While a long stay wasn't exactly on Sampo's agenda for the evening, it doesn't sound as if he'll be able to pull off another vanishing act. Caelus is smart, keen, human in his needs and desires — which means Sampo's going to have to step up if wants this thing to last more than a day, and he does. The Nameless are far too important an ally for Sampo to lose out on. They're powerful and well-connected, not to mention they've got a place in the history of the galaxy that dear ol' Sampo can't hold a candle to.
So, if playing the boyfriend role a bit more convincingly is what it takes to keep Caelus on his side, he'll do it. It's hardly a burden; he's barely pretending at all. Being around Caelus is fun, easy, sexy... Were Sampo not an opportunist and a roustabout, he might spend more time with Caelus, con or no con. It just works out this way. Caelus is a powerful, important Trailblazer with a seat at many, many tables, and he's a hot, charming young man.
An appetizing mark. )
Sneaky?
You make me sounds like some kind of criminal...
( But isn't he just? Waiting outside the train's gilded walls, listening for signs of commotion, holding until things in the lodging compartment sound still an empty — no March 7th attempting to group everyone together for a photo on her way to her bedroom, no lectures from Dan Heng about the nature of travel. It's not a long wait, but it's a cold one. He's shivering by the time he decides to trapeze aboard the Express and slip into Caelus' room undetected.
You know, like a criminal. )
Geez... Your pal March really loves her photo time, huh? I thought I was gonna freeze out there!
( He's still cold around the edges, but the sight of Caelus warms him up. He smiles. )
[ There are ways in which Caelus is naive, and then there are ways in which he isn't. Truthfully, he's never really expected Sampo to act like a boyfriend. He's not dense; he knows full well that March and Dan Heng would look at him like he sprouted three heads if he announced to anybody for any reason that Sampo Koski is his boyfriend.
But a quick fuck; friends with benefits; love 'em and leave 'em. He figures it's like that. Never fall asleep with a trick in the house probably applies to some degree, too, though Caelus wouldn't use that language, and Sampo isn't a whore. Still, it's true. He probably shouldn't trust Sampo enough to fall asleep around him, or let him on the Express unsupervised. He's aware that mostly everything the man does is with an assessment of the costs and benefits.
Still — even if it's like that, Caelus thinks he's entitled to just a little bit of affection.
He can't stand it. The thought of just being a body.
(Discarded, thrown away, useless, trash. Sometimes in his nightmares no one ever loved him enough to give him a name, and "Receptacle Y" was all that anyone ever called him.)
He's cleaned up most of the stranger elements of his room by the time Sampo arrives; now, if anything, it's slightly too plain, almost sterile in how much it seems like no one's lived in it. His sheets are comfortably rumpled, though, that's a good start. Caelus gets up when he sees Sampo enter, walking over and rubbing the man's cold forearms without really thinking about it. It's not like he's that frisky; it's just an instinctive reaction. Poor baby. Come in from the cold. He's just been sitting in his bed gaming; his hands are warm by comparison. ]
Yeah, she's not happy unless she takes, like, a hundred photos per day. [ A light scoff. ] But maybe you need to wear more clothes.
( Hundreds, hm? What are the chances that a shady, skulking Sampo can be seen in the background of at least one? It's possible, but if things go his way, Sampo will be long gone by the time March gets around to noticing her unwelcome photobomber. )
Aw... I thought the open chest and hip windows gave me an air of mystique.
( He pouts for a moment, feigning disappointment. His outfit is a defining feature of his character, after all! How else is the audience supposed to know he's a slut without a visible V for their viewing vices?
Caelus, in his comfy shirt and boxers, looks far warmer than Sampo feels. Ever his hands over his arms feel nice. )
Well, if it concerns you so much, lemme borrow something of yours. Just this once?
( He's doing his best to keep it down, but that doesn't keep out the timbre leaps and falls of his sing-song voice. Curiously, teasingly, he makes his way over to Caelus' closet. He's got to have something warm in there, right? )
[ ...go through peoples' stuff, he wants to say, but it's already too late; Sampo's opened up his closet. Which, well... yeah, there's clothes in there. He doesn't actually have anything like a big down jacket; Akivili's blessing makes all of the Nameless on the Express pretty resistant to different temperatures. It doesn't actually look like he picked up anything from Jarilo-VI, but he has some Xianzhou-style clothes, nothing too exquisite, just some simple high-collared silk shirts and things that he picked up while running errands for various long-lifers aboard the Luofu. Some garments Guinaifen thought he'd look good in. Next to the Xianzhou-styled stuff, he's got some things from Penacony, quite a number of them still with their tags on. There's a black coat and a white shirt that was reasonably priced. There's a windbreaker that was not reasonably priced.
