#c: allmartyrs

[twilightsunclan-fr]

Homecoming

Ivory sighed in contentment, sinking down in the water so that only his nostrils and upper head were above water. He closed his eyes, blowing bubbles on the surface of the water. He'd had a really great time, tramping through the ghost light ruins, he always had a great time traveling. But the best part was coming home to a nice, hot bath.

And Ophrys had obviously known it was something he very much enjoyed or else he wouldn't have had the ceramic tiled pond put in. Rhys had managed to get Dai to convince Taika to work fire and ice magic into a few more prominent tiles, to control the temperature of the water. A nearby river had been diverted to feed water into the pond and then swirl out into a smaller stream that joined back up to the river further in the tangled woods. 

When not in use it looked like a very pretty decorative water pond. With tiling around the raised lip, the better to keep Bean from falling in, as it was a very deep pond. It had to be, to accommodate Ivory's size. He couldn't swim in it and it was only deep enough for the water to cover him if he laid flat on his belly and lowered his neck accordingly. But it was absolutely perfect for soaking the dirt and dust of his travels away. And relaxing sore muscles.

Angry squalling made him lazily open an eye.Bean was leaning up against the lip of the pool, her legs too short to fully propel her over. Ivory watched with amusement as she paced back and forth in front of a short section of the lip. Muttering to herself and occasionally yelling at him.

"I'm totally fine you know." Ivory burbled into the water. Bean was only doing this because she hated baths and assumed Ivory must as well. It was adorable, and made him feel loved, but it was also really annoying. If not distracted she'd do this the entire time and he wouldn't get any peace at all.

"No worries bigcousin!" Martyr tramped into view, streaks of dirt from the garden decorating her scales. Her two sets of bright purple eyes gleaming with good nature. "Will take carelookafter littlebig mouth." She swept Bean up in one arm.

"You haveenjoy quietpeace time now. We go playdig in garden!" Martyr winked with one set of her eyes, tapping her snout with a claw. "Is new areaplot. Plan for to be orchard. Shhhh! No tell though. Is clan surprise!" Ivory nodded slowly in the water, watching as Martyr walked away, Bean wiggling indignantly under one of her arms.

Now that that little troublemaker was taken care of, he could turn his attention to the real business of relaxation. A shadow fell over him, he reopened his eye to find Ophrys looming over him. Without his usual long scarf and gardening pouch, Ophrys leaned down, and Ivory feeling more then a little playful spat a stream of water, right into his face. Rhys started back, shaking his head and snorting.

"Sorry babe." Ivory spoke into the water. "Couldn't help myself." Rhys snorted again, fondly this time. And then he was gracefully sliding into the water next to Ivory. "Okaaaaaay," Ivory drawled, rising his head above water to arch an eyebrow in Rhys' direction. "Who are you and what have you done with my mate?" Rhys only bumped his shoulder against Ivory's.

The thing was Rhys, like Bean, hated baths and usually pretended to be doing something else faaaaaaar away from the bathing pool when Ivory came home. He never willingly climbed into it, Ivory always had to wrestle him under the water and scrub as quickly as he could before Rhys broke free and made an awkward run for it.

Instead of answering, Rhys produced the scrub brush, and much to Ivory's surprise and delight, began to carefully soap and scrub him. Using the flat of his palm to feel first, then following with the brush to make sure he didn't miss a spot.

"Nevermind," Ivory sighed, sinking back down into the water. "Keep doing that." He hummed happily when Rhys got to a dried patch of ectoplasm right behind the joint of his wing that had been making him itch for the last week. "That's-that's the spot." He mumbled into the water. Stretching his neck out to give Rhys better access.

Ivory fully expected Rhys to leave once Ivory was shiny clean. But he didn't, in fact he soaped up his claws with shampoo and got to work on Ivory's mane."Damn Rhys," Ivory arched his neck into Ophrys' claws, loving the attention. "What did I do for this?" Rhys paused and careful with a claw wrote out a short hand answer on Ivory's shoulder.

(Missed you.) He gently pressed Ivory under the water, to work the bubbly foam out of his mane. 

"So I should stay out longer?" Ivory asked innocently, and got splashed with a wave of water from Rhys' tail in response. "Okay, okay. I couldn't stay away any longer anyway." Ivory laughed, bumping his muzzle against the underside of Rhys' jaw. "I missed you too."

(Got you a present.) Rhys told him. Once Ivory had shaken the excess water off and was laying himself out on his favorite sunning rock to dry.

"Oh yeah?" Ivory blinked sleepily, and yawned, his lips pulling back from long sharp fangs. "What is it?" Rhys disappeared down the den mouth and popped back up before Ivory could drift off into a post bath nap. He held out a small package, neatly wrapped in one of the traveling vendors red scarves. Ivory gently pulled the tie open and unfolded the scarf. In the center of the red was a large bone comb.

It was polished, with intricate carvings that had probably felt nice to Rhys and led to him choosing it. But the teeth where long and thick with a shorter fringe to the top. Perfect for working out knots and tangles in hair.

"Oh babe." Ivory breathed, holding it up to the sun to examine it closer. "It's beautiful." He looked over at Rhys, who was sitting with his head bowed, a ruddy red blush showing through his dark scales. Rhys who bought this solely for him. Bean didn't have a mane and neither did Rhys, this was only for Ivory. 

Ivory nuzzled Rhys in thanks, licking his cheek where the scars from his blind eyes ended. "I love it. And you got it yourself, didn't you." Rhys ducked his head in a bashful nod. "I'm so proud of you." Ivory rubbed his head up and down the length of Rhys' neck. Sharing as much of his scent and picking up as much of Rhys' scent as he could. A thrum vibrated deep in his chest, and was echoed in a hoarser way from Rhys. Ivory felt so loved, so content, he wanted this moment to last forever. Later...(What is that sound?)"Bawha?" Ivory mumbled, too blessed out from Rhys' steady combing of his mane to make much sense of what he was being asked.(Oh. Nevermind.) And the combing started right up again, as did Ivory's back leg thumping against the ground in happiness.