Aurin in the Sky with Reiner

[Aurin]

"Thank you, Dornkirk," he said, not using his nickname when the private updated Kämpfer and promised to look into the injured soldier for him. It was always good to have people who owed their lives to you, and as he wasn't a soldier, that wasn't a great many people. That settled, he was only too happy for the tour to take place. If he didn't case the joint, he couldn't look for familiar faces. He marked a few, and hoped to make contact with them. Some averted their eyes and hurried away, but at least one gave him a surreptitious look of acknowledgement. No doubt they were worried about either getting into trouble with the Order or getting into trouble with their covens for collaborating with the airborne regime.

The tour itself was eye-opening and impressive. Aurin didn't have to dissemble. He kept his compliments on the conservative side, however. There was no need to lay it on too thick. But by the end of it, he had to say something. But Dornkirk cut in with a jest of his own.

Aurin laughed.

"It has a worse name, but I'll tell you when you're older." He winked, the condescension meant in good humor.

"Truly, you have worked more miracles than just bringing your infrastructure into the clouds. Zaichaer was a marvel, but if this all holds together... the Zaichaer of tomorrow might very well eclipse the old. 'Tis a utopia, really. Or... it's trying to be. Everyone doing what they're best suited to do, working for the greater good. Everyone taken care of... Hey, can I buy you lads a round of drinks? If they take coin and you haven't moved on to a barter system? I suppose I ought to figure out what I can contribute while I'm here. Wouldn't want to be a drain on the system and not do my part."

He sounded almost wistful.

[Rune]

Recognition lit the Lieutenant's eyes as Reiner recalled who the newcomer was referring to.

"Ah, the man you stuck your neck out for." The tone was somewhere between gratitude and surprise. Whether the surprise was because an outsider, particularly one who currently resided in the mortal enemy of his country, had lent aid, or because Aurin had survived the attempt was for the listener to guess.

The redhead was using derogatory terms for his oppressive overlords made perfect sense to Kuno, that he used the Zaichaeri version was a bit unexpected but not enough so that he gave it any special note.

When the tour was over he nodded to Reiner's warning about the local girls. Though he personally knew that some of the young women now occupying places on the islands had, in fact, not been 'honest Zaichaeri maidens' before their rise, they were so now. Propaganda could make a person whatever it said they were, and, as far as he could tell, any activities that might prove the women otherwise had ceased by the time the Islands made it into the sky.

His laugh at Aurin's joke was genuine, as he also thought of Reiner as sort of an innocent, despite knowing that in both the realms of combat and the realms of sexual congress, the younger man was not. The urge to ruffle his once-roommate's hair was strong but such was not for the purview of strangers.

"Can't buy us a drink, mores the pity. You get two a day, no matter how much coin you have." Whether this was true in the absolute, Kuno did not know. He suspected that those with significant enough resources might be able to 'trade' for more than the allotted amount of any of the goods on offer to the residents but his own resources were nowhere near significant enough for him to try. At least, not that he would admit to. He went on his fair share of missions to the ground, and if, at times, small items of high value to the outside world found their way into his pockets to be stashed in secret places, it wasn't as if he was taking food or other needful things out of the mouths or off the backs of his countrymen.

"But," He said, cheerfully, clapping the Kavafis on the back with one hand and Reiner on the back with the other, "I am sure the Minister has his own ideas about what use you might to us all."

Using the light tough he turned both men towards the Windworks, having stopped them on the spot because it was one of the best for viewing the factory on the islands.

"That being the case, we should get you going. Wouldn't want to be late for your dinner date." He didn't wink, but the look he turned on Reiner was the one that he usually held when he did wink.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

"Arschloch..." Reiner muttered at Aurin's infantilizing retort. He didn't seem to take too much umbrage by it, judging from the slight upward curl of his snarl, but perhaps he was a mite sensitive about his baby face and the opportunities he felt as though it lost him. Still, his snarl became a smile as Aurin rightly acknowledged the ingenuity of his cousin. He even chuckled to himself at Aurin's assertion that 'The Zaichaer of tomorrow might very well eclipse the old.'. Given the fact that this new portion of Zaichaer was airborne, that might have been taken quite literally. The Islands did, at times, cast shadows over the ruins below- Even if the sun didn't shine as brightly as it had before the fall.

With Aurin's tour concluding at their ultimate destination, The Dornkirk Windworks, Reiner smiled to Kuno, prepared to say his goodbyes to the ginger and head off with his friend to figure out their own dinner plans. Before he could hand off their guest to the loftier host, however, one of the Dienerins Dienstjungen informed him that he, too, was on the guest list. With an apologetic cringe to Kuno, he nodded.

