Open RP

May. 30th, 2037 09:14 pm
goingtobeunwell: (a man and his ship)
[personal profile] goingtobeunwell


[Open post for RP - games, one-off threads, etc.]

Date: 2024-07-27 02:28 am (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (happy pleased)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Raju tips the bottle over his own palm, looking pleased, sets the bottle down, and rubs his hands over one another in two long swipes. There's something about the way Francis had agreed, the quiet tone over the excited words. All this means as much to Francis as it does to Raju. Well, of course it does — but hearing it. Hearing it is wonderful. It's because he sounds happy.

Raju leans forward to smooth his hands over Francis' cheeks, fingertips first, into fingers, into his palms. His fingertips trace the hills and valleys around Francis' mouth and he smooths his hands over the whole landscape once more, taking the time to rub it in. Then he moves his hands across Francis' jaw, under his chin, over his neck, from the middle outward. It feels odd to have his hands spread over Francis' neck like this; the movements of his hands are very gentle.

"There," he murmurs, gaze moving up to Francis' face. "How do you feel?"

Date: 2024-07-27 02:28 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (happy small smile)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
A man reborn means the shaving is probably going to be at least semi-regular, from now on. That isn't the only thing it means. One of Raju's hands falls to his side and rubs its fingers against themselves, feeling the traces of the alcohol there, while the other reaches up and runs its thumb over the curve of Francis' chin. "Against your will? I don't know about that. You asked me to shave you, didn't you? Instead of trim?"

Raju smiles down at Francis' jaw, his mouth, watching the movement of his thumb and the landscape it's moving over. Then he looks into his eyes. "And you asked me to stay in the first place. I didn't sling you over my back and walk you out on my own."

Date: 2024-07-27 03:19 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general lean happy)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
"It wasn't so—" Raju stops himself before he can lie, ducking his head over a grin and reaching to wipe his hands on a rag. "It wouldn't have been so bad with a trim."

He reaches out for the sheet around Francis' shoulders, gathering up the ends so all the hair doesn't spill out when he lifts it off him. It's odd smelling that familiar scent here, of all places, stronger when he bends forward with his arms briefly around Francis' shoulders; sandalwood and alcohol and the chill in the air, and snow somewhere outside the windows. He turns his head toward Francis' neck and smiles a little. He likes it, he thinks. Maybe he likes the way those two disparate parts of his life fit against one another better because it's Francis who's wearing the scent. Raju straightens, bringing all the corners of the sheet together and looking over. He finds his gaze drawn to Francis' chest and stomach, and it lingers there for a moment before moving up to to smile, teasing, at that oddly bare face. "You'll realise what you've been neglecting the next time we eat. How long has it been since you've had a meal without hair in your mouth?"

Date: 2024-07-27 05:02 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general lean)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
"Not at all," he says, moving to shake the sheet out over the bin. "My things are yours. Just take care of it all or I'll have to hide it from you."

He grins at Francis, walking over to put the cap back onto the aftershave, put the shaving soap away, shake the brush through the water and peer at it to make sure he's gotten all remnants of the lather off. "The way I used to do back at the barracks. I'll be happy to do it for you again, though. Whenever you want me."

Raju's peering at the bristles on the brush again but his grin sharpens, knowing Francis is, like him, worked up enough to hear want and think all kinds of things. "Did you like it, shaving yourself? More than having someone else doing it for you?"

Date: 2024-07-27 08:39 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general lean thoughtful)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
"Hm." Raju sets the brush down to dry, leaning shoulder and hip against the wall, arms crossed, and taking a moment just to watch him. Watch his body. Watch how hard he's worked to manoeuvrer so easily with the one hand. Watch the bare face, which is probably going to be strange — wonderful, but strange — for a while yet. "I never thought about that before. But then the officers back home always seemed to enjoy it, sending others scurrying around to do their work for them. It would have been too strange, wouldn't it? If you'd asked to shave yourself, or... dress yourself, or whatever else."

When Francis had talked about the way he used to be, he'd said he'd been... jealous, hadn't it been? Resentful? That means ambition too, so: "Especially if you wanted a higher rank some day," he guesses. "It wouldn't do to remind anyone where you came from."

Date: 2024-07-27 10:03 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (happy headtilt)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Raju huffs an amused noise, grinning. "Odd to think about you that way," he says, pushing off the wall and moving to put the rest of the things away, most everything back inside the grooming kit and that set aside, the water and the pine-needle water both back in their places. "Using subterfuge like anyone else. That was my uncle's work at home. He kept you up on the mood of your men? What they were thinking?"

