Oh, the giganticus lupicus. The great giants. They went extinct like ten thousand years 'fore the gods left. People who know 'bout this stuff say it was 'round the time of the last dragonrise--I mean before this recent dragonrise we just had.
[Yes, quite a considerable amount to unpack indeed. But a gloss on his meaning for now:]
It's like saying...he wants a unicorn. I think that's what the earth folks say anyway. [Which may or may not be helpful to Zoro.] He's searching for a unicorn without his "deceit gene" and so far we're all bog standard centaurs who have it.
Anyway, booze is one thing you don't gotta worry 'bout. We do pretty good for food too. [And here he's just going to casually steer them a little more towards the purpose of their call.] Good for a relaxing evening routine--or whatever suits you.
[He did notice that light sheen of sweat on Zoro's arms when the feed flicked on. That means he hadn't been sitting idle. He'll hazard a guess about that.] You train morning and evening? You've managed it even in there?
[Giant wolves, mythical horses, or whatever else — it sounds like a campfire story, which, yeah, he now realizes was Vrenille's point. But Zoro isn't one to lose sleep over fairytales. If the big guy is frustrated about his pet project, that sounds like his own problem.
As for the more practical matters...]
Whatever you've got. [A hint of sardonicism briefly crosses his face.] Probably beats jail rations.
[Sleep, booze, food, and training — those were the necessities. Confinement isn't going to stop him from staying in shape.]
Mornings and evenings, yeah. [There's a steely glint in his eye.] Always found ways to stay sharp, even in here. Fancy equipment's just a bonus.
[There's a certain bittersweetness these days when Vrenille thinks about food for the group--it's always been wrapped up in memories of home and guild for him, ever since he got here. But there are nearer memories now too, and food is also, for him, part of an older and hard-learned calculous of survival. It doesn't surprise him, then, when it's the echo of Carver's voice that answers in his mind:
No one starves here.
The only surprise is how it hits him, so close and deep that just for a moment he closes his eyes and, fleetingly, for the span of a breath, welcomes the ghost in.]
Yeah.
[He looks at Zoro again.] I reckon we can beat jail rations.
Probably actually got some of that fancy equipment too. Or we will do.
Tell me your routine? I mean the ideal version--no cell door, no restrictions, any kinda space you'd like. What would that look like for you? [Not that he knows if he can accommodate it, not that he's promising, but it's something that matters. If he has the capacity, he'll try.]
[Zoro silently observes the flicker of melancholy that crosses his face.
He chooses not to pry, letting the moment pass, and absorbs Vrenille's words instead. As he considers the question, he sits a fraction straighter on the cot, his dark eyes drifting towards the blank wall as he meticulously visualizes his ideal routine in his mind's eye.
Eventually, he begins in a low voice:]
Wake up before sunrise. Find a quiet spot with some space. Do some stretches, focusing on breath and form. Then, it's a mix — basic drills, weapon practice, footwork exercises. Gotta keep the body sharp, all of it. Push myself till the sweat runs.
Noon's for lunch and a nap. Back at it in the afternoon, maybe some sparring if there's a good challenge around, or I'll use a kit to clean my blades if they need it. Otherwise, I either do weight training, or focus on control and precision this time.
Ends with dinner, and then some meditation to clear the head and get ready for some more shut-eye.
[This is the most he's spoken at once in a while, likely more than he would've shared with anyone else. He recognizes Vrenille's question as a bridge, an attempt to build a connection.
With the hint of a shrug, he adds:]
Ideal's a luxury, not a necessity. The unexpected is just another training ground. I can adapt. A gym's nice, but space and the will are all I need.
Space is no problem--grounds are plenty big and there's the woods beyond. And once we've got the house sorted, most of this down here'll be converted back to a gym again. We made a plunge pool where a crater formed too.
And Kim's the only one here who doesn't meditate--he's a library guy. Hakkyuu usually starts his day with it. I'm flexible. [Maybe because it's been part of his life for comparatively less time.
Either way, they can pretty well tick a lot of Zoro's boxes straight off.]
You're getting in on the ground floor of how we set up a lotta the smaller bits, and I'm open to suggestions. This is gonna be your home too--for as long as you're happy in it.
