loong | a great escape;

a great escape;

[ this planet.. is a tranquil one. lonely, but peaceful. there are no intelligent species here, but that is, perhaps, for the best - dan feng's penance continues, after all. in escaping the luofu he was not attempting to escape general punishment, only the molting rebirth. fear of losing himself, of losing his memories, his sense of self..

perhaps it made him a coward, to flee, but warm memories are all he has now, and he could not bear to part with them just yet.

so here he waits, alone in his own beautiful purgatory, awaiting the end of his days, nursing his ailing mind, existing in torment and in bliss in equal measure. his hatching rebirth will come in time, and only then, perhaps, will he be free of his sin, or at the very least, free of his pain. the crime of the previous life must be atoned for in the next, but.. his memories of the quintet would vanish, save for in dreams, and his reincarnation could live on.

it's a lush, lovely planet, where he has escaped to, slowly orbiting the glowing deep of a black hole, where time, for him, runs more slowly, dragging out like a string of sticky molasses. there are thick forests and vast wetlands, eighty percent of this world is water, and there is no sign that intelligent life has ever existed here. no ruins. no scrawled paintings in caves. no hidden chambers beneath the seas. three hundred years he has spent combing the globe and found nothing to suggest that anyone but he has walked the earth here. only animals. insects. fish. they make decent company, but dan feng still keeps to himself, living out of a modest shelter built near the water's edge.

three hundred years, and he speaks to no one, says nothing, until the day the majestic luofu blots out the light of the diffracting black hole.

the sight of it stills his heart in his breast, and dan feng finds his throat running dry, but when the small starskiff lands he is standing quietly, watchful and calm, the tip of his tail swaying behind him as he watches jing yuan disembark, resplendent in his general's clothing. he takes a deep breath.. releases it. ]

.. you must have been very keen to find me, to brave the dangers of the black hole.

[ for time.. time is a precious thing, every hour he spends here could be a year on the luofu. ]

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I met her... Bailu... [His eyes squeeze shut tight and a tremble rocks through him.] She's like her in many ways. Free spirited and kind. She closes her eyes when she heals because she doesn't like to see people injured... She tried to help me... She couldn't of course but her attempt was heartfelt.

During my short stint on the Luofu I gave her a gift...

[Those trembles rock through him a little more. A sorrow ripples through the bond to both of his lovers.]

I may end up forgetting... Because of the mara. Because Kafka has to take away this moment so I am able to be calm. But the body remembers... It remembers many things even if it cannot act on them completely. [The ache to craft and forge with fingers that can no longer function as intended. That can only grip the blade, of course. But the hammer and all those old tools are too small, requiring too much detail and precision.] If you want me to remember to return to you both... Find a way to carve it into my flesh.

[It's not a bad idea though anything to do with the past has its risks. But if it is all physical it may help stir up these memories of their time together. Of their lives and happiness. It may even be something he can hold on to...]

It's the only way...

[ ah, he met her. that's.. that's good. even if his mind and heart are mangled, he knows that bailu lives, that perhaps their efforts were not entirely for nothing. she is not baiheng and she never will be, no more than dan heng will ever be dan feng, but something of baiheng carries on nonetheless, and in his own way.. dan feng was able to reach his goal of creating life. of unlocking the secrets of the transmutation arcanum. it cost far, far too much, but.. there is that thinnest of silver linings to put him somewhat at peace. for a time.

blade trembles, and dan feng nudges at his temple with his nose, soft and affectionate. i'm here.

at his request, however, dan feng stills for a moment, parsing what blade is saying. the body remembers.. yes. even if the mind is addled, muscle memory always remains, and perhaps he can carve for himself a place in his old lover's bones, and use his love and touch to protect what few good memories remain. ]

All right. I will.

[ but not here. not in this puddle of sticking, rank, drying blood. dan feng shifts, getting to his feet. there is a cool and beautiful lagoon nearby, shrouded by willows and ferns, lit by the light of the moon, and should blade follow, dan feng will lead him there, hand in hand. ]

[He slowly picks himself up, his clothing sticking to the bloody mess on the ground but he pays it no mind. His clothing is inconsequential. As is his body. None of it matters. And he'd be content to just do whatever right here in this mess but Dan Feng has other ideas it seems.

