Categories > Games > Digital Devil Saga
Cielo had to admit that he kind of liked this New and Improved him, even if he didn't totally understand himself yet.
Ever since he'd...woken up, he'd found himself restless, full of energy, and with uncontrollable urges to say and do things that he'd never have considered a month ago. It was different from when they'd gotten their marks. Those brought strange desires too: to rend, to tear, to fly, to consume and sate the all-encompassing hunger. No, this was different still. Cielo wanted to see a sun that was all warm yellow light rather than an occasional black hole in the gray sky. To laugh and smile and make other people do the same. He wanted to live free and do things that he could only vaguely remember. He wanted to /feel/. And his body had started noticing the oddest things. Not just the hot salty-metal taste of enemies, or the rumbling in his belly, but also the wind over his skin and the rain on his wings and...other things.
Like the way that Argilla's hips flared. The swell of her breasts. The shape of Gale's calves. The breadth of Serph's shoulders. The way Heat prowled around like some kind of (/tiger/) bigger version of Mr. Kittycat. It was weird. It was distracting. And it made parts of him he'd never really thought about before perk up and take notice. Literally. It hadn't taken Cielo long to figure out what to do about that, and though the aftermath was a little gross, the feel of it was worth it.
Of course, once he'd started, he kept doing it. His body and the half-memories of things he'd never done kept giving him new and interesting (/fantasies/) ideas, and eventually those new and interesting ideas involved another person. That seemed a little excessive, though, to not only waste his own valuable sleeping time (though he did manage to sleep a hell of a lot better afterwards, almost too deeply for the Junkyard) but someone else's. And they all seemed to be changing at different paces anyway. Maybe the others' bodies weren't going haywire at all. Cielo knew that had someone suggested a little bit ago doing some of the things he found himself thinking of, he would have shied away carefully. And besides all that, he was pretty sure that this type of thing was supposed to be something you kept to yourself, though how you'd ever get to do any of the two-person things if you always kept it to yourself, Cielo hadn't quite figured out yet.
Being found out would have been (/embarrassing/) strange in some way he couldn't really place, so Cielo stole some time alone here and there when he could and learned to keep quiet in a way he never was any other time. And he thought a lot about Argilla's hips and Gale's calves and Serph's hands and Heat's arms.
He probably would have kept it all to himself if they hadn't needed the time to rest after Point 136. Fighting Bat had been harder than anyone could have predicted, and no one had walked away unscathed. Though their new base wasn't Muladhara, it was safe and defensible and almost halfway comfortable. Compared to sleeping in stray corners, that is.
So, they rested and regained their strength. Cielo found himself a room up on the top floor of the highest building, where he could hear the wind and the patter of rain, and slept until he couldn't anymore. Then he went looking for some rations, and then he started wandering around. It wasn't too late, but the place was quiet except for the guards. Everyone'd evidently had the same idea he had: sleep while the sleeping was good.
Except, of course, for obsessive strategists.
Cielo found Gale in their new war room. It was "the new war room" pretty much because Gale had set up shop in there with the few maps the Embryon had brought from Muladhara. Gale was even debriefing one of the scouts when Cielo showed up. The poor man looked wet and tired and about ready to fall asleep on his feet, but Gale patiently divested him of every scrap of possibly useful information before dismissing him. The guy stumbled past Cielo without really seeming to see him, his mind probably already on finding a nice corner to go die in for a few hours.
"No rest for de wicked, eh?"
Gale glanced up from where he was rearranging some counters on the map. "Certainly not for Varin. The Brutes are systematically sweeping through the Wolves' territory. It is only a matter of time until they turn their attention to us."
Cielo shrugged. Strategy was not his strong suit, but high spirits, some fancy footwork, and a quick headbutt fixed a lot of things, he'd found. "Hey, man, we can totally take 'em. No way we're goin' down now, right?"
"Hn. Even so, we will have to plan our next step carefully." Gale's voice trailed off, his eyes on the map again, fingers reaching out to shuffle counters through the Wolves' territory.
