[Wright Memorial Library]Can You Read Me?(Samantha)

[Matthaus]

11th of Fall, 512AV Forgery. It was a skill he knew nothing of but it was a necessary evil. Maybe not necessary but he had seen works of forgery that had done things you just could not do with spoken words. And maybe a small part of him simply wanted to draw. He could do so much more with the forgery than simple paper. The possibilities of learning the skill so as to duplicate another’s work. It was fun waiting to happen. And fun he enjoyed. Or maybe he didn’t. He wasn’t really sure but what he did got him what he needed to survive. Either way he figured that was more than enough philosophy for the day and began to roam the shelves in search of something to give him knowledge or someone to give him something else. But he found what he needed in the library itself. Books and more books. Perhaps they could tell him something about forgery themselves. Matthaus reached deep inside, felt the jell-like substance that sat inside him, could hear everything. The continuous whispers of feet echoed in his head, matching pattern with his pulse. He remembered this much, remembered her words that he pretended he never heard. They told him to pull at it, understand and use it to manipulate it to benefit him, to not let it go to waste. He felt it slip up, cool but not soothing, rippling just beneath his skin, searing into his brain. Without really thinking he sat in front of the shelf and stared hard at the first book he noted. It was a slow process at first there was nothing, his eyes un-focusing with the length of his stare but between that loss of focus he could feel it. He could feel it. He couldn’t see it but it was there. A vague creeping sensation, forced from his surroundings and pulled back into his own djed. Pulled back in and crawling through his own feelings. It was sudden, long, the slow pull at the feelings left behind, strong but brief. Accomplishment. Frustration. Enjoyment. He tried to dig deeper, pull more out of himself, struggled to focus but the soothing sound of footsteps now thudded painfully in his ears. The cool liquid running beneath his skin now felt afire and nothing but the same feelings battered at his brain. The same colors lighting behind his eyes lids. The grip he kept around his djed, the invisible fist he used to pull it up from inside slowly unfurled and is slipped past his skin and crawled back into the tiny space where it belong.

[Samantha Slate]

Samantha was coming back to the library once again; she was drawn here for some reason. In a city of danger and confusion, this sprawling stronghold of knowledge was a solid anchor in her life. As she strode through the main, open area of the library, she contemplated what the wished to study for the duration of her time at the University. She knew that she would certainly be studying magic theory, but also had a desire to learn in other areas. Perhaps the earth sciences... Samantha shrugged these thoughts away as she began scanning the aisles of books in search of something on the gathering of information and intelligence. Just a few minutes ago she had asked the aging librarian where books on the subject might be located after spending a gratuitous amount of time searching the library on her own. Originally, the mage had decided against asking for direction, but after enough effort it simply becomes too much work to find things on your own. The shriveled old woman had pointed Samantha to a section in the library with a kind and warm smile--faked, she was sure--and returned to cataloging new books and information. Upon reaching the section, Samantha was shocked to find a little boy staring at a book right beside the tome she had been advised to look for, A Treatise on Secrecy. Worry coursed through her veins as she examined the young boy entranced before her. Had that harlot of a librarian sent her here as a trap? Was the boy some sort of assassin in disguise? The mage kept a distance from the boy, and narrowed her eyes at him. The color in them had shifted from a blue-green mix of contentment to a solid, light gray, signifying her caution and worry. She could see the boy's aura as a faint, shimmering fog superimposed around him. 'Seeing' might not be the correct term, as she noticed it more in her mind than in her eyes, but the mage had decided long ago that the word would suffice for the context. After a few long seconds, Samantha spoke up, "Excuse me, you are in my way," She had planned for her words to come out as polite, but it sounded more haughty than she would have liked to admit. Hastily, she skimmed the surface of the boy's aura to see whether he was truly what he seemed to be. As she was not looking for anything specific or subtle, Samantha had little difficulty in ascertaining the boy's race and general age. He seemed fairly young, so he was certainly not some adult assassin in disguise, but the trouble lied in that she could not understand his race. There was human blood in him somewhere, but unknown shifts and patterns in his aura indicated that he was also something else. This put her on her guard as she awaited his response.

