fifth ☕✨ tinder / moonlacing mingle!

[cadeuces]

( Ping! Your profile needs updating, there's hot singles in your area, it's a swipe frenzy— you all know the push updates with dating apps, right? Maybe you need to brush up your Chroma to buy a place in Amegahara and it just sounds like it's worth a shot, or someone gets ahold of your device and "helps" you along. Upload some new selfies with that new Moonblessing of yours, drop in an About Me, and get to swiping!

And Please— someone please come up with a better name than Prismates because the moons alone make sure we're more than just mammals and no one's obligated to do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. We all know the drill by now, don't we? Swipe right or left, yes or no, mark yourself down to moonlace and flirt or just rile a friend up with a big red X— try to include an opening message! Happy Hump Day? )

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, 26 (Iris)

💖 Square-ish images work best! 💖 Thumbnail images are clickable, that's why there's two IMG2 / IMG3 / IMG4 placeholders each!

✓          ✕

EDIT YOUR PROFILE! <center><table style="width:260px; font-family:arial narrow, sans-serif; line-height:2; letter-spacing:1pt;"><tr><td align="center"><img src="MAIN IMAGE" style="width:245px; object-fit:cover; border-radius:15px; border:1px solid #AAA; box-shadow:#ccc 1px 1px 1px;"></td></tr> <tr><td><div align="left"><b><big>FIRST LAST, AGE (Sanguis/Cordis/Iris)</big></b></div></td></tr> <tr><td><div align="right"><a href="IMG2" style="text-decoration:none;"><img src="IMG2" style="width:45px; object-fit:cover; border-radius:10px; border:1px solid #AAA; box-shadow:#ccc 1px 1px 1px;"></a> <a href="IMG3" style="text-decoration:none;"><img src="IMG3" style="width:45px; object-fit:cover; border-radius:10px; border:1px solid #AAA; box-shadow:#ccc 1px 1px 1px;"></a> <a href="IMG4" style="text-decoration:none;"><img src="IMG4" style="width:45px; object-fit:cover; border-radius:10px; border:1px solid #AAA; box-shadow:#ccc 1px 1px 1px;"></a></div></td></tr> <tr><td style="background:linear-gradient(to right, transparent, #4B4E9F, #4FC1E9, #4B4E9F, transparent);" height="2px"></td></tr> <tr><td><br/><div align="justify">BIO BLURB GOES HERE, IMPRESS US!</div></td></tr> <tr><td><center><span style="font-family:times; font-size:40px; color:#2EB82E;">✓</span>          <span style="font-family:times; font-size:40px; color:#CC0000;">✕</span></center></td></tr></table></center>

YES <span style="font-family:times; font-size:40px; color:#2EB82E;">✓</span>

NO <span style="font-family:times; font-size:40px; color:#CC0000;">✕</span>

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[dragonfall]

...I see.

[ It is unmistakable, the way his expression hardens for a moment. The eternal lights of Level 3 catch on the clenched muscles of his jaw.

But with an exhale, he relaxes once more. ]

I take it these are courts of...elves?

Like yourself.

[greenbriar]

[ Impossible not to catch that tension. But he doesn't ask, at least not yet. ]

Elves and pixies and goblins and some merfolk, even, occasionally. Yes.

But we host mortals in our realm, too.

[ Such as Estinien? He wonders. ]

[dragonfall]

[ Elves, he knows. Goblins, but not the same goblins that he has experience with. Pixies...? He has no idea. Merfolk, even less. But from the context, they must be possessed of the magic, and magical qualities, that Cardan himself has in some form.

His brows flick together at 'mortals'.

The dragons referred to men as mortals. ]

Those are...men?

[ What is the word they use here...? Not Hyur, but: ] Humans.

[greenbriar]

Yes.

[ It's strange, actually talking through this. It's the first time he's done so here. ]

Humans were the only mortals in my realm.

[ He shrugs, and flicks one of the pink blooms away from him, spreading ripples through the bathwater. ]

But the distinction is less obvious here, no?

[dragonfall]

I see.

[ There has been a kind of trend that he has seen. 'Human' or something like it, makes up the majority of those brought here. It means...something, surely. Something he is not equipped to theorize about. ]

On my star, a 'mortal' is any creature that does not live an immortal life.

A goblin would be as mortal as I, and die in the fullness of time.

[greenbriar]

[ That answers his outstanding question about Estinien, although it does draw up others. ]

Then mortality means the same for you as it does for me. The Folk pass beyond only when we choose, or if the choice is taken from us by violent means.

