The Knack [Finn]

[Arvælyn]

"All roads?" Arry grinned, "Don't tell me that! That sounds like a lot of competition for an elf with a jealous streak." He laughed a bit, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He gasped sharply, as Finn's aether withdrew from his Symphony. He didn't need long to collect himself, though, and accepted the proffered arm allowing himself to be led.

"I suppose my situation is rather similar. When I started at the Velvet Cabaret, I stayed with Aurin for a bit. He has an adjacent cottage, but when a room opened up upstairs, we thought it wiser for me to stay there..." He trailed off, and glanced over to the kitchen when it was indicated.

Arry didn't really care about a tour, though he looked and listened insofar as Finn gave him one. He'd only mentioned a tour in the first place to downplay his desire to be alone with the minstrel. When he was led outside, he cocked an eyebrow upward.

"They keep you in the stables?" He mused, hoping it was a joke, before Finn turned and led him to a staircase. "Oh! This isn't as I imagined things, at all. I'd envisioned you living in one of the boarding rooms at the Inn, this is much more private..." He noted, as the door was unlocked. He pursed his lips.

"You know that jealous streak I mentioned?" He said, glancing about. "This may as well be a Cloudhaven estate next to my meagre residence. I don't even have to duck my head when I walk inside!" And inside he walked, circling the room and casting his appraising eye over everything in view, and then plopping down on the edge of the bed.

"You can finished up your dinner." He said, collapsing onto his back with his legs hung over the edge of the mattress, looking at the ceiling. "So... how did you end up here, anyway?"

[Finn]

"Not like that," he protested, flushing. Finn had meant that any direction they took ought to lead to his room, and in the sudden lack of connection with Arry's emotions, he wasn't sure if the pretty half-elf was actually upset. It didn't seem that way, though, so the brief idea of a tour commenced. He laughed at the idea of living in the stables for years and made a joke about Arry being able to smell the hay on him at all times were such the case.

It pleased him to have his small demesne appreciated by one whose opinion was of growing importance to him, though he frowned a bit at the thought of Arry surviving on less.

"Don't worry," he said, still holding the sack of victuals and wine in one hand as Arry made himself comfortable. "People are starting to realize your skill and talent and soon your means will eclipse mine, for certes." He smiled, then looked down, a lock of hair falling over his forehead. The minstrel kicked off his low boots by the door and then tried to quickly organize his notes and sheet music, making room for him to set out the food. He was more hungry for time with Arry than more to eat, so he uncorked a bottle of wine and came to kneel by the bed with it, offering it up to the rising star that had fallen into his bed.

"We used to visit my mother's brother in Kalzasi when I was young. So I stayed with him and his family when I first moved here. He introduced me to the proprietor of the Crown and Lion, and it was a stroke of luck because I managed to finagle this attic room for a decent rate. The more I play in the taproom, the more I'm paid in kind. Easier to avoid paying taxes that way, too." His smile went mischievous.

"And you came to Kalzasi because your friend was here?"

[Arvælyn]

Finn's ostensibly embarrassed response and emphatic protest to his jest assuaged whatever lingering concerns Arry may have brooked moments earlier.

"Good." He replied succinctly, and left it at that.

His head lolled to the side facing the door and Arry noticed that Finn had removed his shoes.

"Oh, sorry!" He sat up and unstrapped his own boots, letting them tumble to the floor at the foot of the bed. "I'm used to living in shit holes, so dirty floors are the least of my concerns." He accepted the offered bottle of wine and chugged down a few hefty gulps, before passing it back over to Finn.

"Does your uncle still live in Kalzasi?" He inquired, mildly.

"Oh. Yes." He sat upright and crossed his legs, "He wasn't my friend yet, but I met Aurin in Antiris a few years back. Tried to pick his pocket, actually, but he was wise to me ole tricks having come from a similar background, so 'e caught me. Rather than calling the constables 'e took me to lunch, for some reason, and told me 'ow different fings were in Kalzasi. 'e was gonna take me wiff 'im, bu' I go'... detained. The place I laid me 'ead got raided by the police some months later and, with no place else to go, I headed here wiff nowt but the clothes on me back." He paused, "That's how I used to talk." He said, returning to the posh, polished Common of Arvalyn.

"So I showed up on Aurin's doorstep and decided to reinvent myself with his help... Glamourous, innit?" He offered with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Anyway, I've been much happier here. I didn't leave much in Antiris. I don't miss it a jot."

[Finn]

Finn wasn't certain whether Arry's admitted jealousy ought to make him nervous. The highborn were famous for having multiple legal partners, whereas the lower classes didn't tend to have enough wealth to dole out to many children from many partners. Of course, everyone had their own desires and structures that made them feel safe. Finn hadn't really ever had anything long-term or exclusive, so this was an undiscovered country for him.

