#halloween 2024;; taliesin

[kresnikxkaden]

This wasn't Kaden's first trip out to Euphoria in the evening for someone getting too intoxicated and causing problems. And it certainly wouldn't be the last. One of the reasons why he hated Halloween or any parties, really, especially in Krovs. Maybe it was the fact he knew more of the faces here personally (not by choice entirely) than he would've back home in Texas. Even then he'd collect his regular troublemakers that he wouldn't socialize with outside of a weekend evening picking them up from a bar.

It wasn't hard to spot the person described by the bouncer as he rolled up on the scene. Middle Eastern man dressed in bright pink with wings and a load of glitter looking like he could barely stand on those heels. Definitely a slave given the collar around his neck and an unclaimed one at that. Though still dressed as Eddie Munson, Kaden held up his badge clear as day for Taliesin to see that he was not a pretend cop. "Officer Valentine," he introduced himself. "What's goin' on here?" he asked, looking between Taliesin and the bouncer who'd separated him from the pack.

@taliesin-mistry

[gwyndolence]

for @taliesin-mistry

"I don't think they should be too high. You've worn heels before, haven't you, darling?"

Gwyn squinted down at the contents of the makeup bag he'd dumped over his bed, posing the question casually over his shoulder as he rifled through the phenomenal amount of eyeshadow pots he'd totally forgotten he owned. Taliesin had been banished to the bathroom almost as soon as the guards had delivered him to try on his costume before the sith got his hands dirty doing the pretty human's makeup. Dair would be joining the party eventually, but seeing as his costume involved little more than a shiny pair of gold shorts and his own good looks, Gwyn had thought it all the better to pat the nephilim on the ass and give him the early evening to himself.

For now, they had the suite to themselves and Gwyn could properly appreciate the sight of Taliesin wiggled into the skimpy pink one-piece he'd be wearing for the night, grinning and giving him a wolf whistle as he patted the bed beside him. "What do you think? Leave the shoes off for now, actually, let me make you gorgeous first."

[ravisurendra]

Gwyn. Taliesin had said that name multiple times. "Is Gwyn one of them?" Soren asked, then grimaced at himself, "One of the... masters up there?" Nothing Taliesin had described this mysterious man doing was cruel exactly - but reckless, absolutely. And that was only one of the names his brother had been tossing around that he knew he needed to learn. Especially if it was someone taking an interest in Taliesin. Soren thought what he'd been wearing was humiliating enough, at least if he'd been in his shoes, but he wisely decided that didn't need voicing.

Soren wasn't sure what to read in the expression Taliesin had on at the mention of the next man. Embarrassment? He continued listening and barely stopped himself from raising his eyebrows at the idea that his brother had managed to stumble into something romantic in a place like this. That...might complicate things. Rather than let the unconfirmed suspicion derail his thoughts again, Soren nodded, tried to stay all business, "If we have to, I can bring you back to the club later. See if we can find your more-than-friend. But we aren't going to rush it, there's options. You should rest first."

"Well, Gwyn wanted me to fit into the outfit, and we needed the tape to make it work, so... Honestly, I'm grateful. At least I liked the look. You should see what some people put their slaves in. Gareth puts Finn in the most humiliating things." Taliesin watched Soren's face, suddenly aware of all those cringing expressions, the way he seemed to wince whenever the word slave escaped Taliesin's mouth. He paused, scratched the back of his head, sheepish, burnt his mouth, again, on the tea.

Taliesin sighed. He wasn't quite sure how to explain what was going on with Adra. It felt... Well, there was a closeness he'd never had with anyone before, except for Soren. Now, all at once, Taliesin felt the burning sensation of shame colour his cheeks. Had he been replacing Soren all this time? "I don't know. Sometimes I feel like he's my only friend. Maybe more than a friend. The other sl- guys don't like me much, on the whole. We were going to meet in the club. Adra said he'd never been drunk. I hope he's okay."

