EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

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With tensions heavy across Abraxas and all the destruction that's happened, it's no surprise that the dark shadows which sweep over the land go unnoticed...at first.

Winds initially stir in Solvunn, where the influence of the Old Gods remains the strongest. Slowly each Herald infects Thorne and the Free Cities, as well. The Summoned are the first to feel its effects and are the most heavily impacted.

Though no one will realize it until well afterwards, Nocwich remains unaffected. After all, the Summoned don't reside there.

NOTE: This event will deal with themes of death (people and animal) and horror imagery.

Emergence

It begins sometime in mid-October, around the 18th. Not everyone will experience it at the same time. You might even believe you're spared until days afterwards when you're visited by an unusually vivid dream.

The dream starts the same for everyone: you are going somewhere, anywhere, walking to your bedroom or enjoying a stroll on the beach. You might be driving down a familiar neighborhood. Wherever you're headed, you eventually come upon a stone tablet engraved with your Arcana. Laid on the tablet are three objects:

◎ A dead moth trapped inside a wilted rose, symbolizing Koth of Festering Lands
◎ A teacup inside which sits a single nightshade berry, symbolizing Adlewyrd of Poisoned Tongues
◎ An ornate cracked hand mirror that contains no reflection, symbolizing Sannleikr of Many Faces

Make a choice. Something inside your soul will be drawn towards one of the objects. Maybe you spend hours in the dream deliberating, but sooner or later, you'll pick one of the items up. The moment you do, the other objects vanish and the chosen Herald appears before you. Where one might expect a god to seek subservience, the strange figure instead extends a friendly hand towards you - as though it's greeting you as an equal.

Whispered around you, you hear its name. Then it fades and with it the dream. You awaken.

Affliction

You go about your day as usual. That's when you realize something isn't right. Creatures and people around you behave strangely. You begin to sense that you are the cause.

Depending on your chosen Herald, you'll experience at least one of its afflictions. The effects might start small, then grow. They might rush you all at once. You can't shake what haunts you, though you can try. Spells, potions, and willpower can help keep the afflictions at bay but you won't ever be completely free.

As the afflictions seep into your mind, you start to find shadows of it following you: a dead moth here, a nightshade bloom there, a cracked mirror elsewhere. You may even wonder if it's following you in the first place. What if instead, you are the one leaving these signs behind?

Corruption

The first time you inflict your ability on someone else, you don't mean to. It might be a stranger, some unsuspecting soul, or it might be another Summoned. Regardless, the afflictions that ail you seem to spread through you into another. Someone falls down as if in the throes of an invisible death or secrets spill. You brush by someone and they're suddenly upset and confused.

The more this happens, intentionally or not, the better you feel. You may grow full of life and energy, gain a renewed strength of heart, or radiate a charm that turns heads and garners compliments. The afflictions haunting you could even start to fade or completely vanish. And if you use your newfound power deliberately? You'll feel better even faster for longer. Of course, these boons are temporary, lasting at most an hour or so. When the feeling wanes, you might miss having it.

You are not possessed. You can't control this power that spreads through you, but how you respond or behave is up to you. You could be attracted to the allure of power, enjoy the boons you are granted, or realize you can gain relief from your afflictions if you choose a victim. Not everyone will fall headfirst into the pull. Some are not easily swayed by power, some struggle to overcome their dark impulses, and others would rather endure their suffering than inflict it on someone else. But others still might succumb to temptation and turn on those around them with purpose: once, twice, multiple times. The choice you make is yours alone.

Blight

With the call of the Herald at your fingertips, the world around you twists. No one knows whether this stems from you and your newly imbued afflictions, or if the Heralds are exerting power on their own. It's for sure easier to think of what occurs as the influence of something monstrous beyond your control. No matter the cause, the earth is changed all the same.

Omens

The omens arrive shortly after the initial Summoned receive their dreams, but they don't come to every faction at once. SOLVUNN is first, being home to the Old Gods' shrines, before THORNE and the FREE CITIES follow only days afterwards. Depending on where you are, the omens will affect things a bit differently.

Solvunn

In Solvunn, the ground stirs. A desiccated hand breaks through the grass, a cloven hoof. Human or animal, they crawl forth, animated against their will. Some might attack, but most do not. At the same time, crops around the settlements begin to fail. Some chickens lay rotten eggs while cows produce spoiled milk. Any livestock that perishes overnight will surface in the mornings with empty eye sockets - pecked out by crows or gnawed on by rats. From a distance, the ocean can be seen bubbling as leviathans beneath thrash.

Worth noting is that many of the dead are concentrated around the shrines, especially the ones deep in the woods. They're too decayed to recognize, and some might not even move from the site, as though they are waiting for the earth to take them again...or as though they once chose to give up their life at this very spot.

Summoned can assist by helping to cast spells or place warding charms around shrines, farms, and gardens to protect crops and livestock. As a commune, the Solvunnites will share their resources as much as possible and would appreciate those who might lend a hand bringing supplies, herbs, and offerings to neighbors who are lacking. The Summoned can also brew a common herbal remedy to aid any animals who have fallen ill or to help purify the well water.

