: Regency AU :

[zauberdecke]

[ Essek Thelyss was used to being primped and petted.

He was a Lord and the Heir, but not an ideal one, after all Dynasty protocol favored women over men and always had. He had no real power and he would never have minded too terribly much if not for the fact that he was ultimately treated like a pawn by the Duchess Thelyss-- and with Essek desiring his studies more than society, he knew how to play the game albeit that he did not enjoy it and wished for the moments where he was left to his own devices.

There was a betrothal being brooked between himself and Lord Tasithar, handled by his mother.

It was not one that he particularly desired, but he had little say in the matter-- he merely had to be seen allowing the Lord to woo him, whereas the idea of it appeared distasteful to him. But as he stood there underneath the glimmering lights of the ballroom, holding his mask to his face, he found that there was a strange hollowness to this evening.

All of these people, they all meant very little to him.

Not that he did not have his share of dance partners, he would dance with them. But this was not something that he was well versed in, he did not enjoy the frivolous empty flirtations that was expected of him; cool politeness was the only thing that he could give and even that was as sparse as snow in the marquesian desert. And so he stood there in the corner, waiting for those to sign his dance card and ultimately realizing that he was nothing more than chattel for them.

He raised a glass of wine to his lips, and then ducked behind a potted plant once he saw Adeen approach. ]

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[ausgebrannt]

[Caleb Widogast, as he was calling himself these days, had been passing his time so far surveying the party. Jester had been kind enough to give him a general run down of the major players, and so many were names that he had known before. Of course Trent Ikithon was still around, though thankfully the old man had not deigned to attend this particular soiree. It was a younger population that swirled about in their fineries, like so many pretty cake toppers, all sugar and color to mask all the political machinations going on just below the surface. Caleb knew them too well.

He was watching still, a drink in one hand entirely as a prop, untouched and untried, when he saw the admittedly beautiful drow suddenly duck behind a plant. It didn't take long for his gaze to track to the reason for it. Tasithar. Just a grasping, boorish man from what Caleb knew of him, so it wasn't as if he would blame the man currently trying to hide himself away.

A faint flicker of a smile over his lips and he headed to where Essek was half concealed behind the fern.]

This is not a bad hiding spot, but he is still headed in this direction.

[The voice was softly accented, the Zemnian tinge to the words unmistakable. He was dressed well enough, but there was nothing extravagant about it, simple but well kept. He was very clearly not one of the usual members of high society here, but he did not stick out. A mask covered his face, red hair tied back at the base of his neck.

This was Caleb Widogast, a guest of Marion and Jester Lavorre, a traveling scholar of the arcane]

May I have this dance? He will not be able to catch you on the dancefloor.

[zauberdecke]

[ The beautiful drow was garbed in rather ostenatious attire which was not in keeping with how he wanted to dress (elegant but far more simply) but he was here to attract a titled husband, and if his mother had her way it would be Lord Tasithar. At the masked man's words, he shifted behind the pillared pot a bit more, a glance upward-- the mask one of silvered swan with plumage, those curls peeking out from the side a well kept curling.

He rose up to his full height which was arguably not much, but if he used a float it would've put him in viewing distance.

Ah, a dance. He rumbled with the dance card at his side and then presented it, there happened to be a blank spot for this waltz, he had been hiding so the card was not as full as it 'ought' to be. ] Ah yes, here.. I.

[ he offered it out then, though his card lacked little in terms of a name due to the masked nature of this ball-- but some people like Lord Tasithar seemed to want to announce his identity as if it was a gateway to clout ]

It is important that you sign, my mother likes to ah, peruse it the morning after. [ likely to see if she could enact a bidding war on her eldest son ]

[ausgebrannt]

I'm afraid I do not have a name that will be a very interesting one for perusal, but of course.

[And he took the card to write in careful script so as to be legible. Caleb Widogast. Not likely something that Duchess Thelyss would approve of. At all. But alas.

His own mask was rather plain, save for the fact that it had cat ears. ...he'd picked it out himself. Hush. He handed the card back to Essek before dropping a bow, hand to his chest before he extended it to the drow.]

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[ Essek bit back the statement that came to mind, that everything was of interest to his mother and that she could not go for a moment without meddling in the affairs of everyone around her. He looked down at the name, not one that he recognized but then he was not allowed to talk to people that his mother deemed 'fast' so his acquaintance with Miss Lavorre was surface at best.

He took the card back and then he tucked it back into the belt just underneath his waistcoat and then he placed his hand right against the forearm and then an incline of his head. ]

If you would lead me out, Mister Widogast.

[ Now Tasithar was in viewpoint but stopped visibly as he caught sight of the two of them. ]

~My Lord, I was just coming in to sign your dance card.~

[ An imperious incline of that head, far different than the one that was given to Caleb. ] You may find me after my dance with Mister Widogast.

