[One thing I will say for England (at least right now--who knows what will happen in the next few years), there's actually really good assurances for workers that they'll get paid annual holiday time. It's like 23 days a year of paid annual leave, so if you bank it up you can take one loooong holiday! The US system is much more brutal. Also, poor Charles. Not to worry though, Aurus is very patient.]
Not for a moment did Aurus consider accepting that answer at face value. To let go at that point, it seemed to him, would be a very cruel act indeed. So he didn't let go, instead closing his grip steadily on Charles' fingers. "Look at me." It was an earnest request but certainly not a demand.
"I'm not naive, Charles. And I do know how human bodies work--I know a few things about how human minds tend to work when it comes to the topic of sex, too. You tend to all have tunnel vision on the mechanisms of reproduction even when you're not trying to make babies." Clearly, judging by his tone, Aurus considered this focus to be a bit silly and misguided.
"Being a sexually sterile race gives one a rather different perspective. So, let me speak bluntly: the fact of you coming to my room tonight for purposes of visiting the Dream notwithstanding, on the subject of inviting you into my bed, I have been, and still remain, undecided. I hadn't phrased my offer as such because I really wasn't sure what I thought you'd make of the idea.
"That isn't to say that you've misunderstood me, though. You've understood me perfectly. You've only construed my meaning in its narrowest and most restrictive terms, for it's only in those terms where anatomical questions take the foreground to begin with."
Here he released his hold of Charles' hand, but only to reach out, to touch the back of his elbow and then, leaning forward a little more, to brush his fingers down the man's jaw.
It mattered very much to him that Charles had not declined on the basis of a lack of attraction or interest, but rather on a perception of limits and inadequacies. That made all the difference in the world. It was why he persisted even in the face of an initial refusal, now looking searchingly into the man's eyes with an expression that tried to draw out something less defeated, something more hopeful: "Please do not tell me, with everything that you can do and everything that you know, that you're still laboring under the misconception that your cock is your most important or most powerful erotic organ."
no subject
Not for a moment did Aurus consider accepting that answer at face value. To let go at that point, it seemed to him, would be a very cruel act indeed. So he didn't let go, instead closing his grip steadily on Charles' fingers. "Look at me." It was an earnest request but certainly not a demand.
"I'm not naive, Charles. And I do know how human bodies work--I know a few things about how human minds tend to work when it comes to the topic of sex, too. You tend to all have tunnel vision on the mechanisms of reproduction even when you're not trying to make babies." Clearly, judging by his tone, Aurus considered this focus to be a bit silly and misguided.
"Being a sexually sterile race gives one a rather different perspective. So, let me speak bluntly: the fact of you coming to my room tonight for purposes of visiting the Dream notwithstanding, on the subject of inviting you into my bed, I have been, and still remain, undecided. I hadn't phrased my offer as such because I really wasn't sure what I thought you'd make of the idea.
"That isn't to say that you've misunderstood me, though. You've understood me perfectly. You've only construed my meaning in its narrowest and most restrictive terms, for it's only in those terms where anatomical questions take the foreground to begin with."
Here he released his hold of Charles' hand, but only to reach out, to touch the back of his elbow and then, leaning forward a little more, to brush his fingers down the man's jaw.
It mattered very much to him that Charles had not declined on the basis of a lack of attraction or interest, but rather on a perception of limits and inadequacies. That made all the difference in the world. It was why he persisted even in the face of an initial refusal, now looking searchingly into the man's eyes with an expression that tried to draw out something less defeated, something more hopeful: "Please do not tell me, with everything that you can do and everything that you know, that you're still laboring under the misconception that your cock is your most important or most powerful erotic organ."