After Effects

[Grasis Deviil]

Fall 36th 512AV
Morning

He felt wonderful. The bruises still ached, the pain in his legs was still there, but he felt new. Better than he has in his entire memory, though admittedly that wasn't very long. What was different? He woke up, there was a blanket, a soft bed all usual. Wait, no. Usual was sleeping on the street. Why had he thought sleeping in a bed was usual?

As he struggled to remember, the memory slipped away. Oh well, it was probably just a part of his dream. No big deal. Now, onto where he was. Oh yes, Hadrian. The man for him, his love. Wait. No, Hadrian was a man he just met. A man he had trusted absolutely. What was he to do? He couldn't trust Hadrian to keep his word, and he had probably stolen~. As that thought passed through his head his hand would reflexively reach up and grab his pendant around his neck. No he hadn't stolen it. At least not yet.

Opening his eye's Grasis would look around the room, squinting at the light coming in from the open windows. This was the inn Hadrian had taken him, and it was comfortable. One of the better sunberth locales, if any of them could be considered good. But that didn't matter. Now that it was the morning, now that he was thinking clearly for the first time in a long time, he had to act. He couldn't let Hadrian do whatever it was that he had intended to do.

Over there, he was asleep in the chair. He had probably intended to wait for Grasis to fall asleep before acting, and had fallen asleep himself. Pleased with himself for that, Grasis would slowly sit up, the blankets falling back from him revealing his naked body covered in bruises. He had to get the advantage now before Hadrian awoke. That meant he couldn't take the time to get dressed, he had to act.

Spotting the ribbons hanging out of his old pants that were folded and put away, probably for some sick entertainment, Grasis would nod. He had to get that blade and then wake Hadrian. It was the only way. Slipping out of bed as quietly as he could, he would slowly walk across the room to his old pants he would stop everytime a floorboard would creak, looking over to Hadrian to make sure he was still sleeping.

In this fashion it took him a few minutes to travel the few feet, but once he did his hand would go down to the end of the ribbons and tug, a small blade coming out of the seam of the waist, connected to the ribbons. His only weapon and self-defence. It seemed puny but it would have to do.

Once more moving across the room, he would pause directly in front of Hadrian. He had to do it, put the knife to Hadrians throat and wake him. He couldn't not, no matter how pleasant things seemed. It was all a trick, even the bath...and the clothes. No, there was an alternative motive and he had to find it.

Tears would streak down his face as he slowly leaned forward, placing the blade lightly to Hadrian's throat. Any trained eye would see that the blade wasn't sharpened, and probably couldn't cut parchment, but hopefully Hadrian's wouldn't be trained. As the blade touched skin, if Hadrian was still asleep, Grasis would move forward and sit on the sleeping Hadrian's lap and then begin prodding him with his free hand. "Wake up, now!" he would shout in his face, tears still streaming freely down his eye's. "You have some things to answer."

[Hadrian]

Locked in his dreamscape and then the nightmare of another, Hadrian was fast asleep. But the weight in his lap and the cold kiss of iron to his neck did manage to wake him, if he was more groggy than usual, his mind reintegrating with his body. Too-bright eyes opened blearily, struggling to focus on the face before him. Was this dreaming or waking? But Kasai was part of his waking life, the amnesiac he had helped, not the Zeltivan fisherman or redheaded Inarta woman. Those were dreams, or people dreaming, at least.

He had the key to Kasai's chavi tucked in his pocket. Yes, everything was clear again, except the reason why there was metal held to his neck and a naked boy in his lap. Perhaps he had finally found his suspicion, and not at the best of times.

"Kasai?" he asked, voice choked with sleep. "What's the matter?"

His hands stayed carefully on the arms of the chair, not moving to threaten or protect. Sometimes one just needed to talk another down from extreme measures such as this.

"Talk to me."

[Grasis Deviil]

What was he doing, this was Hadrian. The man who had taken care of him while asking for nothing. He had even had him naked and didn't do anything, at least nothing he remembered. But still. This was sunberth, nothing came without a cost. And he was determined to find this one before it was to late.

With tears streaming down his face he would take a deep breath, before leaning forward, trying to look as menacing as a naked boy with bed head can look. "I need to know Hadrian. Why, why did you help me?! Whats the cost? Whats the angle?!" He would be near screaming at the end of it, as his turmoil of emotions come out and cause his voice to crack slightly. He had to find out, but maybe he had acted to rashly. He loved this man, and he wanted him to be genuine. Just, he bore to many injuries to be that guillable again.

And more, what had caused him to be so trusting in the first place? Was it a hypnotic suggestion? He knew of those, and knew he could do a crude version of emotions but, nothing so subtle as what happened. If that was what happened, he had to find out. "How did you make me trust you like that, make me drop my guard so completely. Was it Hypnotism?"

As he speaks, his hand would tremble, the blade at Hadrians throat wavering. He couldn't do this, it was to draining acting this way to the man he felt so strongly about. But no, he wouldn't be tricked again. No, he wouldn't trust foolishly now that he could think. More tears stream down his face as he comes to that resolve.

