TIMESTAMP: Earth's Rest 10, Ash 122
NOTES: -
NOTES: -
► Show Spoiler
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In the days that followed his acquisition of Semblance, Æros certainly felt drained ætherically. That did not stop him from using the newly acquired magic, however. He was always an edgewalker as a person, always toeing the line regardless of what consequence may lay on the other side. In that respect, he really ought to be more careful a man, but it was markedly hard to learn to care at this point in time. To care at all, really, about himself.
And this was still hard to do. Easier, now, than before…but when you're starting from nothing, new habits are tricky to establish. Blessedly, he did have actual social support at this point. While that circle of people was small, anything at all was novel to the Færie and he appreciated each one of them dearly. On days where he found it difficult to care for himself, he could fall back on the fact that he was no longer alone for motivation.
His internal conflict was mostly due to his struggle to regulate and accept his own emotions. When one is met with emotions that are natural but foreign, one often finds oneself…at a constant internal back and forth, so to speak. Æros had no issues feeling, no, rather, a life spent avoiding them just makes strong emotions exceptionally uncomfortable. This is especially so when he is confronted by them in any substantive capacity. It also makes it patently difficult to regulate such things, to see through them in the moment, to think things through and make the right decisions. Looking back at Ash’s first month, the elven Færie found himself rather…unhappy with a great many choices he had made and unsure about others.
It had been the most bizarre series of days if one were to compare it to the blur of months that had been the majority of the past two years, half awake, half alive as he had lived them. Those two years almost felt like a dream to him, memory distorted as it was. A blur of images, of sensations, of muted emotions and experiences. And in that regard, he had been living his life as if it were a waking dream, but as if it would end with his death rather than waking up.
And none of that mindset had changed whatsoever just because the days on the calendar tripped from Searing to Ash. However, it would appear that fate had other ideas for the young man; ideas, of course, that he did not see coming nor did he have the tools to deal with. It really did make him wonder if fate was preordained or if the threads that had pulled him along were manipulated by forces far more chaotic. Either of those options aside, to what degree did his own will affect his fate as well? But for as much as he did wonder, answers to any of these questions were not actually possible to discern with any modicum of certainty.
In retrospect, perhaps the odd weather and the smog in the air from the very beginning of the season were intended to serve as some sort of portent about what was to come. Mysterious, chaotic, foreboding as such things were, he hadn’t the slightest idea what to make of that event at the time. He still didn’t, really. At the very least, that strange event had twisted his path that day and led him to a location he’d never been– an herbalist’s shop in the Luxium, Sweet Remedies, wherein he’d made a friend.
Though the two had not known each other for any particularly long stretch of time at this point, they’d grown rather closer over shared interests in botany and magic alongside similarly stifling childhoods. Over the course of getting to know one another, he’d learned that she bore no runes for pretty much the very same reason that he’d forced himself to master the first one he’d been granted as fast as he could. Oddly enough, he and the wayward, wild Vastiana were more similar to one another than he ever really would have guessed from the first day he’d met her.
And then in the days after he’d met her, the starborn had found himself at one of his usual haunts performing as he usually did. It was an evening in the Umbrium’s Sanctine district just the same as any other, but then again, nobody wakes up on any given day knowing that their life will shift directions drastically by the time it ends. Æros didn't even realize he'd altered his fate until he woke up the next day. Each choice he'd made was quite normal for him, from his work to taking the first pretty boy he talked to that night home with him.
That boy, however, left a mark on him. What began as yet more mindless self indulgence for the Fæ did not end as such; no, the young man he'd spent that night with had caught his interest in more ways than one. For one thing, the sex itself was as remarkable as it was unique. Both he and the other were masters of their respective crafts– Æros, Mesmer and Khyan, Semblance– and neither were shy about using their æther to brighten the vibrancy of what pleasures they shared. The two of them were quite the synergistic pair, and it was quite clear that the night had just as strong an impact on his new partner as it had the Færie himself.
Over the course of the next several days, they had found one another again, exploring the symbiotic depths of their magic and carnal desires. But of course, it was not only the physical that kept Æros' typically fleeting interests. Historically, it was unusual for him to repeatedly see the same lover as he genuinely wanted to avoid either party becoming attached given his circumstances. Yet despite that, he kept seeing this new paramour. It was abundantly clear the other boy was becoming really rather obsessed with him and that he found himself, each time, drawn closer and closer.
