Inbox for sticksandbones

[lupusxylem]

I will not make this look pretty later, don't believe me it's all a lie

====

INVENTORY:

-The Punisher: Wolfwood's cross gun, normally covered in wrappings.
INFO from the mods on use so I don't forget: The cross-gun will be able to fire regular bullets (regains of these can be handwaved; silvered bullets can be purchased in the bonus AC store) just fine, without any special nerfs. The laser feature will be usable a max of 3 times a month.

-4 Vials of his Drugs(tm)
Info from the mods on use so I don't forget: Wolfwood can start with up to 5 vials of his Lab Drugs. More of these can be regained for the price of a Small Item (a maximum of 5 at once), but they will not work on other player characters for obvious reasons. Their healing ability will also be slightly nerfed to not heal anything instantaneously, but rather over a few minutes.
3/7: All Vials have been used. Will need to purchase replacements if he wants to use them again.
???: Forgot to put the date here but he's purchased more Vials, one has been used to he has 4 currently.

-A lighter

-A carton of cigarettes, more can be purchased/handwaved

-A winter coat that Heimr bullied him into purchasing

-A matching pair of boots for the coat

-A little knit wolf with sunglasses from Elsword.

-A blanket from Livio.

-A handgun with a wolf engraved on the handle.

-A black husky named Angelina

-A belt pouch to carry his regeneration vials with a cross emblazoned into the leather.

-Authentic rosary beads, with beads made from black glass and a heavy, silver cross pendant

-A black leather choker with a silver cross pendant, similar to the rosary

-A whole church(tm)

-A wool knit cat plushie from Pure Vanilla

-3 tomas chicks that currently live in Kiera's barn

-3 londonites

-Wolf skull shaped cufflinks

-A dagger for his "birthday" from Gnosis

Comments

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood winces a little, but yeah…he doesn’t say anything. That’s the very incident, yep.

He sighs, sinking a little further into the cushions behind him.]

I can just stay on the couch, if it helps.

[ezellotry]

[ Kissing his cheek. ]

Oh, no, I've been working on that, don't worry! I pulled the mattresses on the floor and smooshed them together. We'll probably have to lie across them both the short way to all fit in, so we'll probably have our feet hanging off, but I think that's fine. I even nabbed some extra blankets and pillows.

[ Also, he leans into Flamebringer a little to whisper. ] The pole is a little too big for the closet, though. Do you know where we can put it...?

[thebladebringstheflame]

[...

Whispering back to Ezell:]

Don't think they have strippers where he's from. We'll be fine, we'll just say it was a weird installation. Didn't you teach his boytoy twink how to pole dance? Maybe that'll be incentive for them to make up.

[FLAMEBRINGER NO]

Yeah, it's fine, we'll all fit. Let me go pull all of this jewellery out of my face though.

[lupusxylem]

[Fortunately, Wolfwood is too checked out to try to eavesdrop on what the two are whispering, so he doesn’t hear that. He’ll learn about the pole-dancing some other time, don’t you worry.]

If you’re sure…I’ll be here.

[You know! Wallowing-]

[ezellotry]

[ Okay, like, he doubts that. What world doesn't have strippers? But, sure, okay, he won't bother with it. He just lets go of Flamebringer and turns to Wolfwood while the midlife crisis man goes to remove his piercings. ]

Would you like to borrow some pajamas, or are you okay like that? I'm sure we have some bottoms in your size, at least.

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Wolfwood's world doesn't have strippers! That man couldn't get pipe until he came here! This is what Flamebringer's thinking anyway, as he heads into the bathroom and leaves the door open so he can hear the conversation. He starts taking all his piercings out in front of the mirror and putting them in a tray on the bathroom counter.

It's been like... two days since he gave himself that ombre and he kind of regrets it, but whatever, it'll grow out. His bangs are getting too long anyway, maybe he'll trim them at some point.

...]

My waist is slimmer than his, but I'm pretty sure he'll fit into most of my clothes anyway. I've got sweatpants lying out somewhere he can use.

[lupusxylem]

[Flamebringer just because he hasn’t been out here getting strippers doesn’t mean they don’t exist back home!! And anyway Wolfwood was too 1) gay for that and 2) busy assassinating people to get his dick wet that often, it’s fine.

