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Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:28 pm
by Florian
Perhaps it was the suddenness of the action, but Florian's eyes welled up again. He turned his face and rested his head against Eitan's chest. What resulted was a quiet sort of crying, but with enough tears for him to feel them on his skin. Florian did not know what he felt. He didn't know what he was supposed to have felt. He couldn't tell if it were sadness, or relief, or confusion. Compassion was rarely encountered. The world watched him with anger and fear, and he mirrored it. Florian knew he was going to die. He had long ago decided he was destined for greatness. He wished for the latter to come to fruition long before the first. Neither kindness nor kinship had ever been in his future, and yet here he was, allowing himself to be held in someone's arms.
Why was this his response? Why is he being kind?
Florian was, naturally, reluctant to hurt someone who had shown him such compassion. He shifted uncomfortably at the request, but he did not remove himself from Eitan's arms. A deep breath, two, three deep breaths and he had felt himself composed enough to have some semblance of control over how much aether he shocked the man with. Men had survived lightning bolts before, and Florian was not a lightning bolt. Not yet.
"Sorry." He mumbled a second apology, not for his tears but for the incoming pain. He released the aether in all its explosive glory, the static sparks bouncing and hitting Angevin. It wasn't strong enough to cause damage, Florian had tried his best to make sure of it. It was strong enough to hurt. It also lasted only a second, a bright, painful second. At least Florian himself didn't feel the shocks.
Was it the fate of the Lysanrin to fear and be feared until there were none of them left? Sometimes he wished to give people a reason to fear him. If Angevin feared him, he didn't show it, and he was just as confused at the unabashed empathy as he was at the lack of fear. Perhaps Eitan knew that he was just as able to protect himself from Florian as anything, and he drew strength from being in control. Perhaps he feared, and he buried it, in the effort to both give and earn trust.
"Do you always insist on knowing what pain you inflict feels like yourself?"
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 12:44 am
by Eitan Angevin
Perhaps his intuition hadn't done him wrong; Albrecht seemed to appreciate the moral support after all. When, in a leadership lecture, the professor had asked whether it was better to be feared or loved, Angevin had given the correct answer, at least insofar as the professor demanded, but in his heart of hearts, he hoped to be feared and loved—feared for what he could do, but loved for the reasons he chose to do things. He knew he couldn't be Admiral Lir Angevin, but hopefully someday he could be Admiral Eitan Angevin and that would be good enough.
But then the Lysanrin apologized and sent a charge of lightning through him, or so it felt like. Not so stunning as a bolt from the sky, but his body seized and his well-intentioned embrace might have been painful for a moment, but Albrecht seemed more worried about him. Angevin shivered and willed himself to breathe properly and not fall over, but now he was steadying himself physically on Albrecht as much as he had been supporting the private emotionally.
"Not always," he admitted through gritted teeth. "But if... fuck... if I am going to ask you to use it against people, I should know what I'm asking. It only seems responsible. And hey... now you know I'm tougher than I look. In case I catch some of it when you need to protect us from greater threats. But... hopefully we can work on your aim. Somehow."
Albrecht seemed to think there was no controlling it, but Eitan controlled his magic and his identity. The Lysanrin could too. Anyway, he didn't like the idea of shoving anyone under his command into the line of fire and asking them to go off like an explosive, far from the comfort and protection of the crew. It just didn't seem right unless as a last resort.
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 2:23 am
by Florian
Florian stood steady as Eitan leaned on him, just as he had leaned on him moments before. Trust begets trust. As Eitan was steady, Florian extracted himself from his arms. When you have spent your life in fear, feared, a hint of love could be overwhelming.
"I would be more useful shooting behind a ward." Stated Florian, "So I'll need to practice my aim." He chuckled and rubbed his arm. He looked like he was feeling better, and he'd try to keep that facade until he returned home. Hopefully it wasn't too obvious that he was still upset.
