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Armor, gloves. Maybe one day I won't be so dangerous to touch.
[ So then I'll know what your fingers feel like, and vice versa.
Touching others is how Keluuvi chase danger - because of how they're built, and how they're made, any sort of physical contact is perilous. For eons and eons their species had relied on interstellar trade to help assuage the contact-limiting nature of their species, and that had helped them to learn about what they are as a whole (never as an individual, because what would have been the point?). That had ultimately been a factor to their downfall, looking back on it. ]
You gonna take your helmet off?
[ So then I'll know what your fingers feel like, and vice versa.
Touching others is how Keluuvi chase danger - because of how they're built, and how they're made, any sort of physical contact is perilous. For eons and eons their species had relied on interstellar trade to help assuage the contact-limiting nature of their species, and that had helped them to learn about what they are as a whole (never as an individual, because what would have been the point?). That had ultimately been a factor to their downfall, looking back on it. ]
You gonna take your helmet off?
[ He hadn't offered, outright.
The understanding of Dagger's physiology as a danger is one thing- because cutting himself loose of his armor might be a mortal thrill. But that is not what Warriorhead gains from this. Warriorhead comes back because he knows that if he tells Dagger what he wants, he will get it. It is a precious currency for a planetary orphan. Perhaps that is Gliese understands the sentiment, provided the position she is in. But then, even that reason bears complexity.
There is a beat that follows where his head cants. A momentary consideration. But in the end it is stubborn pride and nothing else that would have him say no. Dagger's body is dangerous. But Warriorhead's is strong.
He will not break. He's spent too much time training himself to adapt.
It takes slightly longer than he is used to (Warriorhead doesn't usually remove his armor himself. It's too much work.) but the pieces come apart regardless. Helmet connected to shoulders, to spine, to legs. He steps backwards out of the piece like a flower blooming in reverse and the response is immediate. In response to the radically dropped temperature, his face remains covered- bone the runs down the column of his throat to wrap around his chest. The body's instinctive flutter to protect itself from harm. ]
Would you have complained if I didn't?
I'm supposed to be the one touching you.
The understanding of Dagger's physiology as a danger is one thing- because cutting himself loose of his armor might be a mortal thrill. But that is not what Warriorhead gains from this. Warriorhead comes back because he knows that if he tells Dagger what he wants, he will get it. It is a precious currency for a planetary orphan. Perhaps that is Gliese understands the sentiment, provided the position she is in. But then, even that reason bears complexity.
There is a beat that follows where his head cants. A momentary consideration. But in the end it is stubborn pride and nothing else that would have him say no. Dagger's body is dangerous. But Warriorhead's is strong.
He will not break. He's spent too much time training himself to adapt.
It takes slightly longer than he is used to (Warriorhead doesn't usually remove his armor himself. It's too much work.) but the pieces come apart regardless. Helmet connected to shoulders, to spine, to legs. He steps backwards out of the piece like a flower blooming in reverse and the response is immediate. In response to the radically dropped temperature, his face remains covered- bone the runs down the column of his throat to wrap around his chest. The body's instinctive flutter to protect itself from harm. ]
Would you have complained if I didn't?
I'm supposed to be the one touching you.
I'm hands-off, as always.
You didn't say I can't look, either.
[ It's— beautiful, if Keluuvi had a word for beautiful. The closest approximation to it is "in perfect function," and Warriorhead isn't exactly a working piece or a tool. He catches every removed article of clothing without prompting, at least, sets them aside in the order they're taken off. He's used to this.
Dagger doesn't pretend he's not watching, either. ]
Okay?
You didn't say I can't look, either.
[ It's— beautiful, if Keluuvi had a word for beautiful. The closest approximation to it is "in perfect function," and Warriorhead isn't exactly a working piece or a tool. He catches every removed article of clothing without prompting, at least, sets them aside in the order they're taken off. He's used to this.
Dagger doesn't pretend he's not watching, either. ]
Okay?
Edited 2014-07-20 05:15 (UTC)
FROM: dagger@cdc.org
I never know what you mean and this is not okay with me.
I never know what you mean and this is not okay with me.
You should be careful with things like 'always.'
I'll end up surprising you and then you'll really be pissed.
