Going Down (Part IV)

[Reiner Dornkirk]

That Dornkirk jaw framed a Dornkirk grin at Kuno's compliment, and his instinct at brooking the playful little punch was to blush as he glanced down to the floor between them. As such, Reiner missed the lingering glances to his eyes and lips, only raising his gaze when the lieutenant spoke again.

"Heh..." Reiner shrugged, losing the smile he'd just adopted at the flirty flattery, "I wish I knew him well enough to say. Fact of the matter is, you've probably spent more time with him than I have, at this point." Perhaps not in as intimate quarters, or in contexts that would lend to his guesswork on the matter posed, but true nonetheless.

"Yes, of course!" Reiner's grin returned, perhaps it was a bit too bright now. It looked more forced than sincere, like the sort of smile one wore to convince oneself to be as happy as their outward appearance suggested. "I want to get to know them better. It's all still new, y'know? I don't know how long it'll take for it not to be with the way things are. 'Free time', such as it is, feels like something you have to treasure with extra gratitude these days. It doesn't lend itself to the genuine, and... everything just feels so high stakes." How could a person connect under those conditions? When everything felt so potent, how could one find ease enough to be oneself?

"Anyway, I miss our little flat, too. I didn't mind the cabin, but it wasn't really cozy, y'know? Anyway, what're you looking forward to getting back into on the Islands? Got any hot dates lined up, or what?" He waggled his eyebrows and nudged Kuno with his shoulder. Of course he knew Kuno didn't, but it felt playful to pose the question, at least.

[Rune]

Conversation was now passing between them easily again, and it was a bit hard to remember that this was an act he was putting on and remember to be angry. Which, he realized after a moment, was stupid, why not enjoy the day? He had a plan to deal with the other matter, to see Reiner both properly punished for his misstep and Kuno rewarded for his vigilance, what reason was there to linger on it? No good ones, as he could see. Besides, a little comradery now would make what was to come go down easier, so to speak.

The reaction to his question as to the Dornkirk relations was exactly what he might have hoped. Reiner would do all he could to maintain said relations in good standing, but, as he said, under the circumstances, his intention was unlikely to bear much deeper fruit.

"Plenty of my family I'd have to get to know if I ran into them now, was raised in sort of a large brood, cousins and such in every direction." It was relatively true, in that he didn't know any of his remaining family members very well but the implication that he would try to get to know them if given the chance was wholly fabrication. Unless he discovered some of them to be so well-heeled as Reiner's.

Standing up straight and looking back out at the sky in the direction of the Islands, which he imagined he could almost see with his naked eye now, he took a deep breath that was as near to content as he knew how to be. Nodding along to the admission of missing their shared little home he then shook it when asked about his plans for any free time they might be granted upon returning.

"I might flirt a bit, bring a girl a drink," No one was buying or selling anything, so the best he could do was fetch and carry, "have a laugh, keep up moral in the civies, but..." He sighed out the breath he'd taken. "Thing is, with as few of us as are left, it isn't as if there are an abundance of women to ask out for a bit of fun without consequence anymore. If I started asking a girl out I expect there would be expectations and as much as I like share your appreciation for our lodging, it isn't something to offer a good girl, is it? Not really a time to be considering settling down, not for years. So, like I said, flirt with any girl as looks my way equally, keep 'em happy, do my duty, eh?"

He winked at the end to show how he felt about this particular duty before adding,

"I'll probably just grab a bite, see if there is a bottle to be scrounged, a dance to be had."

[Reiner Dornkirk]

Reiner turned back to face the islands as Kuno spoke on his well-documented feelings on the matter of fraternization with the ladies of the isles. He fixed his face in that direction partly to take in the view, but partly to conceal the amused smirk painting his lips. He was starting to suspect that the lieutenant was a 'gentleman with a long handshake'. His mind was reflexively averse to following the line of that supposition toward anything pertaining to himself, even if some of his behavior smacked of the jealousy of the jilted. To Reiner it was simply another of his friend's eccentricities. He liked and respected Kuno enough to forgive the less seemly oddities.

The islands were looming ever larger as the ship drew nearer to its berth, and Reiner shifted his body back toward Kuno's, looking him in the eye.

"Well, hopefully I can join you if I'm not detained too long at the manor. Don't get too drunk to be fun by the time I rendezvous with you." He offered with a playful grin, but in his periphery he could see the motion of crewmen preparing for the final descent of the airship toward its landing site. Orders were being shouted by one of the officers, and Reiner felt the buzzing energy around him.

"I should head back down to get out of the way until we've landed. I'll see you in a bit, yeah?" He patted Kuno on the small of his back and pivoted on the heel of his boot, weaving through the airmen as he made his way back to the cabin to await their docking. There wasn't much he could do until then, aside from psyching himself up for the impending debrief.