Cielo made some kind of vaguely affirmative noise and found himself eyeing Gale's legs. The atma mark on his calf rippled faintly as the strategist shifted his weight. Cielo wondered what it would taste like under his tongue, and that led to some other thoughts that might have involved some licking and biting and ok, yeah, time to stop the thoughts there before they went somewhere they shouldn't. Comrades were not tasty snacks, though they probably would be....
Cielo had no idea how long he was daydreaming before Gale looked up and blinked, as if surprised that Cielo was still there. "Do you need something, Cielo?"
Cielo was beginning to realize that he probably needed to go back to his eyrie for a little alone time, actually. "Uh, no? Sorry, spaced out for a second dere...."
Gale turned to look at him, and damn, suddenly having his full attention was for some reason making it worse. "...are you certain? Something seems to be...." His eyes flicked down, curiously, to where Cielo was pretty sure his shorts were completely failing to hide his body's interest. "...wrong."
Cielo shifted and shrugged, starting to head out the door. "It's no big deal, man. Relax. I got it covered."
Gale's eyes narrowed with the beginnings of his "You are hiding vital information from me, and I will pick it out of your cracked skull with my toes if I have to" look. "Explain."
Cielo sighed, pausing with his hand on the doorway. It figured. But Gale had a habit of getting tetchy when people didn't indulge his obsessive need for data. And after all, who the hell was Cielo to say that it wasn't important? They were all changing a lot, like Gale had pointed out earlier. Maybe a different kind of hunger meant something. And besides, maybe if he explained it Gale would let him escape to go fantasize about eating his calves.
So, Cielo shrugged and told him.
Gale moved closer to listen. Cielo could smell him, like a hard wind. He made Cielo's mouth water, and Cielo wasn't totally sure it was because of being hungry.
Gale looked at him skeptically when he was finished. "I do not comprehend. Are you certain it is not some strange status effect?"
"...pretty sure, yeah?" Cielo pushed away from the doorway. He meant to start backing out, end the conversation, get away from Gale's delicious-smelling self. That wasn't what happened, though. Instead he took a step closer.
Gale cocked his head, the thinky line still between his brows. "But you say that it comes and goes as one would. And you are particularly weak to them...."
"...I reeaally don't think it's a status effect, Gale. I think it's just somethin' the body does, you know? Like sneezin'!" Another step closer, and Cielo wasn't even sure what he was doing at this point. Just...getting closer to Gale seemed like a really, really good idea....
Gale's brow furrowed further. "That does not discount the possibility. Sneezing can also be caused by a status--mmmghkrr."
Belatedly, Cielo realized that maybe going after Gale mouth-first hadn't been such a good idea. Cielo thought he saw Vayu shift over Gale's eyes for a second, but in the end, Gale just tensed and stood there while Cielo (/kissed/) dove for his mouth. Cielo's instinct was to bite, but there were other instincts involved, now, and since trying to eat Gale was a Really Bad Idea that would probably get Cielo killed, Cielo listened to the other instincts instead. The instincts that told him to lick at Gale's lips and then taste his mouth when he started to open it to say something. The instincts that gave him the epiphany that pressing the hardness between his legs against Gale's hip felt /good/.
Cielo pulled himself closer, not sure what to do with his hands but draping his arms over Gale's shoulders in an effort to hold him there in a way that didn't look like he was trying to hold him there. Nuzzling so near the neck was also not a good idea, but damn, Gale smelled good. And not just in a tasty way. In a salty-good, wind-and-steel way that had something to do with fighting and something to do with eating and something to do with wanting something /else/, and when Gale's hands moved slowly to Cielo's shoulders, Cielo realized what it might be.
Gale's hands paused, as if he was trying to decide whether or not to push Cielo away. Dimly, Cielo had to admire his restraint. Most of the others would have at least snapped at him by now for getting so close to a vulnerable area. "...you are acting very strangely."
"Yeah. Sorry, man." Cielo wasn't sorry enough to stop, though. Gale, Cielo's wandering fingers were happy to report, was all whipcord and tense muscle against him. "Hey, Gale, do me a favor?"
"Hmm?"
"Touch me?"
"I am already touching you."
