Completed [Sacred Arch Hotspring] Three Ravokians and a Drykas...

[Aoren]

74th Day of Spring, 513AV

To say that Aoren needed some peace and quiet was an understatement. So after work at Stormhold Salves he'd packed up a few things and decided to take a trip to the Sacred Arch Hotsprings. Primarily because he needed a bath and the hotsprings were free as opposed to Soothing Waters which charged. While Aoren didn't possess any soap the water would be enough to rinse away the filth and grime of the past few days. Aoren prided himself on being a very clean individual. He always washed himself with a cloth every morning but that didn't always do the job. Besides, there was nothing more soothing than a hot bath. As he found a more secluded hotspring that was well away from the flirting couple he'd seen fooling around on his way here, he dropped his pack near the shore of a medium sized spring. The sun had set only so long ago and he could see a fire going in one of the nearby fire pits. He wasn't surprised that there were other people here. The hotsprings were a popular place.

Thankfully though they were not heavily crowded. Enough people to see them in passing and not enough to be intrusive or crowded. Aoren undid the straps holding his leather vest in place. He had forgone a linen shirt once he'd departed his apartment in Stormhold Citadel. He took off the vest and let it fall by his pack. He stepped on the heel of his boot with one and tugged it off then did the same for the other. He unbuckled his belt and removed his leggings then stepped into the hotspring wearing undergarments. Aoren hissed as the heat of the water stung his sore leg muscles but soon enough he situated himself in the middle of the spring. Taking a deep breath he completely submerged himself under the water. The minerals in the water slid over his skin causing a tingling feeling to radiate over his entire body.

He held his breath for a moment before surfacing. As he did he ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. Sighing heavily Aoren hadn't realized just how tense he was until the heat of the spring settled in his bones. He could feel each ache more pointedly but they were slowly being soothed by the waters. He stood there, the water of the spring coming up to mid-waist. The advantage of being a tall man. It was an asset he would always be thankful for but there were times when he wished he could hide himself a lot better. Those were problems to think about another time. With a great yawn he stretched his arms, rolled his shoulders and lay on his back in the water.

Aoren was by no means an excellent swimmer. That was a skill he sorely lacked. The depth of the water and his natural buoyancy however helped to keep him afloat. It wasn't long before he needed to stand up straight though as he started to sink. Twisting his torso he groaned and cracked his back sighing as the bones popped and helped ease the tension. He cupped his hands in the water and splashed his face rubbing away at the dirt he felt was there. After a while he just contented himself with leaning against the shoreline and staring up into the stars.

"Well, Aoren. What are you going to do with yourself? Syliras is starting to weigh down on you. You barely know anyone here. You're just getting by and you've barely scraped the surface of understanding who you are and where you came from." He sighed as he imagined Ileera lecturing him about what he's done with his life.

"Well...at least it's a quiet night."

Aoren didn't know just how wrong he was.

[Caesarion]

It was a terribly irritating morning. It started off when the sun was shining, the birds were singing and Caesar had an awful desire to shit. That was the good part of the morning, obviously. The moments after were followed by Lhees's endless moaning about how Rhaenon wanted his brother to come back. Surely to shove responsibility onto him, or kill him to remove competition. Or both, in an obvious order; he couldn't order around slaves while dead.

His body was tense, and in a bit of trauma from yesterday's business. Animals were never a friend to the man, and that sometimes included random horses kicking him in the chest. Like on the seventy-third. "Lheesi," he whined to the woman, "Can you make me a glass of milk?" Caesar had spent the last few minutes stretching out his arms and legs; massaging his neck, rubbing his chest. Considering some could consider him highborn, he wasn't used to feeling such lackluster vitality. He missed the money, the power, the velvet bedsheets and expertly painted portraits across his walls. He missed not being in pain from a battle with an angry thug or an even angrier wild animal.

