Closed [Sullin's Residence]A Disconcerting Discourse[Loken]

[Clyde Sullins]

51 Fall 517

Clyde sat as he waited, inspecting one of the paintings in his front common room. It depicted a thick wooded area opening into a clearing, one that could easily be set most anywhere in Sylira and appear fitting. Clyde personally thought more of the wooded lands around Syliras, but one couldn't tell from the painting where it actually was.

As always Cha was in his hand, and Rye settled onto the ground at his side next to the bench Clyde rested upon. As always the dog was alert, but at the moment was resting and waiting.

After hearing of the events that had transpired the season prior with Sayana, Clyde had called for a city guard. If they were supposed to stop crime, something he doubted their ability to do after some of the things he'd seen, then surely they should be able to tell him what he wanted to know.

Namely the identities of the culprits going about beating upon his mistress while he was away. It was after all their job.

Clyde would have answers, and if they didn't want him blazing a trail across Ravok to find them they'd do well to get said answers for him, he thought to himself.

And so he waited, glancing at the clock off to the side, checking the time.

The front door was unlocked, and when the guard inevitably knocked Clyde would tell him to enter, rising to meet him and get a first appraising look at the person and their capabilities.

[Loken]

Fall 51st, 517 A.V.

Sitting toward the back, to one side of a gently moving Ravosala was the Ano Cultist guardsmen. He'd been in the watercraft some time, waiting to reach his destination as a leather bound book laid open on his lap. His eyes slowly shifted through the inner working of his written notes, rekindling the info into his long term memory. When he shifted to an empty page in his journal, he moved his arm to grasp the quill that rested in the inkwell nest to him. He always brought his empty backpack when he wanted to write, using the leather pack as a nest to keep the ink from spilling.

As the ravosala made its way down the canal leading from Fort Chrysone, he enjoyed the scenic view of The Vitrax's high walls, letting his attention drift upwards to the tall watchtowers, he assumed someone up there could turn the iris of his eye into a perfect bulls eye with an arrow. Despite that fact, Loken enjoyed the architecture of a sturdy wall. He tapped the pin to the ink, then started to slowly jot down a thought. He did his best to match the movement of the boat, only writing a word when things seemed calm.

"The Vitrax, Headquarters of the Ebonstryfe. Located south of Fort Chrysone. Faster route to The Nitrozian Plaza would have been to take the hub near The Institute of Higher Learning." Loken had no skill in map making, but he tried his best to orientate himself to the city at any chance he could.

The skinny ravosalawoman guiding his craft managed to look over her shoulder at the Cherry in her boat. "You look like a woman who has something on her mind?" He spoke without really looking at her, but could see her in his peripheral vision.

"The way you've been looking at things.... Gotta love livin' in the city, not like those ruffians on the shore. We ain't got them pests that are plaguing them. I heard entire food stores have gotten eaten up in a single night. Gonna put them outta business if it ain't fixed soon."

Loken canted his head towards her with a bemused expression. "True, Ravok is a beautiful city. However, the Ebonstryfe guard the Lakeshore. Being who they are, I can assume they knew how to rid themselves of a few rats before they starve to death."

When the boat moored itself to the plaza in front of the Sullin's Residence, Loken gave the woman a polite nod of his head after putting his things away to step onto the pathway. As he walked towards the entrance of the residence, Loken embodied the full uniformity of a well armed Cherry guardsmen carrying a short sword and a hand crossbow on his belt. There were only two things on his person that did not match his attire, and those obviously were his backpack and the wickedly sharp looking tiger hook sword that he wore from the weapons harness on his back.

All Loken knew as he lifted a hand to knock on the door was that a citizen simply requested the presence of a guardsmen in regards to a fight. Loken wished for more information on the matter, but was only given vague Hearsay. "City guard." When the voice from within welcomed him into the domicile, he'd open the door to stand just within the door frame. "What type of aid do you require today, Citizen?"

[Clyde Sullins]

At the moment Clyde was calm. Whether or not things would stay that way remained to be seen. When the door opened to admit the guard, Clyde rose as did Rye. The hound let out a low growl, eying the stranger as he entered their abode. As this occurred Clyde did as he usually did, reached out with his aura sight through Cha. A tendril of his awareness would reach out, snapping onto the edges of the man's aura and wrapping around it.

The first thing Clyde would look for would be signs of magic, anything active or current would likely be visible enough right away, though with enough time and focus he could likely detect even past traces and residue. Knowing what it was from, what magic or when or how much or how strong, was another thing. But that there was magic used upon or from would be noticeable given time to inspect, and given Clyde's own skill and practice at looking for just such a thing.