Cielo could almost hear the "I do not comprehend" frown in Gale's voice, and it made him want to bite. Not take a chunk out of, just bite. He didn't, just shaking his head, his voice kind of breathless. "Nah, nah, man, like, here...." And Cielo took one long-fingered hand and guided it right where he wanted it. Even through his shorts that felt good and different than when he did it to himself and good and Cielo had the suspicion that it would be even better if Gale would just...move or something....
Gale tilted his head, eyes looking up from where his fingers were tracing experimentally along the shape of Cielo's (/cock/) cock. "...why?"
"Because it'll feel good and make dis go away? I think?" It should, if Cielo's experiments with himself were any indication. And it was worth asking, right? Gale hadn't pushed him away yet, and Cielo felt like his skin was about to crawl off with wanting. Inspiration struck. "Think of it like an...nn...experiment?"
That caught Gale's attention. "...very well. Is there a technique to this?"
Cielo nodded jerkily and pulled down his shorts just enough so they didn't have to work through cloth, because really, what was the fun in that? Also, he'd learned early that this got kinda messy. He took Gale's cool hand in his sweaty one and, after a second's thought, brought it to his mouth to give the palm a good lick. It tasted like salt and paper, and Cielo resisted the temptation to suck on a finger or two.
Gale raised an eyebrow at that. "That seems very unsanitary."
"Wh...what's dat mean?" Cielo asked, half-listening.
"...I am not entirely certain."
Cielo brought Gale's hand down to where he wanted it, showed him how to hold him and move, the spit just barely enough to slick the way. Cielo leaned his head forward on Gale's shoulder, because Gale was alternating between watching Cielo's face and watching his hand on Cielo's cock, and that made Cielo kind of (/self-conscious/) distracted, so he just settled his hands on Gale's shoulders and rocked into Gale's fingers, which hadn't stayed cool for long. Gale was nothing if not a fast learner, and it made Cielo's breath rasp quick in his lungs. Even if something about how Gale was watching it all dispassionately made Cielo pretty sure he was going to hell for this. Not that he totally remembered what hell was, but he had a feeling that it was bad and that he was going there, because he was totally (/taking advantage of ) asking Gale to do this when it wasn't Gale's idea. Though Cielo wasn't exactly sure why that was bad. Just...he knew he should feel bad. Very bad. Right. Just...in a minute. When Gale wasn't experimenting with pressure and speed and /rotation like that, his wind-smelling body close and his fingers tight and hot. When lightning wasn't crawling its way up Cielo's spine and Cielo's hands weren't gripping Gale so hard that Gale was frowning at him. But Cielo couldn't think about that because he was (/coming/) there and the pleasure was white hot and flashing blindingly along every nerve and about a million times better than when Cielo did it for himself. He muffled a moan in Gale's shoulder as he shuddered in Gale's hand and it was almost...
Almost as good as flying. Almost.
"...that was supposed to happen, I assume?"
Cielo blinked open his eyes to see Gale regarding his wet hand with some suspicion. Cielo laughed, a little breathlessly, and said, "Yeah. S'not a big deal." And, since he didn't have anything to clean up with right there, Cielo nabbed Gale's hand again and licked it clean. After all, it was his fault, and it wasn't as if the stuff tasted too bad.
If Gale was disturbed by having his fingers in Cielo's mouth, he didn't show it. "Hm. And that was pleasurable?"
Cielo nodded, letting said fingers slide out of his mouth with a pop. "Yeah. You uh...still don't comprehend, huh?"
"No. Though I take your word for it. Do you feel better now?"
"Totally, man." Cielo set his shorts to rights again and stretched. He felt better than better, really. Edging into awesome, even.
"Hm. Interesting." Gale let his hand fall. "You should keep an eye on these...urges. They could be significant."
Cielo nodded and gave a little two-fingered salute. "Can do, man." He headed out the door, then paused. "Oh and uh...if you ever...comprehend the urge? You can always come and find me, yeah? Be glad to return de favor."
Gale furrowed his brow at him doubtfully. "I...will keep that in mind."
Cielo grinned as he headed up the stairs, loose-limbed with (/afterglow/) pleasure. If he was lucky, he could get another few hours of sleep before anyone needed him, and this weird Not-A-Status-Effect had him sleepy enough again to take advantage of it.
