bossymarmalade | fast hands mean less whipping

So!

lance_nerd declared that the Vancouver Posse should write fic for New Years' Day. And as she is our Evil Overlord, we obey unquestioningly. *sobs*

Here is Rae's Questions and here's Overlord's Cry, which I am now going to read as well.

Anyhow.

aquarian
Joey/Justin, au
Disclaimer: Don't blame me, I wrote it while Cathy and Lori were watching Moulin Rouge and I was kind of distracted and I'm still a bit tipsy.

---

"I will."

Justin smiled briefly at the petitioner and then turned to the scalloped basin of the Fount, leaning carefully over it, taking his time and letting the clear, almost sharp mineral smell of the sacred water knife its way up into his sinuses. The petitioner, a young woman with dark eyes and golden hair, shifted restlessly behind him, and he lingered a moment longer before dipping his fingers in, the chill sliding from knuckle to knuckle.

The water slithered into every crevice of his mouth, its silver cold numbing his teeth, tasting of bright metal and intimacy when he swallowed. That spot at the base of his skull started to flicker, shimmer with light and knowledge, and it was all Justin could do to keep himself from letting his head fall back, letting himself moan with the cracking pleasure of it. He didn't, he didn't--he wasn't supposed to, he was supposed to keep up appearances of being calm and wise--but oh, he wanted to.

Instead, he let his tongue flick out over his lips, sword-iron taste and wetness, and turned back to the petitioner, who was crying. He wasn't surprised by it. Most petitioners cried. It was a good omen, and gave more favourably-auspiced reading. Justin knew the taste of tears almost better than he knew anything else.

...

His life was a good one, and he didn't complain. Except at the end of days like this, long shivery days of desperately sad readings that sliced him up and left him exhausted. Justin shuddered as he removed the ceremonial draped headdress and long robes of a Bearer, carefully hanging the blue-and-white clothing up before wrapping himself in a plainer, heavier robe. Disassociating himself from the fortunes he told was on occasion close to impossible; the images sometimes haunted him for days, sliding through his dreams and showing themselves in dark corners. Justin sighed, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes.

"Difficult readings today," he heard. Justin kept his hands over his eyes, and smiled slightly.

"Not as difficult as they were for those who heard them," he said, and then Joey crossed the room in three big steps and had his arms wrapped around Justin, so warm that the heat sank immediately through Justin's robes to round the chill from his bones. Justin shut his eyes tight and leaned back heavily against Joey, stretching his arms back so he could filter his fingers underneath Joey's long headdress, let it fall, push his hands through Joey's hair.

"Don't be silly," Joey murmured against Justin's neck. His teeth clicked once against the amethyst clasped to Justin's throat and a sudden waft of salt, of orchids. Justin's eyelids felt heavy with the warmth and he breathed in the close air deeply as Joey continued, "You forget I know exactly what it's like."

"No." Justin turned, laying his cheek alongside Joey's, rasp of beard stubble and smell of good rich earth, of sea-stung wind. He put his hands to the back of Joey's head again, running them up and down, more up than down, never lower than that. "No, no, I remember, I'm sorry."

Joey turned his head slightly and his lips brushed Justin's as he said, voice strong, "You shouldn't be sorry," and his mouth was dark, complected with wine.

...

When they first started, Joey wasn't sure what he should do, if he should sing within Justin's earshot. Justin would happen upon him, sometimes, waking fitfully in the night and hearing Joey humming tumbly folksongs that sounded like campfire and resinous liquor. He never thought about anything in those times beyond the timbre of Joey's voice, the toasted edges of it, and was able to fall asleep without difficulty.

Once, though, Justin heard Joey singing in the bathhouse. Sightless, pure sound reflecting off white and blue tile, off dappled clear water, and Justin felt as though he'd been run through with that sharp, unyielding voice. That was how Joey had discovered him, standing frozen and drained as Joey stepped dripping from the bath, his voice breaking off like icicles.

"Beautiful," Justin had whispered, feeling the word stick and scratch in his dry, weak throat. "Joey."

