JAWS • DECEMBER 2025 EVENT/TDM

[uruz]

TDM & EVENT: JAWS

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Show Me Those Pretty White Jaws

The dream has been coming in waves for those new to Sleep's touch, as a shoreline that never stays still. As a sky that never remembers to include its stars. Beneath it all, there is a voice. Her voice: silk-sweet, coaxing from just beyond the approaching wave that towers like a moving mountain. She tells you to come home. She promises it won't hurt, even if she never tells you what waits beneath. You see the shape just before the dream ends: a massive black tidal wave, yawning wide and black until it looks like a pair of jaws breaking upon you. You don't have time to resist.

You and your veteran Vessels will awaken in water.

There is no surface. No bottom. No sky. No sound but your own heartbeat and the echoes of water being slashed though, dull and endless in the still, frigid dark. You are suspended, weightless— Some may have difficulty to breathe without inhaling water the first few times, while those aligned with the waves will feel it come like second nature. Once you acclimate yourself, you'll notice that around you drift glowing filaments; thin, pulsing threads that coil like jellyfish tendrils, softly luminescent. They curl and twist through the water, and when you look closer, you realize: they show you things. Memories, maybe. Dreams, maybe. Each one unique to your gaze: a hand reaching for yours in the dark, a goodbye that never finished, a face you haven't seen in years. They are what you think love looks like. What you once needed it to be. And when you touch them, they wrap around you, gently, warmly . . . Hungrily— and begin to pull you down.

To ascend into the next level, you must let go. But not everything that binds you wants to be released. The filaments drifting through the water show you what you think love looks like— what you've built it into. They are gentle at first, beautiful even, but the longer you cling, the more they pull.

There are ways to escape them: You may bind your filament with another's and together speak aloud a shared truth: what you believe love really is. If your hearts align or at the very least come to an agreement, the threads dissolve into light and lift you upward. If your beliefs clash or contradict, the threads knot tighter, and something . . . May take interest in you.

Beneath you, something moves. Huge, silent and almost regal. It glides through the deep like a phantom, almost too large to be real. You feel its presence before you see its flash of pearl white and glowing red eyes, three on each side of its face: a shark.

The shark is here to choose its next meal. It smells grief, fear and seeks out trauma most of all. It is drawn to the most unspoken parts of you, the very parts you thought were buried, roused from the tightened ropes of what you crave in your heart. And when it chooses you, it does not bite immediately. It invites, with its jaws opening like a sanctuary and slow towards you.

Inside is I, whispers Sleep. Allow Me to have you whole, and you will be at peace. Show Me love.

Fight against her, or even with your current partner about what love is, and Sleep will open her maw, spilling tendrils from her throat and begin to stalk you. Best be prepared to fight the possessed Megalodon— She will laugh, amused as you do, like a great cat playing with its food. And if you were to be caught, well. You'll wake in the dream's next level with an undeniable prey drive, whether Token or Offering.

She will do anything to keep you here.

NOTES:

• There is no surface visible at first. Light only comes from the filaments. As characters resist, act, or ascend, a faint stained-glass shimmer begins to pulse upward, hinting at the dream's next layer.
• Sound is muffled— speech emerges as bubbles, but meaning travels regardless. Words feel heavy here. Some phrases may literally change the water (turn to light, birth dream-objects, or ripple with tension). You will do better using The Murmur as a means of communication. Luckily you have your mask on!
• The Shark always circles once it senses trouble within you. Sometimes close, sometimes far, but always felt. If characters listen closely, they can hear the echo of One's voice coming from inside it: pleading with a haunted, at times screaming melody.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• The dream bends subtly around Tokens, especially at the whims of an Aquamancer. Walls of pressure open before them, and filaments shift course as if expecting them. This can make their path easier, unless they start to doubt their purpose.
• Tokens perceive emotional resonance as currents in the water such as subtle flows of energy. These can guide them (or others) toward escape paths, or signal when the shark is near.
• When a Token speaks or acts with strong intent, the dream sometimes translates it into a symbolic structure: A word might become a floating glyph. A gesture might alter the filament's shape. A moment of clarity might reveal a hidden path. Other characters can interact with these dream-objects, but they're fragile, unstable, and prone to distortion by doubt.
• The deeper Tokens go, the more they feel themselves pulling apart and begin to experience dual awareness: one part dreaming, one part watching— some may even see flashes of within the shark's belly, and One's voice much louder. The deeper they go, the more detached they become, and the more they lack the ability to act at all.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• The shark is more fascinated by Offerings. It circles them often, sensing kinship— or potential. The more monstrous the Offering, the more the shark "pauses' near them, almost curious.
• Offerings feel "the pull" more clearly, particularly Merrows and other aquatic-based Offerings—they can sense where the surface might be, and where the shark intends to strike next. They may even see pulses in the water that others miss, similar to Spider Man's "spidey senses".
• An Offering may experience rapid body changes submerged. Fins may appear, bones may shift, teeth may lengthen without warning and so on. This makes their movement easier or harder, depending on how much of themselves they're holding back or how apt their monstrous forms are at swimming.
• Some Offerings may feel drawn to the shark— not in fear, but in understanding. They may see themselves in it, and vice versa— One's song in particular is hypnotic, and for split moments you may understand his pain through his words. This might make you more prone to being consumed, though, so hopefully your partner can help you out of it—?.