Free Cities

In Libertas, the dead buried under the rubble dig themselves out. More crawl forth from graves in Cadens' cemeteries. Beasts and bandits slain in the desert wilds rise, hungry or searching for the ones who killed them. At the same time, dead fish wash up onto the shores of Aquila while birds fall dead from their perch, dropping like flies from an unknown illness. Vultures and other scavengers begin to prey upon the eyes of the dead, leaving behind hollowed-out corpses.

Worth noting is that in the Badlands, a few very old and skeletal corpses rise with a metal plate or two screwed onto their bones, which are also oddly elongated. Only one or two make their way near the city. The army is quick to dispose of them before many can notice. They will not disclose any information about this and will claim these are just monsters like anything else.

Summoned can assist by going on patrol with the soldiers to put down any risen dead. Merchant caravans are also hiring escorts for their journeys. Additionally, they can help look through any received supplies and packages to make sure the food isn't rotting or worse, use a special dissolving compound to purify the waters, and donate staple food items to refugees and the less fortunate who can't afford the rising prices.

Thorne

In Thorne, the dead emerge only from the outskirts of the castle city. Thanks to information from one of their Summoned and their recent monitoring of the Singularity, Thorne was able to act swiftly and was able to ward any royal or otherwise significant burial sites. Graves and tombs of less importance, though, will not be protected in the same way. There are fewer encounters with eyeless corpses, though some animals might appear outside the castle in such a state. Normally extravagant dishes from the Castle's kitchens use simpler ingredients as they struggle to ration their food stores.

Worth noting is that a few unexpected corpses make their way up from deep under the castle in places beyond the dungeons. These are twisted and mangled, missing limbs, heads, fingers. The castle guards are quick to dispose of them before they get too far into the rest of the castle, but one or two may be spotted.

Summoned can assist by contributing to the wards around Castle Thorne and the city, using spells to put down the dead without mangling the corpse, and taking inventory of food stores. Further, in Nott the situation is more dire for anyone who is traveling there to continue assisting with repairs following the attack. Nott will welcome help with any problems caused by the omens. It'll be clear the kingdom has neglected the city somewhat. Thorne will claim the Castle takes priority, of course, due to King and Queen residing there along with the entire royal court.

Apprehensions

Across the factions, locals are beginning to catch on that something isn't right with you, the Summoned. No one will say it outright, but there's an air of caution and wariness around you where you go. Merchants might be quick to hand you your wares so you'll leave or locals give you a bit of space when they walk by. Chatty innkeepers are more reluctant to hold lengthy conversations.

Much of the time, it may not be conscious. The natives might simply sense something off that instinctually makes them want to put some distance between them and you. The only exception? If you've chosen Sannleikr of Many Faces, you'll continue to exude your charm towards people you encounter. At least for as long as you continue to inflict that ability you've been gifted.

Displacement

Everyone responds differently while in the Horizon. You might exert better willpower over your afflictions or you might feel its effects more strongly. It all depends on the individual and their mindset. Regardless, the Heralds are only one part of the equation. There's a much bigger disturbance going on.

It could happen as soon as you enter or it might be as you're stepping over the threshold into another's domain. Whatever the case, you are suddenly not where you're supposed to be. Instead, you're in one of two places depending: transported into a domain you never meant to go into or in a foreign setting altogether.

Visitation

Whether you're the one transported or someone teleports unexpectedly into your space, the Horizon becomes unpredictable for the next little while. Rooms normally locked to strangers, areas you yourself may not even realize exists - you and your fellow Summoned continue to pop in and out despite your intentions.

The effect isn't painful, just disorienting, like missing a step you didn't see or stumbling through a door into a too-bright room. The person whose domain you've inadvertently visited might sense an unwanted presence, whether they're inside the Horizon or not, or they may be completely oblivious. This will depend on the strength of their connection to the Singularity and the Horizon.

Not to worry. You won't be trapped or anything in these cases...unless the domain you land in happens to seal from the inside. You might stumble on secrets you weren't meant to find, though, locked away in someone else's mind.

Ensnared

The less fortunate will be pulled into a space that they've never encountered before. The bizarreness of it resembles the glitchy visions that flashed through a few months ago, but rather than an image flickering by, you are now inside the space itself.

Trapped between minutes to hours, you can't use the Horizon's creation magic as normal. Attempts will falter or go sideways: trying to fly out might cause you to tumble, tools and objects are broken or not quite right, wounds don't vanish or heal completely, etc. More significantly, you can't seem to send or receive messages through your connection. Anything that manages to come through will be garbled and distorted. It's as though the place you are in is just out of the reach of your control.

Luckily, you may not be alone. Someone else may have gotten lost alongside you. They might already be there when you stumble through or they might arrive after you do. They might even fade out sooner than you, unintentionally leaving you behind.

