Completed Grave Concerns (Corpus Aeternum)

[Kuvarakh]

Summer 27, 512 AV

Kuvarakh sat back in the chair, frowning, his brow furrowed at the application.

'Well, the name and race certainly jibe. A Nuit named "Corpus Aeternum". Literally, 'The body, forever" he thought to himself. "Age: Old Enough"...I'll need to get some clarification on that...Was he young or old before the transformation?...Is he newly transformed and is worried that we won't accept him, for some reason?...Has he been around for a long time and expects acceptance for this reason alone?...Has he mastered a number of disciplines over a long time, or has he been frittering away the centuries and has little to show for it?...As long as he's serious NOW, none of that matters.'

"Gender: Last I checked, this body was male?"...Kuvarakh dropped his head in his hand and stifled a grin, 'Gods, it sounds like a joke I might have made...but not on a serious application...he could have simply put 'not applicable', or 'variable."

He straightened his expression and his evaluation. It was difficult in the face of the last two answers. "Portfolio: Rings of magical goodness of the alchemical kind?"...Are you kidding me?..."Reason for Joining: Amusement?"...It sounds like some prank by some University student in Zeltiva. Okay, okay, he has a sense of humor, nothing wrong with that, but any clowning around in the lab and he is gone.'

Kuvarakh sat, wondering if, in fact, it WAS a prank and if this "Corpus" individual would even be showing up.

[Corpus Aeternum]

27th of Summer 512AV

It wasn't long after he got the interview invite that Corpus smirked to himself and found himself standing before the door of some office. A knock later and without waiting for a response the ancient Nuit opened the door and steopped in before shutting it.

Turning after shutting the door and saw the man sitting behind the desk, looking about to burst at the seams.

"I am Corpus." Holding up the interview note in his hand before sitting across from the man. "You seem amused and nearly about to burst if you don't mind me saying."

He cleared his throat and waited for an answer.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh rested his head on his steepled hands and looked at the Nuit who had entered. After a moment, he gestured to the chairs. "Please have a seat." he sat back, picked up the application and let a chuckle escape his lips. "You know, I would have said I have a good sense of humor, but It clearly pales in comparison to yours. You surely must be aware that these answers are far short of satisfactory. Now, I can understand someone wanting their application to 'stand out' among others. But this is not an application to a comedy troupe. We need to be at least mostly serious here.

"I'm sorry if that makes me come off as a killjoy, but can you understand that the thought that you hope to be amused by our efforts here is rather insulting? Or worse, if your intent is to amuse yourself at our expense, it is possibly threatening! Now, I admit, some of the questions may seem mundane, but perhaps the willingness to approach them seriously is one of the indicators we are looking for.

"Now, if I haven't given you cause to change your mind, maybe we can start from scratch. For instance, how old are you?"

[Corpus Aeternum]

Corpus looked at the man. "Humor is not was I was looking for. More of your reaction. And it pleases me." Corpus blinked and fell stone silent after the man asked him his age. It was rather rude, but apparently neccessary. "I was born in the year 499 before the Valterrian. The winter to be precise."

Corus leaned forward. "Is that old enough for you sir?" He was seeing this man as rather rude, he knew the seriousness in the matter, but sometimes even Corpus had to relax and had to amuse himself.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh was shaking his head at the thought that this nuit felt that this was a situation where it was his place to test his interviewer's reactions, but he wrote what had been said. At Corpus' second comment, his quill halted and he sighed heavily. "There are no specific age requirements, sir...and I couldn't be happier that my reaction has 'pleased' you...Now, let me 'please' you further by asking if, by 'Rings of magical goodness of the alchemical kind' you do, in fact, mean that you are an alchemist?"

He stood, the sarcasm ending to be replaced by annoyance. "I have already addressed the unsatisfactory nature of your answer regarding your reason for joining, now you make issue over my request for nothing more than your age? What offends you, sir? Why do you behave as if this were MY application to join YOUR order? The questions are what they are, my job to ask them is what it is, as is your obligation to answer.

"One of The Order's primary requirements is an attitude of cooperation among members, any issues to be reported to an officer. You give me reason to believe I would see much of you in this regard. What is it you require to prevent this? The only other solution is dismissal and I do not wish to be that hasty."

[Corpus Aeternum]

"What my issue is kind sir is your inability to take a joke. It offends me that someone beyond myself could possibly not see that the questions on that application are seriously humorous and therefore require a rather foolish answer, if anyone should be offended by someone's attitude in this matter it is I. You are treating someone that is willing to sacrifice time to come to a meeting to get inducted potentionally into your order instead of spending their time doing experimentation and working on perfect their skill to the fullest."

Corpus stared up at the man, "Now please do sit down. You are indeed correct by deducing that I am indeed an Alchemist."

When the man went on about said requirements of attitude and such Corpus stood, "That only implies if said person is within the order, as I am currently NOT within your order, as you so kindly pointed out that I am only an applicant at this stage, your regulations are unimportant to this interview. Now if you will relax and decide to take my answers with lightheartedly you would understand that I was in a rather fool-hearted attitude upon reading the questions. It isn't everyday a being of my age gets struck with a moment of childish attitudes."

