Legend of Ransera

Khyan hadn't been out sans collar since the day he'd met his Eros. On his shameless walk of shame a few hours after their intimate rendezvous, he'd chanced to catch sight of an old chum who'd been his inferior in his past life. He was able to duck out of sight before being forced into an exchange that would have been at best horribly awkward and at worst life-threateningly dangerous, if word reached Senator Argenti that his son's most expensive slave had free reign of the Umbrium. Though he'd escaped the situation unscathed, it had been enough to spook him into being more sparing with his outings.

Khyan had always been under the impression that life as a young patrician was horribly boring. He used to blithely joke in front of his servi that their lives must have been far less dull, for they were always engaged in one task or another. For Khyan it was even more boring, however. At least when he'd nothing to do as a Patrician, he could go out on his own and look for trouble. Now the trouble would have been too troublesome. Were he a proper slave with a proper master he might have been kept more occupied. The unpleasantness of what that might imply didn't really come to mind often. But Khyan was a slave in status only with a master who didn't feel comfortable giving him aught to do. Ultimately, he ended up requesting jobs. A trip to the market to buy groceries and stretch his legs, or delivering a missive from the domus to the headquarters of the Silver Sentinels- his master's employer.

At any rate, tonight he'd set a date to meet Eros, so he would discard his collar once again and slip into the perpetual night. If anything was worth the risk, it was another night of possible ecstasy like the first they'd shared. Khyan had brought Echoes of that night back to his consciousness frequently, and had needed a few moments in private each time. Only ever a few moments, because it didn't take long to tend to his affairs when they were so radiant.

He'd devised a better plan, he thought, to escape noticed than the old cloak and dagger cliché. This time he would hide in plain sight. He borrowed a royal blue and gold tunic from his indulgent master- They were of the same height, so the hem fell nicely. It might not have been tailored to Khyan's slim physique, but that wasn't the worst fashion faux pas one might brook in a tunic. At least it was well made, woven of fine fabric and rounded with a proper belt rather than rope that looked better suited to binding a barge to a dock.

Before stepping out of the domus, Khyan affected a Semblance technique he hadn't had much cause the practise prior: Altering his Aura to dissuade attention. He'd always been a boy who'd sought to be at the centre of things, so it took a bit of research to achieve. He'd been more observant on his trips to the Forums- Watching the people no one else was keen to look at- vagrants who begged for attention and failed to achieve it, and subtle, stealthy thieves whose deportments somehow discouraged eyes from resting on them. He assessed the attributes of an Aura that drew no attention and those that cast it off entirely, and tonight he wove those into a façade around his own otherwise radiant Aura.

The endeavour ended up being so effective that he didn't even end up needing to speak to the doorman to be let in. He simply walked through the door, and no one troubled themselves to look at him. It felt odd to be pleased at such a thing, but these were queer days for Khyan of Nykara.

The darkened club was not without its glister, but even so he knew Eros' natural luminescence as well as that of his Aura intimately enough that he found the man with ease. He walked up to him, grinning broadly- Relieved that he'd actually shown up. He stood there for a few moments, blinking curiously as Eros seemed to be looking right at him but not saying a word. At first he thought it was a joke...

"Oh!" He checked around to make sure no one he knew was around, and then dropped his Semblance façade, and offered a sheepish little wave to Eros.

"I made it..." He shrugged slightly as he held his hands out in a bashfully cheerful display that he was, indeed, present. He stepped forward, because he'd planned to greet his date with a kiss. But now that he was drawing close, he second guessed himself and fell back on his heel- dismissing his original plan, and offering an awkward arm pat in its stead.

"Oh!" Khyan chuckled a bit awkwardly at the unexpected outcome of finding himself so quickly on Eros' lap. That seemed a favourable portent, he supposed, as another good omen stared him in the face in the form of a kiss. It seemed the plan he'd forsaken had been resurrected by the other. And they weren't even ætherically synchronised between Eros' Mesmer and Khyan's Semblance this time, so it felt more organic.

He accepted the kiss blissfully, and Eros' tongue, in the midst of its quick sweep, would feel the upward curl of Khyan's grinning lips as it passed between them. As Eros broke off from the kiss, Khyan bit his bottom lip and adjusted himself on the fæ's lap so he was leaning more toward the corner than directly against the arm that had been behind him. At this angle, he was nestled halfway against Eros' chest in addition to the plush arm of the throne-line seat.

