Art and Artifice [and Aurin]

The Jewel of the Northlands

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Torin Kilvin
Posts: 757
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

70th Ash, 123

The schematics required for building something as aetherically complex as the Aura Mimic Torin had in mind had taken a long time to work out. He still found his mind wandered back to them in odd moments, the middle of conversations or as he lay down to sleep, and he would have to get to the nearest bit of paper to jot down adjustments.

As with many of the schematics he'd made all on his own, it would surely be tweaked during creation and not perfected until he'd made it many times. If he ended up making more than one. He was fairly sure that, in the case of the Mimic, he would make at least a few. One for himself, certainly, as he wasn't very good at projecting a false version of himself. His ability with his first rune was strong, but it lay in other veins than subterfuge even after Aurin had given him several lessons.

It wasn't that he couldn't project a false aura, it was more that he couldn't properly hold a fake version of himself in his head well enough that someone else would be able to read it with their own runes and be fooled. Torin was just... Torin, and hadn't ever spent time imagining being anyone else. Even as a child he had dreamed of being in better circumstances, but not of being someone other than himself.

He had asked Aurin to aid him, since he would need Negation and Masquerade both. Semblance he could provide but with with the help of another Sembler the work would go faster. While he would explain what was needed before they started working, they were so connected now that he rarely had to actually discuss what to do once they started weaving aether together. They both had a raw quality to their runic magic, much less academic than the ways that other mages Torin had worked with.

The only thing left to do was to decide what form the Mimic should take, and make it himself or have it made and he was thinking on this.

The pair of them were walking home from a pub where they had gone for a quick bite and possibly too many drinks. Though the world was still gripped by endless Frost it was cozy under their cloaks, the stars were bright and the streets nearly empty due to the cold. It was pleasant just to walk, tipsy and slow, through the moonlit streets as they'd done often.

"I really can't decided." He murmured, but they were close enough for the redhead to hear and the blond had spoken often enough, non sequitur, about this project, and many others, that the clever fox would probably catch his meaning. Torin usually had a distinct and instant feeling for what shape something should take, but the Minic was already proving slippery. A good thing, perhaps, but not helpful in this case.

"A ring maybe?" He grimaced, a bracelet didn't feel right at all. Jewelry made the most sense but jewelry was meant to be seen and the aether wouldn't like that. Glancing over into copper eyes bright in the white light he raised his brows, asking for advice.
Last edited by Torin Kilvin on Wed Feb 28, 2024 9:48 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 557
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Aurin
Posts: 943
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Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1041
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Letters: viewtopic.php?t=3581

"A cock ring," he countered with his telltale smirk. A clever thief's hand slipped under the smith's magical cloak to paw at him suggestively, but then his arm merely came to settle around the small of his broad back. The enchanted cloaks were clutch, but he preferred the very human heat of his good boy.

Aurin's eyes were bright with drink, though he was hardly impaired, as Torin had witnessed more than once since his very bad man had claimed him. It was only a moment before his agile mind was leaping about the problem, offering insights from different perspectives.

"You won't need it while you're working, so you just have to think of something you would be comfortable wearing whenever you leave home. Could be a lucky coin in your pocket. Could be a buckle on your boot. Jewelry attracts attention, whether from pickpockets or admirers." To prove some point, he handed Torin his own belt pouch, cleverly lifted from his belt at some point.

"Mists, go with a boot buckle. You can make it yourself, one of a set, and only one need be enchanted. Misdirection is easier when a thing is supposed to be there, when it's one of many, when it's unimportant. The mind won't think to look there. Most minds, anyway.

Most minds - it was interesting to him how he helped different people do similar things differently. Torin was a terrible liar; with Aurin, he had an intense desire to lay himself bare - in more ways than one - but it wasn't as though he was in the habit of hiding things. Aurin had been able to train him to observe, to listen, and to record. Whereas, with Rivin, it was easy to teach him to be the metal that changed shape in the kiln, on the anvil. Rivin could mimic, become someone else. At some point, he might even be able to become a creditable actor upon the stage if he so desired.

In any case, Aurin did what he could to give them both the tools they needed to reach their goals.
word count: 357
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions.
I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”
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Torin Kilvin
Posts: 757
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

The younger man did not roll his eyes or scoff at the dirty suggestion, he knew better. If he flushed at all at thinking that a stranger might overhear and imagine him crafting such a thing it was impossible to tell between the ruddiness caused by both the alcohol in him and the cold surrounding. The hands slipping under his cloak, and his clothes, seeking warmth and flesh no longer made him blush, at least, not at night when he was wrapped in a cloak large enough that the rare passerby wouldn't be able to see what was happening. Two men, full of drink, leaning on each other to make it back home was not a rare sight in the city, after all.

