Boarders with Borders (Phobius, Aislyn)

[Aislyn Leavold]

Aislyn tried to have no regrets over her decison, but as Kuvarakh went on, she found the task increasingly harder. How in the name of Ionu was she going to pull this off? She'd either have to find a way out of the deal, or manage to convince Aceren not to blow her cover. And, with her current situation, it seemed the latter was far more likely. She could explain her situation to the mansion, make a deal, perhaps.
It seemed so strange to think she was planning to bargain with a house.
What would she even bargain with? It wasn't as if she had anything the house wanted, nor was she naive enough to think the mansion might accept mizas. Buildings didn't buy things, so money was of no value. Stupid, stupid.

The woman had absolutely nothing to bargain with, and, unfortunately, once revealed, she would be at the whim of the mansion, and whether or not it decided to reveal her to Kuvarakh. And Phobius, in theory. The boy would most likely be at the mansion just as much as Aislyn would be, so it made sense that, should the mansion out her, Phobius would be one of the first to know. It was less of a question of when, however, and more of a question of how.
How the two would react, for example.

It had been nearly two seasons since Aislyn had first met Kuvarakh. She'd managed to uphold her illusions and persona for that long, and had planned to continue... Well, indefinitely. For as long as she could hold the facade.
Unfortunately, it seemed the end of her masqurade would come quite a bit sooner than she'd hoped.

Lost in her thoughts, it took the woman several moments to register Phobius's voice and realize that he was speaking to her. Immediately, she wiped away her earlier pessimistic thoughts. They hadn't even arrived at the mansion and she was already plotting her own downfall. How positive.

"The... Drawings?" She blinked, momentarily confused as to what Phobius was referring to. After a tick, however, she noticed he had moved from his seat in the center of the room to a wall near the doorway, gesturing to her collage of sketches. "Oh- those ones." How best to approach it? "I made them, yes. I've been hanging them on the wall for a number of years now..." She didn't want to get too far into the topic- after all, Kuvarakh had been wanting them to leave chimes earlier- she didn't want to ignore his request. Nonetheless, she answered Phobius as best she could. She'd never been so directly complimented on her skills before- it put her a bit on edge- as if the boy was just about to take back what he had said.
"Thank you. I've been drawing for nearly all my life- it's why Kuvarakh hired me, actually." She turned to the man, pausing, in case he had anything to add. A few ticks later, she continued.

"That one there..." She pointed to the sketch of the woman in the coat, which she'd seen had caught Phobius's eye. "It's of my mother. One of the more recent ones. You can tell because of the spots of colour- That's thanks to Kuvarakh's wonderful invention of coloured charcoal." She smiled, remembering the long set of steps it had taken to produce the vibrantly coloured materials. It had certainly been worth it.

"But that's a story for another time. For now, let's get to the mansion." She hated the words, as they spelt out, essentially, her doom. Then again, the sooner they got to the mansion, the more time she'd have to plan. If she had time to explore, she might be able to find some time alone to speak with Aceren. Until then, she just had to plan. However, she planned to come prepared.

Before the trio departed for the mansion, Aislyn quickly grabbed her backpack, equipped with freshly bought and unfired crossbow, along with several things she expected to need inside. Sketchbook, charcoals, crossbow bolts... She even managed to find time- and the material- to write a rushed note to her mother.
”Gone out with friends. Might not be back for a while. Don’t worry. -L”
It was a simple precaution- not as if her mother would miss her, anyways- but the note was a comfort, nonetheless. One less thing to worry about. A useful thing, considering Aislyn had far too many things to worry about already.

Once the woman had quickly closed up shop within her home, she locked the door and followed behind the two men, Kuvarakh leading, off to the mansion, where only Ionu knew what awaited them.

[804]

[Kuvarakh]

Architectrix

Kuvarakh saw no reason to delay. Maya had a few last chime tasks to see to first, but fortunately Phobius made no mention of needing to return to his home for anything. In truth, Kuvarakh had an idea that the Mansion would somehow provide for whatever they needed. Though he was honestly not sure about the viability of food there.

Was it an Illusion of food? Would it only provide the illusion of sustenance? It did not matter to him, being a Nuit, as he did not need to eat. In fact, he rather needed NOT to. So he was wanting for nothing in this regard. But would Phobius and Maya be given the illusion of full bellies while being slowly malnourished to death? He'd always been under the impression that the illusions created in Alvadas were as real as reality. He hoped this carried over into a place as private and isolated as the Mansion grounds.

As for clothing, and even hot baths, he expected the Mansion would find a way to accommodate them. Beds were certainly no problem, though they had better not go in search of any not designate by Aceren for their use. Kuvarakh waved off this concern. He'd made that point abundantly clear.