"It's good to see you as well, Starlight. I missed you!" That came out sounding more enthusiastic than he'd have liked. On second thought, he wished he hadn't added that bit at all. So, before he got to a third thought about what he'd just done wrong, he pressed on and hoped it would be forgotten. And to that end:

"Drinking is good! I don't blame you. I may have had a cup or two myself back at the domus. I was rather nervous-..." Foot in mouth again. He didn't need to broadcast that Eros made him anxious enough that he needed to self medicate. He was coming off like such a try-hard! "...nerrrrvous because of my whole, you know... fugitive status." He trotted that old chestnut out for another run.

"Which is why, to answer your question, I used my Semblance Rune." He reached round to rub the back of his neck where the mark had been carved. "Semblance was my speciality at the Academia Arcanum well before I tried my hand at... having no hands." He wrinkled his nose, realising that pun probably wasn't clear: "Snake joke? Anyway, yeah. I ended up having a real knack for it, so I altered my Aura to dissuade attention. I figured it was a better look than a baggy cloak, yeah? So... um..." He shrugged a bit, "How've you been?"

Khyan swooned at the charming flirtation, melting deeper into the corner between the chair arm and the Fæ. Was he even truly a half-Fæ if he looked as he did and could modify his physiology at will? It seemed to Khyan that the blood of the Fæ'ethalan race was potent indeed. The only reason Eros need reference his elven heritage at all was for status. To Khyan's mind it was always nice to pair one's exoticism with at least a bit of the familiar. Too much of the alien could be overwhelming in their homogenised culture.

Instinctively, Khyan arched his back and took a slow breath through his teeth, as Eros' clawed hand reacquainted itself with the front of his taut torso. He tipped his face toward the hand that stroked it, and looked up at Eros piningly.

"Cute," Khyan sniggered, playfully, as he repeated the diminutive label with which he'd been tagged by the man cradling him. "I may be cute, but you are exquisite." He was sure he'd thought that word in relation to Eros, but he wasn't so certain he'd ever uttered it aloud for the benefit of the other. He might not have rated so lofty a compliment himself, but that felt apropos. In his eyes, as well as those of their culture, Khyan was the lesser of the twain.

"It is!" Khyan sat up a bit, matching Eros' brighter energy as they got to the talk about his magic-use. "I'm... loath to be boastful, given my current predicament, but I took to Semblance quite naturally and achieved mastery a year before graduation. It's why they decided to carve me with another to finish out my schooling." Whether or not Eros had attended the Academia Arcanum, he would know that it along with most institutions that trained people in the Craft would only focus upon one Cardinal Rune for the full term of their tenure at the school. It was rare for multiple Runes to be applied except, perhaps, amongst the royal family whose blood was well fortified with a stunning threshold sickness survival rate that spoke to their divine ancestry.

Khyan blushed and giggled at the shameless flirtatious overture.

"Well, we've got to start somewhere!" He beamed, "If you were my master, I suppose you'd save coin on livery by making me serve you always in the buff..." He mused, a bit of familiar shifting under the skirt of his tunic at the notion.

He flicked out his tongue, playfully, when it was suggested he'd make for a cute snake- though he didn't trouble himself to extend or fork it for the endeavour.

"Well, heh..." He took in a breath and sighed it out, "I've rather an extravagant collar..." He rubbed his neck at the recent memory of its weight, "So it covered the bruises on my throat quite aptly, and if Master Cetus was sneaking peeks of my buttocks, he never let on that he saw anything amiss..." For Khyan's part, he was pleased with Eros' answer. He wasn't typically the jealous sort- at least not when it came to lovers, but something about Eros had awoken a streak in him. Any Sembler would be aware of this, as it had led him to literally inscript the man's Aura with what was, in Solunarium, a veiled threat. As Khyan belonged to Cetus, it was unlawful for another to claim him. By that same logic, if Eros belonged to Khyan there might be consequences for sullying his property.

"I've..." Khyan paused, Eros' gentle touch inspiring a tense inhalation, "...always been lucky, I guess." Realising what he'd just said, he laughed at himself. "It seems you've driven me to distraction. Of course I'm not fortunate in all things, given my family's fall from grace, but my body?" He shrugged one shoulder, "It doesn't take much upkeep, in spite of what I put it through."

To the great vexation of many of his former peers and schoolmates, Khyan had just been naturally good at a great many things. Where others toiled to train or study, Khyan would indulge himself and still exceed the efforts of those who'd put in a great deal more time and energy. It was true of magic, of martial training, of taming mounts of the land and air... It was no wonder so many people relished in his downfall. It felt very much like comeuppance, even if Khyan had had no culpability in the accusations leveled against his father.