Eventually, you'll be released back into the Horizon proper, spat out in a random place in the Horizon. While you're stuck, though, you can try to survive, explore, sit and wait it out, or make friends with your fellow trapped partner. Each area has its challenges and quirks that you'll need to deal with.

Scenes to Explore

JUSTICE ◎
FULL IMAGE

High in the clouds, these snowy peaks are as cold as they look. Giant marble hands reach out, though their sheer scale means you might not recognize them as hands from up close. You can scale the mountain, but if you try to go down, the hands will flip the mountain, which sends you tumbling to the top again.

It's up to you whether you can be injured when you fall. Maybe the snow will feel like marshmallows, or you'll break a bone on the jagged rocks. No two experiences are the same. If you have a partner, they could end up faring better than you despite being in the same place.

Conjure some warm clothes or a log cabin even if you wish - they might not manifest perfectly, but it'll be better than nothing. At least the view's fairly nice...while the sun is up. A blizzard will come through by nightfall. With it arrives a strange hovering light that entices you or your friend to follow it into the frozen darkness. What draws you out depends on you. It could be a familiar voice, an image, or a simple compulsion. If you're lucky, the person with you is unaffected and can try to stop you. Or maybe you're the one desperately chasing after the other person?

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THE CHARIOT ◎
FULL IMAGE

From a distance, it's hard to tell if they're shipping containers or houses stacked atop each other. A gooey mess covers the ground below. Oddly, the smell isn't as unpleasant as the goo looks. It smells like bubblegum or cotton candy, artificial and sweet. When you first fall in, you might land inside one of the homes, on top of the stacked structure, or the ground. You can try to reach anyone else who's there with you, but be careful: the ooze is spreading. Climb if you must or move from room to room. If you don't keep moving, you risk getting sucked into its sticky mass.

Each block of a home is different. Some are furnished, whereas others are empty or filled with strange knickknacks. Some might even have subconscious creations spawned by you. Keep ahead of the gloopy substance, and you'll be fine, probably. Or you can try to fight it back or block its path by sealing yourself in a room or otherwise, which can slow it down significantly. Mostly, you'll have to hope you fade out before the pink mass completely consumes the landscape.

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THE WORLD ◎
FULL IMAGE

The hazy neon glow obscures a nothingness that seems to extend forever. In the middle of the wet ground are several stacked television sets with wires plugged into nothing. Inexplicably, there's also a cat. At first, it appears perfectly normal, but keen observers will notice that its behavior is on a loop where it will walk a certain path, pause at specific intervals to lick its paws, and meow at set points. It does not acknowledge any of its intruders. You can break its loop by picking it up, at which point it'll go limp as a ragdoll. As soon as you set it down, it'll resume its actions as before.

While you can see the same images as someone else on the screens, it's also possible you'll each see something different despite being in the room together. What you see is up to you. It could be an old fuzzy movie, home videos of your childhood, trivia questions you have to answer correctly, or even a memory or vision you wouldn't want to share. Words or faces taunting you could appear between staticky flickers, or maybe your very thoughts are projected onto the screens for anyone with you to read.

Break the televisions if you want, but given a few short minutes, they'll reform between one blink and the next. Looks like you'll have to keep watching until you're released.

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THE FOOL ◎
FULL IMAGE

Sprawling and massive, you're unlikely to recognize at first that you're trapped in a labyrinth. Stone walls rise around you, and your surroundings are pitchblack. Manifest a torch or a flashlight if you can, though these will be prone to going out at inopportune times. Escaping over the walls will only send you into another section in the maze.

As you navigate the twisting corridors, you'll encounter any variety of trials and troubles: gaps in the ground, spiked traps, haunting whispers, monsters, decaying corpses. Some of these might've formed from your mind, others might've spawned from anyone else who's trapped with you.

If you aren't alone, do your best to locate your fellow Summoned. Voices do carry and echo over the walls, and there could be landmarks that help you find each other. Finding the exit, however, is another matter. Walk and climb all you want. A way out is impossible until the Horizon chooses to set you free.

Players can pick any scenario that interests them from the four choices above. Unlike the visions from before, characters can accidentally be trapped in as many of the scenes as you want, as many times as you want. Another option is that they can stay trapped in only one scene while a variety of characters fade in and out to join them, or some combination of the two. Choose what works best for your plans.

Each scene will once again carry an associated Arcana etched somewhere inside it, which can change from person to person or instance to instance. It might be on a wall, a table, or on the ground. Characters with a stronger connection to the Horizon are likely to be trapped for longer but the extent of this is your choice and it won't ever exceed a few hours. It's also your choice whether the afflictions continue to haunt them or not. If you want characters to deal with both problems while stuck together, you're welcome to!

Generally speaking, there are no restrictions other than that they won't be able to communicate with anyone outside the area, they can't escape it until the Horizon chooses to release them, and their creation magic will go wrong just enough that it'll make things tricky.

