It is several minutes after this — now with a blanket over them, and the mess they’d made prestidigitated clean —that Caleb speaks again.
“I still think my disguise was pretty convincing, schön.”
Disguise? What is he talking about, what dis…
“Your slave disguise?!” Essek’s face contorts in bemusement.
“Mmhmm.”
The ‘ridiculous fucking harness I first saw you in,’ he recalls mentioning, and feels both like hiding his face and a desperate need to engage in whatever banter Caleb wishes to entice him with.
“I clocked you two from the moment you walked in,” Essek claims.
“Oh, so you knew it was a disguise right away?” Caleb repeats in amused disbelief.
“I…” Essek pauses, the dark purple-blue of his cheeks growing darker. “I knew… I could tell Beauregard’s was a disguise fairly quickly.” Caleb laughs, and Essek smiles to hear it. “Too ill-behaved, and scowling. There is no slavery in Rosohna, but I have been to Asarius and I know that would not be borne. You, I… was… not certain until you spoke. That accent? And your elocution? Caleb Widogast, that was not your most convincing tale.”
“But you could not tell before that,” Caleb retorts smugly.
“I supposed for a moment that you were simply better trained than she, though I did not start to question until Lythir spoke up.”
“Bet you thought I looked good on my knees, though.”
“I thought no such thing at the time,” Essek retorts defensively. “I was... entirely focused on how these nosy intruders were mucking up my plans, to be honest.”
“Oh, ‘at the time,’ yes?” Caleb’s smug voice envelops him in warmth. Curse this man. Damn him to each of the nine hells consecutively, he is too precocious and delightful to be tolerated.
“I… it… might have occurred to me… later that night, that your disguise was a bit… that you… were…” Caleb cannot contain his laughter at this point and Essek scowls. “Shut up.”
“Liebchen, you just fucked my brains out and I fell all over myself wanting to suck your cock, I think there is little to be ashamed of now.”
“I would not have given it a second thought, but then you spoke and I just… you…” Essek’s hands cover his face and he thanks whatever deity saw fit to deny humans darkvision because he can feel the bright heat of embarrassment across his cheeks, his ears, his neck, his chest…
“I spoke aaaand?” Caleb is such a brat. He should have known this would happen.
“Fucking… bah!” Essek sighs and resigns himself to the torturous fate of speaking to the person he loves more than anything in the world. How dreadful. “I cannot be blamed for such base thoughts! This... filthy human in a slave harness speaking up to the blasted Bright Queen?! Caleb, can you not fathom the sheer fascination you inspired?”
“Inspiring, am I?”
“Not just to myself, I should tell you. You were a source of much discussion in darkened rooms across Rosohna.”
“I… warten, was?” The human’s voice goes from teasing to baffled and his eyebrows scrunch up in confusion..
“You really did not know?” Now Essek gets to sound smug. Hah.
“I was… I… they… what?”
“Oh, the rest of the Nein as well, particularly Beauregard, were subjects of great fascination. But you, my Caleb, you were practically the embodiment of a cultural taboo: not just a human, but an Imperial. Not only that, but a Zemnian wizard! Who dared speak back to the ultimate matriarch of the Dynasty! Who spoke while on his knees, face dirtied and dressed as a slave, holding the most prized artifact of our culture, the very body of our God. It was… There were very few boxes that moment did not tick for any number of people.”
Essek wills himself to stop blushing, but has no idea if it’s working.
“The dichotomy of sacred and profane, yes?” Caleb’s eyes are sparkling with mirth and Essek thinks it is even more beautiful than when they were blown wide in passion. “I suppose it is not too foreign a concept, particularly among societies where sexuality is less freely discussed. The implicit forbiddenness of one strengthened by the explicit forbiddenness of the other—“
“Of course you would quantify even this, xi’hum. Do you mean to compose a study on the subject?”
“Popular Sexual Fantasies Of The Kryn Dynasty As Shaped By Geopolitics and Social Taboos, by Caleb Widogast.”
“You would do that.”
“Mmmm no, but doubtless there are other scholars who would.”
“Oh I am certain Jester and Beauregard could assist you in such an endeavor if you did not feel up to the task.”
Caleb chuckles and kisses his hair, and Essek cannot help but grin. A wide, thrilled grin he cannot remember ever wearing on his face before. A few moments later he complains of the cold, digging his nose into Caleb’s neck. Caleb wastes a spell slot to put up the dome within a minute rather than ten, Essek tucks the blankets carefully around their feet, and they rest. Essek listens to Caleb’s slow breathing and feels Caleb’s cold feet on his shins while he awaits his trance. He cannot fathom how very fortunate he is to have been somehow graced with another chance at life.