[And he wants Zoro to be happy. However they've gotten to this point, from the moment they set the intention to contract, it became his concern to try and see that Zoro is as happy as the city will allow. If there are little tweaks or edits he can make in the arrangement of spaces that they'll all use, he's more than willing to do that.
This is also, however, an intensely dedicated training schedule that Zoro describes, and that illuminates other things. Opens up other questions. It's the first time Vrenille starts to properly understand Zoro's bounty hunting as a means to an end, what that really means in his life, and the more granular detail of his dedication that's veiled in the background behind it. Supporting him means supporting that, which, all right, that Vrenille can do.
Though also, counterpoint, which he says with just a touch of a sardonic smile:] Biggest challenge may be finding a reason why you'd wanna go out at all.
[Plenty of space sounds ideal. Less chance of interruptions, everyone can find their groove. He gives a slow nod, a flicker of something akin to approval crossing his features.]
That a cold plunge? I like those.
[At the mention of "home", Zoro pauses and experimentally weighs the word in his mind. Nothing about this concrete jungle had ever felt like home. But Zoro already decided when he first arrived, that he'd need to leave space within himself to embrace the unexpected, even if it was a sliver. Vrenille's spontaneous camaraderie, this offer, solidifies that choice.]
[There's a spark of challenge in his eyes as he raises his chin to meet Vrenille's.]
... Depends. Does that gym come stocked with a full bar?
[Oh, it's on now. Bring it, Zoro. He meets the first challenge and raises him.] Temperature controlled and everything.
[Zoro can have his cold pluge at exactly the temperature he wants it. Even in mid-summer.
As for the bar, he snorts.]
No. What am I, a heathen? [Beat.] The bar comes stocked with a full bar. [Two of them, in fact. Indoor and outdoor. But he'll leave a bit of mystery for Zoro to discover on his own.]
[It may be a subtle smile, but it's there, which he'll take as a win. There's a special kind of pleasure in making taciturn men smile a little, and Vrenille's always had a knack for it.
It also gives him an opening to broach another topic that he's kept waiting in the wings.]
In all seriousness, I'd actually like you to get a job. Can be anything you want--I'm sure I can help set you up with something if you're short on ideas.
As contract partner, I can authorise you to spend money whenever and wherever you like. But that doesn't do much good unless you've got money of your own to spend. I don't wanna be holding your purse strings. That's your business.
[Having lived off the grid for months, Zoro already has an answer in mind. He wastes no time in delivering it.]
Arena already gives me everything I need. But if someone with cash appreciates a clean takedown and the bottom of my boot, let me know. If it helps meet quota, even better.
[No shame in the work, not when it means a full plate, a cold beer, and most importantly, his freedom.]
All right. [Vrenille inclines his head once in approval, muting his smile just a bit to disguise how well he's anticipating Zoro and Hakkyuu are going to get along once they get to know each other--no sense in jinxing it.
Anyway, at the moment he's got other questions, mostly pertaining to Zoro's approach to quota thus far and how he seems to envision it going in the future.
Excepting one of the Stephens (rather a unique case), Zoro is the first person Vrenille's even considered contracting with who he hasn't had sex with beforehand. That's not a deal breaker for him, but it is different. He's used to having at least some gauge of his sexual compatibility with the men in his household, and while it's true that he's flexible enough to find sexual compatibility with almost anyone if he puts his mind to it, he would still prefer to get his bearings a little.]
You said something like that earlier too--'bout people who wanna be stepped on, or watched, and meeting quota that way. You said those things don't get you off. [He wouldn't judge him if they did, but right now, he's taking the statement at face value.
He cocks his head, attentive and considering.] What does get you off, Zoro?
[Vrenille's question lingers in the air for a long moment. Zoro doesn't rush to fill the silence. The answer lives deep within him, an instinct as primal as breathing. It's the surge of power, the dance of focus and exertion as he pushes his body to its peak. It's the complete control over every muscle, every fiber, culminating in a release so intense it makes him feel truly alive. But translating that raw experience into words feels like trying to cage lightning. Action has always been his language, not explanation. And this, he determines, will be no different.