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Watching Me With Eyes Of A Predator

The surface you breach is not water— it's glass.

You strike it with the force of falling sky. It fractures beneath you in a bloom of painted light. For one weightless moment, the dream hesitates, sputters. Then the world shatters, and you fall with the cascade.

Water pours through the crack in the ceiling, carrying you down in ribbons of color and a shattering splash. Stained glass shards drift like petals through the now collapsing roof, and you eventually land not in sand, but upon a cathedral floor, slick with tide. Around you, the water spreads, pooling across the stone and swallowing the walls in a rising hush as it finds escape through the doors.

The cathedral is vast, impossibly so. Its architecture towers, crooked and immaculate, built more from longing than stone. No altar awaits you. No congregation. Only the sensation of having trespassed into something meant to be private. Veteran Vessels may recognize this cathedral as St. Patrick's— before it was drenched in One's blood sacrifice.

High above and surrounding you, the stained-glass mosaics churn with captured light. f you linger beneath one of the window's rays, your appearance may begin to change under the light. You appear as someone else sees you. Be it a hero. A monster. A disappointment. A god. A weakness. A temptation. Even a burden. That version of you clings to your dream-body like a second skin; uncomfortable, intimate, and undeniable. For some, it may be beautiful. For others, unbearable.

If you and another stand beneath the same window, you may each appear as the other secretly imagines. There is no control and no negotiation. Only truth twisted through the lens of want, resentment, fear, or love. And it doesn't go away until you leave the light.

Eventually, the cathedral doors open by dream's will. Beyond them lies a cloister garden: narrow paths, pale trees, and wild flowers that bloom in stillness. At the far end, behind the overgrowth and ruined arches, you see a hollow.

It is a corridor where the dream collapses inward, twisting, warped, half-swallowed in fog and dread. Its stones pulse faintly beneath a shallow film of water. Black tendrils reach from its depths like roots, veins, twitching toward sound, warmth, and movement. You see them dragging matter into the earth, and between them lie bones, contorted and fresh, half-consumed.

And farther still, a body that still breathes. Glimpsed only briefly, A masked man's form is stretched by the hollow's gravity, arms pinned behind the veil. He does not move, or speak. Or perhaps, he cannot. The hollow does not let him go and will not, should you make your attempts. If you step foot in the hollows that have consumed him, you too will be consumed. A three eyed Tod sits at the hollow's edge, a single bushy tail splitting into three, as its body plays with illusion like smoke put to dance over fire. It says, as its head floats up and its maw splits into a grin too cheshire to ignore: Wearing shoes, yet no feet in sight. You'll hear steps pound in the death of night. What is it that you need, to cross this narrow blight?

It disappears and only leaves you the riddle to chew on.

Nothing living can cross the hollow, you'll soon find. Nothing except . . . The Nightmares.

Just outside the garden's boundary, you'll find horses built from wind and shadow, flickering at the edge of your vision. Their bodies are black— not the color, but the absence, swallowing all light. Some of their craniums cound be seen, others have a jutting horn of bone from their foreheads. Where eyes should be, there are six: three stacked on each side of the skull, glowing dimly red like distant embers beneath ice. Their manes flow like torn fabric, like drifting vapor that trails behind them like the smoke from a snuffed candle. Their maws are too damn wide to be herbivorous, yet they seem to enjoy the act of grazing. They wait, unchained and wild in a herd.

