ShadowDancer's Room

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Ash carried Dancer into the rooms and put him on the couch instead of the bed in the bedroom. At first, he ignored Dancer's curious look as he moved around the room doing just a few things. He opened all the shutters except in the playroom, then opened the curtain over the painting of Dancer with his fathers. He dithered around a bit more before sitting on the coffee table to push a lock of Dancer's hair behind his ear.

"Be careful, kid... Be honest... With yourself and with him... You're not meant to be alone..." he told him softly, knowing what he was picking up from Dancer.

But before either of them could say anything else, Sebastet came in helping Amir over to the couch next to Dancer. Once she got him seated, she ruffled his hair playfully then left the suite since she couldn't handle the sunlight, "Later kids!" was all she said as she headed out the door.

Ash just shook his head over her and got to his feet to put a kiss on top of Dancer's head, "See you later, Cousin," he said simply, making Dancer shake his head over that one. That one might take some explaining...

But Ash left them alone with a simple wave and a wink as he closed the door.

Dancer looked at Amir with a shrug of one shoulder, "Since Lareth basically adopted Sebastet as a sister, and since Lareth is Ash's cousin, Ash now considers all of Sebastet's godchildren as his cousins.... Basically, I've been semi-adopted by a lot of people..." he explained, hoping that helped Amir a bit. Besides, wasn't there some rule about not ogling family members? He couldn't remember it fully right now...

He looked at Amir and noted how tired he was then offered a small smile, "Why don't you get some rest? Someone will be up with food here shortly. You can lay down until then..." he offered, though he hoped that Amir didn't figure out why...

In truth, he needed to deal with his own side effects of the healing and wanted to do it on his own. Thanks to Amir, he didn't feel pain, but his body was reacting to it anyway. There was the reaction without the actual pain. It was confusing to explain, but there nonetheless. He just had to figure out how to keep it from showing and that was going to take a little time.

Yes, he was ignoring Ash's advice and trying to hide the issue. But he wasn't sure about asking Amir to help him with the solution to it... Maybe he'd get desperate enough after the next healing session, but for now he just needed a bit of time to figure out how to hide it...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Amir
Amir seriously thought about what Sebastet had said to him before they got to the tower. He couldn't imagine that Ra would send him to Dancer for any purpose other than to fail at his duty so that Ra wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. But he also couldn't imagine Sebastet telling him something like that if it had no truth to it. He had to admit that the idea of ending up with Dancer was appealing. From what he had seen so far, Dancer would basically be the perfect partner for him based on their shared tastes and similar abilities. But he also immediately had to squash that thought. Dancer deserved someone that he wouldn't have to keep a close eye on to make sure that he stayed faithful. He deserved someone better.

Amir addressed Sebastet briefly before she got out of the room. "I may just take you up on your offer to talk at some point," he said quietly, making sure that she would be the only one to hear. He didn't want to have to explain to Dancer what he meant if he overheard. He didn't want to have to lie or avoid the topic.

He watched Ash leave and then turned his attention to Dancer when the other male spoke to him. "I suppose that's good to know. That gives me a very good reason to avoid trying to go after Ash. It would just be rude to try to get with someone that's basically a member of your family. I would have to be a special kind of a*****e to try now that I know that. That should help me with my control issues around him."

He considered Dancer's suggestion for a moment. He didn't really want to lay down to rest without Dancer with him. He didn't want to risk his magic wearing off and allowing Dancer to feel the pain that he'd taken away. It was unlikely that the pain would return before the next morning, but he didn't like to take the risks with these things. But he could tell that Dancer needed space to deal with something on his own. He didn't know for sure what Dancer didn't want him to see, though he did have a guess as to what it was. He decided to respect Dancer's wishes and gave him a quick nod. "That's a good idea." He forced himself to get to his feet and moved over to the bed on unsteady legs. He collapsed onto the bed and adjusted his position so that he was facing away from Dancer, giving him the privacy he desired without letting him know what he was suspecting. He quickly drifted off into a light sleep, ready to be up in an instant if Dancer needed him.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Dancer smiled as Amir didn't protest getting a bit of rest, finding himself oddly grateful for it. But he still hesitated until he was sure that Amir'd had enough time to actually go to sleep before he did anything.

