don't be afraid.

[Caelum]

Guest Moderating PCs Involved: Hadrian, Kendall & Sondra Timestamp: 76 Summer 511 AV Approval don't be afraid I threw us into the flames where I felt something die 'cause I knew that was the last time the last time let it burn, oh no let it burn - adele - Firelight threw itself at the night in reflection off the numerous windows cluttering the stone face of the building tucked into an otherwise dark bend of the Noble District canal. Black water gnawed on the sides of the ravosala that bore the outlanders ever closer to their new lodging, its liquid teeth ever so much louder than the fading din of Ravok nightlife. Leth’s moon looked more like a skull hanged from the floor of the Ukakas than a celestial orb, hollowed out and withering with the color of decay. It offered little illumination to campaign for space with the torch light lining bridges stretched like rib bones above. An hour previous the strange little traveling party had been accosted by the harried landlord from whom they had rented rooms for the duration of their stay. A wealthy and influential guest had arrived unexpectedly. It was terribly inconvenient, but their rooms were in high demand. She was so sorry, so very, very sorry, but they had to vacate immediately. Their monies would be refunded, of course, not to fret, and she had arranged for a ravosala to bear them to a bed and breakfast owned and operated by her dearest friend. A complete gentleman, well known about town, very proud of his little inn keeping hobby, wasn’t he? That’s right, Mister Alander Jin would see them to fine rooms, finer than her’s (though don’t go spreading that about now, eh?) and at a discount too for their trouble. Once again she was sorry, so very, very sorry. The waiting ravosala was loaded with their belongings and next their selves post-haste, set swinging out into the broad waterway with a merry whistle from the boatman working the long pole to navigate them deftly through the canals. The boatman’s tune bounced off the wood and brick walls of Ravok, echoing down the liquid corridors in eerie reverberations. It snapped out like a sliced ribbon, the slow fade lost in the thud of the ravosala against the pilings as they docked at their destination. The bed and breakfast had been crafted tall and narrow, hunching up at the watery alley’s end with a gray face and intricate iron work decorating the eaves and window sills like lace. Flowers popped colors of sea and sky up the worn steps to the door where colored glass bled rainbows in the torch light. It appeared sturdy and welcoming with a tiny, hand tooled sign hung from a hook by the stoop that read: Xieroh Bed & Breakfast A. Jin, Proprietor A tidy young man with a thin scar slicing a scimitar from temple to jaw greeted the transports within a tall foyer boasting of a checkered tile floor, wood paneled walls and a chandelier that jingled softly in the breeze coming in through the opened windows. After promising to unload their luggage above stairs, he urged them to take dinner in a small dining room off the courtyard. Xieroh’s was, by all accounts, far pricier than the modest inn Kendall and his companions had been so politely ousted from; but discounted, their former hostess had reassured, rooms rated exactly the same for the inconvenience. Once they were comfortably ensconced at a table spread with a variety of simple, well prepared foods served on hand painted plates, the young man retreated, disappearing back into the bowels of the bed and breakfast before anyone could think to ask after his name. They would learn it in time.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian didn't like when things changed beyond his ability to control them; Andry took these things in stride, part of traveling abroad, an adventure or something of the sort. And Hadrian Aelius had been set aside for Andry Ellis, a dilettante scholar from Zeltiva seeking out trade opportunities for a father who wanted him to seek more applicable uses for all that hoity-toity education. Andry Ellis' circumstances were not so very different from Hadrian Aelius', which made for an easier role to play if only he didn't get himself tripped up in which identity was his. So he let his fingers hover over the waters of the canal as the ravosala took them to their new home, careful not to toy with the element as he might have were he himself and in friendly territory. And so he smiled broadly at the improvement to their lodging (if the rooms were anything like the public rooms), and thanked the young man politely before he disappeared. But he had his senses opened to things that others couldn't sense, nuances of the aura that he had come to master; the ability to pluck cards from another's hand while holding his own close to the chest. The Kelvics were off, which added to the hidden nerves coiled up beneath a bland exterior, but between his magic and Sondra's hammer, he felt confident that they could protect Kendall and each other from most threats. Gods willing. "Too good to be true," he murmured to himself, eyeing the food. Ravok made him jumpy.