"I already told you, I jerk off before bed sometimes," prickles on Zoro's tongue, sharp with frustration that has nothing to do with Vrenille. He stifles the retort, taking a moment to close his eyes. Finally, he answers with a question of his own:]
[It wouldn't have shocked him if Zoro hadn't answered, if he'd balked, if he'd snapped something back at him, and maybe not even out of stubbornness.
Vrenille, as it turns out, has a lot of experience in this area--not just sex, but listening. Listening to what men want about sex, even when they maybe can't say it, don't know it, have never quite figured it out. That's experience he gained long before he came to Duplicity. It's experience he literally survived by for years.
Zoro has never struck him as a man who doesn't know himself, though sometimes it happens that men know themselves well in every area except the sexual. Vrenille has known plenty of guys who've left erotic desire as the one dark continent in their lives, something cast out, cast low, a sort of adversary. So he's really ready for anything as far as an answer goes, and in the one he gets, he listens not just to the words but to the shape of things behind them where it's more a matter of feeling his way than reasoning it.
With a soft sound of assent, he nods once.]
When you start out, haven't done it much before, it comes on quick. It's a limit. You have to come back. Do it again. And again. Patient. And then the distance grows. And one day your lungs burn, but you don't gotta stop--it's like it's...with you, not against, and then it's like you can fly.
[That's in his own experience, the coordinate he can relate the question to. But tacitly, it's also a question in return, and he's watching Zoro closely to see what he does with it, whether the words resonate, coming close to something for him, or land wide of the mark.]
[A curt nod from Zoro, a beat of silence following. Not quite hesitation, but a man navigating unfamiliar terrain – the landscape of expressing his inner world.]
Pushing my limits. Empties the noise. [A beat.] ...Helps me sleep.
[It's a utilitarian approach, perhaps harsher than most. His self-reliance borders on the austere. Integrating a partner wouldn't exactly be seamless. But for Zoro, it's served him well so far.]
[Is that all it's for? Vrenille wonders. Pure utility?
As austere as it is, emptying the noise means that there is noise, noise which otherwise might irk, might disrupt. So it's a formula for keeping a disturbance at bay, maintaining the sort of strict self-discipline that certainly appears to rule Zoro's life through and through. Sex, or at least his body's need for release, takes shape as something that he's found a way to put into its place in the ordered regimen of life.
It's all rather divorced from desire like that, granted. But it's not Vrenille's place to question or challenge that--certainly not now or like this. You can't go around disrespecting people like that, believing they ought to live a different way, as if you know what's "good" for them, as though you could live their lives better than they are doing themselves. That's pure hubris.
And frankly, Vrenille being here at all, in context that's a pretty big step--he's being given a chance to meet Zoro on his own terms, understand his outlook. When someone offers you that, you honour it. So what he asks next, though his voice shifts a degree more sultry, the tone for secrets and words of collusion, is all about being with Zoro where he is, accepting a welcome and extending an invitation in return, accompanying, proposing maybe, but not disrupting.]
Do you edge yourself? Bring yourself right to the point where you couldn't stop yourself cumming and then back off 'fore you do. Wait till it ebbs, and then bring yourself that close again. See how many times you'll hold out for?
[Vrenille's sultry voice paints a clear scenario, but Zoro doesn't fully lean into it, opting to remain cautiously anchored for now. Still, there's a subtle shift in his posture. Curiosity, maybe. At the very least, it's not a dismissal.
Even if this seems to be an invitation, Zoro hasn't dismissed the possibility that it's also a test. So he studies Vrenille with the watchful focus of a tiger encountering a new element in its territory.]
[Vrenille's not going to pretend for a minute that he doesn't appreciate that sound Zoro makes, subtle though it might be. And he doesn't mind letting that be known either, because here's the thing: with anything sexual, as soon as a second person is involved, an element of risk is introduced.
It's a craps shoot, ultimately, especially on a first encounter. One can maximise their odds in any number of ways, but no matter who's topping or bottoming or domming or subbing, it's always impossible to be sure in advance whether your partner will satisfy or disappoint (or frustrate, or embarrass, or hurt you). And some guys don't like that. Everyone has their own appetite for risk with sex just like anything.
So that watchful look Zoro is giving him? Vrenille's not phased; he's not even particularly surprised. What he is is very well practiced at handling sexual risk. And what experience has taught him is that there's a lot of value in taking the step to make himself vulnerable first.
