cutlery: (fake she doesnt have legs)
Sebastian "golden ball man" Michaelis ([personal profile] cutlery) wrote in [community profile] painpong2022-09-06 01:54 am
semicharmed: (studying up)

[personal profile] semicharmed 2022-09-11 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Matt's lips twitch. ]

Well, human cuisine covers a pretty wide array of sins. Intestines, cheese with maggots on it. Fruit that smells like sewage.

But I can imagine some things that might be ... more visceral than the vast majority of us would go for.

[ He tips his head thoughtfully. He's relieved to hear there's something on this plane of existence that Sebastian likes tasting apart from souls. Being stuck here with nothing on your tongue but "foul" strikes Matt as akin to torture. He isn't exactly a foodie, but he has too much appreciation for the realm of the sensual to feel otherwise. ]

What emotions are your favorites?
semicharmed: (dude with a tie)

[personal profile] semicharmed 2022-09-12 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ Matt's lips twitch ruefully for 'stereotypical.' ]

Hey, stereotypes are popular for a reason. I like burgers and pizza, [ he offers, forgetting that there might be something of a cultural divide where those are concerned. That's all he says before quieting, though.

Once Matt hears the answer, he thinks he could have predicted it. Of course the Kenoma would encompass all that, and more--though Matt himself isn't drawn to hatred as a concept. Only love. Love for everything, not just the things that make themselves easy to love: for the wildfire raging its way across an overgrown forest, for maggots as they chew an animal corpse into usefulness. For peace, at the end, to everyone who needs it. ]


Well. That makes me happy, then. [ Another quick smile, this one his widest in recent minutes. ] Which I guess doesn't taste great, so sorry.
semicharmed: (downward facing smile)

[personal profile] semicharmed 2022-09-12 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ Matt's relieved that normal-strength emotions don't seem to ping Sebastian. They all have more than enough of that as things stand. But it seems to surprise him when Sebastian laughs--it's a pleasant sound, but Matt hadn't thought about trying to explain himself. It's almost jarring to realize he's been thinking his own thoughts, and that Sebastian isn't privy to them.

He smiles, breathing a laugh of his own. Half sheepishness, half unconscious echo. ]


I don't ... like thinking of anyone stuck in an existence that has nothing to offer them.

I know our purpose here is to reset things. Sweep away the last of the rot. And I believe in that, but I don't think that has to mean-- [ His lips twitch. ] --you know, "no fun." Maybe there's a version of me in the future who'll be able to move towards a goal without anything but that to look forward to, but I definitely can't do it now.
semicharmed: (gives a lovely light)

[personal profile] semicharmed 2022-09-13 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ Matt laughs, realizing he did totally forget to take all Sebastian's domestic hobbies into account. But on the other hand, he stands by that. The pleasure one can find in knitting or baking babkas isn't quite the same as the kind one takes in a jaw-dropping celestial event, or really good sex, or eating that babka and finding it tastes wonderful. Maybe not all of Matt's list there is sensual per se, but it's--bigger than a single person. Fulfilling, in a way you can touch. And sensations matter. Kama is, after all, one of the four pillars of human existence.

In the context of their current conversation, the phrase "rare pleasures" catches on his ear. Matt's pretty sure that's just him, rather than anything Sebastian's specifically intending to put across, but he can't help how his smile curls at the words. ]


I appreciate that, [ he says, sincerely. He glances up to meet Sebastian's gaze. His thoughts, from starry to heated, flicker across his face, but as usual, Matt isn't aware of just how transparent he is. ] I know I just said that I think we should have fun, but it's true it's not always easy to get into that mindset.
semicharmed: (talking shop)

don't mind me gently puttin a bow on this

[personal profile] semicharmed 2022-10-04 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Matt likes that expression. He's past second-guessing and onto fourth- or fifth-, so he has no real thought that any of it's meant for him. But he can't help wanting what he wants, and consequently can't help warming to the crinkle at the corners of Sebastian's eyes, the lilt of his smile.

In the meantime, "dour luxury" prompts a sudden grin, distracting him. That's totally it: Achamoth contains within its walls pretty much any vice you could lust for, but a surprising number of its fruits are hidden from public view, leaving one's primary impression of the city one of severity. As for the Citadel itself, like so many of its denizens--like the one who shaped it, who sits in its throne room--it's business, business, business. ]


Oh.

[ Matt's smile shifts from broad and bright to something smaller, more private. A self-contained glow of pleasure. It's not just the invitation that pleases him (though it does, especially with the way his thoughts have been tending), but the prospect of open air, new sights. Getting out of this graveyard. Until Sebastian said it, Matt didn't realize how much he wanted that. ]

Yeah, [ he says slowly, ] that sounds like it could be really fun. Um. Let me know when you're going, and ...

[ There's things Matt could say here about the tactical wisdom of learning more about Horos. That's what you do in conflict, right? Try to get as much terrain advantage as you can? But he doesn't marshal any martial arguments; for now, it feels like enough to want to leave.

Feeling oddly lighter, he concludes: ]


And I'll pack my bags.