[Victor] A Houseful of Guests
Who: Victor Kruger
When: July 1, shortly after In the Rain
Where: The Rowland House
Invited: Everyone in the house, folks arriving from In the Rain
Status: Complete ( Read more... )
When: July 1, shortly after In the Rain
Where: The Rowland House
Invited: Everyone in the house, folks arriving from In the Rain
Status: Complete ( Read more... )
The command from Victor to behave themselves left Llaeseaf uncertain. They were in the man's house and, as guests, they were honour bound to obey the wishes of their host. But, Akkarin had casually flung magic around without warning and Alexei knew what that would do to the Djinni's peace of mind and was likely only seeking to shield him.
"Alexei. Khmin," Llaeseaf called softly, letting his fire sink back into his skin as he motioned his lover back to him. Worst case senario, with Alexei standing next to him, he could teleport them both away if things suddenly went south. He'd just have to deal with Alexei's displeasure if it came down to that.
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If Akkarin, Alexei, and Llaeseaf got in a fight, the best she could do was dump a cup of water on the combatants, and probably that would get her killed.
So she attempted to blend into the house's woodwork and stay forgotten and out of sight.
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But! Just who did Akkarin think he was with that “unless you do something stupid” crap. Something stupid, like casting magic in a roomful of strangers while not knowing the sensibilities and sensitivities of those people? That kind of stupid? Well, that would be and was stupid. The change over the land also changed people. What if someone had developed a magic allergy or became extra sensitive to it? Perhaps, that was stretching a little bit. Just…just a little.
However! Alexei do something stupid? As if! One time. If someone could name one time that Alexei did something stupid then, maybe, Akkarin would have point.
There was that time where he…and that time with Galen…and that time with the hovercraft…and with Jace… Oh yeah, that whole Jace thing had been stupid. Time to change the subject.
What was that bullshit with Akkarin spreading his hands? The empty hands of a magic user meant jack-diddly-squat. Mages were better equipped bare-handed. Did he think that would be some grand gesture of peace? Jestture of peace was more like it.
And! Won’t let anyone threaten him? People could threaten Alexei, but they’d better have the ass to back it up. He earned each and every one of his battle scars and looked forward to earning a few more. He’d spent his entire life going from target to target. Job to job. Necromancers? Fallen. Illusionists? Fallen. A plethora of fighter mages-fallen. Zombies, vampires, skeletons, whatever the fuck that goop was in that factory-
"Alexei. Khmin."
Alexei stood down at the sound of Llaeseaf’s voice. The soft dulcet tone washed down his shoulders and sank into his ears. With a small huff, he turned away from Akkarin and walked toward his lover. Llaeseaf had him whipped and he knew it. Didn’t care, but he knew it and even liked it a teeny bit. With only lingering anger, he scanned Llaeseaf’s face, “I trust you are all right?”
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Alexei was still agitated and Llaeseaf wasn't sure how to calm his lover down that would be socially acceptable. Somehow, hugging Alexei tight to him while stroking his fingers through the Warrior's hair seemed a little bit much to spring on the people they'd been slowly coming to know. A hard sparring match to work out that agression wasn't an option at the moment either. Re-direction was probably the best course of action.
"Are you alright, Aleila, was it? You look like you've been through a bit of a rough go," Llaeseaf said, tugging on Alexei's arm and turning his lover to face the newest arrival.
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That was until they stepped inside the foyer and the door closed behind them. Kayla originally thought that the voices belonged to the few people in town that she knew, or people who had a reason to be there. Now she knew differently.
There were three brand new faces.
Kayla immediately crossed her arms across her breasts and wished that she had opted to keep walking after dropping Ami off.
"Wow," Ami didn't seem to miss a beat as she took in the strangers. "More new faces. I hope this is the sign of things to come."
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"Welcome home, babe," he added, giving Ami a quick kiss and a brief hug, brief only because she was soaked. Then he looked at Kayla, nodding a greeting to her as well. "Kayla."
Victor grabbed a couple of towels from the nearest hands since they didn't need them now that Akkarin had dried everyone off with his spell. He handed the towels to Ami and Kayla.
The sound of someone bounding down the stairs caught his attention. Victor turned to see Michelle arrive at the base of the stairs. She had changed into jeans and an Invader Zim t-shirt, and had a towel wrapped around her head like a turban to contain her wet hair.
