Closed Presentiments of Chaos (Clyde)

[Xen]

Presentiments of Chaos

Winter was misery incarnate. To Xen it spells cold and torturous body shivers that would rake his mind with regret and discomfort. He was already feeling chilly and the desire to hibernate slowly creeping upon him. However, he couldn´t sleep—not just yet. There were things he needed to do first before he could return to the warmth of the sanctuary called his bed.

He wishes to explore the castle city and gain as much knowledge as possible. In order to avoid stumbling into situations that would cast him into a series of misfortunes and misunderstandings. So, he walks through the city streets with his objectives—exploration and discovery—in mind. Small pellets of ice snap and crackle beneath his feet as he traverses the streets, trying to find something he could relate to. But, he only sees unfamiliar buildings and ever so often a wandering stranger.

He did not see anything out of the ordinary, nor did he notice many people in the area with him. Xen assumes that everyone had the same idea as he did: staying home and being warm in bed. He regrets he hadn't chose a more busy day to explore Syliras since there would have likely been more people and probably a good samaritan willing to help him. Instead he walks down a nigh desolate street, feeling cold and incredibly home sick.


“....What a door, ” A half of a bell passes before he discovers an interesting door. He looks around for a bit, feeling like he should do so before any further action. Xen felt like he was about to make a fate deciding decision. He knew what he wanted to do, which was to knock on the door, but there was a smaller side of him that did not wish to do so.

He throws aside the hesitation he felt quickly and knocks on the door three times. There was nothing he could lose in the situation anyway.The awkward moment came in the form of complete silence afterwards. So, he knocks again, but his actions only made him look foolish.
“ Ah... Hmmm...Maybe this door wasn´t the one. I need to think of something else then,” He doesn´t bother to acknowledge the absurdity of his actions. He simply talks to himself, and walks away from the door while thinking “ Well, there is a rumor about a recently opened lab floating around. I could become one of the shopkeepers first customers, if the rumors are true,”

It was after a few chimes pass that he reaches the rumored magecrafting lab.
He knocks on the door, wasting little time on thinking, believing that he would get an answer this time.

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Date: Third Day of Winter
Year: 515 A.V.

[Clyde Sullins]

3 Winter 515

Once more Clyde found himself interrupted by a knock at the door.

Earlier that day he'd received another note from the knighthood, with another enchantment they desired. This one was simpler than the last, less of a rush order, and something Clyde had done before.

He had half a season or so to get this one done from the current time. That meant he had time to carefully make a list, plot out his plan, send his needs to the order, and have them send back the needed supplies at their leisure.

He'd probably wait a bit though, till he'd stretched his legs a bit and till the depth of winter had struck. By then he'd be stuck inside the castle anyways, and might as well stay indoors to work on a crafting.

He was mentally pondering what all he would need for the enchantment, compiling, taking off, adding, when his thought process was broken by the knock.

Letting out a sigh he headed towards the door, Cha in hand. As always the door was locked, and so Clyde had to unlock it before finding out who was on the other side with his pair of mundane eyes. After the click of the door unlocking, Clyde opened the door just a crack, wide enough for him to see out into the hallway.

When he opened the door what sat before him was a poor specimen if Clyde had ever seen one. The man certainly didn't seem to be dressed as if he could afford Magecrafting, even if Clyde was selling to the general populace. This meant to Clyde he was likely either a curious person wanting to see a magic lab, a magic user hoping to apprentice, or someone who didn't in the slightest understand what he did. Or, Clyde supposed to himself, several of the above.

With that in mind Clyde opened the door only slightly more, wide enough for him to comfortably see and talk through, but not wide enough for the man to see anything within due to the angle of the view from the open door.

Glaring at the man with a impatient stare, as if simply speaking to him was below Clyde's station and not worth his time, Clyde questioned him with a single syllable question.

“What?”

[Xen]

Presentiments of Chaos

Xen was glad that he did not have a long wait before the door opened. However, the voice that came from beyond slightly open door did not seem like he wanted company at all, which was somewhat off putting. It made him think “Did I knock on the wrong door again? ” In hindsight, he realizes he should have asked around and looked for a bit more information on the "magic lab". Then he would not have found himself in this situation.

“ His Business in Syliras may be a bit tough? That could explain the 'greeting' I just got,”
Xen leans in, he assumes the person beyond the door was the secretive type, but maintains a good distance from the door. He did not want to have his nose remodel against his will should this stranger decide to smash the door on or in his face. “ Folk tell of a recently opened lab in the area. I came to meet the shopkeeper and give them a warm welcome, ” Xen attempts to speak as though he was a native of Syliras. He was unaware of how the inhabitants of Syliras treated dhani; especially, those with magic. So, he chooses to behave as "human" as possible, disguising the inhumanity beneath.

“ Oh! Forgive me for my I'm lack of etiquette. I'm Jori! I'd vouch for a better name, but aye, what can ya do?” He shrugs after saying how he honestly felt towards his name. The blandness of his name would probably make some feel sorry him or simply ignore him entirely. He could not understand his parent's reasoning behind his name, but a part of it has shown to be quite useful.

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Date: Third Day of Winter
Year: 515 A.V.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde eyed the man who'd knocked at his door. If anything his statements seemed to increase Clyde's annoyance.

He waited patiently as the man finished talking, before glaring back at "Jori" as he responded.

“Did you... Just call me... A petching... SHOPKEEPER!”

“I am not a petching shopkeeper! Do you see a welcome mat and a table out front, behind which I stand and hand over the boots you ordered? I am not open to the public, and even if I was, I doubt you could afford me. Shopkeeper!”

With that Clyde angrily slammed the door shut, locking it afterwards.