Caesar did want to go home, but independence was worth more than anything right now. So, sod it. "Here you are," the young woman silently affirmed her service. It was nothing special, just a mug full of milk. He wasn't a fan of the warm and awkward beverage, but these qualms were only acceptable for those rich enough to find an alternative. He'd just have to live through it. Finishing his early meal, and eventually going through his rounds as a hunter, he looked through the town and asked for assistance when it came to... well, relaxation, really. He'd been so uptight lately, and always on the edge. A man had to be a man, every now and then!

Actually, that was a terrible way of putting it. No wonder he was recommended to at least eight different brothels across the hours, each of them sounding dirtier and less... desirable. Well, like any of them were desirable from the start. Eventually, though, he found a good little place, suggested by an elderly man. The old ones were less prone to the more rambunctious ideas.

A hot springs. Up in the mountains, or at least something like that, his relaxation was readily awaiting him! Or, so he thought, but... it was actually really freaking awkward. He was expected to... disrobe himself, and partake in some nasty sausage fest with water that must've been regurgitated over and over until it was practically sewage. That was his first impression. After a few minutes of adventuring and discovering some clam chowder, clam bake, clam souffle, he finally found a spot that was sort of acceptable... kind of. What made it alright was that he had heard the guy talking to himself as he wandered around, and it honestly sounded like a relate-able story. Well, save for the amnesia.

After discreetly removing himself of most of his clothing, revealing much of his tan and athletic body, he joined the random dude in a super awkward tub that he just swore he was going to boil in... and drown in. "Uh..." The Panthos was originally at least gonna say hi, but he totally crumbled under the pressure. He used the brief moment after the sound to stare at Aoren, hoping he'd be more curious about who this guy invading his spot was rather than why he was analyzing him. The guy was tall, muscular, and kind of scary looking. Well, everyone was a little scary in Syliras. "Don't mind me. I'm just... here for some reason. When I should probably be somewhere else." God, he sucked at being personable.

The man rested his shoulders against the wall of the spring, which made him feel a little more confident looking and less like a bumbling idiot. Since he already failed at most interaction, trying to talk with someone who was most likely butt naked in a steaming pit wasn't his forte. "Ugh, this is awkward," he muttered to himself, staring far away from his... neighbor.

[Aoren]

It could have been a bear. It could have been a pack of wild wolves. It could have been a hundred women all screaming and giggling and gawking at Aoren's bare torso. But no. It had to be another male. Aoren had been facing away from him when he climbed into the hotspring.

"Thank the Gods for that." He silently mused to himself. If there was one thing he could not have handled it would have been to see the other man naked. Aoren was also very thankful for his call to keep his undergarments on whilst bathing and lounging about. When the other man finally made himself comfortable and attempted what some might have construed as possibly the worst makeshift piece of conversation in the history of the spoken word Aoren blinked at him.

"It's not a problem, Sir. The hot springs are open to everyone. Far be it from me to run you off just because I wanted one all to myself." He furrowed his brow. "Not that you aren't welcome to join me. You are. I mean...of course you're welcome to any of the springs you like. Everyone is. Not that I want -everyone- in the same one. Just that..you..and...yeah..." Aoren let the sentence trail off before he made of show of clearing his throat and stretching. He rolled his shoulders again then leaned against the shoreline that was slightly elevated above the waterline.

"Use your words, Aoren. Use your words." He could hear Ileera's voice in the back of his head urging him not to muddle his sentences and confront an awkward situation that the tension would be diffused for everyone's benefit. Aoren's cobalt blue gaze drifted back over to the other man situation on the opposite side of the spring. After a moment he opened his mouth as if to speak but decided against it and closed his mouth.

