#setting; modern

[demondellamorte]

🫟

Send 🫟 for a random unfiltered thought from my muse

Coffee. I just need more coffee. That is what will help. Coffee is the answer. Just a few more cups of coffee, and I can make it through this shift...

[demondellamorte]

@crowderiva sent

🍆 "Something to consider before you arrive at Salle."

Lucanis had a habit of not being very vigilant at checking his phone for messages, something that both Viago and his cousin were well aware of and would give him hell for. So, he had not checked the messages on his phone until he had arrived in Salle, and he was in a taxi from the airport already on the way to the hotel he was supposed to be meeting Viago at for their next contract.

First, messages from Illario, mostly yelling at him to call when he landed safely. Lucanis replied to those with a brief message saying he was on his way to the hotel. Then, he noticed the message from Viago, image attached.

Odd. Viago didn't often send pictures...

His eyes widened a bit when he opened the picture, and he was glad there was tinted glass between the driver and himself as he straightened up in his seat, hunched over his phone. Viago, fresh out of the shower and spectacularly naked. Lucanis checked the timestamp of the photo and noticed it was sent right before his charter plane took off from Treviso. A short flight, only forty-five minutes, but he doubted that Viago would be in such a state when Lucanis arrived.

Arriving at the hotel, Lucanis felt the anticipation of just what he would find in the hotel suite after he checked in. His suitcase rolled behind him as he walked to the counter, checked in with the fake name that he had made the reservation under. They had booked seperate rooms beside each other with a door between, though Lucanis did not see them using more than one room.

Taking the elevator to his floor, he felt like it was not moving fast enough to see what wait for him behind that door separating their rooms. Perhaps he was still naked, laying on the bed, touching himself while he waited for Lucanis to walk in. Or perhaps he was waiting somewhere concealed within the room, waiting for Lucanis to arrive so that he could pounce on him and take him without a word.

Lucanis licked his lips as the elevator, mercifully, opened for him and he proceeded at a quick pace down the hall, almost not caring if the wheels of his suitcase remained on the floor. Fortunately, there was no one in the hall this late in the evening, so he took advantage of an empty hallway to jog just slightly towards their rooms.

He almost passed by his, stopping dead as he swore in Antivan under his breath and took the keycard out of his pocket, checking the envelope to make sure he was at the right room number. Fumbling to get the card out, he dropped it and swore again, bending down and grabbing it as he mumbled under his breath. He stood quickly, swiping the key and opened the door and stormed inside, dragging his bag in behind him.

He shut the door, made sure it was locked and chained, and even left his suitcase in front of it for good measure as he moved into the suite and removed his tie first, tossing it onto the bed and then his jacket. He paused with his hands on the top button of his shirt, wondering if he should strip down before walking through that door separating their rooms. Perhaps just his shirt, and his boots, and he quickly discarded both.

He stood shirtless before the door separating him from whatever state Viago lay in beyond the threshold, and a shiver ran through him. Anticipation, or the chilled air of the hotel room, he wasn't sure. But he was only going to find out what Viago had in store for him if he stepped through, so with a deep breath he went to the door and opened his side, then looked at the last gateway between him and the Fifth Talon.

He tried the doorknob.

Locked. Of course it was.

Lucanis sighed, raising a hand and ready to knock, but then he looked down at the floor, noticing a lockpick had seemingly been slipped beneath the door. A smirk settled on his lips and he raised a brow, but he bent down to pick it up and then knelt before the door to get to work.

He didn't think he had ever picked a lock faster in his life.

The satisfying click of the last tumbler falling into place never felt so good, and Lucanis stood slowly before then turning the knob and finally opening the door. He stepped inside, skin and nerves tingling with anticipation, his heart racing as he didn't know what to expect as he shut the door behind him and looked about the room for Viago.

[stixnbonez]

@quillsofmelancholy asked

"What do you mean by he laughed? " - from Dorian about a dead body on the table. (modern verse , set in morgue /mortuary)

Stix's gaze turned from the body lying on the autopsy table to the other man with a little bit of a smirk, and then he gave a light shrug before reaching down with blade in gloved hand to make the first incision.

"Well, you know how sometimes gases escape a body, and make rather unflattering noises as they do so?" Stix asked, gliding the blade down the sternum of the deceased patient with a precise and slow movement. "The gas escaping from this one... it sounded like a laugh when his body was moved from the stretcher to the table. I swear the intern who'd brought him down nearly wet himself from fright." He knew he shouldn't be laughing, but he couldn't help the little bit of a chuckle passing from his lips before shaking his head and clearing his throat.

[serpentinemask]

I don't think I've stated this anywhere yet but Ashur's outfit as the Viper doesn't change too much between verses, especially translating to like, BG3 and The Witcher. Basically, it goes like this:

Modern: Think a simple form-fitting suit with a cape, kind of like Batman, with a hat and veiled mask much like his canon appearance.

The Witcher: Leather armor, cape, and again a hat and veil mask leaving only his eyes really visible.

BG3: This might be the one that's the most different as he actually wears monk robes and a veil mask but no hat. Still has a cape.

[corvusregards]

@dicethrow asked

"It's my job to keep you alive, and you're making it damn difficult!" (Lucanis to Viago)

"You knew what you were getting into when you took the job." Viago said curtly as he sat down gingerly on the bed in his hotel suite, not caring at the moment if he dripped blood onto the black satin sheets. That's why he always requested black in his reservations, and paid extra to make sure the hotel obliged.

He held onto his side where the assailant's knife had sliced into his flesh, a deep cut but nothing too life threatening, not something that warranted a trip to the hospital when he could patch it up himself. It wouldn't be the first injury he took care of himself, it wouldn't be the last.

Though, this was the first injury his bodyguard had seen him receive.

"I'll make sure my father doubles your hazard pay. Besides, I am alive, so you are doing your job just fine." There was a pause as Viago realized he had not yet thanked Lucanis for removing the knife-wielder from consciousness long enough for them to make an escape. He even sacrificed his scarf to tie around and put pressure on Viago's wound, enough that he wouldn't bleed all over the hotel as they faked their way back up to the suite.

Just a diplomat's drunken son, his poor and unfortunate bodyguard having to help the foolish playboy back up to his room.

"Thank you, by the way. For doing your job so well."

[corvusregards]