Rooftops and Rendezvous [Aurin]

The Jewel of the Northlands

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User avatar
Rivin
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:20 pm
Title: Slave
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=2358&p=12476
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2473

When the man who now looked like Rivin seemed to intuit his desire to view 'himself' from all sides and rotated slowly, the Lysanrin's vague desire not to be known was immediately overwhelmed by his curiosity and he even took half a step closer as he peered through the darkness at himself.

His eyes shifted from a suspicious dark blue to the pale spring green of wanting to know. Did he look like that when he smiled, or was the face beneath the illusion dictating the expressions? He didn't recall ever smiling before mirror before. His face was apparently capable of making such an expression, which was mildly shocking and, for the first time, he understood why people associated Lysanrins' look with demons. He was opening his mouth to ask if the man might remove 'his' clothes when all the implications of such a request flew in to explain exactly why he should not do so.

He shook his head to the first suggestion even as he was still obviously observing 'himself'.

"I do not need such a place immediately, and I do not know when I might. Such an event is most likely to coincide with knowledge that someone in the city is seeking one of my kind with my particular coloring." If he had been less distracted he might not have said so much, but this man would not know where to find him, so this was not much more dangerous than being see around the neighborhoods where he took lodging.

He was still taking lodging though it was becoming obvious, as he spent more and more time either slinking about the city or with Sivan that it was pointless and a waste of money besides. That he might ask Sivan if he could be allowed to pay him for lodging was appealing, yet, it also seemed as though it might endanger the elf. More consideration was required.

Returning his attention, at last, to the conversation the Lysanrin said,

"Where would I be able to find you, or leave word for you, should I need a hiding place, and for when I need to provide payment and receive information?"

The idea of using the skills he had, in fact sometimes used for his previous 'employer' for his own gain was intriguing and his head canted slightly to the left side. Before he could answer or ask questions the redhead was, again, a redhead. The offering of hand and name made Rivin's animalistic instincts show more than ever; feet shifting though neither to run nor attack, tail twitching from side to side in a show of consideration so obvious even one who had never been out of the city to observe wild creatures would have been able to translate it.

There were dangers in every encounter, every form of relationship, however brief or prolonged. If this magus decided he wanted him dead, Rivin would die. If he decided to find out who was hunting him and turn him back over to Ilex, it was not as though there were not already others trying to do the same. For whatever reason, he found his instincts wanted to know more of the enigmatic magus, and his instincts were right far more often than his logic in matters of connection.

Taking a little hopping step over the treacherous tiles he landed just before Aurin and offered his own hand. When their flesh touched a shiver ran through him. Perhaps it was just that he so rarely touched anyone. Perhaps.

"I would do these things, in exchange for your place to hide and ear to the ground. If my skills are not enough, I will make up the difference."

His eyes stayed close on the human's for a moment longer than social norms dictated as comfortable, then he added, for some reason feeling suddenly shy in a different way,

"Rivin. It is my name.""
word count: 662
User avatar
Aurin
Posts: 938
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 6:03 pm
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1041
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1061
Letters: viewtopic.php?t=3581

"Rivin," he repeated, and if the Lysanrin let his eye contact linger too long, Aurin didn't let go of his hand. His grip was firm, but he wouldn't struggle if the man pulled away. It was a point of connection, though, and so he would maintain it for as long as possible.

"There's a red-roofed cottage in the alley behind the Velvet Cabaret in the Plaza of Jeweled Arches," he said. "You can leave a note there for me. Just slip it under the door if I don't answer. I'll have my eyes and ears paying attention for anyone looking for a pretty Lysanrin man by the name of Rivin. I have several safehouses available across the city. When I can verify the quality of information you bring me, we can discuss how much it's worth."

His smile was only a little feral.

"In the meantime, would you like another face and form? I can work a glamour that lasts... I suppose when it starts to wear off, you'll know it's time to report in, hey?" He paused. "It's something until you can afford a more permanent disguise."

Aurin wondered who might be chasing down one particular Lysanrin mutt. He was the last person to call someone else paranoid; he knew his fear of reprisal from Cathena was on the irrational side, but it had kept him alive and it appeared to have kept this Rivin alive as well. He tried to focus on the negotiation at hand, however, rather than how those horns would make good handlebars for the sort of thing he might do at the Velvet Cabaret.
word count: 280
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions.
I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”
User avatar
Rivin
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:20 pm
Title: Slave
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=2358&p=12476
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2473

The moment held, solidified somehow, settled into Rivin like a daguerreotype slide. When it felt finished he pulled his hand back, not quickly, just letting it fall away and took a step back away again.

The feral smile that punctuated the man's smile put Rivin right at ease, even as it seemed to stir something inside him that wasn't him at all. A conversation with The Demon about not interfering with this human seemed like it would be in order. Without really thinking about it he returned the smile in kind, like two foxes meeting in the forest, friendly but hinting at willingness to do violence if ever it were needed. Not in a threatening way, more like an offer of mutual aid. The kinship between them, it was a subtle thing; living in the way their eyes never settled in one place too long even as then concentrated on each other, in the indefinite set of their shoulders, as though expecting a blow without knowing from whence it would come.

He murmured the name of the entertainment house under his breath to commit it to memory, then nodded.

"I will learn this place." Perhaps this man worked at this Cabaret, he was pretty enough, even if the sense danger that floated around him like a cape of potential might not be to everyone's tastes. The offer of disguise was a good one, too good not to accept even if it would mean he wouldn't be able to warn Sivan first.