So he follows letting his hand be held. His fingers twitch, bandaged and stiff but he makes the attempt to hold the hand back. It just feels right. Familiar even.

This lagoon though... He peers at it his reflection on the surface, scarlet eyes brilliant in the dim light of this world. He kicks a stone into the pool to cause ripples and distort his image having no desire to look upon it for longer than necessary.]

This is very like you... I think. [Bathing in some random body of water. Kafka would never just allow them to clean up in something like this. He's been dragged to a tub and scrubbed down more times than he can count. She'll insist upon it once he's home saying this was a swamp or some such.] I don't swim as well as I did... If I even could to begin with.

Mm. I enjoy the water.

[ which is true, really, but mostly he doesn't want to do this covered in blood. he wants it to be memorable in a good way, not full of pain and the reek of decaying blood. he has some standards remaining to him. stepping close, dan feng's hands move over blade's broad chest, when up his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. it's soft at first, a little uncertain.. but then he presses harder, parts his lips, breathes blade's air as his tongue curls.

after that, it's a blur of movement. dan feng undoes his silks until they fall away in a heap, then he's tugging at blade's coat, opening up the front of it and easing it back over his shoulders. he tastes so different, feels so different, and yet.. there are still a hundred little familiarities. dan feng's hands know just where to touch, he remembers every dip of muscle, every patch of skin, though there are innumerable scars now where once there was clean flesh.

it makes his heart sting, but he doesn't stop. ]

Touch me.

[ he whispers against blade's mouth, biting at his lower lip and tugging, as blade's coat falls in a heap in the grass. ]

[He feels a strange sense of trepidation. This body, this husk, is a mess. Every inch of him is covered in scars and there are bandages wrapped around the worst of the injuries. There's a part of him that doesn't want Dan Feng to see him like this... It must be repulsive to behold.

He knows it is.

He kisses clumsily, uncertain, like he's forgotten how which isn't off the mark. He can't recall how the lips should move. How the tongue should shift against the other's. He has no idea where his hands should be. He hesitates at the words, hands hovering over Dan Feng's waist.]

I don't... [He needs a moment to catch his breath from the kiss.] I don't know how...

[His brow is furrowed in both confusion and frustration.]

I don't remember... How you like to be touched. And it won't be the same... It won't feel the same. These hands...

That's all right. You don't need to touch me like you used to. You're different, now.

[ he's blade now, and there's no going back to who he once was. he's still remnants of yingxing, he always will be, no matter how he denies otherwise, but there can be no arguing that he has irrevocably changed. he doesn't need to touch him like he used to, because he is not the same as he used to be.

dan feng takes blade's hands in his own, carefully guiding them to his waist where they were hovering, before he slips them forward to begin opening blade's belt. ]

I like to be touched on my back. And my tail.

[ and his thighs, and his horns, but right now, this is enough.

carefully, dan feng slips his hands into blade's waistband, pushing his trousers down along with his underclothing, until it's all a bundle in the grass, and they're naked beneath the dappled moonlight. he's forgotten how to kiss, and so dan feng will teach him, kissing him slowly, deeply, letting blade trace his mouth, showing him how to move his lips with the press of his own.

and while his heart aches for this man, for his husband, and what has become of him, all the terrible pain that has broken him, there is also love curling through their bond, and a deep, unbreakable dedication. ]

[Back it is... He pushes at the clothing Dan Feng has on letting it fall into the same pile. His hands then touch where he was told to. The calloused and damaged fingers drag along the other's back until they reach to the base of his tail. There he strokes along the scales, breath catching at how familiar they feel beneath his fingertips.

And he follows the kisses making an attempt to mimic what's being done in turn. To do what he's being guided to do. And eventually he slowly finds his own pace. Yingxing was full of teeth and forceful and Blade is not so dissimilar. There's teeth. He likes to bite and nip but it is not as certain and not as sure of himself. Where Yingxing was proud and arrogant Blade is tired and weary. Uncertain in these intimate gestures and not quite feeling worthy of them.

He's not hard out here in the moonlight. His cock one of the few unmarried things on him but also an all but useless organ in his opinion. He feels so little especially arousal these days that it serves him no great purpose other than the basics.

