[Sunday] [RP] Wake Up in an Unusual Place

[pallor_m0rtis]

[Corbin needs a tag, Mod-types. As apparently I won't just have Kori here. >.> *Peer-pressure!* Haha.
Entirely for the random factor, not his storyline. Or, maybe, I'll decide after.
Blood/Gore warning for the sensitive sorts.]

It might have been a lie to say that Corbin always woke up somewhere he was familiar with; some nights he woke up with

Comments

Lizards. Cookery. Zombies. Such a perfect combination!

[hector_styles]

Oh, of course Hector was much older than he looked, but that was a little secret that was going to remain hidden for now. If Lacroix was squeamish now about gore, Hector couldn’t imagine the reaction he’d get from mentioning soul-stealing. He needed more time to desensitize Lacroix before he ever even considered revealing his true age. And in that same light, he just ignored that ‘maybe you were just slow’ comment; he couldn’t exactly defend himself without giving his real age away.

But then again, he wouldn’t have vehemently defended himself anyway; his calm demeanor made it difficult for him to get up in arms about anything, really.

Even though Lacroix hadn’t figured out that the little box was in fact an antique burglar alarm, Hector was quite pleased that his apprentice had deduced that it was broken. Hector had removed the clapper from the bell inside to make the device silent. “I did modify it; you are correct. If I hadn’t, its purpose would have been far too obvious.” But this conversation made him feel confident that Lacroix would be able to figure it out soon.

While he did sound pleased that Lacroix had made that discovery... there was still a lot to do in here. “Lacroix, come sweep as I finish.” The ceiling was a big problem, and there was no way that he’d be able to reach up there to touch the little bits of blood and gore that were caked up there. Instead, he lifted his hands up toward the ceiling and just focused; this was much more difficult, required precise concentration -- he focused in on all the substances on the ceiling that were liquid or gelatinous, slowly turning the gore into sand that rained down into the ground below.

True, he could have just turned the mess into pure air, but that would have taken even more effort. Transforming one type of physical matter into another used less energy, and he needed to conserve all the mana he could for this huge cleaning effort.

[Or the worst Food Network show ever. >.>]

[lacroix_styles]

"Sneaky," Lacroix muttered, but he was rather proud of himself for figuring something out. It wasn't exactly what Hector wanted, but it was still something, and it could only get better from there, hopefully.
But it shouldn't have surprised him that Hector would mess with the object and then hand it over to him; he had to keep a sharp eye out because very little around that place was exactly what he expected it to be.

When prompted he abandoned the mop for the broom instead, wanting to get a closer look at how it was Hector did that sand transforming whatever it was anyway; it was more impressive than turning an eyeball into a toy.
Lacroix realized what was coming when Hector lifted his hands and snapped the dustpan up as well, turning it upside down and holding it above his head to avoid getting sand in his already sticky hair.

"So no changing things yet, eh, fine. What about the thing you did in the pawn shop? The one you used to figure out I was weird?" He waited out the falling sand and dropped the dustpan, working on sweeping the small piles together. "Can I not learn to do that yet either?" Lacroix had caught a glimpse of Hector in his fully supernatural state for a very brief moment when he had been working that evening they met; and he knew it had to have been some sort of spell that allowed him to see more than just what normal people viewed on the surface.

[hector_styles]

Hector was using a lot of spells all at once, but there was not too much of a threat of it backfiring on him because there were no Sleepers around to ruin it with their disbelief; casting spells in front of non-mages could inadvertently cause damage to Hector. But he and Lacroix were Awakened; a mentor teaching his protégé within the privacy of their sanctum wasn’t too much cause for Paradox.

“That is called the grim sight,” Hector explained, running his hand through his own hair to shake out the sand; he too would need a shower after this little cleaning chore. “It is the most basic of all spells.” What he was making Lacroix do with that burglar alarm was sort of like the grim sight, except it was for machines instead; focusing would eventually give Lacroix insight into the device’s workings, just as the grim sight would give him insight into how heavy death hung on people. This is why Hector was so stubborn about Lacroix figuring that box out; doing so would help him find that same focus that is used in his grim sight. “I can certainly train you to use that next.”

With his grim sight, Lacroix would be able to discern whether or not someone was a vampire, a murderer, or a person on the brink of death due to something like a fatal illness. It was a fascinating little skill; Hector looked ungodly with mage sight, so it was no shock that Lacroix had seemed frightened when he’d first experienced the spell. Hector was a serial killer and able to raise zombies, so it was understandable that he would appear very affected by death when seen through the eyes of the grim sight.

[lacroix_styles]

"Nothing sounds very happy around this place; death this and grim that," Lacroix opted to offer his opinion on the matter while he drug that broom around.
Sand was far easier and more comfortable to deal with than sliced organs and gooey limbs; even though it was sticking to wet spots on his jeans from having to wade around in the slime before Hector returned. Not that it mattered, he was going to toss his ruined clothes shortly after he returned to his room.

