"Change Your Heart or Die" [Finn]

Finn helps Arvælyn wrestle with his guilt

The Luxium represents the upper half and primary seat of the Solunarian Capital and one of the dual-cities that comprises Solunarium Proper. Situated between the foot of the volcanic Mount Sorokyn and the wide River Vasta, this above-ground metropolis boasts five thriving districts beneath the shadow of the glorious Palatium Furiarum (The Blazing Palace) from which the Solar Court rules in splendour. This bustling metropolis is by far the most populous region in the realm and, along with its shadowy sister-city the Umbrium, houses upwards of eighty percent of the Solunarian population at any given time. During the reign of a Solar Court, every major government agency in the kingdom is headquartered in the Luxium, with the notable exception of The Silver Sentinels, the covert intelligence agency run by the House of Phaedryn-Sol’Aværys.

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Arvælyn
Posts: 689
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2021 5:59 pm
Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1139
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1154

Arry immediately softened at Finn's response, which was just so very, very... Finn. His ire didn't rise at his lover's sharpness, he was direct and placating and it worked.

"You'll serve the sentinels better than I ever could..." Arry conceded. First it was Finn's poetry, now his diplomacy. If anyone ought to have been a reigning prince, it was this enlightened despot before him. Who could say no to those innocent eyes? Arry had sworn his fealty that night on the roof after performing their song, and he'd never looked back.

"You don't make me feel that way." Arry corrected, "I feel that way because it's how I learned to communicate, before I met you. How I learned to problem solve and appease... offer comfort." He nodded, comprehending Finn's desire to delve.

"I understand that. I hope it doesn't seem as though I'm pushing you to repress them, or to cast them off in support of me. And you're being so good about it. You don't let it show in public, but I'm so tied up in you that I can't always tell what's clear to the bystander versus what's obvious to me." His eyebrows raised, as Finn came to what felt like the heart of this issue.

"Oh..." He bit his lip and considered. "I haven't been good about that, have I?" He frowned, pursing his lips. "I do hope you know that I don't think that way. As this conversation may suggest, I don't think of you as a mere equal- but as my superior in many, many regards. I don't think elves are better than humans. Gods and dragons, maybe..." He offered with a jovial smile that he hoped would be infectious, "But elves just live longer and have more trouble putting on weight. We aren-... They aren't better that you. No one is better than you." He sighed, shaking his head.

"I feel softer than I've ever felt, honestly. Money, luxury... They say these things don't bring happiness, but they cast off worry like nothing else. I wish I could make you understand, Finn, that I've only fallen more deeply in love with you since we've been here. All this worry that I'll lose faith in us... That I'll turn into some unassailable edifice... it couldn't be further from the truth." The fingers of the hands Finn kissed curled in and grazed his face.

"Let us sing and have new experiences, as you say. And if anyone says aught to you about your being less-than, one of the activities we can explore together is melting their brains with the might of our Craft."
word count: 467
“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention...”


Phædryn Sol'Zalkyrion Arvælyn Princeps
['faɪd,ɹɪn solˌzæl'kiɹi,on ɑɹˌvɛɪˈlɪn]
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Finn
Posts: 1021
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Location: Kalzasi
Character Sheet: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=916
Character Secrets: https://ransera.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=925

Finn couldn't really argue anything that was said. Arvælyn's words rang with truth so, at the very least, he believed what he was saying. They were so well matched now as Mesmers as well as lovers, that while one could have sealed their symphony away from the other, it would signal that something was very, very wrong indeed.

"I'll serve you," he said quietly. "Not the Sentinels. I'll do whatever I can to keep you safe here with all its plots and secrets..." The Atraxian sun burned away pretense, but quite a bit happened in the shadows that its light never reached. Solunarium was strange like that. "And not because one of us is better than the other, but because I love you."

Finn almost laughed then because of course desire welled up in him. But then, he always desired Arvælyn. For now he was content to have communicated, flushed out the negativity that still managed to crop up despite their best intentions and communication.

"I just want you to be safe, and happy. Perhaps safe is impossible in this world, but as safe as I can manage to keep you, and as happy as I can manage to make you."

He still wasn't sure whether that was possible, nor that he could follow in the philosophical footsteps Arvælyn was taking, but he hoped they could always manage to meet somewhere in the middle, where they were just two simple men on a roof assaying to love one another. Perhaps Arvælyn would rise to power and prominence with the name Cithæra gave him, and Finn would serve as Sentinel or Court Bard or similar. Perhaps relations with his family would not go well and they would seek fame and fortune elsewhere.

Finn didn't know, but he thought they had a solid chance if they faced the future hand in hand.
word count: 337
we keep on churning and the lights inside the house turn on
and in our native language, we are chanting ancient songs
and when we quiet down, the house chants on without us
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Pharaoh
Posts: 719
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:25 pm


R E V I E W


Arvælyn:
Lores: 9
XP: 10 (May be used for Mesmer)

Finn
Lores: 9
XP: 10 (May be used for Traversion)

Injuries/Ailments:
Trauma

Loot:
A covenant forged

Notes: Will Finn's conscious be enough to keep Arry in the light? Time will tell as events unfold.
word count: 74
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