Original: "Either Face a Prince." Slash.
Because some people were way too kind to encourage me (what were you thinking?! xp), here's another fic with the characters from this one last weekend. Takes place the same day.
SUMMARY: It was necessity that drove Alrajabri to return to his tree that night. It was Prince Stoza's cynicism that drove him to follow.
Alrajabri had just taken the coat off his back when there was a knock at the door of his tree. His tokens all came alive at once to pass along the message of who it was, 'Prince Stoza' spelling itself out on the book pages, his princely reflection in every glass face, his name from the music makers, his scent on the fabrics. Alrajabri smiled, a bit awed how Stoza had managed the week-long trip in a matter of hours, without magic -- perhaps that he was so anxious for Alrajabri as to quicken his pace to lightening. Alrajabri himself felt light and quick. He felt new.
He opened the door and gave Stoza a greeting far unbefitting what he should like to have done to coax him inside, to which Stoza answered back a bashful smile, bearing a charming resemblance to a child who knew he had done wrong but could not admit to it.
"How have you come so quickly?"
"I think," Stoza stopped, struck by something over Alrajabri's shoulder that required a moment’s pause before his voice found its way again, "I think I was caught up in your spell? In one blink I grasped your carriage and the next, I was watching your footmen turn into all manner of things and float into your tree. Which is alive, now, I see. Just as you are young. And I-- there must be some reason. I...haven't the slightest idea about anything about you."
"Ah, my spells are troublemakers." He slid a hand along the back of Stoza's neck and gently urged him inside, fingers in his black curls, playing against the downy lobe of one ear. "It has been hours since. Why is it you did not say something when we first arrived? I would like to have known to take you back, if you wished. Your parents will think the worst of me, now. Will they ever let you out to play with me again? Or me in to play with you..."
"It is that..." Stoza drifted off, turning to pick at the strings of one of the noise boxes on Alrajabri's stacks. "Rather, it is to say..." He caught it with slippery fingers when it tipped forward, pulled on too hard.
"You followed me to see if I might turn back to a hag?" Alrajabri whispered, watching the way Stoza straightened back to keep from shivering, found out so easily.
His silence was answer enough, and Alrajabri could not help touching at the blush on his cheeks, which only made it spread.
"It was very unfortunate that my tree was burned. I just the other day built up enough good deed and karma to restore it and myself. This is my body, as it should be. Unless my tree is done harm again, I promise you will see no more hag." He pulled the box from Stoza's hands and put it back in its place, in want of his full attention.. "That is no matter. Will you come sit? Now that you are here, I should like to tell you something important.”
Stoza chuckled. "Surely my parents talked the voice straight out of you already? I've a mind to prostrate myself before you several thousand times on their behalf."
"They were very kind," he said, guiding Stoza around him. He snapped his fingers, and a great gang of pillows and wood pieces loosed themselves from the walls to build up a sofa for them, over-soft and near too small for two men.
Stoza seemed keen not to sit down on it, so frozen was he with the thought of impropriety that eventually Alrajabri just hoisted him up and set him on it himself.
"You are much too worried to offend for a man who should be used to having anything he desires. I say the public would laugh to see you carried as a baby."
He felt Stoza bristle as he pulled his hands back, half expecting to catch a blow or some retort that might salvage the Prince's hard image. But Stoza was even too polite for that, holding his tongue, though his eyes were sharp on Alrajabri when he took the empty seat next to him. It would be a sight to see the Prince finally give in to his baser instincts and lay into someone in anger or grow thoughtless and rude from desperation.
"What is this that you wish to tell me?"
It was Alrajabri's turn to take a moment's pause. "I suppose you have led a somewhat insular life in the palace?”
“Quite, not for trying...”
“You may be surprised, then, to know that there is a goblin kingdom not too far from this tree."
Stoza's face lit briefly. "There is?"
Alrajabri nodded. "Yes. They live near the mountain tomb of the Atdizim godhead. You know that land?"
He watched Stoza fight to keep the smile from his lips. He would want to go to them, now that he knew. He had every right, though Alrajabri felt selfish to not let him out of his tree ever again.
He kept himself from touching Stoza's shy mouth with his fingers. "It is quite fine to be happy about it." Why did he tamp back his smile?