[Kendall Saarinen]

Things were changing again and all Kendall wanted was to get out of Ravok. He had been scared since the had made it into the city and of course his past show of emotion back in the wilds had left him edgy beyond belief. With meditation Kendall was able to calm himself, at least enough to function without breaking out in a fit of anxiety. "Things will get better." This is what he continued to tell himself, regardless of if he believed it. The sudden change, the instability of losing their current housing arrangement caused Kendall's anxiety to flare. He wanted Hadrian to comfort him but his lover was not Hadrian right now, he was Andry. For now they would have to be just friends. The ride to their new home, at least for the time being, Kendall spent attempting to meditate. He still was not extremely skilled in the art but it helped when his more… romantic method of calming himself was not available. He sat as still as the boat would let him, watching Hadrian idly as his hand hung over the water. He had to keep calm even if he was scared half to death. The absence of Cathan left Kendall unsettled. He wished the man was at his side, although maybe it was better to have just Hadrian, Sondra, and himself traveling. Of course a Konti was going to catch some attention but Kendall hoped as long as she remained with Hadrian and himself there would not be too much of a problem. Besides, Sondra could protect herself better than he ever could. The bed and breakfast was welcoming enough, even by Ravok's standards. Of course, this could be taken badly since things rarely were welcoming in Ravok. It was the city of chaos. Kendall stuck close to Hadrian and Sondra, not wanting to find himself alone or separated from the group. He stayed quiet, not wanting to bring attention to himself. It was only when Hadrian seemed to murmur something to himself as they sat down to eat that Kendall really felt his fear creeping up on him. He watched Hadrian's aura shining with a sense of unease. If Hadrian, the more rational of the group was skeptical there had to be something going on, at least Kendall believed this to be true. Although he had not known Hadrian for an extreme amount of time, he knew enough to know Hadrian did not scare over nothing and that alone made Kendall more anxious than he had been their entire stay.

[Sondra]

Ever since entering Ravok, Sondra had been especially good about keeping her gloved hands to herself. The proximity of water also made her irritable—correction – more irritable, as it was a temptation not to be enjoyed. She growled and grumbled in low tones as they were shuffled about. If she had more food in her, she might have tried to pick a fight with the high and mighty who stole their rooms. All it would have taken was a solid chicken leg’s worth of energy and Sondra would have been execrating the upstart back to the shyke-hole he came from. Luckily, fatigue stepped in where discretion had failed. Extended travel had a way of making one both delirious and resigned. Sondra was still adjusting. When the food was served, she poked it childishly with her finger then leaned back in her chair for her first audible phrase of the evening. “Petching weird.” The Konti then hunched over the table and picked up a utensil. Her posture when eating resembled someone who knew they would have to fight to keep their plate. “But I’m so damn hungry.”

[Caelum]