"I would appreciate that, yes. Though, I do not have money enough on me to purchase such a boon from a magus." He had a handful of silver, in case he got hungry or thirsty, but that was all he would carry while roaming around on top of things. If the magic was to be used as a way to lure him back to make payment in gold or work, it was a fair gambit as far as Rivin was concerned.
word count: 343
User avatar
Aurin
Posts: 938
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 6:03 pm
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1041
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1061
Letters: viewtopic.php?t=3581

Aurin nodded. He supposed the man could get a job at the Velvet Cabaret, though that might earn him more regard than he wished if someone was trailing him. Perhaps, given time, he would share who the likely tracker was and from whence they came, which might make Aurin's job easier.

"I'll give you the boon, and you can consider it an investment in the future," he declared, and then began to pay much keener attention to Rivin's face and form. He couldn't create light except the illusory kind, but if it looked as though he were undressing the man or dissecting him with his eyes, it was only because he was using his semblance trick to get a fuller understanding of him. Aurin's eyes always saw too much; perhaps that was why they always sparkled as if he was in on a joke.

He began to carve away what made Rivin Lysanrin. There was Dratori in there, as well as other things, but he erased horns and tail, made human his coloring. Then, he inverted the enchantment so it would take a keen-sensed and canny magus to see through his work, to see it for what it was. In the end, he crafted a seeming of Rivin as a simple human.

"Well, that ought to do for a couple of weeks..." He smirked at his handiwork; Rivin would have to find a mirror to take it all in, though he could look at his hands and see them changed. Finding his tail would require his hands as well, hidden as it was.

"Now, how will I find you if I need to?"
word count: 279
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions.
I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”
User avatar
Rivin
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:20 pm
Title: Slave
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=2358&p=12476
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2473

The intense inspection Rivin was subjected to was not new to him. Though he had little experience with someone observing him for personal gratification it was immediately obvious to one who had spent the majority of his life in study that studying was exactly what this magus was doing. Instead of making the Lysanrin uncomfortable or standoffish the effect was the opposite. He stood up straighter, opening his stance in a way that implied he was accepting the scrutiny. The fact that being inspected in such a way made him immediately more comfortable with this stranger was, he accepted, probably unwise. But he could not help it, and he so rarely felt comfortable around anyone or anywhere (with the exceptions of Sivan and his home) that allowing himself this moment was too much to deny.

He could not feel the magic being laid over his form, not physically, but the sense that his mother had explained came from her own people tingled as the spell was woven to cover him. The tiny urge to pull at the aether being liberally applied around him wasn't any stronger than it ever had been, which was a good thing. Considering that attempting to steal the gift he was being given would certainly anger this potential new ally, and that the one time he had tried it he'd had a splitting headache for days, there was no real temptation.

Suddenly the scent of magic in the air deadened, as though it had been suddenly cut off, or as though his nose had become instantly swollen closed. Absently he rubbed at it, wondering if the magus had changed his mind about the free aid. Perhaps he had only wished to show what he could give if properly motivated.

The words seemed like a taunt for a moment and he frowned, wondering if this was, indeed the sort of manipulative magus that graced the pages of so many novels. As he was contemplating how to handle the situation; trying to decide if slipping away and not making further contact was better than trying to get anything out of it, his senses began to pick back up the illusion. It wasn't gone... only muted?

His dark expression of displeasure changed to one of cunning appreciation. Clever magus.

The question caught him off guard and he was reticent to allow any answer. Telling this Aurin that Rivin would find him felt too rude after he'd been gifted the ability to hide in plain sight. Grudgingly he gave the address of his current rented hovel. If the human looked into it he might wonder if Rivin had lied about having gold to spend, but any such assumption could be cleared up when he paid for the services he was being rendered.

Rendered. Yes, that was the right term. A through investigation of his new appearance was in order.
word count: 490
User avatar
Aurin
Posts: 938
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 6:03 pm
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1041
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1061
Letters: viewtopic.php?t=3581

This Rivin was strange, but Aurin could already suss out some of his tells. Time and familiarity would add to that, but Aurin pulled out a little metal disc which, upon closer examination, was nothing but a mirror that he opened and held out so Rivin could take it and see his face made human. Whether he would think it an aesthetic improvement or not, it would certainly help him blend in among the more human population of the city.

"I know that place," he noted quietly. Aurin seemed to know more people than he didn't, more places than he didn't, or perhaps he was just practiced at the façade of competence and savvy.

"Well, I suppose you should keep the mirror. When the details start to blur or reality starts peeking through, you know how to find me." He offered a mocking, but not malicious bow. "Master Rivin, good night."

That said, he hopped off the edge of the roof, and blinked to a few inches above the ground, not giving his body time to accumulate downward velocity so his landing was light as anything. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he looked up and soluted the overwhelmed Lysanrin. Aurin liked secrets more than he liked gold, and it was worth a bit of gold to know this secret, a Lysanrin on the run, marked with a glyph and a bit of the aether siphoning ability; they weren't supposed to coexist.

He would get to the bottom of this sooner or later. Now he offered several things that Rivin wanted, that Rivin needed, so he supposed he would be seeing Rivin within a few weeks for the maintenance of his glamour if nothing else. This was a patient fox.
word count: 295
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions.
I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”
User avatar
Rune
Posts: 682
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2022 4:04 pm
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=3831


R E V I E W


Lore: 13 each

Points: 10 each, may be used for magic

Injuries/Ailments: None

Loot:
Rivin: One full body glamour, will last 2 weeks before beginning to fade

Notes: Always look up.
word count: 62
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