[Soothing Waters] Playing in Your Element (Hadrian)

[Kendall Saarinen]

41st of Spring, 511 AV Although Kendall's last experience with Soothing Waters was not so... soothing he decided to head back. This time he would have someone by his side. Someone to keep the talkative knights and the overly flirtatious girls at bay. This person was Hadrian and the fact they were going to have a private bath only made Kendall feel more secure. He had an idea a couple of days earlier. He wanted to see his element working along side Hadrian's. Fire and water normally could not coexist yet he and Hadrian did quite well. They were not really the elements they worked with. Somewhere in them they seemed to play. After paying for a private room Kendall headed to the lockers. Last time he had undress in this room he had been scared. This time he felt a bit more calm. Almost as if he didn't have to worry if others were watching. There was someone else he could connect himself to. He had an excuse to turn down any wandering eyes, if there were any at all. Next he set out for the private bath. He tried to keep his mind on the goal at hand. Seeing Hadrian. The magic practice didn't mean too much to him. He liked the excuse to play with his fire but he much prefered a chance to spend time with the tall hydromancer. Hadrian said he would meet him at the bath so he got comforable in the room, or as comforable as one can be in simply a towel, and waited for Hadrian.

[Hadrian]

The last time Hadrian had set foot inside Soothing Waters was before he left for the University of Zeltiva, the last time there was an important social occasion that called for the children of the Aelius power couple to be scrubbed and groomed within an inch of their lives. It wasn't so bad, being pampered like that, though from the sounds of things, his mother and his sisters got gentler and more relaxing treatment. All the same, he knew what a comfort a hot bath could be, almost as comfortable as being with Kendall, who calmed him down when he wasn't riling him up, making him accept himself and the situation he was in far more readily and with greater aplomb than he normally did. Of course, one might be hard pressed to see the changes in one with such a stony facade, but he noted it himself and that was what was most important: self-awareness. It helped a great deal as a magus and, perhaps, as a person. When he arrived, he asked for directions to where he was supposed to go, and quickly went to the changing room, doffed his clothes and stowed them in a locker, wrapping a thick cotton towel around his waist and went to find his changeling friend. "Your hair is shorter," he said as soon as he came in. There was no judgement in it, but merely an observation as he peered at Kendall ever more intensely, documenting the change for himself. Certainly it made Kendall look more boyish, which might bother the pyromancer himself more than it did Hadrian. He did like, however, that it allowed him easier access to the face that he was coming more and more to associate with the girl he had barely known, but admired from afar, and the personality that was opening him up. "You look beautiful," he noted.

[Kendall Saarinen]

A light red hue seemed to burn under Kendall's cheeks when Hadrian offered his complement. Kendall had recently attempted to trim his hair back a bit. He was not wandering through the Wildlands anymore and it was becoming more and more obvious that his stay in Syliras was going to be much longer than he had expected, not that he minded of course. He did not care where he went as long as Hadrian was there. "Thank you. Cathan and I are not roughing it in the Wildlands anymore so I thought I should probably get my hair trimmed." Personally he prefered is hair longer. The closer to his old hair the better. He did not want to look like an unkempt mess in front of Hadrian. "You look very nice yourself." Kendall smiled as he looked at Hadrian. The man could have been a complete mess and Kendall would have said the same thing. He looked up at the blue eyes wondering how it would be to see them this close at his original height. He was already shorter than the tall mage. Dropping four inches would not make matters any easier. Of course, that was a far off worry. There was no way that could be seen that he would get back to being normal any time in the near future. "I thought we could work on our Reimancy here. We need water and heat to bathe after all." Kendall smiled sweetly at Hadrian. He had always loved water but Hadrian made him appreciate it so much more. Of course the idea of being in a bathhouse with Hadrian was equally apreciated. His sweet smile turned a little sly as the words came out. "It will be interesting to see how close our elements can get without yours extinguishing mine."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian laughed, amused at the pragmatism with which Kendall was planning their ever more audacious trysts. He stepped forward, brushed the short blond hair along his friend's hairline, cupped that jaw, and leaned in to kiss him. It was easier and more comfortable than any previous kiss, but he had to pull back before the sudden want for more overcame him. Talking about magic might distract him, but the mixing of their elements was a loaded experiment all the same. "I suppose we could both exude res and mingle them in a growing sphere over the tub. Let them remain flows of different res moving in and out among each other, and when we transmute everything into their elements, we keep each bit of our work sheathed in res so your fire doesn't burn and my water doesn't evaporate. When the water is heated properly, we can lower the globe into the tub and release it all, and the tub will be full of hot water. Then we can celebrate our accomplishment by soaking together. "Do you have any additions, deletions, or amendments to the plan?" he asked with a smile. It was difficult not to take the lead on such things, as his mind turned toward solutions as soon as a problem presented itself unless he reined it in and distracted himself otherwise. Of course, it was not as though Kendall couldn't come up with such a plan himself, but Hadrian wasn't really worried about who took the credit. It would be good practice in good company, and would entail taking off their towels afterward. How could that be bad?

