[ Caelus is well aware, from personal experience, that the Luofu's leaders have surveillance systems running throughout most public areas in Starskiff Haven. It's not likely to happen unless some sort of incident prompts the Realm-Keeping Commission to conduct a thorough investigation, but if anyone ever reviews the footage from the last few minutes from the lobby of the Petrichor Inn, what they'll see is absolutely dripping with suspicion. A handsome young outworlder from the Astral Express meets with an equally handsome foreign merchant in the dead of the night. Some type of package is exchanged. The merchant gives the Trailblazer a seemingly sizable amount of money. The young man lifts his shirt, as if to call attention to his well-defined abs and the chiseled taper of his hips. More quiet words are exchanged. Then the two retire together to the merchant's room. He's not sure if there are any laws on the books in the Xianzhou regarding prostitution and solicitation, but objectively, this is probably enough to get him arrested by the laws of some planets, and the truth of what has actually transpired tonight is honestly too ridiculous to believe.
Caelus is aware of this, really, but he dismisses the possibility because — on some level, though he's confident enough about his looks, in a way where no one could ever believe his confidence in itself isn't a joke — it has just never really occurred to him that he might ever be seen as an object which might elicit desire.
It'd be a more serious threat, he figures, if he were Dan Heng. Wherever they go, there's always someone thirsting over Dan Heng.
Anyway — it'd be great if Luocha could heal him. He does have some other miscellaneous aches and pains in different places, and he could probably use a complete physical, all things considered. There wasn't really time, back in Belobog, and Bailu sort of offered, once, but she implied that she charges a lot of money to do that kind of thing, and most of Caelus's credits and strales get spent on his friends. Besides, he's well aware that Luocha wasn't about to kiss him or anything like that, a few minutes ago, despite his wildly racing heart. There's a part of him that can't explain how nervous he got, even to himself; it's not even as though the prospect of holding Luocha's hand again makes him giddy, or anything like that. Caelus is pretty sure that, if the merchant gets kind of touchy again, he'll probably be pretty normal about it.
It's just — something about being seen. He's not used to being seen.
(So much easier to hide behind March's exuberance, or Dan Heng's aura of mystery, or Welt's competence, or Himeko's grace. As long as he's the funny one, he doesn't have to be seen.) ]
Sure. Lead the way.
[ It doesn't occur to Caelus, really, that Luocha didn't leave him room to refuse. After all, the flip side of this is: why would he refuse? He chose to come out here tonight; he doesn't have anything better to do. It beats drinking by himself, unable to sleep. ]
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Caelus is aware of this, really, but he dismisses the possibility because — on some level, though he's confident enough about his looks, in a way where no one could ever believe his confidence in itself isn't a joke — it has just never really occurred to him that he might ever be seen as an object which might elicit desire.
It'd be a more serious threat, he figures, if he were Dan Heng. Wherever they go, there's always someone thirsting over Dan Heng.
Anyway — it'd be great if Luocha could heal him. He does have some other miscellaneous aches and pains in different places, and he could probably use a complete physical, all things considered. There wasn't really time, back in Belobog, and Bailu sort of offered, once, but she implied that she charges a lot of money to do that kind of thing, and most of Caelus's credits and strales get spent on his friends. Besides, he's well aware that Luocha wasn't about to kiss him or anything like that, a few minutes ago, despite his wildly racing heart. There's a part of him that can't explain how nervous he got, even to himself; it's not even as though the prospect of holding Luocha's hand again makes him giddy, or anything like that. Caelus is pretty sure that, if the merchant gets kind of touchy again, he'll probably be pretty normal about it.
It's just — something about being seen. He's not used to being seen.
(So much easier to hide behind March's exuberance, or Dan Heng's aura of mystery, or Welt's competence, or Himeko's grace. As long as he's the funny one, he doesn't have to be seen.) ]
Sure. Lead the way.
[ It doesn't occur to Caelus, really, that Luocha didn't leave him room to refuse. After all, the flip side of this is: why would he refuse? He chose to come out here tonight; he doesn't have anything better to do. It beats drinking by himself, unable to sleep. ]