• Solo • Can't You Hear Me Knocking

[Tio Silver]

Faldrass: VonDwight Laboratory
84th Zi'da, 717

Book! Books everywhere!

That was the only thing that Tio's life down in his newly refurbished laboratory seemed to subsist of ever since he'd taken the damn thing over. Every book, journal and scrap of paper needed to be meticulously read through in search of clues that could lead him to VonDwight's current location, but the professor had sure picked up a heck of a lot of books during the arcs he'd been in the place! The good news was that the endless stream of text had done wonders to educate Tio on the theoretical aspects of necromancy that Zavious had neglected to teach him. The bad news was that thralls couldn't read, and so Tio was on the verge of ripping his hair out as he forced himself to take in the contents of another dry, dusty book.

"Risas! More coffee!" He shouted, both aloud and through his spark, to his skeletal thrall. Caffeine was the only thing that seemed to be getting him through this nightmare, and so during the time spent down there Tio had drank a truly horrendous amount of the stuff that'd give any decent doctor a heart attack if they heard about it. The chattering of bony teeth served as a reply to show that his message was understood, and a short while later the marrow came out of the kitchen holding a poorly made but still satisfactory mug of the black nectar. Tio said his thanks and took the coffee, raising it up to his lips to take a sip, when something he'd never expected happened.

There was a knock at the door.

Tio froze, and slowly looked over to Risas as if to ask if he'd heard that too. He could have sworn he had but-... but that couldn't be possible, right? He'd definitely closed the secret door behind him, and when he'd first found the lab it hadn't seemed like anyone else had discovered it during the 80 arcs since VonDwight had abandoned the place. How then could anybody else have found out about the place? Unless...

Another knock sounded on the door, louder this time.

What if it was VonDwight, returning to his lab after all these years and surprised to find that someone had changed the locks?! Who else knew that this place existed after all? If so then perhaps this could be his chance to finally get his hands on the secret of the Phoenix Stones! Destiny could have quite literally delivered it to his doorstep!

Grabbing his cutlass from where it was leaning against his desk, Tio slowly drew the blade and with light footsteps tiptoed over to the door, commanding Risas to follow behind him with his short sword at the ready. Bracing himself Tio suddenly flicked the lock on the door up and flung it open, swinging his cutlass around to point at the person who lay on the other side.

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[Pegasus]

Too much coffee made him feel weird. Jumpy. Little bit like the world was louder, brighter, even. It possibly added to his energy levels as he bounded up the stairs. But then, he hadn't lost the caution he needed, either and so Tio Silver tiptoed, flung open the door and pointed his cutlass at the person or persons there.

"Oh my," the woman said. She appeared to be human and she was well wrapped up against the cold, apparently not wearing any weapons. She was shorter than Tio with blonde hair and she looked rather surprised at the sight of a cutlass in front of her. However, she lifted one gloved hand and placed it against the flat of the blade. "I'd say, let's put that down, shall we?" She smiled at him and her green eyes seemed rather amused, truthfully. "You won't be needing it."

Whether he lowered the blade or not she allowed her gaze to linger on him and then move, slowly, up and down his form. "Not expecting visitors?" She seemed more amused than afraid, which might be rather opposite to what Tio was going for, in terms of what he wanted as a reaction. However, she smiled and continued. "My name is Tasha. I am here looking for... answers, I suppose. Not least, how you found this place and who gave you permission to move in?" It seemed that she knew a fair bit about him, and more than she had any right to, at least.

"I think.. or I believe, and I certainly hope, that you and I might have something in common and may wish to engage in a," she paused then and considered her words carefully, "mutually beneficial endeavor. Would you like to discuss that, or have I wasted my time coming all the way here in such dreadful weather?" Was there a little criticism of having a sword pointed at her AND not having a cup of tea made for her? Yes, there may well be.

But she didn't say it. She simply smiled.

