IF IT FEELS GOOD, TASTES GOOD, IT MUST BE MINE Breaking into the light after traipsing along through the cedars, the phoenix felt more jovial than he had in quite some time. Along the way he'd picked up the soft footfalls of Rain trailing along with him, though he hadn't made much in the realm of conversation. By now, the sun was partially set. Maybe a third to halfway below the horizon. The sky was awash with shades of rich crimson and burnt gold, the far end of the clearing a deep bruise of purple. "Here we are," he announced with a contented sigh, cerulean gaze drifting across the low edges of the pool below the falls. "a perfect end to the day." he mused, and craned his neck to search for Rain behind him. Pinning the smaller male with a look, a tiny smirk toyed with his features. He looked more like himself than he had all season. "Come on, let's see who can make the biggest splash!" he boomed, and took off running for the edge of the pool. It burned his muscles and likely tore open a few wounds, but he didn't mind. He was here to have fun, and enjoy life. Springing upwards with his hind legs, the male launched himself into the water. He might have been elegant, if that had been his intent. However, with all four limbs splayed out around him, he wanted nothing more than to make a massive entrance into the water. Eyes screwed shut, and auds pressed against his skull, he hit the water with a smack! It was blissfully cool on his skin, as he sunk below the surface. This was what he'd needed. Paddling back upwards, he breached the surface with a whoop. Tongue lolling from his jaws in a brilliant grin, he sought out Rain's form on the banks. "Come on!" he shouted. "Speech" <

He blinked owlishly at the young male’s sudden playfulness. He was so much larger than Rain it was hard for him to believe he was an adolescent, in spite of how gangly and awkwardly proportioned he was. Everyone in the empire seemed so dour that Rain was momentarily shocked by the lively puppy looking back at him. He gave the boy a small but candid grin as he slipped his bag off his back and sprinted after him, sinking up to his shoulders in the cool water before kicking off the gravel floor and swimming the rest of the way toward him. He couldn’t remember the last time he played with anyone, it had been long before his father took him to Ruina, when they were still traveling together. He could still remember his father, reposed on a hill next to a group of parents while Rain tussled with other puppies under his watchful gaze. He had grinned at his father and Tyranis had smiled proudly back at him. He was pulled from his reminiscing as Meph splashed him playfully, soaking his face up to his ear tips. He gave the younger male a wide grin then lifted his paws to paddle furiously at the water’s surface in an attempt to get back at him. Speaking Thinking You

IF IT FEELS GOOD, TASTES GOOD, IT MUST BE MINE By the time Rain entered the water, he was thoroughly wrapped up in the elation provided by the mortal's company. Based on his entrance, it was clear Mephistopheles had won the splash contest. Regardless, he made a point of slapping a pas against the water's surface to send a wave of water crashing up against Rain's face. The smaller male was grinning as he paddled towards him, the water's upheaval drenching the phoenix's own features. A booming laugh resounded through his chest, jaws splayed wide to announce his joy. Hind paws catching on the gravel at the bottom of the pool, the male bounded upwards and out of the water a few inches, forelegs outstretched as he leaned forwards. When he came back down, the force of the collision was intended to send a massive wave at Rain, and drench him even further (Being wrapped up in youthful glee, Mephistopheles didn't stop to think that he might be about to drown his new companion). "Agh!" he crowed as he lost his footing and slipped beneath the waters surface. It was a momentary stumble, and he got a mouthful of water as a result, but returned to the surface unharmed. A crimson tint in the water drew his attention, and the moment was ruined when he realized that he'd definitely reopened his wounds and was now bleeding everywhere. No! Dumb! He ignored it, and paddled lazily back towards Rain. He was having fun, and a few cuts and bruises weren't about to get in the way of that! "You gotta admit, this is more fun than whatever you probably had planned for the rest of the day." he teased with a broad grin, water lapping at his cheek fur as he aimed to swim in wide circles around the smaller wolf. "Speech" <

