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“How’s mewr throat holding up?” Dissy bumped Sign with her hip as they walked away from the abandoned shell of a warehive that had sheltered them and those who had come to hear him speak tonight.
Signless rubbed at his throat with his hand and a small grimace. “Rough, the acoustics in that place were rubbish, I felt like I was about to blow my voice out just to reach the trolls in the back...”
“Sure, blame it on the acoustics and not what we were up to last night,” Psii waggled his eyebrows where he walked just behind them. Signless couldn't see the eyebrows, but he knew in his heart that they were there.
He choked a little and coughed into a hand, trying not to laugh so loud they attracted attention as they slipped into the edge of the woods, one of many groups filtering into it to disappear among the foliage.
“Seriously though beloved, you should let me wire you for sound and put up a few speakers--” Psii said, tone somewhere between a complaint and wheedling.
“Absolutely not, they may be able to intercept the broadcast from the mic to the speakers-” Sign began.
Psii sighed through his nose. “That would take a lot of luck on their part or already suspecting where we are--”
“Purr the one who told us that there was a pawsability to begin with Sparks, purr just going to have to deal with it,” Dissy told the sulking Psiioniic fondly as they slipped through the trees, brushing branches out of their way carefully and being careful of footsteps that they didn’t disturb any sleeping things beneath the litter that might try to take on something as big as a troll.
Like a bee-ger or a drop zombie.
Or the vines of a chimera plant, though there was no distinctive perfume of its flowers in the air,
Nor the sticky smell of the sap of a clingore tree.
Or the ominous buzz of a giant wasp nest.
The peacefulness of the area was one of the reasons they’d chosen it for the sermon, a place where they could retreat safely to camp was paramount.
Here and there among the trees their companions, trolls who helped guard their steps and followed them from camp to camp and fought beside them, slipped like shadows through the trees, making the moonlight flicker as they traversed the forest.
The three of them came up on the clearing they’d already chosen for their camp, Rosa asleep in her tent, snoring softly with a young troll sitting beside it whittling a little figurine.
Rosa always took the day shift.
The little green looked up and gave them a gap-toothed smile “How’d the talk go?” He lisped.
“About as you’d expect, I think I spotted a few new faces, and put hope in the hearts of those who wanted something to hope for already.” Sign smiled kindly at him. “Thank you for sitting watch, Renard.”
“Weren’t a trouble, I could hear some of the clapping and cheering from here, you really got ‘em going,” the kid grinned at him and got up with a stretch, scampering off to give them some privacy.
Signless went to their little fire pit and stirred at the ashes and shook his head, then started around the trees near the camp, gathering sticks and larger pieces of wood, while Disciple disappeared into the forest for a minute.
Psii got their tent out from the rucksack and unrolled it with a snap in the air, and staked it out then ran the poles through it and got it domed up properly.
A rattling of small branches falling on the ground and against each other drew Psii’s eyes back over to the fire pit from fussing with the tent. He shoved their packs inside and came over as Sign started breaking them over his knee and arranging them, with leaves and twigs underneath and the branches tented above them.
“Nice, this should be good enough to get us through fucking dinner at least,” he nudged Sign’s shoulder with his own and Sign gave him a grin.
“With the luck of the stars behind us it shall... care to give us a light?” He asked.
“My pleasure,” Psii waggled his eyebrows and glanced at the fire, he reached his hand into the heart of the pile of leaves and branches and held his pointer and thumb apart and arched energy between them, withdrawing his hand quickly as the leaves around it caught enthusiastically.
“Careful, the forest is dry, it’s about due for a storm,” Sign said and gathered his hand for a kiss.
Psii grinned a silly smile at the kiss. “Yeah well, if the smell on the air and the wind rattling the treetops is a tell it’s going to get it soon,” he said.
“Mm... yes,” Sign agreed, squinting up at the clouds obscuring the moons. “We’d best-”
“Dinner’s here!” Dissy interrupted, bouncing back into the camp with her boundless enthusiasm and a big shark grin, blood on her mouth and claws. A trio of hop-beasts dangled by the ears in one of her hands.
“Fuck yeah!” Psii fist pumped at the air as she came over and Sign hauled out a knife to start whittling down some straight skewers from the extra branches he’d found.