"Alright, Aoren. It's not that big of a deal. You're only half-naked in a hot spring. With another man. Yup. No big deal whatsoever." He cleared his throat again and swam to the edge where rested his belongings. He propped himself up on the shore briefly, pushing his upper body up out of the water to reach into his pack and withdraw a clean cloth. Keeping mostly to himself he dropped back into the water and meandered over to the steadily flowing water fall that flowed naturally into the spring. He positioned himself directly underneath the water so that it ran over him. He felt the tension in his shoulders ease, the ache in his back dissipate, and the soreness in his arms from a day of lifting supplies and moving crates in the shop ebb away into nothingness as the heat of the water soaked into his muscles. He took the cloth and scrubbed at his torso.

Aoren had only a few scars to speak of. A crescent shaped marking on his left wrist. A jagged, spikey looking scar along the length of his right bicep and of course there was the shimmering Seer's Lily branded on his right hand. When the light from the area reflected off of the Lily he paused and stared at it for a moment.

"Godsmark they call it. A gift? Or a curse?" His eyes drifted back to the other occupant of the spring and he dropped his hand back into the water before walking back to his pack and resting the cloth nearby on the rocky surface.

"Is this your first time to Sacred Arch?" Aoren figured he might as well be polite and try at conversation.

[Caesarion]

The man's proper speech honestly kind of perplexed him. He couldn't help but dreadfully assume that he was another of those... knights, or whatever. The ones that waved around their big egos and made Caesar's life miserable. God, he didn't want to be here if that was the case. Actually, never mind, scratch that. This suddenly became pretty hilarious.

As he rested back against the spring, his jaw dipped into the water, listening to the stranger go on and on... he couldn't help but start to laugh a little. Just a bit. He tried to hold it back at first, but Caesarion was just so easy to ignite a spark in. Once he found something entertaining, he'd actually start to want more of it. He was half-hoping Aoren could babble on for a few more minutes. Instead, though, he left off on almost a similar note as the Panthos did. "..." He stared at him, silently. And he kept staring. Then, he broke out into laughter, which was abruptly silenced after about twenty seconds, since he thought it was kinda rude. Aoren didn't laugh at him, after all. "You're just like me!" The young man exclaimed, a certain joy on his face. "Terrible at conversation with strangers." He wasn't exactly the flattering type, as you could see.

Still, he was already enjoying himself a bit, which was contrary to just a moment ago. He took the time to stare at Aoren a bit more, since it made sense now. The man was less of a stranger than just a minute ago, at least in his head. He spotted the the scars, and despite his curiosity, asked nothing of them. He watched him prop out of the water, which was kind of embarrassing. Aoren was very muscular, whereas the young Ravokii was not. It wasn't really a feeling of inferiority, though. That never bothered him. Instead, he was mostly just uncomfortable to be around someone who was attractive. His... orient wasn't something he was all that familiar with, but he knew. Being in what was practically a bathtub with a half-naked guy was the worst tease he'd ever have to encounter. But he still kind of liked it.

He watched him fall back into the water, with the same look Caesarion had just a little bit ago. He kind of really liked the similarities between their nervousness. "Since this is probably the closest I've had to a real conversation in like... five-ever, I don't want it to be all boring and simple. I've never been here before, but let's not talk about the stupid spring. What's your name? I'm Caesarion, a foreigner. Like all foreigners, I often spend my days enslaving children and beating kittens," he rolled his eyes, very much content with mocking the Syliran common viewpoint. Aoren was foreign too, he said so. That meant he was more at home here than anywhere else in the city. Other than, uh... his actual home.

The transition, though, from being terrified and awkward, to... something else entirely, would probably make Aoren really curious. Caesar was just like that. Very changeable, but in a good way. He was easy to get along with, if you fit his criteria. "So, where are you from, mysterious tub-dweller? Hopefully not somewhere boring, like Ravok. That place sucks." That was straight from the heart, too.

[Aoren]

Aoren blinked at the young man and tilted his head to the side slightly. The outburst of laughter from the other man had caught him off guard. But it wasn't an unpleasant sound. The young man had a rich enough laughter but for some reason he got the feeling it did not frequent his lips. A sad thought but it was lessened by the continual laughter.

