New Horizons to Pursue [Raithen]

[Khyan Nykara]

"I've had a crush on you for the longest time..." Khyan sighed wistfully. "I guess it only took social and probably literal death to muster the courage to do summat about it." The subsequent snigger was dark, but genuine. Khyan was the sort to find comfort in gallows humour and never had that been so literal as it had of late. Fortunately, his parents were similarly oriented- Likely the genesis of the trait in himself- So they often laughed at the dinner table about their imminent dooms.

"Is that a kink of yours? Gods know you needn't pay for the privilege of worshipping you. I'd have done it for free anytime you asked and, while I may not be as practised as a whore, I am a noted slag." Indeed, Khyan didn't couple for coin. He only waxed erotic for his own pleasure and what pleasure he could derive from the Auras of others with his kinky little synesthetic quirk.

As Raithen deployed his euphemism, Khyan smirked- certainly not expecting him to act on it after they'd both so recently been spent. So his eyes widened at the sensation and he propped himself up on his elbows to watch the ministrations of the blessed being.

"Founders alive..." He muttered breathily as his head fell back and his eyes rolled up into his head. This had to be sacrilege, but never had sin felt so good- And that was saying something, as sin was famously fun. Albeit perhaps less so in a realm where much of the population was preternaturally bound to their Faith, but even so.

"I like it when you look at me while you're doing that..." The reverent human noted, locking his dark eyes onto Raithen's pale.

[Raithen]

Raithen chuckled at the sweet things coming from Khyan, but then he shook his head, coming up to answer his question even if he realized it was a tease to do so at that moment.

"No. No kink, just... easier, I guess? I don't really plan ahead enough to like, set it up or like have a date ready to go so, when the mood strikes me I just go where I know I can get what I want. They'll let me do whatever I want to them, which is mostly like this, really."

Here he paused the conversation to return to the previous use of his mouth, which, if his clever tongue was anything to go by, he must have enjoyed doing it to quite a few denizens of pleasure dens. When he started to get some specifically appreciative reactions he paused again, lifting his head.

"Propositioning someone of my own station comes with a set of problems and doing so with someone of a lower rank implies coercion even if there isn't any. At least, if I pay for it, I know that everyone is getting what they want from it. I like watching people react and once I have proven that I'll pay regardless, everyone relaxes and I get to see something genuine."

He smiled here, beautiful and ready to accept that he was a fool for believing in the genuine nature of whores. "Or, maybe I'm an idiot, but it's fun either way."

Dipping back down he took direction and kept his eyes locked on Khy's, smiling around his mouthful when he wasn't taking it deep. It became obvious he was doing what he was to find the spots that got the best reactions and he took his time through their second time, until he got the ultimate reaction. Once Khyan had recovered Raithen got up to his knees and moved till they were on either side of the other man's chest. He arranged them till it was obvious he wanted the favor returned, one hand cradling Khyan's head to help support him towards that goal. Then he looked down and with a serious expression on his face said,

"Do they really call you a slag?"

[Khyan Nykara]

"Founders, Raithen..." He replied breathily, "Imagine bedding a bloody paragon descended of Aværys, Mighty be is Wrath and Fiery His Blade, and then also getting paid for it? Fæx. I got into the wrong line of work..." He pursed his lips, "Which is none, but you know- That's a thing people say." Albeit not many of the idle class of which Khyan was until very recently a member.

"Indeed." Khyan nodded, sagely. "I, too, will let you do whatever you want to me." Especially now that he felt as though he had nothing to lose. Though, in Raithen's case this being the build-up of years of pining, he'd have said as much any day prior as well.

He tipped his head back as Raithen returned his attentions to the task at hand... and mouth. He dipped into the Avialæ's Aura with his Semblance, to get a sense of how he felt while he went about his thoughtful work. Feeling for both of them, he whimpered under the influence of their mingling sensations. He gasped as Raithen withdrew again, letting his Rune relax even as the rest of him remained tense.

"Rest assured, there is no coercion here- Unless it is me plying pity to finally inspire you to bed me." He chuckled, half-joking. "Sorry. I know I oughtn't joke, but it helps ease my mind to the realities when I mark their patent absurdity. Oh..." And back they were to the act. Enaging his Rune again, he amplified his own pleasure by taking on Raithen's. He knew himself well enough to realise that would accelerate matters, but this was there second go of it, so that wasn't altogether a bad thing.

"Well... Not to my face, but I assume they call me a slag." He nestled closer, knitting his brow. "I mean... I call me a slag."

[Raithen]

Raithen laughed a little listening to his new lover wax poetic about his ancestors while he was performing an act that he had paid the denizens of several houses of fine repute to teach him.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Khy, I really do, but could you not talk about my family while I'm..." He gestured to the business at hand. It was teasing, honestly, his mother had been the first person he'd told the first time he'd had sex, and her advice on the matter was kept in a sacred place in his estimation.