He does it now simply by letting his teeth tug the edge of his lower lip, letting the expression in his eyes shift a degree closer to want, and handing Zoro the power to turn him down, shut him down, rebuff the advance.]
You ever do it with someone? Matching each other. Leading each other. Finding a rhythm, and telling 'em when to wait, when to go?
["With someone?" Those words stir up the memory of a night in some backwater bar, long before he'd developed a tolerance for booze. A marine man, objectively handsome in his clean-cut way, had sidled up beside him. The next few hours were a blur of clinking glasses, swirling smoke, and the warm press of another body. Eventually, Zoro woke up with a splitting headache and the chill of rented sheets. He can't remember much else...probably because it was something he could've easily done alone.
(And anything worth remembering wouldn't have ended with the marine, whoever he was, disappearing without a word.)
In hindsight, it was pretty stupid. But it was a learning experience, too. That kind of intimacy simply didn't serve him. As his reputation as "the demon" grew, so did Zoro's vigilance. Rebuffing advances became second nature — a curt word or a stare cold enough to extinguish anyone's interest.
A flicker of that reflex ignites in his gut at Vrenille's suggestive look. But this time, a hitch in his breath, Zoro holds it, observing his own reaction. In that sliver of self-awareness, he realizes something: The stakes with Vrenille are laughably low.
So, Zoro exhales slowly, nostrils flaring.]
Not really. But with someone worth the effort, maybe the steps wouldn't be so damn tedious.
[Leaning closer, a challenge glints in his eyes as he adds in a rough voice:]
[Oh, there he is. There's that competitive spark, the linking up of how Zoro is in the world with how he is--or could be, could explore being--sexually. It's that degree to which finding a spark, an object, something to pique one's interest is always, in a sense, re-finding it in a new manifestation, a new form.
That's something Vrenille knows how to work with. That's something he likes to work with.
His own memories from long before he ever set foot in Duplicity already involved enough encounters with enough men to blur one into the next--there were some he saw again and again who stood out, figures in bas-relief against the background homogeneity of quick blowjobs behind the Ebon Vanguard barracks and hired rooms above the tavern more memorable for the soft bed and hot bath he could leverage than the company he kept.
The faces of those men may blur, and mostly he never knew their names only the colour of their coin, but that doesn't mean there was no care or intimacy between them, albeit in a nonstandard sort of way. It doesn't mean he didn't learn from them--the sum total of them, each taken one by one.
He learned how to listen, how to hear (and say) "no," but also the more complicated and subtle versions of "yes," the guarded versions of it, the ways that "yes" gets couched as a challenge, or a dare, how it wants sometimes to flirt with danger, rivalry, opposition. And importantly, he learned to tell the difference between the kind of risk that plays and the kind of risk that genuinely threatens. He wouldn't be alive or whole now if he hadn't.
So he's neither lying nor exaggerating when he cocks his head at Zoro, a rakish grin and his voice breathy, low.]
Years of practice and experience.
[He shifts to lean on his side, settling in and getting comfortable, with just a slight note of disbelief and playful counter-challenge coming into his tone.]
Nah. Just bores the hell outta me with someone who makes it a chore.
[Zoro flashes his teeth in a way that could be generously called a grin, his dark eyes hardening like polished obsidian. The gap in experience would intimidate some people, but he remains unfazed.]
[It's not exactly the highest bar to reach, though it does leave quite a lot of room for damning with faint praise later. Vrenille's not worried about taking his chances though. Zoro's warning just wins a snort of laughter.]
Ugh, good, don't. Sir's for nobles and Pact captains. I ain't fancy. [There are particular occasions and scenes in which Vrenille has accepted being called 'sir.' He doesn't prefer it though. Mostly it's just a concession he makes to those who enjoy the word when it happens. But that's not the most salient point.]
Will you follow my lead though, touch when 'n how I tell you to touch? [That's his only ask for this, that Zoro let him guide them, that he cede enough control for that, just for now.]
[That's when Zoro absorbs Vrenille's question, its weight settling in his gut. Does it lodge like an unwelcome splinter, or click into place like a missing puzzle piece? He takes a measured beat before answering with an audacious request of his own:]
... Only if we make this interesting. Blindfold yourself. You call the shots, but you won't see anything unless I say so.