This is the only way forward. Only they can pass through the hollow untouched. But how to ride one—? You may chase them. You may plead, command, kneel. You may offer them all your need and all your love, promises that you will provide if they become your steed. But they were not made to answer it. For every Vessel, there is one single Nightmare that will choose them, and thus you will choose each other. They have their own personalities, some more aggressive or shyer than others. The harder you reach, the faster they vanish or harshed they will attack if unready. Try to mount one through force, and you'll regret ever trying. Try to bind one, and it will break you.

But if you are patient, if you figure out its nature and how to please it— your Nightmare may come closer. One may circle you. It may bow its head. Their snort is warm and real against your palm. If successful, it will lower itself to its knees. If you've got the height, they will simply wait, patiently, for you to get on their backs (Or not; there are plenty of sassy mares out there).

If you accept, you might not be taken somewhere safe, but you will be taken somewhere true, away from here. And if you force your want upon them, if you cannot let go— you will be left with something else.

In the distance, across the flooded cathedral floor, you may see One again. Flashes, glimpses. Always chasing a mare he never reaches, or the opposite— the mare chases after him.

NOTES:

• If a character successfully forms a bond with their Nightmare, it will return with them in the form of a waking world steed, officially introduced in the next event. You're free to give it the personality you wish.
• If a character attempts to force a connection with a Nightmare at any point (tries to catch, mount, command, etc.), the mare will bite or kick, which Vessels will suffer as a persistent dream-mark that will carry into the waking world.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• Light clings unnaturally to Tokens in the cathedral, especially near the stained glass. It bends around their bodies like a false halo, casting them in divine or monstrous outlines depending on who watches.
• If a Token casts or channels any magic within the cathedral or near a Nightmare, the spell does not manifest, but instead, a cold mist escapes their mouth, and the Nightmare turns to look. The dream rejects force.
• When a Nightmare looks directly at a Token, their eyes eclipse, pupils vanishing into rings of shadow. In that moment, a fragmented vision floods the Token's mind . . . not from the Nightmare, but from another character nearby. It shows the Token how that character once dreamed of them, what they feared, needed, or hoped they would become.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• The stained glass causes a subtle change in scent and physical appearance turning into a more grotesque version of this— Offerings begin to smell or look like what others most want from them.
• Offerings may always know where the Nightmares are, even when hidden. But the more they try to act on this knowledge, the harder the Nightmares are to reach.
• An Offering's body will react before they realize it, flinching from lies, bristling in moments of emotional pressure, pulling away from contact, and so on. They may startle even at gentle contact, as if something inside them is as reactive as they are.

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Where The Delicate Stops

As your Nightmare takes you through the misty hollow, you may begin to notice the empty city of Manhattan as veterans remember. There is no warning but the eerie silence that surrounds you like impossible weights. The cathedral once behind you folds inward— wrong, deep and full of pressure. It bursts through the hollow's path, through the city's street, and then— The dream ruptures.

Stone peels backward like paper. Glass liquefies mid-air. The sky above the city pulls itself inside out. Time bends sideways. And from the edges of the dream, something, someone, begins to hunt. Sleep's presence moves like the very shark she chose as a vision of her physical manifestation. She does not speak or rage. But you feel Her, rising like fever beneath the skin of Her world as the hairs at the back of your neck do. She does not want you this deep, and neither does One.

Somewhere within the collapse, you may see them— entwined, shifting, trembling. One's face is turned toward you, screaming something that doesn't reach your ears. Sleep's hands are tangled in his body. She pulls him back with a gentleness that breaks the sky, and he screams, reaching for you with his last breath before consumption. The dream convulses.

The Nightmares bolt with you still on them.

The city rises to meet you from the shadows, but it's not the city you know. Skyscrapers twist at unnatural angles. Streets flood, then dry, then flood again. Tendrils burst from subway grates and gutters, slashing upward like tongues. Streetlights spin like compass needles. Cars levitate, crash, freeze midair. You move through it all at breakneck speed, but the exit keeps shifting— a hole in the world that flickers just beyond reach where you see your body, fast asleep.

Somewhere in the chaos, a few Nightmares are caught. Sleep strikes like lightning— she coils like a viper and tightens like a vice. One touch from Her, and your Nightmare collapses mid-gallop, its body unraveling into smoke and light. No sound. No scream. Just absence. And you fall right off it like a ragdoll.