[kresnikxkaden]

"You don't have to," Kaden said. That pretty much gave him the answer he needed that Taliesin would not be taking him up on his offer. He turned his attention towards his cruiser at the sound of his radio going off. Another call elsewhere as the chaos in the night picked up and there was another fight breaking out in Cannabites. Suddenly Taliesin as a priority dropped a few notches on his list since he hadn't caused any violence. He scrubbed a hand over his face with a sigh, walking back the few steps so he could answer the call. Might as well since he was right near the location and he liked keeping busy. "Alright, kid, I gotta get goin' so you're off the hook. Just be careful, it's amateur hour tonight."

Taliesin looked between Kaden and the cruiser, his hands clutching his upper arms. The lights were blinding, let flashing floaters in Taliesin's vision when he looked at them a moment too long. It was almost like being eighteen again, with the police turning up to break up an out of control house party. He shook his head, almost involuntarily. His parents had never cared how he got home when he was out partying, but he knew that if it was ever in a police car it would be more than his life was worth. Right now he'd regressed to being that nervous, frightened teenager. "Do I have to? Everyone's going to be so mad at me." Where was Gwyn? He was supposed to be with Gwyn.

[kresnikxkaden]

"Somewhere warmer than this," Kaden said. He bet if he told Taliesin the real location that the slave would revolt and have another meltdown. He wasn't going to force this kid into his car when this incident would be the least of his problems to deal with tonight. His cruiser sat only a few feet away from himself and Taliesin, red and blue lights still flashing and bouncing off the club's outer walls. He backed up to open up the back door, raising a brow at the younger man as he waited for him to get in or not.

Taliesin watched Kaden, a deep wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. His makeup had migrated down his face a little and everything he touched came away covered in a layer of glitter. His wings, fortunately, were still mostly intact, no matter how inconvenient they were, and the tucking tape was still doing its job, even if he'd multiple nip slips since he'd been speaking to Kaden. The drugs were still going strong in his system. However much of a mess he looked, however cold he was physically, however sore his feet were going to be when it wore off, Taliesin couldn't feel any of it right now.

"Somewhere else?" He blinked at Kaden like he wasn't following his logic. He looked back over his shoulder at the club. The music was still thumping behind him. He'd been looking for someone. Looking for... He couldn't remember right now. "I was supposed to meet someone..." He shook his head, trying to get some clearer thoughts loose. "Maybe I wasn't supposed to meet them here?" His stomach rumbled. Now he thought about it, he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. "Where are we going?"

[kresnikxkaden]

"I see." Kaden snapped his notepad shut. He found nothing incriminating to formally arrest Taliesin but he wasn't about to let the human go back to partying. Not when he knew now that the slave was on drugs mixed with alcohol and the kid seemed to have no emotional control or a solid memory of events. Whoever this Gwyn was, he'd be radioing that over to Ransom as now he had a name to go with whoever had been passing out pills to folks this evening. "Well, that won't be happenin' again, alright?" he reassured the younger man gently, holding out his hand towards Taliesin. "C'mon, kid, let's get you somewhere else and preferably warmer than out here." And if Taliesin didn't cooperate, well, Kaden wouldn't force it. He'd have a dozen more of these calls before the night was over and he'd learned he couldn't save everyone.

Taliesin closed his eyes, swaying on his creaking heels. He felt incredibly warm, clammy, but if anyone had touched him in that moment his skin would have been cold as ice. "No alcohol. Wait. No. Might have been alcohol in the last drink. Someone else bought it. I just wanted coke." He was trying to centre himself, but he just kept spinning away, caught in the gravity of the molly, the manic episode of his evening. "Gwyn gave me a pill. When he rented me."

"I... Uh..." He opened his eyes, tried to focus on the police officer. The big guy. Who was the big guy again? Oh right, the one who... Tears started to well up involuntarily in Taliesin, completely unable to get a handle on his emotions with the drugs in his system. "I think he thought I was hitting on his boyfriend. I wasn't. I was just dancing."