Comments

For Jaskier

[nadine_he_loves]

The dead are rising. There's something foul in the city. Some madness is slipping among them. Nadine hasn't been spared. She hasn't missed the two or three nightshade blooms popping up amongst the other flowers in her window box garden over the last two days. Or that she hasn't been making what she'd consider the best of decisions of late.

But as far as everything happening, some impulse shopping and snide comments aren't that bad. And maybe she's had a few more glasses of wine than she normally does, but why not? The world's going crazy, again, and there's a laundry list of things for her to be worried about. She can sit in the kitchen in her shift and have wine. And a joint. What else is she going to do, pace and fret about Julie? There's nothing she can do.

But the silence in the apartment is grating on her, and that little voice is urging her to do something about it. Why not? She's lonely and unsettled and she wants to feel better. It's a simple message she sends Jaskier, hastily scrawled on the tabletop with condensation from her glass.

"Come over?"

[cointosser]

He can only truly focus on one crisis at a time. At first, it is simply that he has been placed in charge of untrained hounds. A small crisis: work with them, train them, and help Libertas in this small, small way. And then after that: the work with Alucard to begin further preservation of Libertas' art, if it's possible. It is important. But then:

The waters in the Free Cities, rare as they all, grow befouled. When Jaskier goes to the market, he notes that certain ingredients, certain herbs he picked without much thought dwindle, and then, they leave the markets altogether.

It's hardly anything in the face of war. But then his flowers and herbs in their boxes at the window begin dying. No matter how often he waters them, or changes their pots, or clips the dead leaves.

And replacing them, a plant he knows well after his travels with Geralt: nightshade.

He simply lets it grow. And he goes to the markets, pausing next to a younger girl -- one of Cadens' orphans, perhaps -- her fingers rubbing together as she eyes an entire loaf of bread. Jaskier smiles, leaning next to her. I'll give him a bit of a talk. Her wide eyes move to his, guilty, caught. But he doesn't stop smiling as he stands back up. Shouldn't we all have what we want?

Jaskier can't pinpoint why he says it, or why to her, but as he watches that girl grab the loaf and run so fast the baker doesn't yet notice, he can't help but feel this lovely, warm swell in his chest.

It is later Nadine's words spill across his book, where he's been indulging in a very explicit sketch for the fun of it, several bottles of opened wine sitting on his bedside table. He sits up immediately.

"Of course I'm coming. Be there soon."

When he arrives, he's brought an opened bottle of rum with him, and he's left his doublet behind in favor of a buttoned shirt with a neckline that falls low enough to show coils of chest hair. There doesn't seem much point in dressing up in his doublets or his coats or his cloaks.

He knocks on Nadine's door, leaning against the doorframe. He lights up once she arrives as he always does when he sees her. "What is it today, dear heart? Do you need another study partner for the night?"

[nadine_he_loves]

Nadine has a glass of wine in her hand already, and the heavy scent of herbal smoke comes with her to the door. She isn't exactly dressed, either, currently wrapped in one of her long sleeve and ankle-length silk robes - a new one, more ornate than usual, with gold colored embroidery along it.

"Mmm, I probably should be studying, but...classes are cancelled for now while they deal with the whole walking-corpse problem. I can put it off."

She steps back from the door to let him in. It's obvious her own window boxes have been suffering the same malady, brown shriveled leaves among the green and newly grown nightshade peeking out from the rest. Evidence of Nadine's own evening is also apparent, a half smoked joint smoldering in an ashtray on the table, the bottle of wine already open and half empty.

"I just didn't want to be alone. I don't know, I feel...restless, sort of. But I also don't want to do anything. I could be doing dozens of things - studying, organizing notes, cleaning the dishes, making supplies...but I don't want to do any of it so I'm not."

It doesn't look like she's interrupted him with her request. Or maybe she had, and that's why he looks so particularly rakish and ready to grace the cover of a romance novel. Either way, she likes the look.

[cointosser]

Oh. Once the door opens, it's quite clear that she's already been spending the night doing more than studying. The almost sour smell of the herb, and the sweeter of wine -- or that might just be rum still on his tongue, which he can't say is a terrible mix quite yet.

"You know, I find it rather encouraging for both of us that we are able to relax, in some form, with the walking dead stumbling around town," he comments, following her inside. He makes a movement as if he's going to take off his coat and hang it, merely muscle memory, and ends up only patting over his shirt with one hand, still bejeweled with rings (new, slightly garish ones, if Nadine would notice.) "Last time I was an utter wreck, and almost died, but -- oh, I did save a man's life. That was encouraging."

It is very much not out of the ordinary for Jaskier to begin pattering about anything that comes to mind, and as the week upon which the anniversary of their meeting falls, it is even easier for his mind to linger on last year's Eiftide.

He leans in to give her an embrace, nudging a horn gently with his nose. "It sounds like you simply do not want to work; a feeling which I fully endorse. Then, perhaps, we should do something fun instead."