Others fall beneath impact, too— a wrong turn, a shattered wall, a burst of heat from One's grief. A broken leg. A crash. A wound too deep to ride through. If your steed is lost, you fall. And if no one reaches for you, you stay fallen. Others are near, and their Nightmares still run. All of you have a terrible dread in your bones— if you are caught or left behind, the consequences will be dire. You might not even wake up. So, call out. Cling. Climb. Share. Two Vessels on one mount. Anything to survive and flee as the dreamscape tightens its wrathful grip around you.

Sleep calls inside your spine. You can't make out what She says. One answers, the same blur of garbled words in your marrow. And then, just before the dream can take you, just before you reach an exit— you rise.

Your body lifts from the Nightmare as it paddles the air with desperation, it too rising. You're pulled upward, weightless, as if a thread inside your heart has been yanked by a furious god. You float, twist in the air. Your vision glows white.

We've got you.

And then you wake up— mid-air in the waking world.

Your body slams into your bed, floor, street, soil, wherever it was that you had slept. Reality greets you with terrible impact.

NOTES

• If a character does not find a mount in time, they may be caught in the dream collapse. They still wake— but they wake broken. These characters may wake up bruised, disoriented, or emotionally fragmented, and this can be explored in the next waking world event.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• Any Tether they feel becomes unstable—splintered. For brief moments, they feel it breaking and re-forming again and again, with slight differences each time.
• The more emotionally charged they are, the more the dream pulls toward them; tendrils snap faster, debris veers unnaturally close.
• Their body flickers with signs of their own magic—sigils, symbols, runes— burning just beneath the surface of their skin like constellations. These glow brighter as the dream collapses, as if trying to tear free.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• Where Offerings are grazed or injured, they bleed light, not red. It floats up like mist.
• They hear One's heartbeat, not theirs, and it speeds in panic. It affects their own pulse, the mare under them . . .
• The Nightmare no longer follows the Offering's will—it will respond to their fear instead.

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OOC NOTES

➤ Welcome to Somnia's third TDM, which doubles as the month's gamewide event!
➤ This TDM is considered game canon. You are free to have your character remember as many details as possible when they wake up.
➤ Only new characters are free to experiment with the Vessel options, Token or Offering to your liking; this is a dreamscape, so multiple/different situations for you to really test which option you like most is possible. Current characters must remain as their chosen Vessel type unless you requested a switch, which can be done on the Taken page.
➤ All TDMs take place within a dreamscape, meaning characters can interact with the setting without needing to apply. Come have fun with us!
➤ Veteran players, I ask to please refrain from making post-event threads for the time being! We have some important information to take into account in next month's event when characters are slated to "wake up". At the very least, please wait for the information to be offered on the next plotting post. Thank you everyone for your patience!
➤ Please comment on the TDM's INVITE TL if you are a new player interested in joining the game, but don't yet have an invite. Current players or the mod may reach out to extend an invite. Once you've got one, please don't forget to comment on the Invite page so you may properly link it in your reserve and app.
➤ Questions? Please direct them to the designated questions comment linked below!

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[trashblaze]

Saheon!

[ That voice is unmistakable. Is it a surprise at this point? Caelus is here yet again. He enters the range of the light, quickly making his way to hold onto Saheon to stabilize and reassure him. The tone in his voice indicates worry, but if that's not obvious enough, then the feeling of their tether will spell it out.

Caelus tries to examine Saheon's condition, but he can't see with the older man blocking his eye like that. The trailblazer allows him to adjust a little longer, then eventually holds onto his hand, gently guiding it away from his eye. ]

Don't rub your eye. It might get irritated. Here, let me help.

[ If it's dust or small particles that got caught in it, Caelus will help out by gently blowing some air onto it to safely remove them. So he leans in, intending to do so. But? How does he look while doing this? ]

last chance to pm me to rewrite this

[inverseye]

Caelus?

[ Saheon looks up when he hears his... when he hears Caelus' voice. Behind the black of his shut eye, he can hear footsteps approaching, and then the firm grip of a hand on his. ]

Hey!

[ Caelus pulls his hand away from his eye before he's good and ready. Saheon shakes his head, opening his mouth to look over and glare, but something abruptly stops him short.

It's not Caelus standing there, holding his wrist. Instead, it's a pretty offering girl with a petite, doll like face. She shares Caelus' hair and eye color, but the similarities end there. A good head shorter then Saheon, with two rounded grey ears sticking out from her messy hair. A black mask puts her eyes in striking contrast, and a black and white ringed tail twitches demurely under the hem of her knee length skirt.

