73 Vhalar, 719
Location: Raelia
The usual woman that visited for a decent pay to be his experiment had visited today. She entered with hesitant footsteps and dressed in her shabby garments, still despite Abra rewarding her generously. His assistant allowed her in before retreating since Abra made it explicitly clear that only he and his test subjects were allowed to be in the room during these scheduled meetings. Not that many people came to his personal home other than his business associates. Keeping the riff raff out was usually a policy of his.
Now that she entered the room, he made sure that the curtains remained drawn open so that the sunlight washed over the usually dark area. Abra needed to make sure he could see her expression clearly as if he was a doctor and not a magician conducting experiments. He was surprised when she couldn’t tell what expression he was trying to make. What, was he not a good enough actor for her?
“How do you feel today?” Abra asked curiously, noting that she seemed happier lately much to his chagrin. He wasn’t using his powers of attuning on her since he wanted to gauge what she would tell him first. The woman looked up at him curiously; there was a hint of nervousness reflected from her gaze along with curiosity but no apparent fear. Irritation bubbled under the surface of Abra’s face since he didn’t like how cocky his test subject had become, but he decided not to comment on that, not for now, at least. He watched instead as she opened her mouth and then closed it, causing him to raise his brow at her as Abra waited for a response.
“S-sorry, just nervous.” The woman was quick to supply an answer when she noted the hint of annoyance reflected from Abra’s gaze. Then she paused, to quickly process her feelings before shyly offering up a more thorough response for him. Her stare downcast for a few seconds before they lifted to meet his. “And… I’ve been feeling good lately! With this job, it’s been helping my situation a lot. Thank you again...”
She had relayed the information to him, and he nodded, not openly seeing a lie from her. He made sure to jot down the notes she provided before he waved a hand, a signal that was meant to dismiss her. Much to her surprise as it was earlier than she had suspected. Usually, Abra’s experiments took a long time not that she minded since the pay was generous for people that were this poor, but considering how the meeting lasted briefly, the woman appeared irritated. However, she made sure not to convey the emotion since she didn’t want to get on Abra’s bad side. For now, she would comply, and she nodded, extending her hand out for the meager payment.
Abra glanced at her with a frown on his features, seeing her dirtied hands made him take a step back as he waved her away from him. With the simple gesture, the woman was unsure what do so since this was a first for her. After all, she remained used to receiving a small pouch from him that contained a decent amount of coins that supplied her way of living. She blinked in surprise before he voiced out his thoughts to her, “You have nothing to supply me with that I need. What are you expecting? Come again next week, and you’ll get paid.”
The words weren’t minced, and the woman felt attacked on the inside. However, she didn’t want to lose such an opportunity and quickly demurely to nod her head. The feelings swirled within her, but she decided not to voice her opposition and instead exited the room. Abra was relieved to be alone as he focused his attention on his notes; the sound of the door echoing behind him was nothing more than background noise.
However, he wanted to make sure who was in the nearby vicinity before he continued his research. With his eyelids automatically fluttering close, he released his innate abilities, tendrils of magic seeking out to sense those nearby. He was going to use what he could of Omnivision along with Empathy to feel out his surroundings. He had long since learned that the two could be used in conjunction but rarely did he have the chance to get his sparks to work together without external distractions. This kind of synergistic work made things much easier on Abra’s brain since using multiple sparks at once was very mentally taxing.
Abra accounts for his assistant along with a few nearby city-folk, but then he passed upon the woman. He later received an onslaught of her emotions, much to his surprise, since he took her words for face-value. Abra couldn’t help but find himself spinning as his eyes shot open and stumbled over to a tower of notes that remained piled upon one another. He crashed onto them, and they toppled over and crashed against the floor. Abra sighed, disgruntled, but he knew he could quickly fix it later. Instead, he straightened up and quickly closed the curtains since he didn’t need the sunlight bearing down at him when he felt disoriented.
“Well, well. What’s this?” Abra gasped out as his breathing became ragged. He blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the woman’s ever-growing emotions, but her rage washing over him in waves, and he couldn’t help but feel everything that she did. The more he sensed from her, the easier it was for him to submerge in the depths of her endless emotions that were reeling him in like a moth to a flame. Abra still hadn’t stopped himself from attuning her. Thus he was connected to her and continued to feel her as she overshadowed everyone else nearby. Abra couldn’t help but put this new information into his mind, considering what it meant. He tried to make sense of his surroundings with the plentiful frequencies around him. He could even make out the moving ones from the non moving ones in order to separate objects from mortals. He could now see how someone could use this to navigate completely blind. It would be absolutely horrible because of how much focus it took, but it would be better than lacking any vision whatsoever.
As he breathed in and out slowly, the fire that burned within him tempered down, but that was also because the woman was getting farther from his range along with her dimming emotions. He reached up as he felt liquid on his upper lip. Thinking it was sweat, he used the back of his hand to wipe it away only to look down and see a deep crimson color painted across his flesh. Abra blinked in surprise as he realized that he had been overwhelmed and overstimulated to the point that he had cut himself and he didn’t even know it. He coughed in shock and made sure to use the end of his sleeve to wipe away the remained of the blood, not wanting to see it linger on him any longer.
“So, she was irritated the whole time?” Abra mused as he finally regained control, pressing the palm of his hand against his head. Although he sounded amused, there even was a hint of laughter; his eyes conveyed sadistic intentions. For the next meeting, he decided he would do his best to control those noisy feelings of her that made him feel everything that she did. After all, that would be a suitable payment for her. His lips pressed into a firm line momentarily, showing off his grimace in the darkness before he mumbled to himself. “Hmm, this is something to take into consideration for the next visit.”
The truth was, Abra could see her malcontent in her tangle. She wished him misfortune. He was a mage and she was sworn not to tell and she dared not for fear of losing her job. Though in these trying times, she might just let it slip to the right person which could send people looking for Abra. This was not an immediate worry for Abra though. He felt relatively safe in Raelia and it was unlikely that he would be followed next time he went left the city. After all, he was going with some Syns mages so it would be foolish to ambush him then.
Abra straightened up his room, mumbling to himself occasionally. He had to make sure to be careful of feeling what he sensed; it could either be suitable or his downfall if not adequately maintained. The magician now knew there were limits to everything, and Abra had to be careful, or else the emotions of those around him would consume him. For now, he would practice even if it meant his body would feel as if set on fire. Seating himself on his chair, Abra slowly reached out and touched the emotions that were surrounding him. Not only was this to increase his endurance, but it gave him a better understanding of what he was feeling.
"Abra", "NPC"