For now he was aware of the man like he was aware of the position of his own left arm in relation to himself.

After the man had fully entered and asked his question, Clyde ordered Rye to quite with a simple “Rye, sit.” The hound would stop his growling, sitting next to Clyde would continuing to glare at the man, or at least to look in his direction.

Using his mundane sight and what was visible within his aura Clyde inspected him for a moment, letting quiet settle for a half chime after his question as he seemed to pause for effect. In truth he was getting a good initial appraisal of his aura, and familiarizing himself with it.

He had a sword, a crossbow, and on his back another larger sword. Two blades seemed a bit redundant, but he supposed due to their varying length they had different uses.

Clyde held Cha like one would hold a woman and a weapon all in one, something that perhaps a skilled and appraising weapons user might notice.

“Simple, I need information on a crime. Last season my mistress, Sayana, was assaulted and beaten quite severely by several men. In public. I imagine while you were not able to stop said assault, if you are truly a city guard then you and your organization should be aware of this at least.”

Clyde paused for a moment, meeting the mans eyes with a glare that had been known to wither. Even without his magic visible Clyde carried the air of a man who suffered no fools, who knew how to handle himself, and who expected obedience.

“My duties called me away from the city, and I only just returned early this season. So I wasn't in town when this happened. This is the first chance I've gotten to ask about, as I've been on a duty tour working on the new road since I got back to town, and I only just returned home.”

“So I need to know what you, and your organization, knows. Namely the responsible parties. She has six arms, I doubt it was missed, or that you'd confuse it for another assault.”

[Loken]

As Loken entered the abode, he set his sights on the growling canine. He assumed the dogs owner had a nominal amount of control over the beast, at least enough to keep it from biting. So once it refrained from growling, he returned his sights back onto the creatures owner.

The dramatic pause given by the man allowed Loken the opportunity to let his own eyes take in the interior details of the home. In his opinion, it was a modestly humble abode that had no eye catching traits within its common area. Even as his eyes ran across each of the landscape paintings along the walls, the Guardsman had no interest in them.

The only one that even managed to keep his gaze for more than a tick of a clock was the painting of an eclipsed sun, mainly because one didn’t see that type of thing every day. Maybe it was his up bringing as a Ano cultist, but he found no joy in the sentiment associated with art.

Meanwhile, unknown to Loken.

Colors, shapes, smells, motions and swirls; there are endless ways an aura could be perceived. Although Loken knew none of that, even a lesser Aurist would be able to notice the obvious brilliance given off by an aura marked by a gnosis. His aura itself was gray in color, rigid, clearly like that of a man who lived a life trying to refrain from letting his emotions guide him. And weather or not Clyde could tell which god Loken was marked by, well that was another story entirely.

When Clyde began to speak, Loken listened intently. He hated having to repeat himself, so tried his best to avoid exposing others to his own pet peeve. His ears were wide open, but his eyes kept glancing towards Clyde's fidgeting extremity which kept stroking the wooden staff in the mans hand. His eyes returned to meet Clyde's once he had finished speaking.

"Given that I was not there personally, here is what I know. Fact number one: the alleged attack was never reported. And thus, was formally never looked into. Why and how an attack like that could be missed by the guard at the time is beyond me." Loken let the end of his statement linger in the air for a moment, using it to express his annoyance.

"Fact Number two: There are 'rumors' of one such assault connected, via hearsay, around reports given by eyewitness accounts of several men vandalizing a ravosala. Said ravosala seen by others heading towards this very residence."

That was it. That was all which was stated during his briefing at Fort Chrysone.

Loken's eyes started to wander as he went through certain stages of thought, speaking aloud as he thought deeper on the matter. "If your mistress is here, her personal testimony would be a report of the crime. And thus, the witnesses of the ravosala attack can be used to track down the guilty parties... they will be charged with both assaulting a civilian and property damage. If not, I will proceed to hunt them down for the witness-reported property damage."

oocI left it open, so you can have Sayana enter the thread to report it. Or we/you/me/us can hunt them down without her.

[Sayana]

While owning a business meant buying the original assets, repairing them when damaged, and being susceptible to income loss when injuries were obtained, it did have the luxury of sleeping in…. some of the time.

The windowless bedroom remained dark well into the morning. As a ravosala woman Sayana often had the flexibility of working all hours of the day, and sometimes well into the night. After Clyde had returned to the city proper, however, she had taken a couple days off (mostly) to enjoy some time with him. This also included some mornings of sleeping in.

