The dwarf wasn't one to let a good opportunity pass him by, taking full advantage of the generous offerings allotted by guilds he had no interest in. Karstaag is a fighter, toiling away for every scrap he can to earn his place in the world and his body reflects this truth. He strips out of his heavy armor, thickset muscles marred with countless scars - trophies to remember every adventure. He wore them with pride, without inhibition as he set foot into this hazy oasis, scouring the horizon for prospective companionship, but alas, it appeared empty. A rugged, growly murmur as a hand traces along his beard with broad strokes.

"Aye, a bit disappointin'. Migh's well e'joy tha quiet." An ear flickers with his first stomp into the water and the sea departs from his wide-set frame wading through the water. Being exposed to the elements gave him no pause, indifferent to the unintended exhibition should anyone step through the entrance behind him and he made no effort to square himself away in some isolated corner. The water was refreshingly warm, a pool of lava compared to the harsh cold of his homeland and it only served as a reminder of why he left. "Ahhhh~ idn't this jus' lovely~" A growl in euphoric delight as the water soaks into his skin, a revitalizing inhalation to savor sweet vapors. His arms spread, laid bare like logs along the rocky outcrop, and his eyelids settling down like the night sky. It's good to be pampered every now and again.

[262]

Momiji received the open invite as all guilds and fellows of Fiore did, be they big or small or mean or nice, ₛᵥᵥₑₑₜ, ˢᵒᶠᵗ. He had never heard of these """legal""" guilds hosting the hot springs event - 'Blue Pegasus' and 'Fairy Tale', which he'd say are cutesy in just the right amounts without being names you could take seriously - but he wasn't the only of his Guardia Compagnia with the intent to travel for it and he was never one to be left out. He wouldn't say he needed the little excuse, but he was still a foreigner on Fiorian soil and even the sounds remained an adjustment. There was no fear, only curiosity. No reservation, only the anticipation of excitement.

Still, speech came uneasy. He'd play with the words as they came in rustic Fiorian, his Joyan accent still thick to start and muddying his words for more complex conversations. He preferred a more direct approach when given the opportunity and had found a measure of speech that he adapted to, now finding opportunities to have that work for him. What was cuter than a clueless little foreigner? He'd track this into the steam and starlit chambers of the hot springs resort of Hosenka, playing along one lacquered wall with a pistol in one hand and nothing over the rest of him. He spun it by the trigger guard, swaying unsteadily to an unheard beat.

His steps were little pitters and unintrusive patters, playing between his bare feet on waterlogged floors that had him hopping along every loss of footing and tempering a dangerous game with its slippery production. A laugh would build behind full, red lips, only to stopper with the softest 'ooo' as he caught a diminutive shape through the fog and leaned in to hunt through it. His eyes widened, headlights of jade within the curtain of mist.

Momo could play stealth, too ~

[ 330 ]

Karstaag was one to do enough rollicking on his own to make up for his lack of guildmates, but as he began to partake in the splendor allotted to him by these guilds with silly names, a curious thought began to invade his mind. Perhaps the guild life wasn't as oppressive and authoritarian as he believes. If the ale was also overflowing past the tiny confines of his tankard, splashing about with merriment, then maybe it was a facet of interest he could pursue. He'd probably never join the likes of Blue Pegasus or Fairy Tail - far too much oversight there but perhaps something a little sketchier. A place to call home that had no qualms with how Karstaag conducted himself, never wringing their hands in discontent. He didn't care much about being confined to a strict morality, or silly regulations like laws, nor did he care for cruelty if it could be avoided.

To call Karstaag hungover was a bit of a misnomer, the dwarf always in a state of being somewhat plastered to varying degrees - the festivities doing well to keep his spirits high, despite his currently sobering self. He wanted to enjoy the hot spring to the fullest, really soak in the ecstasy of a heavenly peaceful reprieve. Karstaag had no idea that a predator was prowling within the dense fog, peering through the veil with rapacious eyes. He'd welcome the hunt, a good sport as long as his efforts give rise to bountiful plunder.

He splays out, sinking into the depths just enough for his head to stay above water, tapping his bulky fingers at bedrock with a rumbling, deep exhalation. Karstaag was swept up in the moment, with open air and the moisture saturating his hardy skin that reminded him of his time at sea, sailing the world with nary a care in the world. A hearty chuckle escapes the fuzzy man's lips, ears stirring with the briefest of movements as an almost longing smirk colors his expression. "Yo-ho~" A single slip of jolly sea shanty that echoes throughout the hot spring that continues on in equally joyous humming.