With a start, Alrajabri got up to retrieve the book of maps from his shelves, so that he might show him exactly where the goblins were, coming back over and going to his knees. He opened the book on Stoza's thighs and took up his hand, curled one of Stoza's fingers out to follow the path that he spoke. "This is where my tree should be, and here just north, the goblin capital. And then here, nearly on top of them it seems, the capital of the rock demons."
"Rock demons. They sound like a good sort..."
"Yes, be careful of them. Especially because they and your kind have had quite a feud going on for years now. Perhaps you must treat them as sworn enemies from now on." Alrajabri turned a jokester smirk, "In fact, actually… My tree was burned by your kind, so we ought to be enemies too, I suppose."
"Oh, I apologize a thousand--"
"It was not you who did it." Alrajabri slid the book from Stoza's lap and folded his arms over his knees, warm and close. "They thought I had kidnapped you."
Stoza mouth twitched with uncertainty. He figured it for a jest?
"I did not say this in front of your mother and father... I think perhaps you are maybe a quarter century in years now? That long ago, the tenth son of the goblin queen was stolen. As they all slept to dream. Eventually it was found out the rock demons had taken him, but not before I was suspect and my tree burned."
It was the dim of the room or Stoza's eyes went blurry just then, sad. "...I. That is. You believe I am their son, then?"
Alrajabri reached up and pushed a curl off his forehead, followed the plates of his rough skin down across his cheek, the jut of his chin. He would welcome any excuse to touch him. "I can take you to meet them."
Stoza did not reply, though for all his silence he seemed to wilt into Alrajabri's hand, given over to him too easily, like he had been waiting for someone to give himself over to, to take the burden away, or at the least half it down the middle.
"Anytime you like, I can take you," he said again and would again, and again, however many times.
There passed a short while between them before Stoza seemed to acknowledge him, and when he did, it was with a forced grin, one that looked fit for events and discomfiting moments, parents lecturing or people teasing without kindness. But then he tugged at Alrajabri's underarms until he got the hint to sit up on his knees.
He leaned in toward Stoza, and Stoza leaned back, though ever with an awareness of courtesy and proper space.
"Would I be a burden if I-- if I asked to stay the night?"
Shaking his head in disbelief, Alrajabri pressed into him with a slow kiss, to show him just how much of a burden he would ever be.
[hosted at personal lj too, with anon commenting on/no ip logging.]
SUMMARY: It was necessity that drove Alrajabri to return to his tree that night. It was Prince Stoza's cynicism that drove him to follow.
Alrajabri had just taken the coat off his back when there was a knock at the door of his tree. His tokens all came alive at once to pass along the message of who it was, 'Prince Stoza' spelling itself out on the book pages, his princely reflection in every glass face, his name from the music makers, his scent on the fabrics. Alrajabri smiled, a bit awed how Stoza had managed the week-long trip in a matter of hours, without magic -- perhaps that he was so anxious for Alrajabri as to quicken his pace to lightening. Alrajabri himself felt light and quick. He felt new.
He opened the door and gave Stoza a greeting far unbefitting what he should like to have done to coax him inside, to which Stoza answered back a bashful smile, bearing a charming resemblance to a child who knew he had done wrong but could not admit to it.
"How have you come so quickly?"
"I think," Stoza stopped, struck by something over Alrajabri's shoulder that required a moment’s pause before his voice found its way again, "I think I was caught up in your spell? In one blink I grasped your carriage and the next, I was watching your footmen turn into all manner of things and float into your tree. Which is alive, now, I see. Just as you are young. And I-- there must be some reason. I...haven't the slightest idea about anything about you."
"Ah, my spells are troublemakers." He slid a hand along the back of Stoza's neck and gently urged him inside, fingers in his black curls, playing against the downy lobe of one ear. "It has been hours since. Why is it you did not say something when we first arrived? I would like to have known to take you back, if you wished. Your parents will think the worst of me, now. Will they ever let you out to play with me again? Or me in to play with you..."
"It is that..." Stoza drifted off, turning to pick at the strings of one of the noise boxes on Alrajabri's stacks. "Rather, it is to say..." He caught it with slippery fingers when it tipped forward, pulled on too hard.
"You followed me to see if I might turn back to a hag?" Alrajabri whispered, watching the way Stoza straightened back to keep from shivering, found out so easily.
His silence was answer enough, and Alrajabri could not help touching at the blush on his cheeks, which only made it spread.