[Tio Silver]

The caffeine coursing through his system was making Tio skittish and, as it turned out, surprising susceptible to manipulation. When he threw the door open with his cutlass drawn he'd been tense, expecting some sort of fight to be just around the corner and ready to face it. Yet instead of some undead monstrosity he was instead met with the sight of a surprised blonde woman, who seemed so utterly casual in the face of his weapon that when she placed her hand on the flat of the blade and suggested he put it down he lowered it without really thinking about it, swept up as he was by the flow of her character.

When she looked him up and down with amusement Tio followed her gaze, and was a little embarrassed to find that he really did not look presentable. His clothes were wrinkled and scruffy, his hair a little frazzled with a few loose strands sticking up in random directions, and underneath his eyes the skin felt a little puffy. How long had he been awake for? He thought he'd been sticking to a good sleep cycle, but it was hard to tell the time when you lived a good few feet underground.

The strange woman (Tasha, he reminded himself) continued to speak, mentioning an interest in finding out how he found the lab, why he thought he could move in, and some kind of proposition she had for him. Still taken aback by her disarming charm, Tio nodded blankly. "Oh, yeah sure thing. Um-... I guess you'd better come in then?" He sheathed his sword and opened the door fully, inviting her to come in, and at the same time sent an order to Risas to clear a space by the desk he was working on and pull up another chair.

"Can I get you something to drink?" He asked as he shut the door behind her. "I've got coffee... rum... water... oh, and coffee mixed with rum! I called it Scalvoran coffee. I think I have some ship's biscuits around here somewhere, but they aren't exactly designed for their taste..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, aware that he wasn't making a very good first impression. "Sorry I'm not able to play a better host. To be honest I wasn't expecting to ever have people around here, what with it being hidden and all."

Whatever Tasha wanted, Tio would nip into the kitchen and quickly prepare it himself. When Risas did it the quality was astoundingly poor, and occasionally he'd trip or do something else clumsy and end up making a mess. While he was there Tio splashed a bit of water on his face to wake himself up and grabbed a glass of water. By the time he returned to the main room he was already starting to feel a little more with it.

"So, sounds like we have a fair bit to discuss. I guess we should begin with proper introductions." Tio began, offering Tasha his hand. "My name is Tio Silver. I found this place while searching the volcano for a rumour, and when I found out that it had been abandoned for the last eighty arcs and that it contained all this research I decided to take over the place. It didn't look like anyone had been here in arcs, so I figured nobody would mind."

He leaned back in his chair. "Now then I've answered your questions, so it only seems fair that you answer a few of mine right? If you know about this place then I'm guessing you know about it's original owner, VonDwight, right? Where is he? And how did you come to know about this place?"

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[Pegasus]

She followed him in and smiled, looking around with a glance which was... well, frankly, unimpressed. "Umm, just coffee will be fine, thank you." Although, she wondered if she should point out that he looked rather like he'd had enough. She said no more, except to thank him when he brought her the coffee. She perched on the chair and looked at him as he began to speak.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Tio Silver," she said, shook his hand and then frowned slightly. She looked surprised, then a little disbelieving and then, her face cleared and she seemed to understand something as he asked his questions. "I see. You found this place, and moved in here? Oh, that makes sense."

Then, she put down the cup and looked at him. "My name is Tasha vonDwight. I have a few things from my great grandfather, including a mirror and some maps of the island. The mirror has always just been a mirror." She smiled and shrugged. "Imagine my surprise when, a few trials ago, it stopped showing me a reflection of myself and started showing me.. well, you. Here." She'd watched, intrigued, and then after a while had gone back to the maps. Reaching into the small bag she carried with her, she pulled one out. It was a map of this area of Faldrass and had the tree clearly marked with "My Secret Underground Lair" written on it. Along with instructions of how to get in there. However, she'd said, she thought she'd best knock.