[363]

What a strange, jolly little creature. Was this the Fiorian Santa Claus Momiji had heard such odd tellings about? Was it some kind of beast creature, a demi-human, or perhaps a type of Fae like himself? It could even be a true Fairy! He wondered if its Sidhe was up for grabs ... Did he simply need to earn its favor? Or must he take its horns for himself? His eyes went alight, two green-bright stars blazing through this sheet of mist and steam to burn hotter than its licks could manage on the man's skin. Molten. Something told him this new being didn't mind the heat, and something told his body that meant he could inch ever closer in his hunt.

This spring was a gallery and he its curator, slinking between the folds of warmth until he came out the other side twirling his pistol 'round and 'round a finger only to - halt. Notch. Fire into the water afore the cheery being, hoping to earn another hum of its song. A magic bullet that would sizzle and splash with a muted bang, rippling out in a quick explosion of water and raining back upon both figures. Momiji stood - not quite tall, but at the least looming from his half-bent position over the pool - one half obscured by loops of fog and the other indescript to the eye. He was grinning, his eyes sparking shut after one good look at the critter's reaction, and his voice came broken through his learned Fiorian. "Bang bang."

Found you! First shot: warning. He gestured like his prey had won a prize and he was simply here to deliver it. "Alo! Momo is here!" Only to then incline his head for one little question from bright, toothy hunger.

"What are ʸ ᵒ ᵘ?"

[ 310 ]

A bang, subdued but surprising nonetheless. Karstaag's jolly shanty boils over into a booming explosion, an automatic detonation of a startled shout with widening eyes. He stands abruptly, burly frame tensed with his chest puffed out and arms flexing to make his presence as intimidating as possible. His head dips a bit lower, tilted head with pointed horns upturned as his eyes glow hot like lava. A gunner in the rain of his own making, the pitter patter of a waltz so delicate yet demanding to be seen within the eclipsing haze. The downpour did little to help, eyes focusing in on the subtlety of his frame and rising up to meet opulent green, glistening like emeralds

The prospective assassin presented himself like a reward - a resplendent treasure beckoning the dwarf to cherish the mere blessing of him. The tension almost immediately evaporates upon hearing him speak. Almost beguiling in how darling every word splashes with dulcet tones despite the clumsy accent. "Mmm. 'Ello, Momo~" His shoulders descend and his clenched fists melt away to sink back beneath the depths. "I'm a dwarf. Ain'tcha ever saw'r a dwarf bef're?" Dwarves were not common in the area and Karstaag was an anomaly even among their ranks, so he did not begrudge the boy for his confusion.

"Yer a bold one though, ain'tcha, doll!? Firin' off yer little gun to get me attention~" This wasn't the first time he's been caught in a compromising position with a gun pointed at him, and it surely wouldn't be the last. He bellows out a jolly laugh, a hand raising to stroke his thick, bristly beard, lightly drenched from the sudden shower and gestures with beckoning hands for the little sniper to come hither - to sit beside the lounging dwarf. "Come, come~ Le's get ta know each'ther more intimately, aye, Momo?" A wry smile, upturned with a hankering for plundered treasure.

[316]

His hands would clasp together - his response obvious, unfiltered, as he claps with his pistol's trigger guard hanging from two fingers, dangled dangerously on each light smack accompanied by his cheery guffaws. Momiiji hops up and down, splashing a pooling of water from his feet and off the dew that had collected in the recent rain. The chance is tempted for him to slip on the tile and go tumbling off, but his card does not come up just yet. Not in the face of this easy joy, a victory won by the scaring of the strange critter he found himself faced with. "Momo got you!" He giggles, only perking higher within his guise of mist and those startling green eyes as the prey stands. Wobbles, then faces him.

Momiji slows, his clap ending with an expert twirl of his firearm off one hand to the other followed by a lackadaisical limpness of the wrist that holds it now. It points lazily down the side of the spring, threatening nothing but the steam that spills from its spent barrel. He looks - stares - deep back into those molten eyes, gems burying themselves in lava as if they could settle there and reappear later in history. He was going to slumber within this man. That was 'leaving your mark.'

"Alo!" He repeats, in a return of the greeting. "A ᵈ ʷ ᵒ ʳ ᶠ?" This draws a puzzle from the slender Fae, pursing his lips together with a trail of his eyes to the side; up, away; down left, up again; returning to the dwarf's face only to beam, bursting with a brighter grin. "Mmm.. Nope! You're weird, ₛₜᵣₐₙ₉ₑ, ⁿᵉʷ!"