"I'll be in in a moment. You go ahead, Aurin..." He waited for the young page to lead Aurin within, before turning to Kuno.

"Sorry about that... I'd love to catch up after, though. I want to fill you in on my little excursion and..." He bit his lip, patting his coat. "I may have scored a bottle of hooch from the Schiller, if you want to have a nightcap before you hit your bunk." He held an index finger to his full lips- their little secret- and took a few steps backwards, still watching Kuno, until his back in the doorframe and he stumbled back around to enter the Windworks and catch up with Aurin.

[Aurin]

Aurin found it easy enough to laugh along with Kämpfer and Dornkirk, though he knew he would have to minimize those jests that riled up the baby-faced PFC. Then again, he didn't seem to mind all that much; perhaps because he had a similar relationship with the lieutenant. But he was rather sure there was something going on between them; the sharing of liquor and women if nothing else. He didn't delve too deeply into their thoughts, though. He didn't get the sense that either of them were Order moles, but one never knew who was watching.

"Oh," he cringed. Having Dornkirk come along would be great, but he hoped Kämpfer didn't feel slighted. "Yes, well. Very well. See you inside."

He nodded to the page and followed him into the Windworks. It was mundane in that it wasn't filled with various magical things to make life easier, but it wasn't mundane at all, in fact. The ingenuity of Stefan Dornkirk and the other Zaichaeri scientists was a thing to behold, even if he wasn't taken into the bowels of the place where man-made miracles happened. He could sense through the walls, after all. But perhaps he could figure out a way to mollify Kämpfer and get Dornkirk to warm up to him more. If nothing else, he could split up his two drink tickets and let the other boys get toastier. It was going to get cold up here in the sky; he could already tell.

"Minister Dornkirk will be with you shortly," said the page, who didn't seem entirely sure the foreigner should be there. But he wasn't quite impolite. Aurin just smiled, thanked him, and clasped his hands behind his back as he began to look around, for all the world like a child assuring adults he wasn't going to touch anything.

[Rune]

It would be hours before Kavafis and Rainer returned from their fancy nosh with the Minister, and while Kuno waved them away with a nod and a smile it had fallen into a scowl as soon as they were out of sight.

Well. If he was to be left out in the cold, he could at least prepare to prove that his company, and hospitality, was superior to that of a stuffily polite diplomatic dinner. Turning the collar of his coat up he squared his shoulders, if he were to make such a claim there were places he needed to stop by and people he needed to see.

Two hours later he was waiting in the entrance hall to The Windworks, having already inquired as to where his charges were due to emerge. The elder Deinerin had informed him that the comfits and digestif had been served so it would not be long now. The younger man servant was not in evidence, but then, neither was his master. The Captain-Seeker was probably at home in his flying mansion fucking another child into his pretty young wife.

Leaning back against the wall, his mind drifted back to his preparations. First he'd been to the air-dock's guard station, calling in a minor favor to one of the night watchmen. Suggesting that he had a young lady who he wanted to show a little luxury he had paged through the ledgers until he'd found one of the yachts the Islands had come across that wasn't scheduled for any use or maintenance for the night or next morning. The small craft weren't much use, though he supposed they might be in the future as diplomatic excursions began in earnest. For the time being they were mostly just kept for emergencies, but access was restricted. Luckily, Kuno was an officer with enough rank and connection to the Minister's household that no one would really question him if he took the keys to one, so long as he returned them before anyone with a higher rank noticed they were missing.

Next he'd stopped at the kitchens and got himself a quick dinner, then charmed one of the young women left to clean up after the last sitting to pack him a hamper of left overs. The food was much simpler than that which the Minister would offer, but there was charm in that too. Kavafis hadn't struck him as the sort of man that spent most of his time rubbing elbows with the rich and famous. Bread and cheese, cold meats and fruit might appeal to a man who knew his way around back alleys well enough to travel the streets of Zaichaer alone in times like these. They almost certainly would appeal to Reiner more than whatever was severed up on high, if their shared late night meals after the other fancy invitations the youngest Dornkirk had endured were anything to go by.

His last stop had been the main bar, it was a slow night, with most people up with the dawn to see to their work, but it was open every night, to be fair to people with different shifts. The man owed Kuno a number of favors and he knew several of his secrets as well. It always paid to own the hand that poured the drinks. He left the building with three bottles, each different. They would do for his purpose if the stocks of fancy spirits that were usually aboard air yachts had already been plundered.

His smile was not put on when he heard Reiner's voice a moment before he saw both men turning the last corner that led to the entrance. Pushing himself to full standing with his shoulder he said,

"Survived I see. You missed a good dinner in the mess but," Moving into step with Reiner as they came abreast of him and all three made for the door he slung an arm around the shorter man's shoulders and lowered his tone into a stage whisper, "Don't worry, I saved you some."