"The food is not poisoned," a young woman announced from the doorway. Candlelight veiled the room, shimmering off the china and the belled glass domes protecting flames mounted on the paneled walls. It reflected too from the doors leading out into the small courtyard that in pallid moonlight seemed to house ghosts in the shape of twisted trees. The strange frames of statuary could be caught in the deeper shadows of the room's corners, stalwart and still with faces both blank and fantastical. It was the woman's face, however, that held the greatest concentration of interest for the outlanders, belonging as it did most rightfully to that soul called Kendall Saarinen. Those achingly familiar features were set in an expression of wary expectation as she halted at the head of the table, delicate hands coming to rest on the tall back of a chair. She wore a pair of plain black trousers instead of a gown, hems brushing the toes of small, polished boots. The slender line of her shoulders was tight, proving her to be on guard, but her chin was up and rich mahogany hair tumbled down her back from the tie of an embroidered ribbon. "The last thing I want any of you is sick or dead," she admitted with accent that had nothing at all to do with Zeltiva, rather hinted at something drier, something more exotic and even farther away than the city of shipwrights and scholars. "Mind if I join you?" An eyebrow rocked prettily upward as eyes Kendall had known peering back through a mirror focused intently upon him. In the fire light, the young woman's aura seemed burned. The storm sky green of it seemed to sizzle from a fire but recently blown out, angry and fatigued while banked into a pile of deadly promising embers. Djed was strong, resilient, and pulsing with tapped power. If aura's had a taste, the soul in this body would have been like swallowing scorched wind.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian was in agreement with his fellows, but the vision of his lover's old face, old body, the packaging that was changed -- there it was, and he choked on that gust of sirocco into the room's ambient djed. It was that and not the food that caught in his throat, chlorine blue eyes gloriously wide with shock that quickly damped down to a readiness. He wanted to demand answers, but this was Kendall's quest and he was but a supporting member no matter what Sondra had said to him on the Kabrin Road. If he was the mind of the mission, Kendall was its heart and soul, and he burned with Ivak's kiss. So too did Sondra, though her fire smoldered more than it burned, at least in his experience. He was the cold one, the aloof and calculating, and he could only sit back and absorb every nuance of the situation to suss out what was happening. The heart might lead them into danger, and the mind and muscle would have to pull them out again. "Hello," he said around the relaxing lump in his throat. His gaze burned with curiosity and recognition.

[Kendall Saarinen]

A familiar voice broke the silence that had hung in the room since the group had sat down. A voice that haunted Kendall for the simple fact that it was his, at least in a way. The boy the normally burned hot of fire seemed to grow cold as a shiver raced down his spine. He knew that he was going to find her here. That was why he had come to Ravok. He did not want to see her though. It made everything that he had been trying to work past rush up in him, ripping slowly healing emotional wounds wide open. Kendall, the one who was so keen to uncover emotion felt himself shoving his own down as he looked at the girl. It had been so long since he had seen himself. He had almost begun to forget what he had looked like. What the exact shade his skin held and how long his hair had been. He was scared, not only because he was looking, and would soon be talking to the person who resided in his rightful body. He was worried that Hadrian would find her more appealing. She was the person that he had been attracted to all of those years ago. He never knew Kendall's personality, only his looks. Hadrian could now have the body that he had watched after and Kendall had lead him right to it. "You may." Those words were all Kendall could force out as he looked at the girl. He did not want her anywhere near him. He could only imagine what the girl had done with his body. What more, she seemed so calm and content. Why wasn't she uncomfortable like he had been? He looked over at Hadrian, watching his aura. He needed to know what Hadrian was feeling even if he was not extremely skilled in auristics. He was scared Hadrian would leave him for this girl. Turning his eyes back on the girl, Kendall watched her aura. It was strange looking, almost as if watching a pile of leaves turn to ash. It was not burning, but it was not cool either. There was an essence in her aura that Kendall was sure was not there when he had inhabited the body. The presence of Djed, or active Djed would be a better term. Kendall had never been allowed to use magic yet, his body had found it's way to it through a different soul. This bothered Kendall, possibly a bit more than he would show. Rules kept being broken not matter how much he tried to keep them intact. Kendall's mismatch gaze seemed to burn as he looked at the girl. "So, do I get to know your name? I don't think I caught it when we first met." He felt anger against this girl. He knew she shouldn't have, none of what happened was her fault. As least as far as he knew. She seemed to prideful while she was wearing the skin that was not her's. "Or did you take mine? You seem quite comfortable with what else you stole from me." His mark burned lightly under his sleeve, keeping him calm and in control of the emotions that would have over wise taken him over. His words were low and backed by a dauntlessness that he had hardly felt since the accident. There was not time to be afraid. He needed to get back what was his.