[It certainly is audacious and it throws Vrenille for so much of a momentary loop that there's a huff of a laugh of disbelief--at the request, at the fact he didn't see it coming, at the way it turns everything he thought would happen right on its ear.]
What, seriously? [That's rhetorical though, because even though he's shaking his head, he's also already moving to get up from his bed and find a blindfold.]
Well all right, if you're shy. [He favours Zoro with a teasing, daring look before he disappears from the screen for a moment, and the view of the camera shifts, his hand momentarily in view adjusting the angle and propping the phone in place to show a wider angle of the room: a salvaged chest of drawers that he rummages through from the bottom drawer up, a few items picked up and then discarded before he finds what he's after.
Zoro asked for a blindfold and Vrenille dangles the one he has from a forefinger for approval. He definitely won't be peeking.]
[He is, deep down. But that's not the game he's playing. Zoro simply isn't in the business of making things easy for LIERs who hold the reins. Thankfully, Vrenille's swift presentation of the blindfold elicits a slow nod of acceptance. This challenge goes both ways, though, so he clarifies:]
Curiosity's fine, and you can always ask to take it off. But the view is on my terms. [A subtle tilt of his head.] ...I wanna see how good you can be. Sound fair?
[To be fair, if Vrenille believed that Zoro really was, primarily, shy, he wouldn't tease him about it. But whatever degree of gentleness genuine shyness brings out in him, that's not at the forefront here.
Here they're playing, testing each other, seeing how the other will rise to a challenge and how he'll navigate it. There's strategy, and in that they're on much more even ground than the disparities of experience might imply. So Zoro gets a very cheeky grin as Vrenille returns.]
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[Yes, quite a considerable amount to unpack indeed. But a gloss on his meaning for now:]
It's like saying...he wants a unicorn. I think that's what the earth folks say anyway. [Which may or may not be helpful to Zoro.] He's searching for a unicorn without his "deceit gene" and so far we're all bog standard centaurs who have it.
Anyway, booze is one thing you don't gotta worry 'bout. We do pretty good for food too. [And here he's just going to casually steer them a little more towards the purpose of their call.] Good for a relaxing evening routine--or whatever suits you.
[He did notice that light sheen of sweat on Zoro's arms when the feed flicked on. That means he hadn't been sitting idle. He'll hazard a guess about that.] You train morning and evening? You've managed it even in there?
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As for the more practical matters...]
Whatever you've got. [A hint of sardonicism briefly crosses his face.] Probably beats jail rations.
[Sleep, booze, food, and training — those were the necessities. Confinement isn't going to stop him from staying in shape.]
Mornings and evenings, yeah. [There's a steely glint in his eye.] Always found ways to stay sharp, even in here. Fancy equipment's just a bonus.
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No one starves here.
The only surprise is how it hits him, so close and deep that just for a moment he closes his eyes and, fleetingly, for the span of a breath, welcomes the ghost in.]
Yeah.
[He looks at Zoro again.] I reckon we can beat jail rations.
Probably actually got some of that fancy equipment too. Or we will do.
Tell me your routine? I mean the ideal version--no cell door, no restrictions, any kinda space you'd like. What would that look like for you? [Not that he knows if he can accommodate it, not that he's promising, but it's something that matters. If he has the capacity, he'll try.]
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He chooses not to pry, letting the moment pass, and absorbs Vrenille's words instead. As he considers the question, he sits a fraction straighter on the cot, his dark eyes drifting towards the blank wall as he meticulously visualizes his ideal routine in his mind's eye.
Eventually, he begins in a low voice:]
Wake up before sunrise. Find a quiet spot with some space. Do some stretches, focusing on breath and form. Then, it's a mix — basic drills, weapon practice, footwork exercises. Gotta keep the body sharp, all of it. Push myself till the sweat runs.
Noon's for lunch and a nap. Back at it in the afternoon, maybe some sparring if there's a good challenge around, or I'll use a kit to clean my blades if they need it. Otherwise, I either do weight training, or focus on control and precision this time.
Ends with dinner, and then some meditation to clear the head and get ready for some more shut-eye.
