[Mature] A Fae Mood

Post by **Vanessa LaNore** » March 16th, 2020, 5:17 am

Vanessa had Calem’s arm in hers, their fingers entwined in a near continuous squeezing and caressing as she guided him down the street. She’d seen and heard the students sudden excitement when she’d broken their kiss. No doubt a variety of stories were circulating already and she was of half a mind to give them something to really talk about.

The night wasn’t freezing, but it was chill, and she was regretting she’d only grabbed her jacket instead of actually putting it on. There wasn’t much further to go though, and the warmth in her chest kept her moving. Given the rush she’d been in, she made for her apartment rather than the antiques shop she normally stayed in.

The place was sparsely furnished, but there was a large chaise lounge and a ridiculously oversized bed, and that would be enough. She pulled Calem out of the main street and into the immaculately maintained side street that led to the apartment's entrance. There were a number of visiting professors that lived here during their stay and she often wondered if she shouldn’t have spent more time in their company.

A quick turn of a key in the lobby, followed by some stairs taken almost carefully, and she slid open the door to her borrowed quarters. It smelled very clean, and had likely been recently tidied and dusted since she’d never put in a request to deny cleaners as many did. She motioned for Calem to proceed her and shut and locked the door behind.

“Sorry, some of the other guests forget their room and just wander in if you let them. So, would you- like something to drink?” she asked, grinning brilliantly at him in her small entryway. She wanted to hear more of his words, know more of the man behind the nervous embarrassment. He was interesting, and cute, and he'd read her works. She was going to show him how appreciative she was, but she also didn't want to frighten him.

Post by **Calem Sabathe** » March 17th, 2020, 10:47 pm

It still felt like a dream.

With Vanessa's hand in his, he'd been spending the last couple of minutes trying to overcome his love-sick shyness and desperately trying to piece his senses back together. It was a struggle to hold back the desire to feel his lips on hers again, made only bearable by the touch of her hand against his. It was just as difficult for him to speak anything. Something had finally broken through, something important - but he was still afraid of saying the wrong thing. A part of him still couldn't believe this was happening, but that burning heat still lingered on his lips and in his mind.

Admittedly, he was still being somewhat led by Vanessa into an area that he'd only briefly walked through a few times. As he looked up at the building the two were walking towards, some part of his mind realised that he was sure he'd passed those apartments before, but they'd never been particularly distinct to him. He couldn't help but smile at the notion - the realisation that the more of Fellsgard he tried to keep in his mind, the more he realised there was so much he'd never had in there in the first place. It wouldn't stop his wanderlust, but it would at least remind him there was always a reason to come home.

It felt like things must have happened; he heard the pitter-pattering of feet on the wooden steps, and saw the dull light flickering across the lobby. For a moment, Calem wondered if he'd just stepped not into an apartment building but some completely different world. But the next thing he knew for sure, he found himself standing inside a small apartment. The smell, strangely enough, almost reminded him of his operating room - it was actually a remarkable comfort. Calem let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and relaxed, at least just a little.

He heard Vanessa talking behind him, looking at him with her brilliant smile. 'I know I just confessed to her like some lovesick school-boy but why is it that smile makes her look so cute?' For just a moment, he forgot that she was a brilliant professor, one of the greatest minds he'd ever had the pleasure to learn from. "Oh, y-yes, I'd like that." he responded when Vanessa asked him about drinking. It took a moment before he suddenly realised she probably wasn't talking about water. "I mean, I'd like to, but, well..." Calem scratched the side of his head, unsure for a moment how to respond. "I don't really go to taverns so much. I don't really know what a good drink is." There was a slight smile on his face as he spoke. "What do you like to drink? I mean, I-I don't mind whether it tastes of honey or fruits." It occurred to him that his attempts to try and tease Vanessa back were going to need a lot more work.

Post by **Vanessa LaNore** » November 6th, 2020, 5:45 pm

She laughed as he stumbled his way through accepting her offer. She’d expected as much, but it still was rather fun to watch. “You're so- earnest; it makes me feel all sorts of giddy. Come in, sit down, I’ll get us something simple to drink. We can talk Calem, talk and talk, until I get tired of not using your lips for something else.”

She winked at him, and a deep flush made her smile even more radiant than before as she moved into the kitchen. There wasn’t terribly much here, but in a professor’s home there were always drinks. After all, gifts were exchanged regularly and a good drink was the preferred gift of seeming refinement. The fact alcohol tended to be cheaper than other extravagances only helped.