"I believe that the person you are talking about, as the original owner of this place is my great grandfather. He was once a brilliant mind, but he went insane and started having all sorts of delusions, before he died." Looking at Tio she raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about him? And how did you find this place? I always assumed that it was all just deranged ramblings." Looking around, she gave a shrug. "I should probably check out some of the other things, too. But, I'm afraid this belongs to my family." Her eyes regarded him as she said that, interested in his reaction.

[Tio Silver]

"My reflection?" Tio asked, surprised by Tasha's story. He'd known VonDwight to be a necromancer, but the existence of this magic mirror suggested some enchanting magic was at play in this story. Had he paid another mage to make this item for him? Or did VonDwight perhaps make it himself? There had been no magical items remaining in the lab when he'd moved in, but then again perhaps the good doctor had taken them with him? They weren't exactly cheap after all. A teasing smirk flittered across his face. "Did you like what you saw? I've normally got more of a 'dashing rouge' kind of style going on when I'm not down here."

As he listened to the rest of her explanation Tio kept a straight face, but inside he wanted to raise an eyebrow as Tasha mentioned her great grandfather's delusions and following death. Tasha didn't know that Xavier had found a way to live forever, meaning she must also not know about the Phoenix Stones. Was it possible then that he could use her to find VonDwight without alerting her to the fact that he was still alive, and thus avoid sharing the secret with someone he didn't trust? It would be hard, very hard, and if he did try to do it he'd certainly need a plan. For now it seemed best to probe for more information about her and this endeavour of hers to see if he could make use of it for himself somehow.

But at her mention that the lab belonged to her family, Tio couldn't help but tense a little. This lab had been a lucky find he'd sorely needed, and there was no way he could allow all the necromancy research gathered here to slip out of his hands! It was perhaps the only chance to unlock the true power of necromancy without a master he'd ever get! So how then could he get her to back down on her claim?

As he thought about that, an idea to suitably answer all her questions without revealing the existence of the Phoenix Stones popped into his head. It might also dissuade her from claiming the lab, provided he was wrong about what he suspected the thing they had in common might be.

"Well Tasha here's the thing. You noticed my skeleton buddy as you came in, right?" He asked neutrally, gesturing to where Risas was standing still in a corner of the room. "Well as you've probably already figured out from him I am a necromancer. Your great grandpapa, Xavier, was a necromancer too, hence the need for a secret lab far away from civilization, and everything found within is his research on the subject. I heard the name VonDwight from the man who would eventually go on to initiate me into necromancy a few years ago, and when I discovered he'd lived here on Scalvoris long ago I started chasing old rumours which eventually led me..." he opened his arms to motion around at the lab, "... here, to a library of all the knowledge I could ever need."

"Now it's true that you do have a hereditary right to this place, I won't dispute that, but let's face it, what in the world would you ever do with it? I'm sure an upstanding young citizen such as yourself wouldn't have any need for a hidden lair, and everything within here is relevant to a subject you have no understanding of. You could try to sell I suppose, but I don't think it'd be as easy as putting up a 'for sale' sign given what it is. Wouldn't it be best then to leave this place to someone who'd use it?" It was his turn to watch her for a reaction this time, mainly how she reacted to the knowledge that her great grandad was a magician. That Risas' presence hadn't surprised her before had suggested to him that she'd been prepared to find one here, and if that was the case then maybe VonDwight had passed his spark down through his family tree?

"Now then it's my turn for questions again, right? Do those maps of yours point to anywhere else? Mention any other locations important to your great grandpappy? And what is this mutually beneficial endeavour you mentioned before?"