At least Hector agreed to teach him something with what felt like substance; it was hard for Lacroix to grasp the idea of magic when he couldn't relate much to it from a person standpoint. He was one of those people that needed proof to believe.

"So what do I look like?" He knew it had to be different than what how he looked to everyone else or Hector would not have picked him out so easily; and he did inwardly hope just a bit that it wasn't as intimidating as Hector had appeared for the few moments he had been under the sway of that spell. It had been creepy enough, not just the sight but the feeling of dread in the man's presence; Lacroix wasn't going to admit that his first impulse had been to bolt and he had remained nervous the entire conversation that evening after seeing past Hector's guise.

[hector_styles]

Hector paused his cleaning to take a moment to really look at Lacroix with his mage sight so that he could give his apprentice an accurate answer. Because Lacroix didn’t use a lot of magic yet, what stood out most to Hector now was the level at which death had affected the young man.

“Death hangs heavy on you. Someone close to you has died.” There was no way for Hector to tell just who related to Lacroix had died; while he could sense the energies of death around a person, he still was not a mind-reader.

But that wasn’t the only feeling he received from looking at Lacroix. “You give me the sensation that I am being watched.” It was a rather paranoid feeling, but considering Lacroix had mentioned that ghosts tended to bother him, this sensation didn’t surprise Hector. “I hear footsteps downstairs, and whispers out in the hall.” No one else was actually there; this was just his mage sight’s way of telling him that that other man was around ghosts from time to time.

Lacroix certainly wasn’t going to look as scary as Hector did; Lacroix didn’t kill people, he didn’t raise zombies, and he didn’t possess a level of power to command the very shadows around them. But ghosts seemed attracted to the young mage, and that had shaped his nimbus.

[lacroix_styles]

The entire conversation settled uneasy on Lacroix, he had expected something of the sort but it was still unnerving to consider that the way he looked to other people who could see beyond simple physics viewed him with such a thick air of death and loss.
He hadn't expected anything bright and cheerful, no, for all his humor and at times outlandish behavior the weight of the world he lived in had left dark spots on him that he tried to put in the past.

Knowing that they still showed as obvious as if he had been carrying around a neon sign made him feel like he was a failure at letting go of the sort of things that had plagued him. He wanted to let go, in a way Lacroix didn't feel as though he could approach his new life without that tarnished past fading away.

Lacroix's fingers tightened around the broom and he pushed the sand around with the edge of it, making little circles in the piles of grainy substance. Paranoia had clawed apart his younger years, ruined his high school days and had led him to extremes he no longer wanted to remember. If there was anything that ate away at him more than confusion it was the ever-present stress of knowing he wasn't alone even in an empty room.

"That's why I need to know how to talk to them," he trailed off and dug the tip of the broom into the sand, "I hate not knowing what they want."
That feeling that they might trouble him less if he was more receptive to understanding those spectral echoes was one of his main drives; Lacroix was weary of the shadows that sought him out.

He sighed and nodded, question answered, but the answer was bound to stick with him and dig under his skin until he could accept it.

[hector_styles]

"You already possess the ability,” Hector informed, though of course it was much easier to interact with ghosts while in Twilight. This was a bit of a difficult concept to explain, but he tried his best because he wanted Lacroix to understand. “You are merely not in the correct... state of being, shall we say, to best interact with them. Soon I will show you how to achieve that.” Hector would have to be there with Lacroix; it would have been difficult for the young mage -- and dangerous -- to attempt interacting with ghosts in Twilight alone.

But he had something that could help Lacroix in the meantime, and he wanted to give that to him now.

“Let’s pause for a while.” He wanted to usher Lacroix out so that he could finish the room himself; he figured he’d subjected Lacroix to enough horror for one day. He walked to the door, then slipped his shoes off so that he wouldn’t be dragging sand and leftover gore through the library. “I have a gift for you.”

[lacroix_styles]

"There's never a simple answer to anything, is there?" He didn't need an answer to that question, he already knew it; no wonder Hector was so stoic if he had been spending all his time learning all the weird rules to magic.
Harry Potter, clearly, was a lie.

"I'm almost afraid," Lacroix commented with a lift of his brow at Hector's sudden good will. But, damn curiosity, he couldn't resist wanting to know. Besides, he was still sticky and gross and dragging sand around the place; and that would just mean he'd have to clean up the other rooms too. "Can I take a shower first, seriously; I have eyeball slime in my hair."
And that was just unacceptable.

[hector_styles]

“That would be a wise idea,” Hector replied; he too wanted to rid his hair of the sand. He wasn’t quite as bothered by everything that had happened as Lacroix clearly was; he wanted to give the other man a break from the sight of the room, even though yes, it was less grotesque now than it had been at the start. Hector would finish cleaning the room himself later.

“I will see you later, then.” He still had something to give Lacroix, but it could wait just a little longer.