Callum + Cass, Dec 15th

Dec 14 23:39:56 <Antichthon>	Cass-Callum <Hey stud, you busy?>
Dec 14 23:40:45 <Knave>	<No, just studying. Want me?>
Dec 14 23:41:31 <Antichthon>	<Yeah, come over to my room, I need your man-meat.>
Dec 14 23:41:39 <Antichthon>	<By which I mean muscle. Not your other man meat.>
Dec 14 23:41:48 <Antichthon>	<Ah fuck, I'll take both.>
Dec 14 23:44:10 <Knave>	<Is that not also a muscle?> arrives just moments before Callum arrives through their adjoining bathroom, smiling softly and visibly have just got done putting his phone back in his pocket. He's wearing a rather recent addition to his wardrobe, a dark plaid button-up, sleeves rolled up and buttons only half done-up. "Hey." He beams.
Dec 14 23:52:17 <Antichthon>	<I think we need to have a biology lesson later, Dude. A very hands-on biology lesson.> The moment Callum stepped into the room, he'd be assaulted by a wall of sound; Deadmou5's "Hey Baby," set to deafening levels. Odd, considering he wouldn't have heard a peep from the bathroom, nor would anyone from the hallway. A series of Cass' Dragonfly drones lined the perimeter of the room, all staring at the central action: Cass, identifying as a boy today, underneath a kneeling, ungodly beautiful woman. With cat ears. Callum would know that gynoid well, from the Kitty Cat Cosplay Cafe. Her gleaming blue armor was removed leaving her naked, while Cass fiddled with the robot's open throat.
Dec 15 00:02:39 <Knave>	He pauses just past the threshold, winces at the sudden noise level. "What the haitch-" He says at regular volume, inaudible, then raises his voice, "Cass-" then raises it again to properly meet the volume of the music, "Cass, you gotta warn me about what I'm walking into sometimes, sugar." He steps up to where Cass is lying on the floor and hunkers down on one knee behind him, looking down into his face with his usual look of put-upon endearment.
Dec 15 00:09:59 <Antichthon>	"Hey Baby," Cass said with a cheeky wink, perfectly in synch with the music, which shut off a moment later. "Sorry you had to catch me cheating on you like this, but you know how much I love my robots." Yeah, it did look rather dirty, what Cass was doing to the gynoid. At least he had his clothes on. Hex stood attentively beside him, but for whatever reason Cass wasn't using the helper bot for this task. He grinned up at Callum's upside-down face. "Sorry, forgot. Was testing the limits of the new sound dampeners I just installed in the bug-bots. Also testing my built-in hearing protection. All in all, the music volume was reasonable to me. Ow." He'd pricked his finger on something sharp in the robot's throat, and sucked on his finger rather adorably without realizing it. "//Sprocket's sprung her speech spangler,//" Cass said through Hex, as his mouth was occupied. "//need your help fixing it, Hex isn't strong enough.//"
Dec 15 00:14:07 <Knave>	"I'm pretty sure you made up the word spangler so you wouldn't have to say the real thing to me." Callum says, mostly to himself, with a little nod. He briefly pets the top of Cass' head before raising his hands above his own head to crack his knuckles. "All right. Point me at what needs bending or lifting."
Dec 15 00:21:58 <Antichthon>	Cass laughed. "You know me too well. I just didn't want to break the alliteration. Pull me out, will you?" Cass could have had Hex do it, but he wasn't about to pass up any opportunity to be handled by Callum. God damn, their size difference still got him hot, after all this time. "It's a sad story, Sprockets. Whatever-her-name who built her was good. Real good. But for some reason the most integrated, protected part of the damn 'bot was her voice box. I've never been able to reprogram certain aspects of it, and there's no removing it gently. And now it's doing this." Cass head quirked as he sent a mental signal to the gynoid. It shook, activated, and said, "Happy Birth-- Happy Birth-- Happy Birth--" Cass shut her down. "She won't shut the fuck up."