Wolfwood looks over at Ezell and sort of offers him a half shrug with one shoulder.]

Sweatpants s’fine. I can just sleep in my clothes too, whatever’s fine.

[ezellotry]

What, your day clothes? No, absolutely not! [ Ezell, it's fine?? Hello? He leaves for the bedroom anyway to dig around for Wolfwood pants and maybe a baggier shirt for him. Or he can sleep shirtless, like Flamebringer? Up to him. Anyway, Ezell's coming back with both to hold them out to him. ]

You can use the bathroom after Flamebringer if you want.

...

But I suppose it isn't like we both hadn't already seen you naked before...

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Flamebringer turns the sink on so he can wash his face after the piercings are out, splash splash... and then he fucking Forgets that Ezell told him things happened and pokes his wet face out of the bathroom and just—]

What the fuck? When? You didn't invite me?

[girl—]

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood takes both the shirt and pants in hand, and yeah, he would have just changed right in the middle of the room but that’s also rude, so maybe he should go to the bathroom after Flamebringer leaves-]

…you didn’t tell ‘im?

[Wolfwood looks to Ezell like ???]

[ezellotry]

[ It's literally not rude if Ezell is saying it's all good, buddy. ]

Huh? ...No, I did. I'm pretty sure I did, anyway. Babe, I told you Ain, Wolfwood and I had a threesome, didn't I? [ Don't do this to him, he's worried now- ]

[thebladebringstheflame]

[...]

Oh. Yeah, right. Sorry.

[He forgor :( ]

My brain's fried.

[He's going to finish washing his face real quick, then dry off and leave the bathroom. There you go Wolfwood, you may now change if you want.]

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood watches as Flamebringer leaves the bathroom, brows slightly furrowed…but he’ll keep his thoughts to himself for now as he quickly dips in there to change. He’s only a minute or so before he returns looking a lot more comfy, having haphazardly folded his dayclothes to set aside someplace he’ll remember them in the morning.

He will look to wherever Flamebringer ended up though, his voice a little lower and more serious.]

Hey, man. I never got a chance to talk to you after the meetin’…but is everything okay?

[thebladebringstheflame]

[...

Flamebringer flops out onto the couch with a low sigh.]

Nah. I got a bunch of memories back that I didn't have before. There's too much shit going on right now, but essentially I'm homeless.

[this is

not at All an explanation, flamebringer, what the fuck]

[lupusxylem]

[…okay don’t mind him he’s just going to come join Flamebringer on the couch because hi? Hello?]

Shit.

[Given that the last time HE regained a bunch of memories he saw a whole town get nuked off the map, he uh…he gets it!!]

That’s…fuckin’ rough. I’m sorry.

[thebladebringstheflame]

[God, he needs a cigarette.]

Landship exploded. Originium growing out of every bit of it, thanks to some fucking woman that the Doctor used to know or something like that. I happened to be on the upper deck when it went down and the evac order was given. I don't know who survived.

...

Lena, Lisa, Podenco, Popukar, Shamare... [People Wolfwood knows. They were part of their family in their past lives.] ...bunch of other people in the greenhouse like Flint, Verdant, and Aroma. They wouldn't let me help with the evac. I know hundreds of patients died, but I don't know if it was them.

Rhodes was where a lot of our Operators lived, me included. People like me, who don't have anywhere else to go for one reason or another, we live there and do work in exchange for treatment. Not everyone spends all their time aboard the ship, like Ezell, but those of us that do... [He shakes his head.] I had to tell SilverAsh that his sister might've died. Same with Thorns' partner. Kal'tsit, who Mizuki's attached to, is confirmed dead.

Shit fucking sucks.

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Yeah, that works. Flamebringer kisses Wolfwood like he's never been kissed before, too wired, too brainless to really care that it's Wolfwood (as if he doesn't like Wolfwood, just a little bit). He's exhausted finally, not quite as fucking wired as he was when he first woke the man up to rail him stupid.

Almost like getting fucked cured his horny disease HMMMM weird how that works.

He kisses Wolfwood deep and filthy before pulling back to gasp for breath, looking horrendously tired all of a sudden. Unfortunately he's still clinging to Wolfwood, so... good luck leaving.]

