Date Interrupted

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TennyoCeres84
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Re: Date Interrupted

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Sophia smirked. "That song was certainly playing on the radio in the days of Elysium's departure. Though, after the Battle of Hope, a couple local hippies seemed keen on observing the Make Love, Not War adage a little too literally underneath my Tree. I had to scare them off after they sneaked in past closing hours," she commented with a scoff. They dryad then sighed in an mildly exasperated fashion. "Whether they're New Agers or immigrants from Celtic lands, they can take the whole fertility thing a little too far sometimes."

"Did they ever offer Viagra as part of their arcane ingredient list?" queried Ciaran, teasing her with an impish grin.

She burst out laughing at this and lightly tossed a throw pillow at the male roane. "No, thank God," she replied with an amused smirk.
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Re: Date Interrupted

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Tom smiled. "I know it's a cliché, but I loved the sixties. I know, I know, an incubus has fond memories of the Summer of Love? Who'da thunk it?"

He chuckled. "Between 1963 and 1979, the surge of communes and self-regulated communities was an inspiration to me. I spent a few weeks in the body of an ailing Amsterdam painter and more or less made his wishes involving tender nights with a few gay crushes come true postmortem. I smoked the best joints ever rolled by Man since the Arabs invented the hookah, drew on the body's eye for colour composition and painting to find a new avenue for self-expression, and I made some of the best friends I've ever had. I gave the body one month's worth of a grace period and then gratefully let cancer claim it.

I was glad to be rid of the chemo and radiotherapy by the end, but I'd say being Erik Anders was one of the few past identities I've ever really cherished, apart from my current one. I'd learned so much in so little time - I'd say Amsterdam made me learn what friends are truly for."
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Re: Date Interrupted

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Tom's little exposition about the 1960s piqued the dryad's curiosity. "Has anything you've experienced since waking up in Hope General added to what you learned while incarnated as an artist in Amsterdam?" she asked, tilting her head with interest.

Ciaran leaned back in his seat on the couch and sipped his mead, also intrigued.
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Re: Date Interrupted

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Tom smiled. "Well, I'd never worked with friends before, so that's a plus," he admitted. "This is one of the few times I've really picked a body for its skills, I used to pick them for their ease at interacting socially. I've been a railroad owner in the American West - Erasmus Johnson, owner of Grand Pacific - so that's beaten business sense into me - along with a sense of familial responsibilities.

I'd picked a railroad boss who had a grown daughter and two grandsons, so flexing that Grandfatherly Touch was interesting. I oversaw my workers' progress on the stretch between Texas and New Mexico, but being in charge felt too easy, honestly. All I had to do was to be kind and a little distant, to keep my gloves on and pretend like I wasn't curious at the sight of workers breaking their backs."

He sighed wistfully. "All those glistening torsos, sweating under a hot Albuquerque sun... I've always preferred women, but there's something to be said for strong backs, as well. Quint's body has really been a learning opportunity when it comes to actually starting and carrying out plans of my own, as opposed to respecting my mortal coil's established ambitions - staying in character."
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Re: Date Interrupted

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"Learning to be your own man, in a way, but supported by your friends and allies," Sophia summarized.

Ciaran smirked a little. "Plus, you have Aislinn, too," he added, knowing of her sister's developing feelings for the warthog. She wasn't doodling his name in a notebook or some equally ridiculous gesture, but he knew there was something there beyond just respect and physical attraction.
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Re: Date Interrupted

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"That I do," he nodded to Ciaran, smirking as well. "Monogamy is stretching a few mental tendons I didn't know I had, I'll admit, but it's not as bad as I figured it would be. Asmodeus' burden doesn't really come into play unless something makes me drive past one of Biggs' properties. If I smell lust on anyone or anything while out in public, my barriers crack and I just-"

He closed his eyes, as if revisiting one of those throes of forced ecstasy. "I usually hold on until I reach a red light or something, then I make sure my windows are rolled up. If they are, whatever wants to come out just, well, comes out. Shivers, snorts, really intense bouts of ASMR, oddly feminine orgasms where my entire skin flares up... I've sometimes had to stop on the curb to let it play out."