[nadine_he_loves]

"Well, these walking corpses aren't as big a problem as last year. It was pretty startling when my practice cadaver sat up mid-dissection, though." But it hadn't been violent or dangerous. It just wouldn't stay still. And Nadine doesn't mind the suspension of classes for the time being. It's sort of nice, having the free time. Maybe that's why she finds herself so restless and averse to being productive. How often does she have the opportunity to just do nothing of importance? Of course it's appealing.

"But you're right. I really just don't want to work. I don't want to plenty of times, but I still do. Why not just...not, for a change?"

Corpses aren't trying to break down the door. And whatever blight is affecting plants doesn't seem to be in the city water. She's vaguely worried, of course, something's going on. But it's nothing she can do anything about, and nothing seems to be an imminent threat. Why just sit around worrying about things? The world won't end because she has a fun night. Not anymore.

She'd rather lean into Jaskier's arms and tuck herself against him, enjoying the familiar feel and scent of him.

"I'm guessing you have something in mind?"

[cointosser]

Right she is there. They're almost... demure, in a way? After Jaskier has gotten over their destruction of the cemetery he and Alucard worked so hard to pretty up, he has found them only a mere annoyance. Which is certainly a bizarre way to think of anything, but it's simply... it pleases him more to not be bothered by them.

Besides. As she thinks as well, their cancelled classes has led to a bit more free time. They are both studious workers, which leaves a certain limit to their time together, though Jaskier has never been truly stifled by it.

And now he is simply not thinking about it, as if this free time may stretch on until they grow tired of it.

"Why not? I think your answer lay in that very question." A few corpses and strange, toxic plants replacing the pots by his window is not exactly the plague bearing down on them. And, truly, if Nadine does not worry, why should he? They are in the near exact same position as far as "surviving a plague" comes in.

His lips rest against her temple as he adds: "Well, of course. Something fun. Something enjoyable. Certainly something pleasurable. Whichever pleasure, I think, you are willing to pursue. If we have this free time, we must... grab it by the horns. So to speak."

Mildly NSFW

[nadine_he_loves]

"Grab it by the horns, hmm?" Nadine presses herself lightly against him, chuckling. When does he ever not want to do something pleasurable? But that does sound good. They neither of them have any pressing obligation, there's no reason not to spend the rest of the waking day with sex and leisure. She can be indulgent.

"Was that a turn of phrase or a request?"

There's a flirtatious tone to her voice. They don't often get rough and tumble in bed, and normally she doesn't like the idea of asking Jaskier for a harder hand. He's always so sweet and considerate and she isn't sure if he'd be that interested in throwing her around and pinning her down.

But sometimes she wants that.

"I did just buy some new things I think you'd like. Why don't we finish that joint I have going and I change into something a little more...fun?"

[cointosser]

All right, to be fair, there is very little time where sex is far from his mind. But how could it not be on the forefront now? They're together, and alone, and -- and Jaskier has found a special interest in his indulgences lately, finding them extra pleasurable.

His mouth forms a small "o".

"To be honest, I meant it as a light tease, but now that you're mentioning it..." And he lifts one hand to roll his thumb over the curve of her horn. With their frequent dalliances, he has long gotten used to them -- he's always seen them as a part of her, after all -- to the point that he often forgets they are not meant to be there.

Like in turns of phrase.

He swallows. "You re certainly speaking to my heart right now, my lovely, pearl-touched sylph." Okay, that was putting it on too much, but you know what? He wants to. It's over the top, but he's... enjoying it.

Sometimes he only wishes to be over the top. "I suppose asking if you would like it to be a request is still turning the question around to you. Now that I think of it again, I... I would not be opposed."

Oh, a little something more fun. Yes, she gets it. She gets him exactly.

So he adds: "If you think your horns can take it."

[nadine_he_loves]

This time Nadine's chuckle is deep and throaty. She reaches up to tease at his hair with her fingertips before stepping away to reclaim her joint.

"Oh, they can take it. Trust me."

That isn't some idle fantasy, she knows that she likes it and that her horns are more than capable as serving as handholds. Even rough ones. Especially rough ones. Maybe it's sinful, but part of her enjoys a heavy and rough hand in bed. She's certain it's due to formative experiences, but it is what it is. She likes what she likes.

"I'm not as delicate as a lot of people might think, Jaskier. And I don't just like delicate things." She takes a long drag off of the joint, meeting his eyes pointedly. He's strong. Much stronger than she'd originally thought, before they'd become regular bedfellows. And he's tall. He could easily toss her around. And maybe just let her do the same to him - it's so much more fun when it's all give and take, a challenge to be the one on top.

"Maybe...we could try something a little different."

[cointosser]

Jaskier shivers. Yes. He certainly came over for a reason, and he is now seeing that Nadine may have already had some slight ideas in mind.

And now he's here, he can... push them.

Now. That's an idea. Pushing her ideas. Yes. That idea settles in his mind, curled as softly and quietly as a contented cat.

