15 TWLA 15

"The soul IS a forge!...No, I...get...it... now."

King was looking at Jeremy oddly. He realized he had popped up into a sitting position, wide awake from the coma-like state he'd been in only a moment before. Feeling awkward, Blue Jay was about to ask King how the guy was doing when an oil slick like rainbow sheen smoke billowed out of him and fused into the circle.

Warily, the tyrant asked, "What was that?"

"A powerful person's imprint. It's going to turn this train wreck of a circle into something worth the huge waste of resources it was."

As he told King that, everything, including the torn up frog suits they were wearing, disappeared into a smoky mist. Using the opportunity, he ignored the confused and angry sounding voice of King. He wanted to focus on what the mist was doing, an unintended final lesson from his two hour/year mentor.

One gold and one black marble zipped through the air to smack into the backs of their necks as the mist finally cleared. It was surprising to discover that King's gold armor came from some kind of relic and wasn't his talent at all. It had been badly damaged but Hiidan's imprint had repaired it enough for the secret legacy within to be imparted to its owner.

That wasn't all the lingering power of the imprint had done. Although it didn't carry a legacy, Jeremy found himself the owner of a symbiotic suit ball as well. It was taking some time to digest the inferior suit that had originally been sent in the bag but Jeremy wasn't going to complain about it. The tiny mole attached to the back of his neck before had been the remnant of the one Theo had worn and it was good stuff.

The remaining imprint power warped the circle and its diagrams into a shelter of sorts. The bag was sacrificed in the process but it was worth it. The five chamber orb that replaced it was simple to the point of being basic but served a multitude of useful functions most could only dream of having in their situation.

The middle living space aided in mental clarity. There was a resting chamber that accelerated healing. A bathroom and kitchen finished off the three semi-sphere chambers around the center. An essence restoration room in the bottom served as a meditation/crafting room and power source to the whole thing. When not deployed, it was a black marble that hid inside its owner's head much like King's relic.

As the shelter finished binding to him, Jeremy went to check on King. Much as Blue Jay had been earlier, the tyrant was taking his own little learning coma. Once the 'marble' in his head was good to go, he deployed it and half carried, half dragged King in. He expected some kind of angry freak out over the loss of things and expected that waking up in a nice shelter as part of the explanation would be better than a drying mud wasteland as backdrop.

While waiting for King to wake up, he toured the place and discovered the kitchen and bathroom stocked with supplies he didn't know had even been in the bag but hadn't doubted the origin of. He didn't have to enjoy the place alone for long either. Following the trace of Jeremy and King's water ring, a carnivorous toothed and claw footed black horse showed up with a battered and half conscious Caesar on its oddly 'sticky' back. A few moments later, Rainmaker emerged from the horse form still looking somewhat inhuman.

Both were essence deficient and past first threshold. Escorting them to the sub level of the shelter, Jeremy helped them get the corruption under decent control and left them to meditate in the clean essenced underbelly of the place and took a shower. Seeing no point in putting on a change of clothes when the suit was not too far from being deployable, he slapped on a towel and went to check on King again.

It was strange. But after having been physically safeguarded by the guy coupled with his long dream state training session, Jeremy found himself hyper aware of the tyrant. Things that seemed clear to him before didn't seem so clear anymore. He knew he had been more comfortable around girls and not so much around guys but he'd always figured that was for more 'normal' reasons.

He had spent a good portion of his early teen years being raised by a nun and thought that her influence is what made him 'respectable' and 'respectful' of girls. Blaming his discomfort around boys on his antisocial nature and lack of friendly peers during the hellish early days in the state child care system, seemed natural. It hadn't really occurred to him until that moment, staring down at a defenseless and exposed King, there might be other reasons for that nervousness.

It seemed that he had been under a powerful self denial caused by ignorance and subtle influences to think and behave certain ways. As wonderful and amazing as Celeste was, she was still a devout catholic at heart. It wasn't that she hadn't been open hearted and accepting of those that were different but traditional values bled from her every pour. A more religiously acceptable and, often times, rationally convincing explanation for issues he was having, knee jerk reaction-ed out of her mouth.

Add that he had been laser focused and desperation driven for some kind of success in a world seemingly bent on robbing him of any chances he had, it was a potent combo for erroneous thinking. A flash of realization had been all it took. There wasn't a choice of stuffing it back into the subconscious box it had been lying in all those years.