[ Dagger is nothing if not efficient. It's a quality Warriorhead appreciates, especially provided his own frequent lulls in activity. The pieces of his armor are placed in deliberate order a short distance away and at his sides Warriorhead's hands stretch, flex. The skin at the very tips of his fingertips shifts in the minimal light- what could be mistaken for shards of ice (bone, again) knit together over his skin, case their way up his wrists to fade off at his elbows.
Anticipation.
Where Dagger's bareness highlights his willingness to explore risk, Warriorhead's is the opportunity to be recognized. To be known. Every thought, action, and reaction becomes manifest. There is no armor to disguise it.
He steps forward. ]
Ready when you are.
I'll end up surprising you and then you'll really be pissed.
[ Dagger is nothing if not efficient. It's a quality Warriorhead appreciates, especially provided his own frequent lulls in activity. The pieces of his armor are placed in deliberate order a short distance away and at his sides Warriorhead's hands stretch, flex. The skin at the very tips of his fingertips shifts in the minimal light- what could be mistaken for shards of ice (bone, again) knit together over his skin, case their way up his wrists to fade off at his elbows.
Anticipation.
Where Dagger's bareness highlights his willingness to explore risk, Warriorhead's is the opportunity to be recognized. To be known. Every thought, action, and reaction becomes manifest. There is no armor to disguise it.
He steps forward. ]
Ready when you are.
Ready.
[ And he is, as he sits on the edge of his bunk, arms rested against his knees. The temperature around him lowers by a handful of degrees than it would normally; he'll have to keep track of that if he wants to avoid freezing the whole rover solid.
This close, he doesn't need much light to see. Dagger's core expands in his cavity. ]
[ And he is, as he sits on the edge of his bunk, arms rested against his knees. The temperature around him lowers by a handful of degrees than it would normally; he'll have to keep track of that if he wants to avoid freezing the whole rover solid.
This close, he doesn't need much light to see. Dagger's core expands in his cavity. ]
[ Dagger's core has a distinction unlike any other- but there really isn't a way to describe the sensation. A verbal analysis couldn't possibly do it justice. It's more than sight or sound or smell. It's a drop in pressure and shift in the air. Warriorhead wants to push his fingers into the cracks there, just to see what will happen.
So he does. ]
So he does. ]
FROM: dagger@cdc.org
It's not the only thing, have some patience.
I like him as he is, to be honest.
It's not the only thing, have some patience.
I like him as he is, to be honest.
[ His core contracts, and then expands, and small wisps of. . . something white, and clear, and similar to some kind of liquid slips out of the cracks, twisting around the digits. Dagger knows he has to give a warning for it soon, because once those fingers harden it would cost one of them something vital.
That, and it's extremely cold. Light frost starts covering the exposed metal of Dagger's bunk, the further up Warriorhead's fingers the wisps get. ]
That, and it's extremely cold. Light frost starts covering the exposed metal of Dagger's bunk, the further up Warriorhead's fingers the wisps get. ]
FROM: dagger@cdc.org
Are you actually asking?
Happiness is a little overrated, anyway.
Are you actually asking?
Happiness is a little overrated, anyway.
FROM: dagger@cdc.org
Everything dies at some point, it's just when it dies that people think they can control. And they'd be right.
It doesn't have to be ideal. Ideal is for people who can afford it, or for those who lucked out. If life wants to destroy him, then it destroys him. That's not up to you.
Everything dies at some point, it's just when it dies that people think they can control. And they'd be right.
It doesn't have to be ideal. Ideal is for people who can afford it, or for those who lucked out. If life wants to destroy him, then it destroys him. That's not up to you.
FROM: benjamin.jonathan@cdc.org
Then I'm not actually asking.
He had ideal. [ which is what bothers him the most about this. he had been someone with a life, happiness, fulfillment, and someone else carved that out of him. for what? convenience? dagger's right in that ideal is for people who can afford it, and it's rare. ] Just life? Like what, fate?
Of course it's not up to me. I have nothing to do with him.
Then I'm not actually asking.
He had ideal. [ which is what bothers him the most about this. he had been someone with a life, happiness, fulfillment, and someone else carved that out of him. for what? convenience? dagger's right in that ideal is for people who can afford it, and it's rare. ] Just life? Like what, fate?
Of course it's not up to me. I have nothing to do with him.
Edited (durr html) 2014-07-20 08:16 (UTC)
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