“Those will do just nicely love, let’s get them cleaned and over the fire-” he started.
She plopped herself down right beside both of them and laid the rabbits out, producing a knife to start cleaning them. “I did my lusus purroud on the hunt tonight, I almost got distracted by a deercat, but that’s mew much fur us right mow, so I stuck with the smaller purrey,” she said cheerfully as she worked.
Psi started taking vegetables out of the folds of his cloak, a couple of sweet tubers, a cry bulb, a few spicy gourds, a handful of fungi, and some pungent flavor weed.
Sign grinned at him as his little pile grew and his own fingers dipped here and there into hidden pockets among the folds of his cloak. Sour water squash, two small chimera fruits, lightly bruised, a couple of starchy tubers, and a large fungus cap to cut up into cubes.
Dissy considered the piles in front of the boys thoughtfully. “I think Sign wins this time Sparky, with those chimera fruits, mew’re going to have to mew the dishes,” she declared.
“Uuuugh,” Psii said dramatically and Sign snickered at him as he started cutting up their bounty and skewering it with rabbit meat to go over the fire.
“I should never have taught you how to lift from rich merchant stalls, you’re a menace.” Psii complained.
“Of course I am, and anyone who thinks that charging more to lowbloods than high is a practice that is acceptable deserves a little lost inventory.”
“They deserve a kick in the fucking pants is what they deserve,” Psii said, and Dissy cackled at him.
“Mew’re both terrible,” she said fondly. “I wouldn’t have it any ofur way,” she kissed Sign’s cheek and the Psii’s and Sign smiled while Psii flushed out to his double ears.
“Well... fucking good because I’m not changing,” he told her, crossing his arms. She reached over and gave him a firm push to the shoulder toppling him over onto the ground. “Hey!!!” His voice went high with outrage.
“What are mew gonna do about it?” Dissy raised her eyebrows at him, grinning broadly and challengingly.
Psii rolled onto his forearms and knees, looking at her and her stupid grin with narrowed eyes and launched himself at her.
She whooped delightedly as he crashed into her and they went rolling, wrestling on the ground with giggles and growls and bites, while Sign watched them fondly, and their dinner closely, rotating the skewers.
“Get them!” Sign encouraged with a soft laugh, careful not to specify who he was cheering on.
“You get them!” Psii called.
“No mew get us!” Dissy said.
“Someone has to get dinner,” Sign laughed, to disappointed noises.
Signless looked up, as thunder rumbled in the distance, and the sky lit up with flickering lightning jumping from cloud to cloud.
He listened absently as his loves growled and giggled and tried, less than successfully on anyone’s part, to sit on top of each other and claim victory.
“I think--” he started, and was drowned out by another closer rumble. “... loves...” he said, a bit urgently.
“Not now I’ve almost got her--” Psii said.
“Mew wish lofur boy,” Dissy sallied.
Lightning cracked directly overhead and the sky opened up with a deluge. An entire wall of rain hit them like a wrecking ball, it soaked through their hair, their clothes, their fire was almost instantly extinguished.
Dissy yelped and dove for the tent with Psii right behind her. Sign, with some little bit of sense about him, grabbed the skewers and dashed after them, huddling under the water tight waxed canvas and shivering.
“...Here, give me those.” Psii took the skewers and his powers wreathed them, they began to crackle softly as they cooked.
Dissy grabbed the packs that had been shoved in there, and pulled out the blankets and pillows, spreading them out.
While they were doing that, Sign was shucking out of the wet cold clothing that was sticking to him, taking off the cloak and hanging it, then the boots, and peeling himself out of the plastered shirt and long pants, leaving himself shivering, damp and naked.
He crawled over to the blankets and pulled one up around himself.
Dissy was right behind him, peeling out of her clothes and cuddling up, wet but warm under the fabric. Sign’s teeth were chattering a bit even though it wasn’t that cold.
“Here guys, Sign hold mine for a sec huh?” Psii handed over the cooked skewers, and peeled himself out of cloak and body suit. The hottest of all of them, he was like a space heater when he crawled into the blankets and huddled close, both of them cuddling up against him for warmth. “Suddenly I’m the most popular guy at the party huh?” He asked with a snicker as he took his skewer back.