He started to cheer up as they walked among the bizarre sights popping up here and there. Most recently there had been a rash of Palm trees. Kuvarakh had seen these before a few years before, and knew they were not native to the mountainous region around Alvadas. It also seemed like the puddles glowed in various colors. Eventually, they came to a bed of lava, crossed by a rather delicate looking bridge. It not go on long in either direction, but Kuvarakh was cheerfully determined to cross it. He had actually been hoping to run across just such a thing.

He turned to them. "Okay, Ionu loves to play this game with me. Once I've gone across...once I've played the game, my destination will show up not far away. Otherwise I may look all day and never find it. But you two should go first." It looked as though they were skeptical of his "generosity", so he elaborated. "I have this encounter quite frequently, really. When I cross ANY bridge over lava, it melts into the lava right behind my feet. In fact, I often have to jump the last few steps. So you guys should go ahead."

When he took his turn, he stepped right up and started to cross. Sure enough, right behind him, the bridge's image wavered in the heat distortion. Then it smoked and bubbled, and then dripped and collapsed in semi-liquid plops. This time however, he arc of the bridge was fairly extreme, and Kuvarah was not able to make his usual speed against the incline.

By the time he could see the far end, over the middle hump, he was alarmed to see that end melting away as the same rate. He hurried to the center of the bridge and saw a gap far too wide for him to jump. In spite of the seeming peril, he knew there would be an out provided by the mischievous Ionu. He'd always found an unspoken favor in the eyes of the city's deity by playing along, and taking the dares presented to him. The trick was not to panic and be alert for the clue.

It came in the sound of a hiss overhead, a hiss consistent with wind through evergreen branches. He looked up and saw a stout branch where none had been a moment before, connected to a large fir tree, again, where none had been before. He jumped up, reaching the branch so easily that he thought there must still be more to the prank.

So it was no great surprise that the entire tree uprooted and fell to its side, depositing him on the far side of the lava pool. He tumbled a few rolls and got up laughing. "Thanks for the ride, you old trickster!" into the sky.

But it was not sky above him as he looked up. Rather, it was a three dimensional image of the other side of the lava. He looked to the side, where that plane should have been, and saw the ground, Maya and Phobius standing at a ninety-degree angle to him, wonder on their faces. The entire city had been "folded", the crease separating him from his two friends.

But it had the advantage of closing the gap of lava quite effectively. His two friends need only step across the space, as if stepping from the bottom of a box onto one of its inner sides. He laughed again, and shook his head, holding his hand out like he would offer it to someone stepping out of a canoe.

"Just be ready a for a moment's disorientation and come on across."

x

[Phobius]

Phobius' amber eyes widened a little in wonder, and he turned his head to look at the other, laboriously-decorated walls. The woman had said that she'd been making these drawings for years...and there were just so many of them, all different sizes and colors that the boy had never even seen before. And the sketches themselves were amazingly good—at least a hundred times better than anything Phobius could hope to create with his own hand and a pencil, or...whatever it was that the woman used. He didn't see himself as an artistic type of person, and had never really had much of an interest in paints when he'd been exposed to them during his Yasi years, but could appreciate good art when he saw it.

As Miss Maya went on to explain the drawing of the woman in the puffy coat, the boy merely blinked and tilted his head at her, hearing most of her words before they seemed to fade into the air as his thoughts took over. Wow. I really don't know anything about her, do I? Phobius internally asked himself. I don't get to see her much, but...if me and Miss Maya are friends, then I should know stuff about her. ...hey! We'll be at the Mansion for a few days. I can talk to her a bunch, then.

It was a solid plan. Granted that the woman wouldn't be busying herself too much with more sketches or books or something, Phobius had a good chance at getting to know her, better. Up until this point, and despite his occasional bouts of loneliness, the boy had been content with keeping himself out of Kuvarakh's other helpers' lives, assuming that they had plenty of things to deal with, already. Miss Maya and Mister Ekans were busy adults with busy adult lives, and he didn't want to bother them just because he waned to go walking around the port with someone, or wanted to have company for lunch. So Phobius had refrained. It was only now that he was beginning to realize the consequences of his actions. ...or, rather, his non-actions.

Whether or not the woman and the snake-man knew it, Phobius considered them to be his close friends. Yet, as close as he felt they were, he had to admit that he didn't know much about either of them. Outside of Kuvarakh's assignments and chance meetings on the street, they never really seemed to talk to one another.

The boy couldn't help but feel a little ashamed about it all. Friends were supposed to talk to each other, and share stories, and laugh and all sorts of other fun stuff. Did the fact that he was admittedly afraid to try those things with them make him a bad friend?