"I'd still prefer if I can just reinforce wards." He started while he watched Eitan, searching for clues to his reaction on the matter before he replied. "For now. I would rather be seen as one who creates rather than just one who destroys." He wasn't sure if his words would sway Angevin, but it was worth speaking his piece. Especially now, in private, off-duty, when he could do such a thing. He could be honest. It was okay to be honest. "I am not human. But it may help if I shoot like the rest of them."
The very sentence brought a knot into his stomach, a wrenching anxiety that he would lose sight of who he was just to please the people around him. He had to reassure himself that such would never be the case. Florian Albrecht could never be human. The very thought had him change his mind almost immediately. His demeanor changed, and he shed the anxiety like a snake's skin. If he were to survive as Not Human, he would have to be powerful enough to determine his own fate. He took some solace in Eitan's pledge, however. He had proven himself as a man he could trust.
"But I'll practice. Can you create another ward?" He had used the last of the aether he had absorbed on the shock to Eitan. "Task it to something else. I want to see if it looks different." Florian did not quite command - Angevin was his superior, after all, and he did not forget that fact. But the Lysanrin knew what he needed, and he didn't see the need to grovel for something that would benefit them both.
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:07 am
by Eitan Angevin
Angevin didn't let himself lean on Albrecht for too long. He wanted the Lysanrin to know he was strong and durable, both so that he would feel safer with him around and so that he would fear reprisal if he decided to fuck around and find out. They could be friends after a fashion, but they had signed away certain freedoms to serve in the air corps. He patted the private's shoulder, though, a small gesture of gratitude.
"Yes, target practice will be on the roster," he agreed. "I'll teach you some blade work so you will have another way to defend yourself if necessary, and you can show me how to win a bar brawl. I understand you're something of a pugilist." His smile was pointed. Broken horn, scarred face, and dossiers from the Order and the Corps told him as much. "I know I can count on you in a magical battle, but I want to know you can watch my back if we're back to back with sabers. And I want you to know that I can throw down the next time you drink too much and get into trouble." Now his smile was most definitely a smirk.
"And don't you worry. We'll be doing regular upkeep on the Noble Gambit's wards so often it'll become humdrum and boring in no time. I'm just curious if we will be able to boost them beyond their original strength or just keep them from fading away. We'll be learning a lot together, you see? But we will have to practice this from time to time as well. Any control you can have over it will make it safer to use, and then if it comes to a pitched battle again, the men will see that you aren't just a ticking time bomb that they can't be near."
Rather than acquiesce with words, he started a new shield: easy shape, just a circle spreading out before him, anchored to his dog tags. He made it impervious to all matter, which was so broad that it required a steady feed of aether. Smiling again, he pushed against it with his hands, walking into Albrecht and squishing him between the ward and the wall. He knew very well the Lysanrin could suck up the shield. Later, they would see if he could maintain a shield that Albrecht wanted to tear down.
That would be key.
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:36 am
by Florian
Starting a brawl was one thing. Winning was another. Florian did not always win the fights he had gotten himself into. He just escaped them. It was just another thing he would have to practice, and he nodded in acknowledgment as Angevin kept talking. And then he stopped talking and started moving, subtle movements of his hand toward his dog tags. Florian's eyes flicked silver and he saw the shield even as it pushed him against the wall. A challenge!
He placed both hands upon the ward and began the process. He could smell the flower again, muddled from the bouquet at his back, but still distinct. It was something he would have to place later. Florian could see the aether being continuously channeled into the shield even as he was taking it out, but it seemed that the strength of the ward required as such. It was different, and not just in shape. In tone, in pattern, the glow, the subtle movement of the aether, it all told him that this was not the same ward. He could gather from context that the ward blocked physical objects, but he wasn't sure if that were all, considering the constant feeding of aether. Angevin was channeling just enough to maintain the ward, and soon Florian was able to see it wearing down, the edges dimming as it swirled into the points of his fingers. A glance at Angevin's face and he replaced his focus expression with something just a bit more competitive than a smile.
Florian was getting tired from this continued use of his abilities and the first thing he did when he felt the foreign either was metabolize it. The way he could temporarily forgo food and water like this was something that felt as natural as aether sight to the Lysanrin, but he could not often rely on it. It was always better to eat or drink, but he found no point in wasting time when he could use other methods. Florian felt immediately revitalized.