[This is the most he's spoken at once in a while, likely more than he would've shared with anyone else. He recognizes Vrenille's question as a bridge, an attempt to build a connection.
With the hint of a shrug, he adds:]
Ideal's a luxury, not a necessity. The unexpected is just another training ground. I can adapt. A gym's nice, but space and the will are all I need.
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And Kim's the only one here who doesn't meditate--he's a library guy. Hakkyuu usually starts his day with it. I'm flexible. [Maybe because it's been part of his life for comparatively less time.
Either way, they can pretty well tick a lot of Zoro's boxes straight off.]
You're getting in on the ground floor of how we set up a lotta the smaller bits, and I'm open to suggestions. This is gonna be your home too--for as long as you're happy in it.
[And he wants Zoro to be happy. However they've gotten to this point, from the moment they set the intention to contract, it became his concern to try and see that Zoro is as happy as the city will allow. If there are little tweaks or edits he can make in the arrangement of spaces that they'll all use, he's more than willing to do that.
This is also, however, an intensely dedicated training schedule that Zoro describes, and that illuminates other things. Opens up other questions. It's the first time Vrenille starts to properly understand Zoro's bounty hunting as a means to an end, what that really means in his life, and the more granular detail of his dedication that's veiled in the background behind it. Supporting him means supporting that, which, all right, that Vrenille can do.
Though also, counterpoint, which he says with just a touch of a sardonic smile:] Biggest challenge may be finding a reason why you'd wanna go out at all.
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That a cold plunge? I like those.
[At the mention of "home", Zoro pauses and experimentally weighs the word in his mind. Nothing about this concrete jungle had ever felt like home. But Zoro already decided when he first arrived, that he'd need to leave space within himself to embrace the unexpected, even if it was a sliver. Vrenille's spontaneous camaraderie, this offer, solidifies that choice.]
[There's a spark of challenge in his eyes as he raises his chin to meet Vrenille's.]
... Depends. Does that gym come stocked with a full bar?
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[Zoro can have his cold pluge at exactly the temperature he wants it. Even in mid-summer.
As for the bar, he snorts.]
No. What am I, a heathen? [Beat.] The bar comes stocked with a full bar. [Two of them, in fact. Indoor and outdoor. But he'll leave a bit of mystery for Zoro to discover on his own.]
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Now you're making me wonder if you even want me to leave the house.
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It also gives him an opening to broach another topic that he's kept waiting in the wings.]
In all seriousness, I'd actually like you to get a job. Can be anything you want--I'm sure I can help set you up with something if you're short on ideas.
As contract partner, I can authorise you to spend money whenever and wherever you like. But that doesn't do much good unless you've got money of your own to spend. I don't wanna be holding your purse strings. That's your business.
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Arena already gives me everything I need. But if someone with cash appreciates a clean takedown and the bottom of my boot, let me know. If it helps meet quota, even better.
[No shame in the work, not when it means a full plate, a cold beer, and most importantly, his freedom.]
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Anyway, at the moment he's got other questions, mostly pertaining to Zoro's approach to quota thus far and how he seems to envision it going in the future.
Excepting one of the Stephens (rather a unique case), Zoro is the first person Vrenille's even considered contracting with who he hasn't had sex with beforehand. That's not a deal breaker for him, but it is different. He's used to having at least some gauge of his sexual compatibility with the men in his household, and while it's true that he's flexible enough to find sexual compatibility with almost anyone if he puts his mind to it, he would still prefer to get his bearings a little.]
You said something like that earlier too--'bout people who wanna be stepped on, or watched, and meeting quota that way. You said those things don't get you off. [He wouldn't judge him if they did, but right now, he's taking the statement at face value.
He cocks his head, attentive and considering.] What does get you off, Zoro?
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"I already told you, I jerk off before bed sometimes," prickles on Zoro's tongue, sharp with frustration that has nothing to do with Vrenille. He stifles the retort, taking a moment to close his eyes. Finally, he answers with a question of his own:]
...You ever try running until your lungs burn?
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Vrenille, as it turns out, has a lot of experience in this area--not just sex, but listening. Listening to what men want about sex, even when they maybe can't say it, don't know it, have never quite figured it out. That's experience he gained long before he came to Duplicity. It's experience he literally survived by for years.
