[Kabrin Road] Copper for Your Thoughts [Sondra]

[Hadrian]

"Tolerated," he countered with a wry grin, an acknowledgement of their tenuous relationship, lacking in depth, perhaps, and true understanding, "but certainly surrounded." Kendall loved him, and Ethan, too, though the Kelvic's love was of a different nature, he thought. Still, it was strange and full of awe to see another person's aura brighten with his presence. He tried not to think too much on these things, for they made him uncomfortable, but Sondra liked to press her tongue to sore spots, it seemed. He got one well with Cathan, too. Sondra was the great mystery here. He listened to her recitation with curiosity, having theories about prophecy, but no firsthand experience of which to speak. "If things go badly," he said slowly, "my plan is to get our group out. Ethan can fly. If we can get to the water, you have gills and I can probably manage a bubble of breathable air long enough for the rest of us to walk the lake bottom to the edge, though I'd probably be useless for a week or so after, needing to be carried and such. We could make for Mura... probably safer than for Syliras where they'll have more guards... "What do you think? I mean, about the plan. I worry, too, but I don't speak of it. I can't. Somebody has to have faith, or at least pretend to. The Kelvics have innocence. Kendall too. Me?" He shrugged off the thought and didn't have the presumption to judge her. They barely knew each other, after all.

[Sondra]

“What do I think?” Sondra put her chin on her knees, looking more like a child than a woman who had almost lived two of Hadrian’s lives. “I think even in success there is something lost,” her answer was partly mumbled due to how she rested her head. “But if this is the bridge you must take, I hope the end of it is kind.” Stretching out, she began speaking more dark sigils into the air. “I know little of this story, but in its worst form it will ask for more than deception or negotiation. No man walks into Ravok and confronts a mage for a trinket. There is something of importance here, and I wonder how strongly the other mage will object. And will escape be an easy option?” She tilted her head back and forth, weighing outcomes. "We could be backed into a corner before the end of things. Or not. It may all be as simple as a smash and grab." The Konti looked at Hadrian again, her eyes were inscrutable in the gathering dim. “Kendall may be the heart of this endeavor but you are the mind, Hadrian so I want understanding from you. What are you prepared to do if it all goes to shyke? There’s not much blood about you and very little chaos. In a city that thrives on disorder how will your logical mind react?” Sondra stood and continued her speech. “I’m not a leader and I’m not always wise, but I know something of people at their worst and I know something of the speed at which violence moves.” She waved her fingers with a deceptive playfulness. "I see other's sins. Through touch. All sorts, be it a dead cat sacrificed or a woman cut open from crotch to chin." The Konti walked closer to Hadrian, breaking the threshold of a comfortable distance. “So I ask again. When escape goes to shyke and the djed bucks you like that bloodbane, just what are you really…” Playing the bully, her finger prodded Hadrian in the chest, emphasizing each word that followed. “…ready to do?” This was the moment. Her seemingly random private encounter with the mage and her apparently aimless conversation was coming to its purpose. Kendall wouldn’t get this challenge, there was something too tender about him. Neither would Ethan or Cathan, they would do as instinct taught them, for better or worse. It was clever Hadrian with his ambitions and growing talent that Sondra fixed on.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian listened to her musings, wanting whatever wisdom she had to offer, knowing how she could peer into a man and see what he had done that left a stain upon his hands, upon his soul. Sometimes he wondered at the mechanics of her gift, if it operated like a specialized form of Auristics, which he understood, or if Avalis gifted her with a vision of sin for each person she touched. His back went up when she got too close; even if he thought she were going to kiss him, he might have reacted the same. She was beautiful in a strong, tomboyish sort of way, and while he was quite aware of her beauty, he wasn't sure he could ever feel a pure sort of passion for her, always afraid of that violent spirit within her; not fearful of his flesh, but what else within him she might want to break in her rage. "I will kill Kendall's enemy if he raises a hand against any of our group. I will do whatever is within my power to protect us. If it comes to dying... well, I can't say I've any great desire to court Dira this early in my life, but there are circumstances under which I would die to protect the rest of you. I'm committed to this. If I wasn't, I would not go to Ravok. I never wanted to, not for all the promises of knowledge they might utter... But Kendall needed me and so here I am. You're right about him... We're following his heart, and I'm analyzing everything to death. I think he should disclose all the details to everyone here, but you're all here despite not knowing, so that's between you all and Kendall." He needed space to think, but Sondra wasn't offering it, so he kept his chlorine blue eyes on hers. "Kendall hasn't told me everything, so I can't factor in everything... We're being led by our heart in this mission... quest... thing. I'm providing support the same as everyone else. I go to sleep making contingency plans, and wake up with my eyes closed and my senses stretching out to make sure there are no dangers lurking nearby... and... "And..." He finally began to feel anger at being cornered like this. "And... I've been careful not to delve too deeply into your aura because ethically I haven't wanted to step over any bounds. But will you lay your secrets bare for me? I'm putting my life in your hands too. For all I know you could have a Druvin lover, or your temper will get us all killed. Why do you assume that I'm the weak link here? And why didn't you raise whatever misgivings you have before we left?"