"Awfully dark in here," Michelle observed and turned on the overhead lights.
"Michelle," Victor said, "would you go to the kitchen and see if you can't find something for our guests--" he emphasized the word subtly, "to eat?"
Michelle's smile didn't fade but she went stil for an instant, sweeping her gaze over the newcomers. "Bread and salt?" she asked. She obviously remembered the conversation they'd had not long ago about breaking bread with guests.
"Perfect," Victor said.
The newcomers seemed to have calmed down, but he'd take every advantage he could get and if dredging up historical rituals would help keep the peace, he'd do it. Besides, it was a thinly populated world again; customs that had served in ages past when travel was unusual and dangerous might just be worth reviving for their own sake.
Michelle nodded and vanished into the kitchen. Victor turned back to Ami and Kayla. "Let me introduce everyone. Ami, Kayla, I'd like you to meet Akkarin...."
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Aleila looked nervous and apprehensive at being surrounded by so many people. There was something slightly odd about her, but it was faint, like a nagging at the edge of his awareness. He ignored that as well; he was tired and this world was strange, and whatever it was didn't seem to be something he had to know about urgently.
Two more women came in from the rain, soaking wet. Victor greeted them warmly, introducing them as Ami and Kayla, and handed them towels.
"I can dry you off," Akkarin offered. "If nobody objects." He shifted his gaze to Alexei.
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There where so many people here, and it was a strange feeling to have their emotions once more pressing up on her. Yet, she had to admit, it was also reasuring... If there where other survivors, anough to make up a comunity like this, than there had to be more, right?
"Are you alright, Aleila, was it? You look like you've been through a bit of a rough go," Llaeseaf said, tugging on Alexei's arm and turning his lover to face the newest arrival.
The sudden quetion startled her, specially because she had trouble detecting the source of it. Somehow, the greenhaired man hadn't caught her attention... Strange, that, as she could now identify him as the source of some of the stranger emotions she'd felt. His arm lay around the other man, the one that had been angry. She couldn't help but trow the green haired man a greatful look for calming him down.
"I- I'm quite alright... Thank you," the thanks for more than the care alone. She ruffled the towel trough her hair in order to get it dry. "I'm glad there are this many people who survived," she added, as an after thought. She really was, too.
In the meanwhile, even more people entered. It seemed like she wasn't the only new arival, as the boy who'd let her in, Victor, took the time to introduce everyone. She noticed however, that he somehow seemed to skip over the greenhaired man every time.
(OOC: For the moment I'll just take that either Aleila can see Leaseaf because of her empathy or that Lleaseaf is visable, since he talked to her, hope that that's alright :) )
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Fortunately, one of the newcomer's - Akkarin, and that wasn't a name that boasted of local - words took her off-guard and confused her. Something about his tone told her that he didn't intend to take the towels from their hands and physically towel dry them. Of course, given what she knew of Alexei and Llaseaf, Ami realized the man could very well be speaking of magic or some other psionic talent.
Tension flowed from him and coiled toward Alexei, catching Ami's attention for the first time since she and Kayla entered. She wondered what she missed, although she thought it had something to do with Victor's words about bread and salt. Ami knew enough of history and cultural to know what the words implied.
She still didn't have one clue of what was going on.
As tempting as it was, Ami didn't reach out to touch anyone's thoughts. She relaxed her shields a bit, allowing random words and images and feelings to flow to her, hoping for some insight. Ami cast curious eyes toward her lover, hoping for feedback.
He does magic. Victor's thought came through loud and clear. Ami suspected that he meant for her to hear it so plainly. No hostility or worry - at least not for their safety - laced the thought, so Ami gave a polite, agreeable nod to Akkarin.
"That would be quite fine, thank you."
Kayla's eyes asked questions as she looked from Ami to Victor and Akkarin and back again, "What are you going to do?"
Something tickled the fringes of Ami's awareness and her attention shifted to the woman - Aleila - there was the sense of something about her. Nothing dangerous, just some sense of something familiar.
Ami pushed it aside to study it later.
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If Akkarin wanted to expend his energy in such a way then so be it. Come to think of it, flittering away power was common among those who were academy trained. He’d stumbled upon Calchas and even Galen wasting their talents. One time Galen tried to “heal” a dead house plant and Calchas tried to “see” his way to unicorns. They called it building stamina. Stamina that never seemed to manifest in battle. Neither of them had been fighter-mages though. Well, not in the true sense. They didn’t know the blood and sweat poured into centuries of training just cranked out some school and stamped graduate.