"Well met, Master Caesarion. I am Aoren. I'm told my family is Drykas from the Sea of Grass in Cyphrus. I wouldn't know." He shrugged. "I have only the word of the caretakers from the home where I grew up." At the mention of enslaving children and beating kitten he quirked an eyebrow.

"That must be a very interesting place." He managed a smirk. "I was born in Cyphrus but I was raised here in Syliras. Like I said, all I know is from what the caretakers told me. I was left at the home by a man I can only assume was my father." At the mention of the city of Ravok, Aoren blinked at Caesarion. He hadn't taken the young man to be from the city everyone knew to be dedicated to debauchery and wickedness. The handsome...Aoren shook his head briefly.

"No room for such thoughts, Aoren. No room at all."

"You said Ravok? That is where you are from then? What is it like there? How did you grow up?" Aoren didn't mean to pry but he was curious. Ileera had always said it was one of his great strengths but an even greater weakness. "Can you tell me whether or not the things they say about the city are true?"

Aoren drifted a little closer to Caesarion as his curiosity drew him in. He meant no harm and maintained a respectable distance but it made no sense to him to have a conversation from all the way across the pool of water. He now stood likely a foot away from Caesarion. His cobalt blue eyes rapt with fascination as he waited for this foreigner to speak of distant lands and strange places.

[Caesarion]

Cyphrus? He was sure he'd heard of that before. Maybe. When he tried to jog his memory, or count unicorns, or whatever he did when pretending to be thinking hard, the man really couldn't conjure up any intelligible thoughts. Seriously, what was a Cyphrus? He wouldn't ask, that'd be offensive. And he'd look really stupid. He didn't want to look dumb, since he was trying to be impressive or something. This was a potential friend, or maybe something different. He saw the look in the tall man's eyes. It was kind of similar to his; embarrassed, but also intrigued. He at least had enough of what you could call "sense" to recognize these things.

One thing struck him a bit -- just a bit. Being called 'Master Caesarion'. That wasn't something he'd admit to enjoy hearing, but he still liked it nonetheless. It made him feel respectable. Not a feeling all too common, lately. "Please, cut the master part," he smirked. The man was positive he was going to regret saying that later, but he didn't care at the time being. He continued to observe Aoren, quite blatantly, really. The eyebrow quirking made him smile a little. At least his 'masterful' stereotype hadn't been lost on him. "Sorry to hear about the whole... getting ditched by daddy thing. At least you got taken care of, right? Some people get the worst of bargains, out there. I'd know a thing or two about that, since my family is a purveyor of terrible bargains." He wouldn't go into detail, but he was alluding to their... business regime. Slavery didn't treat people well, mentally or physically.

He took the time to question what might've been going on in Aoren's head. The questions about Ravok were a little unsettling, since they all had really long answers. What was most unsettling, though, was how close he moved to Caesar. And his curious look. Almost clueless, but not quite. This was so... awkward. "U-uh..." Caesarion was almost intent on stepping out, but... he realized that he didn't really mind. He didn't know what to make of that, but he understood well enough that this was going to end in one weird way or another. "W-well, Ravok is where I'm from, yeah," he replied awkwardly. His brain decided to make his face all red, which was terrible. God, this bath needed an emergency suicide button.

Succumbing to his fate, the young man crumbled in front of the muscular Drykas, awkwardly answering his questions, even though he was a bit late on the response. "It's horrible. Death, rape, slavery, evil, evil, evil. I don't like to tell people much about it, though. There's a lot of prejudice here. In fact, it's so prejudiced, that I could lose my life if I went too far into detail. Let's just say that I wasn't born on the good side. And I don't know if I'll die on the good side, either." Why was he talking about his death, already? He was only like... twenty-something. Uh, three. He liked to pretend he was barely twenty, because it made it less ridiculous that he was still acting like a fifteen year old. And still a virgin. And still sticking with a get-nowhere job. The scary part was that the integrity of the "virginity" part was probably going to be questioned if this got any weirder. "Everything they say is true. Horrible. Totally."

