Hybrid Kingdom PSL

[no1likeme]

{ the “beach” episode }
for some more light-hearted/chaotic stuff happening at the hotel throughout the plot

Comments

[multifoodinous]

An interesting way of maintaining balance... I would say that destruction has an unfair advantage, given that it can always feed itself while progress tends to birth greater need.

[Inari shrugs, an unbothered smile lighting his lips.] But then, there's nothing easier than spotting a plan's weaknesses in retrospect, is there? And I've never been put in charge of building and maintaining an entire civilization, thank goodness for that.

[silvernaphil]

Well, that's what I mean, though.

[David's about to say something unusually frank and unusually complimentary all at once, which means he's keeping his eyes on the ceiling instead of looking at Lucas while he does. Lacing his hands behind his head, he continues:]

This place is crazy, yeah, but right now? This could just be my house, and you could be someone I hung out with before that cult fucked everything up. It's nice.

[There's a definite twinge of melancholy in those last two words. David tries not to think about his friends too much so he can focus on the work itself, but the reasons for it are never far from his mind.]

[candybomb]

(( Lucas breathes out a little laugh. Isn't it David who wants to see what he's been missing while Lucas was being... well, less than obvious. He'll admit to being less than obvious, but that's about it. He's about to say just that when David's fingers brush against his skin like electricity. Something in the air itself changes and all the playfulness that's usually present in Lucas's face is gone. ))

Okay. Hold on.

(( Who needs to walk to David's room when Lucas can take them there much more quickly? ))

[antinostalgia]

(( Dae-hyun was not involved in the cult's take down. He's here for a completely different reason and his stay at this specific hotel is completely coincidental. Sorry, Conor.

What's shocking to him isn't that Conor's alone but... BLINK. ))

You know the owners? Huh. Wouldn't have guessed that. So, um, are you visiting someone or...?

[sirenaic]

Let me tell you a secret.

(( And just to be a little extra about it, Lucifer looks around suspiciously before leaning in and lifting his hand to cup one side of his mouth as he whispers: ))

You can never have enough friends.

[comminuted]

Mhm. [He bobs his head in a single nod. Sorry, Dae-hyun, but Conor's so fiercely loyal to the people who sent Setekh away that all outsiders get the cover story and you counts as an outsider right now.] Asa and Ruth Kohiak, they - um -

[Hoo boy. Is it time? Maybe it's time.]

- it's a long story. But. Do you have time to visit right now?

[silvernaphil]

[This time David doesn't come close to vomiting, but there's still a long moment of disorientation before he can return to what they were doing before. At least they're not - wait, did Lucas really -

- yep, they're not standing but seated right in the middle of David's bed.]

Wow, you're impatient all of a sudden. [David's wicked smile lingers right up until his mouth reclaims Lucas's yet again. He toes his shoes off the edge of the bed, then subtly starts to lean in and ease Lucas's back down onto the bed - if Lucas lets him, because he could just as easily have David on his back in a heartbeat if he's so inclined.]

[silvernaphil]

[David's not offended in the slightest. On the contrary, his mouth drops open in awe and his eyes shine as if he's just found out he's sitting with a celebrity.]

Holy shit... so you're like the Van Helsings. That's so fuckin' cool. [After a pause:] And we're definitely not related, 'cause there's nobody that cool in my family.

[hisbride]

(( If only his relationship with his wife were so understanding... ))

It's um... not a public sort of relationship.

[silvernaphil]

You might wanna tell Sobek that... he doesn't really shut up about you.

[And David didn't need to get so gossipy about it in the first place, so he'll add a quiet:] Sorry.

[theurgie]

(( Emmanuel simply has to remind himself that not acting on his worst impulses is what separates him from Set. Also, this... this really doesn't involve Emmanuel. He's probably the least aggrieved. Oh, but he hated having to witness Set wrought on the people he loves.

That means it's not him who gets to decide the value of Set's words. Perhaps if Emmanuel weren't in such an internal rage, he could recognize the magnitude of the effort Set's making. The courage of it.

Emmanuel unclenches his fingers (when did that happen?) but there's still such unbridled hate burning in his eyes. It isn't his place to turn Set away, as much as he wants to. Horus and Osiris, and all the others, have been through enough. Even now that it's over, here comes Set to put them all through the ringer again. ))

It might be best to forget you ever had a family.

[compositequeen]

[And Set almost, almost informs Emmanuel that it's not his choice to make, but the murder still hasn't left his eyes and Set hasn't forgotten the feeling of his skull splintering under the force of a bullet. For a human, Emmanuel is actually quite terrifying.]

Believe me, I've considered that eventuality. A lot.

[Emmanuel really will kill him if he says why his thoughts have been so haunted by the idea of forsaking them for good - beneath the insanity, the violence, the demented craving, beneath the only side of Set that Emmanuel has ever seen and the only one he has reason to believe exists, Set does love his brother.

He has no right to anymore, but he does.]

[dogsitting]

Of course not! I've been hoping someone'd start getting up at the same time as me but it's not really a human side thing, I guess... anyway, please pull up a seat!

[Once she's comfortably seated, he'll wipe his hands with his napkin and then extend one across the table in greeting.]

