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[brushoff]

"You've reached the inbox of one Dorian Gray. Don't forget to leave me a message. If you're interesting, I'll get back to you."

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Comments

[riseunparalleled]

I've often had to wash my clothes in the river, or carry the water to fill the wash barrel... A sink is much better.

[brushoff]

I'd like to point out that we don't have rivers or wash barrels here.

[riseunparalleled]

I had a wash barrel in my cabin. It serves for baths, too. [There's a certain amount of teasing under the gentle innocence.]

[brushoff]

Xie Lian, my bathtub is so deep that I could drown a man in it.

[riseunparalleled]

That sounds like it could be dangerous... [He's been moving a little down the corridor, towards the semi-formed common room. This isn't a conversation he wants to have right in front of the dorm doors.]

At least I don't have to ask how you can make sure it's warm.

[brushoff]

Oh it's amazing, [ Dorian laughs, as he follows Xie Lian down the hallway. ] Get the water nice and hot, add in some bath salts, and just have a nice, relaxing, hour long soak? There are few things better in the world.

[riseunparalleled]

A long bath can be nice, but settling into a nice barrel of water can really provide most of the same benefits...

[The common room night not have the amenities that had been present in them before their little jaunt, but at least provides a certain degree of privacy.

Which, unfortunately, means trying to get around to his question. But he's willing to face discomfort for this. He rubs his neck.]

In your experience of relationships... have you ever run into something one person wants and the other can't do. Ah, not in... an emotional sense.

[brushoff]

[ Relationship questions. Well, he's not surprised. ]

Like what, something physical? If someone has a terrible gag reflex or something like that?

[ But as he says that, he thinks 'wait, does Xie Lian even know how to suck dick to begin with?'—which, as far as Dorian's concerned, is an honest question. ]

[riseunparalleled]

[He only has one source! And Dorian has proved both a good and a helpful friend.]

Yes, something, ah, more physical. Though I don't think a gag reflex would be involved...

[There's a lot he doesn't know about kissing, but he thinks he has some understanding of the process.]

I'm so sorry

[brushoff]

So what? Do you...I don't know, have a tight asshole or something like that? There are lubes for that and you don't have to actually take it up the butt.

[ What the hell could the problem be? Because the only other thing Dorian can think of at the moment is kissing and surely it's not kissing....right? ]

it's perfect

[riseunparalleled]

[Xie Lian does his best to adhere strictly to his path, but neither unobservant or separate from the world so while he firmly doesn't understand the specifics of Dorian's words, he does understand the shape of them.

Though he makes a strong effort not to think about it.]

Nothing like that. [He coughs.] Perhaps 'physical' is the wrong way to put it. A difference in - interests? [Not quite right, either, but perhaps closer.]

[brushoff]

[ That makes more sense. Crozier likes biting, Xie Lian doesn't. Or something like that. ]

Well as long as you make your preferences known, there shouldn't be a problem. Say what you're not into, listen to what Crozier's not into, have a conversation about the thing. Granted, sometimes you might have to do something you're not into, especially if the other person's really into it, but that's why you talk about it.

[riseunparalleled]

[He sighs, resting his head on his hand.]

We had a conversation, of sorts. [He can admit that Crozier had had to kind of carry both sides, which he feels bad about, but he'd had no idea how to respond.] It was about, ah, a preference that I can't meet. I don't think Francis was anything but honest that it's not something he holds against me or anything like that. But, for that same reason, it's hard to bring up the question of what he wants...

[brushoff]

Pardon me for being nosy, [ says the man perfectly happy to be nosy in the first place, ] but what is that preference?

[riseunparalleled]

[He did come to Dorian for help.] It's about kissing.

[brushoff]

... do you just not know how it's done? You know kissing is usually the first step in these sort of things.

[riseunparalleled]

That would be more straightforward... [Not going to touch on the question of whether he knows how.] It's - not something I can do.

[brushoff]

[ A pause as Dorian thinks things over. ]

So you have hangups over kissing. I know from experience that Crozier doesn't, so did you tell him this before or after he kissed you?

[riseunparalleled]

Nothing like that. [That's how people die. That is, they do sometimes manage communication.] When things, ah, started, we talked about... certain physical limits. But when we spoke, recently, he mentioned it.

It remains what it is. So asking him about it seems... [He waves his hand, unable to quite articulate that it feels like it would be unfair to Crozier.]

[brushoff]

[ Dorian feels a little bit like he's missing a step. He frowns, thinking, before asking, ]

So you mean actual limits, not things that you feel uncomfortable with. Right? Like, when Toby and I were together, I had to run all the daytime errands, those sorts of limits.

[ another pause before, ]

What even are they if kissing is off the table?

[riseunparalleled]

Things I can't do. [He's pretty sure that's what Dorian means by 'actual limits', but to be very clear.]

Holding hands is nice, as is embracing... [That basically covers it.]

[brushoff]

Well what would even happen if you kissed someone? Would it- [ goddammit, there is no way that this man would know Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dorian feels a slight sense of familiarity with Doug Eiffel as he realizes this ] -would it physically or mentally hurt them?

[riseunparalleled]

Not, hmm, inherently in the kiss. [In his response is a different matter.]

[brushoff]

[ Dorian makes an aggravated little sigh before pointing out, ]

Xie Lian, I adore your company, but sometimes getting a straight answer out of you is like pulling teeth.

If there is something you can't do, be upfront about it. Be blunt, don't dance around it. Tell Crozier outright that...I don't know, that your dick doesn't work or that you'll explode the man you love if you kiss him or whatever this is. Because if you aren't upfront about this things, he'll blame himself.

[riseunparalleled]

I did! [Not offended, mostly because he doesn't really get offended and he's also aware that it's not an unfair assumption, but it was one of the few things he's - almost - certain that he actually managed to lay out from the beginning. To try to make sure Crozier understood what he couldn't give him.]

But it's something he wants. I don't want to hurt him, so I don't want to suggest I don't believe him about the, ah, absence being fine. But I know sometimes he can have unreasonable self-blame fall on his shoulders. [...Thanks to Crozier having mentioned that in other situations.] And talking more about what he might want isn't something I'm sure I could do... well.