• Closed • Well this is... awkward (Alys)

[Oscar Pyth]

Ymiden, 15, 716

Sunlight dappled through the trees outside of Andaris proper. The chirping of the birds and the buzz of the insects provided a wonderful ambience to this place. The small pond in the middle of the little grove glistened from the small rays of golden light filtering through the leaves. The air smelled crisp and clean, the ground dry and lacking much moisture. It was a lovely little get away from the world, a quiet place to just think. Oscar didn’t much put stock in isolation, but it was nice to enjoy nature for what it was. At least in controlled doses.

The tall man leaned back again a large rock, staring out at the pond. His father had brought him here a couple of times in his youth. They’d fished in the pond together, never catching anything. Was more for the sake of getting away back then. Far enough from the city where he could reliably be alone when necessary. Not too far as to be risking running into something nasty. Yet at least. Who knew, maybe some farmer would have the place removed for more farmland eventually. For now Oscar liked it. The solitude it offered was twofold. One as a nice place to cool off, the other as a good place to actually attempt to practice his Gravitation magic away from the sight of others. If his inept and stumbling blunders could be considered magic of course.

Oscar stood from his seat, stretching and rolling his shoulders. The ensorceller reached into his pocket and produced a number of smooth looking pebbles. He held one in his hand looked out at the undisturbed pond once again. He bent his legs slightly and angled his wrist just like he remembered his father once showing him. With a flick of his wrist he tossed it out upon the water, getting a single skip upon the surface before it sunk. Not something he’d ever been good at. However skipping rocks sounded like a fine way of training his Gravitation.

The man walked to the pond’s edge and set down a pair of smooth stones upon the ground, brushing some of his long bangs from his face as he did. Reaching into the other pocket of his pants he pulled forth something much more precious. It was a piece of twisting copper wire with some small chains attached here or there. Upon these chains were little fragments of transparent purple stones. Ezymite. His Gravitation conduit. His first real gravitation conduit to be accurate. One the Seeker was quite proud of.

Oscar wrapped the wire around his wrist and twisted it around his hand and fingers as well. It looked like some bizarre piece of jewelry by the time he was finished. The crystals were rather rough and crude things, however they were certainly wells. The man opened and closed his hand experimentally before nodding in satisfaction at the fit. He stepped back by a few paces and lifted his wire wrapped hand towards one of the pebbles. His tongue peeked out from behind his lips to lick at them. Right, just needed to get the aiming right this time.

There was a pause as he closed his eyes and focused within himself, his own wellspring of mana swirling about inside of him ready to be used. He focused the flow of mana into the Conduit upon his hand, injecting it into the crystals. The Conduit seemed to hum lightly as it resonated with his personal mana. What followed next was the need to fill it with a spell. Oscar’s face was a mask of concentration as he angled his hand at one of the pebbles.

In his mind’s eye he visualized force. Pure, unrelenting force born forth from the Conduit from the use of his Mana. He squeezed every drop of his focus into the spell, feeling the hairs on his arm stand up from the energy pulsing within the Conduit. The power within responded near instantly and was manifested outwards from the Conduit and towards his target, turning the very thing known as Gravity into a weapon. His pupils dilated as he felt the rush of pure energy through his body towards the Conduit, adrenaline starting to pump as his heart beat faster.

…Or at least it would have were Oscar talented at the art. The force manifested was ill directed. Instead of skipping one pebble across the pond as he intended, what instead ended up happening was the energy bursting forth smashed into the ground between them. The force of impact kicked up a bit of dirt, like what might happen when one kicks the ground a bit too hard. The pebbles were both sent flying through the air and promptly thunked right into the pond with little ‘plops’. Ripples expanded outwards and Oscar let out a dejected a dejected sigh.

“Well that was a bust. So it’s the direction that’s messing me up. I was pointing right at it though…” Oscar muttered to himself, looking down at his wire wrapped hand. Nothing left for it but to try again it seemed…

[Alys]

Alys hadn’t set out that morning in the best of moods. Her father had sold a large and heavy book to an old lady who lived out in Andaris. That was fine, Alys would welcome the gold the book had made and continue putting it towards her own business plans. However, she thought he’d undersold the value and the woman could have been persuaded to part with more nel. But the deal was done. What she didn’t appreciate, was that her Father had promised the book would be delivered to the small house in the middle of nowhere. Who did he think she was, a post service?