He tries to pull memories from their time together but he can't... The closest thing he has to intimacy was the waves of it when Jing Yuan and he were spending time together through that week. How their bond sang in blissful harmony... He loathed it at the time but now he it's a helpful thing to recall... to feel their faint strings of pleasure and that helps stir a thing or two.]

Your vent? [He rumbles, more question than statement. That's what it's called? That's where he should focus and bury himself? It's still alright for him to use it or has it been claimed by the General?] That's where I should be?

[There are many more steps in between, of course. With him not hard and Dan Feng presumably not ready for penetration but to know what the goal is as good a start as any.]

[ dan feng enjoys the bites and nips, the way blade's teeth sink against his lip, even if there's no heat behind the kisses, not yet. it's a far cry from how yingxing made love, how hot and needful he always was, with a hungry libido and a deep well of want.

somehow, dan feng needs to reignite that, if only for a brief moment. he needs to carve this night into blade's skin, after all, needs to wake his body up to pleasure, needs him to remember this somehow, so he will return to them in the end. but slowly. he'll take his time. blade is fragile in so many ways. those hands down his back, though, rough with old calluses and new scars.. they feel good, and when blade's fingers toy at the base of his tail, dan feng shivers, a soft moan rippling between their mouths. ]

That's what you used to like, yes. [ he murmurs, while his hands drop to blade's arms to begin tugging him toward the water. they step into it together, dan feng guiding him in until the water is up to their hips. ] You loved to feel like you were claiming me.

[ proud, arrogant yingxing, a short life species claiming the vidyadhara high elder.. he'd absolutely basked in it, his awful, wonderful, preening husband.

stepping up the heat a little, dan feng sinks his teeth into blade's lower lip a little harder, before he's dragging his mouth down to blade's throat, where he'd known his husband to be terribly sensitive. his fangs drag along blade's pulse, before he drags his tongue over the faint scar of their mating bite. ]

[He makes a soft sound at the explanation. Not that he remembers but it sounds right... He can somewhat recall the taste of Dan Feng's vent on his tongue despite not having had him for centuries.

Some things are starting to feel right. The rough bite at his lips sparks a pleasurable sensation through his body. And then the tongue against his pulse and that old mark. His eyes flutter closed and his he inhales sharply, grip tightening on the tail in his one hand. The other drags back up the former high elder's back, fingers winding in the dark inky hair.]

Bite me again... [Reclaiming the old mark may help too. He feels like it might. And he never bit in return. He supposes they could also do that as well considering the reason he hadn't in the past is a moot point as he currently is.] It's been too long...

[If they're intent to do this there's no reason not to especially considering they're already bonded. It couldn't do more harm and maybe it might help him remember at least for a little while.]

[ slowly but surely the fires of the forge are being stoked, things are warming up between them, with careful cultivation. he just needs to continue on this path, opening his lover up, petal by petal, until he blooms again. the hands down his back make his breath rush against blade's lips, and he presses harder into his body, mouthing at the bite scar. ]

I will. [ he murmurs, teeth dragging. ] Once you're inside me. That's when you liked it best.

[ and perhaps.. perhaps after, they will turn it around, perhaps blade will allow himself to be taken, as well. surely there could be no better way to carve this memory into his body, after all, but they'll cross that bridge later, if they come to it. for now, dan feng smooths a hand down his abdomen, following the dipping muscles of blade's hip and down, palming at his soft cock. ]

You loved to claim me hard and fast, while I sank my fangs deep into your shoulder.

[ his kisses drag upward again, back to blade's mouth, where his fangs sink against his lower lip once more. ]

[He doesn't remember any of this... but it sounds right. Right on the edge of climax to bring him over the edge... That's sounds familiar?

He's not left to wonder or ponder as his breath hitches and his thoughts scatter at the hand against his cock. There's no immediate interest other than a faint twitch of the soft member against the other's cool palm. Pleasure is not a sensation his body is familiar with but it's clear that it won't be a completely hopeless task.

He can't recall how he likes it... How he preferred to be stroked or anything like that but he does trust that Dan Feng will know what to do. So he swallows and lets his eyes flutter closed, taking in the sensations that are being provided.]

