Testing Limits [Aurin]

[Torin Kilvin]

Glade 1st, 121

The two days the large apprentice had spent tending to the first man he had ever sworn loyalty to had been educational in many ways. He came away from them steadier, more settled; as if a part of him that had been unwilling to accept the city as his home was now relaxing its emotional hold.

He had woken on the third day and made his haste to return to his work. The runesmith had inquired after his 'uncle' and Torin had been as honest as possible without giving away any personal details that might bother Aurin to have known. He'd gotten to work without further issue and happily done some of the more intricate piece work for his fellow apprentice's jobs while he waited on commissions of his own. He was beginning to get a reputation for the more delicate work. It wasn't that he wasn't good at heavier, blunter work, it was more that all the others were good at those too and not so good with small, intricate things. There was a little worry in his mind that he wouldn't be sought out for heavier jobs if the reputation went beyond the shop's employees, but he could just do a few sturdier commissions and set things straight in the minds of Kalzasi's elite.

Burying himself in the work was always easier after time spent away. At least, when that time was spent in the company of those who desired his company as much as he did there's. He was beginning to believe Aurin did want him around. The man didn't lay things out openly for others to stumble across but, if Torin was willing to listen with more than just his ears for more than just spoken words, there was a wealth of subtle information to be found.

The next morning found him abed, early, before the sun had even begun to lighten the edges of the heavy Frost curtains. Warm thoughts of waking up pressed close to the comfort of another body in a bed small enough to require such for sharing held him at the edge of slumber for long minutes. Aurin might not be abed yet, often he was up till near the sun rose tending his duties in the Cabaret. The image of Auron just crawling into his own bed to sleep as Torin began to wake up brought a sleepy little smile to the blond's face. Reaching up to find the pendant he now wore resting on his chest he spoke the word that would make the corresponding pendant activate.

If Aurin was sleeping the slight vibration might be enough to wake him, almost anything unexpected was enough to wake the red-head. If he was he could ignore it and continue sleeping, or wake up and respond. Hopefully, he was just settling in and wouldn't wake from solid slumber worried that anything was wrong.

[Aurin]

There was a schedule of sorts at the Velvet Cabaret, but as much as Lunaria liked things to work like clockwork, her lieutenants and the various people who worked there in front of house and behind the scenes were constantly adapting to the whimsy and needs of the guests, which was of primary concern. The coin must flow, she always said. Of course, they were also tasked with being safe and that was a large part of Aurin's business. He might not be a bulky bouncer type, but he had shut things down before. More often than not, he distracted and deflected, turning danger aside before it got real. And there were always the actual bouncers to call in if things threatened to get too violent.

Seeing as the place rarely ever shut down entirely, he had stayed long enough to see the next shift take up things where the previous shift had left off. He passed the torch to another managerial sort and was free. A quick soak in a tub helped relax his tension, and then he slipped out the back to cross the alley to his redheaded cottage. Torin had joked that the redhead lived in a redheaded cottage. Sometimes he was so childish, but Aurin smirked privately all the same.

Looking around, he stretched languorously, the heat from the bath having stuck to his muscles even for the short walk through the winter cold. The place was always rather tidy. He kept it neat and simple, after all. But he had entirely too much firewood stacked inside, and stores of food that he hadn't brought over from the Cabaret's kitchens. It seemed that if you showed a little kindness and affection to a young person in need, they might bring gifts — or perhaps Torin was nesting, wanting to feel like he was contributing to making the house a home even though they only saw each other once a month or so. The bad man and the good boy were busy people.

Behind his locked door, he felt safe enough. As he pulled his tunic up over his head, he felt the tingle against his chest. Was it properly called an amulet? He was no mage to know such things despite his pair of runes. Threading a bit of aether through one of them, he looked at the amulet. The pendant glowed differently while activated. He could sort of see some of the structure in greater detail when there was power running through it. He encouraged Torin to talk about his work, but there was only so much of it Aurin actually understood. This helped, though.

Sitting down on the bed, he activated it and then began pulling off his boots. Looking around, he could see faint afterimages of Torin's aura, as though he had been looking at the sun, closed his eyes, and colors bruised the insides of his eyelids for a time.

"Hey, kid," he grumbled, his voice not hiding its weariness. "Sleep well?"