[ As if he didn't fully intend on not being found by Lord Tasithar at any point during the evening. ]

[ausgebrannt]

[Caleb straightened up and offered the other man a smile. He had never been particularly good at parties, when he was young, better at books and lessons than the social politics game he knew that someone of his birthright out to be good at. But oh he had always loved dancing.

All these years later, that part of him had survived at least.

He started to turn towards the dancefloor to lead Essek out, though he paused as the other man's approach and offered him a -- mostly -- polite smile.]

My apologies, Lord Tasithar. It seems you weren't quite quick enough.

[And with that he led Essek off. He'd help him make his escape when their dancing was over, because even not knowing Essek at all, the other's reaction to Adeen was impossible to mistake.]

[zauberdecke]

[ A smile of relief lightly touched his lips, a softness that broke up the line of his mouth, though once on the dancefloor he did not pay any attention to Lord Tasithar, rather he assumed the position out there on the dance floor. From how this stranger with the cat mask had come into his life, he was rather certain there would be small talk, but as the man was his erstwhile savior, he would not mind it so much. ]

Thank you for rescuing me; he is not someone that I particularly want to dance with.

[ But nothing more than that. ] There are other more interesting subjects to focus on other than him.

[ausgebrannt]

I have heard about him from Lady Lavorre, so I cannot blame you.

[Jester had some very colorful things to say about how rude and lame Adeen Tasithar was. Caleb settled into the dance posture as well, picture of propriety, hand exactly where it ought to he, fingers holding Essek's loosely. For a penniless scholar, he did at least know the form it seemed.]

I am happy to play rescuer. I am admittedly very new here, and perhaps lucky to find my way onto anyone's dance card. And I am very fond of dancing.

[But now he was curious.] What subjects would those be, Lord Thelyss? What subjects have captured your interest?

[zauberdecke]

[ For a moment, he found himself stiffening slightly at his name-- Lord Thelyss. So this man knew him and yet he did not know him in the slightest. That felt only a little uneven, however he assumed the proper position with his hand lightly resting on Caleb's shoulder, an unpadded shoulder mind you and while the man was lithe and slender, he was not without a pleasing silhouette though it was not something that Essek would outwardly admit.

His preference was known (although his mother had yet to find anyone that could make his heart beat with anything faster than it's regular staccato beat, measured and paced) which was why the potential suitors had all been men.

But he would've taken a woman over Adeen Tasithar. ]

I suppose the usual, science and histories along with a bit of the arcane. [ A lot of the arcane actually, his mother allowed him enough of his studies, just enough that he would be allowed to do what he wanted within the scope that he must do what his mother told him to. ] And you, Mister Widogast? It is only fair that you are prepared to answer any questions that you ask myself.

[ausgebrannt]

[Jester was far too nosy not to point out the people she found most interesting at the party. Lord Thelyss was, as she put it, extremely eligible this season and seemingly annoyed by that fact. That had been enough to catch Caleb's curiosity. He could understand being less than thrilled by the whole pageantry of it all. He remembered his mother laughing about her own courtship with his father, that Leofric Ermendrud had nearly created a scandal by making a proposal to her at the first event of the season so, in his mother's words, 'No one else got any ideas.' Marriage was seldom for love in his parents' world, and their union was something of an anomaly and a miracle.

He couldn't help the spark of interest in his eyes at Essek's answer to his question.]

Of course, my Lord. It is only fair. The arcane is my greatest interest, and my specialty. I'm a scholar of it, to some extent.

[He was being humble about it, really. He'd studied intently, built his ability and his knowledge, and in certain areas of magic in particular he was impressively skilled. But there was no hiding the passion in his voice as he spoke of it.]

History and science are also interests, though perhaps with just a bit less... obsession. [Yes, that was the right word.]

[zauberdecke]

If I am being honest, the arcane is a bit of an obsession of mine own as well.

[ He had noticed the light just underneath that mask, it was in the spark of-- was it blue eyes that he had detected? Made even more cerulean by the stark simplicity and black velvet of the mask being worn. He hummed underneath a breath in an answering response.

The fact that this man was a scholar of it? Well this dance got infinitely more interesting because of the tidbit revealed. ] Most dance partners of the male variety do not appreciate intelligence in their dance partner so I have learned to generally profess a 'dabbling' interest.

[ Lord Tasithar being one who hated it that the man he was actively courting was far more well-read than he could even hope of being. ] Dabbling is far tame of a word for such a sentiment.

[ausgebrannt]

Then most of those dance partners are fools.

[...and okay so he was not the most tactful. Oh well. It was true. Besides, he could feel the truth of that mirroring obsession in Essek's tone, thought he could see a clear and keen intelligence in those fathomless eyes that he couldn't pinpoint the color of -- violet, perhaps, but was that a glint of gold when the light caught them? He'd always had a weakness for such clearly magical transmutation.]