At that point, he simply released his hold on the muscles in his legs where he'd been healed this time. Thankfully, he was on the couch so there wasn't much noise from it when the muscles in his legs started jumping like he'd been hit by a bolt of lightening. He still had to muffle his own noises from the effort to contain that much movement.

If he'd simply gone to bed, this would have happened in his sleep and he knew that Amir would have felt bad about it. He didn't want him to lose any progress that he was making, so Dancer kept quiet.

Unfortunately, he wasn't thinking too clearly on it or he would have realized that the next session would be even worse. He only had one solution to dealing with situations like this and wasn't sure if he wanted to tempt Amir's control that badly. The male had enough issues going on and Dancer didn't want to screw things up for him, so he was at a loss as to what to do about his own issues at the moment.

That meant that Dancer was exerting control over his own issues so that they didn't cause problems for Amir. The male would learn of some of them soon enough, but they'd work out a solution to it later. For now, Dancer was simply trying to protect him as best as he could...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Amir
Amir slept lightly for a while. As he slept, he started to dream of Dancer. Sebastet had put the idea in his head that Ra may be trying to set them up, and despite his doubts about that, he dreamed of what that slim possibility could lead to. He did dream about the playroom, but it only stayed on that course briefly before it turned to more innocent things. He dreamed about spending time with him in the garden or on the beach. He dreamed of just spending time with him in general.

He eventually woke up when one of the servants showed up with food, like Dancer had said. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes a bit as he tried to wake up. As he caught sight of Dancer, he had to force himself to quickly separate reality from the moments he'd dreamed of. He got up and started to move back over toward him, finding that he had just a tiny bit more energy than he did when he went to sleep.

He made it back over to the couch and sat down next to Dancer. "So what did they bring us this time?" he asked, still sounding extremely tired. He was starting to feel a bit conflicted about things. Sebastet had made him wonder about his father's reasons for sending him here. If Ra was playing matchmaker, it meant that he could try to see what could happen with Dancer without getting in trouble. But if he wasn't, trying to do anything more would lead to some extremely serious consequences. And even if he didn't get in trouble, he still felt that Dancer deserved someone better. He managed to keep his expression normal as these thoughts went though his head, hiding any signs of confusion from Dancer. There was no reason to worry Dancer about his own mixed up feelings.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Dancer smiled up at him from the couch, grateful that he'd gotten his legs taken care of before Amir woke up. Instead, he gestured to the trays on the coffee table in front of him that were still covered.

"I have no idea. I haven't peeked yet. But it smells like roasted pork of some kind. Probably from the boars in the forest, they've been breeding like rabbits lately so they're trying to cull them a bit. We get alot of venison, but someone will get lucky and bring down one of the larger male boars here and there..." he explained as he got up and settled the trays where they could both get to them from the couch.

He felt just as exhausted as Amir did, "After we eat, I think we can both get some sleep," he suggested before he lifted the covers off the trays and showed that he was right, "Ah... Fire roasted pork with roasted cinnamon potatoes and carrots, and it looks like one of the local red wines to drink with it," he described the meal but could not describe the smell and flavor...

He knew it would be delicious because he'd tasted Sebastet's recipes before and loved every one of them.

He was walking much easier now, though the finished healing would take care of all of it. Until then, he would be grateful for each piece of independence and relief he could get. He would simply have to deal with the side effects of the next healing as best as he could...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Amir
Amir listened to Dancer speak about what he thought the meal was and the explanation about the boars in the forest. He took a moment to take in the scent of the meal and found that Dancer was right about it smelling like roasted pork. The meal smelled delicious, and Amir was definitely ready to eat after the extended healing session. The session had really taken a lot out of him and left him with almost no energy.

He nodded at Dancer's statement that they could both get some sleep after they ate. "That sounds good. We could both use the rest after that healing session." He watched as Dancer lifted the covers off of the trays and smiled as Dancer detailed what they would be having. "It sounds as good as it smells. I can't wait to try it."

He sat back up a bit more, forcing himself to move despite his exhaustion. He noticed his hands shaking a bit as he picked up the silverware but decided that he shouldn't really worry about it. The plan was to get some rest right after this, so he could deal with some shaky hands for the moment. He started to eat, pausing for a moment to really savor the taste. The food was absolutely delicious, and he slowed down a bit and took his time with the rest of it to really savor it.