Fuming, she’d slid the ancient tome into a bag and set out with food for the journey. It would take her all day to get there and back at least. It was going to be another warm day. She would have refused the journey outright, if she’d suspected a speck of rain. As it was, the parched ground sent dust beneath her feet and was grateful for the pale brown dress made of a light linen and allowed her to remain cool as the sun started to rise. Her hair was left to float in a wave of gold behind her head as she walked. Blue eyes fixed with determination. Hitching the bag up every half mile when it started slipping down her shoulder.

What did an old woman want with a book on Immortals anyway? Mythology and bedtime stories were for the young, or stupid. Alys in her current mood was inclined to think stupid. As mid-day approach shed veered off the main track to a glade she knew lay a little way off, sheltered by trees and boasting a picturesque pond. Somewhere peaceful to refresh her dry throat and eat her lunch before continuing.

Silent steps led her between the trees, as the young man cast out a spell at the dirt. Interesting. She paused in the mottled shadows and waited as the dust settled and the stones skittered off in every direction, mostly dropping into the pond with an unimpressive, plop. Very interesting.

“Oh…ow!” Alys bent, and rubbed furiously at her ankle, crouching to press her fingers to her ankle. Bright eyes blinked with sudden tears of surprise and pain.

[Oscar Pyth]

Oscar nearly jumped out of his skin at the exclamation from behind him. He had not just accidently hit someone with debris from his magic. He had also not just had his powers seen by said person. Nope. Didn’t happen. He slowly turned in place and found that, yes. Yes indeed those things were very likely to be true. As such the young man stared at the woman, frozen to the spot for a moment. This was pretty bad. Like, very, very bad. Sure if he’d just been seen that wouldn’t be so much of a problem. But he’d harmed this woman with magic.

Shoving is silent panic to the back of his mind Oscar pocketed his Conduit as quickly as possible briskly walked over to the woman, kneeling down before her. “I’m very, extremely sorry miss. Didn’t see you back there or expect quite so much debris!” The man stated.

He looked at where her hand was. So he’d hit her ankle. Nice one, Oscar. Hit literally everything but what he’d actually been trying to hit. He brushed some of his long bangs from his face before running his hand down his face. This was not how he preferred to meet women. He stood and offered a hand to the young woman, looking around to see that indeed no one else had seen anything. The last thing he needed were crowds of people lining up to watch him fail spectacularly.

“Uhhh… why don’t you sit down over there. Here let me help you. Again, very sorry about that. My aim was… off.” He excused lamely.

‘My aim was off.’ Smooth, very smooth but then again what else could he say when he was this off put. His Uncle was going to have a bloody field day if word got back to him of this. The kind of field day that involved long lectures about the importance of secrecy and the dangers of being a known mage. He licked his lips and slipped his other hand into his pocket, pushing down his Conduit a bit more.

“So… if you don’t mind my asking what brings a young woman like yourself out here… with that.” He nodded to her rather heavy looking burden, looking to change the subject quickly and focus her mind on other things.

[Alys]

The man looked mortified, good. So he should with the belief that he had damaged her flesh.

“Oh…it’s fine, I’m sure it’s nothing…but thank you” He approached and the woman searched his expression with her own pale gaze. Alys extended a hesitant hand toward him and accepted the offer of assistance with a smile that faltered only slightly at the edges, pained, but willing to battle through. The woman pressed her advantage and let him lead her towards the patch of lush green grass, fingers curling around his forearm as she lowered herself to the ground and lent forward, inspecting a delicate ankle that had turned red. She examined the mark thoroughly before looking up, once more.

“See, nothing, just a tiny mark. I’m sure it won’t scar…” she let the proposed guilt linger in the air and pulled her bag closer, holding it on her lap.

“My Father requested I deliver this to a woman who lives nearby,” Alys closed her fingers around the bag and drew it back enough to show him the ancient dusty tome, “otherwise the last time I was here…must have been as a child?” Her gaze wandered past him to the pond and she considered her words with care, “you were practicing magic,” she said slowly and raised her gaze once more.

“Is that why you’re here? So far from everyone else. Are you a sorcerer?” Eyes widened with quiet awe.

He clearly wasn’t. But it never hurt to encourage the ego of a young man.

[Oscar Pyth]

Oscar looked down at the mark and let out a shuddering breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. No lasting damage. There were small miracles in the world it seemed. Then again, he doubted his Gravitation could leave lasting marks. Not yet in any event. It wasn’t nearly that strong. Still he swallowed a nice bit of guilt for the fact he had caused it. Oh and now she was going to be late to her task. Wondrous. He attempted to compose himself a little better and failed rather miserably. He cleared his throat and scratched at his neck uncomfortably.

