[Flashback] Bump Me Maybe (Hadrian)

[Leonis]

The hearth emanated a warm glow and the shadow of an elder man was cast against the plain, cracked walls. They were etched with as many lines as his flesh; wrinkles that molded a man of knowledge and poise.

Almost in stark contrast, a divine creature sat across from him, a book laid in his lap whose incrompehensible words generated nothing but confusion in his eyes.

"I can not teach you everything, my son," the man had spoken, "There are some things you must experience for yourself."

The creature was not amused. His lips held a scowl and his citrine eyes were obstinate. Defiant he might have been called, had he not been so eager to learn.

"You do me a disservice, master. How am I to learn if you don't teach me?"

And in that, the elder smiled. "There are more ways to learn of the world and its mysteries than just the tales of an old man."

The gilded being quirked a brow, dubiously, "Tell me where, then?"

"Why, the Wright Memorial Library would be a start."

------------------

15th of Fall 507AV

It had taken nearly 50 years for Leonis to step foot into the famed Library of Zeltiva. It was everything and more than Aratoth described. The halls smelled of parchment and ink and the cadence of scratchy quills and rustling paper was a welcome change from the cacophony of the outside world.

Those who resided within its walls, however, were less accustomed to the presence of an uncommon specimen such as he. His gradient skin might well have drawn enough attention as it were, but the glassy appendages that sprouted from his temple had, in more than one occasion, knocked several of the priceless books off their shelves.

The day had been filled with apologetic smiles and the rearranging of fallen materials. Several books had caught his fancy, more importantly, those that pertained to the historic records of the city and those beyond the sea.

It took several minutes for the ethaefal to gather his things, but fate should have it that he collide with yet another unfortunate visitor. He caught the boy before he fell, but the books went sprawling across the floor.

"With knowledge comes misfortune, as some would say," He muttered lightly, accent rich with Pavi, "My whole day was fraught with misfortune, I apologize for giving you a taste of it."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian had a carrel of his own on that floor, one of the perks for catching the eye of a professor like Stonemiller. It was covered in books, pages of parchment covered in the neat rows of his precise script, with drawings and such, as well. But here he was on one of the rolling ladders and someone poked him with a... And he fell, voice caught in his throat because one didn't cry out in the sacrosanct silence of the library... And an Ethaefal caught him. He blinked as his mind put the poking together with the glassy horns, the divine strength with an avatar of the heavens, but chlorine blue eyes remained wide and staring into those of citrine, and it took him a moment to recover himself. Was that a Pavi accent to his Common? a more cool, collected, and calculating part of his mind wondered. "Oh, I..." He looked down at the book cradled protectively against his chest; better he should break his back than the knowledge be lost, apparently. "I was just following a reference to the post-Valterrian settlement between occupations of Zeltiva. I..." am babbling. But Ethaefal were dazzling creatures, full of knowledge beyond the ken of mortal men. It was an intoxicating thought, that they had lived in the Ukalas. "I'm sorry, sir. But there was no damage to either of us, or the book." He offered a hesitant smile.

[Leonis]

After assuring the youth was steady on his feet, Leonis offered him an apologetic smile. If at all, he was satisfied the boy hadn't screamed in terror and forced the hand of the local authorities. He wouldn't have enjoyed the clammy cells, nor the disapproving gaze that would inevitably follow the crowd.

"That's more than I can say for my reputation in this Library, as it were," He remarked, "The Terror of Wright Memorial, doesn't have quite the ring to it." He gathered the books he'd held until the collision and positioned them back where they belonged. Then he dusted his hands.

"Perhaps I should depart before I force the building itself to keel over." There was a teasing smirk on his lips when his eyes strayed toward the boy's chlorine blue. "Might I ask... Are you a student at the University? I've never... attended such an institute in all my long years."

[Hadrian]

"I don't think anyone saw," he quietly assured the man -- the creature? He seemed male, but perhaps not a man. He had heard that there were hermaphroditic Ethaefal whose downstairs business changed with the waxing and waning of the day. Not that Hadrian was obsessed with people's nether regions... "Ah, but be careful. There are parts of the library off limits to those not affiliated with the University. They are usually clearly marked, though." If the Ethaefal was in a library, he assumed he could read. "I am a student here," he acknowledged. "I, ah... Did you have questions? Or need help?"

[Leonis]

"Questions?" He was mildly surprised, assuming discretion when dealing with a prestigious school such as the University. His ignorance wasn't wholly unwarranted.

Curiosity is a catalyst for knowledge, as Aratoth would say.

The thought of his old master lingered and in the silence that followed, his smile had vanished. Too many things he wanted to ask, but he understood that a student had not the time, whereas he was free of constricting schedules and tedious routines.