Phobius let the question tumble around in his mind for a little while, falling into another silence as Miss Maya grabbed what she needed and went out the door after the alchemist. Distracted as he was, however, he followed her out, and with that they were all off to the Mansion. Hopefully, Aceren would be happy with letting them stay for however long they needed to.

Things seemed to get more and more strange the further they walked, but Phobius stayed oblivious to the erratically changing scenery until they came upon the pool of lava, and the weak-looking bridge that was over it. What was lava doing all the way in Alvadas? Confused, Phobius stared down at it, wondering if it was actually real or just an illusion that the city's god had thrown at them. It certainly looked real enough, though, and he had a feeling that he'd lose his hand if he bent down and touched it, as a test.

The last time the boy had seen anything close to lava was back at Wind Reach, in the stuffy space where the glassblowers would work. Molten glass was a bit different from molten rock, but both were just as dangerous to be around, and even more dangerous to mess with.

Phobius looked over at Kuvarakh, wondering if the alchemist was put off by the random obstacle. But surprisingly enough, the man looked as though the lava's appearance hadn't changed anything, a certain cheeriness resting in his eyes that the boy was just now noticing. The man's later suggestion that he and Miss Maya go across the bridge first shocked Phobius, but he kept his mouth shut and made no comments on it. Kuvarakh knows what he's doing...I don't need to worry...

...right?

It was enough of a reassurance to get rid of his growing fear. By the time the boy worked up his nerves enough to convince himself to go, however, Miss Maya had already gotten to the other side. Not wanting to be left behind, Phobius rushed across the bridge after her, willing himself to ignore the way it creaked and rocked under his feet, and how he could feel the strong heat from the lava on the skin beneath his bryda. Once he was safely on the other side, the boy twisted around so that he could watch Kuvarakh come, too, the concerns that he'd fought down starting to resurface.

Ionu wouldn't let the man get hurt, would he? ...no, of course not. Kuvarakh had said that it was all a game, after all. The god simply liked to play games. Fun, non-dangerous, non-life-threatening games.

With this in mind, Phobius kept his eyes on the man as he walked across. And then the next few ticks ended up being incredibly confusing. One moment, the bridge looked as though it was beginning to melt...and then the next, the man was on the ground beside a fallen tree that had come out of nowhere. Except...

...except the ground had moved, and Phobius suddenly found himself standing sideways. Or was it right-side up? Either way, he didn't get it, so there was no hesitation in the boy's steps when he dashed forward to grab Kuvarakh's hand, letting out a frightened little yelp as he pulled himself across and went to stand beside his friend. He looked helplessly confused.

"Does this...does this happen every time you go to the Mansion...?" Phobius asked, some shock still clinging to his tone.

[1046]

"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.

[Aislyn Leavold]

This was not what Aislyn had expected to be awaiting her on the path to the mansion.
They’d been walking for chimes- not even half a bell- and already Aislyn had noticed countless things thrown in their path. Strangely coloured trees. Bodies of water that one second lay to the side of their path, then the woman would blink and poof! It was gone.

But, of all the things that happened on their trek towards the mansion, Aislyn found the most peculiar thing to be the constant smell of something burning. Almost like brimstone. Strange, the woman found herself thinking, There’s barely anyone on this street- how can someone be burning something? Throughout most of Alvadas, there was barely enough space between houses to walk, nevermind start a campfire without burning the whole neighborhood down. Yet still, as they continued onwards, the smell persisted. It was only when they approached a rather rickety looking walkway across some sort of strange, glowing ravine did Aislyn realize why she’d smelled smoke.

Right on their path, directly parallel with the way Kuvarakh was taking them, was a heaping chasm of lava. At least that explained the glowing pit.
That was certainly something Aislyn hadn’t seen before. Ionu didn’t usually send such drastic illusions at her- rather small things, usually, though things she could see as almost inside jokes- the road outside her home appearing as a garden of dead flowers, for example. One persistently appearing one that seemed to be a favourite of the deity’s was a herd of rainbow fish that would follow her around, shifting colours and patterns as they swam through the air. A rather specific choice of illusion, and one that Aislyn almost remembered the significance of, yet somehow couldn’t reach the memory.

For now, however, she couldn’t think about that. All the focus she had was wondering what the hai Kuvarakh expected them to do when faced with such an... Unstable situation. For a few moments, the woman zoned out, the talking going on around her being filtered out of her mind. It was only the last few words she caught-
”...but you two should go first.”