I'm Anubis, by the way! Osiris, the sorta leader of this whole thing, he's my dad. I usually live in our afterlife.

[kailo]

(( Of course she matches the gesture, reaching across to take the proffered hand. Her own are warm and soft, not unexpected of hands that needn't do labor. Even the bulk of her healing is done via magic (though she's capable of making potions and poultices and even stitching up a wound). ))

Anubis.

(( There's a musical quality in the way she speaks, but especially in the way she repeats his name as if trying it out. ))

I'm Ianuaria.

(( Yan-yu-ari-ah. Almost like January, in some languages. ))

What do you usually do in your afterlife, Anubis?

[candybomb]

(( It's a little easier to tolerate the feeling of moving through space and time after experiencing before. Even just once.

Yes, they are in David's bed. Did he want to fumble while making out all through the suite? Lucas is just getting them where they're going to end up. Right? Now don't expect him after admitting he likes David to be super serious at all. ))

What? You're the one being all big talk.

[silvernaphil]

[Initially, David's only response is to rest a finger over Lucas's mouth with a soft shh. God, he's got a really nice mouth...

Then he ducks his head to mouth at Lucas's neck and throat, alternating between slightly parted lips and teasing flicks of tongue. All the while he keeps sneaking his fingers just under Lucas's shirt, that sudden shift in his expression right at the front of David's mind. It's both fun and unexpectedly hot to wipe the smile off Lucas's face.]

[candybomb]

(( It must seem stranger to someone who watched all this happen, the way everything subtly went to shit as that cult grew. Lucas has little attachment to anything but candy in the physical world so the cycles, the ebbs and flows of rejuvenation and decay are pretty normal to him. Though, this did happen somewhat suddenly given the short span of time... ))

I'm sorry you and your friends got caught up in this.

[hisbride]

(( Ah, even feeling shy can't stop the warmth that creeps into his features. ))

He's fine. Our social circles are very different. When we're out together, he's always perfectly appropriate. He took it upon himself to make up some story about being a work colleague if anyone ever asks.

"light hearted/chaotic stuff" oops

[silvernaphil]

[Lucas's sincerity startles David at first and he sits up to scan Lucas's face, see if there's any other meaning behind what he said - but no, of course there isn't. He's not an asshole.

... but David's housemates and friends kind of are assholes, which probably doesn't help David when he's trying not to assume the worst.]

Be real with me. How much do you think brainwashing and all that shit can really do? 'Cause sometimes I feel like I must not have known them at all, but I mean... me and Jeremy have been friends since we were eight years old. If I don't know him, I don't know fuckin' anybody.

[silvernaphil]

[Ugh, it's so cute he wants to die, but David can't help but be happy for them. A married, closeted rich dude and an outsider god? Their odds of finding each other were not good, and yet.]

Yep, just like that. Same look on his face, too.

[dogsitting]

[Oh... his name does sound prettier the way she says it. He smiles down at his breakfast for a moment, suddenly feeling shy, but then she says her own name and and realizes he'll have to do the same thing - try it out, make sure it fits on his tongue. Hopefully he won't mess it up too badly.]

Ianu - ari - a. [The soft name gains a few sharp edges when Anubis says it, but he's got the gist.] That's so pretty. I've never heard a name like that before.

Oh, I... well, not much, these days. No one new really comes to our afterlife anymore. But I used to help with the funerary rites and judgment of the dead, and now I'm its guardian when Osiris is away. [After a pause, he rushes to add:] But I've got people watching it now! It's still safe! This is just more important.

[comminuted]

[That little puff of air exhaled through his nose might have been a laugh. Maybe.]

How do you decide who to trust? I don't think I'm very good at that yet.

[patchworkgod]

[This is definitely the most fun that any non-family residents of the hotel have ever seen Osiris have. He bursts out laughing anew when Emmanuel strides calmly out of the pool like a cat trying to hide the fact that it just did something undignified, and it takes all of his restraint to keep from throwing his arms around Emmanuel in an embrace of pure, childlike affection.]

I'm so sorry... but doesn't this mean... [Realization hits and Osiris is almost giggling at this point.] ... that now you'll have to stay out here until your clothing dries?

[daddysubscription]

[Okay, that was unusually charming for her. Sobek'll give her that one. He's laughing with her at this point, not at her.]

Why don't you come have some fun instead of just sitting around judging everybody? You're not hydrophobic, are you?

[His humour may not make it immediately obvious that he's trying to call a truce, though. It still hits the ear as rather brittle. He's trying!]

[daddysubscription]

[Seb (he doesn't mind if he's still Seb to Siwan, even now that his real identity has been revealed) resurfaces and shakes his hair out of his face with a wicked grin, but it immediately softens into something more affectionate when he spots Siwan headed towards him. These may be dark times with darker still ahead, but every day that Seb gets to spend among his family and new friends with his lover as an accepted part of the circle feels dangerously like paradise. How can it not when Siwan's laughing and beaming as if he hasn't got a care in the world?]

Baaaaabe! [He reaches out his arms as he wades closer, then wraps them around Siwan's middle and kisses him with chilly lips that just make the inside of his mouth feel that much hotter.] The only thing better than a pool is a pool with you in it.