Chasing Relentlessly [Zep/Ruby]

[Raining]

He hadn't been here long, and here he was -already- tangled in something complicated. It was supposed to be easy... or well those were his thoughts jumping into this. Booty calls were simple, fun and they didn't have strings attached. Or well that's what he'd thought before Kaius' girlf- err ex.. came back. Now things were... complicated to say the least. Now he didn't know what to think. What he did know was he found himself at the Goldhandler's side more often than not. He did ruin something important to Kai and so he felt obligated to stick around. What they had before Sena came home, stopped abruptly... and now he found himself in a sort of limbo.

There was a night or two where he tried to over think it, or at least work through what was happening, and why it probably was a bad idea. But he told Kaius he wasn't going anywhere, and the whermaster did need someone after what happened. It was the least Sandr could do for him. Alesk was actually concerned, well, apprehensive about His getting himself caught up into something that just turned messy. Lets just say Sandr stopped over thinking it... it was the least he could do.

Whenever he did over think things, he almost couldn't bring himself to look at Kaius in the face. But he pushed passed it, and whether it was because of something more or he... was really just really feeling horrible.

Right now he was on his way over to said handler's apartment, after Alesk reminded him that this wasn't one of His' better ideas. A few weeks ago Sandr would have agreed with him. "Don't worry about me, he's the one who was hurt," he'd roll his eyes at his wher, "I'm not fourteen anymore, you don't need to nitpick. Now if you're done growling at me, lets go."

Sandr found himself back on the familiar path to the Gold Handler's apartment. Over all he liked living here, it felt like he was doing something... plus he'd stay up a little longer to catch the dragons near the feeding areas. He never stopped admiring them, even as a wherhandler and to Alesk's dislike.

The brown handler paused at Kai's door and knocked. He should know by now that he could just walk in... but he'd rather take the polite route and Kaius was still his superior. Alesk snorted at him while searching for Kaiusk's mind to let her know it was just them -- also reiterating that he didn't exactly approve of this. It was mainly because Sandr had no second thoughts at all right now... and he was actually happy to be here. That's what bothered the wher, because His should be using his head more.

Whenever Kaius opened the door, Sandr would greet him with a warm smile.

"Hey, you up for some company?" he'd ask casually, not posing the question in a hopeful way... he always gave Kaius a way out.

[Zephyr]

In just a few hours, Kai’d gone almost back to the state he’d been in when he thought Sena’d left him. Not quite as severe though…for a few reasons. He remembered what it was like to be that desolate, and he wasn’t anxious to relive it. It was completely his fault and no one else’s that he’d hurt her. He didn’t blame Sandr, no matter what the other guy thought, in the least. If only he’d waited a little bit longer – but he wasn’t sure never having met the brownhandler would make him feel any better. And he had someone to help him through it. Kai wasn’t sure how much he actually deserved the other man’s support, but Sandr was giving it to him whether he wanted it or not.

And he did want it, no matter how much he tried to deny it. Kaiusk knew and she wouldn’t let him forget it.

And speaking of the gold. She was doing everything in her power short of breaking the bed under her weight in an attempt to be close to the boy, to actually make sure he didn’t regress into that state. She had been having a constant conversation with Alesk, asking him to make sure his boy visited her’s. The gold wasn’t sure if Sena could fix him, or had any desire to anymore, but she knew Sandr did want him fixed, and she loved Alesk to bits, so why not make sure that they were on the same page?

It actually seemed like Kai was fine as he sat at his desk, furiously scribbling on some paper. But the wher could tell from the tense set of his shoulders to the way he hadn’t taken a break in hours – even to how hard he was bringing pen down on paper that he wasn’t fine. And the boy’s assurance that he was fine, even to his wher, frustrated her more than anything. He should be willing to admit that he was deeply hurt – especially since he was avoiding human contact again for the most part.

For the most part because he was still spending time with Sandr regularly, which is another reason Kaiusk had tried to get the brownhandler over as often as possible.

So, she was relieved when Alesk’s mind touched her own. Oh good. Please hurry a little. She implored them, pacing behind Kaius’ desk, her tail twitching nervously. She didn’t inform Kaius that Sandr was coming over until minutes before the other man knocked on the door – something that the goldhandler wasn’t exactly pleased about, but he got over it in short order as he rose to his feet to go get the door, a quiet Kaiusk behind him.

Kaius blinked at Sandr. It was clear he hadn’t gotten much sleep since the night the other man had slept over. They hadn’t done anything – all that stopped the instant Sena walked through the door, but it was nice having someone sleeping next to him, probably the only reason he did sleep anymore. Kaius found nothing worse than a cold bed. He smiled at the other man, moving to give him room to walk in before closing the door behind them. “Always. What’s up?” He asked, pretending that he wasn’t desperately trying to keep himself from unraveling.

[Ruby]

Piden flipped through his sheath of papers again, rolling his eyes. He hated having to come up with an excuse to see Kaius, but despite the spark of interest in the jungle a few weeks ago, Piden was still afraid of scaring the gold handler off. He knew Kaius had had some dramatic stuff going on in his life lately, too, although he didn't know the details. Still, he didn't feel like he was close enough to the goldhandler to just... drop in without Kaius being suspicious. Best cover? Paperwork. He was one of the senior handlers after all, and he HAD been putting off requesting some new supplies for the Guard for a good few months.

Red, nestled in his collar as usual, suddenly shifted and frilled as Piden turned the corner down the hall from the Goldhandler's apartments, hissing. The little green had developed quite a language of hisses and coos since going mentally mute all those years ago, and Piden knew this one. On the other side, Three stirred also, eyes narrowing. Mine. There another mine. Piden just mumbled "Hm?", not bothering to look up, but Red nipped him in the neck and the Bronzehandler finally looked up. And came to a sudden stop.

There was someone at Kaius's door.

If Piden wasn't mistaken, the most gorgeous man he had ever seen - short of himself - was already at Kaius's door. What?! Who on Pern was this??

Saying Piden was vain would be the understatement of the century, and what was more attractive than someone that looked significantly like Piden? Honestly, the Bronzehandler actually didn't see the resemblance, he just knew he liked the frame, the hair, the muscles. Couldn't see the package but given the size of the hands Piden was hopeful. He was a bit taller than Piden, too, and looked to be about the same age. Perfect. "Hello, handsome," the Bronzehandler said under his breath as Kaius let the other Piden inside and closed the door behind him.

Piden covered the distance to Kaius's door quickly, but stopped outside, adjusting his hair and rolling the sleeves of his shirt up a bit, the better to show off well-formed arms. He undid a button on the neck of his shirt, then re-did it, then undid it again, aware that he was just fussing, now. Eventually Three commented Gorgeous Mine. No contest, and Piden took a deep breath, knocking on the door with his free hand before striking a pose leaning against the frame. Sena was back, Kaius was straight, so the new guy might be unattached. Jackpot.