He opened one eye, as if fearing judgmental looks. "One cop rapped on my window, once, while I was waiting for the waves to stop crashing. I barely had enough presence of mind to shake this loose," he said, exhibiting the kind of bracelet you'd find on epileptics. "He was lucky I'd locked myself in, I was about this close to leap out of the car and suck his tongue out of his mouth."

Tom contemplated his drink. "It's not easy. On most days, I'm a contented man who has precisely one and only girlfriend, and it's the only one he needs. On other days, all my control backfires and it takes everything I've got for me to avoid taking a brothel by storm. Even if I did, I know that sudden and aching need that I can usually keep down to a whisper won't ever stop screaming for more. It's frustrating - it devalues one of the things I've learned to cherish over the centuries."
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Re: Date Interrupted

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The dryad and the male roane were both quiet as they listened to him, taking in his words as his friends. Ciaran finally spoke as he finished his share of mead, "Saying you don't have it easy would be the epitome of an understatement, but I do have to say that I wholly respect you. I hope that you find genuine happiness with someone, and if that someone is my sister, then you'd certainly have my blessing."

Sophia smiled at the incubus. "As you've read in books, plays, and poems or seen in movies or television, what you're pursuing is something that mortal men crave with the same ardor, only on a much smaller scale in comparison to yours. I...think you're on the right path, even with the challenges you face."
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Re: Date Interrupted

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Tom's smile turned humble, a rarity for him. "It's nice to hear I've got a few votes of confidence, I still don't know how I'd-"

He stopped, his eyes having wandered towards the section of the wall where he'd rested his staff.

It wasn't there anymore.

Before panicking, Tom settled with raising a finger, furrowing his brow, and standing up. It'd be easy to see he wasn't keen on jumping to conclusions, and wanted to check if the branch hadn't simply slipped along the wall and ended up stuck behind Sophia's couch. What began as a sedate search for something that may have simply been misplaced soon turned to him sticking his snout in the underside of her couch after crouching down and checking along the window's wall. His movements made him glance across the window, onto which his eyes finally locked.

He stepped closer to it and took a few whiffs of the chilly autumn air. From taut concentration, his features turned to obvious self-loathing.

"Leave your uncarved staff soaking in Hellfire right next to an open window, why don't you..." he said, scolding himself. "That's Quint material, right there!"

The warthog turned back to his friends. "Could either of you brain me with a frying pan, please? I just let some opportunist take off with enough concentrated power to make the Black Goat's day."
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Re: Date Interrupted

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Both the selkie and dryad's eyes widened at Tom's of his staff having been stolen. Not surprisingly, Sophia bolted from her seat quicker than Ciaran did and headed for the door. "No time for self-deprecation, Tom! We must track the thief!" she said, her role as a guardian being brought to the forefront. Ciaran had also moved toward the entrance, but he was slightly dismayed that their date had been interrupted by some unknown culprit.

He eyed the warthog. "Come on, we're gonna need your help to find them!"
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Re: Date Interrupted

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As could be expected, Tom followed along, his features taut and his nostrils quietly pulsating. He forced himself to stay methodical, to employ the tools any decent member of Hope's superteam would have, and to essentially behave like a proper investigator. There weren't any tracks along the park's paths, and the grass at the foot of the Centennial Tree had largely been ignored, left undisturbed safe for the two shoe-shaped depressions in front of the window. His ears also hadn't picked up departing footfalls, so whoever had stolen his staff was a qualified thief.

He eyed the dryad and roane and sighed. "Don't just run off - you won't find our man on impulse alone. Let's take it slow and look at what we've got," he said, his own frustration being palpable.

Conjuring a small plume of flame between two fingers, he tried to light up the footprints' general area to get a better look, only to part with a small and silent snarl of frustration. "Sophia, would you happen to have tweezers and a flashlight, inside? I'd like to borrow them, if you don't mind. We need a trail, or at least a good look at our felon's boot size..."
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