“Again, sorry about that. I just wasn’t expecting anyone out this way. It’s pretty out of the way.” He stated with a sheepish look.

At the mention of him being a sorcerer he looked at her for a bit. That much was plainly obvious, then again most who never used magic could scarce believe that magic existed. He licked his lips before shrugging, shoving his hands into his pockets. He thumbed at his Conduit for comfort, before in the end nodding slightly. He wouldn’t tell her about the whole Seeker thing naturally. That would be too compromising, but he could settle for a technical truth.

“I guess that fits as far as labels go. Just try to avoid spreading it around. And yes. That’s one reason I’m out here. Oscar Pyth is the name. Just Oscar will do fine however.” He laughed genially.

His proper magic was Ensorcellment, not Gravitation. Then again, she’d probably have no idea what the difference between a good sorcerer and a bad sorcerer was. His little blunder was probably something new to her, so hey, at least she wasn’t aware how painfully inept he was at this. So… bonus he supposed? Right, subject change time. Away from the magic preferably. Because that would go into a few things he probably shouldn’t get into. He looked at the satchel and gestured to it.

“Will you be needing help with that with the injury? Again, real sorry about that one. That doesn’t normally happen. I come out here frequently, it’s a pretty nice spot to just sit down and relax.” He said.

Oscar hesitated and looked over at the satchel. Curiosity was piqued. “You mind if I take a look at that? Apologies, something of a reader in my spare time. Don’t hang around the University lot long and not get an appreciation for a good book.”

[Alys]

Alys offered the young man another smile and pulled her skirts back down over her ankle, and the red mark her rubbing had caused, “your gracious apology is accepted, it’s just one of those things, an accident…I’m certain there aren’t rules about practising arcana beyond the city, so nothing to be worried about,” she let the words hang and hopefully some worry and doubt to creep into his mind, “though for an accomplished sorcerer, I’m sure the guards would let you do whatever you like?”

She extended her foot slowly and flexed the toes in her boot, “honestly, I think I will be just fine,” her smile remained, “it’s a shame about the circumstances, but I’m sure it is my good fortune to meet you, Oscar.”

The woman hesitated as he requested a look of the book. She ran her fingertips over the spine of the tome and finally edged it out of the bag, offering it up. She hoped that her judgement was sound, and that he wasn’t about to try and rob her. He seemed harmless enough and eager to please a pretty girl, even if his gaze was fixed on the dusty pages.
“Be careful, its heavy,” she offered a friendly warning, “my name is Alys.”

There was a few moments of quiet as he examined the tome and she watched him closely, “you spend a lot of time at the University? Is that where you teach sorcery?” It was still clear that he wasn’t truly a professor, and she hoped she hadn’t overplayed her hand with her gentle flattery. She wanted Oscar on side though, it was rare to meet a practitioner of Arcana and she would seize the chance to develop a friendship. Then she would work out how best to exploit it.

[Oscar Pyth]

“I teach nothing.” Oscar stated. “I’d also rather keep this thing a secret, understandably, Alys. Ryns aren’t exactly kind to Se- Sorcerers. Being a born and raised Ryn I’d know that much. And my particular brand of magic isn’t want you’d call offensive. So no, sadly, I’m a bit far off from having the guards peel me candied dates.”

He’d recovered his slip rather nicely he figured. The young man cracked open the book and started carefully, gently paging through it. He was immediately put off by the talk of Immortals. Oscar couldn’t count on his hands how little he cared about such matters. Because he didn’t want to devote fingers to it. His Uncle had always been particularly dismissive of such things, and the Immortals had hardly done anything for Oscar. The young man shut the book and shunted it back into the satchel with a snort.

“The person you are delivering this to has horrible literary tastes. The author’s penmanship is awful as well.” The Seeker noted.

Oscar let out a breath as Alys indeed seemed to harbor him no ill will and managed to calm himself down. Well, good news she didn’t freak out and run screaming into the city screaming about magic. Bad news was exactly that. The young man remembered his Uncle’s words. “Keep ever aware. Ignorance of the world around is lethal, especially to a sorcerer.” The old Seeker had lived long so he figured that he at least knew what he was talking about. Even so, Oscar looked Alys up and down subtly. She was rather attractive he had to admit.

It was flattering however, going from Varus calling him a wastrel to this young woman being rather impressed by his miniscule power. Oscar rather liked it. Made him feel somewhat accomplished. Not enough for him to use that trick more often to pick up ladies but still, was indeed nice. He crossed his arms and nodded to Alys. “It is nice to meet you as well. I promise, that was an entirely isolated incident in how I greet people normally.” He noted with a light laugh.