Zoro has never struck him as a man who doesn't know himself, though sometimes it happens that men know themselves well in every area except the sexual. Vrenille has known plenty of guys who've left erotic desire as the one dark continent in their lives, something cast out, cast low, a sort of adversary. So he's really ready for anything as far as an answer goes, and in the one he gets, he listens not just to the words but to the shape of things behind them where it's more a matter of feeling his way than reasoning it.
With a soft sound of assent, he nods once.]
When you start out, haven't done it much before, it comes on quick. It's a limit. You have to come back. Do it again. And again. Patient. And then the distance grows. And one day your lungs burn, but you don't gotta stop--it's like it's...with you, not against, and then it's like you can fly.
[That's in his own experience, the coordinate he can relate the question to. But tacitly, it's also a question in return, and he's watching Zoro closely to see what he does with it, whether the words resonate, coming close to something for him, or land wide of the mark.]
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Pushing my limits. Empties the noise. [A beat.] ...Helps me sleep.
[It's a utilitarian approach, perhaps harsher than most. His self-reliance borders on the austere. Integrating a partner wouldn't exactly be seamless. But for Zoro, it's served him well so far.]
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As austere as it is, emptying the noise means that there is noise, noise which otherwise might irk, might disrupt. So it's a formula for keeping a disturbance at bay, maintaining the sort of strict self-discipline that certainly appears to rule Zoro's life through and through. Sex, or at least his body's need for release, takes shape as something that he's found a way to put into its place in the ordered regimen of life.
It's all rather divorced from desire like that, granted. But it's not Vrenille's place to question or challenge that--certainly not now or like this. You can't go around disrespecting people like that, believing they ought to live a different way, as if you know what's "good" for them, as though you could live their lives better than they are doing themselves. That's pure hubris.
And frankly, Vrenille being here at all, in context that's a pretty big step--he's being given a chance to meet Zoro on his own terms, understand his outlook. When someone offers you that, you honour it. So what he asks next, though his voice shifts a degree more sultry, the tone for secrets and words of collusion, is all about being with Zoro where he is, accepting a welcome and extending an invitation in return, accompanying, proposing maybe, but not disrupting.]
Do you edge yourself? Bring yourself right to the point where you couldn't stop yourself cumming and then back off 'fore you do. Wait till it ebbs, and then bring yourself that close again. See how many times you'll hold out for?
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...Yeah. Sometimes.
[Vrenille's sultry voice paints a clear scenario, but Zoro doesn't fully lean into it, opting to remain cautiously anchored for now. Still, there's a subtle shift in his posture. Curiosity, maybe. At the very least, it's not a dismissal.
Even if this seems to be an invitation, Zoro hasn't dismissed the possibility that it's also a test. So he studies Vrenille with the watchful focus of a tiger encountering a new element in its territory.]
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It's a craps shoot, ultimately, especially on a first encounter. One can maximise their odds in any number of ways, but no matter who's topping or bottoming or domming or subbing, it's always impossible to be sure in advance whether your partner will satisfy or disappoint (or frustrate, or embarrass, or hurt you). And some guys don't like that. Everyone has their own appetite for risk with sex just like anything.
So that watchful look Zoro is giving him? Vrenille's not phased; he's not even particularly surprised. What he is is very well practiced at handling sexual risk. And what experience has taught him is that there's a lot of value in taking the step to make himself vulnerable first.
He does it now simply by letting his teeth tug the edge of his lower lip, letting the expression in his eyes shift a degree closer to want, and handing Zoro the power to turn him down, shut him down, rebuff the advance.]
You ever do it with someone? Matching each other. Leading each other. Finding a rhythm, and telling 'em when to wait, when to go?
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(And anything worth remembering wouldn't have ended with the marine, whoever he was, disappearing without a word.)
In hindsight, it was pretty stupid. But it was a learning experience, too. That kind of intimacy simply didn't serve him. As his reputation as "the demon" grew, so did Zoro's vigilance. Rebuffing advances became second nature — a curt word or a stare cold enough to extinguish anyone's interest.
A flicker of that reflex ignites in his gut at Vrenille's suggestive look. But this time, a hitch in his breath, Zoro holds it, observing his own reaction. In that sliver of self-awareness, he realizes something: The stakes with Vrenille are laughably low.