Dec 15 00:27:54 <Knave>	"Huh." Callum says, looking from the robot to Cass before effortlessly pulling them out by the waist, lifting him up to steal a quick kiss before handing him off to Hex. "So you just want me to rip out this thing's voice box real good, boss?" He peers closer at the throat of the gynoid, rubbing his chin with a thumb.
Dec 15 00:34:27 <Antichthon>	Cass took the kiss with a giggle. Yes, a giggle. Something he'd never do if he wasn't alone with Callum, inside a heavy-duty sound cancellation bubble. "Indeedily do, superhunk. I've opened it up, just yank it out. I'll, I don't know, replace it with cotton balls or something." Hex accepted Cass, attached to his back turning him into that familiar Doc Ock ripoff.
Dec 15 00:39:16 <Knave>	With two fingers, he rips off a mock-salute before getting down to business. His left hand wraps around the back of the gynoid's neck, getting a firm hold to keep it steady while his right plunges into the machinery  and gets a grip on the voice box. He tenses for a split second, then relaxes, looks at his own muscular arms about to rip the throat out of a facsimile of Cass, then casts a wry grin at the real Cass, "You're recording this for later use, aren't you?"
Dec 15 00:44:55 <Antichthon>	Cass just grinned as an answer, before starting up the music again - except it came from him directly this time. Including the lyrics. "Tie me up, pin me down, flip me over, upside-down," came the carbon-copy version of the song, out of Cass' mouth, inches from Callum's ear. Helpful, wasn't he? "Make me make that fuckin' sound."
Dec 15 00:49:42 <Knave>	Callum shakes his head, "Cass, you are lucky that your boyfriend has probably the steadiest hands and the calmest temper of any American up here in the Great White North," With a grunt that must surely have been for Cass' benefit more than anything, Callum yanks out the offending part with immense control, his arm moving a scant few inches outside of the machine, "Because anyone else would have really goofed up your robot just now." He turns his head to his and takes a few inches off the distance while he smiles proudly. He presents the voicebox up between their faces for a moment, then wraps his arms around Cass, "Y'know, provided they were also super strong and all."
Dec 15 00:59:27 <Antichthon>	Cass didn't give up so easily. He gave a long, feminine moan - Callum was more attracted to the feminine side of Cass, they both knew it - but only //after// the voicebox was safely removed. Because god damn, an accidental elbow from Callum could easily push Cass through the wall. Cass' cheeky grin just widened when the voicebox was presented between them. "//M-i-i-tssszzzeeeeee...//" it croaked, as the last vestige of power was drained from it. Cass took it. "Glad to have that shit dealt with." He tossed it away like the garbage it was. "Nothing like being reminded of a lame-ass tragedy to turn customers off. Anyway, I'll fix 'er up later. For now," Cass traced a finger up his jawline. "What do you want to do?"
Dec 15 01:06:01 <Knave>	"Obvious answer aside," Callum waggles his eyebrows, then plants a kiss on Cass' nose. He wraps his hands around Cass' waist again, relieving Hex once more, and cuddles him close while he drops onto Cass' bed. "Can I listen to you talk for a while?" Callum says brightly, "I just wanna fill my brain up with Cass."
Dec 15 01:11:52 <Antichthon>	Cass whooped and laughed as he was taken along with no choice in the matter - just how he liked it. "Fuck, sounds good to me. That whole 'you're a social ape whether you like it or not, asshole' thing has been biting me in the butt lately. I might hate it, but I need my people time as much as anyone." He snuggled into Callum's chest, head in the crook of his neck. "...You know who I haven't talked to in awhile? Elspeth." Cass tried to meet Callum's gaze, as well as he could in that position, which was not at all. "There's plenty of hours left in the day. Did you have your heart dead set on alone time with me?"