After finishing the meal, Amir put the cover back on his tray and waited for Dancer to finish as well. When Dancer was done, Amir collected his tray as well and sat them both in the hallway to be collected, just as he'd done that morning. He was a bit slow as he walked, but he managed to get around without too much trouble. He slipped into the bed and waited for Dancer to join him. He wanted to make sure that Dancer was in the bed and in a comfortable position before he went to sleep.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Dancer enjoyed the meal then joined Amir in the bed, settling himself in against the wall but with his head resting on Amir's chest. He couldn't sleep with someone in the bed unless he was cuddling somehow. He simply couldn't help it. He'd always been that way.

Thankfully, his few bedpartners had been understanding, and his lovers had been grateful.

He started to settle in but had to sit up enough to push his hair behind him, then settled in again and finally closed his eyes, "Sleep sounds very good..." he said softly, settling his arm across Amir's waist as he started to drift off to sleep.

He wound up sleeping deeply enough that he couldn't hide a few muscle tremors in his legs from the rapid healing, but it was minimal compared to what he'd dealt with earlier. And it wasn't really even enough to wake either of them up, with as tired as they were.

When morning came, the sunlight spread through the open window above the bed and covered them both, energizing Amir and relaxing Dancer enough that he actually shifted to his leopard form. Something about laying in the sun tended to make him shift. It was always explained as a cat thing.

He also started purring...

So Amir wound up waking up with a very large snow leopard in the bed laying next to him and purring enough to vibrate the bed...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Amir
Amir was a bit caught off guard when Dancer rested his head on his chest. He could tell that the act didn't really involve any physical feelings. It seemed more like it was just a random quirk that Dancer had when he went to sleep. He didn't really have a problem with it, but he had to hope that it wouldn't cause any issues with his self-control later. Having such a beautiful male cuddling with him could cause problems pretty quickly.

"Yes, sleep does sound very good," he muttered in response to Dancer. He waited for Dancer to fall asleep and then took a deep breath to steady himself. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. As he slept, he started to dream of Dancer again. Sebastet mentioning the possibility of Ra matching them up really was having much more of an effect than she had probably expected. Amir didn't think that he was good enough for Dancer, but that didn't stop him from dreaming of what could happen.

Amir started to stir when the sunlight covered him and began to restore his energy. He let out a pleased sigh as he felt the sunlight revitalizing him and then finally noticed the bed vibrating from the purring. He opened his eyes and sat up a bit, finding a very large snow leopard laying next to him in the bed. He certainly hadn't been expecting to find that when he woke up.

He took a moment to try to figure out what he should do. The leopard seemed to be sleeping in the sunlight, but he wasn't sure if it would be nice if he woke it up. He also wan't sure if it would have problems with his presence, since leopards and hyaenas were natural enemies. He decided that he would just have to roll the dice since they couldn't stay in bed like this all day. He reached out to gently pet the leopard, hoping that the action wouldn't lead to it tearing into his arm.

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

The leopard lifted its head into the out-stretched hand and closed its eyes as it leaned into the petting and scratching that ensued.

In truth, Dancer's leopard was a p***y cat most of the time. It could get sensitive at times, and grumpy at other times. But for the most part, it was a very laid back cat.

Especially if Dancer had some time in his playroom...

Once Amir finally relaxed and got into the petting and scratching, Dancer rolled onto his back for a brief belly rub, inducing a laugh from the male. After the belly rub, he actually rolled himself out of the bed and gave a full stretch before he shifted back, covered only with his hair. He looked up with a sheepish look and shrugged one shoulder, "Sorry about shifting on you like that... It was the sunlight... It's a cat thing, I guess..." he said softly then got to his feet.

But he did it in such a way that he didn't flash Amir at all. His hair acted as a perfect curtain as he moved into his closet to put on a pair of shorts in preparation for their next healing session in the garden. Thankfully, Sebastet had already arranged assistance for them if they should need it.

For now, though, they had breakfast being placed on the coffee table in the sitting room by a couple of servants from the kitchen, who simply dropped off the trays and left them alone. He came out of his closet and instantly reached for his hairbrush, needing to get his hair braided down. He was thinking about taking a bath after this healing session, but didn't know how he'd feel after so he wasn't making any plans for now...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Amir
Amir had to smile as the leopard lifted its head into his hand. He started to pet and scratch the leopard, quickly getting into the actions. He hadn't gotten to just relax and pet an animal in a while now, so he seized this opportunity to enjoy some time with the large cat.