His answers got shorter, and much less descriptive. He had a question that he wanted to ask, and none of the things being asked of him were very enjoyable for him. His background, to him, was anything but a badge of honor. "More importantly, I just felt like informing you..." He was going to slap himself for this, later. "That I don't have enough self control to be this close to..." Wow, that came out horribly. "Nevermind! Stay where you are, if it would please you. Closer, even, if you want. I don't care. I'm immune to your charms." You know what? That wasn't even a slip. He was just trying to make it painfully obvious that Aoren was going to find entirely different intentions he'd... normally deal with in this situation, with different men.

[Aoren]

"That must have been a difficult place to grow up. Are you glad to be rid of the place?" He leaned against the rock of the shoreline as he listened to Caesarion talk about the place he once called home. Aoren couldn't imagine living in constant fear of being killed, enslaved or raped. That was one thing he supposed he should have been thankful for. There were no such threats in Syliras. The only real threat that you had to worry about was offending one of the Knights and getting shipped off to the mines for a life of hard labor. When Caesarion hinted at his discomfort at being in such close proximity to Aoren the Drykan man felt his face grow warm and he moved back a little ways to a distance that was more suitable.

"I'm sorry. I didn't meant to make things uncomfortable for you. I just don't meet many foreigners you see. At least not from so far north." And the north did indeed interest Aoren. It interested him a great deal for it was north that he suspected Ileera was taken. He wondered if perhaps this Ravokian man had met her on his travels here to the city. In a place so evil Aoren also wondered whether or not she had been forced into servitude. He could bear the thought of her in slavery. She was a free spirit and did not deserve the chains of a helpless servant.

"Syliras is not really known for its overly welcoming attitude toward far off lands. Oh they'll let you in for a time but if you aren't to their liking...well...you'll be up before the Council of Three before you know it." He shook his head sadly. The harsh truths of the world were never easy to follow. Especially when you wanted to believe in the greater goodness of things.

"Sometimes the greatest good can be the darkest of evils."

"So why did you come here to the hotsprings?" He quirked his head and folded his arms over his chest as he observed Caesarion a bit more closely. He studied the lines of his face. The broadness of his shoulders and the shape of his body. After a moment he realized he was staring a bit too intently. His face grew warm again and suddenly the hotspring was just a bit hotter than he would have liked. Reaching behind him he planted his palms on the rocky shore and easily lifted himself up to sit along the edge leaving only the lower portion of his legs in the water.

[Caesarion]

He just... stared for a moment, and followed into a sigh. The sigh was mostly because Aoren suddenly seemed to shut off. Well, guess that was the end of that. "It wasn't that hard. I was luckier than most people." Whether he was glad or not was up for debate. Some days, he was. Some days, he wasn't. Right now, though? "I'm capable of doing things on my own in Syliras. I just wanted to be a real adult. That's why I came here." He was here at the hotsprings because he wanted to, not because he was obligated to. That was just one example as to why coming here was worth it at all.

Aoren moving away was kind of disappointing, at least in the darker parts of his mind. The parts that needed to be beaten and manhandled every now and then. He quickly interjected his sentence, trying to make the situation less disheartening for himself. "You weren't making me feel uncomfortable. Honestly, it's not often that I get to talk to anyone not work related. Even feeling a bit guarded is better than feeling nothing at all." He had little vitality for life, lately. His days never changed, they were always the same. They were lonely, hard, and disappointing. He stopped caring about much of anything, after a while. Which was why it was such a relief to be able to have a moment like this, where he felt like something interesting was happening to him.

