Senecio adn Tide II

[Mirach]

"We could bring one from the sewing room," Senecio said readily.

"Alright then," Death agreed a bit hesitantly. "It's ages that I lost wore non-manifested clothes."

[VisAnastasis]

" Well, it's about time then, don't you think? You can find your own taste in clothing, starting now. Turning the new leaf. Who knows what you'll grow to like, black, yellow, maybe green? " Tide replied, while Jake stood up and greeted Senecio, agreeing to go seek for the mirror. " Let's just start slow, and see how you like this direction, okay? I think enchanted clothes are really a win for you, so it's not too big jump and there's also a plus that your manifested clothes are too recognizable to whoever has seen them before - it is a plus, isn't it, that you'll be wearing clothes you were never seen in before, right? You can be even extra surer that your identity is safe. Before anything, of course, we should decide whether it's better for you to take off your manifested clothes, or just pass through the fabric and appear clotheless. You probably don't have too much experience with either, as from my experience personifications of stuff don't tend to experiment too much with it, but both have pros and cons, depending on how you look at it... So... " he smiled a little curiously. " How do you look at it? "

[Mirach]

"I don't know. What are the pros and cons? I only see the obvious one that no bits of me will be lying around if I do the second," Death said.

[VisAnastasis]

" That's the most common one, yes, along with the inability to pass through the layers. That's why Beings usually just avoid that and don't think much of it. But that's no fun, isn't it? I experimented vastly with clothing, both in exchanging it and treating it differently. " Tide replied, sounding much more enthusiastic, clearly speaking of experiments he was passionate about. " Most curious things about manifested clothes to us is that it is basically like a second skin - so when it is handled by someone and not just worn, it can produce different effects for different creatures. For example, a lizard type Being, if borrowing his clothes to a Sun Spirit, will be nourished by his warmth and won't feel cold even if threading dark caves. Things like that, and all the weirder and better, if you find just the right combination or thing. For example... I think it is an as good time as any... that you're not the first personification I hanged out with. Besides Lord of Time, I actually treated Eros, the personification of love. " he admitted a little sheepishly. " He wasn't really corrupted, but he was dancing on the border of corruption for a long time when I first met him. He was always on the edge of a panic attack, and his anxieties were very sharp, and he used to have high fevers - he was terribly easy to overwhelm with loud noises or sharp smells. So, one of the things we actually came up with is having him wear nice human clothes, while we take his spiritual clothes and put them in a dark soundless room, soaked in a barrel of cold water that was filled with the scent of mint and strawberry. Water was keeping the fever in check without his physical body feeling chill, and the atmosphere around him would balance him out, keeping him calmer and drowsier. Every once in awhile, he would instead let me take his clothes and wash them in a hot water and steam it, as the feeling of being handled without being handled like that really calmed him. Things like those require certain trust, but whatever the Being, there's always a code to crack, and it was always fun trying to discover it... Different things work for different people, myself included. "

[Mirach]

"Interesting," Death said. "I haven't considered such possibilities... For now though, I would feel more comfortable not leaving my clothes lying around in a place that I just arrived to."

[VisAnastasis]

" Whatever is more comfortable, I agree, we should go with that. I just want you to know possibilities. We can discuss them anytime you feel like, but I do agree that before anything like that, you ought to pick room just for you. Nothing good can come before proper privacy. " he said, and after Senecio and Jake left the room and only he, Death and Xia remained, he added shyly. " So, you know how some Beings, or better said, people, tend to be shy? On a scale of one to ten, how embarrassed you are? I need to know how discreet should I be. Should I close my eyes and try to see as little as we get you dressed, or would you rather I help as actively as I can, so you don't strain much? What works best for you? "

[Mirach]

"Uhm... I don't know, actually. I've never been in a naked form before, unless it was an animal one," Death said. 

[VisAnastasis]

" Oh... That's really not the same. Animal forms rarely feel naked, if they have fur or scales or such things. I don't feel naked in animal forms for example, but I am quite embarrassed in naked humanoid forms, while Llyr, for example, doesn't feel it as a big deal. " Tide noted, adding shyly. " Hmm... Maybe we can try it out, to see if you get embarrassed with it, or if the touch is too much? Some Beings tend to be fine with it, while some are sensitive. With Llyr it was always fun, when I would make him clothes I wish to keep a surprise, I'd put a blindfold over his eyes and dress him up and lead him to a mirror, for a maximum surprise - but since we don't really know each other than well, I'd rather go with whatever is easiest for you... "

[Mirach]

"I don't want any touching," Death said. "Other than that, I feel rather neutral about it. I guess I would adjust to the company. So if you find it embarassing to be nakes, I would rather cover myself..."

[VisAnastasis]

Tide seemed a little torn about it.
" Are you... asking me to undress myself? I mean... Yeah, I am easily embarrassed, but pretty sure just being clotheless is not cheating, so I would do that for you. You would only have to help me get back to the dress later. But I don't get the non touching thing. Do you mean just general courtesy of not touching your private parts, or touching you in general? Um... How am I supposed to help you get dressed without touching?"  he indeed sounded a little confused." Only way to help and not touch you at all would be blood bending your body to dress itself without you putting energy into that, but you were scared of such things before..."

[Mirach]

"No, no and no," Death smirked a little at the conplete misunderstanding. "I certainly don't want you to get naked. Just saying that if you find nakedness embarassing, I feel like I should find it embarassing too, when I'm around you. And I would like to avoid touching, if I can. You could just hold the clothes, not me..."