A cheeky, impish little thing, Khyan's sweet, almost puerile, and yet still charming mannerisms blended well with his boyish good looks. Beyond surface level aesthetics and expressions, Æros was fascinated that another young man his age had mastered a Craft so quickly. Such a thing was certainly not unheard of in Solunarium, but it was nonetheless impressive. This new partner of his was utterly enchanting, but continuing forward with the boy held several not so insignificant risks.
Khyan was once a patrician, and if that were still the case, intimacy between the two wouldn't be so much of a risk. The problem was that his father had made enough missteps that an enemy of his house managed to cut that branch of the family down entirely, resulting in the boy's current enslavement. It was not unheard of to use your own servii for pleasure, but it was a notable faux pas to use somebody else's servii for such a purpose. And as Æros found himself growing more attached, the complexity of their relationship's current environs only increased.
In terms of realism, there were only two options: buying out the boy's contract for himself or breaking off their connection. Logically, the wiser choice was the cessation of his involvement with the wayward patrician, but, much to his surprise, Æros very much hated the idea of doing that. He was thoroughly charmed by his new partner, and utterly overwhelmed by this foreign rush of emotion, he couldn't fathom abandoning the other. So of course, when Khyan did accidentally voice his desire to switch masters, the elven Færie found his new partner far too precious to deny. And while he initially told his lover he'd think about it, it quickly dawned on him that it would be a struggle to muster up the ability to tell the other no. Ideally, Æros would have adequate time to think about this decision before making it for the sake of them both, but very shortly after this idea was brought up did the man's life shift wildly yet again.
His mother arrived at his doorstep one morning and, in an attempt to force him back onto a more proper track in life for one of his ilk, sent him on a rather unpleasant journey to Tertium. The method of travel was chosen with great deliberation despite the fact that his family easily could have afforded teleportation. Æros himself could not decide if she had done this to teach him a lesson or because she wanted to see him suffer, but in all likelihood, a combination of both influenced her decision. A poor one, too, it was, for without divine intervention most serendipitous, her most valuable child would have died out in the sands.
And this was still hard to do. Easier, now, than before…but when you're starting from nothing, new habits are tricky to establish. Blessedly, he did have actual social support at this point. While that circle of people was small, anything at all was novel to the Færie and he appreciated each one of them dearly. On days where he found it difficult to care for himself, he could fall back on the fact that he was no longer alone for motivation.
His internal conflict was mostly due to his struggle to regulate and accept his own emotions. When one is met with emotions that are natural but foreign, one often finds oneself…at a constant internal back and forth, so to speak. Æros had no issues feeling, no, rather, a life spent avoiding them just makes strong emotions exceptionally uncomfortable. This is especially so when he is confronted by them in any substantive capacity. It also makes it patently difficult to regulate such things, to see through them in the moment, to think things through and make the right decisions. Looking back at Ash’s first month, the elven Færie found himself rather…unhappy with a great many choices he had made and unsure about others.
It had been the most bizarre series of days if one were to compare it to the blur of months that had been the majority of the past two years, half awake, half alive as he had lived them. Those two years almost felt like a dream to him, memory distorted as it was. A blur of images, of sensations, of muted emotions and experiences. And in that regard, he had been living his life as if it were a waking dream, but as if it would end with his death rather than waking up.
And none of that mindset had changed whatsoever just because the days on the calendar tripped from Searing to Ash. However, it would appear that fate had other ideas for the young man; ideas, of course, that he did not see coming nor did he have the tools to deal with. It really did make him wonder if fate was preordained or if the threads that had pulled him along were manipulated by forces far more chaotic. Either of those options aside, to what degree did his own will affect his fate as well? But for as much as he did wonder, answers to any of these questions were not actually possible to discern with any modicum of certainty.
In retrospect, perhaps the odd weather and the smog in the air from the very beginning of the season were intended to serve as some sort of portent about what was to come. Mysterious, chaotic, foreboding as such things were, he hadn’t the slightest idea what to make of that event at the time. He still didn’t, really. At the very least, that strange event had twisted his path that day and led him to a location he’d never been– an herbalist’s shop in the Luxium, Sweet Remedies, wherein he’d made a friend.