[kresnikxkaden]

"That depends," Kaden replied, raising a brow. He glanced back behind Taliesin at the bouncer that he'd take it from here; he'd already heard one side of the details of the encounter that brought him out to Euphoria in the first place. He took out a small notepad and pen, jotting down a few words. One more look at the slave told him that he was pretty intoxicated with bloodshot wide eyes. "How much have you had to drink this evenin'? Have you consumed any other substances besides alcohol?" The kresnik felt like he was swimming through gelatin peeking through the other's mind. "Why do you think this "big guy" did that to you?"

Taliesin hadn't been drinking. Well, he'd been drinking intentionally. The last glass of coca-cola might have had some vodka in it, but that was a misunderstanding. He knew better than to mix taking party drugs with knocking back alcohol. How he'd ended up sitting on the floor of the club hyperventilating was... Well the man had been all up in Taliesin's face. He'd been yelling, but Taliesin hadn't been able to process what he was saying, shoving him into other people. Before that he'd been dancing with a different man. Flirting, getting along, he thought...

And then the bouncer had been manhandling him outside. Which was probably a good thing because right now, presently Taliesin was far too warm. He reeled back from the badge being pushed in his face, dizzy, discombobulated. "I don't know. I was dancing. And then this big guy was screaming in my face and pushing me. I was having a good time." Taliesin looked like he was going to cry, probably because he was. He'd been having a good time and now it was ruined. "Am I in trouble?"

[ravisurendra]

Even with Soren closer to sharing his brother's preferences than Taliesin realized, the elder Mistry was still far more separated from any kind of gay culture besides what he brushed up against in messy, infrequent nights at a certain kind of bar. He immediately pulled a face, more than mildly distressed by the picture (and sensation) invoked by Taliesin's explanation. "Tape?" He asked incredulously, "You're telling me you wanted to fit into that outfit so badly, you were taping your dick down to make it work?" He cringed even as he was passing over the fresh mug, clearly trying hard to not imagine what exactly that would feel like.

Soren quickly latched onto the next subject in an effort to leave that one behind, not that what Taliesin was saying now was any less mystifying. Hearing him say 'another slave' still agitated Soren, like hearing someone play a sour note on an instrument, but Taliesin's halting word choice after that seemed more important. "A friend of yours, then?" Soren assumed, feeling a small flicker of relief that his brother had at least one person he was presumably connecting to, "Where were you supposed to meet?"

"Tucking tape. Did you really think that my dick was keeping itself in this romper, in defiance of all known laws of physics? Sometimes I think you're willfully oblivious, Soren." In normal circumstances, Taliesin relentlessly teased Soren about his ignorance of queer culture, about his seemingly dogged devotion to heterosexuality and yet somehow nonexistent love-life. At least, that was Taliesin's point of view, trying to look in through fogged up windows.

He was lucid enough for proper conversation now, although his energy was obviously flagging. He accepted the mug, and immediately made the same mistake of taking a sip and burning his mouth in his eagerness for it. That was the story of Taliesin's life, getting hurt in his over-eagerness for his desires. He tried to think back to what he'd been told, but couldn't summon the information to mind. Then all at once he remembered that he'd promised to meet Adra, that Adra was keeping track of getting them back to the castle. "I was going to meet my..." He trailed off. Boyfriend? No, that surely wasn't right. Something. "This guy. Adra. Another slave. We're... Close."

[gwyndolence]

Gwyn doted over him for those few warm, loose minutes, amusing himself soothing Taliesin's hair back into place, rubbing away a smear of lipstick to put the look back to rights. It was remarkably endearing, that loopy way the slave batted his eyelashes at him as he seemed to finally come down from the orgasm Gwyn had pried out after all that initial protest. "Hello to you too," The sith tittered, pressing a kiss to Taliesin's blushy cheek, "Was that good? It certainly looked good, from where I was sitting."

He tilted his hips into Taliesin's again as if to emphasize, another lazy grind against the pink silk. The more urgent edge was off his arousal now; he almost felt like he was drifting with the slave in a warmer, hazy place. "Do you want to?" Gwyn cocked his head with a pleased smile, taking one of Taliesin's hands and guiding it to the sith's bare stomach, just close enough to touch, "Just like this? Should I make a mess of your pretty thighs instead, before we clean up after your mess? Or would you rather I be patient and let you take me in your mouth instead while we drive down into the village... so long as you don't ruin your makeup."