Even the hand holding his is different, small and tipped with dainty black claws. Saheon...is frozen solid. Suffice to say that this is his type... Um. Looking down at where her white blouse is buttoned around her chest, he can definitely say this is his type! ]

Uh... H-hold on...! [ Saheon puts himself up on his tiptoes, pulling back suddenly to get away! He's not ready for a hot crazy chick! Where did his wonderful Caelus go!? ]

Are you-?

It's perfection 👀

[trashblaze]

[ Oh, this is now a Ranma Caelus 1/2 episode, apparently. Caelus doesn't notice the changes right away, but he certainly feels something different. However, since he's more focused on being concerned about Saheon, he doesn't put thought into anything else but his friend. That sudden breezy feeling on his legs? (Losing pants for a skirt will do that.) Completely ignored. His boyish mannerisms stay the same, too. He looks delicate, but his gestures aren't.

The raccoon ears reflexively twitch a few times, curious and worried at the same time as Caelus continues to stare at Saheon. Once again, he leans in way too closely. ]

Hm? Hmm?… Hmmm!?

[ Now that Caelus takes a better look at Saheon, he visibly looks happier? His skin has a good glow, his eye is bright, any stress lines he might've had are gone, his eyebrows don't furrow as much, and he looks even more handsome than usual. Enough to actually make Caelus's eyes grow wide in surprise. ]

Wow, Saheon. Did you eat something nice lately?

[ And of course, can't forget to mention that he's taller… Actually, Saheon has the same height. It's just that Caelus shrank in his current form, which makes him think that Saheon grew taller. ]

[inverseye]

[ Unfortunately, a delicate maiden with boyish mannerisms is also...really Saheon's type. As much as he is discovering he has a type, at this very moment. He's always found it easier to get along with cheerful people, and his solitary fond memories are for reserved a certain strong willed big sister of his...

If Caelus could stay out of the tether for the next few hours, Saheon would really appreciate it. ]

...Just the stuff you brought me and the agent?

[ He does feel better, oddly, like he suddenly had a good nights sleep for the first time in a while, an full shot of expresso to keep him alert. Mentally he even feels...sort of...un-miserable?

But he's seriously so tongue tied, he can't make eye contact! He tried to look back towards Caelus to ask what's going on, but the face looking up at him mere inches away sends him jerking back again. Why couldn't someone have pictured him with his normal pallor, because now the flush creeping up to his ears is all the more visible. The stained glass around them has never been more interesting. ]

Are you feeling any different?

[trashblaze]

[ Stay out of his tether? Nah, he's here forever.

And that's how Caelus realizes that Saheon seems extra shy today. Come to think of it, he sees that adorable blush now! The glowing skin really helps the blooming red stand out. The trailblazer's radiant smile intensifies as he stares at it, standing out so much against the light being reflected on him. ]

Why are you being so cute? What's going on, huh? Huh?

[ It's almost as if Saheon saw his crush pass by or something! Crazy! Caelus moves in, giving him one of his usual friendly hugs. Except… there's something more, uh, softer and fuller that manages to get pressed against Saheon. After all, the trailblazer isn't flat-chested anymore right now. ]

Is your eye feeling better now? Hmm… as for me, I guess I suddenly feel lighter? And my voice seems weird?

i had to get new icons for this

[inverseye]

[ No! He needs to stay out...! He can't know how happy Saheon is right now!!! ]

You're so loud...

[ Still keeping his eyes politely away from the illusion of a very cute girl throwing himself at him, Saheon's hands come to Caelus' shoulders. He should probably be cautious, with them both under some unknown supernatural effect but it's not... bad? Maybe memetic, instead of Sleep's normal gory transformations.

He should investigate the extent of this situation, as a member of the field operations team. Yeah. Write a manual on it later and get paid. Yeah. ]

Why am I cute? You're the one who-

[ Nonono, let's not verbalize that. Searching for a distraction, Saheon reaches out to tug one of those fluffy ears. ]

-suddenly turned into an Offering! Can you even feel that?

HE'S SO PRECIOUS

[trashblaze]

[ Persistent, loud. Another day with Caelus. 🌸 ]

Hey!

[ Immediately protests when Saheon touches one of his raccoon ears— it's ticklish! Caelus, still with his usual boyish movements, quickly swats Saheon's hand off the ear. The raccoon tail straightens up right after, a result of the shock that follows. His face also expresses surprise, indicating the realization… ]

… Eh!? [ Now Caelus steps back to observe the changes he felt. One hand reaching up to his own ear, another to his tail… ] Whoa. Am I a real raccoon now?