Always on the full moon... [Sometimes only...] Just us... Or was he there too.

[Surely eventually? He can't quite recall.]

At first, it was only us.

[ blade does not remember, but dan feng does - he knows how his husband likes to be touched, years apart have not changed that. he rubs his palm along the underside of his cock, tracing its familiar shape for a few moments before he wraps his fingers around it, pulling in deep strokes, squeezing on the way upward. his thumb rubs in a slow circle around the tip. ]

Just us. We loved each other, and didn't want to share that, but.. in time..

[ in time, they brought jing yuan in as well, and shared that most precious time with him, once they were sure. sure that they loved him, as well. sure that they still loved each other just as much. ]

.. in time, it was the three of us, in all things.

[His breathing becomes a touch heavier as Dan Feng strokes him. It's slow but he's steadily hardening beneath the skilled touch. A hand that knows exactly what he likes even though he himself have forgotten.

It's good. It feels good. He brings his hands up to rest at the other's waist. Just to hold him for now but... they don't remain in place. There's the slight desire to wander. To touch. And so they slide up a bit with thumbs brushing over soft skin and curiously exploring.

Not too much as he wants to listen and focus. He lets this individual pull away the curtains from his eyes. To reveal scenes and blow the dust off of them. It's starting to become clearer... Moonlit nights with rice wine. Their bed full. Bodies sore but satisfied... He leans in some, thinking to kiss but it is an uncertain gesture as if he might be rebuked in some way.]

It was warm... I remember that.

[Dan Feng's tail wrapped around him. Jing Yuan not as built then as he is now squeezed between them. Hands holding hands. Noses brushing against one another. Whispered words of love and affection. A love between three that was cut short much too soon. So much left unsaid and done proven by how much their third was left out of their tokens of affection. They barely had any time at all.]

It was. It was always so warm. I loved to be between you both, soaking up all of that lovely heat.

[ no, they didn't have any time, none at all, and that lack of time to fulfill their promises to jing yuan left their third always worrying that he was not enough. dan feng thinks that he has done a good amount to assuage that fear, but with hope, there will be time to do more.

but this.. this is for them, the two of them, to begin mending the shattered pieces of their once steadfast bond, so dan feng keeps his attention on blade, stroking his slowly hardening cock deep and slow, and when he sees blade leaning in, dan feng meets him halfway, kissing him deep and warm, inviting. ]

You used to like to move so fast, I would have to remind you to slow down. That it wasn't a race. Even still, you would often charge ahead anyway.

[ faster. he begins to move his hand faster, speeding up the pace, catching precum with the pad of his thumb to make the way more slippery. his tail sways through the water, before brushing against blade's leg, then coiling slowly around it. those hands skimming over him feel lovely, and dan feng allows himself to enjoy it for a moment before he's taking one of them, and slips it between his own legs, urging him to touch. ]

[He kisses back, parting his lips so that it can be deep and passionate. There's even a soft sound that escapes him due to the kiss alone. And the flood of other sensations certainly help spur him onward.

The hand stroking his cock increases speed and he finds his cock filling up, finally gaining full and complete interest. Pre beads with earnest now and slides onto Dan Feng's busy hand. All of this while important pieces of information are being said. Pieces of his past slowly piecing themself together in his mind.

He liked to go fast, he's told. Quickly... time ever short. Tomorrow is never promised. And besides... If you go quickly you get so many more rounds in. He hasn't the wherewithal to tell this to the other but it makes sense in his shattered mind.]

Long life species move so slowly... [He murmurs the words as his hand is moved, fingers dipping into the other man's vent and there's confidence in the gesture.] You and Jing Yuan always take your time in all things...

[Sparks of Yingxing are resurfacing. Each a little brighter than the next.]

Mm.. it was a fundamental difference between us. It caused a little strife, sometimes.

[ yingxing was always ready to fuck, day in and day out, his short life species imperative pushing him for more and more, while dan feng was more or less the opposite, rarely in the mood without external stimuli to provoke him, save for the full moons, or rare occasions. jing yuan had been a good third for them, in that respect.. though age has certainly slowed him, in some ways, despite how much they'd loved one another that week.

blade's fingers slide against his vent, and dan feng hums softly against his lips, hardly needing to urge him at all to slide them inside, where he's warmer, and already wet, his cocks half hard, sliding from their slippery sheathes. it's so easy to remember how things used to be, how in love they once were, how in love dan feng still is. ]

But we figured it out. We always did. There was nothing we would not do for one another..

