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 Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 1:41 pm
"A bit of both. They'll ask questions before hand but seeing usually makes more questions come up." And there were always those who hadn't been able to ask questions before Mag Mell had arrived. Those individuals had been the bulk of those who'd come to see him after dinner. The garden outside his room was walled off so no one could intrude but the collection of plants and trees gave it the illusion of being far larger than it was while still being quiet and cozy. Sailor Arsinoe walked over to a large pond toward the center of the garden and picked up a small bowl that was sitting on the stone wall surrounding the pond. "The library and school get plenty of visitors but I do not." He smiled as he looked over at the other man. "Not that aren't some sort of offical visit at least."
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:26 pm
"Does that mean that I wasn't invited here for an official visit?" His brow lofted as he paused not far from the other man, arms crossing lightly over his chest as he watched him. Even if he hadn't wandered through the other man's room to enter the garden he would have known it belonged to Arsinoe. Everything about the area seemed tailored to the other man's tastes; the very air seemed to hum to welcome him. Well, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but he did seem very at home in the garden; comfortable in ways he hadn't seemed even on their trips away from Castle Ebonwing and the guards on Corvus. "Does your cousin not come to visit you as you do her?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:33 pm
"No, you were invited here as my guest and my friend." He paused with the bowl of fish food in his hand, slight frown crossing his face. The visit hadn't come across in his letters as something offical had it? "Unless you came for another reason other than my letter?" It was possible someone else had invited Mag Mell and the visits had coincided but he'd have thought Arlen would tell him if that was the case. "She does but she is family so her visits don't cause much of a stir."
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:23 pm
"No... No. I came here because you invited me, but I wasn't-- I mean, that is to say... I assumed that it wasn't business, but I didn't know that it wasn't official." In trying not to read too far into the letters that they had exchanged, the Cosmos Knight had made the assumption that Sailor Arsinoe had wanted him to visit for much the same reason that the people of Corvus had. "I'm not... It isn't often that I find myself invited somewhere because of who I am underneath all of the shimmering, pastel stars." He was actually fairly certain that there were some Cosmos Knights out there whose names were purposefully left off of guest lists for who they had been beneath their attire.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:31 pm
His frown didn't disappear completely but it did soften as he sat down on the raised edge of the pond and motioned for the knight to join him. "If you'd invited officially there would have been quite a bit more ceremony and you'd be far more uncomfortable than you are. I didn't want you to come as a Knight of Cosmos but as ... my friend." He stopped himself from using the knights name, barely. He wasn't sure he was allowed to use that since the knight hadn't technically told him what it was. "I don't see anything wrong with who you are without the pastel stars."
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:40 pm
"If we are friends we should probably change how we address one another. At least in private, don't you think?" He uncrossed his arms as he closed the distance between them, taking a seat on the pool's edge across from the other man. "I'll be the first to admit that I don't know all of your rules here on Arsinoe, so I don't know if you're even allowed to refer to me as anything other than what I am... But my name, my given name is Arlen. It's what I went by as a Page, and even once I was promoted to Squire. It still feels strange settling into the title of Mag Mell. That... To me that was my mentor; the man who saw to my training before he passed on." As he spoke he looked to the sky, fingers fussing with the hem of his vest.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:58 pm
He resisted the urge to stop Arlen from fidgeting, sprinkling a bit of the food onto the water as a distraction. The fish started to slowly float up and come near them to nibble on the pellets floating on the water surface. "Outside of here? Titles are expected. Using given names shows a level of familiarity that, unfortunately, isn't deemed proper in public." It wasn't necessarily something he liked but it was not going to change any time soon. "I would like being able to use Arlen in private though. Just between us." He smiled softly. "I've been Sailor Arsinoe for far too long but my name is Jinyue. You shouldn't worry either. You make a fine knight and I'm sure your mentor is proud of you."