[ Then, he finally looks down. Sees. His. Chest. ]

Hm? … Hmmmm!?

[ Haha… There's no way. Right? Caelus transfers his own two hands to them. … Squeezes? Oh, they're… real. ]

… WHA—

[inverseye]

[ He can't watch this. It's like something out of one of Kim Soleum's trashy shoujo manga, which Saheon did not read, and did not enjoy. ]

Don't yell-!

[ Not just because this stock dialogue is more moving in real life then he could ever imagine, but they just escaped one stalking creature, and Saheon doesn't want to encounter another.

He steps forward quickly, not pausing to consider the circumstances, to grab Caelus by the wrist while the other hand comes to cover his(? her?) mouth. Their newfound height difference, still not quite accounted for, means he inadvertently ends up looming over the poor trailblazer. ]

Calm down. It's a dream, right? Not your real body.

[ He's got no idea why you look like this, okay! ]

[trashblaze]

[ What a coincidence! Caelus loves shoujo manga, too. Let's read some together, Saheon! But he'll have to read aloud for Caelus, considering the trailblazer can't read any of the languages from Earth.

Anyway, the moment Saheon covers his mouth, Caelus quiets down. Yes, his, because this is still Caelus, no matter what he looks like. His personality is intact. Ah, but it's… hard not to… blush at this situation? Saheon is very tall, and seemingly looking manlier than usual?

But look at this adorable person. He's doing his best to reassure Caelus, which makes him smile underneath this palm to his mouth. A muffled giggle follows out of amusement and fondness. Higher pitched because of his form. ]

[inverseye]

[ You don't want the stuff Soleum is reading! His tastes span a gamut so vast, Saheon has been left defenseless in his understanding of typical romantic interactions between high schoolers.

The high pitched giggle, smile under his hand, the way her ears twitch. Is this... Moe? ]

Don't laugh at me! Look, it's not bad, really! [ Logical! Mutual benefit is at play. Saheon is sure. Still, he keeps a hand on her wrist as unpeels the other slowly, flexing it a few times until the impression of Caelus smile leaves.

He's really having a hard time looking away. ]

We can just stick together for now...

[trashblaze]

[ As a trailblazer, Caelus must see it all for himself! To reach understanding and connection!! ]

I'm not laughing at you. I still think you're being very cute!

[ It's pure affection, not out of teasing Saheon or anything. Even though Caelus has a strong urge to tease him right now, he doesn't. So when Saheon suggests staying together, Caelus's raccoon ears twitch happily, and his tail wags as well. Of course, he'll agree. He wasn't planning on going off all alone. Especially not when Saheon is being way too precious!

Oh. But hold on. Did Saheon just say… it's not bad? Ohh? Is that his way of calling him cute right back!?

… ]

Hehe…

[ More giggling. This time, he doesn't hold back the way he blushes. Then, he comes closer and embraces him again, wrapping his arms around the older man's neck gently. ]

[inverseye]

[ It's not without hesitance, but slowly, Saheon puts his arms back around Caelus as well, first resting his chin on the top of her head, and then leaning over more, until his forehead is bumping against Caelus' own. ]

Am not.

[ Not playing along with the usual delusions! He looks the same as ever, so no excuses.

...

Again, like he's not sure what he's doing, like he's doing it by inches, he brings a hand up to brush a bit of Caelus' hair away from his/her face. ]

Does this make you happy?

[trashblaze]

[ Saheon normally lets Caelus get away with these sorts of gestures. Today is supposed to be no different. Though, as their eyes are so close now and the trailblazer feels the older man's fingers against his cheeks, he's sharply reminded that… even though it seems no different, it actually really is. After all, he's not in his usual appearance.

Part of Caelus feels happy, of course. He's always wanted Saheon to accept him, just like his. But.. is this really acceptance? If this strange spell goes away, is this man going to go back to yelling at him and/or saying "Whatever!"? ]

Yeah…

[ Still, Caelus decides to say yes, it does. Because this is an answer that he says out of trust. He decides to trust Saheon. That even when this moment is over, he'll still treat him the same way. He would still be willing to inch closer and hold him back. That their connection is finally real. Caelus has always wanted Saheon's heart, after all.