So, Zoro exhales slowly, nostrils flaring.]
Not really. But with someone worth the effort, maybe the steps wouldn't be so damn tedious.
[Leaning closer, a challenge glints in his eyes as he adds in a rough voice:]
What makes you think you can handle me, Vrenille?
cw: implied sex work
That's something Vrenille knows how to work with. That's something he likes to work with.
His own memories from long before he ever set foot in Duplicity already involved enough encounters with enough men to blur one into the next--there were some he saw again and again who stood out, figures in bas-relief against the background homogeneity of quick blowjobs behind the Ebon Vanguard barracks and hired rooms above the tavern more memorable for the soft bed and hot bath he could leverage than the company he kept.
The faces of those men may blur, and mostly he never knew their names only the colour of their coin, but that doesn't mean there was no care or intimacy between them, albeit in a nonstandard sort of way. It doesn't mean he didn't learn from them--the sum total of them, each taken one by one.
He learned how to listen, how to hear (and say) "no," but also the more complicated and subtle versions of "yes," the guarded versions of it, the ways that "yes" gets couched as a challenge, or a dare, how it wants sometimes to flirt with danger, rivalry, opposition. And importantly, he learned to tell the difference between the kind of risk that plays and the kind of risk that genuinely threatens. He wouldn't be alive or whole now if he hadn't.
So he's neither lying nor exaggerating when he cocks his head at Zoro, a rakish grin and his voice breathy, low.]
Years of practice and experience.
[He shifts to lean on his side, settling in and getting comfortable, with just a slight note of disbelief and playful counter-challenge coming into his tone.]
And sorry, did you just call jerking off tedious?
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[Zoro flashes his teeth in a way that could be generously called a grin, his dark eyes hardening like polished obsidian. The gap in experience would intimidate some people, but he remains unfazed.]
By the way, I'm not calling you 'sir' either.
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[It's not exactly the highest bar to reach, though it does leave quite a lot of room for damning with faint praise later. Vrenille's not worried about taking his chances though. Zoro's warning just wins a snort of laughter.]
Ugh, good, don't. Sir's for nobles and Pact captains. I ain't fancy. [There are particular occasions and scenes in which Vrenille has accepted being called 'sir.' He doesn't prefer it though. Mostly it's just a concession he makes to those who enjoy the word when it happens. But that's not the most salient point.]
Will you follow my lead though, touch when 'n how I tell you to touch? [That's his only ask for this, that Zoro let him guide them, that he cede enough control for that, just for now.]
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[That's when Zoro absorbs Vrenille's question, its weight settling in his gut. Does it lodge like an unwelcome splinter, or click into place like a missing puzzle piece? He takes a measured beat before answering with an audacious request of his own:]
... Only if we make this interesting. Blindfold yourself. You call the shots, but you won't see anything unless I say so.
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What, seriously? [That's rhetorical though, because even though he's shaking his head, he's also already moving to get up from his bed and find a blindfold.]
Well all right, if you're shy. [He favours Zoro with a teasing, daring look before he disappears from the screen for a moment, and the view of the camera shifts, his hand momentarily in view adjusting the angle and propping the phone in place to show a wider angle of the room: a salvaged chest of drawers that he rummages through from the bottom drawer up, a few items picked up and then discarded before he finds what he's after.
Zoro asked for a blindfold and Vrenille dangles the one he has from a forefinger for approval. He definitely won't be peeking.]
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Not shy.
[He is, deep down. But that's not the game he's playing. Zoro simply isn't in the business of making things easy for LIERs who hold the reins. Thankfully, Vrenille's swift presentation of the blindfold elicits a slow nod of acceptance. This challenge goes both ways, though, so he clarifies:]
Curiosity's fine, and you can always ask to take it off. But the view is on my terms. [A subtle tilt of his head.] ...I wanna see how good you can be. Sound fair?
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Here they're playing, testing each other, seeing how the other will rise to a challenge and how he'll navigate it. There's strategy, and in that they're on much more even ground than the disparities of experience might imply. So Zoro gets a very cheeky grin as Vrenille returns.]
You want me to call you 'sir'?
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