Cielo figured that being New and Improved had its perks.
Ever since he'd...woken up, he'd found himself restless, full of energy, and with uncontrollable urges to say and do things that he'd never have considered a month ago. It was different from when they'd gotten their marks. Those brought strange desires too: to rend, to tear, to fly, to consume and sate the all-encompassing hunger. No, this was different still. Cielo wanted to see a sun that was all warm yellow light rather than an occasional black hole in the gray sky. To laugh and smile and make other people do the same. He wanted to live free and do things that he could only vaguely remember. He wanted to /feel/. And his body had started noticing the oddest things. Not just the hot salty-metal taste of enemies, or the rumbling in his belly, but also the wind over his skin and the rain on his wings and...other things.
Like the way that Argilla's hips flared. The swell of her breasts. The shape of Gale's calves. The breadth of Serph's shoulders. The way Heat prowled around like some kind of (/tiger/) bigger version of Mr. Kittycat. It was weird. It was distracting. And it made parts of him he'd never really thought about before perk up and take notice. Literally. It hadn't taken Cielo long to figure out what to do about that, and though the aftermath was a little gross, the feel of it was worth it.
Of course, once he'd started, he kept doing it. His body and the half-memories of things he'd never done kept giving him new and interesting (/fantasies/) ideas, and eventually those new and interesting ideas involved another person. That seemed a little excessive, though, to not only waste his own valuable sleeping time (though he did manage to sleep a hell of a lot better afterwards, almost too deeply for the Junkyard) but someone else's. And they all seemed to be changing at different paces anyway. Maybe the others' bodies weren't going haywire at all. Cielo knew that had someone suggested a little bit ago doing some of the things he found himself thinking of, he would have shied away carefully. And besides all that, he was pretty sure that this type of thing was supposed to be something you kept to yourself, though how you'd ever get to do any of the two-person things if you always kept it to yourself, Cielo hadn't quite figured out yet.
Being found out would have been (/embarrassing/) strange in some way he couldn't really place, so Cielo stole some time alone here and there when he could and learned to keep quiet in a way he never was any other time. And he thought a lot about Argilla's hips and Gale's calves and Serph's hands and Heat's arms.
He probably would have kept it all to himself if they hadn't needed the time to rest after Point 136. Fighting Bat had been harder than anyone could have predicted, and no one had walked away unscathed. Though their new base wasn't Muladhara, it was safe and defensible and almost halfway comfortable. Compared to sleeping in stray corners, that is.
So, they rested and regained their strength. Cielo found himself a room up on the top floor of the highest building, where he could hear the wind and the patter of rain, and slept until he couldn't anymore. Then he went looking for some rations, and then he started wandering around. It wasn't too late, but the place was quiet except for the guards. Everyone'd evidently had the same idea he had: sleep while the sleeping was good.
Except, of course, for obsessive strategists.
Cielo found Gale in their new war room. It was "the new war room" pretty much because Gale had set up shop in there with the few maps the Embryon had brought from Muladhara. Gale was even debriefing one of the scouts when Cielo showed up. The poor man looked wet and tired and about ready to fall asleep on his feet, but Gale patiently divested him of every scrap of possibly useful information before dismissing him. The guy stumbled past Cielo without really seeming to see him, his mind probably already on finding a nice corner to go die in for a few hours.
"No rest for de wicked, eh?"
Gale glanced up from where he was rearranging some counters on the map. "Certainly not for Varin. The Brutes are systematically sweeping through the Wolves' territory. It is only a matter of time until they turn their attention to us."
Cielo shrugged. Strategy was not his strong suit, but high spirits, some fancy footwork, and a quick headbutt fixed a lot of things, he'd found. "Hey, man, we can totally take 'em. No way we're goin' down now, right?"
"Hn. Even so, we will have to plan our next step carefully." Gale's voice trailed off, his eyes on the map again, fingers reaching out to shuffle counters through the Wolves' territory.
Cielo made some kind of vaguely affirmative noise and found himself eyeing Gale's legs. The atma mark on his calf rippled faintly as the strategist shifted his weight. Cielo wondered what it would taste like under his tongue, and that led to some other thoughts that might have involved some licking and biting and ok, yeah, time to stop the thoughts there before they went somewhere they shouldn't. Comrades were not tasty snacks, though they probably would be....