Date: 2024-07-28 01:32 am (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general lean toward)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Raju nods as he picks up the bench, moving it out of the way. His thoughts, even after so long in this impossible place, move more easily into explicable patterns: Francis' steward was there, alive, and is here, alive, and what had happened — what Francis insists had happened, what William says happened to him, what Raju has no option but to trust — between the two points is easy for his mind to skirt the edges of like walking around a puddle, without quite stepping in the middle unless something else should draw his foot there.

"Instead of one of the others you'd sailed with before?" he asks, moving over to the chair Francis had been sitting in to move that as well. "He must have made an impression that first time."

Date: 2024-07-28 11:26 am (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general friendly)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Impossible here, at least, not to see the context: the contrast between Francis' regard for this man and the distance he's said he's put between himself and all his men. The ones still living, here. But saying anything about it for no purpose wouldn't be kind, at least not directly. In lieu of that he moves closer, smiling at Francis and running a fond hand over his hair. "He sounds like a good officer. A good man. How has he been doing here? This place is quite a change of pace from hunting slave ships."

Date: 2024-07-28 01:55 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general look up)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
And that town hall was a while ago — long enough for Francis to be up and sweeping across the room, to be doing it without the slow, pained effort any of those movements would have needed from him before. Raju watches him for a moment, unsure. At home, he'd always expected that he would be involved in the lives of the people at home again, someday, as soon as he was done. But Francis doesn't have that.

"If we start going into town more often, one of us might see him," he offers. It isn't something he's inclined to do for its own sake; it's odd to not be committed to one approach or the other, when every decision in his life up to this place was a calculation, how close this took him to his goal and how far that would move him away. But he's committed to Francis, at least, and he's no stranger to spending time around people he doesn't care for. If doing it might help Francis worry less, then Raju wouldn't mind. "I can keep an eye out for you."

Date: 2024-07-28 03:08 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general lean happy)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Since Francis is so close Raju puts an arm around his back, feeling the sweater under his hand, touch gentle against the chest underneath it. "Then we will," he says, confident, encouraging. He keeps looking at him a moment, then kisses Francis' cheek, because it's right there and he wants to know how it feels now under his lips. Smooth, of course, and warm. He feels the pull to kiss Francis again on those shapely lips this time and resists it, gaze darting over his face, smile crinkling at the corners of his eyes.

Date: 2024-07-28 04:14 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general fidget)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Raju slips into the side opposite, not thinking of anything in particular. There's the usual awareness of Francis, awareness of the distance. There's the usual brief comparison of before, when he'd slept roughly this far away from him without ever considering sleeping closer, to now, when considering it is the only thing that he can do. He thinks of the first night they'd slept next to one another, as close as Raju wants to be, when he hadn't been able to consider anything then but the desperate animal comfort of it.

He doesn't mind not being able to touch the way he wants, not exactly. Or, he doesn't mind minding it. Usually. But the nights are harder. In Delhi there'd been plenty of work to do, and if he only tried hard enough to find it, and did it for long enough, he hadn't needed help falling asleep. Raju sighs, turning onto his side, arm draped over his chest. It's usually at least a little easier if he can look at him. Francis loves him, and wants to be with him— and he's just there, so really, Raju is lucky.

Date: 2024-07-28 05:07 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (general lean thoughtful)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Confusion creases Raju's face. It's an odd time to mention it; they'd talked about the visit earlier, when Francis had explained the food. Unless there was something Francis hadn't wanted to say then, that's easier to say in the dark. Raju props himself up on his elbow, confusion focusing and turning into concern.

"Bad news?" Maybe the pie had been less a gift and more a consolation. Raju tries to catch some kind of clue from Francis' manner. He doesn't seem concerned, at least not yet. Would he? He tries to think whether Francis has ever delivered him bad news on purpose before; Raju doesn't know how he would do it.

Date: 2024-07-28 06:58 pm (UTC)
load_aim_shoot: (happy touched surprise)
From: [personal profile] load_aim_shoot
Realisation moves just slightly faster than the smile breaking over Raju's face. His gaze moves down, darting here and there over Francis' body and then moving up to his face again, the shock of Francis' news as hot inside him suddenly as the weight of Francis' arm over his waist. He sets a hand on Francis' jaw, hardly lets it brush Francis' skin as it moves over his neck, pausing at the collar. "Completely?"

He takes a moment, enjoying the pressure in his chest and the heat licking at his insides underneath it. "You knew this all day," he goes on, grinning a little too much to quite manage making it an accusation. "And you waited untill now to tell me?"

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