Solaria

Why does someone have a house so big and why do I feel the Eyes watching me so much? We walked so much between rooms that I really thought at some point one of the portals led to somewhere else, since it looked bigger than it was outside. Oh, and yes, this sweet little home has portals in key places leading to a hub so you didn’t have to go walking for so long that your legs fell off. Such extravagance in space made it all feel hollow, with so much emptiness in the corridors that all the statues and paintings could never fill. It is such a bizarre mix of emotions to walk through so many beautiful things and only get sad by it all. All with a history of blood, like seeing thousands of people killed and represented in a stolen banner from a kingdom that no longer exists. Those feelings were so hard I stopped hearing a thing that was talked about and just answered mechanically, so it took a while to realize what the words I just heard meant.

“Oh, that’s the end,” I say, speaking weirdly as I was getting to grips with words and how to talk, “it is a beautiful building.” I couldn’t call it a house, much less a home. “Why is it so large and full, though?” I ask with concern and a bit of morbid curiosity overpowering the fear I felt, since why would a man so passionate by magic felt the need to bring destruction just to collect memorabilia. “Because I can, or do you think I do not deserve it?” Yeasul answered with poison in his tone, a look that threatened violence on anyone who dared speak against him. So that is why, the want to learn magic is not just curiosity, but all his being is composed of a want for more, an insatiable greed that let him reach the pinnacle of the social ladder while not high-born. One could call it ambition, if one could ignore the pile of corpses he left in his wake to reach here, the ladder of skulls to get to a level that is impossible to be achieved by having a strong moral compass. The Eyes seem to agitate all around him, quivering at the challenge.

“Far from me to criticize a man of such importance as yourself. I loved to have experienced this tour of your mansion, though it is getting late, so I will have to excuse myself and head home.” I respond, with most of my energy put into cramming subservience and politeness in my voice and posture. My ego does take a hit, but I need to get much better at magic to ever be able to repay it, if I could ever overpower him. And maybe the Eyes as well, their presence really was intensifying the more we stayed here. “Go with her, Lunario. Do not let a woman walk alone so late.” he said, matching the amount of my politeness to a tee with an understanding light in his eyes challenging me to question him, dancing in the rush of feeling power over someone. I really had to get stronger to be able to show him humility by putting him over my knee and spanking his butt until he said sorry. At least I’m testing if he truly is able to read minds, because if he saw the scene of him crying with a red bum he for sure would have killed me.

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With that, I proceed to escort Lunario to my home, as I refuse to accept any other interpretation to the contrary, since I had to wake him up from daydreaming multiple times to make him not bump into people. Which again made me question whether he truly isn’t an absolute mess but is living like that because his life is an absolute mess, and maybe it’s possible to fix him. Another terrifying thought, inside a terrifying day, as is to be expected. Reaching my house, I see Auvrey opening the door, just getting home way later than usual and a tiredness that only came from one source.

“Dude, why are you so beaten up? What happened?” I ask, as they turn to face us with an androgynous presentation screaming shock to have been caught unprepared. “I… I started training with Drekfew again, and they decided to put me in fights until I get in shape or I die, I guess.” Auvrey says, most likely thinking of lying about the tiredness, but it was still there even if there were no bruises. I knew all of that was probably something to do with the Eyes, so I had to think of a response to take suspicion out of them. “Oh, you talked about…” I start, trying to come up with anything on the spot.

“Wait, how did you get so beaten up your face looks like that? You look like a different person!” Lunario interrupts me, remembering that I’ve known him for three days (I was pretty sure by the amount of times he made me want to kill him it had to be more than that) so we didn’t talk about that. “I forgot we didn’t tell you. I’m gender-fluid, so I change my appearance to match my gender from time to time” Auvrey answers, with the practiced flow of someone used to explaining the same answer multiple times, also expertly hiding the annoyance they felt at the repetition. “How do you do that?” he asks with much more curiosity than what I was expecting, like a kid discovering magic for the first time.

“Well, I use position magic to move stuff around,” they respond with a practical example of redistributing some fat up and down their cheeks, “and my job is to do this to other clients to have the appearance they want.” Lunario’s face betrays the endless battles of different ideas clashing with each other at the sight of this new piece of information. Auvrey realizes what is going on and offers: “Would you like to give it a shot?” And he is shocked at the invitation, mumbling a bit unsure before opening his mouth.

“I… I would like to take a moment to think about it.” he answered, heading to his house without even saying bye. I don’t know what will come from this, but as I see him bump into more people I at least know he will still be the same dumbass I like by the end of it.