He'd always thought Khyan was beautiful, and while Rai's tastes weren't exactly specific (He found most people attractive in their own way.), being able to be with someone who was an actual friend was nice. It was a shame that a doom of one sort of another was to be Khy's fate on the morrow. Raithen believed in the correctness of the gods' will and questioning it didn't enter his mind, but it was sad. The younger man was so reactive, it was... more than nice. The final moments of pleasure he sucked from this dark haired lover were enough to make him flush with lust again himself, which led to his insistent, non-verbal suggestion that the favor be returned.

He rubbed against the pretty mouth below him until it allowed him entrance and then he arched, slowly, stretching until it was his wings holding him up. He was still sensitive, it tended to linger on him longer than it did on most men he'd coupled with, so he was a little louder, a little shaky, a little needy about the second time. Clutching at shoulder and hair, not hard enough to hurt, but near to it, he bit his lip to keep himself quiet and only succeeded in half measures.

"Khy," He murmured, "Khyan. I wanted you. At school. I wanted you. I want you...I'm close."

Rai would not force his emission anywhere it was not wanted, so the warning was intended as actual warning in addition to expressing how he was feeling.

[Khyan Nykara]

Eager to please and happy to oblige, Khyan accepted what was offered. If the first go around had been as brazen as the Waking Prayer, then the second was as subtle as the Waning. There was comfort in knowing his partner a bit better, having server and sembled him once, and the path to his terminus was not rushed as much, perforce. He felt more himself and less a force of nature. There was a place for that kind of passion, but this was where more lasting connections were made in his estimation.

A muffled sound of affirmation acknowledged the warning, but it didn’t change much apart from Khyan’s pace. As the last pulses ebbed, Khyan drew back and wiped at his full, smiling lips.

“That was nice of you to say, at the end there…” He sat up and ran his hand through sweat soaked hair, “The bit about wanting me, not the caveat.” He clarified with a chuckle, “Though that was thoughtful, as well.” He rolled his neck, stretched his limbs and let out a groaning sigh as he laid himself out on his back, shutting his eyes.

“Would you mind fanning me with your wings? I’m feeling a bit overheated from our passion. All these years and I still expect the dark of this place to signify cooler environs than Sorokyn permits the shadows to accord us…” And the image of those majestic wings attached to so lofty a partner set to cooling him like a Servus with a palm frond seemed a fitting image to burn into his memory, before the final reckoning was at hand. It was a bold request, asking a duke to treat him like a prince, but what was the worst Rai could do in answer to the offence? Kill him a few hours sooner?

[Raithen]

Raithen was flushed and it darkened when Khyan acknowledges his expression of desire, his admission of it. But he also laughed, a happy sound with no mocking in it, laughing at himself if anything.

He almost asked if the 'caveat' had not been welcome with an arched brow but Khy amended the statement before he could tease, so he let it go. As the darker man groaned Rai considered rolling him over and practicing his massage technique when the request came and he smiled at it. No one had ever asked for him to fan them before, it felt titillatingly subservient. Raising himself to his full height on his knees he opened his wings like he was putting himself on display, began to undulate them slowly so as to create a pleasant breeze over the bare body below. He smiled down, somehow playing half the shy servant and half the benevolent god.

"I thought it would be cooler here too, but it isn't." He had been raised in the Umbra, but had now spent the better part of years above and there were days the breezes off the river were significantly cooler than the still air of the underground city. After the sweat began to wick from both of their skins he leaned down, placed strong hands over his new lover's slimmer muscled chest and began to rub the tension away. He could work shoulders and chest and still look down and watch what reaction his the service of his four upper limbs was causing. The reactions were wanted, perhaps needed, and his eyes glinted darkly in the shadows, adding to the illusion of deific status.

[Khyan Nykara]

"Mmm..." Khyan hummed in satisfied relaxation, as the breeze from Raithen's wings wafted over his form. It was too decadent, and their new experiences shared had been enough to truly dismiss the dread of the day. At least for now. A few hours ago he'd never have believed he might feel so at peace with the day ahead. He wondered at what time it was, but didn't dare ask. He was more afraid of the end of their time together, just now, than he was of the end of his existence.

He smiled, wearily up at Raithen as his wings slowed and folded behind him.

"Thank you for this little fantasy tonight." Khyan said, letting out a surfeited sigh as the other man's hands kneaded at his flesh. His eyelids were drooping, now. The day- hell, the month had been wearying. Stressful days under the blazing sun of the High Court, followed by sleepless nights of heavy drinking followed by worried insomnia. This was, of course, to say nothing of the exertion he'd just undergone over the past hour or so with his schoolboy crush and vast social superior.

