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emberdance) wrote2026-01-13 03:42 pm
emberdance) wrote2026-01-13 03:42 pmopen post
OPEN POST
pm for plotting ✦ info / permissions
emberdance) wrote2026-01-13 03:42 pm
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"Regular appointments," he repeats thoughtfully. "How considerate of him. Most rulers prefer their scholars exhausted and grateful for the privilege." That was how things were in Constantinople, at least. To even be considered for court was an honor shed only upon those expected to be eternally grateful in all ways.
The thought was stomach-turning.
At Crow's offer of guidance, the scholar tilts his head; the look he gives him is measured and assessing, but not unkind. He does have to admire the man's ambition.
"Very well," he says. "You may act as my map. But understand this: maps are useful only when they do not lie." The chiming of clarions around the assassin's wrist draws his attention for a brief moment - eyes lazy and slow beneath the half-moons of lowered lids - before he returns his full focus to his companion.
"Supplies, yes. You will receive a list. You will receive a list. It will contain nothing you cannot acquire." The means of obtaining things outside the reach of mortals always falls to his kind; nothing that could teach them of things they should not know. A faint curve touches his mouth, more shadow of a smile than the thing itself. Perhaps it is the hunger within him - roaring, clawing, fire burning up within his being - or simply the fact that the other man skirts the unknown and dances on the razor's edge. Something takes hold of him; he looks forward again, the palace drawing nearer.
"You wished to see behind my doors, yes? You are free this evening?"
The words are spoken with such casual certainty it's almost unsettling. After such strong denials, to change his heart: something dangerous beyond those doors lies. And yet the fangs beneath his lips remind him, the craving inside curls its claws. The warning was laid as salt upon the earth and still Crow looks at him as if he is a puzzle to solve. So let him solve it with blood and teeth.
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Tomorrow, he is sure, Phyre will spend his time meeting the king, and Crow will almost certainly spend all day at the market haggling for whatever bizarre supplies Phyre wants. Gods, he just hopes it's not a list full of animal entrails or something. He is in no way squeamish, but the weather is unexpectedly temperate this week, and he wants to enjoy the day, not spend it carting around dripping packages of entrails and eyeballs that might splash on his new boots.
Phyre's next words have Crow's gaze darting toward him, wide in faint surprise at first, and then narrowing in cat-like pleasure.
"I suppose I could free up some time in my busy schedule," he replies, deliberately airy and casual, to offset the depths he can hear in Phyre's words but cannot yet divine what those depths might be. "I should, of course, make sure you're settled into your apartments. I can even bring a bottle or two of local wine by ⸻ for shameless advertisement purposes, you see."
What's the catch? Crow cannot help but think that there will be one. Phyre's immediate reaction to his flirtations was to warn him away, and now he's being invited in? A man like Phyre does not easily change his mind, Crow senses, but perhaps he is still subject to whims and flights of fancy like any other man. Perhaps there's a catch, perhaps Crow's flirtations just had a delayed effect, who knows?
The only way to know for sure will be to turn up later this evening, to satisfy his own curiosity.
The night is still getting darker as they continue down the path to the palace, and as they get close enough to see the battlefield carvings detailed over every inch of the columns, Crow turns them to the left instead, a sprawling complex of individual apartments built in red stone and clay. Its garden is immaculately kept, wild flowers of paradise bursting on trellises and lush grass underfoot. "Here we are," he announces cheerfully, gesturing with a gloved hand. "See the penthouse? That's yours. It even comes with access to its own private hot springs."
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As the apartments come into view, the elder slows his steps; his attention drawn not to the garden - lush as it is - but to the way the space is arranged. He pauses upon the threshold, the scarlet fire of his gaze sweeping the area as if he is measuring the courtyard of the lodgings rather than admiring it. Exits and entrances, pathways and rooftops; ever the Nomad, ever the escapist. Most faithful to his name and to his instincts. Still holding the bridle of what passes for his caravan, he tilts his head while looking back to his guide.
"Efficient," he says at last. Not praise, exactly, but approval lives close to it. "And the beasts? Where shall we be leaving them?" The lanternlight catches his face, carving sharp lines and deeper shadows, red eyes steady and unreadable.
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"Phyre, my good sir, this is Anuket," he gestures to the woman, "and Akhem," and then to the man. "They run these apartments, and you'll find no hospitality better in all the city. It's a family business, you see, so their entire sense of pride is wound into every stone brick."