And what sort of arcana has your interest so captured? For me it is transmutation, though I also find myself drawn to tapping into the more primal elemental forces as well.

[zauberdecke]

In the Dynasty, there is something called Dunamancy which is the length and breadth of time, gravity and the very essence of possibility. I have read every book that has been afforded on the subject and I've mastered the spells that I know, but there is still so much for me to learn and thus I desire in a manner that may be labeled obscene.

[ He knew he was talking quite a bit. ] And Transmutation is the study of change and how it affects the spatial area around it, correct? That is very much an Empire form of magic, one that I find fascinating though I have not focused on it to any great length?

[ and as they danced, a question came to Essek. ] Do you happen to have a favorite spell?

[ausgebrannt]

I have read of Dunamancy, though only in the broadest sense of the theory. It is a prized proprietary sort of magic of the Dynasty. What I know it is fascinating. I would be very interested to talk to someone who has mastered elements of it.

[Please, Essek, speak on the obscenities if that's what they are. Caleb was so intrigued by this man -- a pleasant surprise really. He had hoped for an enjoyable dance with a partner who he could at least help avoid more unpleasant company. And here he was, his heart beating faster at this unexpected intellectual connection he seemed to have found. That shared passion for knowledge.

It did not hurt that the drow was elegant and graceful and utterly lovely in his arms.]

I do. Several. Earthen Grasp. A personal spell of mine I call Cat's Ire and... ah well. [He curled his fingers against Essek's hand, fingertips tracing a somatic spell before several amber orbs of light sprang up around them to accompany them through the rest of the dance.]

I find this cantrip one I use more than most others.

[zauberdecke]

[ What Caleb Widogast had just done was highly scandalous if anyone choose to glance in their direction except that with the whirrling bodies on the ballroom floor, it was clear that they would not be minded so terribly much, with the movements in keeping with the flow.

Even if Caleb's fingers had lightly grazed the area of wrist between sleeve and gloved edge. And while it was Caleb's own gloved hand, it felt like pure unadulterated fire-- like a flame dancing.

And then those same flames hovered around them and he looked up, making a near gasp that was more of an exclaimation of delight, he leaned in and then he spoke. ] That was rather cunning, I know a form of that in terms of Faerie Fire, that was something though that comes innate to me, like a Sorcerer's spell.

[ He looked up into the the face, the velvet touched parts of face that he could not view, the veriest brush of freckles against cheekbone, and the soft whisps of ginger that managed to escape their hold and frizz rather charmingly. ] I would not be averse to talking over magic, it is a subject that interests me-- and any opportunity to learn, I shall seize. [ He was inherently proud, but also there was that sliver of ambition, of wanting to know it all that would align quite nicely with Caleb's. ] How long have you been studying?

[ausgebrannt]

[Caleb couldn't help the smile -- part pride at his spell, yes, but something softer and gentler at Essek's reaction. The drow really was as much a student of magic as Caleb himself, wasn't he?

He was tempted to sneak him off the dancefloor to where they could find somewhere to speak and demonstrate small spells and... ah. Right. Focus. That would be an incredible scandal, and he would not subject Lord Thelyss to that. And he did not need to draw that much attention to himself just yet either.

And yet.

Oh and yet.] Then perhaps we can find other opportunities to talk? Perhaps another spot will find itself open on your dance card this night? And I will be around, at the gracious invitation of the Lavorres for the season.

[There would be other parties, other events, and perhaps he would actually find a reason to enjoy going to them rather than just plotting revenge. He could not afford to get distracted, and yet here he was.]

Ah... a long time. I learned to read when I was three, and while I spent many days reading Der Katzenprinz and other fairy tales, I took an interest in magic not that long after.

[zauberdecke]

[ He had a few spots on his dance card to be filled, and as long as they did not dance a third time, it would not be seen as anything amiss. A third time though? That would be too fast for words, and Essek did not want to have any attention drawn to himself while his mother was in attendance at this party. ] I think that could be arranged, I happen to have several spots still available.

[ And then he wondered as to the wisdom of this, of course he would wonder why he even said this. But, the supper dance would be the perfect time, as the person who claimed that dance would be able to accompany him for refreshments.

That meant that they could converse about magic quietly, preferably over a plate of food. There would be propriety involved, of course there would be; but it would afford him a little more time to converse on magic-- a kindred spirit, he wanted to talk about his special interests so desperately, not just about balls and who asked him to dance or the latest fashions. ]

The dance before supper happens to be free.

[ It was said nonchalantly, he had never once before suggested anyone take it; just had tolerated it when others had gotten that coveted position. His dance card was horrendously free, but it would not stay that way for long. ]

[ausgebrannt]

Is that so? Then I am luckier than I have any right being.