"It was very unfortunate that my tree was burned. I just the other day built up enough good deed and karma to restore it and myself. This is my body, as it should be. Unless my tree is done harm again, I promise you will see no more hag." He pulled the box from Stoza's hands and put it back in its place, in want of his full attention.. "That is no matter. Will you come sit? Now that you are here, I should like to tell you something important.”
Stoza chuckled. "Surely my parents talked the voice straight out of you already? I've a mind to prostrate myself before you several thousand times on their behalf."
"They were very kind," he said, guiding Stoza around him. He snapped his fingers, and a great gang of pillows and wood pieces loosed themselves from the walls to build up a sofa for them, over-soft and near too small for two men.
Stoza seemed keen not to sit down on it, so frozen was he with the thought of impropriety that eventually Alrajabri just hoisted him up and set him on it himself.
"You are much too worried to offend for a man who should be used to having anything he desires. I say the public would laugh to see you carried as a baby."
He felt Stoza bristle as he pulled his hands back, half expecting to catch a blow or some retort that might salvage the Prince's hard image. But Stoza was even too polite for that, holding his tongue, though his eyes were sharp on Alrajabri when he took the empty seat next to him. It would be a sight to see the Prince finally give in to his baser instincts and lay into someone in anger or grow thoughtless and rude from desperation.
"What is this that you wish to tell me?"
It was Alrajabri's turn to take a moment's pause. "I suppose you have led a somewhat insular life in the palace?”
“Quite, not for trying...”
“You may be surprised, then, to know that there is a goblin kingdom not too far from this tree."
Stoza's face lit briefly. "There is?"
Alrajabri nodded. "Yes. They live near the mountain tomb of the Atdizim godhead. You know that land?"
He watched Stoza fight to keep the smile from his lips. He would want to go to them, now that he knew. He had every right, though Alrajabri felt selfish to not let him out of his tree ever again.
He kept himself from touching Stoza's shy mouth with his fingers. "It is quite fine to be happy about it." Why did he tamp back his smile?
With a start, Alrajabri got up to retrieve the book of maps from his shelves, so that he might show him exactly where the goblins were, coming back over and going to his knees. He opened the book on Stoza's thighs and took up his hand, curled one of Stoza's fingers out to follow the path that he spoke. "This is where my tree should be, and here just north, the goblin capital. And then here, nearly on top of them it seems, the capital of the rock demons."
"Rock demons. They sound like a good sort..."
"Yes, be careful of them. Especially because they and your kind have had quite a feud going on for years now. Perhaps you must treat them as sworn enemies from now on." Alrajabri turned a jokester smirk, "In fact, actually… My tree was burned by your kind, so we ought to be enemies too, I suppose."
"Oh, I apologize a thousand--"
"It was not you who did it." Alrajabri slid the book from Stoza's lap and folded his arms over his knees, warm and close. "They thought I had kidnapped you."
Stoza mouth twitched with uncertainty. He figured it for a jest?
"I did not say this in front of your mother and father... I think perhaps you are maybe a quarter century in years now? That long ago, the tenth son of the goblin queen was stolen. As they all slept to dream. Eventually it was found out the rock demons had taken him, but not before I was suspect and my tree burned."
It was the dim of the room or Stoza's eyes went blurry just then, sad. "...I. That is. You believe I am their son, then?"
Alrajabri reached up and pushed a curl off his forehead, followed the plates of his rough skin down across his cheek, the jut of his chin. He would welcome any excuse to touch him. "I can take you to meet them."
Stoza did not reply, though for all his silence he seemed to wilt into Alrajabri's hand, given over to him too easily, like he had been waiting for someone to give himself over to, to take the burden away, or at the least half it down the middle.
"Anytime you like, I can take you," he said again and would again, and again, however many times.
There passed a short while between them before Stoza seemed to acknowledge him, and when he did, it was with a forced grin, one that looked fit for events and discomfiting moments, parents lecturing or people teasing without kindness. But then he tugged at Alrajabri's underarms until he got the hint to sit up on his knees.
He leaned in toward Stoza, and Stoza leaned back, though ever with an awareness of courtesy and proper space.
"Would I be a burden if I-- if I asked to stay the night?"
Shaking his head in disbelief, Alrajabri pressed into him with a slow kiss, to show him just how much of a burden he would ever be.
[hosted at personal lj too, with anon commenting on/no ip logging.]