[Kendall Saarinen]

Although Kendall had come up with the idea of working at the baths he was happy Hadrian was taking control of the situation. He was skilled in magic while Kendall mostly tried to pick up what he could while he went along. Hadrian could have done anything he wanted with his lips pressed against Kendall's. Even with while they kissed Kendall could not believe that they were getting this close. He never thought he would be this happy ever again after that terrible night seasons ago. As they kissed Kendall began to reach out for Hadrian's hand but the hydromancer pulled away before their fingers had the chance to entwine. Looking into Hadrian's deep blue eyes Kendall tried to savor the taste of his lips against his. He could only for a moment. There was magic that was waiting to happen. "It sounds good to me." Kendall could not think of a better way to play with their experiment. Besides, he valued Hadrian's ideas and secretly he had wanted him to tell him his thoughts on their plan. He felt more comfortable when Hadrian put in his two mizas. It was already still a bit of a mystery to Kendall when he tried to think about what was going on in his friend's mind. The more he spoke up the better. With a small smile Kendall held out his hand and let the Res play above his palm. In a way he wanted to let the fire burn. Hadrian had never seen his fire. Hadrian had taken it's place in a way. The flames used to be the only thing he found solace in but now he had Hadrian. He wished that the two could meet but maybe that was better kept for a later date. He offered a smile to the orb floating above his hands before sending it off to play over the pool. He felt close to his fire, almost as if it was a part of him. Whether or not that was true was up to debate but he felt a bit of excitement in thinking about Hadrian's water playing so close to it. He smiled playfully over to Hadrian wanting to get closer to him. "Your turn Kendall."

[Hadrian]

Smiling, Hadrian concentrated, felt the djed tingling along his scalp and then the faint touch of something like a breeze through his hair as magic leeched the color out of it. No illusion this, but Morphing his hair until it was the same platinum as Kendall's, which washed Hadrian out a bit. Pale hair, pale skin, pale eyes, pale teeth smiling at Kendall, ethereal as an ethaefal in his way, if not as beautiful and, literally, horny. "Quit distracting me, Hadrian," he said, his voice teetering between humor and emotion. "How am I supposed to concentrate when your smile breaks my heart?" His smile became almost pained for a moment, and then he held his hands out toward the tub, thumb to thumb and index finger to index finger, forming a triangle through which he looked with his Auristic eye to gauge what they were doing. A cool, bluish res, flickering green in its depths, poured out of his hands, coiled, looping like a lazy serpent toward the bathtub. It encircled Kendall's latent fireball, and he could almost feel the heat within it. His own res plied the surface of Kendall's, finding weaker spots that became holes to let him in, and soon the mass of res had doubled in size, part his and part Kendall's. Frowning in concentration, he let the parts of his res touching Kendall's remain res while everything within shifted into water, allowing the transfer of heat without banishing what he called into being.

