Celebrate Reguardless [Aurin, Kaus]

[Torin Kilvin]

Though he had made little things for all of the Whispers, Torin's gift for Bastion felt a good deal more personal and, for reasons he couldn't quite understand himself, he was a little embarrassed as the youngest of the coven reached for the package.

There was nothing magical about it, but Torin had still hand-crafted the thick leather gloves and apron the wrapping revealed as it was pulled away. His own master had made him a similar set when he'd been old enough to be trusted near the forge fires himself and, as he watched the solemn expression on the small face as the boy looked up at him, all gratitude mixed with determination, as if he meant to live up to the gift if it were the last thing he did, it was all the smith could do not to tear up. Managing to give the boy an encouraging, accepting smile he then cleared his throat and stood, murmuring something about refilling his drink, even though it was still three-quarters full, he slipped off to the kitchen.

Timon, pulling on his own cloak to head out with Kaus let his eyes fall over his friend as he passed him out the door. It still felt off that the Avialae weren't affected by the cold, every time he saw Kaus heading outside in shirtsleeves or less in Frost (or extended Frost weather as the case might be) he shivered and had to push down worry. The awful incident during which he'd gotten lost in the Valley and nearly froze to death had somehow not cemented in his subconscious the idea that Kaus literally could not freeze from mundane cold, even if it had left the distinct impression that Kaus was always hot to the touch.

"But why else would I lure you out here but to ambush you?" He made as if to jump at the taller man before grinning and relenting back into a casual posture. The truth was, he was nervous and didn't enjoy the sensation. Being confident was something that had grown onto him in the year and more he'd been apprenticed to Torin. He knew a lot more about a lot of things than his master did, and he was genuinely useful in ways that Torin relied on him for. It was a partnership more than an apprenticeship and this was openly acknowledged by the smith, as well as Aurin, who was, if anything, teaching him more than his legal guardian. Which wasn't to say Torin didn't see to his every need and education, probably spoiled him a bit, but Timon figured he could survive some spoiling without becoming rotten, after the life he'd started with.

These thoughts were distractions and he knew it. He just wasn't sure how to broach the topic of his gift, it had seemed practical and smart when he'd thought it up but now, standing under the eves of the house, looking up into Kaus' bright, friendly face, it felt... intimate. Clearing his throat he reached into his pocket for the small wooden box he'd been fingering all night and pulled it out.

"I thought of a new schematic, for Torin to make, after we fought those shadow creatures on the farm outside Starfall." It was a good start, recalled that Timon could handle himself with a blade and wasn't a smitten little boy.

"I figured you might need something to keep your aether going when you weren't within the city walls. I know you have illumite but," A casually teenage shrug, "You never know when you might be cornered or something."

Handing the box over he waited, trying to make himself relax, for Kaus to open it.

[Aurin]

Not wanting to have warm feelings at what he witnessed, Aurin instead took a sip of his whiskey, looked into the fireplace, and reviewed memories of Torin wearing nothing but boots, gloves, and leather apron. He hummed in approval, as if it was just the burn of the spirits and the warmth of the hearth. A warm pressure on his leg made him look down and into Huntress' eyes. The wolf was too smart by half, and he often thought that she could read his mind, but that was, of course, crazy. He just gave her scritches and grinned at her. She had heard him make the runesmith howl at the moon before, after all.

Once outside and into the yard, Kaus' wings unfurled just enough to trap some of his body heat nearby. He was used to providing ambient heat to people in the ongoing winter.

As he slung his arm around Timon's shoulders to do double duty with his cloak, he said, "Well, I'm certain Aurin has taught you how to slip a knife between a man's ribs at close quarters, so..." He laughed, the sort of laugh that was musical like birdsong was musical. It invited one to laugh as well. He got along surprisingly well with Aurin for all that Kaus didn't seem to have a mean bone in his body, whereas the fox-faced man considered cruelty just one more tool in his belt.

Kaus listened intently as he always had. When Timon presented the box, he smiled with gratitude even before he opened it. With his free hand, he opened the box that the youth held for him. His eyes lit up at the cloak pin, cleverly designed to hold even with the rigors of flight. He took it out and held it up for better inspection. The illumite shone brighter than the moonlight gleaming off the metal.