Dec 15 01:18:29 <Knave>	"Well, I'd like a little." Callum pushes Cass up his chest so that his lips are accessible, and kisses them softly, "But I guess there's always later, if you want to meet up with Elspeth." His hand strokes his back like a cat while he looks down benevolently, "But you have to promise you won't be too tired for at least one conversation tonight." He almost pouts along with his puppy-dog face.
Dec 15 01:24:32 <Antichthon>	"Ffft, naw. I'm just talking out loud. You know me, I'm a creature of ID. I'll catch up with Elspeth later. I have this big compelation of anime gifs with sound that she //has// to see." He put his arms around Callum, returning the kiss. When he pulled away, his eyes glistened as only Callum could make them. "You have me now, and for as long as you want." Cass jingled his collar, the one he never removed himself, ever. The metal tag that said "Property of Callum" Had seen a surprising amount of wear. Probably from all the bouncing and thrusting the pair of them were wont to engage in whenver they were alone together.
Dec 15 01:29:33 <Knave>	"You know saying that kind of thing to me is dangerous." Callum says with a coy smile as he gets comfortable in Cass' bed, stealing another kiss as he settles. "Sorry, I can't seem to stop kissing you today, can I?" He beams goofily, and falls to stroking Cass' hair between thick fingers which occasionally come down to stroke his cheek. "You're very kissable." He says in a kind of dreamy voice that indicates his brain didn't have much to do with him saying it.
Dec 15 01:37:19 <Antichthon>	"It's true, I am." Cassgrin. He took Callum's hand, wrapped little fingers around Callum's own, studying them. "So big," he said, still awed after all this time. "So strong. so powerful. So...Alpha. I love it when you steal kisses from me." Cass gazed up, devoted. Then, after a beat, he snorted. "Good fuck, how many times have we had this very conversation? We're getting boring in our old age, Callum!" He threw up his hands in mock exasperation. "We need new material."
Dec 15 01:40:45 <Knave>	"Hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it." Callum says, then collapses into a fit of very manly giggles - handily also simulating for Cass what it might feel like to cuddle an earthquake. "Sorry, for some reason it just really felt like we were leading into a big old-fashioned song and dance number. Like, spats and canes and top hats and everything." He lets out a satisfied post-laughter sigh, "Was that just me?"
Dec 15 01:46:03 <Antichthon>	Cass gave indication he wanted on his back, a very familiar position to them both. "Hell no, that's exactly what it was. We've made our own act, and we rehearse it every time we play it out." Cass joined in on the humor, but there was a kernel of honest worry in him, too. Callum would sense it. "The tragedy of habituation. Maybe the greatest tragedy of them all."
Dec 15 01:49:19 <Knave>	"I can think of greater ones," Callum says, projecting quiet confidence. He grasps Cass by the wrist and turns them over as if twirling him in a dance. "Now tell me something. Anything. Tell me about how the cafe's going, or what you've read lately, or a fun science fact." He chuckles, then kisses the top of his head, "I wanna listen to you talk."
Dec 15 02:02:07 <Antichthon>	Cass glanced at the wall. Back at the ceiling. The warm feelings he usually felt in this situation were gone, as was his smile. "Sometimes it hits me, really hits me, that life has no inherent meaning. I mean, I know that, but sometimes I truly //know// that, y'know? There's no happy endings. The things we value most are cosmic jokes. I love you Callum, but what's love? There's nothing I've ever loved so much that I don't eventually get sick of it. Habituation. Our culture makes jokes about how old couples often seem to hate each other, but really, isn't that terrifying? Love dies, like everything else. It's just that most people die before they realize they've been fooled, and the next generation grows up, oblivious." A long pause. "Can you really think of greater tragedies than that?"
