[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... )
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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He was about to give his word. His honor. His honor to not strike out against his fellows. He stared at Akkarin and wondered if he could really make such a promise.
His word.
His honor.
Could a trained assassin really do this?
The people of Haven would forgive him if he raised his hand in their defense, wouldn’t they? With his gaze locked with Akkarin, he spoke, "And they that take bread and salt with ye are as your brothers and sisters. And your hand shall not be lifted against them."
And he meant it.
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"Thank you, Khmin," Llaeseaf whispered in Alexei's ear. "You are not bound by your word if someone tries to strike first."
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She had never been able to convict people like the rest of her family did (well except for Lan, but Lan had been as much as an outcast as she had been, even if it had been in a totally different way). Maybe if you felt first hand the love people could feel for eachother, be they man and woman, man and man or woman and woman, you could not lie and say it was any different from eachother.... It seemed like the other people thought the same though; non of them lashed out at the two man like her father would've done, non of them felt any rejection like her mother did every time she saw a gay couple and noone seemed to want to make any underhanded insults at the two of them... Not even the man who seemed to have a grudge against the angry one.
Actually. It wasn't quite fair to keep calling him that, not now that he had tried to make peace. Specially as some of the last suspicion seemed to disappear under the whispered words of his boyfriend. But she still didn't have a name to put with the face, so what else should she call him? After a bit of musing, she settled for the greenhaired man and the whitehaired man. Those where fitting names after all; she'd never met anyone with quite those haircolors...
Aleila was startled out of her musings as the plate of crackers suddenly appeared in her view. "Oh, euhmn," she said as she quickly took up a cracker, eyes shooting nervously around the room from under half-dry bangs.
"And they- Euhmn that- That take bread and salt with ye a- are as y- your brothers and sis- sisters. And your hand sh- shall not... Euhmn, shall not be lifted a- against them," she stumbeled, growing bright red and trying to disappear as the words came out far less than perfect. She felt like all eyes where directed her way and suddenly she didn't feel so secure anymore.
Staring at the ground, she took a step back so she was against the wall and let her hair shadow her face, staring at the ground. What would happen if they took offence in her messing up? If they thought she wasn't willing to say them or something? Gods but she wished Lan or Damien where here... They'd know what to do! They always knew...
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Despite the superficial similarity though, those days were behind Akkarin. Irretrievably lost - possibly at the Guild as well. It wouldn't do to dwell on it.
He turned his attention instead to Alexei and his companion. Kyralian attitudes didn't hold as much sway with Akkarin as they once had, but he felt slightly uncomfortable watching the... whatever he was and Alexei so obviously affectionate. Nobody else seemed remotely bothered, so he would just have to pretend he was visiting the Elynes. Elyne culture permitted so many things that the wisest course for any Kyralian was to just ignore it.
At least he hadn't ended up somewhere with a culture like Lonmar's supposedly civilised society.
Aleila stuttered her way through the ritual, and Akkarin felt the pang of her embarrassment as sharply as if he'd been inside her mind. He stifled a gasp, but did not look away from her lest she think he was concealing something. He hadn't been reading her mind, but sometimes very strong surface impressions came across without intent, particularly from people with mental talents of their own and little training in containing them.
Suddenly he longed to test the girl for magical potential.
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Akkarin wouldn't do anything when he'd just broken bread with them, would he? Or had he performed the ritual just to humour the host and didn't feel bound by simple words and gestures? Was he just doing the same thing that his first Master had done to catch him unaware and trap him until the complex spell to bind him could be worked? LLaeseaf thought as he struggled to keep his composure.
The Djinni's nervousness caused tiny sparks to jump down his skin before he could wrestle his emotions under control. He hoped Akkarin hadn't seen those little flames. That would make the man reagrd him even more closely and make the Djinni even more anxious. Llaeseaf didn't want to accidently push Alexei into protecting him because he had issues with magic users. Llaeseaf clenched his jaw and took a slow deep breath through his nose. He would push down his fear for Alexei's sake. He would not have Alexei injured trying to protect him from his own unfounded fears of Akkarin. The man had done nothing to him.
Yet.
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After standing upright, he used his free hand to stroke Llaeseaf’s fears in hopes of helping Llaeseaf calm. Alexei could sense and feel Llaeseaf’s tension and apprehension. Energy escaped Llaeseaf in stuttering jets. A human magic user had to be the most intimidating being for Llaeseaf to face. There was only one way to truly ease Llaeseaf’s fears and that would be going home and granting some time to the situation. Alexei made a plan: they’d stay a polite amount of time and then go home.
Alexei looked around the room and tried to break the silence. “We gathered two bushels of maize today. There’s plenty more to harvest. I know Akkarin and Aleila will need some food, anyone else?” That begged the question, were Allarin and Aleila staying in Haven or simply passing through?
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She was supprised when the white haired man bowed towarths her and her eyes shot around for a way out. His words, however, where a suprise in their own right.
“The intent is the important thing. Words are just sounds.”
She looked at him, eyes wide, but he had already turned back to his boyfriend, suiting some of the anxiety away, appearently. She couldn't help but feel greatful to him, both for his words and for calming the greenhaired man. She was beginning to be quite sure that neither of them, at least, would intentionally hurt her, even if they did not seemed so inclined towards the other man. She made a mental note to try and stay far from them when they would meet again.
“We gathered two bushels of maize today. There’s plenty more to harvest. I know Akkarin and Aleila will need some food, anyone else?”
At the thought of food, more than just a cracker, she heared her stomauch rumble. Yes, food would definately be welcome...
Aleila looked around the room, curious how the others would decide. The more normal people, so to say, had been rather quiet. Because their milder feelings where mostly drowned out by those of the others in the room, Aleila's attention had been mostly pulled away from them. Now that she did give them attention however, she could feel them quite clearly. One woman seemed particulary nervous about something, another more worried. Victor felt mostly hopeful and the last woman seemed to be drowsy and thoughtful. Nothing to fear from them, appearently.
This left the man who was sitting in a chair now, the odd one who braught so up so much emotion in the green- and the white haired men. His feelings where vague, as if there was a veil over them, and she couldn't feel them all that clearly. That made her think of Damien, Damien who was one of the very few persons she'd met that could completely shield his feelings away from her, and it made her heart ache.
OOC: Question since I don't think his bio sais anything about it; how does Akkarin look underneeth the cloak?
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Llaeseaf was a mystery to Akkarin. Nobody who'd mastered Control should have such emotionally-triggered outbursts of magic. Whatever Llaeseaf was, he was clearly not given the same kind of magic possessed by Akkarin. He decided that prudence lay in some extra truth.
"In truth, I would benefit greatly from the opportunity to rest from travelling for a while. My powers are much diminished, and while I may still use them to a limited extent, reliable food and safe rest will do much toward restoring my strength." He glanced at Llaeseaf and Alexei, realising that they might not be keen on Akkarin becoming more powerful. "Once I have my accustomed strength again, I will continue on."
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