[ nothing they would not sacrifice for one another. the very thought makes his heart ache. if nothing else, yingxing's deep passion for him had never abated.. however much it had been twisted into hate and rage. ]

[He sees fractured images of this life they had. He can feel flickers of the warmth that once were. The pleasure. The happiness. But it is difficult for him to grasp. Not yet able to see the full picture but it is starting to come together.]

You had Jing Yuan for all that time. All to yourself. [He growls out the words as he crooks his fingers inside the vent, his body remembering how Dan Feng liked it and where those little pleasure centers are.] I could feel you two twisting around one another.

I wanted to destroy you both as much as I wanted to be a part of it.

[He and Jing Yuan used to fuck a lot. This he knows. Jing Yuan could keep up and was young and had the same feral energy he had. He was willing to do most things and always eager. It eased some of the pressure on Dan Feng to always perform. But full moons was for them until, at last, they finally integrated Jing Yuan into their everything. Well, almost everything. The rest was suppose to come but it never did.]

That need has not ebbed... But again we're only two...

[ those fingers hook inside of him, and dan feng gasps sharply, tensing as his hips hitch forward, his cocks giving a faint twitch as they fully stiffen, precum already beading at the tips. ]

Yes.. I did.

[ and he's sorry for it, sorry that yingxing had not been with them, sorry that, right now, dan feng can offer only himself when it is not enough, never enough.. surely it is jing yuan that yingxing really wants, has always wanted. that old insecurity kicks in so easily, that he was never enough for yingxing, never had been, but how could he possibly compete with jing yuan's warm perfection? he was a sunbeam given form, strong and loving, loyal, smart, handsome..

the feeling stings, but does he not deserve it, after all that has happened? ]

I can only offer myself, for now, my heart..

[ not enough. but it's all that he can give. himself, his love, his sorrow and regret.. and his body, his hands and mouth, anything and everything he can give to bring his dear love back to him. his soft fingers squeeze around blade's cock, and dan feng uses his free hand to begin pulling him back, moving through the water until his back hits smooth stone, and he's able to hook his thigh over his old lover's hip. ]

[He growls at Dan Feng as they move deeper and he pushes the other into the rock roughly.]

Still like that... After all this time? [There is clarity in those scarlet eyes though it is a temporary clarity. It always will be.] We are three. Long since decided and we are not complete until each of us is here.

[He fucks Dan Feng roughly with his fingers deep in his vent as he speaks, a near snarl escaping him as he does.]

You are enough. And I am enough. And so is he. But we are not complete if one is missing. And I will make sure you both understand that when I have you here.

[The words are the closest to Yingxing that he's been thus far even if it is said in the deep rumble and snarl of Blade.]

[ blade's voice is so rough and sharp, it's difficult to hear such anger from him, from someone who once loved him so deeply, someone who treated him with such love. everything aches. everything hurts. tears are stinging his eyes.

but he can't give this up. he's already destroyed so much, ruined so much, he needs to do what he can to make amends now, even if he can't possibly fully heal those old wounds. even if things will only get worse and worse, once the mara takes jing yuan, and they have no choice but to put him down. assuming that they ever see him again.. but dan feng will continue to believe that they will, that in the end, they can all be together one last time.

both of dan feng's hands clutch at blade's head, fingers sunk deep into his dark hair as blade fucks his vent hard and roughly with his own fingers, and it aches a little, but he wants it, wants so badly to be connected with the man who held his heart for so, so long. one hand releases, slipping down blade's chest, over his ample pectorals and down his abdomen to take his cock in hand again, stroking it hard and fast. he still remembers what he needs to do, how he needs to remind blade's body of what they had, to sear this memory into his heart. ]

All right. [ he says softly, even if it's difficult to believe it - yingxing had never lied to him, and blade is even more viciously honest. ] All right..

[ he nips blade's lower lip, tugging it gently, and arches his hips. ]

Take what is yours, then.