"It's lovely, Timon. Thank you." He laughed again. "And it will certainly be useful, especially until the Eclipse is fully solved." He had been present for a quarter of the resolution, making the nights safer, at least. But Kala was not intent on conquering all four unless nobody else rose to the challenge. "Will you pin it on me?"

When that was done, he fished out a long bundle of blue watered silk tied in a ribbon edged in goldwork embroidery and traded it for the box. Inside was one of his own feathers—a secondary—its quill wrapped in fine platinum wire. A delicate platinum chain attached it to a wire-wrapped illumite cabochon. Timon had seen such things before; Kala had such baubles and had explained them to him. Hers were primary feathers, which attested to the depth of their bond, but a secondary feather was still a show of deep and abiding affection.

"Happy belated New Year, Timon."

[Torin Kilvin]

Timon was pleased with the reception of his gift, grinning up at his friend he pinned it to his shirt front. Any cloak the Avialae wore was for show, or maybe to keep rain off, but if he did ever choose to fly while wearing one, the pin would hold it together without damaging it. This feature was far secondary to the enhanced aura of the illumite that would remain in an oval around Kaus' body so long as he was wearing the pin. It would allow the summoning of Reaving weapons as well as the use of his Elementalism and whatever tricks he might have. Timon didn't expect to be subject to all the man's secrets.

Getting a gift from his friend was not a surprise but he did wonder, briefly, why it had been held off until they were outside. Once the package was opened, he understood that it was for the same reason his own had been. It felt personal. He didn't gape at the beautiful feather and its accompanying jewel, but he did stare down at it in silence for a long minute.

Kala had explained why she wore her brother's feathers and what it said about their bond. Afterward, Timon had taken the time to locate and read several books on the winged race, what differences there might be and how their magic worked. The book written by a biologist had settled several vague worries for him, and the ones written by mages had informed in of much. So, now, he knew, on several levels, what this gift meant, and, knowing, didn't know how to react. A part of him wanted to throw his arms around Kaus' neck, but that felt halfway between childish and maidenly, neither was a look Timon wanted to project.

Eventually, he looked up and said,

"Thank you. This, you... you mean a lot."

The thing was, Timon knew that he could be acting, and expecting to be treated, as more of an adult than he was, but he didn't want that. A lot of what most would consider his childhood hadn't been good, carefree, or happy. He was happy now, with his home, his job, his family, and he wanted things to stay as simple as possible for a while longer. He'd decided on a year, to wait, to just be. A year before he'd discuss taking a rune with Torin. A year before he asked to be considered a journeyman. A year before...

His eyes were caught on Kaus', sometimes it was nice to just be comfortable together. Because he did like Kaus, he like-liked him, and it could so easily slip into how he thought, how he acted, it could change his motivations and while a part of him was reaching for all of that, Timon didn't want it yet. So, he would wait, probably more than a year because, unless his body went into overdrive in the growth department, he would still look like a kid in a year, and when he told Kaus how he felt, he wanted them to be on as even a footing as he could manage. Maybe he'd find someone his own age to experiment with, but maybe he wouldn't, it was something he'd decided just not to worry about.

Steeping forward he did hug his friend, but he didn't throw his arms around his neck, just gave him a quick, tight, celebratory embrace and then asked, a cheeky

"Does no sparring mean no room for dessert?"

[Aurin]

To get Torin's attention, Aurin pinched his arse—rather hard. Then he gave a meaningful cock of his chin toward the door that led out into the yard, then a meaningful look. While Torin had taken to his trick like a fish to water and he certainly wasn't stupid, sometimes he was slow to draw conclusions, make realizations, or accept things even as they became apparent to others. It was endearing, though sometimes Aurin wanted to beat it out of him because he worried it would get him into trouble someday. But then he never did beat it out of him because he wanted to take care of him. But he had tried to seed the idea that time and impending hormones were subtly altering the quality of Timon's feelings for Kaus. Fortunately, the Avialae was a gentleman in deed, else he was as oblivious as Torin to such things. Sometimes it was more difficult to see from the inside.

Their baby was growing up. But at least he was making wise decisions for his tender years.

Outside, Kaus smirked. His smirks were nothing like Aurin's; it wasn't as though he had some private joke, but rather he and whomever he smirked at were in cahoots and sharing some private joke with each other.

