It's like christmas in july except just it's cold and everyone is stressed and there are no presents

[heiresy]

Who: [OPEN] Aymeric and you!
What: Catch-all for non-participants and early losers in the fuckening, but everyone is welcome! Come gloat if you like.
When: All day.
Where: In the guard barracks, outside the castle, Yenh's hut, the inn.
Warnings: Will update as needed!



I. In and Around the Castle
[For the entirely-too-manyth in a row now the weather has been getting unrelentingly colder. So much so that he could barely think as he did his duties. It would do no good to lose his work or the possible trust he had earned with his diligence over this, but the temptation to abandon his post became increasingly difficult. During breakfast, if you are a fellow guard, Aymeric will be trying to get your attention. Maybe there is something they can do about their uniforms...? If you are not a guard, he will try to catch your attention anyway. He has requests to make in his miserable state.]

II. The Village
[Once his terrible, miserable shift is over he will run around the village with increasingly conspicuous supplies. First a couple blankets, then some buckets, and eventually he will be rolling a wooden bath down a road. He comes to Yenh's shack and knocks on the door with his arms very much full.]

III. The Inn
[Much later now, he finds himself at his familiar watering hole. Sure, it cost a lot more than drinking with the other guards in the castle, but the illusion of getting out of the Mistress' reach was well worth it. Here you will see him finally changed out of his guard uniform, but back in the clothing he arrived in. Terribly ironic that he was able to acquire some new clothes the very week it was too cold to wear any of them. He's back to looking very over-dressed and out of place. If you sit near him, he will offer you a drink and a warm, weary smile.]

Comments

[dravanicide]

I did not realize you committed my size to memory. Aymeric, is there aught you need to admit to me?

[Look man, Estinien isn't so insecure he has to worry about the size of his dick he never really uses, ok?]

You speak as if I would turn down my friend in a time of need. Have I ever failed you in the line of duty thus far, Lord Commander?

[Of course, their experiences have little to do with butt-fucking for glory, but the point very shakily remains.]

[heiresy]

[Aymeric turns his head, utterly dumbfounded by those words. He stares wide-eyed at him for some time.]

Truly? I know that we are trading barbs, but I cannot measure if your words are in jest. I had thought that you would simply mock me and turn me away over such matters.

[He looks Estinien square in the face, trying in vain to read the emotion of that damned drachen mail helmet.]

[dravanicide]

[It's not as if Estinien needs the drachen mail helmet to conceal his expression, he's always been pretty apt at keeping his expression under control—it's part of being the azure dragoon after all, keeping emotions in check so that Nidhogg couldn't wyrm worm his way into his mind and all. However, it's surely less of a comfort that Estinien had the advantage of having half his face covered.]

Perhaps. 'Tis not as if it'd be idle propositioning. However, I do think the solution to this damned winter is absurd at best. I supposed those whom have resided here their whole lives would know best in which to resolve these matters.

[Now that the jesting has settled down into something more serious, his tone too has followed suit.]

To shed frivolity for the moment... Doubtlessly I cannot say I would be agreeable to such had you approached me, at least initially. Little did such a solution inspire me to take part in such a competition, as made cleared by my lack of participation.

[There's a pause, before he says the most Estinien thing that he could in this moment:]

Scarce do I see how laying with this woman is the only solution, when killing her ought to bring about the same result.

[heiresy]

I believe that she is the goddess of both spring and winter. It would be as if killing the locksmith ere he could open your door. I imagine that we would be trapped with an eternal winter, as is one of my worst fears if we are to be stranded here indefinitely.

[Aymeric looks at him for a bit longer, his posture slackening.]

You're telling me that I would have had to fight you to get you to help me. That's hardly a desirable position, Estinien. Especially with such a delicate matter... I fear, however, that this will be far from the last time that we will need to bed our way out of trouble.

[dravanicide]

Or her icy hold would disappear entirely and we would find ourselves cursed with summer. A terrible fate, truly.

[But he'll concede if Aymeric pushes the matter further. As for the second part, Estinien glances away, his mouth thinning to a line as he mulls over his next words.

He likes not this situation, but he cannot say he much liked many situations he's found himself in since his childhood, how is this much different?]