Joey had stared at him, stared and stared and stared before moving over and lifting his hands, pressing them wet and unrepentant to Justin's face, his neck. "What you do," he'd said, then stopped himself, then, "you chose, Justin. We chose."

"I know," Justin had said, but he could feel the tune Joey had sung, lilting and bitter in his chest and fluttering hard.

He thought he had forgotten what it was like, how much he'd loved it. He thought he had.

Joey knew him so well, and Joey hadn't stopped singing. Joey sang still at night, crackling woodfire when Justin woke to watch, to listen. He sang on the ocean shore, voice whipping through the wind, carried out to sea. He sang in Justin's ear, wordless jolts of melody while Justin pushed up blindly against him, Joey's hands wrapped around his ankles.

...

"I will," Justin said, but the petitioner, a sapling-slim man with shadowed eyes, reached out to grab his elbow.

"I want a proper reading," the petitioner said, stepping closer. His eyes, peculiarly dark, mapped Justin's face as his breathing quickened, smelling of dates and resin, nervous and sour. "I want you to drink deeply of the Fount."

Justin pulled free of the man's tight fingers, lip curling from his teeth in distaste. "I follow the precepts, petitioner," he told the man, shaking his robes back into pristine order. The man sneered.

"You speak still," he said.

Justin set his mouth and turned from the petitioner. When he drank from the Fount, it was icy white and the deep swallows he took felt like the coldest depths of the ocean, silent and strange.

...

He couldn't speak for three days. Joey murmured endlessly to him, making small noises in steady continuous streams that wrapped around Justin, distracting him from his own soundlessness.

When they were in bed and Joey's flesh was slapping against Justin's, the pressure and pace making their bedplanks creak like tortured driftwood, Justin opened his mouth and screamed as hard as he could, so hard that his vision went blurry, so hard that his legs tighened around Joey's body like a vice. So hard that it seemed like a vicious impossibility that the scream was completely mute.

The spot at the base of his skull thrummed and sparkled with prescient residue and Joey snarled, tossing his head like a wolfhound, shoulders squaring. "Stop it," he growled, his mouth positioned over Justin's, teeth showing. "Stop using it, stop doing that. I don't want it."

Justin let his eyelashes sweep down, slow, up again, and swirled his tongue around his mouth, collecting the taste of shiny-bright water and silence. He let the prescience flare again and gasped when Joey snapped his head, trying to rid himself of the phantom echo at the top of his own spine. "Justin," he said. And then he was moving away, sitting up, just enough so that he could take hold of Justin and turn him, press him onto his stomach.

yes yes yes, Justin whispered into the bedclothes, unheard unmade noises as Joey thrust back into him. He reached back to splay his fingers over the heavy satisfying thickness of Joey's hips, pull him forward, press him harder, push back against it, scream more, blood on the sheets and his lips, oh yes.

And Joey was there, hot and solid and good, good earthy sea smell and Justin couldn't feel the coldness of the water at all, and hardly even felt it when Joey's teeth sank into that place at the nape of his neck.

...

When Joey had stopped being a Bearer, had chosen to live his life as ungifted and normal and not as a servant of the Fount, they had removed it. Taken him away to a place known only by the elders, kept him there for a moon cycle, removed the receptor with arcane and cruel methods that were occult secret and had been ever since the Fount began to spring.

Joey had come back thin and listless, with a bruised softness behind his eyes that never quite healed. But he had been able to speak, and sing, and his voice returned stronger than ever.

The morning dawned for them moonbeam-cold and silver, and Justin sat in the window and let it plate over him and felt blood seeping through the bandages at the back of his neck, and tasted ice water.

"I chose for you," Joey said from the bed, sitting among the stained sheets, head in his hands.

Justin ran his fingers along his throat and felt the warmth strumming there.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wow! This was cool.

See, I told you you could do it. ::twirls stubble::

Tee! I think there's spelling mistakes, though, because I don't have spellcheck. D'oh!

And now off to read yours!