[Hadrian]

"Keep your voice down," he suggested calmly, "unless you want to make a scene." The boy didn't seem too shy, but perhaps he didn't want the innkeepers or random strangers walking in on his nakedness. The boy had a safe haven here if he would accept it. Of course, he was right to be suspicious, but it was strange he had not shown any suspicion the day previous.

A knife to his throat helped wake him up faster, certainly. That the boy even knew about hypnotism was telling, but part of him railed at being accused of using it when he hadn't.

"No," he said, a trifle coldly. "I did not hypnotize you, and despite my warnings to be suspicious, you followed me like a lamb. I want to get you out of Sunberth, whether or not I can help you recover your memories. If, in your heart, you feel that you owe a debt to gratitude to me or to Zeltiva for taking you in, then you might say my angle is to recruit your help in Zeltiva in the future. You remind me of my little brother, and you remind me of myself. As I said yesterday, you will either have to decide to trust me or take what I have given and make a run for it."

[Grasis Deviil]

He was being loud. He shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. He was so confused, why had he trusted Hadrian so much. Why had he believed him so redily. But, no harm had come of it. Only good, only the best rest he's had in his memory. He wasn't hypnotized, there was no alterior motive. But, that couldn't be true. To trust is to suffer pain. But maybe with Hadrian it was different. Could he lower his walls again, as he had yestarday, to do this. To embrace this and stay with Hadrian.

He'd shake his head, pulling the knife from Hadrian's throat and throwing it across the room, as he reaches up to wipe tears from his eye's. "I'm sorry Hadrian...I just...it's hard. Only thing i can remember is to not trust. Yet i did. And, it scared me."

He would just sit on Hadrian's lap, not moving to get off. He had to make sure everything was all right and he hadn't ruined everything. But how? Maybe if he offered Hadrian something..."I'm sorry Hadrian. I really am. How can I repay you?"

[Hadrian]

He watched the fear ebb from Kasai's face, replaced by other fears. This was to be expected, he knew. Kasai was in a world that made no sense, in a city where only a very few might be trusted.

"I understand," he said, somewhat more warmly, once the knife was removed from his throat. "I would prefer you were distrustful of people here in Sunberth. The innkeeper and his wife seem like decent people, so if you stay here, you should be safe enough until I return from Sahova."

Though the situation was extremely awkward, it was clear that Kasai needed someone to hold onto, so Hadrian didn't ask him to vacate his lap just yet.

"As I said before," he answered, "if, whether we recover your memories or not, you choose to stay at the Farson Home with me in Zeltiva, all you have to do is make Zeltiva your home and make it a better place than you found it." He tried a smile, though his smiles were almost always a little off from the intended effect.

"Just think: you will have this room, food and drink, warmth and safety to try to look back into your memory. When I return, we will try other means, and at least you will be getting to a more civilized city."

[Grasis Deviil]

This was real. It wasn't going away, it was what he wanted and yet. He still felt as if he should be distrustful but, he just couldn't. He didn't want to live that way. It hurt to think of life continued on the street. He would take the risk, even if it turned out to be a trap of some kind.

"So...where's Zeltiva? And, whats the Farson Home?" He'd say, sitting back to look into Hadrians eye's. He would suddenly look down and blush, "Umm...maybe I should get some clothes on."

Standing up suddenly, he'd cover his genitals and turn to where his clothes were laid out. As he reaches out to grab the pants he'd call over his shoulder, "Don't look!" He would pull the pants on quickly and turn back to Hadrian with a soft smile on his lips.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian chivalrously averted his gaze while Kasai was dressing, glad he was dressing, and would await news that he was clothed before looking back.

"Zeltiva is far west of here," he explained. "One can travel overland, or take a ship south, and around the bend into Mathews Bay and right into Zeltiva''s harbor. The Farson Home began as an orphanage, and it still is one for many children, but it's also the best place for schooling before one's able to matriculate into the University of Zeltiva, so even if your memories aren't immediately recovered, your education, whatever it may be to date, can continue.

"Your life needn't be entirely at a standstill while we delve into your memories."

[Grasis Deviil]

A small smile would spread across his face as he listens to Hadrian. That seemed like an ideal place. Somewhere he could learn of his past, if there ever was such a place. As he slips on the silk vest he would look down at himself. Now that he was clean he actually liked how he looked. Oh sure, there were still the bruises but he wasn't hideous from the dirt anymore. "Hadrian you can look again." As he see's Hadrian look back to him he would spin in a circle to show off his clothes.

"It seems like a dream. But i'll take it. I'm trusting you Hadrian." With a nod he'd tilt his head, "Though, i don't know how much i know ya know...what if i'm really dumb compared to the others?"

[Hadrian]

Storm-bright eyes rose, and he smiled to see Kasai clothed and happier. The clothes seemed a strange decision on the boy's part, but children could be whimsical, and so it goes. If he was a little happier, all the better.

"Well, I'm sure we can ascertain your level of education when we get to that," he mused. "I would not worry. Dumb means unable to talk, and you can certainly do that. If you are worried that you will not be on a par with others your age, well, I teach each according to their abilities and interests. We will find where you are, and go from there."

He was still smiling, and hoped his trip to Sahova wouldn't be so terribly long. The sooner he returned, the sooner he could help Kasai unlock his memories and his past, and that would be a true miracle of which he could be proud.