The moment the compulsion dropped, Taliesin's hands moved, unbidden, to cover his nipples. He wasn't sure he could handle doing that again, at least not for a while. It wasn't a conscious action, not with Taliesin still miles away, floating off somewhere that Gwyn couldn't follow, dazed and rhythmically curling and uncurling his toes.

Even if he wasn't entirely present, he unconsciously pursued affection, leaning into Gwyn's pleasing, petting touches. Taliesin behaved like a pet just coming around from sedation. After a few minutes he looked up, blinked at Gwyn, still confused. "You didn't...? Do you want me to...?"

[ravisurendra]

Soren snorted at Taliesin's umbrage, as much as his brother's snark tugged at that little dangling guilt of keeping secrets from him still. Now was absolutely not the time to start thinking about coming out to him. Quite possibly it was the worst time, not that Soren was comfortable thinking too hard about what would be the right one. He shook his head instead and moved into the kitchen still, snatching the still-steaming kettle off the stove to fix his own drink. He was lost in his own thoughts when that ripping-paper noise came from the living room followed by a relieved sound, and Soren immediately leaned out of the kitchen again with a flare of concern, kettle still in hand.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded, the incredulity on his face wavering just a bit at Taliesin's expression and the way his joggers were puddling around his feet. Taliesin was past his twenties now but the difference between the two of them still made his brother look like he was playing dress up when he tried on Soren's clothes. Whatever the fuck it was, he didn't seem massively concerned... Soren quickly dipped back and fetched his mug, trying not to let his imagination go too wild before he answered. Taliesin's question was more deserving of his worry either way.

"Where did they tell you to go at the end of the night?" The last thing he wanted to be thinking about during the little time they had together was how quickly he'd have to let him go again, but they'd both have bigger problems if Taliesin seemed like he'd gone missing.

Taliesin raised an eyebrow at Soren. He knew that Soren thought he was silly, childish, immature, but really? He thought he was actually using nerf darts for his own amusement? He shook his head, before considering that maybe watching Mrs Robinson scamper down the corridor at high speed after them did constitute his own amusement. Still, he pouted. "Yes. I'm not a baby." Since Taliesin could remember, he'd been reminding Soren that he wasn't a baby, even when he was. That was what a seven year age gap did to a younger brother - it made him eager to cast his plastic animals and teddy bears aside, at least when other people were watching. Taliesin seemed to have grown up all at once in his early teens, transitioning from a shy, sensitive, emotionally young thirteen to a precocious, moody, sultry, even, fourteen. He'd wanted to be seen, ogled.

Not now though. He frowned down at his own bare legs. The main problem he was having was that he didn't dare let down the tape that was holding his dick in place without... Something to cover his legs. And it was horrifically uncomfortable now the molly was wearing off. "It's fine. It's not like you haven't seen it before." Taliesin had been the kind of toddler that would escape, naked, at intervals. "Fucking straight men, pretending like they don't have their own penis. You can make more tea if you want." He did turn around, to prevent Soren from actually getting an eye full, once he'd lifted Mrs Robinson off his lap. Calmer than before, she moved across the room to gaze wistfully out of the window, scheming her cat schemes. The tape came away from Taliesin's skin with a loud ripping noise, which sounded much worse than it was. Taliesin groaned in relief, somehow coordinating his tired limbs into the fabric. Soren's trousers did look ridiculous on him.

"Thanks. I can feel my cock again." He stuck his tongue out at Soren childishly, more relaxed now, beginning to fall back into his usual demeanor. Soren was one of the few people that Taliesin was comfortable being, well, silly, around. Then a sudden wrinkle of worry deepened his brow. "How am I going to get back to the castle?"

