Looking at the Konti, the key emotion she seemed to respond with was surprise. Surprise at what he'd said and how he'd acted. Perhaps Clyde's reaction was over the top, but in his personal experience people didn't react well to other people they didn't know knowing intimate and private details of their life.
For a moment he thought she might run away, giving up on whatever she was trying to do. She even looked away as if she might, but in the end she stuck her ground and tried to continue on with their conversation. This if nothing else seemed to imply that she wanted something from Clyde, she simply hadn't gotten to the point and clearly stated what that was yet.
As she tried to twist her features, standing straight, concealing her past look of fear with an amused expression, he saw it for the act that it was.
When she mentioned a cane, Clyde narrowed his eyes, unsure what she was talking about. It took him a moment to register she meant Cha, which was clearly a staff and not a cane. A cane being much smaller perhaps waist height, and hooked at the end, while Cha was almost as tall as Clyde. Even among staffs she was an unusually long instance. Most were about 2/3 the height, while Cha was closer to 5/6 his.
Clyde kept his face blank, measuring his breathing and keeping calm and without showing too much, exhaling out his emotions and distractions to keep only what he needed. If he was going to win in this game of faces, he was going to do so by not showing one.
He waited until she finished her spiel, her words and story of which a bit was likely true but of which he had an inkling a good bit was a fabrication. He knew how to interrogate people, knew how to get information out of people, and could see quite a few clear signs that she wasn't being as open and honest nor as calm as she tried to show.
“Yes, I am a stranger. So then, correct me if I'm wrong, but strangers don't like to have other strangers walk up to them and announce intimate details of their private lives. Call me nutty, but I imagine that holds true to anyone, not just me.”
Smiling and holding up Cha for inspection for a moment, Clyde gestured with the staff in his hand.
“Second, I don't carry a cane. Old men carry canes. This is Cha. She is a staff.”
“She is from Mura, I did get the wood of which she was made from here, and have been on the isle before. I didn't purchase it though, I found it with the aid of a Konti I met on that trip.”
Her words did trigger some memories, ones that had been bubbling up over the course of their conversation, and in response to her words.
He recalled his last visit here, of the Konti he'd met then knowing his name without him revealing it. That had seemed a bit less odd though than what this woman had done.
He also recalled a much smaller and odder memory, tucked away in some odd corner of his mind and almost forgotten. A woman near the Suvan, one with three flowers tattooed on her skin, though not a normal tattoo of any kind. In hindsight, he was fairly certain they'd been gnosis markings. He vaguely recalled the words of the Nitrozian, though couldn't recall the specifics.
She'd predicted the Djed Storm before it had happened, and her prediction of it was the only reason he was now alive, along with the other surviving members of their party. They'd had the misfortune to the be on the edge of the Suvan when it occurred.
Smiling once more, Clyde examined the Konti and her scaled flesh, before shaking his head.
“You seem awfully surprised for someone who says they can predict the future. If that is true, why didn't you know I was coming, and how I'd react? Instead, you told me about something that has already happened, a much easier thing than telling my future.”
From Clyde's own experience, knowing the past wasn't impossible. Even with Auristics to a degree it was possible, but not in so refined a fashion. He'd done it once before when deep in an aura, though it had been vague and random, and not intentional. With that known, her doing it seemed within the realm of the possible, at least as far as magic went.
Telling the future however, that he assumed was far more difficult. He knew it could be done, as he'd benefited from it, from one who could do it, but he doubted it was such a common thing as this Konti said.
He knew from his own gnosis that things happened in steps, with more powerful things happening with higher level marks. Like Those of the single or double white eyes, and of Druvin. They had more marks, and a deeper connection to Rhysol, and thus more abilities inherited from it.
Logically then, in an obtuse and oddly disconnected manner, this flower gnosis wasn't so different. In his experience magic tended to work that way, being similar in form and methods if not in function.
“Now, you wouldn't be lying to me, would you? Lying isn't a good idea, particularly when done poorly, whether a Konti or not.”
Smiling once more, Clyde faced the Konti, having kept his same stature and standing throughout, not oddly shuffling about and moving as this girl was.
“So, why not try something novel. Try telling me the truth of things, as I've done for you, the truth of what you can do and what you really want, and perhaps I'll take you a bit more seriously in turn.”
“Also, a word to the wise. Trying to appear overly casual only shows how not casual and calm you really are. Haven't you ever heard of overcompensating? The person fighting to appear most calm, is often the least, and the least in control. If you aren't calm, then there is no point in faking it, that just draws attention by your bad acting.”
