[Sanity Center] Happenstance [Stas]

[Hadrian]

28th Winter, 510 A.V. From time to time, Hadrian required a break from Alvadas. When he was able, he would spend some time in the Sanity Center, not asking questions, but merely reveling in the hard, defined reality of things there. When he could not find the Sanity Center, he would attempt to meditate, which was how he had combated malevolent illusions in the past, but he could not exist in a constant state of trance. Or perhaps he could, but he wasn't sure that was the sort of life he wanted to live, and he had heard that Ionu blessed those who embraced the transitory nature of reality in Its realm. Just so, Hadrian sat in a chair, out of the way of the more needy patrons who came seeking help rather than merely reprieve. The dark shadows under his eyes bespoke his struggle with the constant bombardment upon the defenses of his mind, and while he attempted to open himself to the malleable possibility of existence in Alvadas, attempting a conversation with the unknowable deity of illusions, here in the more anchored space, he murmured his prayers to Eyris, the goddess that seemed most like a patron deity to him. The dark circles made his chlorine-blue eyes stand out all the more in his pale, drawn face. One might mistake him for a Symenestra with his gangling body and hunted look, but he was merely a young man attempting to ride lightning, to swim through a tornado and come out the other side in one relatively recognizable piece. He wasn't sure how long he could remain in Alvadas, but he wanted to experience what the city had to offer before returning, most likely to Syliras. And then... and then he had to decide whether he would return to Zeltiva where his network among the magical community was strongest, or to Sahova where he had met some of the more powerful magical minds of the time, or elsewhere... for whatever purposes. He needed money if he was going to be a magecrafter. The overhead was a killer. As he mulled over his future, he carefully Fluxed his internal djed about, seeking that old equilibrium that Alvadas seemed intent on disrupting. He drained as much energy out of his head and limbs as possible without killing or injuring himself, gathering it at his root. He imagined it was red, but he didn't engage his Auristic vision. With the Flux, he tried to work by feeling, not wanting to rely too much on Auristics. In any event, it was a more secret, personal sensitivity, and one not linked to vision, which was so easily bent here. He pulled the djed up his centerline, activating his sacral energy center, orange; his solar plexus, yellow; his heart center, green; his throat center, blue; his third eye, violet; and his crown, pure white. Once these pools of energy seemed even and healthy, he allowed the energy to seep back into his limbs, filling every bit of him. Now his head hurt a bit less, though he rubbed his hands together, trying to chafe some heat back into them. A side effect, but only a temporary one. Glancing about, he was glad to see he wasn't the worst off.

[Stas Grigori]

28th of Winter, 510 A.V. Stas quietly closed the door behind him. It may have only been his second day in Alvadas, but he was swiftly developing an intimate understanding of the correctness of the buildings name. 'Sanity, this place ought to expand and have a room to sit and eat in. He yanked the door back open then closed it with something more of a slam the second time. There was a long, heavy jacket about him today and the trailing edge around his ankles had gotten trapped by the door. Finally free of his temporary restriction, he reached back without thinking to check his hair hadn't been captured this time around, then moved into the actual building. 'Well, I don't see Serenity behind the desk. No difference to yesterday then. She won't pester me about lingering in here then. His murky eyes stayed set on the empty chair for a moment before he swept around the room. It was exactly as untidy and unkempt as the day before, which brought a twitching half-sneer to his lips, one that was particularly apparent in the right side of his top lip. 'No fire today however, and that is always an improve...oh..' "Hello...Waiting on Sereity?" 'That explains where the chair in the front went then.' Stas did not expect to see anyone else in here, particularly not around what he called eating bell, and particularly not a scrawny looking, dark eyed kid with thick eyebrows that gave him this strangely intense image. That this person was also deeply pale and had what could pass for faded black paint under his eyes, did not help ease the sort of confused reaction Stas was feeling. 'Weird little...Well let's not jump to any early thoughts about someone I don't know. Long as he doesn't try to jump me. Stas turned more to face the person occupying the chair, specifically to face and focus on a space a few inches to the right of the 'kids' head. His teacher had always said to never perfectly face anyone, whether body or by gaze. He was told it made it very easy for those capable of doing so to dig thoughts that Stas might want kept secret into the open. While he had never met someone capable of this, the habit was drilled into him and it was the posture he kept now. He was never taught however, to not scan new people, and he flickered his eyes over the 'kids' body. Stas' original perception that he was small, was not the best one. He could see now that although he was quite thin, his legs stretched well out from the chair. 'This guy is built like I am, long bloody legs, and something of a short torso.' He had to arrest himself, for he was shaking his head at his own thoughts, setting his hair to falling around his face which he left there, hanging down below his collarbones.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian's gaze snapped to the newcomer, and while he was not malevolent in intent, he had been made aware that he was "intense" or "creepy" no matter what his intentions. Here in the Sanity Center, where things made sense, he instantly snapped his Auristic Vision into being, making sure the man moving into his vicinity was what he seemed. Relaxing slightly when he didn't see anything amiss, just a somewhat chaotic aura that was understandable given that outside these walls, reality was questionable. His voice when he answered was rather gravelly from disuse. "Not waiting," he corrected, "just resting." His chin nodded toward the world beyond the door that had caught the man up in his entrance. "It's a jungle out there." He paused, then attempted to be polite and friendly. "I'm Hadrian. I've gotta get out of here."