[Matthaus]

His head snapped to the side so fast he nearly forgot whatever information he gleaned, a sick feeling curling up from deep within him. The crack in his neck was all that echoed for a few moments while his brain tried to restart itself and process whatever sounds had spilled from her lips. Matthaus was afraid he sat there feeling sick and looking quite dumb for a few chimes before he managed to uncurl his legs and pull himself to his feet. Swaying a bit simply from the shock of leaving the aura rather than reading the aura. Still a bit disoriented he babbled the first thing that came to mind, “You’re not swirling or feeling. Excuse me.” The boy promptly scooted himself backwards and plopped himself down again, waving his hand tiredly towards the bookcase in gesture for her to go ahead but he was not planning on moving anytime soon. He watched her carefully now, the feelings of tiredness staying welded to his bones but his mind beginning to function once more. She was older than him, not surprising and although her tone said age and haughtiness she looked far from being that old. But what did he know. “What book did you need?” He was stalling as well, he was one hundred percent sure if she insisted he move he would collapse. Really the day had been too long for him and he hadn’t had anything he could actually digest in bells or days. Matthaus wasn’t really sure, eating where people could see always made him uncomfortable and his trying to read that far into the auras hadn’t helped matters. Speaking of… He tried to reach for it again, to see something simple like proof the girl was human and wanted the book not some excuse to kick the kid out of the library. But he tugged at it fruitlessly, receiving only a the feeling of water slipping through his fingers so he couldn’t trap it and drink from it. Silence was always awkward for Matthaus, it made him feel weak, as if people could then read him if they weren’t distracted by the dribble he spit out. And he tried to fill it without sounding as disinterested as he felt. “It must be an interesting book. You go to school here don’t you?”

[Samantha Slate]

The little boy jerked his head towards her, causing her to take a step backwards in startlement at the resounding crack! that the movement caused. Instead of answering her like a normal boy would, he just sat there foolishly for a short while with an empty expression on his face. Samantha worried for a moment whether or not he had even truly understood her. There was most definitely something wrong with him; whether it was because he was sent as bait for her or if it were truly some disorder of the mind she did not know. A tick or two later, the boy hauled himself to his feet and spoke to her. What the mage heard made absolutely no sense, "You’re not swirling or feeling. Excuse me.” What did that boy just say? She stared at him with a bewildered expression on her face. What is he doing? Samantha wondered as the boy shuffled a couple steps out of her way and sat back down hard on the cold tile floor. “What book did you need?” He asked her in a very tired voice. Samantha was on guard again instantly, her eyes shifting to their solid gray color, indicating caution. "Why do you care?" She asked snappishly. In truth, the boy probably did not mean her any harm, but one could never be too careful. She began to scrutinize his aura, a dark blue color bleeding into her eyes as she forced her emotions away and allowed a brief, imperfect contentment to trickle into her. The mage studied carefully, trying to process what she was seeing. She did not see much, and the little she did see was hard to understand. He was so unfamiliar. The boy's aura spoke of a lineage she could not trace, and his bodily structure was different from that of a full-blooded human. Before she could delve deeper into his aura, the boy's words broke her concentration, “It must be an interesting book. You go to school here don’t you?” Similarly jerked out of her concentration in the same manner he had been previously, she shook her head for a few moments to clear it and comprehend what exactly had been said. Her eyes flitted through all the colors of the spectrum as she tried to overcome her disorientation. Eventually, she got control of herself and her eyes settled on the steely gray once again, "I..I do, young man." Samantha told him absently as she tried to adjust to the slight fatigue she was feeling from gazing into the aura and being yanked so abruptly from it, "Why do you ask?"

[Matthaus]