Somewhat petrified at the earth shaking epiphany, he missed the moment King opened eyes and caught him ogling yet again. But, unlike times before, there was no leer or amused glint in the man's eye. In a blur, Jeremy found himself pinned into the bed belly down.

King settled his weight to further immobilize Blue Jay. Warm contradictions in softness and firmness, so thoroughly encompassing, stole his ability to think rationally or even move after a moment of reflexive struggle only served to create even greater and more unfamiliar contact. The meeting of the forbidden with the taboo sent electric tingles throughout Jeremy's body, as his mind filled with a kind of nameless excitement and terror he'd never felt before. A subtle, earthy musk and hot breath against his ear, dried his mouth and stole his voice.

In a low, quiet baritone growl, King whispered, "The things you saw, what we experienced, you keep them to yourself. Our secrets are too tangled together now. I don't want to hurt you, Blue Jay. But, I will if I have to.

"Knowing too much magic might get you killed. But, artifacts and inheritance? Operators scheme against and kill each other for those. Our fates would be worse than death... Do you understand?"

After a few breathless failed attempts to agree, Jeremy weakly headbutted the mattress repeatedly in an emphatic nod. King gave a grunt of understanding approval and was about to say more when he froze, taking a few deep inhales through his nose.

Chuckling darkly, the tyrant pressed against him a little more intensely, instinct and interest slowly stirring to life and intruding into the conversation.

"THAT would be a neat and clean answer to our problems, wouldn't it? I don't intend to let you leave my side anyway. If you were mine, it would make more sense and draw less threatening questions. The more birds with a single stone the better.

"Do you want to be mine, little bird? My stones have been getting a little restless lately. If you say yes, I'll strike them against you until we're both fully satisfied."

Jeremy may have been in denial and a bit delusional about some things but he knew exactly what King meant to do. It was all too new and far too much. Yes, he was excited but he was also scared out of his mind. He definitely wasn't ready for the kind of thing King was revving himself up for.

While he tried to gather the ability to speak, move, something, Raimaker's shrill and horrified voice said, "King, what are you doing!?"

Blue Jay didn't know what look they shared but the Tyrant leaned his head in and bit the back of his neck with a bruising and skin breaking intensity.

As Jeremy sharply gasped in rigid shock, the tyrant levered himself off and muttered about needing to cool down. Rainmaker was all too happy to show King where the bathroom was. Jeremy was left alone in the room, reeling and confused.

Reaching back, he felt the bite. Drawing away a small spot of blood and some saliva where King had quickly swiped the bite with his tongue as he let go, Blue Jay's sight went blurry. He was humiliated and scared. He hated that a small part of him liked it. He felt self loathing that a small sliver of him wanted to give in and be little more than the man's possession, to have King's protection.

Memories of a small parade of the 'real men' his mom seemed to fall for and get abused by, ran through his head. He felt like he maybe understood her a little better. He promised himself and his mother that he'd be better than that.

Wiping the tears away, he stomped to the bathroom door and said, "I might like you... a little. But, don't get ahead of yourself! The only person I belong to is me."

The door of the bathroom flew open as a red eyed and wet King looked down into Jeremy's dark, glassy ones. "Ahead of MY-self!? I've NEVER asked another man to be mine like I have you. If you refuse, don't bother thinking I'll ask again."

Trembling but resolute, Blue jay said, "Then don't."

King reached out to snatch him up like had happened once before. With no clothes to grab, the tyrant hesitated a moment but wrapped a light yet steel vice grip around Jeremy's throat.

Thinking furiously to cobble together the best threat he could, King paused long enough for Jeremy to say, "This is how my mom died. The big, strong man who she thought would keep her safe, strangled her to death in the bathroom over some dumb little thing."

Speechless, King dropped his hand.

The tyrant's mental gears ground trying to shift thoughts in a way he'd never had to before.

With a watery smile, Blue Jay added, "If you're going to end up killing me anyway, the least you could do is get it over with before I did something really stupid like fall in love with you first."

Seeing that King had nothing to say and wasn't stopping him, he turned and walked away. A moment later, his suit activated for the first time, coating him in a sleek and intimidating darkness. He decided to go for a walk and no one felt up to convincing him not to. There was a slightly dangerous and desolate aura around him that even managed to pebble King's skin a little.

With a secret smile of schadenfreude in her heart, Rainmakers said, "He's no longer young inside. I won't interfere anymore."

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