[ravisurendra]

Soren grumbled good-naturedly, still squinting at the rumbling cat for a moment as if deciding how much trouble she was worth before he sighed and went for a pen instead. He probably shouldn't have been surprised by the extent of the Missus' demands. "Figured out the laundry thing the hard way," He admitted, brows lifting to high heavens at the last edition, "Nerf darts? That's what you were using those for?" Soren asked incredulously. He sighed and then wrote it down anyways, shaking his head in chagrined amusement. Why not have a plastic child's toy lying around for Tal's cat. It wasn't like he was going to have dates over asking questions about the thing.

He glanced up from his note-taking at the pained note in Taliesin's voice, the brotherly show of annoyance replaced immediately by concern. "Trousers?" Soren's eyes flickered down over him again, managing to hold back a wince at the shadows of bite marks so visible on his neck, "Yeah, I can that." He disappeared to rummage briefly through his things, wrangling up a baggy pair of sweatpants that would likely drown Taliesin but would at least be warm. Soren would want to be drowning in fabric, personally, if anyone dressed him in something remotely like what his brother wearing. "Might have to tie these tight, but it'll do," He said once he'd returned, passing them over, "You want a little privacy?" A moment's hesitation, then he reached out, ruffling Taliesin's hair with a gruff sort of affection, "I can make us more tea. Bet that's gotten tepid now." With the worst of the emotional outbursts behind them, Soren quite frankly needed some too.

Taliesin glanced around Soren's apartment, trying to take it in beyond it's cramped ugliness now that he was starting to feel a little more sober. The weight and rumbling warmth of Mrs Robinson on his lap was helping to calm his anxiety. It was part of the reason he'd got her in the first place. A friend had suggested it when Taliesin had unwittingly let slip quite how badly he suffered with anxiety. The cat seemed to know what her job was without the two of them ever having discussed it. Now that he was looking, Soren's apartment seemed to be mostly boxes, but nothing that it was safe for Mrs Robinson to commandeer as her own. It didn't look like many of her things had made it either. No one had liked her, back in Mumbai, except Taliesin, so Taliesin had gone out of his way to spoil her.

"She'll be missing her window hammock. She likes to be able to see outside. And she likes to sleep on the bed. You have to let her sleep on the bed or she'll take your clothes out of the hamper and sleep on those instead. And you'd better not be feeding her packet cat food. She eats actual meat." He lifted Mrs Robinson up to squeeze her again. She was purring as if she very much agreed with him. "Oh and if you don't play with her enough she'll eat the plants and shred the toilet paper. She has lots of energy. She likes catnip mice and nerf darts."

He reached for his tea again, sipping. Now he was a little more in his body, all the pain was starting to make itself known to him. He hissed, briefly, as Mrs Robinson went up on his chest again, her weight against his sore nipples. He needed desperately to get out of the tucking tape, which was making his entire crotch feel numb, but he was painfully aware that he didn't have any underwear on beneath the skimpy lingerie. Even the hickey Gwyn had left high on his neck above the collar throbbed. "... Can I have some trousers? Please?"

[gwyndolence]

Gwyn hummed his assent at Taliesin's little echo, pressing his smile into the curve of his lovely neck. He'd left a starry trail of light bruises against the tawny skin there, pulling back to admire them and the way Taliesin's back arched to meet his touches. Impulsively, he pulled himself out of the flimsy underthings, a breathy moan escaping Gwyn at the feeling of silk against his eager cock as he ground down against him bare with the next rock. Hands skating lightly over Taliesin's chest, he rolled his hips down against him again and again, as if Taliesin was nothing more than a pretty pillow for the sith to rut against, the begging only fueling Gwyn's lust.

"Good boy," Gwyn purred, voice rich with pleasure, dropping down on an elbow again as he kissed Taliesin's shimmering collarbones first, "Isn't that better, asking for what you want?" He teased out the anticipation, scattering kisses down his chest as his fingers pinched the slave's nipples, all pretty and flushed from his constant attention. Gwyn pressed his tongue back to a rosy bud, first just a swirl as before. Then he nipped, quick and playful, before pursing his lips around him and suckling at the poor, abused flesh. It was terribly tempting to throw out the schedule and fuck him properly. How much time would they really waste if Gwyn pressed his fingers inside him next?