As they stepped out into the bright, crisp night air he took a deep breath as though the inside had been stuffy, and said,

"Do either of you fancy a little flight in the night air?" Pulling the set of airship keys from one pocket he grinned conspiratorially from one man to the other, adding, "I managed to talk old Sager out of a bottle or two, if you haven't already had your fill of digestif?"

[Reiner Dornkirk]

"...and so I'm not as accustomed as you might think to that kind of fare." Reiner was finishing up an explanation of his background to Aurin that he felt obliged to exposit to explain the dynamic between himself and his cousin. It hadn't seemed important before, or perhaps it was something that he was even averse to having known. After a few drinks at dinner and a lot of quiet contemplation during conversations between the elder two at the table which trended toward self-consciousness, he was inclined to explain. Things that were perhaps perfectly normal could still feel awkward under the kind of scrutiny Reiner put them under. He scrutinized because he felt he was being scrutinized.

Whatever his reasoning, he went into the tale of where he fell in the Dornkirk Dynasty. He spoke of his venerated Uncle Melchior who'd pulled himself up by his bootstraps and glided from the slums of the Grungeworks to the posh estates of the West End. He spoke of the cousin who'd occupied the second highest position in the land and likely would have assumed the mantle of Grand Marshal, if his meteoric rise hadn't been cut short by Kalzasern duplicity. He spoke of his own parents, albeit briefly, who were estranged from the blazing branch of their family tree, and about the impoverished upbringing he'd taken as a trial using his uncle and cousins as examplars of how to achieve the Zaichaeri Dream of rags to riches. And ultimately, he wrapped things up by explaining why he'd dined so daintily and tried to make it seem more about personal taste and less about his overweening desire to impress his cousin with proper etiquette in which he'd never actually been educated.

He rounded a corner and caught sight of Kuno, who seemed to be in fine spirits much to Reiner's relief.

"And you missed pureed organ meat." Reiner said, wrinkling his nose. It wasn't as if they didn't eat far worse in the slums, but it was packaged differently and no one questioned the contents of the sausage casings. Ignorance was bliss and went beautifully with mustard.

"Oh! Um, I'd be up for that." He said, as Kuno led him bodily out into the evening air, but he glanced over to Aurin to gauge his interest in the lieutenant's proposal.

[Aurin]

"Well, I can teach you how to eat like a lord," Aurin offered. "I had to learn for work. Sometimes Lord Choi invites me to dinners with prospective donors, not because he wants me there, but because he can't be arsed to know the business of the business and I can keep my head straight while drinking and he—"

The redhead had to wonder again if something was going on between his new friends. He wasn't whipping out his tricks here other than to hide what ought to be hidden lest some Watcher notice him doing things. The foreigner hadn't dipped into their minds and didn't think it worth the risk just now. Perhaps his hunch was correct; perhaps not. They were less accepting of such things here. Perhaps it was just a romantic friendship, which was well enough in his book.

"Only if you will teach me at least the rudiments of flying," he countered immediately. Then he lifted up the tote bag that Dienerin had put the bottles in. A tote bag! "The Minister offered me a bit of a contract bringing information and such from the outside world since I'm already making regular visits to Zaichaer. I got him to give me an advance in the form of liquor since you made me aware of the rationing, and of course, I intend to share it with my newest friends."

He grinned proudly, then noticed Kämpfer's cache as well.

"You sly dog," he said, laughing. "Great minds think alike."

While the tour had given him the lay of the land, he just kept pace with the soldiers. "And can we agree now that nobody will fall drunk off of an airship? I may have saved von Heune, but I don't think that will save me if I help one of you fellows stumble off this mortal coil."

[Rune]

Kuno raised both his brows and made a face that said 'delicious' in the most sarcastic way possible while still remaining friendly as soon as he was told what he had 'missed'.

As the three fell into step the lieutenant found himself forming a genuine liking for the foreigner. There was something sharp about the edges of him, like broken glass peeking out from under comfortably worn leather. He'd known men like Kavafis before; men who knew the value of their own skins well enough to protect them above most other things. The type that recognized their own mortality enough not to say 'no' to a good time when offered.

Glancing down at the bag the redhead was carrying, much fancier than the one he was hefting, which was really just a sack, he grinned.

"So, you'll be a bit of a regular customer from now on? I suppose that means I'll have to promise not to let you slip off the side. The Minister would already have my head if I lost his dulcet cousin."