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:12 pm
"From what I remember, you and Sailor Corvus both awakened young during this cycle, correct?" His gaze drifted from the sky back down to the other man's face as he willed his hands to fall still and rest lightly on his lap. "I still wish I would have had more time with my mentor, but I'll be grateful for what I did have. He was a good man and left me a strong title to live up to." He shook his head, one hand coming up to run fingers lightly through his hair before looking to that Senshi of Lanterns once more. "Is there anything else that would be acceptable between us that might not be proper in public?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:23 pm
"We did. Though I was always assumed to be the Sailor so I was raised to be one from a small child. My cousin's awakening was a bit more of a surprise." Sometimes he hated the Elders who had said he would be the Sailor at his birth but it meant the transition was easier. There had been no surprise. Just who he was meant to be. "Your line is descendants?" He dipped his fingers gently into the water, brushing them along the back of a large orange koi. Arlen's second question caught him a bit off guard and he couldn't stop the slight flush from coloring his cheeks. He doubted Arlen meant any of the things that quickly crossed his mind. "You do not need to be s careful about touching me. You've seen me outside of all this," He waved a hand vaguely at the palace. "on Corvus. That is alright between us."
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:50 pm
"Is that why you took my hand at dinner?" A light smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth and for a moment it seemed as though he might actually be teasing the other man. It was easy enough to do, he'd listened to Sailor Corvus pester her cousin for hours on end after all. Nevermind that he could still feel the press of the other man's fingers against his skin if he actually paused to think about it... He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly before nodding to confirm the other man's earlier question. "Wild oats sewn and collected when it's time for the next one to take their place... Or something a bit less poetic," he snorted softly, running his fingers back through his hair once more. "One day I was minding my own business and the next I woke on the shores of Mag Mell where the former Knight greeted me. It wasn't until some time after that I found out he was my sire, but it explained a lot about the situation."
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:55 pm
"I did that because you were fidgeting and I thought it would make you stop. It seemed to work." He looked up from his fish at the knight. "Unless you're going to complain about it?" His own voice held a bit of teasing as he watched the knight. It was always interesting to think that Knights were different, that they could be descendants and pass along the mantle. Sailors were always themselves, the same starseed reborn again and again, but Knights could be new people every time. "So your father was the knight before you? But you did not know he was your father?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:08 pm
"No, I didn't. My mother might have known, but..." He shook his head slowly, wondering when it was he'd last actually thought about the details. Four years? Five now? Long enough that it didn't seem to matter because knowing didn't change who he had been before, only who he would be now that Mag Mell had chosen him to be its next Knight. "What would you have done had someone caught you holding my hand at the table, Jinyue?" He spoke the other man's name softly, enjoying the way it parted his lips. "Willing to break rules just to keep me from being bored?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:13 pm
"We wouldn't have been caught, no one would have been close enough." He flushed again at the idea of being caught, looking back down to the fish hoping Arlen didn't notice. He could imagine the scandal if anyone had seen. "I just wanted to make you feel less nervous." Stars he was supposed to be introducing Arlen to his fish. Not thinking about how warm his skin was and how nice it felt with their fingers laced together.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:28 pm
"Nervous? What makes you think I was nervous?" He chuckled softly as he shifted to make himself a bit more comfortable where he was sitting. He leaned forward on a bent knee, reaching out to lightly tuck a strand of loose hair away from the other man's face. "I don't sit still well. I never have... I'm amazed I managed to make it through the written part of my training, honestly." His hand dropped back down to rest on his thigh as he watched the Senshi for a moment longer before looking to the pond. "So these are your fish? The ones that the ones on Corvus have descended from specifically?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 8:35 pm
"That sort of thing is usually a nervous habit, at least from what i've read." Most people didn't find the need to fidget unless they were nervous. "So even if the nerves are just from sitting still so long." Jinyue tried to ignore the soft brush of Arlen's fingers against his cheek an over his ear. The simple touch was enough to make his skin tingle. The fish were a good distraction though and he dipped his fingers into the water again to stop himself from reaching back out for Arlen's hand. "Yes. These are the ones I picked out specifically this one..." The fish that came up to his fingers was pure white except for a ring of orange on it's heat. "She's my favorite and the mother of quite a few on Corvus." The fish seemed happy to let him run his fingers along it's head.
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