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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]
"Thank you for your help." He hadn’t thought that through. Not at all. Because now he had to take her to a place that didn’t exist or he could take her to a dorm, people were still signing up and no one really had a roommate yet. Then again he might get a ‘who are you’ speech and he had enough to probably pay off someone to pretend to be his parents but who they take the bait?
Matthaus crossed his eyes in confusion and took her hand. This was not going like it was supposed to, she was supposed to say no because why did she care? A sudden thought struck him and he managed to turn himself into a statue, his eyes flicking to her face. Scanning over her he tried to remember anything from their conversation but mostly it was fuzz, he couldn’t even remember what he said but he knew one thing.
She was from the orphanage.
It explained everything. She was going to drag him along. He’d go along with her for the moment, his fingers tightened slightly in her arm and he stayed strangely quiet. Leading her but leaning on her a bit heavier than he should have but it was nice not to hold himself up. “I don’t live in the university.”
It was a random blurt out that trailed off as he contemplated what to say. He could feel a rise of panic in him as they neared the doors. He didn’t even really know his way around the University, let alone the city. Matthaus was in over his head and she would likely haul him off to Gods knew where.
He had to think.
He could trip her and try to run but likely he’d fall too.
He could scream kidnapping and try to run amongst the chaos that would ensue.
He could try to bribe some family if they reached a house.
He could run into a nearby store but they were at the University so that wasn’t a great option.
He could fake faint and ask to go to the infirmary.
He could ask to go to her house.
He stumbled both in his agitation and a way to stall and that is when he seen it. All at once his fear died and he calmly stopped, a tiny smirk curling at his lips that he wiped away as fast as possible.
“I have to use the…” he trailed off with a real awkwardness and gestured to the nearest vase, “Then we can go.”
Aaron accepted Samantha's help with thanks, but something seemed to be bothering him. Just in case the boy was about to run, the mage tightened her grip on his hand. She must have looked silly holding a little boy's hand like she had some kind of responsibility for him, but Samantha disregarded this for the moment. It was more important to make sure he didn't scamper off somewhere while she wasn't paying attention. He was quiet and leaning very heavily on her, as if he couldn't walk on his own. Whatever Aaron had been doing, it had taken its toll on him. The mage couldn't help but feel apprehensive; the next time she saw Aaron, he would be fully rested from his exertions and ready to use whatever magic he had against her. The woman didn't think he was really out to hurt her, but it was always possible.
“I don’t live in the university.” Aaron blurted suddenly as the approached the doors to the library. Samantha turned to him to ask where exactly it was he lived, when he staggered forward and the woman lost her grip on his arm. For an instant, the boy's expression flashed from panic to realization and to a calm, confident expression. Aaron erased those impressions from his features so quickly that she was not even entirely sure that they had existed in the first place. He turned to her uneasily and admitted, “I have to use the…” he trailed off awkwardly and pointed to a vase, “Then we can go.”
It took a few moments for Samantha to understand what the boy meant. Awkward embarrassment and irritation conflicted within her. The boy was certainly old enough to go find a petching chamber pot by himself, but she did not want to allow him too far out of sight. Then again, it was obvious that he couldn't escape her... With a sigh, she nodded at Aaron, "Well, then, where do you propose we stop? I wasn't aware the library had that...service available." She said with a slight smirk. Her eyes were tinted slightly pink with embarrassment, but she was otherwise as stern as a schoolmistress.
The mage tried to continue leading Aaron out past the doors and, presumably, wherever he lived. He was a big boy; she was sure he could hold it. He had the self-discipline to act more mature than most boys his age. She would be very surprised if he couldn't keep from piddling himself right there in front of everyone.
Games and subtleties were lost on this woman. She was too stubborn and he was in no condition to play her game. Rather bluntly he lied, “Perhaps you can find me one? Or know of one? I’m too tired to hold it.”
He watched her eyes turned pink and thought of the deep red they had been earlier and internally cringed. Samantha did not seem like someone who would just let things go. It was beginning to be a real pain. But strangely enough he didn’t feel any of the previous tiredness, oh it was there, throbbing in the form of a looming headache. It was just different, he could feel the adrenaline pulsing and the tiredness was more mental exhaustion than true physical but Samantha was managing to get the physical as well.
As they exited the building he didn’t need to pretend to attempt a ‘potty dance’ because he had begun moving lightly from one side to the other as if he body was already registering now was the time to run. He was running out of options quickly and he was too annoyed and tried to really focus on what he had to do. Matthaus was half tempted to just take her to the dorm, it was not as if he was ever really in there it just held all his belongings.
Why was she making this so difficult?
“My house is on the opposite side of the city.” He was being obvious, anyone could see he was desperate. “Maybe we can go to your house and then I can…”
Matthaus trailed off before sighing heavily and pulling away from the woman completely to stare at her for a few moments.
“I’m not going to take you to where I live but perhaps we can set up a meet? We can even meet here as long as we both walk in different directions right now.”
There was ap leading note in his voice. He was just tired now. Every bit a desperate kid who just was trying to scoot away. Tiny steps backwards and he wondered if he would even be able to take one running leap before he fell on his face.
“I’m not going to take you to where I live but perhaps we can set up a meet? We can even meet here as long as we both walk in different directions right now," The boy finally told her, all his pretenses having melted away as weariness took over. Samantha was almost relieved by the blunt honesty; the boy was too deceitful for his own good. Getting even a scrap of truth out of him took more work than it was worth. He had even fooled Samantha a few times, and she considered herself far from a fool. She almost pitied Aaron; he was so exhausted, and he was begging her to just let him go never to be seen again. That was a fact, too. If she let him leave now, she would never be able to find him again.