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[Pegasus]

Tasha looked at him as he spoke and she seemed, should Tio notice such things, fairly amenable to what he was saying. She certainly didn't seem to be in any way aggressive, if anything she was positive towards him. Listening to him, she nodded. "It sounds like you've been persistent and ingenious. My great grandfather would approve, I'm sure." She listened to him and then she smiled, almost chuckling. "So, you think it would be difficult to sell? I don't know, Tio. I know someone who claims it contains a library of all the knowledge they could need, knows it to be incredibly useful and seems, to me, to be very attached to the place" Gesturing around, she smiled at him. "Someone who wants it, maybe even needs it. Someone who understands its worth and.. more than that?" She had him, she knew she did. It showed on her face too. "Someone who wants very much to find out what my great-grandfather did. Maybe recognises that his family would be useful, especially since we have so many of his things."

Appraising him with her gaze, Tasha continued. "Although, of course, this particular person does make a lot of assumptions about me, who I am and what my motivations for being here might be." Her smile was friendly and she sighed slightly. Because Tio then asked a question and then another. To the first two, Tasha raised an eyebrow. "We have a lot of his things. This contains a very small number of them, in the grander scheme. But as for other places? Yes, of course." It seemed like an obvious question to her, she was almost dismissive when she answered, however his final question caused a spark of interest to light in her eyes.

"I think we have more in common than might seem apparent to the casual observer" Tasha said and she put her hands together, leaning forward eagerly. "I think we have, in fact, quite a lot in common. Here you are with a creepy underground lair that used to belong to my great grandfather, on the verge of having to either fork out a lot of money to own it or some other means of making sure it's yours." She gestured about and then, turned back to him.

"And then there's me. Seeking a teacher." She raised an eyebrow, questioningly.

[Tio Silver]

Tio could almost feel a click in the air as Tasha caught him in a verbal checkmate. The smile on her face was that of a person who'd won and knew it, and reluctantly he had to concede that it was indeed her victory. As Xavier's apparent descendant Tasha had every right to claim this lab as hers, and although he could threaten to take it from her by force Tio could already tell that she wouldn't back down, and knew that when push came to shove his conscience wouldn't actually allow him to harm her. In the brief time he'd known her Tasha had proven to be interesting company, more interesting than the shmucks he robbed out at sea anyway, and had a strength of personality he couldn't help but respect. The ball was entirely in her court.

And true to form Tasha's next move was to smash that ball back at him in a way that took him completely off guard! A Teacher?! Him?! He'd never even considered the idea of teaching an apprentice of his own before, not when he was still struggling so much to educate himself! Ozbourne had shown him much about magic in general, but the only answers he had to the mysteries of necromancy were those he'd chased down with his own independent study and research. Would he really be able to be an adequate teacher when his own mastery of the art was so shallow? Speaking of which Ozbourne would go nuts when he found out; after all the lectures he'd given on using magic responsibly and only passing the spark on to those who were worthy of it he'd flip at hearing that Tio had traded a spark for a glorified basement. He might even dismiss him from the Seekers!

Then again... Ozbourne didn't need to know, did he? Agreeing to teach Tasha didn't mean he had to induct her into the Seekers, or even tell her about them for that matter. He could keep her apprenticeship a secret until he'd earned the rank of Sorcerer and wasn't answerable to anyone on his reasons for taking a student. The more he considered the idea, the more Tio found himself coming around to it. In teaching Tasha he might come to learn new things about necromancy for himself, and having an assistant to keep him company down here and help him sort through all of Xavier's research would be nice. In fact just having someone he could finally talk to about necromancy who'd truly understand him after nearly two arcs now of keeping it all to himself would be quite a relief.

It dawned on Tio that while he'd been lost in his thoughts he'd been staring open-mouthed at Tasha for an uncomfortably long time now, and hastily pretended to clear his throat in an attempt to clear some of the awkwardness. "Ah-... well-... I- I wouldn't be against teaching you to be a necromancer; you seem to have the intelligence and strength of will to make a fine one, no doubt about that. But are you certain that this is what you want? I'll tell you now, magic isn't anything like how it sounds in the fairytales. To even begin to learn it you'll need to risk dying in a particularly gruesome fashion, and should you succeed from that moment on your life wont just be your own anymore. The magic will be a part of you; a living, thinking part, and the stronger you become the more it'll start to change you. One day you may even look in the mirror and find that you don't recognise the thing staring back at you. Could you live with that?"