Dec 15 02:16:42 <Knave>	Below him, Callum smacks his lips. His big lungs inflate to capacity, then deflate again. His arms shuffle around Cass. Finally, he says, "Cass, I'm not very smart." He holds his hand up over Cass' face, and mimes holding a watermelon, "Your brain," then shrinks his grip so that it looks like he's holding a large kiwi at most, "My brain. So maybe I just don't see things on the same level as you. I don't get the scope, if you follow." He shrugs under him - Cass gets the sense that Callum is talking with his eyes closed, sorting out his thoughts, "And sure, yeah, that's a tragedy, I guess. Love dies. People get bored. Whatever it is." One hand detaches from the hug again so Callum can rub his temple, "But, if nothing has any meaning and nothing lasts forever, why is that any worse for love? If it's all just nothing, fucking who cares, right?" He sighs heavily, "I don't know. I had a point, I think."
Dec 15 02:27:02 <Antichthon>	Cass snorted at the watermelon part, giggled at the kiwi part. Sighed and looked thoughtful when he was done talking. "Nah. You're right. Sorry, you're getting the flak from reaching top-tier closeness to Cass. Get to hear all the dark, shitty thoughts from a fucked-up brain. Didn't mean to bring the mood down." Cass tickled Callum's chin with his wispy blue hair. "And you shut the fuck up, you're plenty smart. I keep telling you to stop insulting yourself like that. You're a mountain of meat, but that doesn't make you a meathead. We clear, or do I have to get Hex to start tazing ya whenever you get self-depreciating?" The grin was back. "...Also your dick isn't a muscle, dude. I think you're old enough to learn the truth about that."
Dec 15 02:31:14 <Knave>	Callum chuckles softly, "What am I, a biologician?" His arms wrap tighter around Cass and he kisses the top of his head repeatedly, "I know I'm plenty smart, but you /are/ smarter than me, and I was making a point. But yes, I'll stop now." He pulls a pillow up under his neck and folds it over so he can comfortably keep his mouth right by Cass' ear, "And hey, we got to that fun science fact after all, huh?"
Dec 15 02:41:10 <Antichthon>	"You know me, I'm just a nerd in a suit of armor. Bloody fantastic armor, mind you. Who else has got this level of swag?" Cass pointed at his very best Cassgrin and bobbed his head along to a soundbite of Trinidad James' "All Gold Everything," Playing from the dragonflies hovering about them in an aerial swagdance. It stopped as abruptly as it started. "By the way, if we're talking science facts, I got a message from o-Dad yesterday. Ever since the supernatural was revealed to the world, the red tape tying up my Dads' company has lifted, and they've started to do some really epic shit. ...Okay, they've always done epic shit - look at me - but now they can do it public. Anyway, Dads are working on a sub to go to Europa, drill through kilometers of ice to find out if there's life down there. How metal is that?"
Dec 15 02:45:45 <Knave>	"That's very metal." Callum says, nodding, managing somehow to make the phrase 'very metal' sound like 'pretty darn neat'. "Which one's Europa, again?" He asks, one hand lain flat over Cass' chest and the other stroking up and down his short frame, "That one of the moons in our solar system, or is it further afield?"
Dec 15 02:51:23 <Antichthon>	Cass' moment of crushing depression seemed to be behind him; it was amazing how well Callum could triage Cass' psychological wounds whenever they reopened. One of the reasons this unlikely relationship has lasted. "It's a moon of Jupiter. Good odds there's some amazing shit going on down there, because it's blown open how there is amazing shit //everywhere.// I mean goddamn, the floodgates are open. One of o-Dad's astronomer friends said something about a giantic blue alien-thing showing up on a recent flyby of Iapetus. The world's gone full-blown crazy."
Dec 15 02:54:51 <Knave>	"Wow." Callum's gentle smile was always audible for those who knew how to listen for it. The hand stroking Cass becomes just one finger, trailing up and down their side, "Hey, I don't suppose anyone's seen any other meteor-babies flying around up there, have they?" He chuckles once, "Maybe I have a baby brother."