[Torin Kilvin]

There was only a minor delay between when Torin activated the bonded pair of amulets before Aurin responded. There was a mild similar buzz against his skin as to the one the other man would have felt. Then the redhead's voice whispered through as though his head were laying on Torin's chest. A smile came instantly to the boy's face; even sounding tired and possibly it was a gift to start his mornings with his friend. It was still a surprise when the pendants worked. They had tested them when they were together, of course, when Torin stepped out to get them food. But it was still new, both having access to a friend when he needed one, and that something that had come entirely out of his own mind was now magically allowing him that access.

"Mmhmm." He answered the question, the end being cut off by a massive stretch and accompanying yawn.

"Don't need to be up yet, but my brain seems to wake me early just to catch you before you sleep." Aurin's voice changed when he'd been sleeping, even when he pretended not to have been. It wasn't something a stranger would notice, but Aurin's voice was something of a constant study for the apprentice. So, he knew that the other man hadn't woken out of his sleep to answer him.

"I didn't really do much yesterday, just piece work that would help complete some things on time. No runesmithing, only metalwork. I traced out the mechanism in your boots too." There was laughter in his voice even if he didn't actually laugh. It felt like a time to be quiet, intimate, laughter aloud could have its place later. "I want to see if I can get it to work for me. Might be useful if I could engrave the workings with runes. Not sure what I'd want them to do yet but it's another idea I'll have to attribute to you when I do figure it out."

Shifting a bit he relaxed into the conversation,

"How was your night?"

As he listened to the answer one hand cupped lightly around the pendant, feeling the soft thrum of power moving through it with their voices. The other slid down his body, seeking the warmth he kept there, and soothing himself as Aurin might had they been in his little cottage rather than half a city away from each other.

[Aurin]

"You just caught me," he admitted, laying back so he could lift his hips and slide his trousers down. "Soaked in a tub for a while after switching crews. Just a little tense. No particular reason." It was just a little humdrum reporting, but he didn't expect Torin wanted more than the sound of his voice. Of course, it was smart to test the thing. The space between them didn't change drastically, but contraptions had a tendency to break down over time. He didn't know if that was true with magic, but in his experience, all things followed patterns.

"Not every day can be exciting. That'd get exhausting quick." From what he knew of Torin's nature, though, he doubted the metalwork was anything but therapeutic for him. Aurin was curious to see him work, but didn't think his master would want his apprentices bringing people into the forge. Stealing trade secrets or just getting hurt from ignorance and causing him no end of trouble. Some people sued in courts over such things. He didn't rightly know of Kalzasi was litigious in that sense, but he mostly worked around laws himself. "It was like that for me, as well. Just another day. The ones that stand out are often the bad ones, really. But it's old hats now." He yawned, long, jaw-cracking.

"Sorry. Aye, those boots come in handy. People might see a knife coming and think the kick is less dangerous. Surprise."

He settled himself under his blankets, the rustling possibly coming along the magical line.

"I know you're testing these things. Is the volume all right? Should I speak up? Should I whisper? Just let me know... I looked at it more closely today, watched its mechanism... light up. I only know what I'm looking at because you explained it, but it's intricate. All that piece work must help"

He yawned again, looking around. "I can see little flashes of you being here, too. S'nice."

[Torin Kilvin]

Settling back, letting the calming effect of his friend's voice draw him into full wakefulness slowly, Torin allowed himself the luxury of just listening for a few moments. The normalcy with which Aurin spoke of violence made the younger man's mind simply accepted as portrayed; a normal part of life. Although, aside from adolescent fighting, his own life hadn't given him cause to do the type of violence Aurin's manner, way of speaking, and tendency to keep sharp objects always within arms reach suggested, it seemed as though the world at large saw it the same way as the red-haired man.

The boy's mind did him the favor of not imagining in any detail the types of scenes Aurin's stories might suggest, instead merely glossing over with a general understanding of the information being presented.

"Mhm." Was again his hummed answer before his still-sleepy mind caught up to the fact that he actually needed to answer the questions being asked.

"You're coming through clear, not loud, but like a conversation." As his mind began to attach to the ideas of his work he went on, "It's air and sound passing directly through a portal, so it should just transmit as though we were beside each other." Or, as the position of the pendants dictated in the current case, on top of each other. He flushed slightly, but there was no one to see, and it was more happy memory than anything like shame. The coloring became one of pride as Aurin commented on the intricacies of his design.

"I wish I could see them through your eyes. I wonder if your rune is common on runesmiths, or if it would just confuse the senses we already use to manipulate the magic?" He was musing, knowing neither of them was likely to have any real answer.