Anuket almost rolls her eyes fondly at Crow's teasing grin, but stops short of actually doing it. Instead, she bows her head to greet Phyre, Akhem doing the same a moment after her. "We have been expecting you, Scholar Phyre," she greets. "Your rooms are already set up, and an evening meal will be delivered momentarily." She glances behind her, and makes a gesture ⸻ an eager young girl runs forward to skid to a halt next to the camels, reaching up to stroke their noses and soothe them. "Sepa will take your steeds, and they will be housed in the royal stables not far from here."
Crow watches as other attendants come forward to start unloading all of the packs from the camel's backs, and starts mentally planning his day tomorrow. First, he'll get the list from Phyre in the morning, and he'll spend the day getting what supplies he needs. His evening, amusingly, is already booked.
Amidst the flurry of activity, Crow says to Phyre, "If you could write that list tonight and leave it with Anuket and Akhem, I'll pick it up in the morning and get to work." He bows low, exaggerated. "Alas, I must leave you for tonight, as I am sure you are weary from your travels. But I'm certain the hospitality here will refresh you for our meeting tomorrow."
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"My thanks," he says to the servitors when there is a break in the bustle, his voice even and warm without being familiar. "Your preparations are appreciated. Few things ease travel-weariness so effectively as competence." The dark red flicks briefly to Sepa as she soothes the camels, a quiet approval there, before returning to Crow. "That will be no trouble," Phyre replies. "I will have the list prepared before the night is out. You will find nothing on it that stains your boots." He pauses then, eyes narrowing just slightly with dry amusement.
"I trust you will exercise restraint in my absence and procure precisely what is written, rather than what merely catches your interest." Crow's exaggerated bow earns him the faintest curve of a smile before he stops for just a moment. The morning. The presence of sun. Phyre bristles at the mention but outwardly projects a calm facade. "I am unable to venture out into the sun. It is... Part of my condition. I shall have to receive you inside. But do enjoy your evening. I expect you alive, functional, and punctual come morning."
As Crow departs, Phyre turns back to the twins. The quickness of movement does not hurry him; instead, he allows himself a still moment, surveying the stonework, the angles of the entryway, the careful pride evident even in the way the attendants move through the space. "This place is well tended," he observes with care. "You honor your family name." Then, with a slight inclination of his head toward Anuket, deliberate but restrained: acknowledging authority where it is due. "I will not be a difficult guest. If there are customs I should observe, I would rather be informed than forgiven." There is no flirtation in his tone - perhaps a stark difference from Crow - but there is respect, and something like quiet interest. Enough to suggest that while the scholar does not seek to be impressed, he does notice when care is taken.
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He leaves Phyre in their efficient care, and sets out to report back to the king, or rather, the king's staff, since the man is abed by this hour. Crow is not far behind.
In the morning, he touches base with Phyre to gather the list. Because of Phyre's unusual condition about sunlight, Crow makes sure to turn up before the sun fully rises. He flirts a little, feigns offense at the accusation that he'd stray from the list in favour of shiny things, gives Phyre updates on the forecast and amusing news from around the city, and finally departs to let Phyre have his breakfast in peace. Mostly because Akhem gives him subtle shoo motions as he's bringing the plates to Phyre's apartments.
He spends the next half-day in the markets, hunting down everything on Phyre's list. Crow is extraordinarily tempted to amuse himself and throw in some extra things here and there, but he decides to stick precisely to the list as written, and it's not long before he has a camel laden with trunks full of esoteric ingredients and equipment. He has that delivered to the apartments, where it will wait outside Phyre's door until the man is ready to recieve it.
And then, finally, it is evening, and Crow turns up as invited. Phyre had made no secret that the invite for the evening was likely sexual in nature, and so, Crow is very curious ⸻ the same man had tried to warn him off initially, only to invite him closer in the end. A man of fascinating contradictions.
Dressed casually in loose black pants and a sleeveless black vest, his porcelain and gold prosthetic glints in the lantern light as he leans against the door, gold jewelry strung though his ears and hair and draped over his chest. The sun is just beginning to set, hidden enough behind the cliff face that none will be making its way into Phyre's apartments ⸻ he checked, just to be thorough ⸻ and so Crow knocks. When the door opens, he greets Phyre with a nod to the chests that lay outside his door.
"Delivery for a Lord Phyre?" He grins. "I'm not the usual delivery boy, I know, but I can still help you carry them inside, if you like."