As the Eypharian lay in bed she heard muffled voices from the common room. Clyde was definitely up. Sayana dressed quickly, not wanting to miss out. Maybe Shiress had made some breakfast for them. In a red and black dress, the Eypharian entered the common room and ran many fingers through her hair. However she stopped in mid-stride when she saw the visitor.

“Clyde, who is this?” She said almost accusingly. Either Clyde had forgotten to tell her or she had forgotten, having just woken up.

Her high hands crossed over her chest and her mids were poised upon her hips. By now all her limbs had completely healed and she approached the pair cautiously, mostly keeping her eyes on the stranger. The man appeared to be dressed formally, sort of like the guards she’d seen on the streets.

Sayana gravitated to the mage’s side and ran a high hand up his back. Reaching, she gave a kiss to his cheek and settled a pair of arms around his waist.

“And good morning Clyde. Sleep well?”

Credit: Shimoje

[Clyde Sullins]

As Clyde began to examine the mans aura as usual it began as a bloom of grey about the person. After a short while colors began to come in, turning from grey to a silvery hue with shots of red and other hues he couldn't quite name. But overall it was a calm sweeping of silver, similar to grey but alive if flatly so.

While Clyde had run into one particular gnosis which was clearly visible upon ones aura, most were not. While some traits of such a gnosis wielder might be evident the gnosis itself wasn't in this case. Of course since it was a deity Clyde wasn't familiar with he was unlikely to notice even such signs or traits as being related to a gnosis, and were traits often seen on his own aura.

Clyde wasn't expecting the man to have his answers, nor to have been present when the incident occurred. Instead his main focus was on expressing his displeasure, and on getting answers. If that meant the man had to go, gather said answers, and return, then so be it. He didn't expect things to be settled in one conversation, but he did want to get the ball rolling so to speak in his search for said settling.

As the man began to speak hints and sparks of orange flickered into the meld of his aura, a meaningless color out of context but likely intended to mean something to his mind.

However the colors mixed with his words and tone said much to someone as experienced in observing and questioning as Clyde was. Ire? Annoyance? Not directly at Clyde, but at the failings of his fellow guard members? If it wasn't an act it seemed likely.

At the word alleged, spoken almost as a challenge to his words, a small spark of anger flared in Clyde's eyes, but faded by the end of his next exhale. While he meted out anger ad emotion in his speech, and let loose when needed, he kept a firm reign on it the rest of the time.

As he brought up Sayana Clyde pondered things, mulling them over for several moments. Before he had a chance to respond however, Sayana herself showed up. He wasn't too worried about charging them, if they were guilty he would find out and make sure such a mistake didn't occur again on there parts. While the guard might try to go after them in one way though, Clyde was more worried about whomever had planned it. The instigator.

Clyde knew well enough, and had a healthy enough sense of preservation and paranoia to know such a thing wasn't random. Which meant while they might find the guilty party, they'd be less likely to address the root problem.

As Sayana placed a hand upon Clyde he gestured to the stranger in their house.

“He is a guard. I called him here to learn what they know of your attack. He only just arrived.”

Instead of an answer to her question he twitched a quick smile at Sayana, something that faded back to seriousness by the time he faced the guard.

Nodding to the guard and directly addressing him, Clyde continued.

“This is my mistress, Sayana. The person attacked.”

Just after the the word attacked was spoken Clyde huffed out his nose, and their was a subtle almost easy to miss flaring of res. Two tiny coughs- one from each nostril were loosed. As he inhaled a half moment later the half coughs of silvery res disappeared once more, easy to miss or to think it was but a trick of the light, particularly to one not familiar with Reimancy and Res.

It was yet another unconsciously desired exuding of his res, his djed acting upon his intent without direct usage or willing, and but the slightest loosening of his power such that even Clyde wasn't fully aware of it. Like a grain of sand dropped into a well, not even leaving a true ripple as a pebble or stone would.

Once more meeting the guards direct attention with a glare, Clyde continued.

“Dogs are dogs though, only dangerous when let off their leash. While that doesn't mean the dogs should not be given a lesson and taught not to bite someone, the one who let them off their leash it just as important. While I want to know the dogs, to give them a good scolding and teach them of their foolishness, the main and true problem is the man once holding said leash.”

“I don't believe in coincidences, particularly ones such a this, to a person living under my roof.”

While Clyde didn't outright say it, he hoped to explain to the guard the depth of the situation beyond some random lynching. And perhaps also explaining one of his earlier questions, how such a thing could be ignored and not noticed by the guard.

Clyde didn't believe the attack was a coincidence, but was in fact an attack indirectly against him, or if nothing else a pointed statement to Clyde.