But nothing like a big, fuzzy sweater for poor Sampo, oh no.
The floor of the closet, though — that's a little more interesting. At first glance it kind of looks like Caelus is keeping random bits of trash in there — but actually, no, it's not trash. He's got a lot of... toys, that's all. Toys kept in trash bags, yeah, but toys. Not those kinds of toys. Actual toys. Discarded toys. A cute sad bear with its paw ripped and hanging from its shoulder; a large cat that needs an ear mended. Some other toys might have actually been fixed. There's a rabbit plush with an eyepatch over one eye poking its head out of one of the bags.
Caelus coughs and averts his gaze. ]
...Can you please not go through my stuff?
i've been wondering about these stuffed animals anD I NEED TO KNOW
( lots of this stuff looks pretty fancy, but it's what one would expect from a space-faring champion of justice. he imagines some items were gifted to him, maybe as reward for his hard work within the communities he'd served, but it's just as likely for caelus to take a liking to something snazzy and use his allocated astral express fund to treat himself. he does have an allowance of some kind, right? these nameless can't be going planetside without pennies in their pockets— )
Sure, I won't, ( he says, actively doing what caelus is asking him not to do. he won't go through any more of caleus' things, if that helps, but this closet is already open. no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube; they're too far gone. )
Hey, what's all this about?
( not the xianzhou digs, or the penacony fluff, but the piles of stray toys he's all but stepped on in taking a closer look at one of those price tags. yowch, he's a big spender when he wants to be.
but back to the toys. sampo gently picks up the rabbit plush, and it's adorable. anyone with eyes could see how wholesome these little fellas are. )
Pretty cute... You workin' on something for the Moles?
( not that anyone needs a reason to have a closet full of toys, but it'd make sense for caelus to take on some kind of pet project for himself with the goal of helping others. he's good like that. )
[ Caelus seems to have briefly short-circuited. He's hiding his mouth behind one hand, looking at the floor instead of at whatever it is Sampo's examining; he seems a bit uncomfortable. He might even have been less ashamed if Sampo really had come across his sex toys in the closet, but something about Sampo finding his stuffed animal collection — apparently — seems to make him even more nervous. ]
Uhhh... yeah! Yeah. The Moles.
[ An unconvincing lie. Caelus is a good liar sometimes, and Sampo probably knows that pretty well — but right now?
Nope, he's not holding it together, and not managing to sound convincing, too. At the very least, he seems to be aware of it; knowing full well that he's about to get called out for lying in a second, Caelus sighs, visibly giving up, and fixes his eyes on the rabbit in Sampo's hand again. He drops his hand back to his side, then sighs, pushing it nervously through his hair instead. ]
That's... yeah. That's probably a better idea than keeping them... That's a good idea.
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tayzzyronth2024-05-29 11:03 pm
no subject
While a long stay wasn't exactly on Sampo's agenda for the evening, it doesn't sound as if he'll be able to pull off another vanishing act. Caelus is smart, keen, human in his needs and desires — which means Sampo's going to have to step up if wants this thing to last more than a day, and he does. The Nameless are far too important an ally for Sampo to lose out on. They're powerful and well-connected, not to mention they've got a place in the history of the galaxy that dear ol' Sampo can't hold a candle to.
So, if playing the boyfriend role a bit more convincingly is what it takes to keep Caelus on his side, he'll do it. It's hardly a burden; he's barely pretending at all. Being around Caelus is fun, easy, sexy... Were Sampo not an opportunist and a roustabout, he might spend more time with Caelus, con or no con. It just works out this way. Caelus is a powerful, important Trailblazer with a seat at many, many tables, and he's a hot, charming young man.
An appetizing mark. )
Sneaky?
You make me sounds like some kind of criminal...
( But isn't he just? Waiting outside the train's gilded walls, listening for signs of commotion, holding until things in the lodging compartment sound still an empty — no March 7th attempting to group everyone together for a photo on her way to her bedroom, no lectures from Dan Heng about the nature of travel. It's not a long wait, but it's a cold one. He's shivering by the time he decides to trapeze aboard the Express and slip into Caelus' room undetected.
You know, like a criminal. )
Geez... Your pal March really loves her photo time, huh? I thought I was gonna freeze out there!
( He's still cold around the edges, but the sight of Caelus warms him up. He smiles. )
Never a dull moment in this place.
no subject
But a quick fuck; friends with benefits; love 'em and leave 'em. He figures it's like that. Never fall asleep with a trick in the house probably applies to some degree, too, though Caelus wouldn't use that language, and Sampo isn't a whore. Still, it's true. He probably shouldn't trust Sampo enough to fall asleep around him, or let him on the Express unsupervised. He's aware that mostly everything the man does is with an assessment of the costs and benefits.