[Stas Grigori]

Stas turned his head slightly further away for a moment before being drawn into what seemed to be a miniature staring event. He found the 'kid' to have very heavy eyes, 'Who wouldn't, with those brows', and fervently hoped he wouldn't make it worse by finding him to be a living flambé. The jacket he wore of course held pockets and he sunk his right hand into one to quietly thumb a gold miza tucked away in there while he dealt with people. "If you're going somewhere half as calm as this and a little more interesting, show me the way. I am Stas, and I wish it was a jungle of trees and terror. Easier to navigate." Slowly shaking his head again he had to hold off once more. 'I must get a better hold on that. If I keep doing things I do while alone I'm going to make an idiot of myself.' Considering that he was far more practised at being thoughtful than being sociable, he focused his pondering on the 'kid', or rather Hadrian. The eyes were still heavy and had a sharpness to them that seemed a bit peculiar for a moment, but was passed off as one of the innumerable oddities of the town of Alvadas that Stas had already encountered. He certainly looked young, and Stas found himself sort of smirking, the right side of his face twitching upwards slightly as he wondered if he himself was coming across as an elderly, wandering bastard. He had been told his hair was much too long and stringy to be anything other than a hermits of some sort. Stas did not shift his stare while he thought, and though he would return to his well practised experience and centre his eyes at the periphery of Hadrian's head once their little eye battle was over, for now he kept the orbs where they were. And managed to look somewhat womanly when he reached up to tug a lock of hair that was tickling his throat away, and ended up somehow sending it around to tickle his nose. His entire face sort of clenched up at that and after another small performance as with his entrance, when he finally had his hair sorted and behind his head, he made a mental note. 'Find something new to tie hair back with. I lost my blasted bag of leather ties on the ride in.'

[Hadrian]

Hadrian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, then rubbed at the tension in his temples. If there was a contest of wills or staring, he was unaware of it. In any case, if he had stared much longer, he would have suspected the man of trying to hypnotize him. Whether that was a safe assumption or not was difficult to tell anymore; Alvadas was taking its toll upon his mental health. "Back to Syliras first," he mumbled, vaguely considering whether it was worth trying to set up shop when Devan had been hired by the Knighthood to fulfill all their magecrafting needs. "Then... somewhere..." He had developed this nervous tick: with a negligible amount of energy, he could produce a little res between his fingers, and convert it into water just before raking back his hair. It was getting a little long, and a little bit of moisture helped keep it back a bit longer. Perhaps it was the man's own trouble with his hair that made the tick come out in Hadrian just then. It had started out as a funny trick, but lately he had been doing it without realizing, engaging in hydromancy on a small scale. Perhaps it was good practice, and certainly it was without effort now. Only sometimes he realized how bad it was getting when he realized his hair was sopping wet. Not a good idea in the Winter. One could catch their death of cold. This time he realized what he was doing and it was only a single pass of a wet hand through his hair. He had to keep both his wits and his power about him here. "What?" He could have sworn the man asked him something.

[Stas Grigori]