Immediately, Aislyn questioned how much Kuvarakh thought of her and Phobius. It didn’t seem like a very inviting idea, walking across a rather rickety platform over a pit of boiling lava, yet even so, Kuv seemed to be volunteering them to test it. Not exactly her idea of friendship, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt. After all, the more the man explained, the more reassured Aislyn felt about the probability of the bridge collapsing beneath their feet.
Even so, the illusionist was not keen on crossing. Unfortunately, she didn’t exactly see Phobius going first, either.

Just before breaking out into a run over the bridge, Aislyn threw a sarcastic whisper in Kuvarakh’s direction. ”If I die, it is entirely your fault.”


Luckily, it appeared she wouldn’t be dying a rather heated death on that day, as, several ticks later, the woman was across the bridge, the bottoms of her pant legs dusted with black ash. Half a chime later, Phobius arrived. Then came Kuvarakh…
Except Kuvarakh’s entrance was a tad bit more… Exciting.

Just as the man had predicted, the bridge crumbled beneath his feet as he ran across, up until the moment the platform buckled, turning into a sharp incline that Aislyn was sure he wasn’t fast enough to make his way across. Petch, he was screwed. There was no way he was going to make it. Aislyn shot a worried glance over at Phobius, who appeared to have shielded his eyes from the scene. Good, she thought, best the boy didn’t see the chaos that was quickly unfolding.

Soon enough, however, the woman found herself awed in the events that unfolded before her. A tree branch, then Kuvarakh falling… Aislyn looked away, momentarily distracted by the sudden tree that appeared to rescue her employer. That had certainly come out of nowhere, though it was no surprise that it had. Ionu always did things like that, as if no one would notice. A sudden, heavy thump to her side brought her attention back to the fallen Kuvarakh, who seemed to have run into a wall.
Or, rather, was standing on a wall.

As if the laws of physics weren’t bent enough in the city already.

Aislyn stood staring at the disorientated figure of Kuvarakh for several moments, her mind still processing what had happened and what was still happening. Phobius, however, took no hesitation, practically jumping into the man’s arms without a moments thought. He certainly did trust Kuvarakh- almost implicitly so. Aislyn, however, chose to avoid the physical contact, crossing the dimensional fold without help. As she landed, she was accompanied by Phobius’s voice, shakily asking about how frequently things like this happened. Aislyn wondered the same thing, though she didn’t comment, choosing instead to reach behind her and make sure her crossbow hadn’t been burned off during her trip over the lava pit. Thankfully, everything appeared to still be in place.

”That was… Eventful.”

[849]

[Kuvarakh]

Architectrix

Kuvarakh patted Phobius reassuringly on the back, "Of course not. It's just that any time I see a bridge over lava, I know that some sort of "race against the melting bridge" game is afoot, and I must partake. You may have noticed that Ionu did NOT impose it upon you. You were able to cross freely."

Then he swung an arm up to direct their gazes to an elaborately scrolled dark iron gate, set into marble pillars that were set at twenty-foot intervals to mark the boundaries of a grand estate. The dimensions of the property could not be seen from where they stood. "But the real benefit of Ionus' "Lava game" with me, is that the destination I seek is always visible from the point I end up at when it is complete."

He began walking in the direction of the gate, speaking about the very first time he'd encountered this property in Alvadas. "It was only a couple of years ago. Announcements began falling from the sky. Fluttering down like confetti, announcing a sort of house-warming event. It stated that only five people would be allowed in. Of course, the gate was mobbed by adventurers, seeking some sort of prize. I can't honestly say what it was that set my particular greed apart from the rest, to make it more...worthy?...I guess?"

He shrugged, "I CAN honestly say, however, that it was never wealth, monetary wealth anyway, that I sought. And I suppose the estate sensed this from me. It's the same now as it was then. More than anything, I crave a source of knowledge, and imagined a fantastic library within grand halls, where I could spend years learning of pre-Valterian cultures and nations."

Kuvarakh did not mention that the last time he and Phobius had visited the Mansion, it's test had involved Kuvarakh having to choose between securing Phobius' safety against the vision of this promised library. Phobius had not truly been in any danger, but Kuvarakh was given to think he was, so the need to choose was given some significance. Kuvarakh hoped he would never have to tell his young courier how many ticks had passed, with him pretending he had not noticed Phobius yet, before he made up his mind. Then the library had turned out to be nothing more than a musky old laundry room.

"I suppose the Mansion sensed I was not just another "treasure hunter", looking to ransack old bedrooms looking for same past aristocrat's ancient jewelry. I won't deny, I consider a library full of ancient histories and literature to BE a treasure. But it's not something I intend to try to remove from the place."

