Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 3:47:21 AM) Adam walked the mile-odd from the University to his little apartment.Certainly, he could own a car, but he didn't see the point. Besides,the walk probably did him some good. Old rural sensibilities refusing to die. Of course, he also wasn't terribly fond of the heat, so he hadn't seen the sun except through windows in a week. Leaving just as it was rising, not leaving until after it'd set and cooled off. It only meant he was out of the house for 14-16 hour stretches and didn't have much of a life. Business as usual. Walking along after dark didn't trouble him too much. With his head down and his hands in his pockets Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 3:53:03 AM) I was out walking, as well. Patrolling, really. I don't know when this habit started. SOmetime after my Awakening, but I wasn't entirely certain of that; that whole time is really fuzzy to me, and I've never had a really solid grasp of Time anyway. A few nights each week, I'll go for a walk. I always have the feeling I'm looking for something, but I never know what it is. Most of the time, I don't find it. This time, I do. I spot Devenallt as he's walking toward me. I'm not sure it's him at first; my eyes aren't perfect, so I have to squint, but I finally recognize him when he's about twenty feet or so from me. "Heya, doc!" I lit a cigarette as I waited for him to catch up to me. "Just get off work?" So had I, as a matter of fact. Fuck fast food, I needed a better job. Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 4:03:31 AM) "Wha?" Adam turned at the voice, peering myopically through his glasses until he recognized who it was. He seldom forgot things like that. "Oh...Noswaith dda. Good evening, Lerrick" He remembered the young man's rather voracious desire to learn things Anything. And unlike the other person he knew who was like that, Adam felt he actually might have something he hadn't heard before. Which always made him likely to stop ang give Lerrick the time of day, despite that he couldn' figure out how to set his watch. To couch a metaphor. "Sort of expected you turning up again," he caught up pretty quickly, shrugging the remark off with a roll of one shoulder Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 4:07:47 AM) I stumble over the pronunciation, going over it until I get it right. "Neat. Noswaith dda. Konban-wa yourself, doc." I snicker a bit. "Yeah, I do that. You know, walkin' like that pegs you as an easy mark for a mugger. Head down, hands in pockets. Prey posture." Body language is the most basic form of communication, and I know a bit about it. ...and he's shiny. The Dragon's eyes show it stirring sluggishly in him, not as bright and seething as Alex, but similar. I hold it in reserve. I'm not the world's best hinter, but I'll try and draw him out. "So talk to me, Doc." I say expansively, blowing smoke, "feel like investing in a little safety in numbers?" Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 4:13:31 AM) "dd"...stressing the tough syllable while Lerrick struggled with the pronunciation. It was the same soft 'th' in Rhondda. And when he got it pretty close, Adam smiled approvingly Taking his hands from his pockets and looking briefly perplexed, he shrugged his assent, falling into step with the other man "Sure thing, boyo. What do you want to talk about?" Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 4:17:14 AM) "Oh, this'n that. Something I've been wondering about, since we last talked, actually. All the best old stories seem to be in Europe. Hard to find any of the old tales here in Central America, so...what brings you here?" I really was curious, and I watch him as he answers. ~Strange, who you feel protective of.~ What brings that comment on? ~Well, you do.~ Shit, man, anyone geekier than myself NEEDS protection. A smile flickered across my face at my Avatar's laughter. Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 4:22:05 AM) "Oh,I know a few people that would disagree with you. Just because there haven't been Europeans here more than five hundred years..." ..although...if Duncan's archaeological findings were accurate... "I accepted a teaching post at the University. I have some colleagues here." It certainly wasn't the entire story, but it sufficed. ~You do not.~ Maybe hate's a bit strong... ~Yeah. Fear's closer.~ Fuck off. "Good to have friends." I walk in silence a while, just puffing on the cigarette and looking around. Black Isles by night. "...gotta kinda funny question. Seen anything weird since you got here?" Yeah. Subtle as a train wreck. Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 4:29:17 AM) ((Night, Beq!)) Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 4:35:13 AM) "Two things to do with my kind of doctorate, Lerrick. Teach or write. I've done both." The vaguely amused look on his face only deepened at the question, and he actually laughed. Quietly - the kind of laugh that usually meant he was the only one laughing, and it tapered off into a soft sigh., "Now you're sounding a little like one of the old ladies in my village." It was an innocent jibe. He probably didn't have a sincerely mean bone in his body Something to do with being able to describe the place he'd grown up in as a village, maybe. "What kind of weird?" He hadn't been laughing it off. Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 4:44:35 AM) I look around to make sure we're alone, and then stand in front of him, stopping. My eyes take on a strange gleam as I give him a grin, the kind that has been described alternately as devilish to downright satanic. "This kind of weird," I whisper. Moonlight and starlight on a clear summer night pools in my hands as I cup them before him, forming a glowing silver ball that begins to spin gently, casting our faces in sharp relief. "I'm no good with subtlety, Doc, so I'll be blunt. Some of those stories are true." I dismiss the ball by spreading my hands, letting the magic fall apart. I debate telling him about his own marks, though I'm not sure what they mean. "....and believe me, I'm the least dangerous thing in this town. If you're gonna walk at night, don't do it alone. Call me. I sleep during the day anyhow." Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 4:46:36 AM) ((Yay, nine paradox. *twirls finger* Lerrick'll bloody well kill himself one day.)) Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 4:55:49 AM) "Ah...wh.." Adam responded by stammering out a couple of little Welsh noises. The expression on his face was mingled aweand confusion and some transient fleeting thing that might have been fear. Or just superstion. Hegawked openly for a long moment "....and what manner of creature are you?" He was taking a symbolic firm step away from the younger man when he found his voice. . Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 5:01:00 AM) My lips tighten a bit. ~Bad time for temper, Lerrick! Remember your Awakening!~ Mine was slow. I don't have TIME for that. ~You can't afford to alienate anyone, either!~ I bite down on the fleeting irritation. "I'm as human as you, Devenallt." Boy, does THAT phrase have more tahn one meaning here. "I just...know how to do things. Look, you've got some connection to it all too. I haven't figured it out yet. I should have been more subtle, I guess, but like I said, I'm a subtle as a tornado." I run a hand through my hair and light another cigarette. "Look, I'm sorry if I frightened you, but I didn't know any other way to get my point across." Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 5:11:32 AM) The moment Lerrick mentioned him being frightened, Adam was suddenly determined to not show it. The look on his face was replced by a keenly curious one.. Squinting at Lerrick while he went on, adjusting his glasses with one hand. After a moment, he craned his head, looking over Lerrick's shoulder at the pool of light from a streetlamp behind him. Checking to make sure the boy had a shadow. "Tell me." It was close to one of those statements that often came unbidden to his lips, but he wanted to know. Maybe that's why he was so fond of Lerrick, he thought - recognizing some quality of himself there. That great desire to know things. And he'd spent a good part of his rather insane career searching for 'connections.' Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 5:16:40 AM) It's not altogether unexpected when it hits. Fire races along my veins, and I can feel it pulsing, trying to get out, the moonlight I had just collected sparking in my eyes and on my skin.... But I endure. I am stronger than this. And when it's done, I'm smiling -- that tight, almost vicious smile of a man very pleased with defeating a hated enemy. I realize suddenly that this expression might not be so reassuring to the good doctor, so I make an effort to make it a normal smile. "Sorry. Push reality around, she gets around to pushin' back." I indicate he come with me. And I do have a shadow. Though this would have been a hilarious moment for the shadow to start jumping up and dancing like it had at the club. "Me....I'm a ....well, easiest word is mage. A user of magic. A mystic, a willworker. I met one kid out there...kind of like what you have, only brighter, more lurid. Still not sure what the connection is. But the magic can let me see these things, and I see it in you." I shrugged. "Mostly, I showed you what I did to show you the interest I really had in the old tales -- maybe there's something in them I can actually use." Adam Devenallt (Jenn B.) (8/9/2005 5:29:07 AM) Turning and following Lerrick was likely one of the bravest things Adam had done in his life. Outside of getting up in front of panels of people and,essentially, telling them Stonehenge had been built by a mythic race of people who had left little other archaeological traces of their existence. Especially after that little display. His curiosity won out - he listenened to what the lad was saying, taking meticulous mental notes. "You've got the Sight." Like in stories. He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal - although he might have been just trying to codify and name it. "But...what do you meanby...?" He began a question that he wouldn't get to finish. Lerrick Walker (Eric the Bard) (8/9/2005 5:36:44 AM) I thought I'd beaten the backlash. I was wrong. As he voices his question, Reality strikes back. It feels like a giant slap, and I'm lifted off my feet and hurled like a skipping stone. Funny, I always thought flying would be pleasant... I slam into a building, and consciousness leaves me with one last parting thought: This is SO going to hurt. Then everything goes black, and I crumple, unconscious, to the pavement.