[lupusxylem]

[They may not be part of his family now, but those memories are still real. The feelings he had in them are still valid, they happened. At one point in time, those people, that life they lived...it existed. And although these people wouldn't know Wolfwood in the present day, to hear that they could have possibly perished in such a horrible way?

Wolfwood's expression twists into something genuinely disturbed and upset, having a difficult time figuring out how he should react. It feels...not right of him, since he doesn't REALLY know these people, but it's all really too close for comfort despite it all.]

I...

[And what do you even say?

What do you say. I'm sorry isn't enough.]

...I hope yall find that woman who did it and rip her apart.

[lupusxylem]

[MMM Weird!!

Wolfwood doesn't particularly feel like pulling out, so he won't. He'll just settle heavily against Flamebringer given the way he's clinging to him so tightly he isn't sure he'd be able to easily pull away anyway. He can still taste the Sarkaz on his lips as he looks back at him with a tired huff, but that exhaustion doesn't quite reach his eyes. They're practically glittering with satisfaction.]

Haah...so...? How was it?

[thebladebringstheflame]

[...the tip of his tail wags and god he is Willing that thing to stop.]

Fine, I guess.

[Nuh-uh it was really fucking good and the fact that he's still slightly quivering around Wolfwood says that much. Ugh, he needs a cigarette.]

Guess you have a dick that works. [grumble grumble he's mad because the sex was yet again mindblowing]

[lupusxylem]

[The tail wagging just leaves Wolfwood grinning like an asshole. Sorry he can't help it, he's sooo smug and pleased with himself.]

Hah. I'd sure hope it does.

[Snorting, he brushes Flamebringer's hair from his eyes, careful not to touch the Oripathy coming from his forehead.]

You know who to call when you want it, baby.

before the monster mash // blanket warning for slavery & human experimentation mentions

[thebladebringstheflame]

[So. Flamebringer... has been thinking. In part, due to being friends with Till, and seeing the slave brand on his neck every day. In part, due to staring at the barcode on his own wrist lately, lost in thought. A major part of him still belongs to the Scar Market, after all.

And Wolfwood, too, is just like them. But whereas Flamebringer keeps the tattoo brand as a reminder of how far he's come, like every single scar from the guns of Sankta who'd hunted him over the years, Wolfwood... to him, had always seemed like he'd rather be rid of the brand on his back.

(Till, too, but that's for later.)

He's not sure about coverups. For a while, Flamebringer spends time in the tat shop with the door closed and the curtains drawn, sketching away, trying to think of something that could get rid of that nasty brand. Things Wolfwood would like and things Flamebringer thinks of him don't exactly seem to align the way he'd like on the page. To Flamebringer, Wolfwood is stubborn ivy and cigarette smoke, amaryllis and gladiolus, a phoenix rising from the ashes and leaving behind burnt bones only to say "I'm still here, motherfuckers". He spends a long time trying to figure out how to incorporate those feelings into a tattoo. Flowers, of course, are easy. But he's already covered Wolfwood in flowers, so there has to be something else.

...

Flamebringer spends three whole days on this. Countless sketchbook pages, pencils sharpened to the point they're mere stubs, ink staining his fingertips indistinguishable from his nail polish. A smear of graphite on his cheek when he goes to meet Wolfwood next says he only just finished the piece and didn't even have time to look presentable before walking all this way. Wherever Wolfwood is, he's getting a hand placed on his back right where the cult brand is, the sketchbook slid in front of him, open to the page that he's completed the design on.]

Tell me what you think of that.

[Wolfwood is looking at a black and white piece that takes up the entire page. Despite Flamebringer's attempt to avoid the flowers, the amaryllis made it into the design anyway, representative of his strength and determination. The stalks of the amaryllis are interwoven between the vertebrae of a spinal column, a ribcage wrapped around the outside as if one was looking at someone's back through an x-ray. In the end, Flamebringer isn't sure what made him pick a spine, other than the whole "phoenix" thing (and the fact it would be on Wolfwood's back), and the bones are appropriately burnt and charred to give that idea. The top of the design is, luckily, big enough to cover the cult tattoo between the top of the spinal column and the flowers, since that was the whole point of this excerise.

He could've gone smaller, but he didn't want to.

