[The Welcome Home] A Home for Hopstop (Stitch)

[Hadrian]

In fact, the soulmist didn't taste all that differently from its original ingredients, but he was attuned enough to the djed to taste -- or sense -- the change. He could not see the glow with it hidden in his mouth. He couldn't smell a difference, nor hear. It must have been some strange other sense that one developed the more one worked with the djed. When he realized what he had done, created food for the dead without a handy ghost to consume it, he suddenly wondered what he should do with it. If he spat it out, the orphanage might temporarily be haunted and he had conscience enough not to want to frighten little children. All that remained was to eat it himself, taking the energy back into himself. It was a shame, really. He would have to make more later when he could experiment with its different uses. While sucking on the soulmist to see if his tongue could garner any additional information from it, he continued to pour djed out of his fingertip and transmute it to water until the mixing bowl was full. When he glanced at Stitch, the strange but friendly man, seemed not to be paying attention, so Hadrian merely passed him the bowl and any others that came within his reach. Swallowing the soulmist, he put his fingertip into his mouth, sucking down a bit of his own created water in case soulmist caused cottonmouth or something. "Well, I suppose you can See guilt in a child's aura without too much difficulty." He knew children were generally easier to read because they were so open, but he only watched them from afar. Their enthusiastic energy bombarded him most of the time. He wondered suddenly if his faraway staring was the reason some mothers hurried their children along when they saw him looking. Strange. Just when Stitch made his apt assessment of Hadrian's relative skills, he also realized he was going to have to be careful which privies he used for the next day or so. He didn't want to attract ghosts with holy shit if digested soulmist would also affect them. "Ah, what?" he asked, thrown a bit off balance, which wasn't difficult to do with Hadrian. Had they already talked of magic? He had demonstrated his minor skill with Animation already. "Oh, yes. I dabble in many disciplines in order to further my career as a magecrafter. I'm rather useless in a fight."

[Stitch]

Stitch hurriedly worked on the dishes, apparently quite apt at this particular skill. As Hadrian passed him his dirty bowls and utensils, Stitch scrubbed and rinsed them with ease. Soap and water flew, and the dishes moved in a blur. It was quite interesting to watch, especially since it didn't appear as if Stitch was paying much attention to the actual task at hand. His head was still tilted toward Hadrian, and he still had that focused, serious look on his face. He was listening quite closely for Hadrian's response to his question, and his curiousity was obvious. For being as skilled as he appeared to be with Auristics, he was actually quite curious about magic. He knew little about his own arts, other than he knew how to make them work. Honestly, he wasn't really sure how he went about using his magics. He just did. He knew about Djed, and he knew how he could manipulate it in order to work the Flux or see with his Auristics. Beyond that though, he was clueless. It was all almost instinct to him, and nothing more. That was partially why he was in admiration of Hadrian. The Lord was intelligent, and it showed. He was skilled with multiple types of magic, and that showed as well. He seemed to know the science behind the mystical forces he weilded, and Stitch couldn't help but be a bit jealous. He had just asked one simple question, but in reality, he wanted to ask tons more. He wanted to sit the man down and interrogate him for each and every little bit of information he could give. Instead, Hadrian gave him a somewhat vague answer about his other arts, and Stitch felt his face sink a bit in disappointment. He quickly tried to recover, smiling brightly, understanding why the man wouldn't really be prone to go into depth. Really, they had just met. And explaining all of the arts one practiced... Even explaining that one even used magical arts in the first place... It was all something that one would normally not share with a stranger. Stitch should be glad Hadrian had decided to share with him at all. So, the blind man simply nodded in response to Hadrian's reply, and went about finishing the dishes. "Being useless in a fight isn't a bad thing, milord. The most skilled of us can avoid a fight altogether, and this one believes that is truly the best thing." An awkward silence soon settled over the pair yet again, and Stitch quickly searched for something to say. Recalling Hadrian's comment about the children, he went back to that topic again. "Children aren't particularly hard to read, no... But this particular culprit likely feels no guilt. Probably just a rather large amount of amusement. This one really should have guessed he would pull a prank like this." Stitch paused a bit, his head cocking down toward the now empty sink, a fond smile crossing his handsome features. "He always does." The dishes were done, and by the smell of things, the cakes were too. Stitch crossed the kitchen, heading to the small oven, reaching for a few dry hand towels. Popping the oven open, he quickly reached in, yanking the hot pans from the small fire and popping them onto the countertop they had originally mixed the ingredients on. He studied the cakes for a short time as he closed the oven, checking to see if he could correctly read their doneness. He had originally gone by the theory that the darker the Aura became, the more done it was. He had soon realized that had nothing to do with it. It was the texture of the Aura. Much like the texture of the cake changed as it baked through, the texture of the Aura also changed. They looked done to him. Waiting a few more minutes, he finally popped the cakes out of their pans, scooting Hadrian's toward him. Smiling at the enchanter, he nodded toward the cupboard. "Would you like to make some frostings, milord? Or do you like yours as is?"