[Caleb knew the rules too. Two dances they could get away with. And later he had promised Jester a dance as well, though the little blue tiefling was something of a handful on the dancefloor, too easily distracted that his feet sometimes suffered for it. Not that he minded.

He looked surprised when Essek mentioned that particular dance. Oh. That was.]

It would be an honor to take that place, if you are willing to give it.

[Very exciting actually. And Caleb was officially distracted from brooding over revenge.]

[zauberdecke]

[ To Essek's way of thinking, it was his spot to give and if he effectively gave this one to Mister Widogast, it would not go to someone such as Adeen. It was unavoidable that he would have to give a dance or two to his Suitor, but it could mitigate it somewhat. ]

Then you shall have that spot and you may sign my card when we are done with this dance.

[ And he could not think of a nicer time than to talk with someone about magic, uninterrupted. A dinner dance was good for close to a half an hour of companionship, well underneath the noses of the Ton but still wholly appropriate. ]

[ausgebrannt]

[Caleb smiled, and it was an expression that he was still getting used to wearing. The intervening years since the death of Bren Ermendrud had been long and difficult, but he'd found his way back to being a functioning man once more, through the help of his friends. And his drive for revenge.

But perhaps he was only human in how drawn he was to this drow, to their shared passions for the arcane. For conversation that made him feel alive again, fascinated in the subject and more and more in the man speaking.

And in the dancing.]

I look forward to it. And to another dance. You are very graceful, my Lord.

[zauberdecke]

[ Well, Caleb danced just as elegantly and honestly, Essek was not one who had ever wanted to dance with anyone. A smile that crossed over his lips, just underneath the protection of the mask that he donned with much ceremony. ] As do I, I suppose I am graceful but it helps to have stimulating conversation while I dance.

[ A hum that was melodious and yet still understated. ]

Normally I am bored during this process-- this is the first time that I have not been, so thank you for that Mister Widogast.

[ Such words that were meant sincerely, it was in the tone and not the words themselves-- he knew how to pretend to simp, not what he enjoyed but at times a requirement to get his dance partners off his back. ]

[ausgebrannt]

It is a very pleasant distraction. I enjoy dancing, but I enjoy dancing with a clever dance partner even more.

[In fact it was by far the most pleasant dance that he had ever had. He would try to ignore the way his heart was fluttering fitfully when Essek smiled at him, when those words fell from those plush and lovely lips.

A small smile of his own. Perhaps he was a fool for taking them sincerely, but strangely enough he did not think so. It felt genuine. All of this felt strangely genuine, especially for where they were and the roles they were both expected to play.]

[zauberdecke]

[ It did feel like a pocket of sincerity in a world that was glitteringly hard, and it was almost with a pang of sadness that he acknowledged the fact that the music was starting to wind down on the waltz-- the people started to slow on the dance floor in perfect sync with the strains of the music and then by the time it stopped, so to did the dancers. There was the polite clap for the musicians before he proffered his dance card once again. ]

If you would, please.

[ Back to his more formal self, as he knew that he was being watched and he did not have the movement of the dance any longer to hide behind; his lips settling back into a smile that did not quite reach his eyes, and it was like a gate being pulled closed slowly. ]

[ausgebrannt]

[Caleb could hear the music dwindling too, and he would have been more wistful about it were it not for the promise of that second dance later on in the evening. Since that was on the table, he offered a smile as the tune stopped and the little smattering of applause.

He did not hesitate to take that card and sign his name once more, in that very coveted spot. He was stealing precious time with perhaps one of the most eligible men at this event, and he did not have a shred of guilt about it.]

Of course, my Lord. Quite eagerly.

[Very very eagerly.]

[zauberdecke]

[ Essek took the dance card back, the signature was something he honed in on-- the very precise movements that felt cramped together, from such a signature he could tell that the other man was not used to taking up space. Finally he tucks it into his coat pocket and then effects a soft bow. ]

I look forward to dancing with you, Mister Widogast. I will see you for the Super dance then? Should we meet behind the potted plant that you stumbled across me nearby? [ A wry sense of humor that seemed to tug at his lips, a sparkle to those deep indigo eyes. ]

And then we shall have the luxury of talking about magic for a full half an hour of time. [ And wasn't that a treat to look forward to? ]

[ausgebrannt]

[Caleb dropped a proper little bow as well, with a conspiratorial flicker of light in his eyes.]

That seems very apt. I will find you by the fern, my Lord. Enjoy the rest of your evening until then. I will look forward to the supper dance. And to talking more magic with you.

[It was going to be on his mind until then. He excused himself then to go find a drink and drown out the social anxiety that had built while he had been holding himself together in the crowd -- though his time with Essek had been a soothing balm to that, where he found he could be himself.]