Steering them all off to one of the smaller docks he added,

"I can teach you a few basic things, enough that you could daringly step in and steady a ship if your pilot is ever distressed. Reiner hates flying in small craft. Tenses up like a virgin bride with a drunken groom. Isn't that right?" He threw the aside over his shoulder at his Dornkirk companion before turning his full attention back to their handsome guest.

The man was handsome, and he knew it without being ashamed of it. It was refreshing after being around so many who were either mist-spawn ugly or else pretended not to realize they were pretty. Reiner was assuredly in the latter category, though, when Kuno was feeling generous, he admitted to himself that it was likely the younger man genuinely didn't realize he was a looker.

As they entered the dock Kuno glanced to either side quickly and then said,

"Best we're quiet through here, till we're aboard." Then led them past the few other small craft to their destination.

The ship had been commissioned as a wedding present for the daughter of some rich so-and-so about a year before the catastrophe, and, as far as Kuno could tell, hadn't been in the air since its maiden voyage. It was larger than most houses Kuno had lived in but it only had one, large, bedroom, so if the newlyweds had wanted to actually use the thing they would probably have had to go without servants. An unthinkable inconvenience, surely. There was a nice little galley and a sitting/dining room in addition to the lavatory and cockpit. The upper deck had seating and a railing for viewing starts or the earth below, but it was damn well cold enough that, unless they got very drunk, Kuno wasn't looking forward to being above deck.

Stepping up to unlock the hatch door and pull it down so they could all board he gave a mock bow, saying,

"Welcome aboard the Astrior." The name of the ship felt silly in his mouth but people did like to call them unique things.

[Reiner Dornkirk]

"Wait, organ donors?!" Reiner's eyes went wide as he failed to follow the segue from talk of offal to talk of settings in which offal was on offer. He realized his own mistake almost immediately and cringed slightly, but just as quickly decided to roll with it.

"I knew Kalzasi was depraved, but that's a whole new level. I reckon I'd enjoy foie gras more if I knew it came from an Avialae's innards, though." He grinned, looking to Kuno for approval, before turning back to arch an eyebrow at Aurin.

"Next you'll be asking for blueprints from the Windworks." He jeered through a smirk, "But at least you don't show up to the party with your arm swinging." He noted, glancing with an approving nod at the tote bag. He'd never had the gall to ask for bottles to take to go, but he had to admire it since he was the only one empty handed.

"Dulcet?" Reiner scoffed, "You act like I'm the fancy, posh one and then you use those ten schilling words I don't even know. Quatsch!" He shook his head, chortling. It wouldn't be long lived, as Kuno's teasing took a turn he didn't appreciate.

"That was just at the beginning, you cunt!" He turned to Aurin quickly, "Kuno came up through the air force and I was infantry, so I wasn't very experienced in the sky before I lived here." With a sharp look to Kuno he added: "I've accommodated, since." He was content to keep mum as they made their way through the shipyard, though not because he was still cross. He was just a bit tipsy and tended to lose his muse to speak when he was caught between drinks without one actively in hand. He eagerly boarded the Astrior, keen to move on to the next act of this evening's inebriation.

[Aurin]

Aurin laughed at the misunderstandings and the variety of humor between them. Dornkirk was the object of Kämpfer's jokes, but he didn't actually seem to mind. Some people enjoyed a little embarrassment from friends. In any case, he nodded understanding at Dornkirk. It had taken Aurin less time to grow accustomed to airships; he had grown up next to a mighty river and the pitch and roll of decks was just a thing he couldn't remember learning. It had always been there.

Stealth was one of his fortes; he didn't give them away.

"The Astrior," he whispered appreciatively. "Permission to go aboard, Captain?" He smirked at the promotion he had granted the man. With a salute, he hopped aboard, looking it over. He wasn't an expert, but it seemed like a pleasure craft. He rather wanted one. Perhaps he might be able to abscond with something at some point. He figured he could probably take it with him through the slipstreams if the wards around the islands didn't block him. Valencia would know when he spoke to her.

"Well, I hope Schönling doesn't get nervous with two drunken grooms!" he whispered, unsure just when it would be safe to make noise again.

Dornkirk was definitely Kämpfer's "wife" as these things went. He laughed quietly. It was a shame they hated Kalzasi; there, they could have just fucked and gotten it over with. Nobody would truly have minded. But he wondered if the cataclysm would only make those things more verboten in Zaichaer. Their population had been depleted by the cataclysm and all that had come after. They would need babies to rebuild. At least that meant Aurin wouldn't have trouble finding bunkmates whenever business brought him back.

He stowed his precious tote, and then proceeded to watch how the airman loosed them from their moorings and all. It was a good day when he could learn and party.