[Hadrian]

In reality, Hadrian would have shared more if Stitch had asked more specific questions, and would have asked his own had he known of the blind man's other abilities, but misunderstandings ran rampant between them, and he just peered at the strange man as if there were clues to be had. Perhaps there were, but he wasn't sure he was seeing them. Hadrian's own experimentation with the Flux had ceased for several years since he and Azilis originally toyed with the idea of manipulating their own djed for various purposes. It had been mostly an academic pursuit, though he would have been happy to have had a teacher help him improve his skills that he might better test his theories. "I do try to avoid fights," he admitted quietly. When Stitch pulled the cakes out of the oven, he peered at them, noting a sort of crystallization of their auras, at least to his augmented vision. Likely the other man saw something entirely different, but it would make sense to their brains. "I, ah... don't know how to make frostings, Master Stitch. But if you give me the recipe, I will attempt to do it justice."

[Stitch]

Stitch chuckled, trotting over to the cupboard, pulling it open and producing a small little wrapped bundle. Tossing it beside Hadrian's cake, he strode over to both of them, snatching a piece of parchment paper from a little pile under the cupboard. He went about wrapping the cake, as well as the frosting, producing some twine from a nearby drawer to secure the small bundle. "The kids helped this one make some frosting earlier, and we just stored it away until the cakes were done. There are a few extra that this one was planning on letting them enjoy as a horribly unhealthy snack... But this one doesn't mind if you take one for your own uses. It is just ground up sugar and some milk, really. Sweet and creamy." With the package secure, he handed it to the man, giving him another friendly pat on the shoulder as he did. "Now, let this one show you the way out." Motioning for Hadrian to follow, Stitch walked into the next room, back the way they had came, but over to a different door this time. Cracking it open, Hadrian would get a glimpse of a backyard, complete with various toys and a small playset. Stitch took a deep breath, and then yelled out into the backyard, summoning the kids in a way that showed why exactly he ran the Orphanage. "Kids! First one to the swing gets the first slice of cake! And no shortcuts through the house! You know this one doesn't like it when you run around in here!" A variety of shrieks and screams bounded from the front of the house, and just like that, the children were on their way. Moving quickly, a grin on his lips, Stitch motioned for Hadrian to follow him again, leading him back through the house and to the front door. "This one knows you are ready to leave, Milord. Thank you for humoring this one for at least this long. Your body language and Aura screams about how uncomfortable you have been, but this one is impressed to see that you stuck around. Very commendable, milord. This one certainly hopes you will meet this one again sometime soon." Just like that, Stitch and Hadrian were at the front door, standing just outside of it. The yells of the children had reached the back of the house, proof that Stitch's plan had worked. Letting out a chuckle, Stitch leaned in and gave Hadrian a sudden hug, wrapping his arms around the young man and squeezing him quickly before releasing and step back. "This one appreciates the company, milord. Please be sure and tell me how your cake turned out." With a short wave, Stitch turned, vanishing back into the doors of the Welcome Home, finally freeing Hadrian from his prison of a social situation.

[Ataraxia]

Hadrien XP Auristics +3, Observation +1, Cooking +2, Spiritism +1, Reimancy +1 Lore Reimancy control for everyday uses Accepting unwanted attention with grace Stitch XP Auristics +3, Cooking +3 Lore Discovering Auristic qualities in others Functions of golems (Poor) Washing dishes (Master) Hosting (Competent) Comments I think Stitch will probably be getting a visit from CPS after he forces a child to eat a cake full of onions and oregano, lol. Interesting thread, it's interesting to see how two different players utilize Auristics and interact with each other. You know the drill if you have any questions. Peace out!