[Kendall Saarinen]

With curious eyes Kendall watched as the dark color of Hadrian's hair seemed to melt away, leaving an almost white blond in it's wake. A blond much like Kendall's hair color. He wished that he could do the same. He would have loved to slip into a darker shade of hair. It would have made him that much closer to being himself again. "Sorry." He smiled sweetly at Hadrian, placing a warm hand on the man's chest. "Don't let me break your heart. I wouldn't want to break something so beautiful." The hydromancer claimed to be distracted by Kendall but in truth it seemed to be the other way around. The addition of Kendall's shade of hair to the man's already pale complexion made him look stunning. Almost as if he did not belong at Kendall's side. He seemed to radiant for that. Slowly, Kendall reached up to run his fingers through Hadrian's hair almost as if he expected it to feel like his own as well. "I like your hair." Kendall silently marveled at Hadrian's locks. It was just another way they were connected. The first time they met Hadrian had showed him his past self through morphing his own body into a close image. Then he had mirrored Kendall's hand the time he spent the night with him. The same night they had traded names, a practice they still held tight to now. Kendall wished he could try to get close to him like Hadrian did by copying his features. Maybe he could even out his eye color to match Hadrian's or take on his dark shade of hair. For now he would have to settle for borrowing his name. Pushing his emotions for Hadrian aside Kendall watched as Hadrian's Res met with his own. The two energies seemed to merge together, working as one. Kendall tried to keep his Res' heat under control as it mixed with Hadrian's. It needed to burn but not so much that it would evaporate the water. Also, he could not let the Res erupt into fire. Hadrian's water would douse it. He closed his eyes and tried to focus his burning feelings for Hadrian fuel the warmth a bit. If his flames were an extension of himself this attempt would work. Or possibly his emotions were playing to hard with his concentration.

[Hadrian]

There was a faint smile for the compliment, but it was quickly subsumed by his frown of concentration. Working alone was difficult enough as a novice hydromancer even after all these years of practice, but working in tandem with his element's opposite required the utmost concentration on his part. At least Auristics was so easy that he could watch this without paying much attention to maintaining his Sight, which was probably more than Kendall could do considering how new he was to that discipline. "It looks like it's working," he said quietly by way of encouragement, his will mostly bent on keeping his water separate from Kendall's fire, their twin membranes of res containing and controlling the actual elements. "It's just a matter of how hot you like your bathwater..." Considering their work for a moment longer, he glanced at Kendall, marveling at how the mark on his arm flared when he was working fire, wreathing his aura with what Hadrian assumed was Ivak's blessing. "We can always make more later, too..."

[Kendall Saarinen]

With a small shrug Kendall looked at the mass of Res over the pool. "I think it is best if we go with how warm you like your baths. I think my sense of heat and your sense of heat are much different." Because of Kendall's high body temperature the amount of heat a bath would have to have for him to feel warmed by it was much different than a normal person's. What he saw as a nice warm bath might scald Hadrian. That was the last thing Kendall wanted. His skin might have been immune to burns but it did nothing for Hadrian if he got hurt. Kendall kept his attention focused on the ball of Res. He tried to keep the temperature steady. He offered a small smile at Hadrian's words of encouragement. He did not want to lose concentration because his eyes lingered too long on him.  He could not help but look. He looked so beautiful. Kendall gazed forward at the Res in an attempt to reagin his focus. There would be time to admire Hadrian when their work was done.  "Do you think the water would be hot enough for you right now?" He let a small smile form on his lips. "In my opinion, the hotter the better but of course I run a little hot."

[Hadrian]

Not getting a decent answer out of Kendall, Hadrian simply continued to guide his res and the trapped water in and out among the pyromancer's weave of trapped fire. If it was too hot for him, he assumed Kendall could at least enjoy it unscathed, and Hadrian could wait on the edge of the tub, admiring him in the steam, and climb in when it was tolerable for him. After a few more minutes of this intimate spellwork, he let his res start to gather at the bottom of their globe, distending bubble-like, until he transmuted the last of his res into water and all the hot liquid poured right into the bath tub. He used the last of his control over the element to keep it from sloshing over the sides, and then he relaxed his Auristics as well, content just to breath and watch Kendall do the same with the steam heat wreathing up about him. Taken by that sight, perhaps, and a sudden urge to do something spontaneous to impress, he flushed djed into his limbs, the Flux a sure-fire way to make sure he didn't embarrass himself with a lack of physical strength, and then he was there, next to Kendall, and he swept the slender pyromancer up in his arms to carry over to the tub. His friend was surprisingly light, moreso than he expected even with Flux-power making his own modest muscles more capable of such dashing, or silly, displays. "How about I let you test the water, and you can tell me when it's safe to come in. And then, if the water is too cold for you, I'll do something to warm you up?"