He noticed that they had not appeared to get any closer. He couldn't stop a joke from passing through his mind that it was possible that Ionu had actually lived in the mansion for some time. It seemed to enjoy its own kind of pranks. He grinned at the thought. "I think we're still being toyed with here."

"Now that first time, as I said there were dozens of people clamoring to get in. And even though the gate doors threw open wide, somehow only five could get through. The rest seemed to get their clothes caught on the gate somehow; or slip in the mud, and be unable to get to their feet; or mistime their movements and run smack into the stone pillar; or flat out trip over each other in their haste."

Kuvarakh really had no idea if the Mansion was going to pick and choose, or if it would let them come in with no obstructions. It had not hindered Phobius and him. But then it also subjected them to a test. He pondered this for a moment, thinking it was still preferable to having gangs of thugs from the Underground catch him a dark alley.

And suddenly the gate was right before them. The entire length of the East lawn had passed in a flash, after receding endlessly for many chimes. Kuvarakh chuckled once. "Well, here we are!" The gate opened innocently.

x

[Phobius]

"Oh," Phobius replied, his mind at a loss of other things to say as the alchemist answered his question. Ionu sure had a weird way of thinking when it came to what kinds of things were fun; personally, the boy couldn't see where the enjoyment was in having someone cross a bridge, only to take the bridge away and make them think that they could fall into the lava if they weren't fast enough. It sounded more like a trick than it did a game, but Kuvarakh acted as though he was fine with it, so maybe there really wasn't any harm in it.

The man then directed their attention elsewhere, and Phobius followed his arm until his eyes had fallen upon the large, fancy metal gate that sat a few yards away from them. They weren't far from the Mansion, now, though the boy couldn't really remember having seen the same gate the last time he'd been here. What he could remember was the Greenhouse, and how quiet and lonely the massive building had looked from down in its neatly-trimmed hedges and seemingly-moving vines. No matter what direction they went in, the Mansion had always looked as though it was far away, as if it was backing away from them or...or making it so that they couldn't get any closer. Phobius was sure that Kuvarakh had noticed it, too, but he'd kept his comments on the matter to himself at the time, distracted by the blades of grass that had started to curl around the bottoms of his boots.

The Inartan boy listened as Kuvarakh began to tell the tale of how he'd found out about the Mansion; he'd heard snippets of it, before, but didn't remember hearing about how there had been a lot of other people crowding the grand gate, wanting to get inside. Phobius' interest grew as the alchemist described how most of the people couldn't even get through. That must have meant that Kuvarakh and the other four people were special, somehow. And maybe the Mansion had been able to tell that the man only wanted to learn things from books that he could read, but what was it that the other people had that the building liked? Were they simply nice people? Artists, who wanted to make the Mansion look prettier?

Come to think of it, Grandma had mentioned something about a traveling merchant who'd spent a few days inside of the Mansion. She'd said that it had happened a long time ago, too, and she couldn't remember his name...was it possible that he had been one of the original five?

Phobius was becoming more and more curious by the tick. After a while, he felt compelled to ask Kuvarakh if he knew anything about that same merchant, and if he remembered anything about what he was like; the boy's kindly "tour guide" had said that the man reminded her of him, and he really wanted to know why.

Before he knew it, they had reached the gate, its doors slowly swinging inward as it seemed to open up for them. That was a good sign, right? Aceren had probably noticed them coming, by now, and was showing them that it was okay to come in...? Phobius wanted to believe it, but couldn't help but hesitate a little as he stood and stared at the possible invitation, his legs keeping him stationary. Do we just...go in, now? He mused, a small frown making its way into his face.

Ticks passed, and the boy still hadn't made up his mind. Then he decided that he'd wait until the alchemist had gone through, first; the Mansion knew Kuvarakh better, so it only made sense that it'd be safe to go if the man was allowed to. When he did, Phobius fell in step behind him. And with that temporary obstacle out of the way, he was able to find his voice, again, the curiosity returning to his expression. "Do you remember what those four people were like, Kuvarakh?" the boy asked, looking over at his friend. "Were they nice? Why d'you think that they could go inside, but the other people couldn't...?"

[699]

"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.

[Aislyn Leavold]

Aislyn remained quiet as Kuvarakh explained how he had come across the mansion in the first place. Her eyes drifted along the path ahead of them, though she made sure to remain attentive to what the man was saying. She’d been wondering how he’d found the mansion, and now she could find out. She just had to not accidentally tune out while he was speaking- something she could herself doing often. It seemed her fall earlier in the season wasn’t doing her memory or concentration any good.