Normally Clyde was a bit more laid back, but of late he'd had various nosy people coming by his lab, and he couldn't abide having some random person think he was a shopkeeper. A shopkeeper to his mind was a shop. People came in, perused the wares, paid, and left. Clyde made custom orders for special clients, and his wares if they could even be called that cost much more than a boot. They cost more than most peoples houses.

Apparently having his name and trade as a Magecrafter made equivalent to being a Shopkeeper had touched a nerve, even if the man was just a ignorant local who likely didn't even know what Magecrafting was, nor that it didn't just mean making something magical as more or less all world magics involved.

[Xen]

Presentiments of Chaos

The sound and air from the door's impact rushes past his face, but no physical harm was done to him. Xen was glad he stood away from the door; his carefulness and precaution did not fail him in the end, but the relief he felt was temporary as it quickly deteriorates, becoming confusion and frustration. Xen stood before the door and thought “ What just happened? ” He had never encountered someone this discourteous and ill mannered before—the arrogant dhani constrictors had better manners!

The first thing he did was turn away from the door, deciding it was best to go somewhere else before something unsavory occurs. Xen wanders off with his right fist in the palm of his left hand, trying to not appear angry or frustrated. A calm face and smile is what he tries to imagine in his mind, but what manifested upon his face was only a scowl.

While walking he notices the odd looks a few stragglers were giving him along the way.They probably saw and heard the exchange that occurred between him and the shopkeeper just ticks ago. “ That ill mannered fellow bringing unwanted attention upon me,” Xen's left eye twitches, foreshadowing paranoia “ This will bring untold amounts of bothersome encounters with people. I just know it! ” These presentiments of chaos he felt told of troubles to come.

With no other way to properly handle his feelings, Xen decides to turn back. He would reconcile with the door slammer, which would at least make him feel a bit better, even against the high odds of rejection and another door slam to the face. “ Let's try this again. I'll avoid calling him a shopkeeper... that seems to trigger him. ” Xen knocks on the door again, hoping to redeem himself before karma arrives at his doorstep much like he did at Clyde's.

“ ”

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Date: Third Day of Winter
Year: 515 A.V.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde had done his best to forget the rude man who'd been at his door, and insulted him.

He cleared his mind, taking in a deep breath and holding it for a beat, before slowly letting it out. He pictured his annoyance and the image of the man oozing out of his mouth on his exhale, and soon felt calmer.

Out of mind, he was about to turn back to his thoughts of Magecrafting when he heard another knock.

Suppressing the anger from rising, letting it loose on his breath before it built enough to allow him to release it physically or to others, he headed back towards the door.

With a click he unlocked it, and slowly opened the door a bit, peering outside once more.

Only to find... The same man as before...

“What do you want now? Or are you going to continue on with your tale of happily greeting the newest member of this street?”

From his words Clyde would intimate that perhaps he had been less mad about being called a shopkeeper, and more mad about the person lying and telling a tale to him, spinning a yarn and wasting his time with indirectness.

The truth was a bit more complicated, but Clyde doubted deep in his mind that someone who knew of him only enough to honestly only be welcoming him to the area wouldn't know he had a lab. That seemed to imply knowing he was a mage of some sort, which tended to imply a certain type of person which would seek out a Mage. Either a mage and likely wanted Clyde's knowledge, or someone who wanted to use a mage and wanted his skill, or someone who wanted to become a mage.

All of those options annoyed Clyde, particularly since he went about it in the fashion he did. Plus being called a Shopkeeper, which he firmly was not. But the more logical bit of his mind was more annoyed at the other non-shopkeeper calling parts.

[Xen]

Presentiments of Chaos

“ Fine, you have exposed me. I probably do not need to ask when you caught onto me, ” Xen looks around and sighs, admitting defeat.

Xen did not expect to have a door slammed in his face, but what surprises him the most is Clyde's perceptiveness. He's unable to understand how a stranger was capable of seeing through his facade. While erroneously, overlooking the fact that his skills of deception were not that great.

“ Does this tall and crabby human have an affinity for lies or are his instincts just stronger than mine? ” Xen thinks as various questions linger within his mind.

Xen felt slightly embarrassed and greatly frustrated like a child who found out his parents discovered his candy stash. All because of cosmic comeuppance that appeared at the wrong time and while he was trying to deceive a sharp mind like Clyde. Fate truly was not on Xen's side.

“ Now I will be honest with you, ” Xen notes Clyde's short temperament and sensitivity to being called a shopkeeper as he did not want to offend the mage and have his eardrums rattled again. “ I'm interested in your work, which is why I bother you today, ” Xen pauses to think of his next set of words before he says anything else to Clyde.

“ Maybe I should get to the point. I wish to cooperate with you in the future if there is room for forgiveness today, ” Xen thought about extending his right hand to Clyde to show that he's willing to own up to his mistake. But Clyde's short temperament and his habit of door slamming made him rethink offering his hand for the moment.

“ ”

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Date: Third Day of Winter
Year: 515 A.V.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde simply stared blank faced at the man before him, waiting for him to answer or explain if he would.

He knew he'd taken the advantage, had used his positioning within the conversation to do so, and had left the other wrong footed. Which as a skilled interrogator was the opportune moment to strike.

Staring at the man before him, Clyde let out a huff of air before finally deigning to respond.

“Fine. Next time. If you return again, and ask me what you really want to ask, then perhaps I'll answer. But not today. Today I find your dishonesty annoying. Tomorrow... Tomorrow will be a new day, and perhaps I will have forgotten your impropriety.”

Clyde would wait a bit, in case the man before him wished to say one last thing, before slowly closing and re-locking the door.

His heat and anger broiled just under the surface, his annoyance having flared for a moment at the man. In time though that heat would cool, fading to disinterest in time.