The idea, when Aurin presented a serious one, had its merits. The intention of the Aura Mimic was to conceal a person while making them appear normal. Putting it into a buckle would be the same concept, concealing the magic in something so normal no one would see it the first time they looked, let alone give it a second.

"Mmm, that's good." He was talking about the suggestion, of course. It wasn't Aurin's hands and where, exactly they were straying seeking his body heat that he was referring to. As his mind, however, strayed to exactly what he hadn't been speaking about, he had another idea.

"Maybe gloves would work too." A totally ordinary item that many people wore every day that no one considered to be concealing, yet it hid much. "Doesn't have to be just one thing, I guess."

Each time he made a Mimic it could be suited to the needs of the person who wanted it. Only, the first time, to get the feel right in his head, in his soul, so he could form the aetheric pathways again, it would need to be just so. He tried, for a few moments to figure out which idea would work best, but between what was inside his belly and what was burrowing into the furthest depths of his clothing he couldn't concentrate.

Turning even though they were still walking until he could see his man he breathed,

"Aurin..." All but a moan; needful and worshipful and full of his master.

~~~

The next morning, well, the next day at least, once the young smith had finally convinced himself to rise from his bed and make his way down to his workplace, his mind was able to turn, more fully, to the problem of shaping. After turning the ideas over in his head for a time he decided on the buckle as the more fitting option. But it would be a belt buckle, something he could place at the core of him to wrap around and clasp him securely. It fit all the nooks and crannies of the idea of the piece that had formed in his head since he'd first imagined it. This, he told Aurin over a very, very late breakfast, once the redhead had also risen. For all Torin knew he'd woken early and been to six cities before dawn and only come back to nap with his boy, there was no telling where the fox-like man was anymore unless your eyes were actually on him. Sometimes Torin wondered if Aurin didn't sometimes disguise other members of Portions for Foxes as himself so that he seemed to be in multiple cities at once.
word count: 589
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Aurin
Posts: 943
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

The fox was only half-dressed when he came into Torin's workspace. It was bone-cold outside still, but he went from the warmth of the house to the warmth of the forge and the chill in his bare feet was a small price to pay for the pleasure of thawing them out. Apparently, he had time to kill, for he took up one of his usual spots out of the way to watch Torin work while he sipped a mug of tea. Soon enough, he would be back in Gel'Grandal, making money and also sussing out secrets as he was wont to do. Carina, a chaos goblin, had gotten distracted from the plans she wanted his help with, but there were plenty of other things for him there. He was no longer irked that a season had gone by without her updating Torin and him with what she needed to scope out the target. She would come through or she wouldn't; he wasn't wasting time worrying about it.

There were complex feelings within him as he watched Torin in his space. Today, he wondered what it would have been like if young Torin had found him when he was young, protected him from the world as he did for Timon. Would he still have wanted his sex when he became a man? Would he still have wanted his love? A faint sneer twisted his lips at the thought; he could admit sometimes in the dark that he loved him, that he felt romantic feelings for him. But it was a battle against a lifetime of experience that told him such things were tantamount to waving a white flag in the face of oppressors.

He felt safe in the shadow of his golden boy's strength, even though his habit was to master that strength with his own strength and his own will. There was a potential for violence in Torin; he knew the boy would smash into anyone with a bull-like power should they threaten him, and if he fell, Torin would pick him up and carry him to safety.

That sat well in him, warm and low in his belly, but also high and hard in his heart.
word count: 375
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions.
I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”
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Torin Kilvin
Posts: 757
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

Torin smiled over at the redhead when he came in, his wholly familiar aura drawing the smith away, briefly, from the piece of steel glowing bright on his anvil. Not many things could distract him when he had sunk deep into his work. Blacksmithing never drew him down quite as deep as runesmithing but he could still get lost in it. He was warming himself up with a simple blade; quick and sharp and balanced for throwing. It was small enough to hide behind his hand if he'd wanted to, and if he liked how it turned out he could make a leather handle for it. If he didn't he could melt it down and make something better.

When it was finished and both the forge and the forger were well warmed up for more detailed work he quenched the blade and then held it up for Aurin. It was still quite hot but that level of heat hadn't burned Torin since he'd gotten back to work after his weeks recovering from receiving Elementalism.

He moved the smooth, sharp blade and tang at different angles so the fox-like man could examine it.

"I'll finish it if you do." If he did, he had decided to make it all metal, a single smooth piece would fly better, he might even fill spare moments practicing his etching on it. Making small gifts for Aurin, of his time, or his craft or his person was first nature to him now. Pleasing this man was the heart of him, and if his master wasn't the only one who this applied to, he was certainly the one Torin tried for the most often.