One thing, however, most definitely caught her attention. The man had been speaking for a while at that point, but after something about monetary wealth that Aislyn didn’t catch, the man mentioned something interesting. A library. That was when she truly began paying attention. Since Kuvarakh had first sent her to a library- The Sunken Conundrum, to be exact- Aislyn had found her interest in learning to be rekindled. The woman had never been educated; at least, she hadn’t been educated officially, in any sort of school surrounding, but that wasn’t to say she didn’t enjoy the idea of learning. She just didn’t like learning on someone else’s terms.

That was one of the reasons she didn’t visit The Conundrum very often- There were always other people there, which meant eyes, which meant surveillance, and surveillance meant Aislyn had to make an effort not to be found out. Illusions were a nightmare underwater, but the flooded library was the only library of any kind in Alvadas, so the woman had no other choice. This new library, however…

If it was grand enough to catch a one-hundred-some year old Nuit’s curiosity, it would no doubt be good enough for Aislyn.

The topic drifted off libraries soon enough, however, and back to the story of how Kuvarakh came upon the mansion in the first place. It made her wonder- If she had come across the mansion, whenever it’s gates may have opened up, would the mansion have allowed her in?
Probably not. It sounded like the event was quite a bit in the past, so Aislyn would have either been far too young to understand a thing that was going on, or be just old enough to have the greed the mansion shut people out for.

Speaking of shutting people out…

They had been travelling for quite a while. At very least long enough to get them to the mansion. Why weren’t they getting any closer? Was the mansion playing some trick on them? An illusion, perhaps? For a moment, Aislyn considered questioning Kuvarakh about the seemingly infinite stretch of grass before them, but, just as soon as she contemplated it, the walkway disappeared. In it’s place, a gate.
The gate.

That had certainly been a short walk, considering the distance she had seen before. Strange. Nonetheless, Kuvarakh seemed not to take note, giving an innocent laugh as the gate, as if on cue, opened. Beyond it, the infamous mansion with a mind of it’s own.

Phobius was the first to comment on the sight, questioning something in the direction of Kuvarakh. Something about the story he had told and the people who hadn’t made it. The boy brought up a good point, however- if there were five people chosen, and Kuvarakh were one of them, what happened to the other four? Kuv had never mentioned any other visitors to the mansion. Had they just… Vanished?
It seemed like a likely situation.

Aislyn, once again, stayed quiet. Phobius had asked her question for her, and, after all, had brought the topic to light in the first place. She didn’t really have anything to say.
Besides, with her well-being in the hands of the mansion, silence seemed to be her best option.

OOCSorry for the wait! Holiday got my schedule completely wrecked, and unfortunately, overdue schoolwork got priority before Miz.

[Kuvarakh]

Architectrix

Kuvarakh could not fault the question, but it was nothing he'd been trying to hide. He looked casually at Phobius, "Well, I heard from friends in town, in the days after I gained Architectrix, that the others out had been led out, or maybe found their own way out. Let's see..." He made ready to count off on his fingers. "...there were a pair of Nuits, other than myself, I mean. One called himself simply 'Nas', and he never really announced any particular talent or goal. The other called herself 'Dakota', and claimed to be an archaeologist."

Kuvarakh stopped, considering, "Thinking back, it actually kind of surprises me now that the Mansion chose me instead of her. I would think an archaeologist would be the very sort of person it would have wanted. But I suppose an archaeologist can be as much a treasure hunter as an historian. I can only assume that something she did gave a poor impression of her intentions. We got split up fairly early on in our little excursion."

He realized he'd gotten off track, "Anyway, where was I?...Oh yeah, there was also a hunter named Shyam...Kuro...something. I should say 'falconer' instead, I guess. There was talk of using the bird to scout for us, but there was so much debate over our course, I finally just left and went to the Greenhouse. I never saw them again. Lastly, there was a kid, a boy named "Anton". He was an odd sort, though. I can't quite put my finger on it, but where most kids would be intimidated by a group of adults, he seemed very much at ease, and very expectant of equal say in what we did. He had quite a surprising air of authority about him. I wonder if he was actually an adult, employing some sort of Illusion on the rest of us."

He wished now that he'd chosen a different phrase than 'I never saw them again'. He could swear he saw Phobius swallow hard immediately after that. Maya, as well, seemed suddenly ill-at-ease when he finished his last comment. Of course, it could just be the whole situation with the thugs, the attack on the shop, and the whole idea of "going into hiding". But now that he thought of it, he hadn't seen any of them ever again. Not in the entire time since gaining the Mansion's acceptance that first night. Not at the Mansion, nor in the city. 'What was it? Two years? Two and a half?'