"Oh, yes, believe me. I've been learning." Or, I hope I am about to learn. He fans himself slightly by plucking up a bit of his shirt and fluttering it under his chin, smoke curling through the air.

He takes the hand holding the joint and raises it high enough to take a pull off of it, as he's watched her do. The taste lingers on his tongue attractively. Releasing her own, he moves his hands to her waist, drawing up her sides. "Different, you say? Paint me a picture. Of your new idea."

[nadine_he_loves]

"Oh I don't think it's anything new to either of us. Just...nothing we've done together."

Considering Jaskier's appetite and thirst for new experiences. Nadine would be shocked if he'd never indulged in some darker bedroom games. And it's all perfectly safe, because with him it would be just a game. Something to have fun with, that could be stopped if either of them decided it wasn't actually that fun.

But she thinks it would be.

"I just thought maybe we could broaden our shared horizons a little bit." She takes another drag once Jaskier's helped himself, and steps in close to exhale against his lips. "You're so good to me...you're so careful and gentle and chivalrous in bed..."

As she speaks she reaches up to slip her fingers into his hair, stroking along his scalp.

"Maybe for a change..." Her fingers tighten in his hair, gripping him firmly. "Don't be."

I'm so sorry for the wait orz

[cointosser]

That simple explanation leaves the door open wide. Very wide. There is little, he thinks, that he has not tried or is not willing to try... though he can admit that having what may call a "modern" lover has opened his eyes to rather new things.

Vibrators, for one. Oh. The world to explore there.

He breathes deep. The smoke still curls and burns his lungs a bit, but it is no longer something he simply chokes on.

And it does leave a wooziness behind.

"And you will be quite aware, of course, that my careful gentleness is completely natural." He smiles, and when her mouth is free, he leans in and kisses it. His scalp tingles, moving down over his neck, to his back, puckering as the pleasure moves.

Don't be.

It echoes in his head, and it, in some way, feels like an order. Jaskier is not necessarily inclined to brutality, neither in bed nor out of it, but he does, certainly, watch himself around Nadine more than he has in the past. He adjusts himself to his lovers, as he is needed, and her needs, at first, have been delicacy and understanding.

"If that is what my lady craves... then I shan't be."

So now his fingers curl into the hem of her pants, and he begins tugging them off, without waiting for permission, simply because he wants her nude, now, as fast as possible. Until he's moved to his knees, and she is stepping out of them, giving him the opportunity to kiss the scar on her thigh.

No worries!

[nadine_he_loves]

Jaskier's consideration has been greatly appreciated. It was what she needed, in the beginning. Tenderness and kindness and all the sweet things he'd given her. But now, sometimes, she yearns for rougher stuff.

Nothing so extreme as fists or blades or anything like that. But teeth and nails and firm grips and being held against a wall. Jaskier's more than strong enough to manhandle her easily. And he seems perfectly agreeable, to which she smiles eagerly. There's so much still to explore in bed, and while she's begun branching out some in lovers, most of it she wants to explore with him.

With just how eager Jaskier seems to be, Nadine is happy to help, pulling her loose white undershirt up over her head and off. She's not wearing anything under it besides the gold antler pendant she always wears dangling between her naked breasts. One hand reaches down to run through his hair as he kisses the mark on her leg, now surrounded by the protective tattoo she'd had done. Her fingers tighten and tug his head back to look up at her.

"Here...let's move this to the bedroom."

[cointosser]

It may have taken a second, sharper tug to get him to stop, and that one sends right shivers down his spine. Very, very excited ones.

"Ah." He licks his lips, which have already swelled with how he had about moved to sucking on the scar. It may not be his initials there, but the scar is still a part of her. Still beautiful. There is not even an inch of her that is not. "You mean you wouldn't enjoy breaking all the furniture?"

It was an option. He could replace it, after all --

But even in the haze lighting his eyes, he does know Julie would, perhaps, not be particularly thrilled. And he would appreciate not being interrupted if she were to come out of her room, or come home, or wherever she is.

So he simply lifts Nadine up until she's high enough to wrap legs around his waist, leaning up to kiss her lips this time. "I'm sure you have no complaints about the ride."

He may not exactly have the strength of a Witcher, but it is plenty to keep Nadine aloft long enough to make it to the bed, where they can fall together, him carefully on top. He kisses her again, cupping a cheek. "Arms above your head, dear."

[nadine_he_loves]

Oh but she loves that he doesn't shy away from the mark on her, that he accepts it as easily as he accepts the rest of her.

"We can break my furniture. You'll just owe me a new bed."

Nadine laughs with delight as he lifts her up, wrapping her legs and arms around him eagerly and pressing herself to him. There's a strange thrill at being carried naked like this and the way their bodies fit together. She can feel so much of him through the meager barrier of his clothing. He's more than strong enough, in her opinion. It had surprised her, the first time she'd realized just how well built he really is. On reflection it shouldn't have. He does love himself a great deal, and values his appearance. Of course he'd keep in shape.