He immediately laughed when the leopard rolled onto its back and started to rub its belly. "You're just a sweet kitty, aren't you?" he said, clearly quite smitten with the cat already. Even though leopards and hyaenas were natural enemies, Amir couldn't help but love the huge cat. He adored animals, especially ones as sweet as this one was so far.

He eventually stopped rubbing the cat's belly and watched as it rolled out of the bed before it shifted back. He gave a slight shrug when Dancer apologized for shifting. "Oh, you don't need to apologize about that. Your cat is just a big sweetheart. I kind of want to play with it again later. I just love big animals like that." He was so excited about Dancer's cat that he didn't even notice that Dancer was naked until he started to put on a pair of shorts. He couldn't see anything through Dancer's hair, but he didn't even try to get a look around it.

He got out of the bed and stated to stretch. "I need to shift and let my hyaena out sometime soon. I haven't shifted in a while. But we'll have to see how our animals interact with each other in a slightly safer environment. I don't think that it would be good to shift and let them meet without knowing what will happen. We wouldn't want them to fight or anything."

He noticed Dancer reaching for his hairbrush and picked it up to hand it to him. "I can help you with your hair if you need me to. It's really long, so it seems like it has to be a bit difficult to do it on your own." He gave Dancer a teasing grin. "I promise that I'll behave. Mostly." He was certainly getting more comfortable with flirting with Dancer, though he still respected him enough to keep his flirting at a reasonable level. He was actually doing surprisingly well with keeping his desires under control. And even though he was still trying to figure out his own feelings about the possibility of Ra trying to match him with Dancer, he was quickly growing attached to Dancer in a way he didn't fully understand. As he spent more time with Dancer, he became less interested in just sleeping with him and actually wanted to get to know him as a person

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Dancer gave him a smile as he passed the brush over and stood with his back to Amir so that he could brush all of it, closing his eyes as the brush started moving through his hair. It was such a soothing thing to have someone else brush your hair, and something that he missed alot.

"I guess it's a holdover from my father, that I never cut it. My father's hair fell to his ankles and was pure silver. I grew up with him and my dad both taking care of my hair, watching them do the same with each other. I guess it just kindof stuck with me. I still love it when someone else brushes it for me," he said softly, doing his best to keep from purring out loud as the brush moved through his hair.

His hair was thick and strong but just as silky soft as his leopard fur. It was a unique mix of silver and white inherited from both of his parents, just as his eyes were. He'd inherited other things from his parents as well, but most of it would have to be revealed later on.

For now, he had other things to think about. Mainly, getting healed and how he was going to deal with the second session.  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Amir
Amir was glad that Dancer accepted his help and passed him the brush. He waited for Dancer to turn around and then started to brush his hair for him. He gave an amused look that Dancer wouldn't be able to see as he noticed just how much Dancer seemed to like his hair being brushed. He didn't say anything about it, deciding that it would be better not to mention it. He didn't want Dancer to possibly get embarrassed about his reaction or to stop enjoying it.

He listened close to what Dancer had to say about his parents, finding it a bit interesting that Dancer had two fathers. "Being raised by two fathers seems so odd to me," he stated, voicing his thoughts. "I was raised in a community of women, so I didn't even have a father nearby until Ra summoned me when I was fully grown. Men weren't even allowed to pass through our lands at all. The women would go out to find potential partners and return once they were pregnant. Any male children were taken to villages outside of our lands and raised without any knowledge of who their real parents were. I was only allowed to live in the community because I was the son of the queen and Ra. And being the son of Ra meant that I was trained to be a warrior pretty much as soon as I could walk. So I never even saw another man until I was sent out to meet with my father."

He finished brushing Dancer's hair and passed the brush back to the other male. "Do we need to braid it or anything?" He hadn't expected to ever really tell someone more about himself like he just had, but he did want to get to know Dancer properly, and that meant that he needed to offer the same in exchange. "Also, I'm a bit curious about something. I looked at the painting of you and what I'm assuming are your fathers in the other room. I can see bits that you've inherited from both of them. I'm a bit curious about how that worked."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Dancer easily separated his hair and started braiding it out of long habit. He was finding it easier to understand Amir's distraction with each revelation he gave, "I can't imagine being raised with only women. But it explains why you're so easily distracted by men. You really had no experience with being around them, and was never able to build up a defense for your attraction when you met one. Your mother really didn't do you any favors there, queen or not," he told him, showing that he really had put it together that easily.

