A/N: hey, guys! So I just downloaded the Frostcrag Spire DLC (I'm late, I know) and this idea just jumped into my brain. Ya know how the little portals can teleport you to any Mages' Guild branch, but there isn't one that can take you back? Imagine that there was one.
Who else thinks Raminus Polus is just the cutest little thing? X3
...
Raminus Polus was not one to be left in the dark.
Whenever he found himself pressed with an especially confounding subject of study he buried himself in the Mystic Archives (much to Tar-Meena's chagrin) until he found a sufficient answer to his questions. But he noted, with a small frown of disappointment, that he had absolutely no idea whatsoever as to why the Arch-Mage was pacing back and forth through the chamber, disappearing for ten minute intervals and returning every time with a bag over his shoulder, full on the leaving trips and empty on the returning ones.
Arch-Mage Aryvis was a mer who liked to stay in one place; only once had he ever taken all of his possessions somewhere at once, and that was when he had come over from Vvardenfell. It hadn't been much, anyway.
So of course it was odd to see him moving his things; at last the curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to grab the Dunmer's shoulder. "Arch-Mage, what are you doing?"
Aryvis sighed, letting his burden fall to the ground in favor of crossing his arms over his black-robed chest. "I told you not to call me that, Raminus."
Raminus rolled his eyes; the Arch-Mage was far too personable for the position he held. Not that it was a bad thing, exactly. "Aryvis, what are you doing?"
"Moving out," he answered simply, picking up his bag once again and moving to leave. Raminus would have none of that; he grabbed the mer's gloved hand before he could even take a step.
"You're moving out?"
"That's what I said," he answered calmly, putting his bag down on the table in anticipation of an entire conversation. "Is that a problem?"
"I suppose not, it's not like I could keep you here, but the Arch-Mage has always lived at the University."
Aryvis responded with a bright grin. "Why, Raminus, is it me or did you just sound a bit disappointed?"
Raminus felt heat bloom under the collar of his robe. He'd been harboring a bit of a crush on the Dunmer for quite a while now... It started when he returned from Wellspring Cave, burned and confused and exhausted. He was resistant to fire, yes, but that hadn't stopped the purplish marks from appearing on his navy skin through the singed holes in his robe.
Raminus hadn't really done anything, hadn't planned on it, anyway. In fact, he'd been asleep - Aryvis didn't return to the University until well into the night. But he heard the apprentice stumble into the living quarters, and with his tendency to sleep lighter than any other mage in the Guild, was the only one awake to heal him when he practically fell asleep on the Master-Wizard's chest.
That was when he took a rather... Special liking to Aryvis.
"No, I'm sure that was just you," Raminus managed, looking elsewhere in an attempt to breathe.
Aryvis hummed, a pensive sort of sound, and shouldered his pack once again. "Very well, I'll be back in a moment."
With that he left the room, and Raminus heard the soft buzz of a portal's activation. "Thank the Nine," he sighed, falling back onto the wooden bench.
...
Aryvis was not stupid.
He couldn't suppress the grin that found its way across his face, or the deep chuckle that accompanied it. It was a little uncalled for, perhaps even cruel to let Raminus pine for him, and he knew it, but it was just so much fun. He wouldn't make the Master-Wizard wait much longer... He just needed an opportunity.
So after putting all his things in various places about Frostcrag Spire he returned to the University to find Raminus sipping away at a glass of wine in that dignified way he seemed to do everything. "It's actually quite amazing," he said suddenly, breaking the quiet.
Raminus coughed and spluttered, dribbling the dark red liquid down his chin and the rims of the cup but not on his perfect blue robe. "What do you mean, exactly?"
"Frostcrag Spire," he answered distractedly, flipping through A Less Rude Song. "The place I'm moving into."
Raminus nodded and set to cleaning up his spilled wine, therefore not noticing when Aryvis got up from the stool opposite him and stole the cup. "You're coming to see it."