[Rune]

A thought occurred to Kuno and the wicked smile that fit his face so well appeared. Lowering his voice, only slightly, nothing calls attention more than a whisper, he said,

"Pity none of the doxies from back home survived. Way things are, everything being free for those that work, they'd never be in want of custom. 'Specially in the barracks, eh?"

His laugh managed to remain conversational in volume but it was low and spoke volumes of what the lieutenant might do to a working girl, had he the opportunity.

"Wouldn't mind letting off some steam. There's gotta be a few in all the people we got out of the city. Probably got told to say they were something else though, I can't see the Ladies at the Hall approving of the oldest profession."

His frown said that this, if true, was decidedly unfair, possibly criminal. Inwardly he could forgive a person for wanting to hide what they once had been and start over, but most of the girls who'd kept their doors open to any bloke with the coin he'd spoken to said they liked the work. Maybe that was part of what one paid for, the illusion of pleasure shared.

"Wouldn't even have to ask for a two-for-one discount." His humor returned, but it was back to the more contented amusement of before his mention of prostitution, rather than the wickedly leering version that Reiner had just witnessed. It wasn't as though none of the men they shared the apartment building that was being used as a barracks had made lewd jokes or even references to the Islands needing a whore house.

"Bet you got up to all sorts before the 34th, eh? Handsome Dornkirk looks, uniform, risking your life for their protection, might not come back, every line in the book I've no doubt."

Reiner's sexual history was still as much as mystery to Kuno as was Kuno's to the private. Perhaps, if they could find a nice bottle of something to keep them warm and get them loosened up, he could find out what secrets of his roommate's education there might be.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

Reiner knitted his brow a bit thrown by Kuno's train of thought. It seemed to defy the suppositions he'd just been making, and represented a different side to the lieutenant than he'd seen during the course of their brief friendship. He'd seen his cordiality, his gregariousness, his niggling side and his wrathful streak, but never the rakish cad he was playing at now. It made him smile, though he wasn't sure that was out of amusement, relief, something in between or something altogether different.

Reiner hadn't been sure whether or not Kuno had shipboard duties during the landing procedures, but since he seemed to be following him back down into the cabin he supposed not. The company was not unwelcome, though the conversation was a bit strange.

His pale face, so quick to blush, did so at the highlights of his commodifiable features as an eligible bachelor.

"Heh... I wouldn't say I relied much on pick-up lines or anything of the like. I'd just drink myself up some courage and try to be charming. It worked, sometimes. Not always. I've had flings, but never anything serious. Not for lack of trying, mind..." He recalled how vehemently Kuno defended the honor of the Island's fine ladies when he took Reiner for a lech.

"Just circumstance, y'know? Army life, and all that." He shrugged, "Or sometimes I was just more into them than they were into me, or vice versa. Never lined up right." Though he'd already done so earlier, he checked his pack once more to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything before their disembarkation.

"You ever been in anything serious?" He asked over his shoulder from the corner where he knelt.

[Rune]

The information as to Reiner's sexual history was filed away, and it if made the listener's temper flare in an unexpected burst of possessiveness, it did not show on his face.

Being as Kuno was not, or at least, had not until the disaster been, an officer on an airship, he had no clue how docking was achieved. He could babysit a number of crewmen on watch, knew how to navigate, and could fly small aircraft well enough to understand the effects of the wind. Thus without duties for the nonce, he followed easily as they returned, once again, to their temporary cabin. It seemed as though every military man who lived upon the Dornkirk flying fortress would likely receive at least as much training in the coming months. Reiner, who did not seem wholly at ease in the air, might not weather it gracefully. The thought brought a smile to Kuno's face that could be interpreted as a return of the one he was being offered.

Leaning against the door frame as the private checked over his laundry the elder man answered as casually as Reiner had done.

"Nothing much serious, can't support a family on a private's wages. Least, not without rich relatives to pad them out." The tease was comfortable, a common one between them. Kuno knew Reiner hadn't received any attention, let alone money, from his extended family before the events of the 34th had brought them together. That he had actually met Stefan Dornkirk before his cousin was something a feather in his cap, in fact.

"You were there when I was promoted. Not that anyone is getting paid now." The last sentence was fully accepting, not bitching. They were fighting to survive, and payroll was a matter the future could spare time for worry about.

In truth, Kuno had sated himself inside prostitutes more than anywhere else. Women who were paid were more likely to accept it when he told them to grit their teeth and flipped them backside up. When they were quite but for muffled grunts of pain, and their faces were pressed into whatever he was fucking them against, it was easy to imagine they were any of the barracks boys he fantasized about taking while they all drifted to sleep to the sound of each other's breathing each night.

With a chuckle he added,

"I wonder if we ever fancied the same girl."

[Reiner Dornkirk]

Reiner chuckled, even as he playfully rolled his eyes at Kuno's little dig about his family connections such as they were. He did idly wonder, in this moment, whether he might be gifted some lavish wedding when he sought to settle down. The sort with a reception in some fancy venue with tablecloths and chandeliers, rather than beer-soaked wooden tables flanked by rickety, uneven benches. He supposed he was getting ahead of himself, since he had no real prospects apart from the date he'd tentatively set for some as yet undecided evening after his return from this very mission. He'd been so excited about it before they left, but the mission was so high-pressure that it had been largely pushed out of his mind.