[And take he will. Blade fucks faster and rougher and he leans in to bite, ripping into the soft flesh, where he marked long ago. It's not to purposely do harm, not really, but there is a near mindless and feral desire to claim and take that drives the action. Blade's hands drag down the slender body of his once husband, bandages on the one hand occasionally catching and nails, too blunt to do any kind of lasting damage, drag uselessly down the soft skin.

The hunter's groans as his teeth dig deep into the flesh. It's the action itself that fills him with a satisfaction enough that he instantly spills into Dan Feng's vent, heavy spurts that come in such copious amounts that he can feel it sliding back out.

There's a deep rumbling noise that escapes him as he finishes, teeth still remaining deep in the neck of his husband.]

[ that bite - the pain makes his head spin, but he loves it, too, loves the ancient imperative of claiming and being claimed. despite himself, despite it all.. dan feng still loves this man deeply and completely, cannot and will not give up hope that his yingxing is gone forever. his husband. changed, perhaps, as they have all three of them been terribly changed by his foolish, selfish choices, but not gone.

he can feel it, after all. the flicker of his beloved's heart. the warmth that once was a blazing bonfire between them.

the spill of blade's spend into him is so hot it nearly burns, and dan feng cries out softly, arching his hips to accept it all, his body tightening, vent twitching and fluttering around his husband's cock as if he cannot get enough. panting hard, he jerks his hips, palming at his own cocks until he follows soon after, clenching all around him as he spills between them, warm and pearlescent, into the water.

the aftermath has him trembling, both in the satisfaction of pleasure, and in the meaningfulness of their union. don't go, he wants to ask. selfish again. selfish always. he is afraid to be alone again, away from jing yuan's sweet and lovely warmth, away from yingxing's fierce fire. but he won't say the words, can't say the words, for it is as jing yuan said.. their yingxing has found a new home, with new people.

the world has moved on in his absence. dan feng deserves the loneliness that his actions have brought.

still, he clings on for as long as he is able to, holding tightly to blade's broad shoulders as they both come down from the high of their union, bathed in silvery moonlight, cool water rippling against their bodies. ]

[He breathes heavy against Dan Feng's skin, his mind hazy due to the activities but also clear. The Mara feels far away and a distant thing. He's not Yingxing in this moment. That man is far away and dead and gone. But he feels closer to him than he has in a long time.

As they settle he rests his head against the other man's shoulder needing a moment. Several moments even.

And all he knows in this newfound clarity that he doesn't want it to end. His grip on Dan Feng remains tight, not letting him go and making no indication that he will anytime soon.

The water that they're in eventually stills just as they do.]

When do you have to return? [Perhaps the better question is when does he have to go? In a few days. Kafka will let this occur for a bit but the script waits for no one. He doesn't have much time to give but if he can, if it keeps him feeling like this, then he'll give it all.] How much time do you have?

[ they hold to one another like old lovers, and dan feng closes his eyes as their weight leans together. being held like this by these familiar hands.. it's a soothing balm, however short their time together may be. ]

I won't be returning. I cannot put Jing Yuan in peril.

[ and as long as dan feng is on the luofu.. he will be putting their beloved at risk of being found out. as much as he aches to return, he knows that he cannot, should not. ]

I will be waiting here for you both. As long as it takes.

[ or he will die here, alone and brokenhearted. this is the gamble that he is taking - the gamble that jing yuan will survive and find them in the end, the gamble that blade will be himself enough to return to their sides. in the end, it may all go sour, their plan is a precarious one at best, but it is all that they have. pulling back, dan feng looks into his husband's face, cradling it between his hands. ]

[His brows furrow as he doesn't think he understands that exactly, about putting Jing Yuan in danger. But there must be some reasoning to it.]

Waiting here...? [His thoughts spin as he tries to paste together everything.] Jing Yuan is needed in the script to defeat an Aeon. I have to be there too... But that is all I know. And I also do not know the ending to this story. If we live. Or die.

[Elio made him a promise that he could finally die if he joined the Hunters. When that death will come he does not know. To end his life with Dan Feng and Jing Yuan... One taken by Mara the other by time. And his promised death will come after. That would be... That would be fine. Perhaps.]

If we do make it... I will come.

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