[Sondra]

Sondra’s lupine smile was slow, it bloomed as the anger welled to Hadrian’s tongue. “Oh, Hadrian,” she laughed throatily, “I don’t think you’re the weak one. Quite the opposite, I think you’re the dangerous one.” Her eyes were as hard as the slate they resembled. “You have more potential than the rest, Hadrian. You only try weapons you plan on bringing to a fight. I’m just testing for your follow through. You say you’ll kill the mage? When you ram a knife in a man’s gut it can stick a little, you’ve got to be able to push it to the hilt.” Sondra’s challenging nearness didn’t relent, “I checking my odds that you can.” Now the subject turned to her own history. Sondra withdrew half a step. “A Druvin lover?” she huffed a laugh as she thought of that graveyard in the wood, when she was still a part of something. “You’re right, you don’t know much about me,” a softer answer given without a trace of hostility, only a detached kind of humor. “I’m for Ivak through and through and--” her smile had more grief than humor, “And I don’t take lovers, much anymore.” Sondra was considering his request to read her aura, her face made grave by thought. “I’d rather you didn’t go stumbling about. I don’t know how auras work,” her eyes closed and her head bowed as she rifled through the nautilus chambers of her mind. “But there are bits and pieces from others tangled in my chavi,” She squeezed her eyes shut tighter as if suppressing something, “That have no value but as proof of man’s depravity.” She looked up, after a pause, a grim readiness straightening her features. “What do you need to know, Hadrian? What knowledge do you think will comfort you now?”

[Hadrian]

For a moment he wasn't sure if she wasn't after a fight, after all. Just the possibility of violence sent a rush of Fluxed djed down through his limbs, reactions speeding up, muscles quivering with power they should not be able to contain. He was not trained to fight, but any animal could flail about with all its might and ferocity to protect itself, and here he was stronger than he ought to be... But she stepped away and he was left shaking with unspent energy, all the potential of a lightning bolt sizzling through flesh and bone, blood and viscera. He thought he might be sick. He didn't enjoy confrontation. "I-if I k-kill him, it won't be with a b-blade," he said, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. She probably thought he was shaking in fear and judged him for it, but he was trying to siphon off that energy slowly, sending it back into the ground where Semele could transmute it back into whatever was most needed. Perhaps flowers would sprout up where he was standing within a few hours, seeds fed by his spiritual vitae. "On a ship for Alvadas, an illusionist tried to break our minds and kill us. I slowly filled his lungs with water. He didn't know it until it was too late..." Of course, he hadn't killed the man. Instead he had pulled the water out of his lungs once he was unconscious, his illusions shattered. Hadrian was Syliran, and had a sense of justice ingrained upon him. He let the scholars deal with their fallen one, but he had been prepared to kill Curn if he had not let up. "Ivak," he said. "You and Kendall both." So that was why she came without question, to aid a fellow Azenth. He wondered if she didn't take lovers for fear that her divine gift would unleash too much passion for even her toughness to handle. "I can't read your chavi," he admitted. "That extends into a higher plane where I am blind. But there is much to be read in an aura." He shook his head. "I just want to know I can trust you. Kendall can, but Ivak hasn't marked me. No god has." There had been encounters, and strange words that might have been promises, but his skin remained white and unkissed by any divinity.

[Sondra]

“And how did you learn to trust people before you learned auristics?” She asked with a mocking trace of a smile. “I don’t think Kendall trusts me because of this,” she touched the blue tongue of fire barely creeping above her collar. “I think he trusts me because I gave him my friendship and followed to help him when I had nothing to gain. I’m not his lover or his Kelvic. Nor is there anything in Ravok that does me good. In fact, it holds a particular dread for me.” Her fingertips left the mark. “That’s stronger stuff than auras and gnosis.” Sondra went on, her voice steady and flowing. “I don’t trust your magic and I doubt your experience…but water in the lungs? And from the dark too.” Her eyebrow raised, “I’m right, you are dangerous. At least those I’ve hurt knew the source of it when it struck. Seemed only fair. I like a nearness, so you can’t sidle out of responsibility.” Turning away from Hadrian, Sondra considered the sky, hungry for starlight. For something unfailingly lovely regardless of what festered beneath it. “I found you to warn you, and challenge you because I think you’re crucial to this endeavor and cocky despite lack of experience. Not because I think you’re wicked.” Her head turned to the side, so she could see the mage in her periphery. “I don’t think you deserve a look anymore, Hadrian. If you want it, you’ll have to seize it. Or you can do what I am compelled to: ask and hope.”

[Hadrian]

He couldn't speak to trust; it was a new concept for him. Not a new concept under consideration, but a new concept to enact. He trusted Ethan to a point, knowing he might be naïve enough to get Hadrian hurt, but that he would always consciously attempt to be a help rather than a hindrance. He trusted Kendall, too, to think of his own best interests, even if Kendall's idea of those best interests might not always be his own. Everything was qualified in Hadrian's world. Absolutes were something he dreamed about, but didn't believe in. At least, he didn't believe that he knew any absolutes yet, but that was why he was a seeker. Listening to what she had to say, he chose not to defend himself. Sondra seemed to be a woman of actions rather than words, and if he was going to prove himself to her, it would have to be through actions and not words. He didn't look at her aura, but he told her what he saw. "Our mettle will be proven when it is proven," he said. "Your goddess grants you visions, and I have a vision that I have paid for with time and effort and discipline. We both see things. We are both haunted by things. We are both here to help Kendall, perhaps for reasons more altruistic than we are comfortable with. I will watch your back and hope that you will watch mine. Should we survive this, perhaps we will have a sort of trust. If not, well, such is life."

[Sondra]

The Konti listened with a purposefulness that seemed out of character. Her piece was spoken and one could drown if too enamored with their own voice. At the end of it all, she gave a nod, as if accepting orders. If anything made her uncomfortable, it was well-taken. “Fair enough.” Sondra walked past Hadrian, retreating to camp and exuding her infinite charm. “I’m going to go pretend to sleep, don’t petch up the wildlife too much.”

[Templar]

Hadrian: Morphing: 1 – Interogation: 1 – Auristics: 1 – Fluxing: 1 - Lore: Man-To-Beetle talk – Sondra = Azenth Sondra: Rhetorics: 2 – Interogation: 4 Lore: Hadrian Aelius (Basic) Additional notes: Fine thread! Except Hadrian promised something that was missing! *shakes fist at Dani*