"What did you shield against that required active channeling?" He asked before he remembered something he felt worth saying. "I've found I can hold onto this foreign aether for a few days before I get sick. Might be something else that gets better with practice."
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 5:25 pm
by Eitan Angevin
Eitan grinned when Albrecht's eyes and demeanor changed. He too enjoyed a good challenge; that was how he honed himself and his skills.
Of course, he wasn't actually trying to crush the Lysanrin against the wall, but he did want to give the work a little urgency. He was going to have to requisition an aura glass for the next time they trained together so he could get a better sense of what was going on beyond what he could sense through his own rune, which was very specific to what he did. But so long as Albrecht was pushing back, he was fine. A soldier had to be able to fight. When he began to feel the pull of his ward increasing, he knew that the siphoning had begun. He could even sense his own aether spooling into the slight form before him, though as it was metabolized, he lost all connection with it and was blind to whatever was being done to it.
But Albrecht described Sustain as it was written in his files, so that was another box on the list to check off.
He didn't know how hard the Lysanrin was trying to take down his ward, but so far it was no great effort to keep supplying it with aether. Perhaps if they were actually fighting, they could find out who was stronger. In the meantime, it was good to know that he could protect himself long enough to incapacitate Albrecht if something went horribly wrong. With luck, that would never happen, but Angevin has to have plans for worst case scenarios.
All of a sudden, he released the ward—it was good for him to practice magical agility—and his palms hit the wall on either side of Albrecht's head. Now he could see up close how the Lysanrin reacted to being left in the lurch while actively feeding on aether.
"It was my standard ward against physical objects. It will block a slug, or at least deflect it, but I have to keep feeding it to keep it at full strength. That is a lot of kinetic energy to absorb." Someday, perhaps, he would grow powerful enough that it wouldn't be such a drain, but today was not that day. He didn't like to think about the rune taking more of a toll on him, but it was, as always, in service to the State.
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:27 pm
by Florian
The sudden movement of Eitan - his abrupt closeness and the lack of the barrier between them startled Florian, though a part of him could hardly say it was unwelcome. His own face was flushed mauve with effort, tiny beads of sweat forming on his brow. In a hard blink, his eyes were blue again, and his breathing had quickened just a touch. While the shut-off was sudden, the Lysanrin was certainly more concerned with just how close Angevin was. He had hugged him just a few minutes prior, sure, but this was different. It felt almost predatory. Predatory, but without malice.
"I see... that is something I can help you with, then."
He reached a hand to Eitan's face above him. His skin was hot, likely a result of his sword practice and magic and the effort that both required. Being shocked certainly did not help. "You look tired." he said, quietly. From this position, his head was tilted to the side slightly by virtue of his single horn's tip hitting the wall before the rest of him. Florian felt a strange desire to kiss the man, but he pushed it away with nothing else but a further flushing of his cheeks. He felt foolish for wanting to kiss a man for being kind to him, and Florian had a feeling the gesture would not be appreciated.
Still, he didn't move, instead trapped between Eitan's arms like a caged bird. He dropped his hand to his side. "Perhaps we should take a few minutes break?" Florian paused, his face still craned up to look Angevin in the face. He had never been more thankful that the man could not read his thoughts. His strange, rapid-fire thoughts where he sought to be accepted and loved and protected, and his overwhelming fear and anxiety at being so close to another person. He had allowed himself to be too vulnerable around Eitan, but he was conflicted. There was something he liked when he allowed himself vulnerability, and those beginning layers of trust had not yet been shaken. He released the building tension in his shoulders. "Or we can keep going, I don't mind."
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 7:46 pm
by Eitan Angevin
"Indeed," he said quietly, watching Albrecht's eyes change color from up close. He wasn't exactly sure why he was acting the way he was; intellectually, he knew that intimacy would allow them to work better together, but he wasn't the sort of officer who fucked his subordinates. Not that he was trying to fuck Albrecht, but for whatever reason, he liked throwing him off a little. Perhaps it was just his intuitive way of dominating the relationship, building trust but not allowing the Lysanrin to forget the nature of the world they lived in.