He kept his eyes firmly locked with hers, a testament to how seriously he wanted her to take this decision. "More to the point, are you sure that you want me as a teacher? You barely even know me, and whilst I understand that opportunities to learn magic don't exactly fling themselves at you it's important to consider carefully who you want to learn from. Learning magic binds you to your teacher, connects you by your very soul. Are you sure you want that? Once it's done it can never be undone. If you want more time to think this over I completely understand."

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[Pegasus]

She spoke and Tio stared at her. And stared at her and then stared some more. Now, as he realised that he'd done that, he might also notice that, whilst many people would feel uncomfortable at being so openly, unreservedly stared at, Tasha did not. In fact, she simply stared back at him. Her eyes moved over him, watching him right back and then she smiled when he cleared his throat. He was obviously a little embarrassed by his open mouthed staring, whereas she was much less concerned by the same. Her eyes met his and she smiled, perhaps obviously aware that she had put him into the checkmate position.

However, her gaze turned serious when he spoke about magic and initiation into it. She listened to him and a frown deepened on her face, creasing her forehead as she thought about his words. It was only after he had finished that she spoke, she didn't interrupt or any such thing. Then, she chewed her lower lip for a moment before she spoke. "Sometimes, I look at what I see in the mirror and wonder if it's really me. It doesn't feel like it." As though aware that she sounded just a touch dramatic, she smiled. "I mean, I don't know how to explain it to you other than to say I have to. I have to be a mage, I was born for it." She shrugged slightly, unable to express herself any other way.

And did she want him for a teacher? Tasha had to smile and shrug slightly. "If there were a long queue of people lining up to teach me, I might be able to pick and choose more, but thus far, you are my only option." When he said that they, should he teach her, they would be linked, she frowned slightly and considered.

"What can you tell me about the initiation?" She asked and then looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a slightly quirky, almost shy, little bit flirty and amused, yet entirely serious expression. "And when you say to me, that we will be linked. How do you mean, how does that manifest?"

[Tio Silver]

Tasha may not have known how to put it into words, but Tio knew exactly what she meant when she told him that her reflection didn't really feel like her own. What yludih didn't know that exact same mixture of emotions? The unsettling confusion at seeing a stranger's face move in perfect time to your commands, the desperate longing to see the real you that lay underneath the mask, and the frustration of knowing that no matter what you did that mask would never come off. It was like being caged up in a prison wrapped perfectly around you, so perfectly that no matter how many times you tried to pull it off your hands could never seem to get a grip. To this day he could still remember the night of his sixth birthday; when his mother had told him that he wasn't a human like all the other boys around town, that the face he thought to be his own was just a trick of the light. He spent hours looking at his own reflection for the barest hint of his true face that night, and had smashed the mirror to pieces in a fit of rage when he found none. Even now he could still picture the sight of his six year old face staring back at him from the shards, the edge of his mouth curled up into a mocking half-smirk by the skewed refraction.

His expression softened with a hint of sympathy, and he leaned forwards a little in his chair. "I don't pretend to know the future or anything like that, but I do believe that each and every one of us has a destiny we are meant to play. A role that, for better or worse, is ours alone to fill. But sometimes that role we belong in requires us to be someone that we currently are not, and until we become that person we may feel like we've been miscast; like we're reading the lines and going through the movements of the wrong character." He caught himself for a second, aware that he might be sounding a bit too pretentious. "Ah, sorry... I promise I don't normally act all philosophical like that. What I'm trying to say is-... Becoming a mage will change you, there's no getting around that, but transformation isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you feel so deeply that you are meant for it then perhaps it really is your destiny to be a mage, to be transformed into the real you as your magic grows stronger. A word to the wise though; just because it's your role doesn't guarantee you'll enjoy playing it. One day you might end up wishing that you could go back to the character you used to be."

