Things they'll let you do and no one else

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I was suddenly inspired to include the antagonists in this, Elowen and Rime! <33 (written as close as I can to their personalities in the story, but also as if they genuinely care about you and are courting you!) Also... happy birthday Sage!!! I just saw the post from Fictif, today is the day!! ಇ/ᐠ ̥ᵔ ̮  ᵔ ̥ ᐟ\ಇ

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Sage

Dress him in your jumper. You only had one small backpack with you when you came into this world, and one day you leave its contents spread out on your bed. When you return to your room, you find Sage poking curiously at your possessions, clearly fascinated but assuming that you won't want him to touch. In particular, he seems drawn to an old, oversized jumper you keep as part of your cosplay survival kit, something spare in case part of your outfit needs repairing mid-way through the con. He pinches the fabric between his finger and thumb with a wary grimace, as if he's never touched something so soft. Which suddenly gives you an idea.

"Do you want to keep that as a nightshirt?" you ask. You've noticed Sage doesn't tend to have a lot of spare coin for clothes, and when it's cold, he keeps his mercenary jacket on all night.

"...you know. You can wear it when you go to sleep? If you want to," you try to explain, suddenly wishing you had something a bit better to give him then a worn, stretched-out sweater, which may only just fit Sage anyhow. Plus Sage probably won't want to wear something that makes him look less than bar-fight-ready, he did say half of being a sellsword was the aesthetic.

"...yeah?" Sage says cautiously, as if his only reluctance is being unsure of your reaction. "...want me to?"

You give him the happiest grin, gesturing that you're going to close your eyes so he can change, and Sage just shakes his head at your strange human-realm customs. He gets stuck halfway through, and you have to reach out and tug the jumper down before Sage destroys the whole thing with his way-too-forceful attempts to dress himself.

Sage's hair is puffed-out everywhere by the time he's finished, but once it's on, he couldn't look more pleased.

"Eh, I look like you," he grins, which makes you laugh because he couldn't look any less like you if he tried, but he means it as a compliment.

You throw his heavy sellsword jacket around your shoulders as a joke, and when Sage turns around his eyes go wide with surprise, then his cheeks redden terribly as he tells you that it suits you, and if you keep wearing that he's never going to want it back.

Elowen

Approach her from behind. It's basically impossible to sneak up on Elowen, even on a bad day. But she'd know your footsteps even in the darkest alleyway, and you're the only one she'll allow to walk up behind her, without her turning around. Once you are standing at her shoulder, she might tip her head backward to meet your gaze, or arch her neck a little, to encourage you to indulge her by tugging your fingers through the back of her hair.

Anisa

Take her arm at a formal event. One of the ideas that Anisa has fondly held since childhood is that one day, she'll attend a traditional Starsworn knight ceremony with the person she loves at her side. She'd always wanted to be a knight, someone who can protect others and be worthy of genuine trust. And even though her hope of attending such an event seems null and void now that her order has been destroyed, Anisa quietly shares her old dream with you, saying it's probably silly to hold onto such things now.

The next day you talk to Felix, and the two of you use his position to obtain four tickets to an event of note. Though the entire order may not be present, the three remaining Starsworn are, and Sage and Felix even surprise you by each wearing a pin representing their old knighthood when they join you for the evening. You have your arm linked in Anisa's all night, and you tell her that even though it isn't the same, you'd be proud and honoured to stand beside her at any ceremony, any battle, the edge of the world, or when you're just walking down the street to get ice cream. Anisa's mouth falls open in surprise, and you hope you haven't gone too far when she starts smiling like she's going to cry. Later, Anisa quietly tells you that in many ways, you have saved her too.

Rime

Rime will allow you and only you to gently pin his ears back against his hair. The first time he'll take both your hands in his, then touch your fingertips lightly to his cheeks, so that your palms are cupping his jaw. He'll give you a wry, slightly ambiguous smile to try and let you know that you have his permission, he wants you to be affectionate with him.

Then, if you carefully move your hands over the sides of his face... you can gently pin back his deer-like ears until they're covered by your palms, only the barest velvety tip of each ear poking out behind your fingers. Rime gets a slightly drowsy, contented look on his face when you hold his head in your hands like this, sometimes half-closing one eye. He might give you a sleepy smirk if he realises he's doing the eye thing, not bothering to correct it.

But then he'll purposefully flick one of his ears to amuse you, and because he knows you find it sweet. He's perceptive enough to realise that you don't realise he'd never make himself look so approachable with anyone else. But he's not going to tell you that, he's happy to simply reciprocate your affection without making a point of it.

Felix

Apply his eyeliner for him. Felix has a delicate sweep of black above his eyelashes, he's been doing this for so long that he doesn't really consider it any special part of his routine. What he does consider special, or out-of-the-ordinary at least, is being comfortable enough with someone to let them into his personal space. One morning you notice his jar of eyeliner, and it inspires you to tell a story about how as a cosplayer, you sometimes have to practice a character's makeup look again and again to get it right. You joke that by the time you've mastered your relic, you'll probably be a powerful enough sorcerer that you can simply shapeshift your face and be done with it.

Felix finds himself gazing at you softly, amused by the comment. And then, in a moment of pure, spontaneous foolishness, he hears himself say, "well, until you become such a masterful mage, would you like to practice on me?"

Felix can barely believe what he said in the silence that follows, he's hardly even comfortable looking at his own features in the mirror, let alone having someone peering closely at his face whilst he has his eyes shut. But there's no part of him that wishes to take the words back, he's just as shocked to realise he meant it.

You feel quietly moved as you settle down in front of him, Felix obediently closing his eyes as you dip one of his brushes into the jar of ink. You can feel the whisper touch of his exhale as your wrist draws near his cheek, he doesn't flinch as you gently trace a line above his lashes. You find yourself noticing all sorts of silly things as you lean in, like his dark, softly tailored brows, the natural peach colour of the cupid's-bow at his lip. There's something so stern about his face when he's keeping still for you like this, but Felix places his hand gently in yours, as if to let you know it's okay.

When you whisper that you're finished, his expression is replaced with a soft, giving smile, as if he doesn't know what he's going to do with you, as if he never wants to let go.

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