[Sondra]

When the woman declared the food safe and her intentions far from murder, Sondra was quick to retort. "Who are you to give a shyke either way?" The Konti didn't like games and modes of subtlety had been out of her parlance for close to five years. Hadrian had proved subdued and Kendall was being polite despite the acidity of his tone. Something of his... Sondra tilted her head and let her mind fathom the idea of a bloke inside the cunning feminine shape. It was an odd day when Sondra represented the closest thing to pure femininity in a room. Everyone seemed a bit too polite considering the circumstances. A noose was likely being made in their presence and they were remembering to be gracious. Sondra recalled Hadrian's warning about her temper. Strangely, she never considered a temper one of her many shortcomings, but in comparison to them... Perhaps it was time to re-evaluate. The Konti was mildly incredulous as the snake was allowed to sit and sup with them. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the woman, they were lucid, openly showing the disgust Sondra felt. Instinctively, the Konti's hands grew comfortable around her dinner knife.

[Caelum]

"More the sum of my sins, K'Sondra," the girl replied with a glint in velvet eyes that ought to have been merry. It was instead too deep, too steady as she sank to a perch on the edge of her seat at the table's head. The body might have been the proper adornment for a hearty, whirling girl, but it was clear the soul it housed was weighed with surety of age and black experience. She held herself contained, every gesture deliberate while she set the empty plate before her aside and settled elbows to the table top. The white hem of the tablecloth fluttered in a breeze from open windows, water and wood rot resurrected in scent around them. Flames guttered, wax spitting. She blinked with iron eyelids and cupped chin in hand while making study of the all, one by one, in no particular order. "Hullo, Hadrian," she greeted throatily, humor dusting her mouth as she called the next of the party out by rightful name. "How do like the red? It's too peppery for my taste, but you do like the fire, don't you? Kendall --" Small hands dropped with a thud to the table, hard enough to tremble the line of liquid in their glasses and rattle the silver against plates. Palms flattened, fingers splayed, and she was perfect, wasn't she? Not a mark on Kendall's stolen body, not a wound or a scar, everything ship shape and well cared for. Slender shoulders pitched forward, a lock of hair trembling against her jawline as she caught the Azenth's eyes. It was not unlike turning a lock, trap snapping shut, impossible to turn away. "You're condemning the wrong man," she spoke Common with words like marble, chipped pieces crumbled off some ancient art. Succinct. Significant. Still but parts of a greater whole. "Woman," she bounced a shoulder, dismissive. Gender failed to matter. "I have stolen nothing from you but an hour. The Kabrin Road thieved more than I, and will never offer what I am." A dull tinkle of windchimes rustled in the grotto. The sound of footsteps, distant and several floors above, sank down to them through the walls as if belonged to a giant. She leaned back, mobile mouth settling in a determined line and hands drawing back to the table's edge as she swallowed them all with her eyes. "You want your body back," she said. "So do I. And I want that one --" No mistaking with the cant of her chin, the echo of a vengeful undermode from a language far from here crept into her Common, what body she meant -- that which Kendall presently inhabited. "Dead at my feet. My name is Alander Jin, and we have common cause."

[Hadrian]

They were outmaneuvered; Hadrian did all he could to keep his aura as calm and cool as a serene fishpond, his face a bland mask. But his mouth dropped open in surprise all the same, teeth snapping shut with a quiet click as he overcompensated on the road to recovering his aplomb yet again. This person was manipulating their shock and surprise like a master, reminding him of more than one illusionist and hypnotist from the City of Illusions. He kept a lock on that burned out aura to detect whatever clues he might. No truthsayer like a priest of Tyveth, still he had a few tricks up his sleeve when he used what he had with skill and panache. He was outnumbered by Azenths, but he thought quickly, trying to be the mind of their endeavor as Sondra had named him. What they needed was information, and while he was no Azenth to sense pent up emotions, he gathered from the state of the person's aura that it would take a deal of prodding in the right tender spots to rile her up. Instead they would have to suss things out with discussion. "You seem to know us well, Alander Jin," he said. "It appears we have a lot to learn. Would you be so kind as to fill us in on what we are missing?"