He still remembers when they first met. His feelings are the same, that he's serious about being friends. He told him as much. He knows Saheon didn't believe him for the longest time, but what about now? Is this… real now? ]

Back then, you really scared me, you know… I'm just… happy, that you're still here.

[ His voice is a bit lowered as he admits that. He's referring to that time that Saheon was bleeding out so horribly. It was a sight that he didn't want to witness again, but he would never retreat if it did. He'll be there, no matter how many times. To protect him. ]

[inverseye]

[ It's not his appearance, but every aspect of this warped illusion is just a reflection of Saheon's own warped perceptions of Caelus. If it's something positive, if overly attuned to his tastes (and a highly conservative upbringing), it's just because this is how Caelus actions have made him feel.

Maybe it's just...a little easier when it's something so patently unreal. Like how talking across a screen can make someone feel slightly more comfortable being themselves. If he goes back to acting the way he normally does, that doesn't mean he doesn't feel the same way normally. It's just hard to say it.

Because Caelus is obviously patently, remarkably, almost overwhelmingly: good. Different from other people. ]

You saved my life.

[ Normally this is when he might tack something on like: 'but don't think that means I owe you!' but he does. Obviously. Caelus didn't need to drag him all the way out of the church. ]

So. What do you want? [ What would make Caelus happy? ]

[trashblaze]

Hmm. I think you know what I want.

[ A small, quiet laugh. The light in the cathedral shifts, dimming as its direction changes. The large window near them now shines over a different area, leaving them in a shadowed part. At this point, the illusion between the two fades away even as they remain in this position. The real Caelus, staring up at Saheon's single eye and eyepatch, foreheads still pressed, and his arms still around that neck.

When Caelus spoke just now, the light was already shifting, so half of the statement changed into his real voice. At the same time, the trailblazer closely witnesses how the vibrant glow in Saheon's eyes, skin, and hair disappears as well. A more familiar, rough aura returns to the older man. But even this slightly moody aura, the trailblazer has come to really appreciate it.

Because it's Saheon, after all.

A soft smile. ]

Go on and guess.

[ Caelus was never a complicated person. His desires are always plain as day. He's always honest with how he feels, after all. At this point, Saheon should know exactly what Caelus wants. ]

[inverseye]

I'm not good at that.

[ His hands are still cupped around Caelus' face. The light passes him by, but it always does, and in the shadow, they're themselves again. There's no idol like purity, just the sullen grasp of the real, but Saheon doesn't hate it. He doesn't hate it...

He's not good at plenty. Unlike Caelus, he never knows what he wants outside the realm of survival. He's never honest with others, and least honest with himself. But that doesn't mean he can't feel, even if its twisted up in his sense of debt and obligation.

He thinks he wants to make Caelus happy. It might make him happy too. ]

...And you should know I haven't done this before.

[ Truth. It's not an experienced kiss. Saheon's fingers dig into the side of Caelus face, and it's...erratic and rushed and as breathless as he is. Careful, so careful, because he doesn't know what he's doing, and he loathes a lack of control. It's nothing, though. He'd do anything, anything at all. ]

[trashblaze]

It doesn't hurt to try.

[ Of course, Caelus wants a true bond with Saheon. This is the obvious answer. It's transparent as the clearest glass, as he never once gave up trying to achieve that. So, naturally, Caelus expects Saheon to acknowledge him. To give him any solid, irrefutable proof that he's finally looking at him— finally sees him as an actual friend… a person that he can trust and appreciate.

Caelus's eyes continue to watch. He waits patiently, as he always has. Through their strengthened tether, the trailblazer senses it all. Saheon has a genuine desire to make him happy… This mere feeling causes Caelus's heart to quiver so cheerily, knowing the older man will surely return his feelings now. They are finally real friends!

That's what the trailblazer thought, anyway. But then, it happens. Saheon leans in and delivers an overwhelming response. Their lips meet. It may be completely inexperienced, it may be erratic and rushed, but that kiss is more than enough to send Caelus's heart into overdrive. Those fingers holding his face in place suddenly feel warmer. No, hotter, even.

Eh?

He doesn't process it right away, though his cheeks immediately burn as his eyes grow. He hasn't done this before, either. Even if he did, he has already forgotten because of his amnesia. He's kissed his friends a lot, but it's never like this. It's just the forehead or the cheeks at most. But after the initial surprise, he calms down slowly and then closes his eyes to continue allowing it.

It feels… soft. Caring. It's not what he expected, but he… likes this, too. ]