Dec 15 03:01:56 <Antichthon>	Cass blinked. "Holy shit I never even thought to ask that. Sorry." He looked up at him. "There's so much crazy going around, so many things that don't make a lick of sense, I've started to tune 'em out just to function. I actually talked to Dad about that. There's psychological research going on about it, because that effect is happening everywhere. Even before the supernatural was revealed, the same thing was happening with technology. It seems every day some amazing, mind-boggling invention comes along, that that's even discounting my dads' shit. Eventually you just nod and smile. It's a sort of mental fatigue." Beat. "Long story short, I often forget you were an alien meteor baby because fuck it."
Dec 15 03:06:57 <Knave>	"Don't worry about it." Callum kisses his head again, "I was mostly joking. And I think a lot of people forget." He half-yawns gently, and continues absently while he strokes Cass, "I would like to know if there are more of me, though. Growing up would probably have been easier if I had a big brother. Less breakages." He glances down at the Cass in his arms, "Any comments you want to make about the idea of two of me?"
Dec 15 03:13:33 <Antichthon>	An empy vial spat out of Cass' shoulder, and Hex dutifully replaced it. "...Look, I know you hate it when I bring up the S-man, but despite your similarities there's no reason to think you're a carbon copy or some shit. I can virtually guarantee you there's more of your kind. The odds favor it." At the idea of more than one Callum, Cass grew very quiet for a moment. "Of Course I Would Not Fantasize About Such Things," Cass said mechanically, for humorous effect. "That Would Be Fantasizing About Cheating On You, And As We Are In A Monogamous Relationship That Would Be Unacceptable."
Dec 15 03:19:21 <Knave>	"Oh, you're funny, Walker-Handal. Very funny." He nuzzles Cass' neck, kissing repeatedly before leaving his face tucked in beside his lover's, "But I suppose I did toss the ball, can't blame you for hitting it." He squeezes his grip on Cass momentarily, "I could still punish you, though. If I want."
Dec 15 03:31:53 <Antichthon>	"Oh, yes please, you know I l..." Callum squeezed the breath right out of him, for a second. To be fair, the mere weight of his arm would probably be enough to do that, Cass was as delicate as wet tissue paper. "...Love it." The kisses down his neck made him arch his back - or rather, her back. It wasn't often Cass underwent a gender shift while awake, but Callum would be familiar with the change. It felt like they'd been dating forever, afterall. "Mmm, you never fail to make me feel feminine," Cass said in her new voice. She licked her lips and looked up at Callum through half-lidded eyes. "You know, it occurs to me that maybe your kind reproduces by sending out meteor babies. Then they grow up to be so hot, the women can't resist them. Many generations later, everyone on the planet is descended from you. And then that planet sends out more meteor babies and repeats the cycle." She stroked his cheek. "It would explain a lot."
Dec 15 03:40:24 <Knave>	"Yeah, that would wrap up all my questions in a neat little bow." He kisses her neck, then shuffles and leans so he can plant one on her lips, "My superhuman physique, all the women who keep falling at my feet, my overwhelming urge to mate." One of the advantages of their habituation as a couple was that Callum could throw Cass down on her back and be perched over her in the blink of an eye, and gentle as anything. It made goofing around much easier. He winks down at her.
Dec 15 03:48:01 <Antichthon>	"Mmm, Just their luck you ended up in an exclusive relationsbip with a female unable to breed." Cass let her hair down, shook it out. You just had to have messy hair when you were flat on your back, your titanic lover above you. Had to be a law somewhere. "I guess you win some, you lose some." She cupped his face in both hands. "Their loss, my gain. ...Now stuff my mouth before I get any more cheesy."
Dec 15 03:50:12 <Knave>	Callum hesitates only for a split second while he comes up with and immediately rejects several possible responses - then immediately gets down to the important business of making out with his boygirlfriend.
Dec 15 03:50:45 <Antichthon>	-Scene down to business-