Rain gave a startled cry as Meph breached the water’s surface and crashed down next to him, sending a wave of water rushing over him and drenching the already soaked wolf. He paddled closer to the water’s surface and shook his head, hoping to clear the water from his ears but only managing to leave his fur sticking out from his face in odd angles and sharp points. "You gotta admit, this is more fun than whatever you probably had planned for the rest of the day." He quirked an eyebrow at the wolf and gave him a sly smirk. “Well…I don’t know about that.” He said facetiously. In truth all he had planned was to monitor some of his test subjects and perhaps grind down some herbs that could be used later. As much as he enjoyed his work he had never really known leisure, and the thought that he might actually have a friend elated him. He supposed Pyrric was his friend, although the age difference between them was so large it was hard for Rain to think of him as anything other than a child in need of guidance from an elder. Speaking Thinking You

IF IT FEELS GOOD, TASTES GOOD, IT MUST BE MINE With the fur of his cheeks pointing out at odd angles, there was suddenly a youthful charm to the other wolf. He looked like nothing more than a young man having fun after a hot day, as opposed to a grim faced soldier to the empire. It made something in the phoenix's chest flutter and then clench. The soft quirk to his brow as he wordlessly questioned the truth to Mephistopheles' statement, it was a subtle play upon heartstrings. “Well…I don’t know about that.” he said hesitantly, but there was no way Mephistopheles had been wrong. After all, not many wolves of the empire took the time to stop and have fun. He was part of a rather grim, dour family. "Come on, what could be more fun than a swim at the end of a long day?" the male let the rhetorical question hang in the air for a moment before he rounded his lazy loop of the smaller male, and let his hind paws rest on the bottom of the pond while he faced Rain. "What do you usually do around here, anyways? I haven't seen you before." he asked with a quirk of his own brow, bobbing lazily in the cool water. Granted, he hadn't seen many wolves lately. He hadn't been back for long, and he'd spent far too much time skulking about feeling sorry for himself. The fact that he hadn't seen Rain before didn't necessarily mean he was all that new. "Are you only a healer? Of have you got nasty little secrets lurking behind those pretty eyes of yours?" there it was, testing out his wiles on a mortal victim, trying to learn the art his father had begun teaching. ooc. so sorry for the wait! "Speech" <

Unlike Mephistopheles Rain couldn’t reach the bottom of the pool without his head slipping under the surface of the water, he instead kicked and wheeled his legs beneath the crystal surface, attempting to avoid splashing his companion as much as possible in an effort to keep from embarrassing himself. He opened his mouth to answer his first question immediately, then shut it and looked away bashfully at the male’s comment about his eyes. “Oh well…” He muttered. “I know a few poisons I guess…” He said modestly, suddenly flustered by the male’s piercing eyes. To anyone else he would have gladly listed the poisons he kept and the effects he had observed, but the larger male’s comment had caught him off guard. He was never quite sure about his own feelings on sex. He was positive he liked girls but there was a charm to Mephistopheles that he couldn’t deny. He had never considered being intimate with another male, it was something his father had never explicitly forbade but had never spoken about at all. His father had explained that males and females joined to make puppies but had gone no further into sex for pleasure or companionship. Speaking Thinking You

WE COULD BE IMMORTALS JUST NOT FOR LONG There it was. The flutter of.. something. A reaction to his words, the careful prodding of a tongue against an erupting tooth in search of sensation. He liked to see the bashfulness, the hesitation. “Oh well…” Rain began softly. “I know a few poisons I guess…” his gaze flitted away, landing on something to the side. Mephistopheles hummed thoughtfully, interest piqued. He began lazily paddling towards the shore. The water had done its work, but he was exhausted now. The combination of shock wearing off, and the relaxation of his tense muscles prompted by the cool water made him eager to lay down and rest. "Tell me more," he encouraged with a grin tossed carelessly over his shoulder- the same way the matadors would toss roses into a crowd. Thoughtless gifts cast to rapt onlookers. "I always love to learn new things, you know." he added, slinking onto the banks. He shook himself off carefully, the jostling of his wounds and sore muscles a little more than he wanted to endure at present. He lowered himself carefully onto the grass beyond the shore, turning his hips out to the side to face the water while his upper half lounged like a sphynx broadside to the pool. Cerulean gaze watched Rain's movements with the lazy air of a sated predator. "Do you have a particular favourite?" "Mephistopheles" "Rain"