Wow. That was just... wow. Especially the ending where Joey chooses for him. I love the whole mythology of the Fount and Justin's role in it, and the constant theme of water and heat running throughout the story.

Oh, thank you, sweetie! I'm glad the themes worked for you. It's lucky for me and my writers' block that both Joey and Justin are Aquarians and that I own many astrology books. *g*

*snuggle*

oh my heavens that was lovely. oh, absolutely marvelous, darling, the water and the eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! it's so cool. I [heart] it.

Eeeeeeee! thank you. I [heart] you!

And this is the first time I've really looked at your Haldir icon, and, HAH! I laughed so loud I scared my sister. *g*

hee. I requested it while I was drunk and a friend said, "I have the perfect haughty aloof picture of Haldir. I just need a caption."

so...yes. Elves take it up the ass, baby!

Oh, lord, that was amazing. Just...breathless and tingle-inducing. Wonderful, absolutely.

Sugar! You're such a darling. Thank you so very much. *snuggle*

You! Kill me! Amazing, and beautiful, and, Joey! hee.

Awwww. So sweet! And Joey! I have harsh Joey-love right now. *snuggle*

I heart joey muchly.

Also, 'member a long time ago I wanted to write stuff and I made y'all give me ideas? Guess who's writing your idea. *grin!*

Whoo-hoo!! *turns mad cartwheels of joy*

Wow. That was just, wow. Ethereal, and so sensual, and just enough of the world to make me want more. Lovely.

Tee! I was hoping you'd like it, seeing as I associate you with all things Timbertone. Now I can rest. *snug*

everyone seems to associate me with the Timbertone lately. odd phenomenon, that! *g* also, you're silly.

Dude. So fucking gorgeous. I love the description of the water, and you always have such amazing ideas in your stories, like the way Justin couldn't use his voice if he drank the water. Just, the whole thing, the sensations and the feeling of it, the words you use are like velvet or something, thick and heavy and soft. I'm not saying this right, but it was lovely to read.

You're saying it beautifully, and I'm delighted and flattered and happy. Thank you so much, sweetie!

Oooh I like. Like very much :D Lots of pretty imagery there.

Thank you so much! And where's yours, eh? Eh eh?!?! *poke*

^_^

oh good lord. i felt that all the way into my bones, i swear. i'm sitting here with tears in my eyes and chills along my skin, and it's just wonderful. the words you used, the way you put it all together was just so amazingly evocative, and i just had such a visceral reaction to it all.

beautiful and haunting and just perfect. wow.

::hugs::

You are such a darling and give such fantastic emotional feedback. Thank you so much for the kindness! Best Overseas Crush EVER!! *snuggle*

That was disturbing. But yes, very beautiful. Strange echos of child stardom.

You! Always find something different and twisted in my writing, and I absolutely love it. Because once you point it out, I'm all of course!!, and that's fantastic.

Thank you thank you!

This is gorgeous.

Thank you, babygirl. I'm glad you liked it! *snug*

..um..yeah, so, like I'm kinda speechless here.
I think I've lost my ability to think right now.
wow. that was...practically tactile.
Fucking sensory overload but in the most goodest of ways.
It frightened and seduced me at the same time.
I'd love to see what you write after dropping acid! Wait, maybe not.

wow.

I'm scared to think what writing would be like after acid. You remember what the result of our last little...experiment turned out like.

Thank you! *snug*

I'm just so relieved that Joey got to choose Justin, because that makes everything better.

Right?

The Aquarian stuff is so damn cool. I like the description of the fountain. Like, how it felt (not just tasted, but felt) when Justin drank from it). And I really really liked this part:

with a bruised softness behind his eyes that never quite healed.

You and your poetry writing. It's good! Better than poetry, like way better. Still need to concentrate a lot though, but that's only because I'm dumb and shallow.

But! They bear water! like good little Aquarians. And them in their ephemeral water and mist world is very floaty and pretty. Okay, I'm trying to make sense, but I'm not, so I'll stop.

fast hands mean less whipping

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I chose for you

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