"Let's start with a bit of mead then, something dry so you're not drowning in sweetness," she answered as she rummaged through her mostly bare cabinet and selected a bottle marked very distinctly with a bouquet of flowers. She called to Kip to collect the glasses and sauntered her way back into the main room as the spirit formed.

Finding Calem still standing she moved over to him and used her body to gently force him towards the chaise. "Sit and help me open this, then tell me more about what you would like," she purred at him as the dragonling-shaped cat spirit flitted into the room with the glasses.

Post by **Calem Sabathe** » November 7th, 2020, 5:01 am

"By the gods, not more blushing." Calem had expected that he wouldn't have been able to faze her, but the way she'd almost effortlessly countered it and teased him right back. Calem couldn't help but be just a slight bit frustrated at himself. Somehow she was so open. She found saying such things so easy, cutting right through any uncertainty with almost surgical position. Calem couldn't help but sigh quietly to himself. "She's so brave. What I would give to be like her..." He'd always been so shy, so uncertain. As a professional doctor, he'd learnt to remain calm in the face of some grisly sights, but as soon as it came to being social, he'd almost always backed off and quietly kept to himself. He could still remember the first time he'd been intimidated by an irate patient, who'd tried to physically intimidate him into giving him some of the drugs at the hospital; if it hadn't been for some of the more experienced doctors happening by, who knew what might have happened?

"And yet, you came here. You kissed her. You held her hand and came to this apartment." That was the wonderful thing about Vanessa, to him. She was beautiful, without question. She was intelligent and witty, of that there was no doubt. But more important than all of that was that, through all his awkward nerves, she'd managed to do something that he never thought anyone could have accomplished; she pushed him beyond his shyness to do something daring, almost reckless, and damn the consequences. "It's like there's nothing I can't accomplish with her."

The feeling bolstered his spirits. While he was still blushing a bit, he felt less overwhelmed, his smile feeling a little calmer. Was this what being confident felt like?

He was shaken from such thoughts when he saw Vanessa approaching him, swaying ever so slightly. The sight of her froze him again, as he swore he could see her eyes shining with her inner strength - and just a hint of mischief. He tried to say something, but he felt her body against his as she gently pushed him back, falling onto the chaise next to her. Her body felt so warm where they touched. "I--" he started, but stopped as he suddenly saw something that even he didn't expect to see, momentarily snapping him out of his love-struck stupor - a small blue flame, unbidden, slowly flew across the room, seeming to carry a pair of drinking glasses. No, on closer inspection, it wasn't a flame. There was a distinct shape to the flame, a shape like a young cat, clutching a pair of glasses in its claws. "Magic?" Calem almost gasped in wonder. It couldn't be - but his eyes couldn't be deceiving him, not like this. This wasn't simply like the wings she'd shown him before. This was the kind of magic he'd read so much about. "It has to be invocation magic." he murmured to himself, his eyes following the cat spirit with wonder. "Not animation, that would possess a physical being, but it has its own form. It can't be an illusion if the being is affecting other objects, can it? Then is this summoning magic? I've never seen it before." He quietly turned back to face Vanessa. "Vanessa, you're a mage, too?"