"Don't stop on my account..." He offered with a churlish grin. If Eros was as enraptured by their tryst as Khyan, that bade well for more than merely this night.

"Your sister's Rune?" Khyan arched an eyebrow and turned to inspect Eros, his eyes clouding over with subtle nebulae of silver- More like reflections of something he was looking at, than anything behind his lenses.

"Ah, Masquerade?" He smiled, approvingly. "Mesmer and Masquerade. A classically complementary pair." He let his Semblance descend back into passivity, as they continued.

"Oh, I intended to cast no aspersions upon your house, Dominus..." In truth, Khyan wasn't sure whether Eros was as well off as he indicated. He certainly hadn't searched for any verifications of truthfulness in his Aura, but he'd seen his home and it was, compared to many he'd seen within his own caste, not altogether awe-inspiring. That Eros was of the Fæ meant that he was not a full-blooded Re'hyæan. He was either a bastard, or had a particularly martyr of a parent who'd voluntarily reduced their station to marry a member of a lower caste and, in so doing, join it themselves. Even if the main branch of Eros' family was particularly grand, and in the modern era many human families exceeded their elven counterparts in wealth if not honorifics, that didn't mean that Eros enjoyed the full breadth of their support. But none of these were fun things to focus upon, when it served Khyan's ego better to think that Eros was as rich and powerful as they came. It was more flattering to be desirable to one with many options than one with few.

"That could be arranged..." Khyan considered, unconsciously setting his human tongue to roam over his top lip for his thoughtful moment. "In truth, I'm a bit ashamed that I wasn't a more active participant in our last encounter. You did all the work, and I was altogether idle." He tsked, "Such a naughty slave I am." He forced a chuckle,

"Aye... he is certainly indulgent. I could have done far worse- and would have, had I been left with his father, but..." His smiled turned genuine and warm, "His charity afforded me the chance to meet you. I doubt I'd have had the chance without it."

"Oh, surely! I'd forgotten you can manipulate your form at will. By the Founders, I know a great many rotund, rich senators who would pay a king's ransom for so cavalier a diet." Khyan was lucky for a human. He'd always assumed it had been some gift of his robust, Elven ancestry, but whatever the case he had a fast metabolism and lean muscle came easily without much effort.

"Does mass play into it at all, or is it completely ætheric in nature?" Khyan wondered aloud, "If you make yourself larger do you need to create your new mass out of something in the physical world, or does it just get conjured from the ætherium?" If that were a transferrable trait it would, indeed, by the diet craze of the millennium. One could eat to excess, and simply will away any excess weight.

"Mm!" Khyan hummed happily as Eros' hand continued to circumnavigate the landscape of his torso. Indeed, he was responsive to the shifts in the larger man's focus, as he set his attention on different parts of his body. The sounds were subtler than they'd been when they were alone. He still didn't wish to draw attention to himself, even if he wasn't actively using Semblance to dissuade it.

"You said you're employed?" Khyan recalled that being broached when he'd asked how Eros had been. He'd arrived at their prior meeting place after the half-Fæ had already completed his set, so he remained in the dark as to what he did for work. It felt indelicate to inquire after something that might be embarrassing to the Fæ. Khyan had been of the idle rich set, whose investments kept them afloat with no need for what one might call a profession. His father was a senator, but that was more a calling than a job- a duty to the empire that would have eventually fallen to Khyan had fate run smoothly. Amongst such as they'd been, the notion of occupation was frankly rather vulgar. Not that the slave would let as much on to his starlit obsession.

"Of course, Dominus, I do appreciate the clarity." A tinge of nerves that he might have raised Eros' hackles a bit and put him off. What a relief it was, when he proceeded in broaching potential carnal exploits for what Khyan hoped was their immediate future.

"I'm not a cold fish, I promise." He offered with a chuckle and a wink, "One of the boons of Semblance, is that I'll be very adept at finding what you like and focusing my energies upon pleasing you with that foreknowledge..." It sent his thought backward to memories of Eros' body, and forward to fantasies about what he'd not yet done with it.

"It is a boon indeed..." Khyan agreed, on the subject of his master's leniency, "But I wonder..." His dark eyes trailed slowly up toward Eros' jawline. "Perhaps if I'm a good boy," With an impish glint in his boyish eyes, they rose to meet the gold of Eros'.

"I might be taken in..." He arched an eyebrow, and lifted his hand- stroking Eros from cheekbone to chin with the back of his hand, "By an even more agreeable dominus, Dominus."