selfburn | Open RP Post

Ah, the braiding of hair-- complicated within his own culture, a courtship ritual and he suddenly felt shy as he was armed with the knowledge that such a traditon was different and unique but.. Essek was happy to share remnants of his culture, for and with the other man. He tilted his head to better accomodate Caleb's touch and kisses, craving them like a flower craved water from the heavens.

"In my culture, when there is an intent to court-- we ask if we may place a braid in their hair, it signifies that the process has been initiated. Each Den has a set braid that they use, including Den Thelyss -- it marks an individual as a potential suitor to the Den." His fingers smooth over the forearm wrapped around him.

"I am Denless however, so it would only be a simple braid plaited into your hair.." and a sentimental tone to his voice. "But I would very much like to place one in your hair.. if you would allow me."

"You're allowed." He could not hide the grin in his voice. "You are more than welcome to braid as many as you would like into my hair. I would gladly show the world I am yours."

It is true that most people would not understand the significance of the braids. He would have to return to Essek's people for anyone to understand that it was not a new hairstyle that Caleb was trying. It meant something quite deep and powerful.

"I, uh, I would return the gesture but I do not know how to braid." He chuckled, slightly embarrassed and blushing. "There's not a similar gesture in my culture. Gift giving, I suppose. But it's not as... as obvious in human culture. Not unless marriage."

When rings got involved. Courting was a much more formal process for Essek it seemed. Caleb would figure out something. Perhaps some books on how to braid so that he could learn and return the gesture. Caleb would make sure to return it somehow.

"Well, I may attempt to grow out the hair in the front a bit longer, so that you may braid it.. in fact I may think of a braid for just the two of us.. it will give me something to think about in my travels." he murmured as he settled back, completely enjoying the feeling of Caleb's hands against his abdomen, the waters that lapped.

It was intensely relaxing and he found himself enamored with this moment. It was hard not to crave more of these moments. But he believed, for once in his life, that he could have something like this. Or maybe he was allowing his ambitions not to get in the way of something good.

"Of course, that is-- if that is something you would be interested in; having matching braids."

Caleb chuckled warmly and nuzzled against the back of Essek's ear. "I am interested in everything with you."

Now that his heart was open again and Caleb allowed himself to feel more than revenge and regret he felt very strongly. He wanted to love and be loved. He wanted Essek to know just how much he meant to him.

"I could get you braided jewelry to wear until your hair is long enough." He trailed his fingers over Essek's wrist, imagining a braided leather bracelet wrapped around it. Not quite as elegant or fancy as what Essek normally wore but it would mean something more than his usual trinkets. "And by the time I learn how to braid hair yours will be long enough for me to put it in myself."

He didn't know how quickly Essek's hair grew, probably slower than how quickly Caleb learned things but that was fine. He could be patient. Very patient. Especially when it was important like this.

Perhaps braided was not his normal style of anything when it came to jewelry, but he found that perhaps he did not have to adhere so strongly to the Kryn Dynasty anything, perhaps him and Caleb could form their own traditions together. "I would like that and.." he slowly raked a few fingers through his own damp forelock that was starting to curl slightly. "Perhaps this lock right here, I could grow it long enough that you could easily braid it-- in time."

His resistance to growing his hair long, he felt, had been almost psychological in nature. No way for anyone to braid anything in his hair, but with Caleb-- yeah, he could definitely grow his hair out for his lover to put a token in it. "I can definitely teach you, we will settle in front of a mirror and you can observe as I braid."

Fondness in his eyes, that likely Caleb could not see, but nevertheless Essek's hand slipped from the waters and raised upward but so that he could catch the back of his fingertips lightly against bearded jawline.

"With you teaching me I'm sure I'll have it mastered quickly." He turned his head and nuzzled against Essek's palm.

Until Essek's hair was long enough he would find a nice piece of braided jewelry. Perhaps with a firefly on it if such a thing was possible. He could get it custom made. As he thought about what he would like to give Essek as a token of his affection and intentions he stroked his fingers along his wrist and down his forearm.

One of the things Caleb appreciated most about his time with Essek, their friendship and now their courtship, was how they could simply be quiet with one another. Being in the same room as Essek was enough for Caleb. His presence was enough. Now there was the added benefit of being able to touch while they sat in silence together.

Cuddling, it turned out, was quite nice with the right person.

The touches were soft and light, prime for cuddling. It was easy for Essek to lounge back with his head fallen back against Caleb's shoulder-- eyes closed while he enjoyed the way that Caleb brushed his lips against palm and sent a delicate shiver through him; it was because he was still aware of everything about Caleb, from the feel of abdomen inhaling and exhaling with breathe, the movement of fingers as if he was writing unspoken spells against his skin.

He enjoyed this for several long and drawn out moments.

Perhaps ten minutes had passed before he murmured out, gently introducing conversation back into the silence around them. "Do you want me to wash your hair? I could do so, however it may involve a bit of position change so that I am in a better position to sit on your lap."

Ten minutes of utter contentment and peace.

It was rare Caleb didn't feel the frantic press of his own mind. This was beautiful and peaceful with no pressure for more than simply lying there in the warm water with his beautiful lover in his arms. This was the sort of thing missing from his life before Essek came along.

"Hmm?" It took Caleb a moment to find his words again. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Yes, I think we can move to make things more comfortable."

He took his hands for Essek, for the time being, and pressed himself back against the side of the tub as much as possible to give Essek as much room as he needed to move around.

Thankfully, Essek was completely graceful in his movements, perhaps it was the pull of gravity that he wielded; or the fact that he had spent most of his life floating. With very minimal effort and within a few moments, he was finally once again settled though this time perched with his thighs straddling Caleb and pressed chest to chest. His fingers started to comb through those riotous locks of flame-waves and he tilted his head to the side in regard of the other man.