This 'dworf' appeared to relax quickly in his presence, only furthering Momiji's show of teeth until the conversation continued and he was left kicking his foot back and forth to scatter the nearby water for his stimulation. He never seemed to stop moving. It was like he couldn't do anything less than jitter, a vibration within the space he occupied. "Da! Momo is a hunter! Awh, awhh, but -- it isn't fun, when the prey does not know it is being hunted. Hai? Now Momo won fair and square." His tone lifted, pleased, and he'd turn his cheeky grin up with a roll of his shoulders before kicking off the ground on his heel -- slipping, finally, but using the sudden and abrupt imbalance to launch himself into the water with the other. Splash! Momo, the bullet!

He cackles when his head resurfaces after more than a few seconds, scattering pellets of the spring rapidly with a hand joining him shortly after: the gun pointed at the ceiling. Pow! It signals like a flare, bursting before it hits a solid surface and dispersing sparks of green to alight their room almost as intense as his gaze. Momiji watches him. Oh, he watches him. "In - ti - mate - ly? Mmm ... Oooooh ...,"

He thinks, popping his lips with a playing gasp and widening eyes. "A dworf is a pervert?"

An eye raised, arched higher than the other, in a suspended moment of wonder at how rambunctious the boy was. A chaotic maelstrom sweeping the waves to swirl around his pull. A freedom in the throes of conquering everything around him. Karstaag was downright smitten, a perverse fascination kindling his core that he could barely contain. They were kindred spirits simply doing as they pleased, but even the dwarf understood when to hold his cards close to his chest. The jaded cynicism of a wanderer surviving by whatever means possible. "Aye, Ya got me~!" His hands emerge from the waters, open palms and a playful grin creasing his face.

A vivacious laugh erupts and the smile distorts into depravity. Little Momo was right on all accounts, a willing hostage to his whims for now, but how easily the hunter becomes the prey. Something so tantalizing, yet so nimble, pulsing with an overabundance of fluttery shifts and stirs, as if he would simply wither and wane should he ever stop moving. His flighty movements gave the dwarf more than enough to feast upon through the thinly veiled fog and the boy shimmered with every humid dewdrop that graced his skin. His balance finally slips, giving way to the laws of motion, a hummingbird crashing down after its wings flitter too quickly, swept up in a tempest of its own creation.

Another splash of spring rain drizzling down on the pair accompanies a haphazard bullet fired into the ceiling. Karstaag staggers out of instinct to the impact, arm raised to shield his molten eyes from dimming under the refreshing droplets before focusing their heat on the boy peeking out from  the rippling depths with magnetic emerald posing a question that sounds almost lyrical from his foreign accent. "Who taught you such'a dir'y word, doll?" A deflection without a denial to be found. His hands reach beneath the sea, plucking dainty hands like precious treasure to pull them in closer and closer still, until their chests smeared with misty dewdrop kisses. The gun gripped so tightly in the boy's hands did little to dissuade the dwarf, only adding an extra thrill in the added danger.

"If'm so strange.. and new... I don' mind givin' ya a hands on experience. Instead of lookin' a' me wit' such hungry eyes. Up close..." A snap forward to collide their bodies together tight, bristly thick beard tickling pristine skin and a paw wanders, trailing down ever so slowly to wrap around slender waist. Karstaag craves him, desire to envelop him in rough hide and wooly fur overtaking all other sense. "And personal~" A huff, a grunt and then a hearty roar of laughter. A comfort in tepidity and close proximity, incandescent garnet perusing his spoils with a flare of his ears. "There ya go, dove~ Don't be shy... 'm all yers~"

[480]

A concession. Momiji liked the hunt and all, but prey that made itself willing tended to be much more fun: it meant they could be hunted again another day, after all. That is, if they didn't fall apart from the first capture. He giggles. Something about this creature, though ... this 'dworf' ... he didn't get the impression it'd bend to a breaking point against his predilections. It was stout, hearty. A stone in the face of the tempest Tachibana no Momiji. Ah, but even rocks could be weathered, couldn't they? How much would it take? How many scrapes until its exterior peeled over that seemingly boundless warmth in the face of danger?