He cleared his throat to try and rearrange his thoughts before deciding he didn’t have the energy to play with the woman. She could get her damnable book and go away so he could continue his research on…what was he researching again? Forgery. Right. “I don’t care,” he knew he sounded like a whiny child but that didn’t stop him from continuing, “I was just asking so I could get it for you, since I’m down here.” He made a vague gesture between himself and the bookshelf, eyeing her warily. All she did was stare and stare, hardly saying anything. If she had been anyone else he would have sworn she was a mute or something along those lines. Clearing his throat he made to answer her, his lack of interest switching to caution as her eyes flickered to nearly every color he’d ever seen and then some. It was no magic he’d ever heard of (not that he had heard of many) and he didn’t trust it. Making light, he scooted back subtly, “Trying to make conversation. I go to school here too. For art.” He winced, maybe his tiredness clouded his thought because that was giving away too much. Never give away a location where you would always be. It was as good as signing a death warrant in some cases. Reaching forward he finally pulled the three books off the shelf, including the one he had tried to get a proper reading on and made to stand. Matthaus could just continue practice elsewhere. Likely this book would show him what to look for in a true copy and a false one. His knees knocked but he nodded at the older woman politely, regretting the motion seconds later when his head spun a bit. Swirls appearing for an entirely different reason. “Sorry for being in the way. You can go ahead now.” Yet again, he made no move to actually get out of the way besides standing. Rather he forced himself to focus. Pulling insistently on the feelings of hid djed, trying to force himself to see something him simply could not. His eyes dilated and widened visibly and his hands twitched around the books but he still could not see. The stirrings of djed bubbled far too deep down for him to get at and he was rapidly draining whatever was left.

[Samantha Slate]

The mage finally managed to set her mind to rights just in time to hear the boy's reply, “I don’t care,” he whined, “I was just asking so I could get it for you, since I’m down here.” How childish. Then again, he was a child, barely old enough to attend the school. She almost reprimanded him for his behavior, but was cut off by his continued speech, “Trying to make conversation. I go to school here too. For art.” Samantha considered this for a moment. He was just so strange... She could not see any possible reason for him to harm her, and he looked incapable of it even if he were willing to try. Finally, the mage lowered her guard somewhat and her eyes bled into a vibrant green color, though speckled with gray and blue. The boy picked up three books from the shelf--the one she wanted among them--and stood with obvious difficulty. Though Samantha was far from a sympathetic soul, even she felt bad for him in his obvious weakness. “Sorry for being in the way. You can go ahead now.” The boy told her with a polite nod. He did not move from his position rooted by the bookshelf, however. Samantha watched him carefully as he seemed to lose himself in thought. He was gazing with wide eyes at one of the books and seemed now to be oblivious to all around him. The mage was confused by the boy's actions. He was so intent on the book that he almost seemed to be looking through it rather than at it. Samantha regarded him quietly as she tried to puzzle out what he was trying to do. She contemplated asking for her book, but she wanted to see where this would lead. Despite her cautiousness, Samantha was a very curious woman who could not leave a mystery unsolved. After a short period of time, she finally spoke, "You have the book I wanted."

[Matthaus]

This woman was really just not being helpful. But it wasn't her fault he had decided sitting in front of the shelf would be a good idea. And maybe he could get her to tell him the title of the book because no matter howhe had tried to pronounce it the word made no sense to him. And even with his incessant attempt to try and read the aura of her or the books he doubted he was going to get anywhere anytime soon. Still she could prove helpful. "I'm in need of all these books," he paused as if a hadn't already made up his mind, "but we can share if you'd like?" He tried to smile but it came out more of a lopsided grimacethat disappeared quickly. Raising an arm he gestured towards a secluded area of tables, offering silently that they go and take a seat because a chair sounded very good right about now. Ashe walked he thought swiftly of all his coursesof action. He needed rest and to actually get some information on copying and its relation to forgery so his most practicle option would be to distract her with chatter then slip out. Or if she needed the book for class he could entice her to take notes and try to copy her notes. As he reached the table he pulled out achair for both of them and took a seat, setting all three books on the tabe. His conversational skills would be lacking and he couldn't seem to unfocus what was left of hid djed, leaving him unfocused. "Which book was the one?" he slurred, "Is it for class?" Thankfully mine does not require much reading, its more...hands on."

[Samantha Slate]