"Oh, don't worry," he hastened to assure him. "My father was a stickler for shoes in the house seeing as he was largely responsible for cleaning until we were big enough to help. I do try to keep the place clean, but it's not like you're tracking in the midden or anything. Of course... you're also welcome to take off whatever you need to in order to feel comfortable in my home."

He winked and took the wine back for a swig of his own, finding himself happy there on the floor with his elbow on the bed while Arry rested there. It was close without feeling like he was infringing upon Arry's personal space, anyway.

"My nuncle's moved back to the hometown. His wife died a couple of years ago and one child got married and moved out, the other works on a sort of caravan, so he decided to sell his business and invest what he has earned in the city back into the village. I think he'll visit more once my cousin starts having children, though."

Finn laughed at Arry's native dialect, though the sparkle in his eyes made it clear there was no malice in it.

"There's a music to those cadences," he began, then shook his head. He wasn't sure if it was something Arry wanted to go too far into especially when he switched back to his polished Common so quickly. "Well, I ought to thank him for talking you into moving to Kalzasi, oughtn't I?"

Once again, he offered the bottle to Arry, though he teased him a bit as if he wanted to pour it into the actor's mouth himself.

[Arvælyn]

"Cheeky!" Arry chuckled, "But I'll not be topped! Not in regard to cheekiness, anyway..." He winked right back and, when Finn freed his hands by taking the bottle back, Arry accepted his challenge and started to unfasten the front of his shirt until he could widen the collar enough to pull it up over his head. He tossed the garment unceremoniously over his shoulder, where it landed on one of Finn's pillows.

He laid back, propping himself up on his elbows, because that was a far more flattering image to show of the cut of his torso of chiseled gold than sitting up.

"Yeah?" He arched an eyebrow, somewhat critically at Finn's compliment to his native dialect. "If there's music to it, it's a bawdy drinking song slurred out at the end of a night in the seediest whore house you've ever laid eyes on." He softened almost immediately, and playfully nudged Finn's side with the side of his stockinged foot.

"I wonder what you two would think of each other, if the two of you met proper..." He frowned a bit to himself, "Just my luck you'd probably fall in love with each other and inspire my performances in tragedies for years to come..." He trailed off and his mind wandered to his replacement in Aurin's esteem and affection. His nostrils flared slightly and, all of a sudden the scent of wine became pungent as the mouth of the bottle grazed his lips and he glanced over to find a playful minstrel tipping it in his direction. His grimace was supplanted by a grin and he parted his lips appeasingly, so Finn could tip the bottle and pour a few gulps down his eager throat. He wiped at his lips with the back of his hand, when the bottle was withdrawn and grinned over to his beautiful busker.

"Are you trying to get me drunk so that you can take advantage of me? You should know, you're more than intoxicating enough for that without the aid of fermented fruit juice."

[Finn]

"There might be a time and a place for a bawdy song betwixt us," he said with a merry twinkle in his eye. But his smile went a touch sad as Arry continued. There were wounds there and he could sense them without his rune, though he didn't press for more. He might form a narrative out of the little bits and pieces Arry dropped for him, but he made an active effort not to.

For the time being, he was merely grateful that Arry's champion had given him a reason to come to Kalzasi and a reason for him to stay. He didn't know whether the man would see him any particular way now that he was dating the young actor. Perhaps a third date might be required to call them dating, but they had known each other a fair while before making the joint decision to date. Finn didn't really know the mechanics of these things outside what he had observed and what he knew from songs.

"Perhaps I'm just enchanted by the shape your mouth takes around the bottle," he teased, voice pitched a bit lower. But he smiled, took a drink, and set the bottle aside so he could unlace his doublet. He didn't stop until the shirt below was removed as well, and set aside. He reached out to touch Arry, but settled on his knee, safer in some ways, though perhaps more dangerous in others. He wanted to feel a little more connected, but he didn't want to push things, even if taking one's shirt off on another man's bed could easily be read as an embossed invitation with an RSVP.

"I think the deck is stacked in my favor," he noted. "Here you are in my bed... so I think I ought to let you take advantage of me in the interest of fairness."

[Arvælyn]

"As long the place isn't Antiris, I'll sing whatever you like- Bawdy or otherwise." Arry countered dryly as he drew his slim legs up to join him on the bed so he could lay on his side and be more attentive to the minstrel below. He stretched one arm out to rest his hand on Finn's soft, brown hair- allowing his fingers to glide through the waves they created with their motion.

"Enchanted, eh?" He let slip the tendrils of energy that began to surge forth from his Rune when his mind flicked toward opening that gateway. They meandered forth from his wrist and encircled the fingers that lay atop Finn's crown, until they found Finn's rune and dipped beneath the corporeal barrier of his cranium to touch on the untouchable.

"I'll show you enchanted." He said, as he projected a warm, pleasurable sensation that he derived from the memory of their first kiss up on the rooftop, coloured as it was by the afterglow of their triumphant performance.

"I'll stack your deck, all right." He said, sliding his hand from Finn's head down to his neck, where cool fingers tenderly caressed the warm, soft skin at his throat.