Taliesin was feeling gooey, like caramel, under Gwyn's attentions. When he'd done this sort of thing with Karl, this was normally about the time Karl would grow tired of the game and fuck Taliesin. Gwyn seemed hyper-fixated, which only made Taliesin keen. It felt as if everything in Taliesin's body was connected by internal thread to those two points, including his taped-down cock, straining in its confines. His mouth was open, round, ringing with sound as Gwyn sucked at his neck, pressed down against him. It felt alarmingly like encroaching orgasm. Surely not. Surely he couldn't...

"More?" He was perhaps a little stupid right now. Dumbly, he nodded, arching his back up against Gwyn, after just a little more. A little more and... He wanted Gwyn's mouth on his nipples again, to feel that tight wetness, even if it was a cold one. He wanted to squirm, but couldn't persuade himself to disobey Gwyn's command to keep still. Yes. That would do it. Gwyn's mouth on them. "Yeah- Yes. Yes. I can. Please, Gwyn. I need more."

[gwyndolence]

They didn't have too much time before Gwyn needed to get himself ready and collect Alasdair for going down to the village, but the sith was incorrigibly distractable. The only real bit of restraint he was showing in that moment was holding himself back from kissing the boy after spending so much time on his makeup. It would be a pain to do the lips again, no matter how appealing it would be to feel Taliesin's moans instead of just hearing him, to lick into his open mouth while Gwyn played with his chest...

He vented the urge on Taliesin's neck instead, rolling the nipple he'd just made supple with spit steady and relentless between his fingers as he grinded down against his groin more purposefully now. Gwyn's own hardness was obvious through the skimpy underthings that made up his costume, rubbing the bulge of his covered cock against the false smoothness of Taliesin's trapped one with a fluttery sigh of pleasure. "Very good," The praise was soft and syrupy, murmured against the deep pink mark Gwyn had just worried into his skin above Taliesin's rabbiting pulse, "Can you take a little more, darling?"

"Feels... Feels..." Taliesin couldn't concentrate. He was getting glitter all over Gwyn's fingers, not that he supposed that Gwyn minded, seeing as he was the one who'd put it there. His mouth hung open as if it had come off its hinge, the sounds deep and guttural, far more so than Taliesin was usually capable of. At the pinch of Gwyn's fingers, he squealed. His body seemed to want to jack-knife, but couldn't lift itself out of the position that Gwyn had put it in.

More than anything, it was intense, set hot waves of pleasure coursing through Taliesin's body. He closed his eyes, couldn't bare to look at Gwyn as he pressed his mouth against Taliesin's nipple. Taliesin's entire body sparked like a live wire in Gwyn's grasp. "Feels big. Feels so much." He could feel his cock leaking under the tape. It would unstick the glue. He'd have to do it again.

[ravisurendra]

Soren's flurry of annoyance with the cat's frankly unreasonable insistence on hating someone who only wanted to help her was very efficiently disarmed by Taliesin's obvious delight -- these tears, at least, seemed to be happier ones. He stood back and let the two have their little reunion, honestly relieved that the Missus seemed to recognize her master instantly and was as happy to see Tal as his brother was to see her. He wasn't sure the younger would be able to take it if all the sudden his pet turned on him too. And Taliesin was good with her, even in this state, the sight bringing a wistful smile back to Soren's face even as his brow pinched watching the two.

It dropped when the little gremlin hissed at him, Soren sighing heavily and crossing his arms over his chest. "She's got enough fur on her to pull a dog sled in this wilderness without a shiver, if she got it in her mind to do so. But no, no, I wouldn't let her out. Just trying to figure out what, exactly, will make her be satisfied with being in here." He turned over one hand with a mild grimace, showing Taliesin the shallow scratches on the back, "I'd take an instruction manual, if you wrote me one. I'm not up to snuff for caring for royalty."