He paddled to the banks and shook out his fur careful to keep enough distance between them to avoid shaking water onto his companion. He looked at him hesitantly for a moment, then slowly paced closer toward him before settling down beside him with a tail’s length of distance between them. Side by side the difference in their size was unmistakable. The full length of Rain’s body only reached the Phoenixes’ ribs and if he had been compelled he had no doubt the entirety of his jaws could clasp his spine and break it like a twig. "Do you have a particular favourite?" He broke from his musings at the male’s question, his ears perking slightly at the younger male’s rumbling voice. “Well, there is one…” He said, his eyes regarding the male’s shoulder rather than meet his eyes directly. “It’s a milky sap that comes from a tree, while I was collecting it, it made my skin itch as if I had been attacked by flees and blister.” He explained, unable to help the small smile that formed on his features as he recounted the memory. It had been a painful experience at the time, but now he could look back on it with a small measure of pride and satisfaction at having found what he believed was a potent poison he could use on his enemies. “I had only had brief contact with it, but if you can gather enough of it you could kill someone quite painfully just by using it to irritate their skin.” He explained, his smile widening and the end of his tail tapping as he spoke. He thought of using it on the bald faced bastard that had tried to proposition him, and perhaps even his father if he ever had the chance, but for now the white sap remained bottled in the dungeons, ready to be used when he saw fit. Speaking Thinking You

WE COULD BE IMMORTALS JUST NOT FOR LONG The dark pelted male slipped easily from the water, and plodded up the bank towards him. With his pelt waterlogged, it was easy to see how frail and delicate the other male was. Mephistopheles' gaze was drawn to the sharp angles of his bone structure and the sleek lines of his ribs. When Rain settled on the ground barely a foot away, lounging so they were parallel, he almost couldn't help the urge to scoot closer. Something in him wanted to know what his slim shoulders would feel like pressed up against his chest. "Well, there is one…" he hesitated, and his gaze drifted elsewhere. Was that shyness? How odd. It was a rare thing to see among the deities of the Abraxas clan, and he almost didn't recognize it. "It’s a milky sap that comes from a tree, while I was collecting it, it made my skin itch as if I had been attacked by flees and blister." he continued after a moment. The phoenix's brow quirked, intrigued. That must have been quite an experience, and part of him wished he could have been there to observe the act. "I had only had brief contact with it, but if you can gather enough of it you could kill someone quite painfully just by using it to irritate their skin." A thoughtful hum rumbled in the auburn male's chest, a slow smile creeping into his features. He was quite a fan of getting creative with the slaughter of others, particularly mortals. The methods were limited only to the imagination. "I'd bet it would wreak havoc on someone's guts, you know how thin the linings of the innards can be." he mused, eyes sparkling with malicious glee. As he thought more about it, the corner of his mouth turned down in a lopsided frown of contemplation. "However, it wouldn't be very subtle. I think it would burn the tongue the moment it touched, but it would certainly mangle the throat if it were to get that far. You could render someone nearly mute, I'm sure." as always, Mephistopheles was rambling on as though he were the only one present to speak. He was a great fan of having someone listen to him, he'd been starved for attention in his youth while they searched for his missing mother and brother. "Mephistopheles" "Rain"

“I think the swelling is what would get them first, I still have to test it, but if it was as bad as the swelling on my skin, their throat would close in minutes, strangling them.” He said, fully engrossed in the topic. “I’ve heard of something similar happening when wolves are near certain plants or at certain foods.” He explained. “They call them allergies, but they sound a lot worse than hay fever, or a case of the sniffles.” He said thoughtfully. “I think the best place to use it would be the eyes though; I imagine it’s strong enough to blind someone completely. If you wanted them to stay alive, I mean, well, assuming shock doesn’t kill them, it is incredibly painful and the eyes can be so sensitive.” He rambled and caught himself looking into Mephistopheles’s eyes yet again before he forced himself to look away.   With the sun nearly set the air around them had begun to chill. Rain did his best to keep from shivering but couldn’t help but glance at the other male’s russet pelt and wonder how warm he would feel pressed against him.  He pushed the thought away resolutely and focused instead on locating his bags. “We should go soon, it’s getting late.” He muttered, almost unwillingly. The Phoenix wasn’t a bulky creature like the one that had tried to take him in the garden, he was lithe but muscular, like a large cat and had the air of confident power that came with the comparison. He marveled at how different he appeared now to how he had just a few hours earlier, crying and vulnerable, now he wore his wounds proudly, like badges, and Rain wondered distantly if he had been the reason why.   "Talk"  "Thought"   "You"