"Is that what smells like burning?" he asked innocently, but quickly laughed. His humor was never cruel.

He took the feather bauble from Timon gently and then coiled the chain around his neck so both the illumite and the feather settled against his chest. It would do for now.

"If you grow your hair out a bit, you can work it into that... but really, it's up to you and your personal panache. Whenever you develop panache, that is." It was impossible to tell if the swipe of his sword-callused hand was meant to tousle hair or straighten it. "You mean a lot, as well. Let's go inside before the cold stunts your growth, hey?"

His arm went around Timon again in a side hug to keep him warm as they turned back toward the holiday party.

[Torin Kilvin]

The thing was, Torin had been raised in a village, like most small villages, that valued privacy and considered attempts to get up in the business of other people to be not only rude but against the common good. As such, Torin had, from the outset, viewed his rune of Semblance as a tool to be used in his aetheric work. He had learned that it could also be used in the work he did with Aurin, and as it was work, he didn't feel too badly about it. Due to not being able to turn his rune 'off' in the first months of having it, he'd grown used to the overall awareness of his surroundings it brought him. So much so that when he did finally master the skills involved enough to cut the rune off from his aether it had felt like he'd been suddenly struck blind or deaf, or an odd combination of both. So, the majority of the time a tiny line of aether flowed from him into the rune and he was just aware of how the world was in a several block radius, but he did not go snooping into the minds or emotions of individuals. Not unless he felt threatened or someone asked him to. The latter was something he'd only attempted with Sivan and Aurin, both of whom he was intimate with in many ways.

Since the incident when he'd found Finn badly injured and in need of aid and had paid for rendering that aid with a piece of his own sanity, Torin had kept his own thoughts and emotions wrapped tightly in an inverted bubble of Semblance. It would not protect him if someone were to attempt to harm him with Mesmer again (that was what his Runeforged cuff was for) but it would make him harder to find, and... it felt safer.

So, when Aurin nudged him and indicated where he should be paying attention it took a moment for him to open the right parts of himself to 'observe' his first apprentice and their mutual friend. When he did he blushed, giving Aurin a look that said something along the lines of 'We shouldn't be snooping!', even as he sucked in a significant amount of information from there scene playing out.

"Oh." He said after a moment, still pink in the cheeks but looking thoughtful. Lots of kids started to feel more than friendship for each other at the stage of puberty Timon was in, some even sooner. Torin had not been such a one and the fact that he at eighteen had felt almost exactly what Timon, at fourteen, was feeling now, was somehow very embarrassing. Perhaps it was just feeling that new budding interest and the energy it created through someone else. He had been intent but shy when seeking Aurin's attentions, similarly with Sivan's, and neither relationship was so old that he had forgotten how it had felt. Clearing his throat he met the redhead's eyes, opening himself enough that they could read each other if they wanted. What passed between was a wordless agreement that, so long as Timon was policing himself no good would come of attempting to control this aspect of his life, and significant harm might come of trying. Torin nodded, as though the discussion had happened aloud, and then moved into his mentor's arms, projecting his gratitude in warm waves. Without Aurin he would be stumbling through raising Timon, and certainly too uncomfortable to talk about sex with him.

Outside Timon was flushed also, from pride, and a little from the cold, as Kaus adorned him with his own feather. He opened his mouth in mock shock at the suggestion that he was not already the most fashion forward of those who lived or worked on the property. It was true that Kala and Kaus were often more grandly dressed, but Timon took care in his appearance and what it said about him whether he was serving behind the shop counter, taking lessons in finance and trade at the Pavilion, or sparring shirtless with Kaus.

The image of Kaus shirtless caused him to clear his throat and drop the affronted guise a bit more quickly than he might otherwise have, but he nodded at the suggestion they return to the party. It was a good day, and the shimmering suggestion that the close friends might grow to be closer, when it was right that they should, settled into the boy, a comforting weight that he could carry until he was ready to bring it out and look at it.

It began to snow rather heavily outside, but inside was warmth and laughter, songs and drinking, and more food than anyone could manage even late into the night.

[Rune]

R E V I E W

Points: 10 Points each, may be used for magic

Injuries/Ailments: None

Loot: Various presents

Notes: I hope everyone has a bed to crawl into after the party

Mod XP: None