Taliesin nodded and obliged, wiping his face on Soren's hoodie sleeve. It got rid of the snot, thought it only seemed to move the glitter and makeup around. He drew his legs up to sit cross-legged on the sofa, making his lap a larger surface area. He leaned to watch where Soren was going, his face breaking out in a huge beaming smile as he spotted the white streak of fur bounding down the hallway. It was always funny to watch her move at such speed, like watching someone click a tank into high-gear. As she rounded the edge of a table, she stopped and stared at Taliesin, watching him pat his thigh with the flat of his palm, shocked. Then she hopped up onto the sofa and into Taliesin's lap, her front paws up on his chest so she could butt her head against his face.

"Hello. Hi. Yes, hi Baby." Taliesin was crying again as he stroke her fur, scratching behind her ears as she meowed, loudly, repeatedly, as if she were yelling at him. Where have you been? Where did you go? Don't scare me like that again, he imagined her saying. She bapped him on the nose, gently, he claws tucked away. Mrs Robinson could be downright mean to other people, Soren included, but she'd never so much as scratched Taliesin. He only ever got a dirty look if he accidentally trod on her or tried to give her medication or a bath. He'd had her since she was a kitten, five or six years now. When he was home, and without company, she'd sleep in the bed with him, spend most of the day sitting on him or beside him, when she wasn't on important cat business like yelling at birds outside. "I'm sorry. I know. I know. I'm here now. I missed you so much." Taliesin was getting glitter in her fur as he showered her in little kisses.

Mrs Robinson was emitting a great, rumbling purring noise, like a jet engine taking off. After a few minutes of fussing at Taliesin, she turned around and settled in his lap, facing outwards. She glared at Soren, hissing at him as if the entire situation was his fault, while Taliesin scratched under her chin. "Is the climate okay here for her? She's not cold? You don't let her outside, do you? There's all sorts of things roaming around. Someone might hurt her."

[ravisurendra]

Taliesin tearing up again was the last thing Soren wanted to see but maybe it was inevitable, with all the horrid shit they had to drag into the open. Some of the worst of it hadn't even been voiced yet and he wasn't feeling eager to move onto that tonight. Soren had just made up his mind to try and force the subject to bed long enough for Taliesin to at least calm down a short while before he had to surrender him to the castle again when those words slipped from his brother's mouth. Not his. Not Viraj's? Soren stalled for a shamefully long moment, his hands still heavy on Taliesin's shoulders as he stared into his messy face without really seeing him. The slew of questions that the assertion raised paled next to the very simple truth Soren knew already about their family, about their parents and their icy marriage - all the years he'd spent resenting the way Nisha barely bothered to cover up her affairs.

His half-brother. If it was true... well, it made sense, didn't it? It made sense, in a cruel way. None of the revelations Soren had had recently were kind but by comparison, this one was almost giddily irrelevant. Would he not have done all this if he'd known? The answer seemed so obvious it was almost unworthy of asking: of course he would've still done it, he thought, reassured by the immediacy of his own conviction. Of course. "I'm not going anywhere," Soren said gently, something in him relaxing, strangely, even as Taliesin was spiraling again, "It doesn't matter what 'they' said or who knows it. I'm here for you." Soren shook his head, pulling Taliesin into another embrace, less crushing than the first but just as lingering. In a way, it was incredible to think he'd never suspected it himself. Taliesin fit in his arms the same still, no matter who the hell Nisha had been screwing around with. "There is someone else who came from home, actually," Soren said suddenly, leaning back to catch Taliesin's eye again, "Someone who really wants to see you. But you have to be calm for her, alright?" The next part he added a bit sheepishly, "She's clawed the hell out of me twice already." There was at least one other creature on this blighted earth with some affection to give, even if the damned cat seemed to reserve it for one man only.

All it took was for Soren to raise his voice that tiny bit to yell Taliesin's name for Taliesin to flinch and curl in on himself. There'd always been a twitch when he was on the receiving end of one of his parents' displeasure, usually, and particularly, Nisha, but now it was much worse. He reacted as if he was expecting physical violence, instinctively threw an arm up to shield himself. "I'm sorry," he murmured, taking a few moments to lower his arm, to realise that there wasn't any actual danger. He pulled the hood down, away from his face, seemingly apologetic that he would have thought that of Soren, even involuntarily.