Squirming a little at the mental image of Aurin being able to see traces of him he said, "I wish there were flashes of you here." It would make no sense of him to take Aurin to his little room when the man had his own cottage, but it would still be nice to have memories; perhaps catch a lingering scent in the bedding.

Recognizing, reluctantly, that the time they had to talk was limited he stretched again, trying to force himself to fully awake without losing the comforting feel of how he'd woken.

"My master wants me minding the shop today, while he teaches the younger boys. Says it's important to learn the business side if I'm going to make my own way someday." For all the additional training the older runesmith had begun suggesting he didn't seem as though he was pushing Torin to make plans to set himself up in business alone. A fact that the apprentice was grateful for, he still felt very much an apprentice. His work was progressing but his knowledge of the city, prices, where to procure the material he would need were all still like an outline drawing with nothing filling it in.

"I'll have little to do most of the time. Guess I'll just think about you warm in your bed and wish I were there too."

[Aurin]

"From what I understand," he said, pausing again to yawn as he settled into his bed, "people who craft with magic have pieces of enchanted glass to look through to mimic this sort of vision? I don't really know your craft, though, nor the path of the magus. I just have a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Well, I'm not wearing a shirt, but you know what I mean."

He chuckled. "And on that note, have a good day..."

That said, he cut the connection and smirked into his pillow. That night, he slept wearing only the pendant Torin had given him. It became a habit, checking in with the excuse of checking the capabilities of the runeforged pendant. Several days later, he was taking a break from work so he could eat something. Wrapping the hot little meat pie in a napkin, he let himself out the back and wandered over toward his cottage. He said the word of activation to the pendant and then put his key in the door.

When he heard Torin's distracted voice respond, he closed the door behind him.

"It's late," he said. "You need to stop working now." Of course, he didn't use his own voice. He had been listening to Torin's every day now for several days and had heard him in person, watched his lips form words, seen his expressions, and could almost see the wheels in his head turning before he said something into the world. On the walk, he had woven a web of aether into himself, focusing on his head, his throat, and his chest, as well as his diaphragm. So many singers had talked about their instruments around him; it helped him understand a bit what he was doing.

He spoke in a fair facsimile of Torin's own voice, inflection and everything.

Then he smiled, imagining Torin's confused face. He almost considered peeking through the hole in the pendant to see if he could see it.

[Torin Kilvin]

As the days passed he settled into the new rhythm of his life. It was similar to what it had been, with a few notable changes. He was being sent out on errands more; trusted to be responsible for both handling money and assessing the quality of products to be used in the forge. He was also spending a few minutes of every morning, and every evening, able to speak with a friend. It wasn't always exact, some mornings Aurin was busy or already asleep when Torin tried to contact him, so the man would call him later in the day.

Today was such a one. It had taken a while to convince himself that wearing the pendant while working in the dangerous environs of the forge was safe. He knew, on a logical level, that it was, he had ensured it to be so, but it had still been several days before he stopped worrying for it as it sat against his skin under his leather apron.

The morning had been spent in the shop, the afternoon had seen him working iron into steel, melting and coking the clean raw metal into weapons-grade material. It seemed a simple task for him to perform but it was a matter of trust and he took pride in the work even as it smudged his hands and face black. Good steel was something that took precision; it had to hold up to the forging it would be put through, and afterward, the use. A good blade was worth a man's life, a bad one could cost it.

He was just putting away his tools, a bright stack of ingots ready to be used stood testament to the sweat and knowledge he'd expended to make them. He was smiling down at them, rubbing the back of a filthy hand over his brow, when he felt the pendant activate.

Speaking the activation word his smile brightening farther, he made his way over to the barrel of wash water.
"Hello, bad man." He said, happy but mildly distracted with his hands behind his back trying to untie his knotted work leathers.

He paused, midway through pulling his apron over his head when he heard the voice coming through. It was his own voice? His smile turned to a frown; was the amulet not working correctly? Echoing something he'd once said back at him instead of Aurin's voice? The idea didn't make sense, not unless he'd mismade the runes on one of both of the pendants badly. If he'd done so badly enough to cause this sort of issue it would have shown sooner, besides, such a feat would be more complicated than an accident could account for.

"Aurin?" He asked, confusion as plain in his voice as on his unseen face. All manner of reasons why his voice might be coming from the other side of the pendant occurred to him, each less plausible than the last.

[Aurin]

"No," he said, trying to keep the hilarity out of his voice. "It is I, Torin Kilvin, the Runemaster of Karnor. The year is 140 in the Age of Steel and I have made the northern realm my own." But then he really couldn't keep his own joke from making him laugh even if he was the only one tickled by it. He attempted a diabolical laugh, but it devolved into normal, ridiculous laughter.