"So..." Dark eyes met light, "What do you think life will be like as a mercenary, now that you've resigned your commission for the Crown? Swashbuckling adventure on the high sands? Will you stay in Atraxian borders, or do you dream of traveling abroad?" Ever since Raithen's brother led a delegation to Kalzasi, and a Vastian envoy led one to Zaichaer, talk of travel to distant shores seemed less nebulous a concept. Khyan wasn't sure he, himself, would ever seek such an adventure, but he hadn't been born with wings. Raithen was designed to ramble, and he remembered hearing him speak of such aspirations when they'd been school chums.

[Raithen]

Raithen did not know what time it was, he had no plans for what remained of the evening nor anywhere to be in the morning. He did not intend to go to the sentencing, feeling it would being only more shame to his friend's family to have his eyes on their public disgrace. He would go home and sleep through the dawn so that, when he woke, whatever had happened was done and there was nothing he could do about it. It would be better than wrestling with his faith over his friendship. Some might consider that to mean he was not a good friend, but the idea was not part of his pantheon of personal beliefs.

Whenever either of them started to sweat again he would unfold his wings and fan them cool again. Using his arms and wings independently was to him like another person using their arms and legs independently, just something that he'd learned as a young child. He kept touching, kept working tension away as they spoke, and if the practice eventually became more about indulging his desire to get his hands on Khy's pretty body, stroke over his skin, neither of them seemed bothered by it.

"Hmm, I think it will be an adventure, but also do some good." He wasn't under the illusion that his main motivation was the good of others but it was in the mix. "It'll be hot and dusty and probably annoying more often than not but at least I can claim the right of being a scout so I'm not just marching all the time."

His ability to fly would ensure he was utilized and however much he did it soaring through the skies was never boring. Tilting his head he considered,

"I don't think I will travel outside our land." One shoulder shrugged, "I like it here. I don't want to be away from my family for that long either. Unless my mother needs me for it, which seems unlikely, I'd rather be here. Is it disappointing of me to be content?" The humor was comfortably at his own expense again but he did want to know what Khyan thought of him now.

[Khyan Nykara]

"Adventure suits you..." Khyan mused aloud, donning a wan smile under his languid gaze. "You've got the face and form for it. The wings are just the honey on the pastry." He was glad to know that Raithen was pursuing something he really wanted to do. He hadn't realised the young man had been discontent in his prior role, but that was because they hadn't spoken much since school. Presumably, Raithen had spent the bulk of his time in the Palatine District with his distant royal relations or in the Umbrium with his nuclear family.

"No." Khyan replied firmly, and reached a soft skinned, uncalloused hand up to cup Raithen's angular jaw. He leaned up to kiss the Avialae tenderly, adoringly.

"Disappointing is the last thing you are, sweet boy." He felt like an old man speaking to Rai this way, but it was the resignation to his fate that made him thus. Raithen had a whole life to lead. He probably always would have outlived a human. Whatever additional years Khyan might have earned from his quarter-elven background, he would surely have made up for with drink and hard living. Raithen was a half elf and presumably Avialae were a longer lived race as well. But that aside, the resignation that accompanied his understanding of his doom was enough to give him an air of languor that might have been mistaken for wisdom.

"I want you to be content with your lot, and live a long, beautiful life full of love and adventure and whatever your heart desires. And I am so, so happy to have been a small part of it. And I very much hope, at least for tonight, I made you a little bit more than just... content." He winked and chuckled as he lay back.

[Raithen]

The Avialae man listened, his eyes half-lidding themselves and then opening several times like a contented cat as he listened to the praise and hope pour, sweet, from Khy's tongue. When the kiss came to him he took it, opened to it, like they had been lovers forever and knew just how to do it. Licking at the tongue that murmured honeyed words to him he leaned them down slowly, using his wings to block out whatever lights were left to shine over night through the city so they were surrounded by darkness he replied with sweet things of his own.

He spoke of Khyan's body, how pliant and good it felt in his hands, under his chest, surrounding him. Waxed saccharine on the virtues of the man who he had ached for sometimes late at night as a school boy. Praised with adoration and desire, with words and kisses and his whole body pressed close until, in that dark place, they began to drift.

Raithen knew he would wake just before dawn, because he'd been doing it every day for several years and the weeks since it had stopped being required had not been enough to train the habit away. When he did he would fly Khyan back to his home, walk with him when his wings would no do, and kiss him goodbye as the first rays of light shattered the night.

He did not love Khyan, not enough had passed between them for it, but his affection for him was as heartfelt as his desire had been. So, he held him, in the shadow of his wings, close, and imagined what it would have felt like to love him so that, maybe it would be felt as the slept.