Taliesin's neck had more than one bite mark on it. There were puncture marks at various stages of healing. A few smaller, scabbed over indentations. One prominent hickey that he couldn't remember where he'd got right now. He felt disgusting, couldn't bare to look directly at Soren, was avoiding his eye like some kind of scrabbling animal. He was starting to cry again, brought his hands up to wipe at his face. It came out without Taliesin being able to get a handle on what he was saying. "I'm not- I'm not his." He hadn't believed it at first. But then he'd thought about it. The vampires had no reason to make up lies to hurt him, not when there was more than enough truth to do it. "They told me. They know. I don't know who else knows. I'm not your brother. I'm your half-brother." The thought of Soren coming here when there was only a diminishing amount of blood between them was itching under Taliesin's skin. "You should go. You should go."

[ravisurendra]

It was a bit surreal, just sitting there and watching Taliesin put the pieces together. Maybe Soren should've been explicit, cut right the quick and made things easy. "Not my passport..." Was what he actually said, low and cautious, eyes fixed on Taliesin's face. He got there in the end. Soren sat through the tirade that came and this time he did actually wince, knowing he probably deserved it. It wasn't like Taliesin wasn't saying anything he hadn't thought himself already: that this was monumentally stupid and he was insanely out of his depth and couldn't even fully conceive of the many awful, inevitable ways it could go wrong.

"Listen," Soren started, cut-off by Taliesin's next flood of admonishments, hovering forward with his mouth open to try and get a word in edge-wise as the other's gestures got more and more erratic. The spill was a bit inevitable. "Taliesin!" Soren shot up to take the dripping mug from him, "Listen to me." It went quickly to the coffee table, Soren's hands going to Taliesin's shoulders, fingers bunching in the loose fabric of his own hoodie. He scooted closer, steadfastly ignoring the churning in his gut as his brother's self-loathing words still rang in his ears, "I know it's dangerous. I didn't have a choice. It was this or pretend like all of it never happened and I wasn't going to hate myself every time I remembered you for the rest of my life." He nearly came out and said it, that it had felt impossible to go back to walking in Viraj's footsteps again. The anger was too big, all the built-up resentment that wasn't even totally about what had been done to Taliesin but that their father's betrayal had so neatly unearthed anyway.

Soren took a deep breath, squeezing Taliesin tightly as he studied his tear-crusted face, all Soren's nervous adrenaline trying desperately to go somewhere. The fact that this was a conversation they were having now felt too late. Years too late. "Don't say that. They aren't your consequences to face. He was - it was cowardly, alright? Dad was a coward." It felt phenomenally good to say it out loud, heavy and final, "He agreed to just get rid of you to fix his own fuck up and I knew I would never respect him again for as long as he lived. Never."

Taliesin paused and took a big gulp of his tea, trying to calm himself down. He'd always found English tea calming, soothing, like a hug in a mug. Now that the possibilities were narrowed down, it was a little easier for Taliesin to think, to read between the lines of what Soren was saying. Soren had come by himself, was doing something unrelated to the business, to their parents, who he was calling by their first names, suddenly. No one knew about him being in Krovs. He was living in an apartment that was well beneath his means, and usual taste.

"People will know you're here. You flew didn't you? With your passport." There were people at Krovs that kept a meticulous track of who came in and out. Exactly who they were, where they came from, what their business was - like several of the Councilmen, and the head of security. The only way that they wouldn't know Soren was here was if... Taliesin narrowed his eyes, a sudden rush of anger across his face. "You lied to get here?! You have to leave. This is so stupid. This is so dangerous. Do you have any idea what a squashy little human you are? What they do to people for entertainment?"

More gears clicked into place. He'd been abandoned, by everyone except Soren and Soren had come on a suicide mission. "Go home. Go home right now. This is my fault. I fucked up, I wasn't good enough. I was an embarrassment who never made anything of himself and now I am living with the consequences. You are throwing your entire life away on something so monumentally stupid." Taliesin sloshed his tea over the arm of Soren's sofa, still uncoordinated from the molly, and was angry enough that he didn't seem to notice.