He didn't ask if Raminus wanted to see it (which he couldn't deny, he really did), he told him that he was going to, leaving no room for questions under his imperious red gaze. The Master-Wizard muttered his assent.
In that moment, Aryvis changed from authoritative Arch-Mage to cheering little girl. A bright, pleased grin spread white across his face. "Great! Come."
He wasn't even given a moment to get up of his own volition; Aryvis yanked him up by his arm and dragged him through the door to the glowing portal beside the purple fire at the base of the stairs leading out of the University.
"Aryvis, let me g... Oh, wow," Raminus was in the middle of a complaint when the familiar buzz of the portal went off, sending him instantaneously to the doorstep of a gigantic castle. He stood on a portal in a ring of them, and the magical circles gave off a purple glow in the shadow of the castle.
"Don't just stand there, come in," Aryvis said, taking a hold of the big ring and yanking it to open the door.
Raminus followed the Dunmer inside his castle, through the small bedroom that was fraught with hastily brought items that he'd simply dropped inside and left on the floor. "You're such a slob," he teased.
"My house, my mess." was the playful reply. "You're into alchemy, aren't you?"
"Yes, why?" as Raminus looked up, the question on his face soon turned into an expression of wonder when he saw the small garden. It was like a small patch of the Colovian Highlands inside; the plants grew tall in the sun shining down through the hole in the ceiling. Despite the biting cold outside, the interior of the castle was comfortably warm, but Raminus felt especially tepid as he went around the room to see the different types of flora in Aryvis' garden.
"I've got harrada and bloodgrass growing back here," the Arch-Mage explained, gesturing to the small patch of lava. "I'm planning to add an alchemy lab at some point, but I'm a bit short of the price set for it. Come, there's more to see."
Raminus was sad to leave that part of the house, because it was just so cool, but he let Aryvis take him away. They stepped on yet another portal and appeared in a gigantic altar room, with what looked like altars of spellmaking and enchanting, and a large cabinet of some sort.
"What is this?" he asked, walking up to it for closer inspection.
Aryvis smiled. "It's a surprise."
Raminus soon forgot about the strange altar in favor of rifling through the small library set into the corner of the room. Aryvis watched with slight amusement as the Master-Wizard buried his nose in some book he'd nearly broken his neck trying to retrieve; self-telekinesis, apparently, was hard to control. Raminus was a little adorable in his element, all wide, sparkly golden eyes and his nose shoved in one book after another.
As Raminus finally closed the book he had been lost in for the better part of an hour, he looked up at Aryvis and smiled. "This place is amazing."
"Very," the Dunmer agreed, "There's more to show you."
Raminus got up from his stool and followed Aryvis over to another portal, and they appeared in the Vault. Cold bit into the Master-Wizard's skin, but Aryvis seemed to be fine with it. He sat down on the cold stone and pursed his lips, making a sound somewhere between sucking his teeth and whistling, and one of his imps came over to play.
They spent hours in the Vault, playing with the six or seven Vault guardians just because they could. Sometime throughout the night Raminus cast frost spells around a crumpled ball of paper, creating a small ball of ice that they tossed around between the nine of them until one of the imps threw it into the wall, where it shattered, and Aryvis threw a low level shock spell at it. Dejected, the imp fluttered over behind a box to brood.
They ended up back in the library, sitting at the table with a bottle of cold wine (that's why he kept it in the Vault, he'd said) and a simple meal of a bread loaf and a shared cheese wheel.
"Are you going to continue being Arch-Mage?" Raminus asked carefully, fearing the answer would be no.
But Aryvis looked offended. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because you're leaving me at the University," he tried not to make it sound as personal as it was.
Aryvis' eyes flashed - an opportunity. "I'm not leaving you anywhere."
Raminus just looked at him, confused.
"You, my dear Raminus, are moving in with me."
...
A/N: and that, my friends, is the end of the first chapter of Kismet. How do you like?