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When Crow arrives, he is still awake, having availed himself to one of his tomes for the evening - after a little night wandering, of course - and deflecting the flirting with well-placed ripostes and warnings, though none of them overly sharp or barbed. Simply little warnings that could likely be taken as invitations for the overly flirtatious man dancing through every "where thou shalt fear to tread" as if it were some sort of invitation to danger. Once the shiny-finder has departed, the scholar moves to find slumber, solace from the sun.
Clothing is changed - a lightweight kurta and churidar pants, comfortable and practical for the purpose - before he slips into the furniture offered to him for this purpose. Before long, the red gaze flickers under heavy lids. It is dreamless. As it always is. Torpor, though short, is never pleasant. Simply darkness. A passage of time as the sun moves through the sky. While Crow spins his tales and form through the market, the elder lies silent and still in his bed, mind full of nothing and thoughts a void.
The rise of the moon heralds the end of his rest, a hand brought to his forehead as he sorts through the memories of the day prior. Yes, he is to entertain the flitty bird this evening; and good timing, too. The hunger is rising within.
Alas, he has no time to switch to something more formal - his magicked clothing, something with a bit more flair even - before the door is gently rapped upon. Crow will instead receive the vampire with slightly mussed hair and wrinkled bedwear.
"You are early, too efficient for your own good," the Balkan intones as the door slides open, midnight strands loose around his face, the darkness around his face and the earthen tones of his clothing a stark difference to the milky, pallid hue of his skin.
"I have not yet changed. I hope that will not be a problem. You may go inside. I will handle the delivery." The door creaks open all the way, the figure within moving aside to allow Crow entry first before he himself moves outside. With relative ease - as if the chests were nothing but straw - he lifts and carries them within, depositing each somewhere they will be out of the way before the door thuds shut behind him.
"Thank you. If you will wait a moment, I will wash up and change."
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Crow had had Phyre pegged as a man of impeccable demeanour. A man who took great pains to present to the world exactly the picture that he wanted to painstakingly paint, and not a single bit less. But here he is, sleep-rumpled and mussed.
It's an unexpectedly endearing sight. Like watching a wolf waking up, soft and blinking sleepily in the moments before it turns back into a creature of the wild.
"I'd say you hardly need to go to the effort on my account, but if you insist," Crow hums, moving into the apartment. He carries in the dinner that had been delivered minutes before, once perched neatly atop a delivered crate of materials, now in Crow's hands as he carries it to the table and chairs within, set near the expansive (and currently curtain-covered) windows. Crow's tempted to brush the heavy drapes aside, but he has no idea the extent of Phyre's enmity with the sun ⸻ as the last dregs of it are still in the sky, he'll let Phyre decide when the curtains open.
Besides, it looks like dinner is actually a breakfast spread ⸻ the twins have also caught on to Phyre's different schedule ⸻ so he'll occupy himself with brewing some coffee and tea.
He moves to the kitchen, familiar with the layout of these apartments, and finds both teapot and coffee press. As Phyre washes up, Crow calls, "I hope you have an appetite, because by the looks of the breakfast provided, they think they're feeding an army."
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While busying himself, he takes the time to change into his preferred attire - a warlock's frock coat and brocade embroidered pants, both emblazoned in black, red, and adorned with a hint of gold embroidery - before stepping back out into the apartment proper, adjusting the buttons at his collar. His sleeves have been neatly adjusted, his hair fixed into proper place. Order established and deliberate where all should be.
It is then that his red, hellish gaze falls upon the table and its bounty and he pauses where he stands. One cannot deny the spread is generous: bread still warm, soft cheeses, honey, figs split open like garnets, spiced eggs, roasted meats. The scent of it hangs rich in the air, tempting to any who could stomach it. For a moment - perhaps too long - he says nothing, his expression carefully blank.
"I am afraid their generosity will be wasted," comes his even, almost deadpan reply. It is not discourteous, but simply a matter of observation. Taking another step forward, he approaches the table but neglects to take a seat. Those dark, unrelenting eyes trace the fare without hunger, absent of desire or need. Simple calculation, as one would study a still-life.
"My condition prevents me from eating such fare. It does not agree with me."
It is a truth, but a softened one. Should he attempt to eat, even to humor his benefactor, it would be as ash upon his tongue. And only moments later he would eject it from his body, perhaps causing more concern than anything.
"But do not let my failings prevent you from enjoying it. It would be improper to let Anuket and Akhem's efforts go unappreciated." Continuing his pace past the table, he pauses just alongside Crow in the kitchen, glancing at him out of the corners of his eyes.
"As for appetite," he begins, voice heavy in the quiet stillness; the dark red gaze is steady and unblinking. "I can assure you that I have one. It is simply selective."