“Always, your light shines brighter than anyone’s,” Kankri told him, a little moon eyed.
“Poetics will get you everywhere,” Psii waggled his eyebrows at him, gnawing on his dinner.
Sign started eating his as well, Dissy was already halfway through hers. “If he’s a bright light what am I my love?”
“A warm embracing darkness.” He leaned behind Psii to kiss her ear.
“Mew say the sweetest things.” She laughed.
“I do try,” Sign said.
“How long have you been saving those?” Psii asked curiously.
“Only about a week, the dichotomy came to me, you know how it is...”
“Yeah, yeah I do,” Psii nodded.
As the skewers were emptied, Psii bubbled them in his power and floated them out the front of the tent.
Sign curled himself around one side of the lanky space heater, his well rounded leg pressed against Psii’s thinner one, and kissed along his jaw. Dissy half rolled onto him, a hand on Sign’s shoulder, and her teeth on one of Psii’s ears, nibbling.
Psii shivered and whined softly, running one hand down Dissy’s back and the other into Sign’s hair and around his horns. “Ganging up on me huh? No fair.”
“Someone has to be the middle of this sandwich,” Signless teased and kissed his nose.
“And you guys voted me in huh?”
“Mew’re purrfect for the position, mew’re so good at taking my bulge...”
“And I’m increadibly pleased to take both of yours...” Signless said, watching Psii’s face go to a dark gold. The man could flirt all day but as soon as he was flirted back with? All bets were off.
“Well I...” he started, and trailed off, not knowing where he was going with that.
“Yes?” Sign suggested.
“Well of fucking course.” Psii flustered, and Sign came in for a kiss, while Psii got himself rolled over to face him, each of the three of them starting to arrange themselves carefully under the warm blankets, touching each other gently, moving a leg or an arm as they needed to.
Dissy readied Psii with her fingers, but if Psii only used one of his bulges he was thin enough for Sign not to need prep. He was a whimpering thing as Dissy’s fingers coaxed his bulge out and made his nook slick, and he and Sign made a sweet chorus when Sign guided his bulge exactly where he wanted it before sealing his mouth over Psii’s and closing his eyes, shivering, while he stroked his hands over arms and hips.
As Dissy decided, fingers coated in honey gold, that Psii was ready, her own body already eager, she curled her knee up under his to leverage it up and kissed the back of his neck. He keened a sound into Sign’s mouth as she slowly entered him and joined them all together, moving slowly with each other, cuddling, bulges twisting and squirming, but not encouraged with frantic movements, while they exchanged kisses and held each other.
Sign was the one to mark both of them when the inevitable came and his breath began to catch and stick in his lungs, dragging his claws against skin and biting at Psii’s lip, his bulge, a small fat thing that squirmed against Psii’s belly released that bright red colour of his, while his body tensed and he clung tightly, whimpering their names.
Psii whined a sound as Sign tightened down on him, his free bulge joining his in its colouring adventures while the other filled his gene bladder with heat... and the cascade continued. His body tensing and squeezing down made Dissy’s hands tighten and her teeth sink into his shoulder as she ground her generous hips into his thin ones, and pumped cool slurry into him.
It was quiet, almost silent, sweeps of running had taught them to swallow their sounds, though breath ran to panting, and near choking on their own pleasure, and they were left laying limp curled up with each other.
The trio laid there together, just basking, sleepy and feeling very little like moving.
“... I wish...” Psii murmured.
“Mm?” Sign asked.
“I wish we could submit, together. You know, to the caverns..”
“In a better world where several things about that weren’t illegal...” Sign sighed.
“In a better world,” Dissy said sleepily. “I would pail mew both in front of efuryone and present the buckets like some kind of great gift to the people, which they would be.”
Psii snickered softly. “Is that so huh?”
“Yeah,” she said dreamily.
“Exhibitionist,” Psii teased.
“Shhhhh,” Sign said.
“You too, huh?” Psii asked. Sign set a hand over his mouth.
“We are sleeping now, you ridiculous thing.” He told Psii, and Psii grinned against his hand.
“Yeah, alright, okay,” he murmured, and closed his eyes, settling down.
The rain continued to beat down on the roof of the tent, lulling them deep into sleep.