He shouldered his pack, but only to deliver it from the floor to his neatly made bed. Once it was there, he took a seat beside it and looked up at the lieutenant with shrug.

"It's possible... But I don't really have a sense of your 'type', so I can't guess at the likelihood..." He trailed off. Even if Kuno wasn't a bit light in the loafers, there seemed to be something a bit queer about his sexuality. Reiner couldn't put his finger on it, nor was he eager to press the matter. If there was something distasteful amidst his friend's proclivities, the private preferred to remain blissfully unaware. He didn't really want to know something that would impact his perception of his friend. If it was something repugnant, he wasn't sure he'd be able to overlook it, and if it was something criminal, well... Then his ignorance was tantamount to plausible deniability.

"If so, you probably would have beat me out. The ZADC is more glamorous than the ZDC. You can sweep a girl off her feet and into the skies. Our domain is pretty much mud." He chortled, self-deprecatingly.

[Rune]

That Reiner would receive special treatment was not a question in Kuno's mind. He had read accounts of Stefan Dornkirk's wedding in the broadsheets, seen a printed portrait of the wedding party, that sort of wealth could make or break ordinary men without even realizing it. The Minister was careful, particularly with lives, and while Kuno didn't think he would actually kill anyone offhandedly, the sort of pride being raised in wealth created would cast a person out on a whim or over any imagined slight.

In Reiner's case, the opposite was true, he was blood, and if the idea of superiority was to be maintained, then anyone of the same blood, particularly one so close as a first cousin, had to also be superior. He would be forgiven any unintended slights, given preferential treatment, even if everyone was pretending otherwise. If he were to decided to get married, there would be a fancy party at the Hall, he would be set up with a fine place to live, with servants to see to his wife and any children they produced. Reiner would never want for anyone again, so long as he didn't intentionally break from his beloved Dornkirks. The lad seemed wholly unaware of these facts, which was one of the reasons Kuno considered him a boy, but also one of the reasons why he wanted him so. His body was an object of the lieutenant's desire, but far more so was the naivete, the connections, the budding loyalty. Reiner was an ideal follower, if only he could be made into a true Thrall. Somehow Kuno needed to find a worthy sacrifice to offer in exchange.

Putting on a winning smile he said,

"I want to watch the docking, gotta learn the ropes somehow." The thing was, Kuno had been ZDC before the 34th, assigned to the main city barracks waiting to be shipped out to the front lines before he'd arranged to be tapped to stay behind and guard the Windworks. In his spare time over the months of his assignment there he'd gotten some of the men to teach him to fly small craft and generally understand the parts of a ship. Navigation and weather patterns he'd learned from studying, but the books had been borrowed. It was understandable, why Reiner had assumed he was part of the famed ZADC, they were all taking whatever positions they were suited for now, but it was worth explaining and they'd been in the same positions. Men with boots on the ground, soaking bullets and magic to keep the State safe formed a bond.

"I've never been on a ship this large coming in to dock. Seeing what the Islands look like from this angle is something worth the looking, I imagine."

[Reiner Dornkirk]

"Oh, sure!" Reiner said with an easy grin. "I just felt like I was in the way up on deck, but I'll suck it up and flatten myself against a wall or something." He certainly wasn't opposed to watching the ship docking. He'd been quite enjoying the view before he quit it, but if their journey down to the cabin was for nothing more than grabbing their things, he didn't imagine they'd missed too much in the past few minutes.

"Oh, really?" Reiner thought nothing of the fact that Kuno hadn't been stationed on a ship this size. He had little frame of reference from this vantage. From his typical point of view, airships were distant and it was hard to tell whether one was larger than the other or whether it was his depth perception playing tricks on his eyes. He knew the Firestorm-class like Brenner's Searing Victory were the real leviathans of the armada, but the Noble Gambit seemed pretty damned gargantuan to Reiner. Whatever the case, he just assumed that Kuno's comment meant he'd been stationed to another airship of slightly smaller size and crew complement.

He shouldered his pack, and rose from his seat on the mattress- smoothing the bedding out with one hand before, gesturing for the lieutenant to lead the way back out and up onto the deck. He would follow dutifully, if a bit sheepish about the crew on duty and keeping out of their hair. It was a bit more difficult in these narrow hallways now that he was carrying a duffel bag, but he made it onto the deck without knocking anyone over which was, in his eyes, a win. He followed Kuno wherever he led, and took in the latest view of the looming islands.

[Rune]

R E V I E W

Lore: 15

Points: 15, not for magic

Injuries/Ailments: Mean BFF

Loot: None

Notes: Good job, soldier, welcome home.

Mod XP Rune, 9