And he didn't want to just drop it. He had to be less embarrassed, less guarded. So, he stopped. "I don't meet many foreigners, either. I don't know if I'm lucky or if I'm losing out on that part, though. Aside from you, I've never had good luck with the more exotic people. They're always out to get something; blood, or money, or whatever it is people are infatuated with these days." Wow, he kind of just went on and on there. Er, anyway. Caesarion listened to what he had to say, since he was always intent on hearing the more worrisome things. "Let's hope we can stay to their liking, then." Pft, fat chance. The Ravokii had a problem with authority, and the man from Cyphrus was... well, actually, he seemed like a nice guy. He'd probably fit in fine, here, once he got used to it.

Instead of responding promptly to the Cyphrus's next question, he continued to space out, or rather... stare at him. The reason was that he had a sudden feeling like the mood of this place had gotten too strange for the Drykas. That was probably his own insecurities shining through, but it seemed like his suspicions were true. He climbed out, and just sat down, looming over the Ravokii. Most of his body was revealed. It was definitely... a nice body. The Ravokii just felt a constriction in his throat. Like he wanted to say a bunch of things that were forbidden. He just started with answering the question. "A horse kicked me in the gut yesterday," he rolled his eyes. "I needed something to relieve the aching, I guess." That was at least being accomplished, mostly because it was eclipsed with the racing of his heart and the surge of complicated and jumbled thinking.

He just knew that he didn't want Aoren to leave. He didn't have a single friend here. And that was going to change today. It had to. "I'm talking too much about myself, again. I'm more interested in talking about you than whining about my daily life," he smiled slightly. The Ravokii also rose out of the springs, sitting on the edge, about eighteen inches away from the Drykas. His figure wasn't as admirable as the other guy's, but he always found himself to be attractive, at least. "What about you? Why'd you come here? Was it to tease foreigners?" He knew Aoren couldn't have been clueless to the situation. He must've known how elevated this was becoming. Caesar was always true to his intentions, and what he was thinking. He wasn't capable of simple conversation while there were more drastic things at hand. He was going to get the truth out of Aoren or die trying.

Well, maybe not die trying...

[Aoren]

"We are all of us innocent of the lives we live until we are at a point where we are free to choose for ourselves. It is then that we make the truest choices. To continue as we are or to set forth on a different path." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Haha, I've never considered myself very exotic but thank you. For the compliment. I think." He chuckled and shook his head seemingly relaxing a little bit.

"Going back to the subject of my exotic origins. I'm not all that exotic to be honest. I've grown up in Syliras my whole life. I know almost nothing about foreign lands. Only what I've heard or read about." He smirked as he thought about the image of himself in some far off land wearing foreign clothes and answering to laws so outlandish that it made him laugh. His soft chuckle was rich but quiet.

"Has there ever been anyone...special? You know...someone who caught your attention?" Aoren was fishing for a little bit more information about the young man. About his interests. About what he liked and maybe what he didn't. When Caesarion came out of the water and sat not far away from him Aoren bowed his head and made a show of -not- looking at the young man's body. It was attractive to say the least. The broadness of his shoulders. The finely toned muscles while not as large as Aoren's own were quite appealing. There had only been one man Aoren had trusted with his affections in his entire life. Only one man he had ever made such an advance on. That man had been taken from him. He blushed slightly and turned his head away from the distraction of Caesarion's body.

"I came to the hotsprings because I needed to find....something. Something different." He shrugged and leaned back propping himself up on his elbows. "Truth be told I wasn't expecting to find anything other than warm water and a quiet night." He glanced at Caesarion. His cobalt eyes met Caesar's rich green ones. "It's gotten a little hotter than I had initially thought it would be." Aoren chuckled softly. His chest and stomach flexing as the laughter rolled through his body.

"I've certainly no interest in teasing foreigners. I've never been the teasing type. My passions..." He went silent for a moment as the echo of a distant memory chimed across the stream of his consciousness. He brushed it aside. "...well..they've always been true to my heart's desire. Dealing with those passions though is sometimes difficult. I often feel that I experience things differently than the rest of the humans around me. It's almost like my emotions feel more raw. Reserved though I can be at times." Aoren paused. He was surprised that he was opening up this much to a complete stranger. He was usually very reserved and only kept to surface information at most.