Setting the blade aside where Aurin could examine it as his leisure the smith opened a box and pulled out a lump of dark clay. Sitting lightly on his work stool be began to shape it, mostly with his hands but a Sembler could easily see his use of the elements. Earth to smooth and shape, Water added or subtracted to keep it the right consistency, and, when he was finished, Air and Fire to bake and dry it.

When it was finished he held it too up for inspection. It was a three dimensional fox head, similar to the one that made up Aurin's Illumite brooch.

"What do you think? A fox to protect me."
word count: 409
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Aurin
Posts: 943
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 6:03 pm
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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 sat up and focused on the haft-less blade. He didn't reach out to touch it, knowing he didn't have Torin's resistance to heat. Admittedly, for all that his inner eye was keen, he didn't take to the sembling trick as wholly as Torin did. It remained a trick, a tool, rather than the return of some phantom limb that had always been there just beyond his reach. Sometimes he wondered whether he oughtn't to have Torin give him the elements. Save for the traumatic double-initiation of his sembling and seeming tricks, he seemed to have a knack for skating by without terrible side effects. Aurin was one of those lucky few whose body, mind, and soul seemed to take to runes rather than going mad, growing ill, or succumbing to death.

"Mm. Mhm."

His smirk was proud, but also skewered Torin. Even such a simple expression of praise could give the blond blacksmith butterflies low in his belly, and he liked having that effect on his handsome wunderkind.

When Torin moved on to the clay, he moved back to sprawl in his seat, bare foot coming up to hitch on the windowsill. Watching him at work was soothing, and he knew Torin liked having his eyes on him. Everybody won.

His own heart tightened a bit in his chest, but it didn't show on his face. He crooked his finger and bade Torin draw near. Something had to be done about his preciousness.
word count: 252
“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
Torin Kilvin
Posts: 757
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:54 am
Title: Runesmith
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1062
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=4448

The smith beamed at Aurin's acceptance of his small offering, grinning up at him from where he sat with his hands covered in clay. Ducking his face a little, shyly, at the predatory smirk that accompanied it, but unable to help peeking back up repeatedly to see it.

One of the benefits of Elementalism that he hadn't considered was how much easier it was to keep his hands clean. When he was done with the clay he used water and air to curl all the tiny remaining smears from between his fingerprints and off his palms. The remnants formed a tiny ball which fell atop the larger, unused portion in the box

Baking clay in his own hands was also so much fun, it made him feel like a god or some ancient wizard from the impossibly tales of his childhood. He'd done it a dozen times before but each still filled him with a sort of unexplainable, primeval joy.

When he was beckoned he carefully set his new creation down on his anvil as he obeyed the summons. When he was close, almost between Aurin's legs he knelt down so he could look up at his man, the very image of an apprentice ready and waiting to receive instruction from a beloved master. He had learned through experience not to anticipate what the mercurial redhead's reactions to things might be, so while he was not expecting anything in particular many options for both praise and chastisement flitted about his head.
word count: 263
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Aurin
Posts: 943
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

Once Torin was close enough, he reached out, pulling him closer, pulling him between his legs to kneel there with perfect trust. Then he pulled the haft-less dagger through the slipspace and into his hand. It wasn't sharp enough to do the job, but that wasn't the point. He took a hank of Torin's hair in the other hand and sawed at it with the dull blade. It tugged Torin's head about, but that was about it.

"You can create wonders out of imagination and aether, but you still need me for the simplest things..." It sounded like scolding, but it wasn't - not really. He was proud of Torin's prowess, and pleased to be a necessity for a man such as him. Aurin wouldn't admit it, but when he felt without value, that reminded him that he had value even if it wasn't independent of other people. Sometimes, that was enough to carry him through.

"What am I going to do with you?" he asked as if exasperated, but it was far from that emotion. There were sharper shears inside, but he would wait until later to trim Torin's hair and - possibly - Timon's, though the lad was getting of an age where he wanted a professional to do it.

He brought the unfinished blade down along Torin's throat; if he chose to end the runesmith's life, he rather thought Torin would put up no resistance. Strange, that.

"What am I going to do with you?" he asked again, more of a whisper, the inflections changed. With his hand in Torin's hair and a knife at Torin's throat, Aurin looked vulnerable for once.

fin.
word count: 288
“I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions.
I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”
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Rune
Posts: 683
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2022 4:04 pm
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=3831


R E V I E W


Points: 10 each, may be used for magic

Injuries/Ailments: Nome

Loot: Plans for a new runecrafted item

Notes: I can't tell if this was shagging as an excuse to runeforge or runeforging as an excuse to shag.

Mod XP: None
word count: 72
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