The Ancient Nuit huffed and sat back down. Talk down to me.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh stared at the man. "I see. So the time I take away from MY pursuits in order to be here is irrelevant, then? The time that every member spends expecting professional conduct from their guildmates is simply beneath your whimsy?" Kuvarakh dropped the application on the table top and took another step towards the Nuit facing him.

"There was no deadline that required you to submit your application at a time when you were unable to restrain your immature indulgences. You'd have been better served by waiting until it passed, so you could approach the order you seek to join with an attitude of respect for their rules, regardless of whether they strike you as 'humorous' or not!"

There was another exchange and Kuvarakh was stunned at the presumption of the man before him. "If, during this interview, you are unwilling to display the conduct that will be expected of you upon membership, how then, could I realistically expect it after the fact? Am I to believe that in your near thousand years, you have never had an interview? Or is it that, having had one, you were allowed to behave however you wished and your prospective employer was willing to simply trust that you would come around later. That is a policy doomed to failure. More common is the policy that you screw around on your own time."

Kuvarakh shook his head and leaned back against the desk behind him. "Now look, don't get me wrong. I, too, am a Nuit, not near so old as you, but old enough to have experienced the occasional need to...rebel...against the tedious doldrums of such prolonged existence, by reveling in carefree behavior. But this is not a case where it is only MY future at risk of disruption by your antics. If it were, I might choose to take that risk. But many others are relying on me to do my best to ensure that only serious practitioners are recruited into our ranks.

"Now if you expect me to believe that you will be such a one, despite the fact that you have shown no indication of any such intent, than I take offense at the suggestion that I am a gullible fool. On the other hand, if you will now begin to show such attitude, without it being grudgingly, Then perhaps we can 'come to terms'. And I honestly feel that this is an appropriate phrase for it. We are not changing for you."

[Corpus Aeternum]

"I believe we can come to terms. I don't expect your order to change for me. Nor do I plan to change for your order." Corpus nodded and leaned forward, steepling his hands before him.

"Regardless, let us continue and I promise I will do my best to remain respectable to you." He waved a hand in a fashion that he was hoping would be construed as let's clear the air between us and be civilised about this. Most likely though it was going to be seen as Corpus getting bored with the interview and wanting to get it over with. Either way would be fine with Corpus, but he was hoping the former over the latter.

Unfortunately I feel this interview is going to be going against me more and more. I do hope I can find a way to turn this around.

He twisted the ring on his finger absentmindledly, waiting for his interviewer to bring about the next question and answer. Hopefully this one wouldn't end up as an outlashing between the two. It was doubtful though that these two could keep this interview peaceful at all. But Corpus was willing to try.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh sat back down, his expression softening. "Understand, then. It isn't that I want you to change your personality, or your interests, just that you...suspend them...in the interest of cooperative analysis and enterprise. We seek to develop new disciplines and rediscover old. But safety is paramount. There will be no reckless, uncontrolled djed-ravaging. When new ground is broken, there is, of course, always risk. But we will consult, research and prepare, to negate it as best we can. Not to beat a dead horse, but this is not for 'amusement', discovery, yes, satisfaction, certainly, celebration, absolutely. But only after all precautions are observed.

Even on your own time, there is still the consideration that our facility rests in the jurisdiction of the City of Alvadas. So ALL conduct, even that unrelated to guild affairs must still be conducive to amiable relations with the local goverment. In other words, every single member is an ambassador to Alvadas. If a member's actions brings justifiable unrest or hostility to the guild, they will be promptly dismissed, at least."

He sat back, his left thumb and forefinger massaging his chin absentmindedly. "Well, alchemy is not so easily demonstrated, like, say, reimancy, so I guess the best I can do is ask you a few questions. How many of your thousand years have you spent in this pursuit? I ask because if you'd been a practitioner all this time, I would think you'd rival the masters of Sahova by now. So, given that you came upon this interest only recently, what inspired it? And what would you consider your most...creative...transmutation?"

As he spoke, he reached over to open a drawer. He lifted several folders to expose a few small booklets. He handed one to Corpus. "As you consider your answers, you may take a look through this. it is our house Rulebook. I feel it is pretty much common sense, but it will give you the rudiments of what is expected."

[Corpus Aeternum]

Corpus took hold of the small rulebook and glanced through it, "I started my education under the guidance of my uncle whilst I was still a young living lad. He taught me all he knew for a majority of my early years into my teen years up until his death. For several years after his death I pursued other... Ahem... Skills." He paused in his narration for a few seconds.

"During such time I spent thinking upon the fraility of mankind's mortal existence, mine included. You see, my mother passed away during the birthing process, so I'm told. My father I never knew." He waved the last sentence away, "I spent a period of time travelling, and researching the rumors I heard at the time that the empire sanctioned a magical experiment that was to give them the upper hand, so I followed the the trail and went to Sahova. Where the rest follows." Pointing at his being.

"Only recently have I picked up the arts again, pursuing my dream if you will."

Corpus had to stifle a laugh and smirk when asked his most... Creative transmutation. "My most creative transmutation was but a fluke of childish want to please my sole-provider and mentor -- my uncle. It was supposed to show me my lack of knowledge in the arts. My uncle was an odd teacher. I guess the best way to explain what I had created was a blob of tinted air."

A chuckle formed iat the end of his sentence and he shook his head, "I apoligize. Just remembering the past."