[Loken]

Loken had an impressive amount of self control. He was not a lusty person, neither did he even have any desire to be close to others romantically. However, he was a man who found inspiration in the symmetry of geometric beauty. When Sayana arrived, his eyes scanned her facial features. The proportions of the length of her nose in comparison to the position of her eyes and the length of her chin, all while remaining away of the ratio of her head size.

It was then that he placed her in the rankings of being the second most beautiful person he’d ever seen in his life. Not out of lust, but as a factual statement. His eyes shifted back over to Clyde once the man started to converse with him again. At first glance, the Guardsman had not even thought about the prospects of intrigue being a motive for the assault until Clyde had suggested it. He did not dismiss the notion, but stored it away as something to dig into as he searched for the guilty party.

It was at that moment when Loken realized he had yet yo introduce himself on a more personal level. That aspect of being 'social' was only triggered upon the realization of being in the presence of an Eypharian. As an Ano Cultist who lived in Ahnatep for years, he knew such practices when far in her culture.

"Awioth-eniya" He spoke out in a clear tone in Arumenic towards Sayana, lifting both of his hands upward to make a crescent shape gesture; given that when Eypharians made the gesture when wanting to be extra polite, they used their lower hands to make the gesture. He assumed all Eypharian saw normal human arms as being lesser hands, so emulated it. In common, the formal greeting translating to 'May you be able to balance glory'.

He continued to speak in Arumenic after the greeting. "My name is Loken, tira-Sayana. As was spoken, I am looking for the people who assaulted you. That means anything you can offer to aid me would be greatly appreciated."

Loken added the word tira to her name since it was a complimentary term for a young, unmarried women. He then turned to Clyde to introduce himself to the man in common. "Given how closely I'll be to you in regards to the situation, you should know that my name is Loken." He went through the motion of fully wearing his backpack. "Just so we are clear, If those guilty were hired by someone else. Then they would also be arrested for incitement to do harm. But that is only if her 'alleged' attackers relay that information.."

Loken used the word alleged again, waiting for Sayana to formally tell him about the attack before he would brake that barrier of plausible deniability. In his own way, he also spoke in a way that hinted at using 'any means necessary' to get the attackers to come clean about any hidden motivations. Loken was a City Guardsman, but if one truth caused his logic to become well-founded, it meant using force was a necessary tool for the investigation.

Nano WC: 525

[Sayana]

A guard. Clyde had called for a guard to learn what he could of the ‘incident’, the attack, from last summer. Before she could restrain herself with a calm mask, her eyebrows had narrowed and a frown slipped upon her face. This was her fight, her problem, and his… way of showing that he cared.

Her face softened and her tense grip a moment ago relaxed. Clyde was doing his due diligence. Even if she felt she might be better equipped to track down her attackers, in all this time she had done nothing of the sort. Nothing, out of her own inadequacy or due to weak cowardice.

But despite the slow quelling of her internal conflict of pride and gratitude to her lover, what the stranger did next snapped her immediately out of her thoughts.

The soft clear words, like a desert breeze and hot rays beating down on her skin. It was jarring, so out of context and by one who was merely two-armed, yet it certainly got her attention. Her eyes went first to his face and then to the lifting of his hands. But it wasn’t just a farce or a coincidental phrase he happened to know. The guard, Loken, continued on in the language of her people even though she herself had long switched to Common as her dominant language.

Sayana detached herself from Clyde and stepped to one side. Her gaze roved up and down Loken a second time, taking him in and trying to identify his origins. At last, she repeated the greeting, “Awioth-eniya.” Then with a slight smile as the nuances of the language came back to her, she added, “Eysh-na.”

While she had doubts as to whether Loken was actually a half-breed, ‘lesser-arms’ was a fitting term to describe someone already so knowledgeable in the language and most likely the culture.

When she did not immediately provide information, Loken soon slipped back into Common and introduced himself for the benefit of Clyde. But when the guard stressed the word ‘alleged’, she was no longer able to hold her tongue.

“It was an attack. I have… I had injuries that could attest to it. My right mid wrist was broken.” She thrust it out, and there were only faint markings that might suggest that the healed wrist had been injured. “My slave had it fixed. There were witnesses. And it was not just a fall. I do not simply fall. But I remember their faces. Each of them.”

Her words were like the patter of raindrops. Jumbled, not overly loud but also not organized in a concise manner.

“I could find them, if I could just, just see their faces one more time.”

Yet despite her words, she had not taken the steps needed to seek out her assailants. She instinctively kept to quieter canals, avoided peak times of the day, and dared not go to busy places such as the Temple of the Black Sun. While she did not actively hide as she may have done before, neither did she actively set out to be in places in which she might chance upon the familiar faces of her attackers.

Credit: Shimoje