[VisAnastasis]

" I just don't know what's going on in your head while we are not Semai... so I don't want to assume anything. I'd feel pretty bad if I messed up something here. " Tide reminded him shyly. " Alright... how about you just pass through the layers and return nude while I hold and hand you the clothes as you dress, and if you want me to do more, just tell me? Like, in general, just tell me instructions as you go along. That's bound to be easier for you, right? Just tell me exactly what you want me to do. " he suggested, while taking the clothes, so he could hand them over to Death one by one when needed.

[Mirach]

"Alright, that's more like what I had in mind," Death said. "You can also help me dress, if you just touch me through the clothes. Or gloves, maybe. That would work too. But skin on skin is making me uncomfortable when I think about being naked."

[VisAnastasis]

" That's a great idea! I have had the gloves somewhere in the bag we used while travelling here! Wait up! " Tide smiled suddenly and stood up and went to their travel bag. He took out the thick pair of gloves, the ones he was carrying at first when he met Death, to conceal his burns back then - now putting them on for a different purpose. He went back and sat beside him once again, looking quite pleased with remembering he still has those, and that they will prevent him from touching Spirit's bare skin with his by accident." Better? " he asked brightly. " I'm ready when you are... "

[Mirach]

"Yes, that feels better," Death said. Then he quickly passed through the layers, appearing naked. His skin was smooth and pale, almost translucent, his body neither male nor female - but not for having both parts, like Tide did. He didn't have neither and looked a bit self-conscious, not knowing what to do.

[VisAnastasis]

Tide didn't plan to stare, but he just couldn't help the terrible curiosity, and his gaze instinctively went up and down the thin frail creature. However, unlike embarrassment that was common of him, it seemed, while surprised, that he actually calmed with the fully nonsexual form before him, as it did fit Death's personality, as he grew to understand it, and despite in the opposite way than him, he seemed more comfortable, feeling kinship with creature that was neither male nor female, like him.
" Okay, then... let's get you more comfortable. The tunic is quite long, so maybe it'll be best to start with that so that you feel more covered up with it... Okay, raise your arms a little towards me..." he said softly and he carefully turned tunic to him, pushing it over Spirit's head very carefully, both not to touch his skin, and not to cause pain by straining his neck, manoeuvring around it carefully.

[Mirach]

Death obeyed him, glad for the instructions that took away worrying about what he is supposed to do.

[VisAnastasis]

Despite the previous offer of following Death's orders, seeing how confused and unsure he is, Tide gladly took on the leading role - it even seemed that he found the timid behaviour endearing. He knew much more about material clothes, using them often, so he easily and carefully put the tunic over Death's neck, and then lowered it and buttoned it up, just a little slower with the gloves, but still skilfully, his strong hands with ease passing along the frail little mother of pearl buttons.
After tunic, they went on further, demon trying to direct him to raise his legs one by one so he could help him put on his pants with the least touching possible, taking it on almost like a challenge, as it seemed he took touching matters very seriously, especially after their misunderstanding when he caught Death and tried carrying him the day they met.

[Mirach]

Death didn't do it right away, distracted by the feel of material clothes. He studied the tunic and then blinked in surprise. "It moved!" he said. "There are kittens on it, and one just moved! Is that normal with clothes?"

[VisAnastasis]

Tide stopped in the move, and suddenly snorted, delighted.
" I be damned! It really does move!" He agreed, charmed by the moving kitten." No, clothes don't do that - not normal ones. It's just a little thing Senecio asked for you. They don't move unless you look at them, you see... I think it's as good time as any to say Alpha Centauri kind of stranded up on our side of the war. Never fought, but he does sew amazing clothes. He is a tailor in the city next by..."

[Mirach]

"I've never met him personally," Deah said. "But this is cute..." He put his finger next to the kitten, as if playing with it.

[VisAnastasis]

Alpha, selective as he was in deciding for whom to enchant clothes and how seemed to really go all the way when he would find something of interest. The kitten was not sentient, of course, but it did not only have limited few moves in a loop - it reacted to the environment. She couldn't move too far from her designated place, but in a couple of centimetres around it, she had free reign, and complex set of commands made her seem almost alive. She reacted to Spirit's fingers, at times playing with it, at times, leaning against it and fluffing up, like purring.

" You know... You could change that tonight, " Tide suggested shyly, while watching the beautifully crafted kitchen with delight, thoroughly distracted. " He will come to the play, and then the ball. You can meet him if you'd like... "

[Mirach]

"I wouldn't know what to say to him..." Death murmured and let the kitten be after caressing it once more with his finger.

[VisAnastasis]

The kitten leaned into his "caress" and returned to its former position only as he looked away.
" He's chatty, so he's really easy to talk to... " Tide reassured him. " But you don't have to, of course... That is if you don't want to. So, is it just not knowing how to talk, or would you want to, if you knew what to say? " He asked him, more quietly, but with intent, more serious gaze. " I am sorry, I know we are just halfway dressing up, and it's all of a sudden and all that... but did something happen while I was gone? Or are you just nervous for tonight? Tense that you are here? You are often withdrawn in general, but you seem particularly prone to withdrawing yourself right now... What is wrong, Worth? "

[Mirach]

"I would like to finish dressing first," Death said, feeling suddenly too naked.