"Rest assured, I'm done browsing for the day," He gestured to a table, which he settled into with a barely audible sigh, "What is it that is taught in the University? I assume the fundamentals, reading, writing, mathematics.... but is there anything worthy of intrigue?"

Magic, was the word on his lips, but he dare not utter it for reasons unknown even to himself. The world of webbing had weaved his thoughts into the connectivity of all things, and projection only enlightened the possibilities of a new transcendence, but everything else was a veil over his eyes.

"Forgive me for prying, but what do you study here?"

[Hadrian]

Hadrian paused at the first question, honestly trying to derive the proper meaning. Was the Ethaefal in search of political machinations as intrigue, or some discipline he would finding intriguing? Hadrian paid far too much attention to linguistic detail. Before he could answer, the questioning turned personal, and his mouth hung open, nothing answered and him looking a bit like a fish out of water before he recovered his aplomb. "Ah, I study... well, in highfalutin, academic terms, I suppose you would call it arcane anthropology, but basically how magic affects culture, both pre- and post-Valterrian." All this was true, of course, and he had begun to dabble in the arcane arts themselves to increase his understanding, finding an affinity for the detail-oriented magecrafting, though he wasn't sure how he would make that work once he graduated and could no longer use the university's resources. "And I suppose, to answer your first question, it depends on what you find worthy of intrigue." His own eyes were questing, polite but nakedly curious. Perhaps the Ethaefal found such attention unnerving, but Hadrian thought an Ethaefal should be used to it. They were, after all, more than human.

[Leonis]

"Fascinating. And most cultures do use it, in some form or another, divine or personal." The ethaefal was musing, of course, but he was also surrounded in a place that allowed such talk openly. Elsewhere, magicians were shunned, perhaps even persecuted, depending on their state of mind.

"I admit, I wandered in here primarily because I was being followed by a group of persistent young women who've been trailing me for the majority of the day," He glanced behind him, as if expecting to see three mops of fiery red hair poking from behind a wall.

"But when I entered, I realized I'd stumbled upon the very establishment my master had once told me of. So you see, I'm more inclined to assume my misfortune was a predetermined fate... That is, until I began knocking the books off their shelves."

For every second the boy was observing him, the ethaefal retaliated, offering a polite curiosity in return, "I have been touched by the divine my entire existence, but to see man unravel the mysteries behind... well, behind the arcane, that is what I find intriguing."

And then he chuckled, "But I seemed to have misplaced my manners, I am called Leonis." He extended a hand, where the faint glow of a pulsing mark was barely recognizable beneath the glove he wore. "It is a pleasure to meet you, though I hope I'm not keeping you from your studies."

[Hadrian]

"Yes," he agreed, and opened his mouth to say more, but caught himself before going on some random anthropological tangent. He knew those tended to conjure glassy-eyed stares from people, and he didn't want to bore an Ethaefal, for gods' sake. He nodded along with what the avatar was saying, keeping his mouth shut all the while. He might have commented on the beauty of his race, but it wasn't the sort of observation one man made about another without earning strange looks. Hadrian liked to avoid all negative looks, if possible. He did wonder if the Ethaefal was talking about a celestial or terrestrial master, but it didn't seem polite to pry. His mother had raised him to be polite if nothing else. For a moment he wondered if there was something glowing in the man's hand, but it took too much effort to invoke his auristic sense, and felt like it would be rude. He shook his hand. "Pardon me. My name is Hadrian Aelius, from Syliras. I'm weeks ahead in my studies, so I can talk. Unless... you are just being polite and want me to go." Sometimes he missed the signs; not all of them were as obvious as the stares.

[Leonis]

oocHoly short post batman. Petch me.

"That's good to hear," Leonis replied with a kindly smile, "It's been a while since I've sat down." The ethaefal wasn't ever truly attuned with the demeanors of humans, despite the years he'd spent living among them. He understood their curiosity when meeting someone of his kind, but never their hesitance nor their fumbling. It might just have been the horns.

"Tell me about yourself, Hadrian Aelius, and if you'd like, I can answer any questions you may have of me."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian nodded, intuiting the first statement to mean Leonis wanted to sit. He led him through wider corridors back to his carrel with all its books and vellum scrolls and his maddening notes. Offering the Ethaefal his chair, he leaned against the wall. "Well, there isn't much to tell. I grew up in Syliras. My father's a merchant. My mother... well, she has raised seven children and supported my father's work. I'm the black sheep of the family, and I came here to study about a year ago. My family thinks I study economics and such. My studies have grown a bit wider than that, though. More academic, less practical. They won't like that. Ah, was that what you wanted to know?" Questions to volley back burned in him, though he wasn't sure in which order to take them, where to start, which were appropriate and which not.