[ He's going to lean back, his arms braced on the edge of the tub, and sink further into the water. ]

Strange, that goblins may exist in both our homes, but be so different from one to another.

[dragonfall]

That is somewhat like--

[ He pauses.

He watches a pair of soft pink nipples sink into the water.

Inhale. Exhale. ] --the dragons of my star.

If something does not act against them, they live for untold years.

[greenbriar]

Oh?

I have never met a dragon. What are they like?

[ His eyes are half-lidded, languid on Estinien's face. If he caught that exhale, he does not mention it.

What Estinien is not seeing: he's way too tall for the tub so his knees stick out, sad and cold :( ]

[dragonfall]

[ Ironically, it is easier to speak of dragons than to think about Cardan's naked chest. Or naked...everything. ]

Of considerable size, clawed and scaled, heavy of body but with wings and magic to carry themselves in the air. Some are serpentine, others more bird-like, but all are long-lived and grow in power as they age.

They are fierce and tremendously dangerous combatants.

[ He pauses, his expression growing more...thoughtful. ]

They sing.

[greenbriar]

They sing.

[ He repeats it softly, almost like he's musing. For a moment, he's quiet.

Then Cardan smiles and shifts within the water. More ripples spread through the pink foam, but this time, they do not quiet when he does.

Instead, a wyrm rises from the bathtub , its rose-tinted body translucent; scales shift like ripples over its surface. It is as long as Cardan's forearm, and when it spreads diaphanous wings, they shimmer with soapy iridescence. ]

Like this?

[dragonfall]

[ Cardan will see when the surprise creeps onto the normally stolid man's expression. His brows lift; his eyes widen. For a moment, he half thinks the man is about to flash his prick--

But no.

It is a display of...magic? It must be.

For a create of soap and dye, it is beautiful. And...fairly accurate. ]

Some look like that, yes. Not all, but a good few.

[greenbriar]

[ He appears pleased with his creation (and, if he's frank, with the surprise on Estinien's face); with a flick of his wrist, the water loses shape, splashing back down and drenching one of the flowers. ]

Then perhaps I know more about dragons than I thought.

[ Though Estinien might get a flash of prick after all. Cardan is done with the bath. Of course, the camera is on his wrist, and it shifts focus away from his face as he braces himself against the tub walls to rise -- there is a blur of wet skin, black tail, and soggy flower petals, and then it focuses shakily back on Cardan's heat-flushed face as he wraps himself in a bath robe. ]

Do they tell fairy tales where you're from, Estinien?

[dragonfall]

[ ....

Estinien comes to rub his eyes. The next time Cardan sends a request to shift the communication to video, he is going to refuse. It will be a text or a call, or nothing.

But rather than sigh openly, he instead replies: ]

'Fairy' what? Stories?

Do you mean like children's tales?

[ Another word he does not know. ]

[greenbriar]

[ He intuits none of Estinien's annoyance; after all, nudity is a widely acceptable choice of attire where he's from.

A wrinkle forms at his brow at that particular description, but-- ]

I suppose sometimes they are.

[dragonfall]

[ Why is where he is from so utterly degenerate. ]

I see.

What of them?

[ He is not sure why this conversation has taken a turn toward children's fables. ]

[greenbriar]

In my world, that is what we are. Legends, old wives' tales, or stories to tell human children so that they may behave. Some know of our true nature, but not many.

Your dragons made me wonder whether your world was the same.

[dragonfall]

Ah. In that case...

[ Estinien does nod, his tone becoming more thoughtful. ]

There are fables and tall-tales, but they all hold a grain of truth. Dragons are very real, and so too are goblins, kobolds, Primals, and even dark boogeymen such as Ascians. One could say that there is little on my star that is not real in some way, no matter how outlandish the story, though I have never heard those words before.

'Fairy', 'Unseelie'.

Perhaps it is merely a difference of vocabulary.

[greenbriar]

Perhaps.

[ But he doubts it. Something about Estinien -- a man who looks every bit Faerie and is every bit not -- tells him that maybe the sorts of dynamics he thought familiar back home just do not exist elsewhere.

He's going to finish fixing his hair in the mirror, and then face it, addressing himself and Estinien at the same time. ]

Well, unless you are keen on watching me get dressed, I shall not keep you longer.

[dragonfall]

....

[ Estinien's response is succinct. ]

I am not.

[ And without so much as a good day, as politeness might dictate, Estinien is going to take his leave...not the least because he does not need to be any more capable of imagining Cardan's nude body than he already is. ]