He knew he needed to downplay any concerns, for the sake of the others, especially Phobius. He decided just a bit of hypnosis would ease the pair. They were standing by the gate, looking at him, away from the yard, as he drew a breath and then held it with an application of a bit of pressure to his lungs. This was the way he "forced" his hypnotic djed bubble from his mind. He willed it to spread far enough to enfold both their heads, overlaying the sense that...'Kuvarakh knows that it's safe, he's not frightened, there's no reason for me to be either.'

Kuvarakh kept the mental impression of ease and security in place until the two others seemed a bit more relaxed. But for himself, he found an odd expression of displeasure roll across the lawn behind Maya and Phobius. He'd have liked to call it his imagination, but there was no mistake. A line of landscaping stones and a pair of decorative boulders formed a frowning face. Just as suddenly, it was gone. He decided the mansion was tired of holding the gate open for them.

"Come on, let's get inside, we've kept the place waiting long enough." he started walking up the wide path. He remembered how, back on that first day, this roadway had been overgrown by an almost jungle-esque growth of vine-like foliage. It was clear now, but Kuvarakh could not shake the feeling that he was not in the best of favor. Maybe it was nothing more than the fact the sky had immediately turned gray and overcast upon entering the property. Looking back, the entire sky seemed dismal now, even beyond the bounds of the estate.

x

[Phobius]

Phobius tried to envision the many faces and attitudes of the four that Kuvarakh described as he walked, his arms swinging carelessly at his sides. It wasn't an easy thing to do—he wasn't told what they looked like and, aside from the Nuits, had no idea whether or not they had all been human—but the boy gave it a shot, anyway. And overall, they sounded like an interesting bunch of people; the mention of a "falconer" in particular had caught Phobius' attention, and he found himself imagining what it must be like for a bird to go flying around inside of the mansion. Sure, falcons were pretty big, but the mansion was huge, and its inside was even huge-er. There was plenty of space for all sorts of flying creatures to enjoy themselves.

"Anton" sounded really interesting, too, if only because the alchemist had referred to him as a "kid", which made Phobius wonder if he'd been as young as he was. And the archaeologist...what was an archaeologist? The boy felt as though he'd heard a bunch of names, or titles, like it before...and they always ended with "ologist" or "ology." It sounded like it involved studying something. People? Buildings? Rocks?

The boy could have easily asked Kuvarakh about it, but there was something else occupying his mind, at the moment. Something troubling. The alchemist had said that he'd never seen the four people after he went to the Greenhouse, and the ominous words made Phobius stiffen a little, his eyes widening. Where could they have gone to? The mansion was big enough to get lost in, but if Kuvarakh had stayed there for longer than a day he should've at least come across one of them again, right...? Unless...unless the mansion had kicked them out by the end of that first day. Or maybe they'd left on their own, deciding that they didn't want to explore, anymore.

Maybe the mansion didn't like multiple people wandering about its hallways and rooms all at once. After all, it'd seemed pretty uncomfortable with both him and Kuvarakh that one time, and by now Phobius was nearly convinced that Aceren had been trying his hardest to keep him away from the alchemist. The rooms had switched around a lot, and there'd been times where it seemed like Grandma wasn't too enthused about helping him look, which had ultimately led to the boy begging for her effort.

In some ways, it kinda seemed like the mansion didn't like Kuvarakh. But...that didn't make any sense; if it didn't like him, why would it have chosen him to be the only person lucky enough to come inside of it, back then? Why would it have let the alchemist walk through its gates, just now, without trying to shut him out?

Phobius frowned. Feeling out-of-the-loop was something that he was familiar with, but this was one of the few times that he was mildly frustrated because of it; the boy couldn't help but feel as though there was something that he was missing, here, something that would make Aceren's somewhat-conflicting emotions make sense. Then there was anxiety beginning to well up inside of him, the early worries about all three of them being allowed to stay in the mansion returning.

As soon as the feelings had come, however, they ebbed away. It was like a chunk of ice that'd settled into his stomach was melting. Phobius felt himself relax a little as he followed Kuvarakh up the path that led to the front door. Okay, no more getting so nervous, he instructed himself as he went. Everything's gonna be okay. I mean...Kuvarakh's not scared or anything. If something was wrong, he'd tell us...

After a few ticks, Phobius decided to place the blame of his agitated nerves on his nightmare from this morning. He was choosing not to think about it, anymore, but that didn't mean that it wasn't still bothering him, because it was. A lot. With how tightly his scarf was still wound around his neck, he was more or less reminded of it every time he moved his head, the wool uncomfortably digging into his skin.

Eyes wandering to get his mind off of things, the boy stole a glance at the sky. When did it get so cloudy...? The sun had been shining when they'd left the Alchae, and there hadn't been a single cloud in the never-ending sea of blue above, but now...