"You're lying," She stated simply, though there was no malice in her voice. Samantha would do precisely the same thing in his position. "You can go wherever you need to so you can rest, but I'll be going with you." The boy was obviously preparing to run, but Samantha doubted he could outrun her in his current state. Even fatigued as she was, Samantha was in much better condition if the boy's appearance was any estimation. "No objections? Good." She went on without a pause, a slight smirk on her face. The mage was starting to see this as a game; if she won, she could learn what she needed to know, while losing meant that the boy got away clean. Her eyes reflected her mildly playful attitude by shimmering a dark green, clashing slightly against the pale blue of her garments.
The boy had pulled away some seconds before, and Samantha readied herself to follow after him if he tried to escape. She would have reached for his arm once again, but that would have been too forceful. If Aaron was anything like her, the woman could count on him pushing her away and running off the moment he felt like she was going to use brute force against him. Not that she could; he may have been frail and weak, but she was not much better. A life of study and learning had made her strong of will and mind, but her body was weaker than most. She might have been able to force him to do what she wanted, but that was too blunt. It didn't have tact enough for her tastes. Force was pointless and served to do little but make you stand out from the crowd.
A wry smile crept on his lips, “You’re stubborn and I don’t think I like you much but…”
He trailed off and looked the woman up and down carefully. He debated his options and really running was not worth it. Not one bit. But every fiber of his being itched to run as fast as his feet would carry him or at the very least until he passed out so he did not have to think anymore. “But you’re not giving me any options. I’ll take you to my dorm.”
After which he would avoid it like the plague and pretend he had never seen her in his life. It was not as if he stayed there often anyhow and his roommate knew him by a different name so if she asked for ‘aaron’ he wouldn’t know who she was referring too. Now that he thought about it that was his best defense. She didn’t actually know who he was and there was no way anyone would recognize him well enough thanks to his cloak usage. He couldn’t understand why he was worried anymore and let his shoulders sink, sure he was overlooking things but he was done. At this point she had more determined than him.
“We should get going,” he was already walking slowly towards the dorms with a wave of his hand, “before you have to watch me sleep on the walkway.”
Matthaus didn’t say much else until they reached the dorm, for once not bother with any customary once over. However, his caution with revealing his body had him not getting comfortable and simply meandering over to his bed and curling up on it. The moment he hit it the tiredness seeped back in full force and he felt his lids grow heavy and his mind finally relax. “Make yourself comfy.”
He knew he should worry and no doubt when he woke he would understand his own foolishness better but for now the darkness called him sweetly and he went willingly.
Aaron smiled wryly at Samantha, “You’re stubborn and I don’t think I like you much but…” His voice trained off as he regarded Samantha thoughtfully. The boy seemed to be growing more tired by the tick as he contemplated what he was going to say next. Samantha even began to wonder if she'd have to keep him from falling flat on his face; that would have been too conspicuous for her liking. “But you’re not giving me any options. I’ll take you to my dorm," The boy finally consented, and Samantha couldn't keep the triumphant smile from her lips. He'd finally realized that she just wasn't going to let him trick her into leaving him alone. Once she knew where he spent his nights, she could locate him any time she pleased. This gave her a sense of confidence; as long as she knew where to find him, she didn't need to worry if he avoided her, did she?
“We should get going,” he was already walking slowly towards the dorms and beckoned her with a wave of his hand, “before you have to watch me sleep on the walkway.” The mage followed after him with a dry chuckle. They spent the remainder of their journey to Aaron's home in silence. Samantha passed the time by considering all she'd learned in the past few visits to the library; much of it had been useless trivia, but she didn't care. Knowledge was power, and any kind of power could be useful in some situation or other. She resolved that tomorrow, she would take a day off and simply relax. The mage needed to work out a plan of study and, more importantly, she needed to decide the best time to pay Aaron a visit.
After nearly an hour, the boy and the woman arrived at what was presumably Aaron's dormitory. He visibly relaxed upon stepping through the doorway into his home and, without missing a beat, walked to the bed and curled up comfortably. “Make yourself comfy," He told her before immediately sinking into slumber. That was fast, Samantha thought with a smirk as she wandered silently around his room, poking or examining any belongings he had that piqued her interest. She always put them back in more or less the same position they had been in originally(or as similar a position as she could remember), and felt assured that he was nowhere near observant enough to notice anything she might have touched. Eventually the mage realized that Aaron would not wake up anytime soon and left his room, shutting the door quietly behind with the soft bang of wood on wood.
The mage memorized the dormitory's block and room number before retreating back to her own dormitory, which was a short walk away. There, she sank into her own bed and fell asleep as well. She had not had quite as much sleep as she would have liked the night before, and playing games with the conniving boy had taken more out of Samantha than she had thought. Maybe reading his aura so much had something to do with it, too.
Lore: Zeltiva: Wright Memorial Library Mild Overgiving From Auristics Vantha: Eyes Change Colors Samantha: A Mage Fake Names: Aaron
Samantha's Loot :
Skill
XP Reward
Auristics
+3
Inerrogation
+3
Observation
+2
Lore: Book: A Treatise on Secrecy Zeltiva: Wright Memorial Library Aaron's Aura (Matthaus) Aaron: A Mage (Matthaus) Aaron's Dorm Room (Matthaus)
Enjoyed this thread! Seems like there's an interesting relationship brewing between these two. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!
by Matthaus on September 13th, 2012, 12:28 am 