And she's excited to experience that strength in bed. There's a hungry smile on her face as he tumbles them into the bed, and she's quick to comply with his request. What does he have in mind?

[cointosser]

A tempting offer, though to be fair, he's rather enchanted with her bed considering how many times they have tested its sturdiness. Besides, breaking a bed is a bit out of his realm. At least intentionally.

"I don't suppose you have strips of velvet? A shame we're not in the Horizon." Not, he thinks, that he would prefer some image of themselves fucking instead of here, where it is all very real, and often messy, and sometimes a bit funny, too.

He bends down, kissing between her breasts, as he looks up with a light in his eyes all of a sudden. Oh, yes. He has plans. It feels as if they come as quick as birds landing to roost. Plentiful.

"I have an idea." And because they are in this mood, a hint wild, and he has always been curious about the idea of -- well, frankly, literal chaos in the bedroom -- there is a pull of his magic, and vines begin winding up around the bedposts, reaching across towards her wrists. Strong, thick vines, with velvet-soft leaves unfurling.

But no matter what mood he is in, he is Jaskier. And he pauses the vines only when they have lightly ringed her wrists. "Not too tight? Not too... strange?"

Magic could be a hint strange. Plants not withstanding.

[nadine_he_loves]

There might have been some scarves in one of her drawers, but Jaskier seems to solve his own problem before she can offer her own. She watches him with her lower lip caught between her teeth, all eager anticipation. Obviously she knows what, in general, he has in mind. And she trusts him entirely, more than enough to allow him to do it. To be excited at the thought.

Nadine thinks he intends to make use of a belt or pillowcases or something like that. She doesn't expect what he does. But her eyes brighten in surprised delight as she watches the lengths of plants grow. Here, in her bedroom, there's already a plethora of plant life. Flowers for decoration, herbs and other medicinal flora grown for use at work, strange things she's bought in Nocwich and is still experimenting with. Thin vines with flowers and strange little fruits crawl up the window. There is greenery all around. Even the bedclothes have a pattern of flowers. It...fits, in a way.

"Not too strange at all."

She flexes her wrists as the vines curl around her, testing the snugness. She's not about to slip out of them but they aren't constricting. There's a give to them.

Maybe it should be strange, but it doesn't seem it. It's dramatic and appealing and she thinks that she must make a striking image, stretched out pale and naked and wreathed in green.

"And not too tight."

[cointosser]

If she were to ask him, the flora aesthetic, of course, fits them perfectly. (And he can humbly think that he may have inspired some of it.) A funny thing to think, however, when he is about as far from a druid as he is from an elf. Once chaos decided to gift itself to him, and chose flora as its vessel, though...

There is mutual understanding now. Him and plants. Especially, he thinks, in this desert.

He smiles. She is, indeed, an image. An overwhelming one, he thinks -- the sort that may have men turn to religion, to cults, when they are truly close to rapture. A beautiful woman, hair splayed as a halo around her, the earth itself holding her down.

"Tight," he replies, with his fingers tracing down her belly, moving down between her legs in a teasing, swirling design. Never has Jaskier ever gotten straight to the point when he can tease and torture and revel in it. Now, with permission -- "But not too tight." As he traces his thumb over the joint of her thigh, moving towards her center, he kisses between her breasts. "Forgive me the prosaic thought, but... you truly look as a goddess would."

[nadine_he_loves]

Nadine lets out pleased little sighs each time Jaskier's lips touch her skin. She shifts beneath him, pulling on the natural bonds at her wrists but not in earnest. There's no attempt to get away from them, just to display herself and bring tension into the lean muscles she's developed in this new life. She moves into touch, eager for it, knowing he intends to tease her while she's tied.

Wanting him to.

She laughs at his words, but not at him. It's that laugh of delight that he's so skilled at coaxing from her. He just makes her feel good. In general, and about herself. Like right now. She just feels good, under the arousal and the expectancy of what he's going to do.

"I don't think that's the sort of thing that needs to be forgiven." She twists her wrists and grips the thick parts of the wines with her hands, subtly lifting herself into them as she draws one knee up. They make much better holds than the bedsheets.

"What would I be the goddess of, do you think?"

[cointosser]

"You'd be surprised," he quips back, his lips barely hovering above her skin, still so close that the swell of his bottom lip still tickles against her. Though the vines lengthen and tighten against her pulls with a dull thump as she pulls, they hold steady.

(He knows how strong they can be. Holding men down. But now the thought doesn't bring horror -- it just brings ideas of what, really, they can do.)

Better than being given permission is being given the trust to do this in the first place. And if he needn't be so polite, so chivalrous -- then he is allowed to indulge in what he enjoys. Which, often, involves someone squirming and asking for more.

He does like to think Nadine will look even more beautiful doing just that.

"In some circles, we would call this a particular term." His fingers delve between her legs, searching for wetness; there are hints of it already, and he's careful and light in the touches, exploratory as if its his first time with her. It is not yet meant to get her off. "Worshiping at the altar. Half a joke, of course," he says, mumbling the words against her breast as his mouth moves hotly towards a nipple, "... but I would not be against you being a goddess of passion and ardor, for one. You've never lacked in enthusiasm."

