Don't waste your worry on me [OPEN]

[halfheartedmagician]

Who: Asra
When: Throughout the week
Where: Various locations
What: Wandering magician life - namely failing to do anything legally at all
Warnings: None at this point


i.
[Asra isn't terribly concerned about the promise of a reward, but helping someone find a lost pet seems like the right thing to do and offers a chance for exploring. Which is why he's hunting around the harbour, enjoying the smell of salt and water, reminded of the years he spent in similar situations growing up.]

Any luck, Faust?

[He doesn't appear to be talking to anyone else close by, but someone who wanders a bit closer may find a pale snake winding around their leg and hear a faint voice, almost like a whisper in their mind.]

(Found friend!)


ii.
[It's a warm day, and the sun overhead glints off of Asra's jewellery and sends rainbows dancing across the stone walls of the alleyway entrance that he's set up in. He's seated on a brightly coloured blanket at the entrance of the narrow gap, an assortment of trinkets, a few carved masks, and one or two packets of herbs spread out before him. His cards flash from hand to hand as he lazily shuffles them, the bright paints and bits of gold leaf catching the light. Faust curls about his chest and shoulders, her head resting on Asra's shoulder, although she looks up and flickers her tongue at any who stop by.

Sensing someone watching, Asra looks up and smiles, crooks his finger for them to come closer.] Interested in a reading? Or something--

[Before he can finish, there's a shout from nearby.] Oi! I already told you to move on!

[An annoyed looking guard starts towards them and, quick as a flash, Asra is up, the cards disappeared and the blanket gathered up around everything and tied rapidly into a makeshift bag.]

Come on! [Laughing, he grabs for the other's hand and starts running down the streets, seeming to enjoy the sound of chasing footsteps after them more than he probably should.]


iii.
[Maybe it's late, or maybe it's early. Or maybe it's even the middle of the day with the sun warm overhead. It doesn't seem to matter exactly what time it is or even the location, really. Much like a cat, Asra finds places to sleep whenever the mood takes him and it apparently has now.

He's found in various places; curled up out of the way in a huge coil of rope by the harbour, sprawled out under a tree in a park, stretched out on the warm stone surrounding a decorative fountain. Should he be sleeping somewhere more appropriate? Probably. Are you going to wake him up to tell him that though?

...well even if you don't, that guard who looks severely done with the magician's shit right now might.]

Comments

[halfheartedmagician]

[He snorts at Julian's teasing, letting him hide his concerns for the time being. He knows the other man well enough now to know the best ways to find out what he's hiding and that it's easier if Julian's guard is down. And how to get that as well.]

Hopefully what he'd find is you and I asleep. You do need it, Ilya.

[Asra tugs him closer still, pushing Julian into the position he more or less wants him and piling pillows around them both and adding a couple of blankets. Then he curls in close, only hesitating a moment before resting his head against Julian's chest.]

Comfortable?

[rowdyraven]

Spoilsport. I'm not that tired, you know. I could go all night.

[There's the incorrigible waggle of both brows in the wake of his obvious innuendo, but the words break up around a yawn which makes a lie of them, and he does nothing to prevent the magician from pushily arranging him like part of the furnishings. He winds up on his back amidst the pillows, a pile of blankets drawn up around them, and he only stiffens a little when Asra rests his head against the broad expanse of his chest. There's a subtle spike of anxiety in him, at the possibility that feathers may start sprouting overnight yet again, at any time even, that Asra will see it. Feel it--

--but the hardening of his muscles is less intense than earlier, tiredness threatening to sweep over him despite what he'd said.]

Oh, I'm all right. More importantly, what about you? Are you warm enough? Do you need me to move, at all?

[halfheartedmagician]

Ah, my mistake. The yawning must be a sign of how much energy you have and not that you're tired.

[He feels Julian tense as he curls up and Asra lifts his head, still faintly worried about the other man's reactions. It's not like him to reject intimacy, and he wonders what it could be that he's missing.

He hopes that it might wait a little longer, and Asra reaches out to gently press his hand against Julian's cheek.]

All I want is for you to relax, Ilya. Whatever's bothering you, just let it go for a little while and rest. I won't let anything hurt you here.

[rowdyraven]

[That stiffness in him, that distance-- it remains even as Asra cups his cheek in one tawny hand, despite the comforting warmth, the reassurance to be found in something so achingly familiar. But he takes a long, deep breath, tries forcing himself to relax, to will all the hard lines of him to soften. If only to wear down the edges of the magician's evident concern.]

Oh. Hah. I can look after myself, you know. I'm a big boy.

[Though the continued attempts as suggestiveness lack the required tone, only leave him sounding as weary as he looks. Because something is hurting him, tearing at him from the inside out, and somehow he doubts it's anything the magician can protect him from.

He settles back into the nest of pillows and blankets all the same. Tentatively slides an arm around Asra's waist. Less an attempt at intimacy, more an effort to ease the worry he thinks he detects in the magician's voice Something that ought to surprise him, if he wasn't so wrapped up in his own deep-reaching fears.]

But I'll try. To rest, that is. If you want me to.

[halfheartedmagician]

[He sighs against Julian's chest and tilts his head to look up at him, violet eyes searching for some sign of what is bothering the other man and coming up empty. But if Julian doesn't want to share, then perhaps Asra can just offer him some measure of silence and comfort for now, an attempt at peace between them for however long they might be able to manage it.

The arm around his waist is wonderfully, achingly familiar and Asra immediately shifts closer, craving contact he hasn't truly allowed himself to indulge in for years now. It's hard for him to relax as well, but he does try, wrapping his arms around Julian's shoulders and burying his face against his chest, squeezing his eyes closed and letting out a slow, shuddering breath. He can't quite bring himself to admit that he wants closeness so badly, instead settling for a muffled:]

Goodnight, Ilya.

[And a faint hope that maybe the other man will actually sleep tonight and not slip away before he wakes.]

[rowdyraven]

[And Julian tries his best to ignore it, the big wide-open fear in him that Asra will wake up to find his face nestled against feathers, tries not to picture the look on the magician's face, recoiling from him in shock and abject horror. Tries to keep his body soft, to tame the erratic beating of his heart, as Asra curls in closer, arranges himself against his shoulders and chest, tucked in close to his side.]

Goodnight.

[He says it soft and weary-edged, yet despite the bone-deep exhaustion in him, it'll be some time before sleep finally claims him.

But whenever Cain returns he'll find them both here, sleeping like this. And when Asra awakes in the morning it'll be with Julian still sprawled underneath him.]