He'd be sprightly in the rainbow mist left from the coalescent of his magic bullets and the scattered rain, doing little else than framing him starker against the spring's backdrop. He stood out in its heat. Something so alarmingly ... unbothered. Undeterred. Cold, it could almost be, but he radiated with heat. He vibrated to combustion. A fire that fanned far too hot. It erred the steam away from him, evaporating on contact with the grandiose display of his limbs and the constant little chuffs and titters that leave from his lips on a swaying head. Every word echoed a different direction. "You give in to Momo? Easy ~ You were too easy, dworf ~" This didn't sound like a mark against him, laughing unburdened.

His head snaps at the question and the hands that guide his, finding their space cut short and shorter until Momiji was leveraged against the other. Blinks, opening his mouth wide with the search of his eyes to the side - thinking back. "Oooh ... Momo flew - ⁿ ᵒ ! Momo sailed from home. To new home!" His mouth slits into a wide, toothy grin, abrupt. Finds that bright green on the man again. "You are like them. The sailors on Momo's ship, but, not? You're ₙₒₜ like them. You're funny. You're n e w."

The contact has his gun pressed to Kar's cheek, needling it in and through that thick, devouring beard. He traces it, unblinking, watching him with ever-wide eyes and evergreen delight. It glitches between untouchable apathy and desire. He nudges the barrel in, only to flick it to the side and drop his gun in the pool unceremoniously. "O ~ tay! You're Momo's."

✰ ✰ ✰

He’d be floating nearby his new friend - pet? - some time later, treading the water with his fingers stirring out ripples. His expression flushed, still brimming with energy: or a type of pleasedness he took with himself, giggling in odd spurts every few quiet moments. "Mm … Momo thinks you’re very funny, beastie. You said … Kar - stag? They name you?” He played with the name on his lips, the first coherent word to pass them unslurred or pitched. "Staggy. That works better for Momo. It's cute." He'd beam back at him, lifting his feet from the water with a delighted splash.

[ 516 ]

Karstaag was not a complex man at his core, the closeness shared a whim born of desire to claim hidden treasure submerged just beneath the still tide. To bask in the spoils of conquest and taste it on his lips. "Ooooh, doll. None o'the sailors y'ave met hold a candle ta me~ Tha's why we're gonna 'ave so much fun~!" The gun barrel rooted against his face did nothing to deter the dwarf from his passion. "Mhm... I'm all yers... Momo~" He nudges in with coarse lips to grace such divine skin, a rebellion against the weapon gripped so tight with a volatile trigger finger ready to squeeze - Pop! Bang! Kars could tell by the look in the boy's eyes that his life was hanging by a thread on a whimsical pendulum, swinging back and forth, a hair's edge from meeting his demise. It thrilled him. The freedom of it all. A crooked grin and rattle of a wicked little laugh ripples against his face as the firearm splashes into the hazy loch.

✰ ✰ ✰

A sigh - vapor emitted from heated breath and a visage aglow with burning elation. He was seated now, settled down in the position he found himself in prior to little Momo's explosive entrance. His molten eyes never lingered far from his treasure, his giggle's a sweet dessert to feast upon in the calm after.  A tilt of his neck with a crack and flurry of ear wiggles as his chest heaves under the bludgeoning pressure of his thrumming heart. Kars was craving a mug of ale, but the thought quickly fades. It'd be a shame to forget his taste so quickly.

"Aye, Karstaag is me name, doll." Being called a little beastie swelled him with a strange sense of pride that inspires a growly chuckle. "Mmm. Ha! A beastie, huh? Aye, it dudn't sound too bad comin' off yer lips, doll~ Grrr." Karstaag was nothing if not a good sport; so long as he got what he wanted. He straightens up, back arched away from the stony outcrop to raise his rugged paws, fingers curled to mimic claws that embrace the drifting gale known as Momo with playful and lecherous tickles all the same.

"Staggy!?" His eyes furrow and his expression downturns, intensely deadpan with a shade of contemplation. "Staggy.. Staggy, Staggy.." His lips curve horizontal, clicking his tongue with every repetition of the newly bestowed nickname. He was teasing with feigned dejection before bellowing out a howl of laughter, leaning in close. "It sounds jus' as cute comin' fro' yer lips, litt'le Momo" It made no difference to the dwarf what the boy called him in such intimacy, but it wasn't a lie. A hand raises to caress his cheek, rough fingers trailing down like the moisture that clung so desperately to his skin - lower, lower, until they reach his lips, a gentle goading nudge to part them under his authority.