"It's Aurin," he affirmed. "Just thought I'd share my other trick with you." It was actually a rather important reveal, as he liked to keep his little bits of magic a secret, the better to spring them out in a situation to save his life or at least turn a bad situation to his advantage.

Perhaps because he had spun the illusion or, perhaps, because of the other rune etched into his skin and into his soul, he could almost feel the gossamer strands of aether in and around his vocal apparatus.

"I think it's a fair approximation of your voice, though. I may have been paying close attention to how you sound." He smirked and that certainly shone through in his borrowed voice. He wasn't really trying to copy Torin's cadences now, which made it a strange amalgam of Torin's voice speaking as Aurin would. This was a trick rather than a true attempt to deceive, no matter his introduction to the conversation.

"I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to be up late working like I'm going to be. I just walked home to have my supper in the peace and quiet before I go back. How are you, kid?"

Aurin let the pendent fall back against his chest, giving it a little distance as he tried to eat quietly so as not to be rude.

[Torin Kilvin]

Initially, the apprentice just stared, awkwardly due to the angle, at the pendant on his chest. What was being told to him made almost no sense. But 'almost' was the key factor. His mind was just starting to analyze all the implied issues with what he was being told when Aurin (probably) started laughing and admitted the joke.

The cadence sounded like Aurin, but the voice was still his own. Hearing himself outside of his own head for the first time he was able to recognize the similarities but it was still jarring. As the pieces clicked into place, the shared knowledge of the red-head's second rune, interest overwhelmed the level of confusion Torin was feeling.

A flood of questions bubbled up into his head but then he was presented with the idea that his friend had been taking careful note of how he sounded. His customary flush appeared, or would have had he not already been flushed with the heat of work so recently set aside. His mind immediately rationalized the act as one Aurin employed for the purpose of using his magic. Someone to practice on. That he could be useful, even in this passive way, pleased the boy.

"You do sound like me." It was a compliment, even if it held strains of the oddity he was still feeling. Hearing himself call him 'kid' with Aurin's sharp affection made him want to sit down with his back to something, but it didn't dampen his mood.

"I'm... Alright?" He laughed at his own confusion, showing it to be mild and passing. "I was just concentrating all afternoon on mixing steel and to come out of it to your joke was a little jarring." He sat on a sturdy box that had once held ingots years prior but was now kept around for the purpose he was currently putting it to. "I just finished, was trying to work my way out of my leathers when you activated. Got me all tangled up in more ways than one." He laughed again, stripped down to just his breeches and boots now that he'd made his way out of gloves and apron. His hair was held out of his eyes with a leather cord but it hung sweaty on his shoulders.

"I was thinking about going out for a bath tonight, then maybe find a tavern with some music and dinner. If only the Cabaret was close enough I'd take advantage of its hospitality."

They chatted for a bit; Torin asking about how Aurin's two runes combined, if he could see his own spells as he wove them, etc. When the apprentice sensed that their time was drawing to an end he said,

"Can I hear your own voice, before you go?"

[Aurin]

"It is difficult to explain," Aurin said in Torin's voice. "I think it's easiest to talk about it as though it was sight, but it's not. I could close my eyes and see through my rune, albeit not the same way I see with my eyes. Perhaps next time we leave the city, I'll wear a blindfold and I'll use my other sense to know where I'm going."

It seemed strange now that it was so long between times where he saw the apprentice, but they spoke frequently, even if only for a little while. They didn't have too long, as he had to get back to work, and apparently, Torin had plans for himself, which was probably for the best.

"Think about me in the bath, kid," he said, which probably sounded quite strange in Torin's own voice. Anyway, when Torin asked him to drop the masquerade, he quietly complied, taking the time to unravel what he had wrought rather than blunt force banishing the weave of aether. He was trying to be skilled so he could be subtle, and so his practice ought to reflect that. In any case, it was supposed to make overreaching less likely and he definitely didn't want to go mad like sorcerers went sometimes, or die for his small tricks.

"Think about me in the bath, kid," he said again, this time in his own voice. Torin was fastidious and Aurin could appreciate that. Life was messy and neatness was a way for the mind to at least feel as though it had some control.

"And you know where to find me if you find yourself walking farther than normal." The Velvet Cabaret offered plenty of distractions for the young man that Aurin would be only too happy to curate even if he wasn't able to share in them. Someone had to keep things running smoothly.