With a frown, Samantha listened to the boy's words, "I'm in need of all these books," he paused for a moment, "but we can share if you'd like?" Did the boy have no manners? It irritated her that he would refuse to give up one of the books; the three together were far too much to read all at once. She narrowed her eyes at the boy in disapproval, but sighed in resignation and said, "If we must." It was only fair, she had to admit. After all, he had found them first. He gave her a sickly-looking smile before gesturing to an out of the way table and heading off towards it. With an annoyed frown, Samantha followed him. She no longer considered him a threat, but he was still very annoying. The boy pulled out a chair for her as they seated themselves, and she nodded in thanks to him. That proves he has at least some training in etiquette at least, she thought. When he seated himself, she got a good look at his eyes and it surprised her. They were a fluorescent purple, as bright as hers had ever been. That must have been what I felt in his aura, she thought with a small smile of satisfaction. The smile was quickly wiped away as Samantha realized that there was something wrong with the boy. "Which book was the one?" he slurred, "Is it for class?" Thankfully mine does not require much reading, its more...hands on." He couldn't even speak correctly... It sounded almost as if he were drunk. She had been ignoring his eccentricities, thinking they were just because he was strange. Now however, Samantha was growing more convinced that he had some illness or something that was causing him to act so lethargic. "Are you all right?" She asked him as she leaned over the table to get closer and look into his eyes. The mage kept her eyes off of his aura for the moment, seeing no reason to waste the effort. From the strange, sickly boy's appearance, his aura would be too unfamiliar for her to properly learn anything from it anyway. "You look a little pale."

[Matthaus]

Matthaus snorted lightly. He looked a little pale? He always looked pale but he doubted that was all she noticed but he wasn’t really regaining strength, his constant tugging had what was left of his djed flapping about his uselessly and generally making him feel ill. He could swear he was seeing the fringes of the aura of anything he looked at for too long, he could only guess that once he sapped it all he would begin to feel less tired. Or faint. That was plausible. “I’m fine, just—“ He cut off for a moment and narrowed his eyes at the woman. Why was she so helpful all of the sudden? The muscles in his jaw twitched and he spread the books out. And mild curiosity wondering which she would choose. But mostly he felt a smidge better, using the last of his concentration and whatever stirrings he could before the well of magic seemed to dry up for the time being. A sigh of relief left unbidden from his lips, at least he wouldn’t feel any worse. “Just tired.” he finished finally wanly, “Do you happen to have any paper I could borrow? Or I can go get us some from the librarian, I’m sure she has ink and quills…” Now he was simply throwing things out there. Distraction from her interest in his sickness. No one ever thought highly of a child knowing auristics. They always frowned and gave him a look like he was molesting their minds. As if they were actually that important or as if he had energy to squander so easily. He blinked a bit. He always was cranky when he was tired. “My apologies, I didn’t realize. You don’t chat much, do you? Likely I’m interrupting your studies. But I’ll be done in just a few moments. You never did say which class you were taking.” His words came out jumbled this time, a quick flow of speech that had no business coming out. This was going to be a very, very long afternoon.

[Samantha Slate]

The shielder watched the boy with amusement as he stammered and babbled whatever came into his mind. The whole time he was speaking, she just regarded him with a cool smirk as she leaned back in her chair. Though it appeared as if she were listening to him, Samantha was actually reading his aura. Her eyes had flooded with their usual blue tint that indicated that she was focused and calm, but that was the only physical indication that she was doing anything other than listening to him with her full attention. She delved through his aura, seeking and searching him with her mind's eye. This time, the mage pushed her skills hard in an attempt to see what was wrong with the boy. Samantha focused on searching his body and trying to identify and wounds or illnesses. From her limited experience, the aurist only managed to come to the conclusion that the poor boy was exhausted and somehow agitated. She relinquished her focus on his aura with a slight frown and a little sagging in her shoulders as the weariness settled on her from her loss of Djed. Fortunately, she had done this so often that she hid her fatigue well. Finally, after he finished spouting his foolishness, the mage leaned forward once more and retrieved the book entitled A Treatise on Secrecy. She opened the book and idly leafed through the first couple pages before looking up at him with the same smirk still painted on her face, "Are you done lying to me, yet?" She asked him, "You look like you're about to pass out on the floor, but you're not sick. What's wrong with you?" Normally, Samantha wouldn't have bothered herself over a boy she neither knew nor cared for; however in this case, she was far too curious about him. His appearance and strange actions intrigued her and she wanted to know more about him. Besides, he was one of the few people she had met who had no power at all to harm her. That was something she didn't see every day. As she awaited his reply, she began to idly scan the thick, leather-bound book's handwritten pages for anything immediately interesting. The neat handwriting made it easy to pick out some things, and she noted them mentally for when she had a chance to study them in depth. Her mind was not focused on the book however; it was the boy who drew her thoughts as she waited for him to come out and tell her why he looked close to dropping dead right there in the middle of the library.