The instant after the words came out though, he clapped his hands over his mouth in terror. He'd just accidentally admitted the one thing he'd meant never to tell any living soul - whatever reason he meant it for, magic was still illegal in Fellsgard, and his initial thought was terror at what she might do if she became frightened and called for the Inquisitors. Though after the initial surprise, the next thought that came to mind was that Vanessa might have thought he was frightened of her. Calem took his hands away and gripped her hand. "W-wait! I'm sorry, I didn't mean--I mean, I suspected, but I didn't think there were..." There was a shudder in his voice as he looked down at the floor, his voice shaking ever so slightly. "They tell such frightening stories. About the Inquisitors, what they do to their prisoners, and..." Calem shook his head, trying to order his thoughts - the thought that Vanessa would throw him to the Inquisitors, if she was a magician as well was nothing but idiotic panic, especially after everything else he'd confided in her - what on earth had he been thinking? She'd supported him and trusted him, and if this was the way he was acting he was ashamed of himself. He needed to get his head straight or Vanessa might never talk to him again. "M-maybe it would be easier if I showed you." Calem stopped, reaching out a hand in front of him, palm facing up. He hesitated for a moment, but looked at Vanessa again, and gave a small smile. "I trust you." It was as much to himself as it was to Vanessa.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated, focusing his will and whispering, before a tiny ball of yellow light slowly flickered into being just a few inches above his hand. The ball grew in size, the size of a child's ball, but the light coming off it was barely stronger than a candle light would be. It was the simplest magic he knew of - the one spell that he'd been able to practice without alerting anyone, and with practice, he'd managed to shape it to the point where it was so miniscule as to be barely be detectable unless you were looking straight at it. "I study magic as well. Mostly Luminosity and Restoration magic." The ball of light suddenly split into three smaller-size balls, spinning in a circle around Calem's hand. "I wanted to study it properly, but the chantry forbade it - all about magic being illegal in Fellsgard. I never really understood why...I understand that magic in the wrong hands is dangerous, but so is a knife, and they've never banned those." The balls of light slowly changed to different colours as they circled Calem's hand - first red, green and blue, then magenta, yellow and cyan, then shifting different colours every rotation. "So I studied in secret, with old books in the library. I heard rumours about House Nyshasa, but they never noticed me - or at least, I don't think they did. But this is about as far as I got by myself - only parlor tricks. No closer to truly understanding the art of healing magic." Calem opened his eyes, his hand relaxed and the balls of light disappeared, once again dimming the room. He looked at Vanessa, his nerves starting to get the better of him once again. But he felt relief as well, like a weight taken from him. "I'm sorry for being rude. I don't mean to rant at you. It's just I've never had anyone I could talk to about this before."

Post by **Vanessa LaNore** » November 7th, 2020, 5:51 am

Vanessa couldn't stop her smile from spreading as she caught Calem in another bout of stuttering appreciation. Then his attention snapped behind her, to Kip, and the way he spoke sent a spike of ice through her blood. She was in Fellsgard, with a man she did not know, despite her desire to know him well, and she had just shown a casual control of Magic.

Years of training ran across her mind in an instant, magic to cloud the memories, stories of drunkenness, excuses for a trick of the light. There were many ways to cover a mistake, her work with the inquisition even as a consultant had shown her that well enough. She felt her wings begin to form, the instinctive need to defend herself calling forth her inner power outside her control.

Just as she readied herself for action, Calem's tone shifted to one of quiet investigation. The soft murmurs of a man intrigued, not angry or frightened, spilled from the Doctor's lips and a small glimmer of hope slipped through the chill of her veins. Then he confessed his own powers, something Vanessa had guessed at given his clear and open interest, and all the ice melted away.

She watched Calem, her eyes slowly regaining the shimmering glow of glee, as he rambled to himself in her direction about the Inquisition. He brought out a hand, and professed his trust, and the Half-Fae felt a blossom of heat return to her chest. Trust was important in her life, and rare despite her best efforts. Professional distance, as if handling a dangerous toxin, was far more common.

Vanessa focused on Calem's magic intently, letting him explain as she studied the small bits of well-concealed light. When he made them shift in color and dance she giggled softly and clapped without sound. Then he dismissed them, and looked right into her eyes again and she released her control the barest fraction. Her wings shimmered into existence, beating a slow rhythm around them as the embers of her eyes again became fire.

"It is Illusion, bound with Summoning magic through my stories. A skilled Illusionist can change not only perception, but the world as well. I should not have shown you my magic, but I did and you have trusted me, so I will trust you in return," she said with a wink, lifting up a hand for Kip. The invisible spirit returned, murring softly before flying over to settle on her arm and curl around her neck.

After a moment of attention, Kip slid forward tentatively, offering an inquisitive snout to Calem with a soft chirp. "This is Kip, the first spirit I bound. One day I will tell you his story, but for now I need you to take off your shirt and help me open this bottle. I promise we can keep talking, but I want to touch your skin- before I burn up," she purred, curling a hand into the fabric of his clothes. Finding the heat beneath, she tugged gently and hummed in excitement.

Post by **Calem Sabathe** » November 8th, 2020, 4:55 am

Calem was sure that he'd have had something appropriate to say - words of some form of kindness or understanding to make her smile. Words of appreciation for sharing something secret with him.

But before he could say any of them, she leaned towards him, her hand touched his skin, and the words vanished on his tongue. [ To view this content, you must log in. ] With his free hand, he reached over to the bottle, opening it without a word. He would have poured some of the wine himself, but at this point he was physically struggling between his need to be polite and try the mead she'd so graciously gotten out for him and his overwhelming urge to grab hold of her, kiss her and never stop.