His bangs are fucked up and messy in a way that says "I was pulling on it thirty minutes ago", so clearly something's going on. If Flamebringer were more of an emotional person, he'd say what's on his mind immediately: "I want to tattoo that on you, because you were reincarnated into some fucked-up world that chased you even here." He also could've asked Wolfwood if he wanted that done at all rather than assuming, but turns out, Flamebringer remains horrible at talking to people, even those he has marked interest in.

...

Though, now that he's looking at this, he's thinking he should've coloured in the flowers. Pbffff. Fuck.]

[lupusxylem]

[By now, they've known each other long enough- and are well close enough- that Flamebringer understands implicitly the brand's existence and meaning. Though Wolfwood hasn't been known to be shy to show his chest off around folks, it's very obvious he doesn't often go around shirtless unless it's around somebody he knows. The mark covers a pretty large portion of the center of his back, after all, and though most others would just see it as another decorative tattoo on his skin...he knows it for what it is, and that's what matters.

The topic of covering it up is not something he's discussed at length, mostly because he's never...considered it could be an option. The Eye is a part of his life that's impossible to unwind from his soul at this point, he feels, and the mark is just another sign of that. He can run, he can hide...but they're always watching. The best he can do is surround it with other things that make him happy. More important things.

To that end, Flamebringer will find Wolfwood out on the porch of the cabin across the river, smoking a cigarette. It's during a time between returning from Neo Eden and making up with Add and Ain, for him, so he is...exhausted, both physically and emotionally. He feels like he needs to smoke like five packs to work through all of that, and so, here he is. He's mid exhaling a lungful of smoke when Flamebringer appears at his side, prompting him to lift his head a little as he holds out the sketchbook for him to see.

At first, he isn't entirely sure what he's looking at, other than a tattoo design, of course. It's really fucking good, actually...and he almost pulls his cig from his lips to ask Flamebringer if it's a new one he's designed for himself. But then...he takes a closer look, evident by the way he reaches for the sketchbook to pull it closer, and his brain finally clocks the familiar shapes, what those flowers and bones are covering...

His expression slackens, and if he hadn't plucked the cig from his mouth, it would have fallen from his teeth as he looks over at Flamebringer, noting his messy hair and graphite-stained face for the first time.]

I- When did you...?

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Oh, good, looks like he doesn't have to explain. Flamebringer really only shows Wolfwood his sketchbook when he's aiming to tattoo something on him, though, so to Wolfwood's credit it's not hard to figure out. The Sarkaz really isn't the sort of person who walks up to someone and goes "look at my art :)" and dips, everything he does is always very deliberate and purposeful.

Like now, when he takes Wolfwood's cigarette from between his lips and flops down onto the porch next to him, taking a puff. This is something he always does, and frequently did in their past lives when they were just Asher and Nick. A familiar, almost comforting gesture now.]

Spent three days on it. If you flip back ten or so pages, you'll see a bunch of frustrated rough drafts and notes.

[Including the whole... amaryllis means strength and determination, phoenix rising from the ashes, that whole thing. And various other drawings of skulls and flowers and feathers and something that looks like a black hole warping space because when he first thought "circular cult tattoo" apparently his first cover up idea was "black it out and put the void in there idk". Didn't go too well.]

Thing is, it's gonna be a whole back piece, from the top of your spine to right before your ass, with the ribs sort of over your actual ribs. I thought it might look better as an x-ray type of piece. ...and now I'm thinking I should've coloured the flowers in. Red, maybe. It'd look nice with your skin.

[lupusxylem]

[There aren't many things left in the world capable of stunning Wolfwood into total silence like how this is doing to him now, but...maybe it's not too surprising. Flamebringer has poured his blood, sweat, and tears into this design over the course of several days, and it's with careful hands that he'll flip back through the sketchbook a bit, seeing just how many other designs Flamebringer went through that were eventually scrapped. He's not really an artist himself, but he doesn't have to be to know how much work and planning goes into something like this.

What...the hell?

He doesn't know what to say. And he doesn't realize how long he's been that he's just been sitting there in silence before he turns back to the final design, his fingers brushing along the edges of it before his gaze slides over to look at Flamebringer over the rims of his shades.]

Fuck. Flamebringer...

[...]

What made you...wanna do this?