"Sorry to hear about the horse. You've definitely come to the right place if you want to relieve the aching in your body." A gentle breeze wafted through the springs and Aoren turned his face skyward. The wind didn't bother him but after a moment he opened his eyes and stared at Caesarion.

[Caesarion]

Aoren's words actually made him feel more confident in himself, in some regards. He liked that at least someone agreed with him -- that he wasn't responsible for the past actions of his life, because they were guided by a different hand. "I made the choice to become a whiny antisocial peddler causing havoc throughout my small village," he responded sarcastically. The larger man started to laugh, which made Caesarion laugh too, for some reason. He had a smile on his face that was a bit too giddy for the norm. But that was good. He didn't smile or laugh often lately, at least not genuinely. "Sometimes it's a compliment. Sometimes it's an insult." He'd leave Aoren to guess, but the answer was pretty obvious. He wouldn't insult this guy. He was trying too hard to impress him to do that.

Although, he wasn't sure what was impressive about whining at Ravok. "You're not the same as the other people here, though." He had always been taught that making people feel unique was a great way to get them to enjoy being around you. But he didn't say this for that reason. It was just true. "I don't think I belong here. It's just too hard on me." The Ravokii sighed; he knew that now he was just going off about himself again, but it was for a better reason than usual. "The culture shock was the most difficult thing at first, but now it's a bunch of things. Everyone is too honest about their intentions, which are often rude or hurtful to a guy like me. No one likes Ravokii. I don't either, but the people here are too ignorant to care." But... "You're not ignorant like them, and that's good. I don't know if you'd consider me a friend or not yet, but you're like... the only friend I've had since I got here. I'll try not to be too much of a pain in the arse," he smiled. The man had really taken to Aoren. He was very dependable, and he opened up to Caesar.

Those two qualities already made him better than pretty much everyone in this guy's life, since everyone around him was something of a viper. Anyway, his thoughts trailed away from that whole debacle. Instead, he took in the bluntness of Aoren's question. He knew it. No one would ever ask that if they weren't interested themselves. "If you're talking about lovers, no." Which was both true, and useful. Everyone fancied a lack of experience in someone, when it came to this. "I've had crushes. Stupid ones. I used to pretty much crush on everyone. I was so desperate," he laughed lightly. Then, he started to think back on all of them. Which was a horrible idea; he zipped his brain shut and moved on from that. "Although..." Here he went. Whether he was going to come out of this with his manly feelings unhindered was questionable. "Catching my attention, in a broader sense, can be applied to a lot of people. In a more narrow sense, it can be applied to..." His voice cut off, and he sighed.

He didn't have the wit or the courage to continue that sentence. Instead, he just tried to be forward, since both of their eyes had already been forward enough. "Are you interested in me? I can see you looking all over me, and when you look away it's very forced. Not natural." Aoren wasn't very good at hiding his intentions, obviously. But neither was Caesarion. He always had this stupidly endearing way of revealing what was going on in his head. It was just how he was. Like, right now? This was his way; he failed too hard at being intricate, so he was just going to be honest. "You found what you came for, I guess. I'm different than a bunch of fat guys farting into the bath. That's usually what people find here, right?" It was certainly what he found here! Before stumbling in on Aoren, he was on the verge of puking into the water. Ugh.

He didn't know what to say about how it was... hotter than he initially assumed. Well, he could always say something stupid. "Oh? Did I make the bath too hot? Is that why we're suddenly both sitting up here?" He kinda wondered why Aoren had gotten out. Maybe he thought it was too awkward down there. Well, it kinda was. Caesar didn't mind either way. Down there, he had the relaxing water. Up here, he had the liberty of staring at Aoren's brazen body. Well, one of the options was a little less embarrassing. As for the ache in his body... the more immature side of him thought of other ways to help remove that problem, but then he realized that he was way ahead of himself. Whatever. A man was still a man, even if they were Caesarion.