"Ya said earlier tha' you sailed here fer a new 'ome? Aye, I did somethin' similar. Joined a pirate crew and everythin'" He leans over, holding him close with such domineering hands, claiming just as much ownership of the boy. He was content to revel in the afterglow, pliable to any authority the fairy was exude in such a vulnerable state.  "Tell old Staggy about yerself, doll. I wanna listen to ya talk."

[564]

Momo laughed carefree as the 'Karstaag' played along with his little fancies, clapping his hands in a similar abandon and the unsteady cadence of a creature with no control of its urges. He rolls in a half-graceful twirl that slams his legs back underwater until they touch the bottom of the pool, fanning his arms with them to hoist them in the air and have himself planted with hooked hands and a mock scowl on his own face. "Grrr!" He returns, cackling. "That's you! That's you!" He even mimes stroking down his porcelain chin, as if he could mirror the dwarf's great beard and his coarse movements. "Momo can be a beastie too. But ᵢₛₙ'ₜ! Momo likes them, though."

He takes a step forward and the way the water ripples off his hips surges as if it were shying away ... scared of his approach, burning off his flushed skin in loops of steam that can't wait to escape from his gravity. They fail, looping around his head and hushed by his breath that breaks each stream apart. His atmosphere was intoxicating. It came in the peal of his voice, the flicker from thought to thought inside his eyes, and the fluid action he melted from place to place unnaturally - too fast. All this sudden motion made him something analog. Something ... not quite right, with the green of his eyes solar light and therefore bodies within bodies of their own, intense. Glowing. "Momo likes you." He hums, and his unnervedness was won over by his cute little speech and the adorable bound of his body back closer to Karstaag; and his appearance had already been enjoyed, hadn't it?

He finds something on the spring floor. He toys with it under his foot, nudging, like an exotic fish and its baubles. His toe clicks around something with give and ... ♡✰♡ Staggy says he likes his new, better name with praise for Momo!! ♡✰♡ The boy giggles wildly, slipping off the pistol with a pleased hoot and an affectionate scrunch of his face with both arms balled beneath his chin. Its aim and prep in that moment towards Karstaag had been forgotten, Momiji prancing around the water with eclectic waves. "Yay! Staggy! Yay!~"

So he found himself again in the man's embrace during his elation, beaming with such innocence and joy, a hand petting down one big horn and the other ruffling Karstaag's cheek. "A pirate? A pirate? Wow! Momo didn't like the sea. Liked the songs. Fun, fun songs. You'll sing another? You were earlier. For Momo!"

His tongue lolled to drag over one of those large, rough fingers, finishing the odd lick with a powerful pop of cherry red lips. Another twinkle in harlequin green. "And Momo will tell you allllll ~ about what Momo likes. Can even show you, mhm! ♡"

[ 508 | 2176 ]

A delicate hand grazes the jagged ridges of his horn elicits a rare purr, foreign sounds escaping his lips as he finds himself pliable under such dainty fingers. "Mmm. Ya wanna hear yer Staggy sing a song, hmm?" Karstaag leans into the hand caressing his cheek with jittery hands that flow with brief, sporadic whims. He understood that the boy he was infatuated with was a terror cloaked in an adorable and vibrant masquerade and it only served to drag the dwarf into his pull. He was too fun to ignore - too fun to not spoil rotten, if he wasn't already completely. "♪♪ A-rovin', a-rovin'~ Since rovin's been my ruin~ I'll go no more a-roving wit' ye, fair love~ ♪♪" He belts out a boisterous laugh, ears flicking with each heave of his chest. "A lit'le somethin' like tha'~? Aye, Brings back mem'ries." His eyes gaze into lavish jade, lingering a moment before sinking lower still to admire precious treasure, perfect in every way - a magnum opus.

He steps closer into his warmth and embrace, a hand following a stray droplet to elope beneath the water, finding refuge in the space between. A satisfied hum within the pop and the afterglow rages hot again. "Yer jus' too damn adorable, doll~  Staggy's taken quite a likin' to ya..." A hand sweeps from under the princeling, lifting him to settle against the smaller man's weight, enveloped in tautened muscle and the tickle of his beard.

A tongue bristles against Momo's stainless neck, heated breath that mirrors the tepidness of the steamy vapors. Another blesses his skin before the dwarf nuzzles up, with molten eyes erupting in fiery passion and a lecherous smile curving his lips. "Mhm, love~ Show me everythin' ~ I want to know everythin' about ye" A hand raises, crowning the fullness of his smooth cheeks to seize another taste.

"In - ti - mate- ly ♡~"

[330 | 2315]