Cielo had no idea how long he was daydreaming before Gale looked up and blinked, as if surprised that Cielo was still there. "Do you need something, Cielo?"
Cielo was beginning to realize that he probably needed to go back to his eyrie for a little alone time, actually. "Uh, no? Sorry, spaced out for a second dere...."
Gale turned to look at him, and damn, suddenly having his full attention was for some reason making it worse. "...are you certain? Something seems to be...." His eyes flicked down, curiously, to where Cielo was pretty sure his shorts were completely failing to hide his body's interest. "...wrong."
Cielo shifted and shrugged, starting to head out the door. "It's no big deal, man. Relax. I got it covered."
Gale's eyes narrowed with the beginnings of his "You are hiding vital information from me, and I will pick it out of your cracked skull with my toes if I have to" look. "Explain."
Cielo sighed, pausing with his hand on the doorway. It figured. But Gale had a habit of getting tetchy when people didn't indulge his obsessive need for data. And after all, who the hell was Cielo to say that it wasn't important? They were all changing a lot, like Gale had pointed out earlier. Maybe a different kind of hunger meant something. And besides, maybe if he explained it Gale would let him escape to go fantasize about eating his calves.
So, Cielo shrugged and told him.
Gale moved closer to listen. Cielo could smell him, like a hard wind. He made Cielo's mouth water, and Cielo wasn't totally sure it was because of being hungry.
Gale looked at him skeptically when he was finished. "I do not comprehend. Are you certain it is not some strange status effect?"
"...pretty sure, yeah?" Cielo pushed away from the doorway. He meant to start backing out, end the conversation, get away from Gale's delicious-smelling self. That wasn't what happened, though. Instead he took a step closer.
Gale cocked his head, the thinky line still between his brows. "But you say that it comes and goes as one would. And you are particularly weak to them...."
"...I reeaally don't think it's a status effect, Gale. I think it's just somethin' the body does, you know? Like sneezin'!" Another step closer, and Cielo wasn't even sure what he was doing at this point. Just...getting closer to Gale seemed like a really, really good idea....
Gale's brow furrowed further. "That does not discount the possibility. Sneezing can also be caused by a status--mmmghkrr."
Belatedly, Cielo realized that maybe going after Gale mouth-first hadn't been such a good idea. Cielo thought he saw Vayu shift over Gale's eyes for a second, but in the end, Gale just tensed and stood there while Cielo (/kissed/) dove for his mouth. Cielo's instinct was to bite, but there were other instincts involved, now, and since trying to eat Gale was a Really Bad Idea that would probably get Cielo killed, Cielo listened to the other instincts instead. The instincts that told him to lick at Gale's lips and then taste his mouth when he started to open it to say something. The instincts that gave him the epiphany that pressing the hardness between his legs against Gale's hip felt /good/.
Cielo pulled himself closer, not sure what to do with his hands but draping his arms over Gale's shoulders in an effort to hold him there in a way that didn't look like he was trying to hold him there. Nuzzling so near the neck was also not a good idea, but damn, Gale smelled good. And not just in a tasty way. In a salty-good, wind-and-steel way that had something to do with fighting and something to do with eating and something to do with wanting something /else/, and when Gale's hands moved slowly to Cielo's shoulders, Cielo realized what it might be.
Gale's hands paused, as if he was trying to decide whether or not to push Cielo away. Dimly, Cielo had to admire his restraint. Most of the others would have at least snapped at him by now for getting so close to a vulnerable area. "...you are acting very strangely."
"Yeah. Sorry, man." Cielo wasn't sorry enough to stop, though. Gale, Cielo's wandering fingers were happy to report, was all whipcord and tense muscle against him. "Hey, Gale, do me a favor?"
"Hmm?"
"Touch me?"
"I am already touching you."