Still — even if it's like that, Caelus thinks he's entitled to just a little bit of affection.
He can't stand it. The thought of just being a body.
(Discarded, thrown away, useless, trash. Sometimes in his nightmares no one ever loved him enough to give him a name, and "Receptacle Y" was all that anyone ever called him.)
He's cleaned up most of the stranger elements of his room by the time Sampo arrives; now, if anything, it's slightly too plain, almost sterile in how much it seems like no one's lived in it. His sheets are comfortably rumpled, though, that's a good start. Caelus gets up when he sees Sampo enter, walking over and rubbing the man's cold forearms without really thinking about it. It's not like he's that frisky; it's just an instinctive reaction. Poor baby. Come in from the cold. He's just been sitting in his bed gaming; his hands are warm by comparison. ]
Yeah, she's not happy unless she takes, like, a hundred photos per day. [ A light scoff. ] But maybe you need to wear more clothes.
no subject
Aw... I thought the open chest and hip windows gave me an air of mystique.
( He pouts for a moment, feigning disappointment. His outfit is a defining feature of his character, after all! How else is the audience supposed to know he's a slut without a visible V for their viewing vices?
Caelus, in his comfy shirt and boxers, looks far warmer than Sampo feels. Ever his hands over his arms feel nice. )
Well, if it concerns you so much, lemme borrow something of yours. Just this once?
( He's doing his best to keep it down, but that doesn't keep out the timbre leaps and falls of his sing-song voice. Curiously, teasingly, he makes his way over to Caelus' closet. He's got to have something warm in there, right? )
no subject
[ ...go through peoples' stuff, he wants to say, but it's already too late; Sampo's opened up his closet. Which, well... yeah, there's clothes in there. He doesn't actually have anything like a big down jacket; Akivili's blessing makes all of the Nameless on the Express pretty resistant to different temperatures. It doesn't actually look like he picked up anything from Jarilo-VI, but he has some Xianzhou-style clothes, nothing too exquisite, just some simple high-collared silk shirts and things that he picked up while running errands for various long-lifers aboard the Luofu. Some garments Guinaifen thought he'd look good in. Next to the Xianzhou-styled stuff, he's got some things from Penacony, quite a number of them still with their tags on. There's a black coat and a white shirt that was reasonably priced. There's a windbreaker that was not reasonably priced.
But nothing like a big, fuzzy sweater for poor Sampo, oh no.
The floor of the closet, though — that's a little more interesting. At first glance it kind of looks like Caelus is keeping random bits of trash in there — but actually, no, it's not trash. He's got a lot of... toys, that's all. Toys kept in trash bags, yeah, but toys. Not those kinds of toys. Actual toys. Discarded toys. A cute sad bear with its paw ripped and hanging from its shoulder; a large cat that needs an ear mended. Some other toys might have actually been fixed. There's a rabbit plush with an eyepatch over one eye poking its head out of one of the bags.
Caelus coughs and averts his gaze. ]
...Can you please not go through my stuff?
i've been wondering about these stuffed animals anD I NEED TO KNOW
Sure, I won't, ( he says, actively doing what caelus is asking him not to do. he won't go through any more of caleus' things, if that helps, but this closet is already open. no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube; they're too far gone. )
Hey, what's all this about?
( not the xianzhou digs, or the penacony fluff, but the piles of stray toys he's all but stepped on in taking a closer look at one of those price tags. yowch, he's a big spender when he wants to be.
but back to the toys. sampo gently picks up the rabbit plush, and it's adorable. anyone with eyes could see how wholesome these little fellas are. )
Pretty cute... You workin' on something for the Moles?
( not that anyone needs a reason to have a closet full of toys, but it'd make sense for caelus to take on some kind of pet project for himself with the goal of helping others. he's good like that. )
YOU WILL FIND OUT!!! (slowly)
Uhhh... yeah! Yeah. The Moles.
[ An unconvincing lie. Caelus is a good liar sometimes, and Sampo probably knows that pretty well — but right now?
Nope, he's not holding it together, and not managing to sound convincing, too. At the very least, he seems to be aware of it; knowing full well that he's about to get called out for lying in a second, Caelus sighs, visibly giving up, and fixes his eyes on the rabbit in Sampo's hand again. He drops his hand back to his side, then sighs, pushing it nervously through his hair instead. ]
That's... yeah. That's probably a better idea than keeping them... That's a good idea.