I guess it's gonna rain. I wonder if it'll be colorful paint, like last time. Aceren would probably be happier if the walls outside were prettier colors...

Suddenly, Phobius turned to look over at Miss Maya, the beginnings of a smile touching his lips. The sky was weird, and a little upsetting, but it'd brought an idea to his head. "Do you think you're ever gonna try to draw the whole mansion?" he asked the woman, genuinely curious. "There's a bunch of really nice rooms and stuff inside, too. And I saw how you like to draw a lot of different things, but...do you have a favorite thing? Like people or streets or tables or...?"

OOCSorry this took so long. e__e

"This is speech in Nari."

This is thought.

[Aislyn Leavold]

After what seemed like ages, the trio made it onto the premises of the mansion, and with their arrival, Aislyn let herself finally breathe. She felt as if she’d been holding her breath since she first left the safety of her home, with all the paranoia and anxiety the seemingly simple trip to the mansion seemed to have caused her. So many things happening in such a short amount of time was overwhelming the woman. It was up to luck and hope that she wouldn’t end up screwing up in some way like she had during the Attack on the Alchemmia, as she had begun calling the event. She’d rather keep her memory of whatever happened this time.

However, it was no use thinking of that now.
For now, she had to plan. Think of a way to get herself out of this. Making a deal with the mansion still wasn’t off the table. In fact, at the moment it seemed like her best option. She would have to hope the mansion was in a good mood.

Interrupted by the beginning of Kuvarakh’s next story, Aislyn began to drift off into thought. She did, however, snap out of it in time to hear the last words of the sentence the Nuit had been in the middle of saying. ’I never saw them again.’
The woman cast a glance over at Phobius, who seemed to have immediately been put on edge by the statement. She herself was put on edge by it. What had become of the others? Had the mansion chosen Kuvarakh, then killed the rest off? For a living mansion, it didn’t seem like an impossible idea. Still, Aislyn felt ill at the idea of being part of a select few to enter a forbidden area of magic, then being shut off and never seen from again.

Returning to her absentminded state of taking in the information Kuvarakh was providing, Aislyn wondered about the other people that had approached the mansion. Kuv had listed them- two Nuits, a hunter, and a child. Nas, Dakota, Shyam-kuro, and Anton. A strange group of people to be approaching a supposed living mansion. What had happened to them?
Soon enough, the man continued, going on about how strangely comfortable the child- Anton- had been. From the description, Aislyn would have thought of him as having a man’s mind in a child’s body. Which sounded like quite a familiar notion.

”Kuvarakh…” Aislyn had meant to ask the man about her theory, but quickly dismissed the idea. Either Kuvarakh wouldn’t know, or wouldn’t care for her ideas. After a few seconds of silence, she diverted her gaze, shaking her head. ”...nevermind. It’s nothing.”
Maybe she’d ask later. For the moment, it didn’t seem like a good time to ask the likelihood of a Nuit taking over a child’s body. Surely, Kuvarakh would realize what her question implied. A child killed, or possibly already dead, then a grown man’s mind placed into the empty shell that the process would have created of the body. Aislyn knew how fiercely Kuvarakh defended his choices versus the norm of his race, and she certainly didn’t want to have the conversation again.

As they reached the mansion entryway, Aislyn felt a sudden thought enter her mind. Kuvarakh knows that it’s safe, he’s not frightened, there’s no reason for me to be either. Peculiarly, the thought didn’t really sound like it was said by the inner voice Aislyn always heard within her thoughts, but then again, she wasn’t really sure what that sounded like anyways. Besides, no matter what it sounded like, the thought was true. As the trio entered the mansion, Aislyn felt her nerves soften. Everything was going to be fine.

The thought, however, was interrupted as Phobius chirped out a question with a smile. More about her skill in drawing, it seemed. It was strange; Phobius had never known about her hobby before, and now he was intrigued by it. Nonetheless, ‘Maya’ answered the boy with a grin.
”You know, that’s actually a good idea.” The woman looked around at the architecture of the mansion with a certain fondness. ”Maybe I will, actually.” As Phobius continued, Aislyn felt herself listening more closely to what he was saying. She’d ignored the two far too much for one day, especially under the circumstances she was in.

”A favourite thing?” She’d never thought about what she enjoyed drawing the most. Though, really, it was an easy choice. ”Ionu. Or his illusions. After all, we are in Alvadas, aren't we?”
She gave a questioning look around the interior of the mansion as they entered. Immediately, she felt as if she was being watched.
"...Yes, we're definitely in Alvadas."