But when his fathers were mentioned, he had to give a grin and motioned for Amir to follow him to look at the painting. He pointed to Mao, "My dad, Mao, was able to shift gender long enough to conceive, carry, and deliver me. It's something unique to his race. I've never run across anyone else that can do it. Thanks to him, I have the white parts of my hair and one blue eye. From Desha, I got the silver and one green eye as well as my magic," he explained, unable to hide his pride in his parents.

The two of them had overcome so much over the years they were together. Then they'd raised him. The sea had eventually called Mao, but he was grateful for the time he'd had him.

"Maybe later, when I'm feeling better, I'll show you what else Mao gave me. For now, let's get this finished and I'll see about showing you around the island," he offered, finding that he liked being around Amir, and that he could pretend that he was perfectly fine. He still had moments where he wanted to wallow in despair and loss. But he was doing his best to pretend. If he pretended long enough, he would probably be fine.

At least, that was the theory.

For now, he was trying to figure out how to handle the muscle spasms from this next healing session... He usually dealt with those things in a different way than usual, but he wasn't sure about asking Amir to help him on it...  

[Dameon Black]

Red Gypsy

Amir
Amir sighed softly as he listened to Dancer's observations. "You're not wrong," he admitted. "Leaving me isolated with only women for my early life definitely made things harder for me when I came across men. Especially when you take into account that gods and their children have way higher sex drives than other creatures. Keeping me from ever seeing men for so long basically amounted to throwing me into the ocean without teaching me to swim once I was able to meet them. It's not hard to believe that I failed to control myself. It probably didn't help that the first man I ever met invited me to his home to spend the night with him and several others. I went from not seeing men to being seduced by the first I met."

He shook his head a bit, feeling a bit wrong for questioning his mother's decisions while raising him. "In my mother's defense, though, no one realized that I was attracted to men instead of women. I showed no interest in the girls or women in my community, but they all just thought that it was because I felt wrong with trying to be with women that I knew so well and respected so much. They made a point of teaching me how to make sure that I would be the perfect partner for my future bride and that I would always treat women as sacred. Even I didn't realize that I was exclusively attracted to men until I met new people and figured out that the female body held no appeal for me. I will admit that the entire situation could have been prevented if I'd had some exposure to the people outside of our lands before I was old enough to be interested in sex, though."

He was happy about the distraction that Dancer provided when the other male led him to look at the portrait and began to proudly talk about his fathers. He could tell just how much love Dancer held for the two men. He smiled as he spoke again. "They both sound wonderful. I've never met anyone who could change gender before, and I doubt that I would ever want to do it myself. So I think it's safe to say that Mao was certainly a very special type of person."

He gave a quick nod when Dancer mentioned showing him more of what he'd gotten from Mao once he was feeling better and offered to show him around the island after they were done with the healing. "Seeing more of the island sounds great. If I'm going to be spending a while here, I should probably get to know more about it." He held out a hand for Dancer to take. "Why don't you choose where we go for today's session? Once we're done, we can spend a bit of time in a spot you like before we move to other things."

 

[Red Gypsy]

Dameon Black

Exit to Island Coast. You can post them there, if you like.

Dancer simply smiled over his parents, knowing that he had every right to be proud of them. The simple fact that they'd successfully raised him had been a miracle by itself. Among Mao's people, children rarely lived to reach adulthood.

He considered Amir's question seriously as he finished braiding his hair and tied it off, tossing the long mass over his shoulder to hang down his back, "Let's go to the coast. I haven't been swimming in a long time and I miss it," he offered then gave a shrug of one shoulder, "Plus, swimming in the saltwater has the benefit of helping with healing. There's a stretch of sandy beach along the coast where the sand feels as soft as silk and the water stays warm for hours after the sun goes down..." he had to smile over the place, loving the memories that came with it.

He finally turned a small smile to Amir, the scar that split his lips giving him a slight teasing quality, "My dad taught me to swim there," his smile took on a wry appearance briefly, "It's also where I got my leopard, but I"ll tell you about that one later," he added then headed for the door.

Thanks to his other injuries, he wasn't as fast as he'd like to be, but at least he was able to walk again...