Though the two had not known each other for any particularly long stretch of time at this point, they’d grown rather closer over shared interests in botany and magic alongside similarly stifling childhoods. Over the course of getting to know one another, he’d learned that she bore no runes for pretty much the very same reason that he’d forced himself to master the first one he’d been granted as fast as he could. Oddly enough, he and the wayward, wild Vastiana were more similar to one another than he ever really would have guessed from the first day he’d met her.
And then in the days after he’d met her, the starborn had found himself at one of his usual haunts performing as he usually did. It was an evening in the Umbrium’s Sanctine district just the same as any other, but then again, nobody wakes up on any given day knowing that their life will shift directions drastically by the time it ends. Æros didn't even realize he'd altered his fate until he woke up the next day. Each choice he'd made was quite normal for him, from his work to taking the first pretty boy he talked to that night home with him.
That boy, however, left a mark on him. What began as yet more mindless self indulgence for the Fæ did not end as such; no, the young man he'd spent that night with had caught his interest in more ways than one. For one thing, the sex itself was as remarkable as it was unique. Both he and the other were masters of their respective crafts– Æros, Mesmer and Khyan, Semblance– and neither were shy about using their æther to brighten the vibrancy of what pleasures they shared. The two of them were quite the synergistic pair, and it was quite clear that the night had just as strong an impact on his new partner as it had the Færie himself.
Over the course of the next several days, they had found one another again, exploring the symbiotic depths of their magic and carnal desires. But of course, it was not only the physical that kept Æros' typically fleeting interests. Historically, it was unusual for him to repeatedly see the same lover as he genuinely wanted to avoid either party becoming attached given his circumstances. Yet despite that, he kept seeing this new paramour. It was abundantly clear the other boy was becoming really rather obsessed with him and that he found himself, each time, drawn closer and closer.
A cheeky, impish little thing, Khyan's sweet, almost puerile, and yet still charming mannerisms blended well with his boyish good looks. Beyond surface level aesthetics and expressions, Æros was fascinated that another young man his age had mastered a Craft so quickly. Such a thing was certainly not unheard of in Solunarium, but it was nonetheless impressive. This new partner of his was utterly enchanting, but continuing forward with the boy held several not so insignificant risks.
Khyan was once a patrician, and if that were still the case, intimacy between the two wouldn't be so much of a risk. The problem was that his father had made enough missteps that an enemy of his house managed to cut that branch of the family down entirely, resulting in the boy's current enslavement. It was not unheard of to use your own servii for pleasure, but it was a notable faux pas to use somebody else's servii for such a purpose. And as Æros found himself growing more attached, the complexity of their relationship's current environs only increased.
In terms of realism, there were only two options: buying out the boy's contract for himself or breaking off their connection. Logically, the wiser choice was the cessation of his involvement with the wayward patrician, but, much to his surprise, Æros very much hated the idea of doing that. He was thoroughly charmed by his new partner, and utterly overwhelmed by this foreign rush of emotion, he couldn't fathom abandoning the other. So of course, when Khyan did accidentally voice his desire to switch masters, the elven Færie found his new partner far too precious to deny. And while he initially told his lover he'd think about it, it quickly dawned on him that it would be a struggle to muster up the ability to tell the other no. Ideally, Æros would have adequate time to think about this decision before making it for the sake of them both, but very shortly after this idea was brought up did the man's life shift wildly yet again.
His mother arrived at his doorstep one morning and, in an attempt to force him back onto a more proper track in life for one of his ilk, sent him on a rather unpleasant journey to Tertium. The method of travel was chosen with great deliberation despite the fact that his family easily could have afforded teleportation. Æros himself could not decide if she had done this to teach him a lesson or because she wanted to see him suffer, but in all likelihood, a combination of both influenced her decision. A poor one, too, it was, for without divine intervention most serendipitous, her most valuable child would have died out in the sands.
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'Thoughts'
"Vallenor Tongue/Speech"
"Vastien Tongue/Speech"
"Valasren Tongue/Speech"
"Common Tongue/Speech"