It wasn’t as if ley lines couldn’t easily be tapped and thus the caster rejuvenated, but it still seemed wasteful and a bit demeaning-making things disappear for a child’s birthday and other acts of “hey look at me” bullshit. Ah the hell with it, Akkarin was of his own and Alexei didn’t care enough to change it.
He glanced at Llaeseaf. If something unexpected were to happen at least there were two people here who could handle business. A young woman stood next to Llaeseaf and peeked out around his shoulder. Aleila-she looked down right timid as if she were trying to appear small or, rather, barely appear at all. He looked at her and nodded his greetings. This piecemeal village was turning into a nice little town.
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It was Akkarin's magic that held her attention once she wasn't worried about the house suddenly becoming a battleground. Heated air currents. That would be a combination of fire and air, heating the air and moving it. She'd have to practice heating stuff without setting it on fire when she got home; no point in making the situation any more tense than it needed to be. Come to think of it, that might be helpful in a cold spell. If she could keep the molecules around her agitated just enough, she wouldn't have to worry about layered clothes. It would be warm, like it was now. Then she'd learn how to move the air currents around to heat an area. That would be good.
She yawned in the warmth and sat down.
(OOC: Marie's unconsciously generating a small amount of warmth in the air around herself. Whether this is enough for anybody else to notice is a good question.)
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She wondered if she'd made a mistake bring Akkarin here. The locus of the tension was between Akkarin and Alexei. She wondered why--not that it mattered a great deal. Anyone who couldn't work and play well with the others wouldn't be welcome long.
"Here we are," Michelle announced, raising the platter she was carrying.
"Saltines?" Victor asked, amused by her choice.
"You wanted bread and salt, and this was the quickest and easiest way to provide," Michelle said.
Victor nodded. "Good point. Okay, then--"
Victor looked around at everyone, most of whom looked faintly dubious, amused or puzzled or both. He gestured to Michelle. "Would you like to do the honors?"
Michelle nodded and presented the tray to Victor, balanced on one hand. "May I offer you bread and salt, brother?"
Victor took a cracker. Michelle did too. "And they that take bread and salt with ye are as your brothers--and sisters," Victor said. "And your hand shall not be lifted against them."
Both of them ate their crackers. Victor took the tray from Michelle and turned to Akkarin. "May I offer you bread and salt, brother?"
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Michelle and Victor conducted a ritual of bread and salt which had a definite sense of formality to it. To Akkarin's surprise, he was the one Victor turned to next.
"May I offer you bread and salt, brother?" Akkarin frowned slightly, recalling the words Victor had used as he took a cracker.
"And they that take bread and salt with ye are as your brothers and sisters," he said, stumbling a little over the apparently archaic formulation of the sentence, "and your hand shall not be lifted against them."
Well, if he means to stop Alexei and I getting into a fight, he'll have no argument from me, he thought as he ate his cracker. It was horrid, but he avoided showing that, chewed and swallowed. He'd learned on his travels in the Allied Lands that it was important to respect local hospitality. On this strange world, it was even more so.
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The Djinni hadn't had interacted much with the other people living in Haven and was barely able to put names and faces together. Although, he realized, he had no problems identifying the Gifted people in the room. He still felt uneasy around them but, he was getting better with Alexei's support. At least he'd stopped actively hiding himself and allowed himself to be visible to all the people he met, Gifted or not.
Akkarin made Lleaseaf more nervous than all the other Gifted people in Haven combined. His magic abilities were likely on par with Alexei's and that made Akkarin more than capable of knowing how to binding Lleaseaf to an object. Alexei, sensitive to the moods of his lover, was reacting accordingly to those fears. The Djinni took a steadying breath and laced his fingers with Alexei's, giving them a little squeeze. He needed to try and get his fear under control before he unintentionally provoked Alexei to do something rash.
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Everyone seemed nice anough towards her. Even the angry one, she'd forgotten his name and he had been angry, had taken the time to give her a friendly nod. It reasured her once again that non of the tention she was feeling was because of, or directed at her. She'd already known that, of course, but... Between knowing and believing was a gap.
She struggled to remember the words for when the bord of crackers came to her... She just hoped she wouldn't do anything wrong...
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