[nadine_he_loves]

The strength and power in the vines, Nadine thinks, is a direct representation of Jaskier's own. Both physically and magically speaking - he may not be a mage by trade, but his magics are powerful ones. And to use them like this...

It's almost a shame it's taken them so long to try something like this. There's something very erotic about the animated tendrils of flora, at least at the moment. Maybe it's the drugs, maybe it's something else, but Nadine feels like all of her skin is alive right now. Each sensation against her, each touch, each point of pressure sends a pulse right to the core of her.

"Mmm, with you. You bring out the enthusiast in me." Her words are stilted and punctuated with little sighs and groans as Jaskier teases her deftly. Just enough of a touch to make her shift into it and want more.

"In my world...there was an ancient culture that worshipped a pantheon of gods. And one of them was Dionysus, the god of wine and nature and pleasure and performance. You've...always made me think of him." In part because of the first time they met, and the satyr-like look Jaskier had worn. But it fits. Hell, this could be a scene from some forgotten, erotic-themed myth right here. The god of pleasure at his work, the naked nymph wrapped in vines and arched in ecstasy...

Renaissance artists would have had a field day with it.

[cointosser]

If there was ever a woman who Jaskier could fall (in a word they do not speak) with, it is a woman who will wax on about mythology while his fingers work her, while she's tied up in vines that are now beginning to slowly, if not loosely, wind up his arms, buds growing and unraveling into flowers.

(He does not look to see what they are. Or if there is nightshade caught between them, growing up the sides of the room.)

Truly, he may be later thinking of how this scene, as imprinted in his memory, should be painted. For private viewing only, of course.

Jaskier isn't totally unaffected by the words. The heat in the room is already growing, and now he flushes, letting out a breath. He is rather sure this must be the first time he's been compared to... a god.

You know what? He deserves to hear that. He smiles, pressing closer as he moves his hand away, sliding up her bent leg instead.

"Then let me prove it to be so. With both pleasure and performance."

Hers, and his. He bends down to kiss her belly, and this his head falls between her legs, tongue deftly teasing. The heat in his face only grows, but he settles into it, as glutted as a cat with cream.

[nadine_he_loves]

Jaskier would like the myths of ancient Greece, Nadine thinks. All full of seduction and epic romances and dashing heroes. And gods with mortal appetites and failings. She'll have to tell him some, when they aren't busy.

Right now she's not sure she can manage that many words in coherent order. Not when he's touching her like this, looking at her like that. Not when the vines holding her are shifting along her skin as they move, petals brushing against her as they unfold, all of it adding to the sensations. They're just extensions of Jaskier, a part of him in a way. Maybe that's why it isn't strange.

"Oh, I have no doubts about your abilities to perform." Or the pleasure inherent therein. He's never left her anywhere near unsatisfied in bed. It's never once felt like he was only putting in minimal effort, even when they were tired and worn out but in the mood anyway.

And tonight is certainly no different. She squirms in delight as he sets to it, tugging at the vines around her as she moves. It's such a novel thing, to feel them holding her and supporting her as her shoulders lift off the bed and they take a part of her weight.

[cointosser]

He should hope not. Not after this many months with them sharing a bed. Jaskier's response is only a mere hum that he's not entirely sure she can even hear. Which is not the important part.

Lucky for him that the vines keep her from squirming a bit too much, which allows all of the focus to go on his tongue, the sounds he makes from between her legs, and his fingertips trailing up the undersides of her naked thighs, not skirting her scar or the newest tattoo (a pretty splash of ink that's made him consider one himself. For fun.)

The vines, now firmly established, have taken on a mind of their own, much as his sandpiper, as his falcon. And it's beautiful the way they move, understanding what she needs, what he wants. A little tighter around her wrists, but slithering down behind her shoulders, moving through her hair.

Jaskier lifts his mouth for a breath, licking his lips. "No complaints so far, I hope."

[nadine_he_loves]

Nadine finds it difficult to focus on much of anything, with the flood of sensations. From Jaskier, from the shifting vines that are drawing further along her, from the herb she'd been enjoying before he came over. It's all just a wash of increasingly pleasant things.

She opens her fingers and mutters a few soft words between gasps and pants, if Jaskier catches them he won't be surprised with little spheres of colored light rise from her palms. It just seems the right way to express her enjoyment. The lights flutter about the vines, blue and gold and lavender, settling around flowers and dancing around leaves. They seem to pulse and shift in color as Nadine moves in pleasure on the bed.

"None...whatsoever..."

Had she use of her arms, she'd reach for him, pull him up her to stretch over her and take her. But she can only whimper and curl her toes and arch her hips in a demanding fashion. She wants more, as good as Jaskier's tongue and lips feel against her. She wants to be filled and covered and pinned beneath him....

She wants, quite plainly, to be fucked.