Chapter Text
He was told to meditate. That's what Thaisha does. She sits and she closes her eyes and her breathing slows to the point where an amateur healer may think she's on the brink of death. But Occtis can't just sit still and focus on the sensations around him, and he's already dead so it's not like his heart rate can slow. The only way he can actually disconnect from himself, short of an alarming amount of wine, is when he sends Pincushion out to be his eyes.
That's where Occtis is now. Tucked away in his room at the inn, he feels his body slacken and sag into the bedding beneath him as Pin scurries happily across the woods behind the sturdy wooden buildings. If Occtis didn't know better, he would say that Vaelus was smiling behind her veils, censer tight around her waist as she encourages Pin to frolic around her feet. Occtis' mind starts to soften and go blank, seeing soaring magpies and swaying blades of grass through Pin’s eyes.
The little creature ventures with a mind of his own, stopping for a moment of affection from Thaisha before continuing past the perimeter of the inn’s grounds to head further into the woods. Occtis never worries when Pin ventures; even like this, he can still snap Pin back where he's supposed to be if necessary. But there's still a stone-sized chunk of energy pulsing beneath his ribs and feeling dewy earth and a warm evening’s breeze seems to help slow Occtis' racing heart.
“You are a long way from home, little one.”
Eyes low to the ground, Pin snuffles in the debris of fallen leaves and small rocks as the firm ground beneath his paws starts to turn to damp mud.
“I feel like you would not like the water, little Pincushion,” Julien chuckles.
At the sound of his name, Pin’s head whips up and searches for the source of it. He steps cautiously around a nearly folded pile of clothing and plops down on a large, flat stone. The stone is warm from the natural hot springs beneath and Occtis faintly hears the swish of Pin’s tail wagging excitedly.
“Who would not love to lay down on a hot stone twice the size of their body?” Julien says with a crooked smile. “What a curious thing you are.”
Through Pin's eyes, Occtis sees Julien. The water barely comes up to his trim waist, but the steam has dampened the ends of his long hair. Beads of water, or sweat, roll down his chest and disappear into the pool. He sits casually, elbows resting on the stone ledge behind him, and the effortless pose brings attention to the broad muscles of his chest and shoulders and the defined muscle that dips back into the water.
That's– oh, that's a lot. It's not even his heart, it's the fucking stone shoved somewhere below it that hums and thrums and sends erratic, energetic pulses into Occtis’ body. And Julien, he's just– just completely unaware of how Occtis, a few miles away, prickles uncomfortably with sweat down his spine. He's preening for an undead fox! Or maybe that's just how he is, always cocky and making sure to draw attention to his body. Maybe he coos to Pin, moving in the small pool to scratch behind that mismatched ear with a warm, damp hand, because that's just how he talks to pets.
“I did not anticipate that I would find you so…cute,” Julien says, looking straight into Pin’s eyes. “But what can I say? I've always been weak for something adorable.”
Pin chirps eagerly, cozy and content on the warmed stone as he soaks up all of Julien's attentions. Occtis' fingers twitch, moments away from snapping Pin back, but he can't. Not yet. Not when Julien's bare chest is right there, not when he spoils Pin by scratching just under his chin the way that the fox loves. Occtis can almost feel it, can almost feel invisible fingers pushing his hair behind his ear or cupping his cheek.
“You best be off, Pin,” Julien says, looking at the fox with bright, amused eyes. “I still need to keep my secrets from your wizard.”
The moment Julien starts to rise from the springs, Occtis shoves the fox back into the pocket dimension. In bed, seeing with his own eyes, Occtis pants like he'd been running. He groans loudly, rubbing his temples as his heart (and the stone) beat rapidly. It's almost a drum– a rapid one-two, one-two, one-two– that makes Occtis dizzy as perspiration causes his clothing to stick to his body.
In any other scenario, Occtis would have gotten out of bed and read by the firelight until he felt calm enough to interact with the others. Pin has seen all kinds of things in their time together, and Occtis is certainly no stranger to nude bodies. Granted they're usually–
Corpses.
But Occtis is still a young man, despite his best efforts to be taken as seriously as some of his other companions, and youth does come with a certain vitality. Hot, eager blood pools in Occtis' groin, burning like acid as he fumbles with the fastenings on his trousers. He spits in his palm, swallowing a moan when he finally gets a hand around himself. He screws his eyes shut, rolling his hips into his fist as he fights to think about anything that wasn't firm muscles made slick with sweat and hot water.
He tries to focus on anything else, anything enticing but decidedly not…that. He thinks of something undeniably feminine, hand clutching at a softened hip as he kisses the heavy curve of a breast. Occtis whines behind his teeth, thinking of multicoloured nails combing through his hair encouragingly.
Murray would never, never, ever begin to entertain the idea of the concept of tumbling with Occtis like this. And that's exactly what Occtis needs, forcing himself to think about freckled skin and red hair. He thinks about a body that could only belong to her, thinks of shoving her thick thighs apart to get his mouth on her cunt. Those thighs would lock him in place, her back arching as she'd exhale that's real nice, darlin’. She'd taste heady, incense and magic dripping down his throat, and he'd get his hands anywhere she'd allow him to touch.
The longer that Occtis submerges himself in the fantasy, the more appealing it gets. She'd pull on his hair, harder than necessary, and barely give him room to breathe. Over and over, he'd lick and suck at her cunt, working his tongue in dizzying patterns that would make her cry out his name.
He wouldn't stop until she let go of his hair. Until her thighs unlocked from around his neck, until she cursed, ow! what do you think you're doin'?, and shoved him away from her body.
Afterwards, she'd smile. Mockingly, of course, but disguised as sweetness. She would run her thumb across his swollen lips, making sure to press hard, as if she was rubbing her come straight into his skin. She'd take in his desperate gasps, watching him stroke himself as he was still knelt over her body.
Looks like you're finally good at somethin’ she'd say, unashamedly looking between his thighs. I'm gonna be real mad if you make a mess on me, boy.
“Fuck!” Occtis bites, hand cupped over the head of his cock to catch the mess. His thighs tense, painfully, and he tries to stay as silent as possible as his orgasm burns through him. He bites his lower lip, a pathetic whine coming from somewhere deep in his chest, and pants heavily as he sags back into the sheets.
“It's fine,” Occtis justifies to nobody as he uses the basin to clean up once he can stand again. “Just get some sleep.”
Occtis does not, in fact, get any sleep.