"Hair washing is also very intimate in the Kryn-culture; in fact hair touching of any sort is something that is reserved for a lover." he brushed hair back from forehead and then he reached for a little cup off to the side that he could use to saturate the hair. "Now, I am going to need to have you tilt your head back, so you do not get water in your eyes, then I will give you a very thorough head massage."

A secret on his lips, and perhaps a bit of anticipation too.

Edited 2023-05-03 12:45 (UTC)

"We are lovers," Caleb reminded him gently as he leaned in and brushed his lips lightly against Essek's. If the man thought he wouldn't when they were this close and discussing intimacy he was not paying close attention. Caleb would take any excuse for kissing that he could get.

He made a soft, curious sound as he tilted his head back and closed his eyes. Given how they were pressed so close together, touching almost everywhere, he didn't need his eyes to know where Essek was and what he was doing.

"Why is hair so important to your people?" Caleb cleared his throat. "If you're comfortable explaining."

It was unclear to him just how much Essek missed his home and his people as an exile. He didn't want to make him sad when they were basking in this new, yet comfortable love they had for each other. They were happy and he would like keep Essek happy. If he didn't want to talk about home and traditions, Caleb would change the topic.

They could always discuss what they had found today and where they wanted to go next instead.

"I..." he make sure that every part of Caleb's hair was wet and then he reached for some of the shampoo in bottles, placing a small amount in his palm and then he coated his palms with it before he pressed his hands into soaked locks and started to massage it through strands until a pleasing lather resulted from the fragrant mixture, careful to get the roots and then downward to attend to the ends. "I am uncertain about the cultural significance or where it stemmed from as I was never truly interested in courtship rituals before."

There had been talks and negotiations however he had skillfully extracted himself from them. 10 years ago it had been Adeen and there had been an 'almost' betrothal, but that had bee curtailed due to some things that Adeen had said about him in public.

"I do not miss the Dynasty-- not really, it was never really home to me. I miss my brother, but I have recently discovered that home is people- not places."

Caleb hummed in agreement. Home was the Nein sleeping huddled under a cart in a rainstorm. It was Veth-Nott curled up against him as they tried to hide from the sharp eyes of guards. It was Essek's calm, rational voice raising slightly with the passion he felt for his argument.

"You are home," he mumbled, very relaxed and comfortable with Essek's fingers working at his scalp. This was the nicest sensation. Essek warm and slightly heavy in his lap. His clever, surprisingly strong fingers working through his hair. His voice right there, soft and intimate. This was something Caleb could come to crave like breathing.

Whether he meant he found Essek to be his home or that he was offering up himself to be home for Essek didn't matter. They achieved the same result which was all that mattered for Caleb. Home was the two of them together. That was home.

It was, in truth, both.

There were many different shapes to hope and honestly Essek was beginning to find that out. Caleb was his home, and he slowly attended to the locks of hair reverently, lovingly. It was easy to see in this moment why hair touching was intimate, but also grooming like this-- it also explained why Essek had a singular fascination with Caleb's chest hair, the hair on other parts of his body. He smiled at the way that Caleb seemed to enjoy it, the soft slow blinking like a cat in front of a warm fire.

Caleb deserved a warm home, with good food, a hearth fire in the grate as well as a pile of cats to cover him. He hoped that he could be apart of that vision too.

Essek leaned forward then and brushed his lips against Caleb's forehead; the skin was damp and there was only a little subtle taste of soap, but that was also pleasing. Finally he pulled away so that he could reach for the cup again, dipping it in the waters so that he could fill it and then re-saturate it to get rid of the shampoo. "I want to be your home-- I want you to be mine; I want to return to you again and again."

"You can visit," he mused as he continued to drift in the warm pleasant space created by Essek tending to him. His mind was so calm even though his thoughts still came quickly. "Or stay. I have a home. You can stay with me though... I don't know how often you wish to be under an illusion to hide who you are..."

Because he could settle. Caleb didn't have to travel for fear of his past catching up to him. He was free of that now and could live where he wished. And he did want to be close to the Academy. It held horrible, painful memories, but his love of magic was stronger than those memories.

He wanted to make things better. He wanted to teach. He wanted to find what was left of the Assembly and burn them to the ground. There was much he still wanted to accomplish but he also wanted to have Essek in his life as his lover. His home.

"We will figure this out, Essek. We are too smart not too." He leaned in and kissed Essek softly.

"I have a few ideas, and I would like to discuss them for you. It will take time and work, but I would love to think of a way that we could share the Demiplane spell; or we can attach it to a specific object so that from anywhere that I am, I may access the Tower."

That would be something to discuss but that would also mean times for them to settle together, time for them to research and fiddle with magical physics-- and perhaps dabble in a bit of artificing. Essek knew how to tether things to him, but he also realized that for every magical application, there was an artifice's application to it.

Much like the Sending Stones that he'd tethered to each other due to magics that he'd gone to Pumat Sol about.

"Though I know, Caleb Widogast, that you are ambitious and that you will be quite keen to lend your mind to mine so that we may think of a way to best facilitate the creation of such an item. But it would mean, at least until both the Empire and the Kryn have successfully forgotten about me, I will have to keep ever on the move, for at least a little while."

Honestly though, the purple drow hoped that eventually he would be able to settle with his lover in a sweet cottage somewhere, where he could tend a garden and Caleb could teach classes, and then they could come together in the evenings for dinner and snuggles. It was a beautiful life and a beautiful thought, and certainly not beyond the realm of possibility.

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