Cielo could almost hear the "I do not comprehend" frown in Gale's voice, and it made him want to bite. Not take a chunk out of, just bite. He didn't, just shaking his head, his voice kind of breathless. "Nah, nah, man, like, here...." And Cielo took one long-fingered hand and guided it right where he wanted it. Even through his shorts that felt good and different than when he did it to himself and good and Cielo had the suspicion that it would be even better if Gale would just...move or something....
Gale tilted his head, eyes looking up from where his fingers were tracing experimentally along the shape of Cielo's (/cock/) cock. "...why?"
"Because it'll feel good and make dis go away? I think?" It should, if Cielo's experiments with himself were any indication. And it was worth asking, right? Gale hadn't pushed him away yet, and Cielo felt like his skin was about to crawl off with wanting. Inspiration struck. "Think of it like an...nn...experiment?"
That caught Gale's attention. "...very well. Is there a technique to this?"
Cielo nodded jerkily and pulled down his shorts just enough so they didn't have to work through cloth, because really, what was the fun in that? Also, he'd learned early that this got kinda messy. He took Gale's cool hand in his sweaty one and, after a second's thought, brought it to his mouth to give the palm a good lick. It tasted like salt and paper, and Cielo resisted the temptation to suck on a finger or two.
Gale raised an eyebrow at that. "That seems very unsanitary."
"Wh...what's dat mean?" Cielo asked, half-listening.
"...I am not entirely certain."
Cielo brought Gale's hand down to where he wanted it, showed him how to hold him and move, the spit just barely enough to slick the way. Cielo leaned his head forward on Gale's shoulder, because Gale was alternating between watching Cielo's face and watching his hand on Cielo's cock, and that made Cielo kind of (/self-conscious/) distracted, so he just settled his hands on Gale's shoulders and rocked into Gale's fingers, which hadn't stayed cool for long. Gale was nothing if not a fast learner, and it made Cielo's breath rasp quick in his lungs. Even if something about how Gale was watching it all dispassionately made Cielo pretty sure he was going to hell for this. Not that he totally remembered what hell was, but he had a feeling that it was bad and that he was going there, because he was totally (/taking advantage of ) asking Gale to do this when it wasn't Gale's idea. Though Cielo wasn't exactly sure why that was bad. Just...he knew he should feel bad. Very bad. Right. Just...in a minute. When Gale wasn't experimenting with pressure and speed and /rotation like that, his wind-smelling body close and his fingers tight and hot. When lightning wasn't crawling its way up Cielo's spine and Cielo's hands weren't gripping Gale so hard that Gale was frowning at him. But Cielo couldn't think about that because he was (/coming/) there and the pleasure was white hot and flashing blindingly along every nerve and about a million times better than when Cielo did it for himself. He muffled a moan in Gale's shoulder as he shuddered in Gale's hand and it was almost...
Almost as good as flying. Almost.
"...that was supposed to happen, I assume?"
Cielo blinked open his eyes to see Gale regarding his wet hand with some suspicion. Cielo laughed, a little breathlessly, and said, "Yeah. S'not a big deal." And, since he didn't have anything to clean up with right there, Cielo nabbed Gale's hand again and licked it clean. After all, it was his fault, and it wasn't as if the stuff tasted too bad.
If Gale was disturbed by having his fingers in Cielo's mouth, he didn't show it. "Hm. And that was pleasurable?"
Cielo nodded, letting said fingers slide out of his mouth with a pop. "Yeah. You uh...still don't comprehend, huh?"
"No. Though I take your word for it. Do you feel better now?"
"Totally, man." Cielo set his shorts to rights again and stretched. He felt better than better, really. Edging into awesome, even.
"Hm. Interesting." Gale let his hand fall. "You should keep an eye on these...urges. They could be significant."
Cielo nodded and gave a little two-fingered salute. "Can do, man." He headed out the door, then paused. "Oh and uh...if you ever...comprehend the urge? You can always come and find me, yeah? Be glad to return de favor."
Gale furrowed his brow at him doubtfully. "I...will keep that in mind."
Cielo grinned as he headed up the stairs, loose-limbed with (/afterglow/) pleasure. If he was lucky, he could get another few hours of sleep before anyone needed him, and this weird Not-A-Status-Effect had him sleepy enough again to take advantage of it.
Cielo figured that being New and Improved had its perks.
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