Fight? Nay. Convince, perhaps. If you truly needed my assistance, Aymeric, I would not turn you down, even if what you required of me is little and less what I find desirable.

[heiresy]

[he sighs, his knowledge of agriculture too sparse and incomplete to comment on the consequences of eternal summer]

How powerful must the winter's goddess be? There is likely a reason the people here have chosen persuasion over murder even with the powerful magicks and machines here. Mayhap you are right, yet we have little reason to believe that.

[His expression softens into something terribly vulnerable.]

That is something that I have sometimes wondered about without the haziest evidence in either direction. I know you find intimacy undesirable, Estinien, yet placing that aside... Would you more readily oblige me if I were a woman?

[dravanicide]

[Estinien doesn't offer much of a response for the topic of the winter goddess. It's all things they don't know for sure, nothing with any solid evidence either way, and so it's pointless to argue hypothetical things when there's nothing to solidly stand upon.

The next part, however, earns Aymeric a look of bewilderment, as if the question itself were as unheard of as sleeping with a goddess so that the natural flow of seasons can continue.]

Aymeric, little does your sex matter to my loyalty to you. Would you honestly think you being a maiden would prompt me sooner?

[Yes. He completely missed the point.]

[heiresy]

[Estinien, you're killing him.]

This isn't about loyalty, Estinien. This is about your natural inclinations and willingness. So honestly speaking— perhaps you would be more quickly prompted if I were an object of your desires.

[This is embarrassing, but the information would be very much worth it.]

[dravanicide]

[Oh. Now he feels quite silly.

Letting out a grunt of annoyance, he crosses his arms over his armored chest, as if that would offer him some shielding in this suddenly awkward conversation. How did this come to be the topic at hand?

Estinien has half a mind to literally jump out of this entirely...]

You should know well that my object of desires is not so limited to something like that—nor of the same sense in which you speak. Maiden, man, it matters not to me, my desires are scant those of carnal needs, and whether you a man or woman would not make that particular call to arms any less daunting of a task.

[Which is accidentally insulting sounding, but this is Estinien, there's no soft way to put this.]

[heiresy]

[...]

[He knows Estinien well enough not to be too insulted. But it brings up something new.]

There are many men bound by duty whose desires still have pulse. Estinien... I... [A terribly uncouth question hangs on his tongue. He chews and swallows it.]

There is little point in this sort of activity betwixt men when there is little or no enjoyment. I'm not about to coerce you into bed for you to suffer me.

[dravanicide]

[Estinien lets a heavy silence fall between them for a good few solid moments. Feelings have never been a thing Estinien's been good at traversing, let alone things of this nature, and the sooner they can get out of this conversation the better.]

I would suffer much and more for your sake, Aymeric, and if we consider the situation we are in with this ice queen—enjoyment is of little import.

[But there's the question about this line of discussion, because it's sounding much and more like the request for aid wouldn't be aid, but something of the Lord Commander's desires. Which is a nugget of information that Estinien's unsure what to do with.

Which means he'll likely discard it soon after this conversation and pretend it didn't happen at all. Because that's a lot easier than entertaining the thought that Aymeric might have desires for him.]

Let us be done with this topic, I believe we have said enough.

[heiresy]

[And yet he feels like very little was actually sorted for how tiring of a conversation that even was. So Estinien liked both? Neither? He supposes that if he was ever faced with fuck or death that Estinien would come to his rescue.]

[More than that though...]

My apologies, Estinien. I have one more concern before we finish this line of thought. It is perhaps the most integral part. You say you would suffer this sort of thing for me, yet love-making requires... Your spear in its upright form.

[his cheeks burn with the stupidest thing he's said all day. It's not as if he regularly referenced his friends' dicks though.]

Are you... able-bodied... in that sense? If you want me to count on you, I mean.

[dravanicide]

[The questions get more and more baffling, and Estinien can't help feeling a ping of irritation.]

Of course I am, Aymeric! Why would I offer if I were lame in the loins?

[Now he's super done with this, and as such, he turns away from his friend.]

Enough. I will take my leave of you, ere I decide to rescind mine offer.

[heiresy]

Estinien! My dearest friend. Mine apologies...

[he catches him by the arm.]

I hardly meant to insult you so. I meant only to tease out a declaration of your attraction. I will allow you time from me, I just wanted you to know that.