They will still analyze the dust tomorrow. Carefully.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
FILL: Verbose [Caleb/Essek] 12/12 COMPLETE
Date: 2021-10-23 03:53 am (UTC)“I still think my disguise was pretty convincing, schön.”
Disguise? What is he talking about, what dis…
“Your slave disguise?!” Essek’s face contorts in bemusement.
“Mmhmm.”
The ‘ridiculous fucking harness I first saw you in,’ he recalls mentioning, and feels both like hiding his face and a desperate need to engage in whatever banter Caleb wishes to entice him with.
“I clocked you two from the moment you walked in,” Essek claims.
“Oh, so you knew it was a disguise right away?” Caleb repeats in amused disbelief.
“I…” Essek pauses, the dark purple-blue of his cheeks growing darker. “I knew… I could tell Beauregard’s was a disguise fairly quickly.” Caleb laughs, and Essek smiles to hear it. “Too ill-behaved, and scowling. There is no slavery in Rosohna, but I have been to Asarius and I know that would not be borne. You, I… was… not certain until you spoke. That accent? And your elocution? Caleb Widogast, that was not your most convincing tale.”
“But you could not tell before that,” Caleb retorts smugly.
“I supposed for a moment that you were simply better trained than she, though I did not start to question until Lythir spoke up.”
“Bet you thought I looked good on my knees, though.”
“I thought no such thing at the time,” Essek retorts defensively. “I was... entirely focused on how these nosy intruders were mucking up my plans, to be honest.”
“Oh, ‘at the time,’ yes?” Caleb’s smug voice envelops him in warmth. Curse this man. Damn him to each of the nine hells consecutively, he is too precocious and delightful to be tolerated.
“I… it… might have occurred to me… later that night, that your disguise was a bit… that you… were…” Caleb cannot contain his laughter at this point and Essek scowls. “Shut up.”
“Liebchen, you just fucked my brains out and I fell all over myself wanting to suck your cock, I think there is little to be ashamed of now.”
“I would not have given it a second thought, but then you spoke and I just… you…” Essek’s hands cover his face and he thanks whatever deity saw fit to deny humans darkvision because he can feel the bright heat of embarrassment across his cheeks, his ears, his neck, his chest…
“I spoke aaaand?” Caleb is such a brat. He should have known this would happen.
“Fucking… bah!” Essek sighs and resigns himself to the torturous fate of speaking to the person he loves more than anything in the world. How dreadful. “I cannot be blamed for such base thoughts! This... filthy human in a slave harness speaking up to the blasted Bright Queen?! Caleb, can you not fathom the sheer fascination you inspired?”
“Inspiring, am I?”
“Not just to myself, I should tell you. You were a source of much discussion in darkened rooms across Rosohna.”
“I… warten, was?” The human’s voice goes from teasing to baffled and his eyebrows scrunch up in confusion..
“You really did not know?” Now Essek gets to sound smug. Hah.
“I was… I… they… what?”
“Oh, the rest of the Nein as well, particularly Beauregard, were subjects of great fascination. But you, my Caleb, you were practically the embodiment of a cultural taboo: not just a human, but an Imperial. Not only that, but a Zemnian wizard! Who dared speak back to the ultimate matriarch of the Dynasty! Who spoke while on his knees, face dirtied and dressed as a slave, holding the most prized artifact of our culture, the very body of our God. It was… There were very few boxes that moment did not tick for any number of people.”
Essek wills himself to stop blushing, but has no idea if it’s working.
“The dichotomy of sacred and profane, yes?” Caleb’s eyes are sparkling with mirth and Essek thinks it is even more beautiful than when they were blown wide in passion. “I suppose it is not too foreign a concept, particularly among societies where sexuality is less freely discussed. The implicit forbiddenness of one strengthened by the explicit forbiddenness of the other—“
“Of course you would quantify even this, xi’hum. Do you mean to compose a study on the subject?”
“Popular Sexual Fantasies Of The Kryn Dynasty As Shaped By Geopolitics and Social Taboos, by Caleb Widogast.”
“You would do that.”
“Mmmm no, but doubtless there are other scholars who would.”
“Oh I am certain Jester and Beauregard could assist you in such an endeavor if you did not feel up to the task.”
Caleb chuckles and kisses his hair, and Essek cannot help but grin. A wide, thrilled grin he cannot remember ever wearing on his face before. A few moments later he complains of the cold, digging his nose into Caleb’s neck. Caleb wastes a spell slot to put up the dome within a minute rather than ten, Essek tucks the blankets carefully around their feet, and they rest. Essek listens to Caleb’s slow breathing and feels Caleb’s cold feet on his shins while he awaits his trance. He cannot fathom how very fortunate he is to have been somehow graced with another chance at life.
They will still analyze the dust tomorrow. Carefully.