When the subject of the initiations was brought up however Tio's mood fizzled back into his usual, more upbeat self. "Aha, trade secret I'm afraid." He replied with a small grin, leaning back in his chair to balance on its two back legs. "We mages are a secretive bunch you know; we don't like to reveal our initiation rituals until the time has come to perform them. It helps prevent the general public from learning too much and enabling mage hunters to figure out where to set traps for us. The vast majority of people who get to the initiation stage either succeed or die, so either way they aren't likely to go blabbing about it to those who'd seek to harm us. Although-..." He looked around at the laboratory. "As fate would have it this lab would be suitable for the initiation ritual after a few minor adjustments. We could try it today, though there's a little task I'd need you to complete first."

He ignored the slightly flirty look on Tasha's face as she asked him about how their connection would manifest. If he did end up teaching her then he wanted to make sure he did it right, and that meant keeping their relationship strictly professional. "I wouldn't say the link manifests in an especially noticeable way. For some forms of magic it does; a master and apprentice can do things like know when the other is in danger no matter how far apart they are, but those are more like side effects of their link interacting with the powers of their magic's particular strain, and as far as I know there is no such ability afforded for necromancers. The bond is more... spiritual I suppose. You might feel vague imprints of the others emotions or discomfort at times, or gain an unusually sharp understanding of how they'd think or feel. It's rather like the bond between family I suppose, only without the love to keep that closeness from being exploited or turned against itself."

He smiled a little sheepishly. "Yeesh, I'm not doing a very good job of making this sound appealing am I? For the record I should mention that having magical powers is absolutely awesome, and so far in my experience the merits have outweighed the costs. You seem like you'd make a fine necromancer Tasha, and I'd be happy to train you, but I just want to make sure that you're crystal clear about what it is you're asking for. This could be the most life changing decision of your life, and I'd hate for you to rush into it without thinking."

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[Pegasus]

He described the initiation - or rather he didn't - and Tasha smiled at him. "Alright. Trade secrets makes sense." He'd get no argument from her at the very least. Of course, she'd rather know but then so would every aspiring mage, and maybe knowing would be bad. He seemed to understand though, she thought. What she meant when she said that sometimes the face which looked back at her as she gazed into a mirror wasn't one she recognised. It was like she wasn't fully, completely who she was and Tasha knew, or believed she knew, what it was that she needed to make herself whole and congruent. Whether she was right or not, though, only time would tell.

The nature of the link between them, should he do this, was fascinating and it led her to ask, "So, are you and the one who initiated you linked like that? If you initiate me, will I become part of that or doesn't it pass down in that way?" She had a thousand questions and a quick mind, it had to be said. His description of the link and what it was for necromancy caused a slight frown to cross her face. "I don't intend to stop there. Necromancy I mean. Eventually, I'll learn more magics, I believe. It's only fair that I tell you that. I think that was my grandfather's mistake, not to branch out but to focus to the exclusion of all other magics. It is unnecessarily restricted and lacking vision." So she believed, anyhow.

He continued to speak and she listened and nodded. "I want to be sure. I think I am, but I don't want to be foolish, this is too important." Thinking about it for a few seconds, she considered and then spoke. "Alright, so. What about I work as your assistant for a while? It will allow me to be sure of you, and you of me. If at the end of Cylus, after you and I have worked together that time, if we both still feel this way, you initiate me then?" She was happy with that. It wasn't so long in the future that she'd die and grow old, or maybe the other way around, but it gave them both a chance to work together.

"What do you think?"

Off Topic

Ok. So, one more post from you and this modded thread is done. You are more than welcome to self mod the thread where Tio initiates her and may apply for her as an NPC if you want. Stuff about the von Dwight family, however, needs to be just run past me. Very happy, as always, to do another modded thread if you'd like one! Do one more post here, and then I'll review!