Then an ash-complected hand came up to touch his face and he expressed concern. This was good, he told himself. It also felt good, but he ignored that. If Albrecht accepted their roles, they could be effective and Angevin could ward him from the worst that could befall him for being what he was.
His lips parted as if he were going to say something or lean in closer, but he considered and pushed away from the wall. From Albrecht. One hand fell to the side while the other came up to tousle his hair. After all his exercise, it was no longer its normal strict, slicked-down tidiness, but his natural curling waves were showing.
"I think we are done for the day," he said. "At least with arcane practices. I don't want to overtax either of us, but I do want to keep us in fighting trim. We ought to make a habit of this, though. Fighting and warding and siphoning. I would imagine you need to be fairly close to buttress my shields, so we will have to get used to fighting together, as well." He smirked. "Stick with me, kid..."
But then he listened to the hum of the walls through his rune.
"The wards in here are strong, but feed whatever you have left into them. "Waste not, want not. And you shouldn't be sustaining yourself on aether unless it's an emergency."
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2021 9:50 pm
by Florian
Florian was released from his cage, and he knew he would have felt the same fatigue if he had not metabolized some of the aether he'd siphoned. He watched Eitan for a moment and turned, to the wall, and catalyzed the aether into the ward it held. His own addition to the room. Florian then stretched, a loosening of his shoulders and a few cracks from his back. He certainly had enough energy to get home, but he would allow himself a nap once he'd gotten there.
"I didn't eat much before coming," he explained as if he had needed to explain himself to begin with. He knew he didn't, but he felt it important. "I only realized I'd made a mistake when my anxiety had subsided and I was already here." Florian was being a bit over-honest, he felt, but maybe it was best if Eitan knew how he felt. Sometimes.
"There's not much I don't need to practice, I think. I'd rather not be the weakest link and all that." Florian was babbling a bit. He stopped himself and pushed some of his shock-white hair out of his eyes. "Just let me know when to come back." Florian sighed. He hadn't brought much with him, and after a few more minutes he took his leave.
Had he really wished to kiss Angevin? He was his superior, and also his only ward against the very state that he served. It was a relationship he wanted no part in jeopardizing, and he still felt foolish for the thought. Nothing good came from that line of thinking. Perhaps Eitan did know, and that's why he teased him, but unless he took more from the night they went drinking than Florian had intended, he didn't know how he would know. Maybe the act was just a show of power like he'd considered before.
No, it was not a good line of thought to travel down, and Florian banished it from his thoughts. He could not wish to kiss someone for being kind to him. That was a nonsense association.
Re: Falcon's Jess [Eitan]
Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2021 11:39 pm
by Goule
Your Review
Just kiss already, sheeeeesh.
Rewards
Lore
Florian:
Aether Siphoning
Aether Sight - Dimmer Aether Means Weaker Magic
Aether Sight - Spotting Weaknesses in Wards
Aether Sight - Visual Similarities Between Wards
Aether Sight - Distinguishing Aether "Fingerprints"
Aether Sight - Aether Smells Like Flowers
Aether Sight - Identifying Eitan's Wards
Discharge - Limiting Amount of Aether Discharged
Sustain - Metabolizing A Meal's Worth of Aether
Siphoning an Actively Channeled Ward
Research
Negation - Wards Purposefully Tasked
Negation - Some Wards Require Constant Feeding
Eitan:
Blades:
Practice Stance With Saber
Practise Stance With Cutlass
Negation:
Sensing Other's Wards
Forming a General Magical Shield
Reenforcing Wards Already in Place
Feeling Your Ward Being Absorbed
Upkeep on Long-Standing Sheilds
Forming Round Sheilds
Shields Against Physical Matter
Quickly Releasing a Shield
Actively Sustaining a Shield
Leadership:
Giving Comfort
Showing Acceptance
Showing Endurance
Showing Strength
Loot
Injuries
Points 8 normal XP, 6 magic XP