Stas hadn't said a word further, but he did find himself suspicious for a small moment. Not being skilled in any form of advanced detection, he was still sure he saw a slight streak of water go through his hair. Deciding perhaps it was just his lingering discomfort with the new city, he put it out of his mind. Instead he let his gaze turn around the room, his body shifting halfway so that his left side faced the man, before looking back at him. "I didn't say anything. Also, I had meant somewhere closer to hand, such as the stables." Managing to avoid shaking his head, he took a look towards the door, and with what he thought was a small contest entirely evaporating, he found himself able to calm down a great deal. Except for the strange, wet fingers where there shouldn't be any. 'Drop it. There's not point in being suspicious over nothing. It was just a trick of the light, I have enough visual problems for that to not be another one on occasion.' "Now that you mention it however, what is in Syliras? I don't want to offend you, but if you're a knight my toes can sing hymns to Ionu." He found himself clenching his eyebrows together, managing to look a bit wrathful though that wasn't how he felt. He was simply in a tight moment of though, suddenly concerned he had insulted the 'kid' and he hadn't meant to. It was just...He had seen one ages and ages ago, and there was no way this Hadrian was one any more than Stas himself was. And with a simple and perhaps totally mad realisation that he may just have invited more than an annoyed quip of the tongue, he pulled his right hand from his pocket and rubbed the pad of his thumb back and forth the insides of his four fingers. As he did so, a slight and wispy gas followed his thumb as if it was a bit of heat haze stuck to his skin. For this tiny bit of res, he did not have to say or make any special movement to remain focused on and in control of it. Stas always found that the first press of res like this, and how light and ticklish it felt against his skin was a pleasure that gaze his spine a deep, tingling shiver. It was a precautionary measure, for he made the small, swirling threading of res attract a bit of pressure from the air around his hand. As he did, he returned his gaze to the face of Hadrian, attempting to both stay friendly, and to aim should he need to do anything to protect himself.

[Hadrian]

"Oh," Hadrian said, mollified. He shrugged off the comment, whether insult or otherwise. "No, I'm not a Knight. I came from there, though. I need to return to conclude some business, perhaps pick up some more. I probably won't stay there long..." He trailed off, musing. It was difficult sometimes to take people as people here, when they could very well be figments of the imagination. "What's in the stables?" he asked, suddenly returning to the thread of conversation. "Bum-buggering unicorns? Pegasi...?" Perhaps he shouldn't have said that. Perhaps this Stas was the sort to bugger horses in the bum, something about which Hadrian certainly didn't need to know. If there was none of that going on, though, perhaps he should visit the stables and see what those were like here in Alvadas.

[Stas Grigori]

Stas had to stop himself from releasing a loud, heavy sigh as he realised he was merely over thinking the situation. He did release the build up of res that had been swirling around in his palm, and directed it up the inside of his sleeve to gain a bit of cool wind across his skin. 'I must get a handle on picking up suspicious behaviour. I don't believe I look it, but I cannot stay this nervous' "Considering this town, I wouldn't be surprised. I don't know what is there, but it's where I'm heading next." He gestured with a hand towards the door. "I need to tie my horse up someone that won't move every ten minutes. She can't stay here all the time." Shaking his head as he had been doing he gave Hadrian something of a look. "You've been here longer than I have. Come with me. This place is easy to find, and I saw what I think is the temple yesterday, but I don't have a good handle on moving about yet." 'Perhaps it's a risk doing this, but I've got a better chance of moving around and not screwing myself over if I have someone around. And he may have a weird look to his face, but I can handle him if he tries to stab me.' So was the way he though, and more piled ontop of it about socialising himself, having a semi-guide and so forth.

[Hadrian]

"All right," he said quietly, deciding promptly. He had already had his rest here in the Sanity Center, and this wasn't doing what he had come to Alvadas to do: to learn about illusion. Standing up slowly, he stretched a little. He was quite tall, but gangling. Black hair all a-muss, he looked rather like a stormcrow with too intelligent eyes. Hadrian brushed past Stas, which might have opened his back to a dagger's fall, but he wasn't trained for combat anyway, so if Stas knew what he was doing with a dagger, Hadrian would probably die anyway. When he stepped out of the Sanity Center, everything looked... normal. That had to be wrong. Or was this really Alvadas and it was just trying to mess with his head further? He sighed, waiting for Stas to follow. "I suppose we just embrace the illusion, keep the idea of the stables in the forefront of our minds as a destination, and perhaps our feet will just lead us there..."

[Puzzle]

Thread Complete! "What a well made thread we have here." Thread Review Incredible character dynamic, though ultimately a very casual thread. I was really hoping for some more nitty-gritty interaction, but I'm sure that will come in time! Hope to see more from you both! Hadrian   Skills Auristics: +1 Flux: +2 Reimancy: +1 Small Talk: +5 Paranoia: +5   Lore   Ledger   Notes I have noticed this PC using magic so frequently, I have wondered as to how he has not received any sort of ailments from over-giving. If your character is performing magic on a daily basis, I would say that is a little too much for recovery. Magic is not conveniently used in Mizahar, and it has dangerous consequences. Please be mindful not to use it so commonly and for menial tasks - they have a price. While this concept isn't really defined or specified in Mizahar's wiki, I feel it might be useful for Hadrian as he is using magic on an almost constant basis. Please take great care going forward. Stas   Skills Small Talk: +5 Paranoia: +5 Reimancy: +2   Lore   Ledger   Reward