his warmth, and Joshua tilts his head to take a glimpse of Dion's arms as he works the clay...

... Joshua's cheeks feel warm.]

And it seems it's your strength that I'll be benefitting from, once again.

[He clears his throat a bit.]

[No stranger to flirting that sounds like other things, Dion smiles slightly as he continues to work, glancing briefly in Joshua's direction and noting the color in his cheeks.]

You are welcome to benefit from my strength in whatever way you wish, Joshua, but today we shall suffice with clay.

[...!! Joshua smiles softly in return.]

Oh, is that so?

[He's sure to give Dion's arm a very appreciative squeeze before returning to the clay they are working together on.]

Then I shall tuck that note away for another time, soon.

[He's not sure when Soon will be but it is another quiet promise.]

[Dion catches that tone with a light smile of his own, though it's a tad more suggestive than Joshua's.]

And what is "soon" to the Phoenix?

[Oh, his heart does that thing. It skips a beat.]

Sooner rather than later, I should hope...

[He doesn't want to appear too eager but the honest truth is ... he is? He had spent so many months pinning over this man. It's embarrassing to think.]

I see. [Awkward himself, it's only because Dion is unaccustomed to flirting in public and not due to any sort of reservation on his part. In all honestly, he has found Joshua attractive since their reuninion, though he was quite loyal and quite dedicated, the body cares not for loyalty.]

And what would you have my strength for?

Dion.

[Joshua's voice wobbles only slightly as he looks away, cheeks fierce with a blush.]

To... teach me experiences I've yet to know. I am a...eager student. To learn how your strength... feels.

[Oh Great Greagor...]

[Well, now, all of that is so hesitantly spoken it could be nothing less than the truth, and it fills him with a warmth altogether different from any he's known. Terence had always been a steadfast pulse of certainty at his side, where Joshua is proving to be steady light in the darkness.

Or maybe he's always been a flame to which he's been pulled when everything else closed in.

A soft smile teases Dion's lips as he looks over.]

Well, then. I shall endeavor to assure my strength is sufficient.

[It does feel... strangely wonderful to be able to whisper these little confessions to Dion. It makes the back of his neck burn with a blush but at the same time it feels thrilling.

That soft teasing smile Dion has makes his heart skip in the most gentle of ways.

He picks up the clay now smooth and flattened into the base and shapes it to what he would like. Then it's time to make the structure of the ceramic pot.]

I'm sure that it will. Then... shall we continue?

Admittedly, I've received few complaints on the matter.

[Though in honesty, those could only ever have been raised by the one person, and Terence had never been one to complain. No, he was a man who wore his thoughts and his heart quite close and quiet.

Not unlike Joshua, truth be told.

All that and he's beginning to understand how this clay business works, too, and he nods.]

So we shall. [All else could happen in time, which they have, for once.]

[Now Joshua can't stop the small and silly smile on his lips. He feels like a blushing maiden- But he can't deny that he's very ... happy to know. He's excited for that little note about their future.

For now?? Back to the clay!! And Joshua takes another slab of it and places it down on their base.]

Now, we shall begin shaping the body of the pot. I trust it won't prove too difficult.

[He gives a soft chuckle and then takes a glob of clay and starts to shape it. Before he reaches for Dion's hand to pat it.]

Help me here?

[The slight smile remains even as Dion arches an eyebrow.]

And what has inspired this trust? This clay has thus far proven itself unwieldy to say the least. I have a new respect for artesians.

[His gaze turns more heavy-lidded as Joshua takes his hand, but he allows himself to be guided all the same.]

Of course. I fear you may be more familiar with this task than I. Regrettably, I rarely visited the artesan quarters, either in Oriflamme or Twinside.

[Joshua might catch that expression...]

Trust me, I do not claim greater experience than you. But I am not afraid to dirty my hands, nor to step into something new.

[He takes a bit of clay and ... smears it on Dion's cheek. No worried expressions today, Dion.]

[!! Did you just smear clay on his cheek? The nerve!

Though his irritation is posturing and he laughs after a moment.]

You really must tell me more of these dirtied hands, later.

[He got you, Dion!!

He smiles and turns away to laugh.]

A trace of mud upon your cheek suits you well, Dion.

[A little mud never hurt anyone!!]

[He smiles that smile that seems saved only for Joshua and looks down at his own hands for just a moment, muddied as they are from aiding him with the more strength-related mouldings.

And then he reaches out to cradle Joshua's neck, muddied as all, and leans in to kiss him briefly.]

Then we are of a kind.

...?!

[A kiss!! ... A muddy one. Joshua both flusters and feels himself jolt slightly with the mud smearing on him too! He deserved that-]

Dion! [He laughs softly, again.] That was only fair, I admit.

I am nothing if not just. [And with that, Dion returns to the task at hand with renewed vigor, though there's a mischievous glint to his eye even as he appears completely serious.

Dion's playfulness has always been subtle, as Joshua will come to learn in the next month and all the months afterward, but very much present, and settled alongside his rebellion that sits at time at odds with his desire to do what is right and good.]

[closed] 🔥 but I won't cry for yesterday, there's an ordinary world

closed to dion lesage 🐉

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

🎀