"Come up here, Country Boy..." He urged with his voice and his aether, as his other hand patted a spot beside him on the mattress. There was a laziness to the energies he projected, as if the tendrils of aether were slurred by the influence of the wine he'd been enjoying throughout the evening. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling for Finn, but it was easier and more comfortable than it had occasioned to be prior to this evening's rendezvous.

[Finn]

Finn was grinning at Arry's clever repartee, but his mouth fell open with a soft gasp as he electrified Finn's rune with his own. It felt like static that gave one a shock when they touched a metal doorknob, but it wasn't physical. Other reactions were quite physical.

"What is that?" he asked slowly. A melody of Arry's to be sure, but he couldn't specifically name it. It just made him feel alive in the way he did after good wine and good company, walking out into the chill night air that added a snap of clarity without dispelling the warm glow within.

He climbed carefully onto the bed, not quite trusting his limbs in the sudden, magical intoxication. Obedient to Arry's will, it seemed, he stretched out beside him, head on his own arm, seeing Arry properly now that they were both horizontal.

"Hello." He bit his lip. "You are enchanting me. Am I the one who will become addicted?"

His own hand rested on the dip between Arry's ribs and his pelvis, a warm hand on warm skin. Though his room was generally snug and warm from the heat filtering up from the floors below, he shivered, then smiled, embarrassed.

"I forgot the wine," he admitted. "I left it down there. Do you want me to get the wine? I'll get the wine." He didn't know why he was babbling. This was Arry, who could be complicated and prickly, but had never embarrassed him or hurt him or given him reason to be nervous. Even so, he twisted away to reach for the bottle of wine down by his discarded shirt and doublet. Finn the Fantastic was obviously not yet Finn the Fantastic Lover.

[Arvælyn]

"That..." Arry began, wearing a devilishly blithe smile, "...is how I feel when I think about our first kiss." He continued to project the sensation, which was too fresh and present to feel like nostalgia. Especially since it was coloured by his feelings in this moment, as well, which represented another first (visiting Finn's home) and bore the anticipation of more potential firsts in the hours to come.

"Perhaps if we both become addicted, then it's simply symbiosis." He conjectured, as he draped his upward facing arm and his upward facing leg over the body before him. "Or maybe even more! Maybe we'll feed into and off of each other's Runes when we make love and we will swirl our aetherial energies together until we reach climax and apotheosis withal. Fucking our way into the Pantheon..." He chuckled at his own erotic flight of fancy, and at Finn's sudden concern over the absence of wine.

"I really didn't miss it..." He consoled, as he reluctantly pushed himself to sitting upright. He may not have missed the wine, but if it was going to be put back into the equation he certainly wasn't going to decline- and it seemed safer to drink the wine sitting up, lest he stain Finn's sheets on his first visit and not be invited back.

"Hey..." He locked eyes with Finn and emanated soothing energy. Arry was comfortable, now. Confident in Finn's interest and pleased with their trajectory. He was excited, but not really nervous.

"Listen to how I'm feeling. Tap into it." He offered, placing a hand on Finn's knee. "You'll see that you needn't be nervous... Unless that's a kink of yours."

[Finn]

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," he replied with a playful lilt. But he wasn't entirely facetious in that; it was certain that Arry knew more about kinks and such than Finn did. He may have grown up in a village with plenty of livestock and other animals doing what animals did when nature called them to procreate. There was no mystery in the mechanics. But he was hardly a sophisticated lover.

But he snagged the bottle and found Arry had changed positions. For a moment, he worried he had spoiled the mood, but then Arry was soothing him with a melody, and Finn knew well enough to sense its sincerity. If Arry was playing him, he wasn't hiding the fingering. He grinned, took a swig of wine, and then handed the bottle to Arry before flopping down on his back and placing his head in Arry's lap. It was a bold move for him in that it was a new sort of intimacy, though not precisely the intimacy one might acquire in a bed with someone.

All the same, he felt a tingle on his scalp where it rested on Arry as he reached out with his own small power to mesmerize his would-be lover back. His soul sang a song of trust, albeit with some tremors of nervous indecision, though they were fading out with time. From below and inverted, the golden visage looked almost like the statue of a god and he wondered whether he could sing hard enough and pour enough magic into Arry that he became an incarnation of Syren as it was said their Shinsei had become an incarnation of dead Arcas.

Finn didn't know much about apotheosis, but it was a nice dream.

"I'm a simple man with simple pleasures," he said, reaching up to touch Arry's cheek, "but I'm keen to learn whatever pleasures you enjoy, be'afel." Lyra had called him that, one of his first lessons in Vallenor. Little singer, it meant. As he wasn't small, he assumed it was a diminutive to show affection, even if Lyra didn't show affection. Arry wasn't small either, but Finn was showing honest affection.

"Now, I think you should take advantage of this situation and kiss me..."