“Well, now that I’ve your company for the moment, I’m curious. You aren’t nobility are you? Because if you are, might save time and just down myself before getting tossed in a dungeon. Though that would be a small mercy to my Uncle’s reaction to this matter.” Oscar remarked, scratching at the back of his head.

[Alys]

“Well, that is a shame,” Alys admitted. She stretched out her legs, now fully recovered from alleged attack of a pebble to her ankle, “I think I would pay could money to see the guards peeling fruit for anyone,” the blonde grinned. Her expression faltered as he pushed the book back, brows narrowing. Books were beautiful and deserved better care then he was giving hers. Not that it belonged to her any more, but she hoped it was going to a good home.
“It would be a boring world, if we all held the same interests,” she admonished and pulled the bag strap up, over her shoulder before standing, it was then she paused, pushing small fingers through pale hair as she studied him once more. He seemed interested, keen to please; and yet worried about his Uncle finding out. Good, a pressure point perhaps. But how much pressure? It was always a delicious game. In her favor was his hopeful attraction, his desire to hide a truth. Both aspect increased her power, but push too hard and he could bolt like a spooked horse.
Alys pulled the long hair back from one shoulder, scooping it together and pulling it around to lay over her right shoulder, where she toyed with it and left the curve of her neck exposed to the gentle sunlight.
“I’m not nobility,” she replied quietly, “I’m just a merchant’s daughter, trying to deliver a book…your Uncle would be angry with you? You said…you would like to keep this a secret…” she wet her lips carefully, blue eyes wide as she searched his expression before a shy smile overtook her features.
“I’ll trade a secret, for a kiss?”

[Oscar Pyth]

Oscar looked relatively taken aback by her boldness but recovered fairly quickly. Instead of bolting as Alys might have feared however he instead shrugged, gripped her by the shoulder and pressed his lips against hers. He used his other hand to turn her head slightly, his thumb tracing a circle on her neck before he pulled back from the brief kiss. A smirk played as his lips as he looked down at the shorter woman, amusement glittering in his eyes. He’d expected forced payment and the like, compared to that a kiss was child’s play. Oscar was not shy about affection towards women. That much could certainly be said of him at the very least in his favor.

“You’re an odd one. Encounter a sorcerer, get hit by a rock, and then ask for a kiss. You know some would call that living on the edge. Considering, you know, most sorcerers are deranged mad men according to popular fiction.” The ensorceller remarked.

He nodded towards the tree line. “Well then, need that escort to deliver that very awful book to whomever bought it? I’d like to see who would waste actual coin on that. It’s less about interest, more being fond of passable penmanship. The author’s lack of literary style is painful really. Though considering it’s a theological piece that’s not exactly shocking. Honestly it’d be more of a service if it burst into flames upon opening.”

Clearly not one to temper an opinion when he had it as well. He set his hands behind his head, apparently mollified that the woman wasn’t going to let out his well-kept secret. No more gravitation practice for him it looked like, though this might be an amusing enough distraction. He held out his hand again for the book on second thought. Reading that thing out loud during a long walk might actually provide some much needed chuckles. Help break the ice here with this one and put that nasty business behind them.

“Hey, if nothing else there can be some excellent comedy to be had in this one. You are indeed correct, everyone’s tastes are different. It’s just that others regarding that book are objectively wrong. It’s clearly some grand comedy piece regarding the Immortals. Yes indeed, my early denotation was wrong on every level. A genius like the one who penned this deserves to be enjoyed. Aloud. With a captive audience.” Oscar noted with a smirk.

[Alys]

He was shocked, which worried her and then he acted quickly. Too fast for her to add a caveat to her daring suggestion, such as ‘on the cheek – a kiss on the cheek.’ The kiss warned her that she had underestimated the man. He was not, as she had assumed a bookish shadow who rarely ventured out from behind dusty shelves to gawk at pretty women and then hide again. No, she had made a misjudgement and he seemed far more comfortable than she had expected. Damn. Still, she played her part, letting her hands press against his chest before dropping limp to her sides as the kiss broke. Blue eyes bright as they met his, before she dropped her gaze, shy.
“I meant on the cheek,” she laughed softly to herself and pressed fingertips to rosy lips, “but that was as good as any…” she raised careful eyes once more “are you deranged Oscar?” She tilted her head to the side, as though considering “you just look like a normal man to me…but maybe that is where the danger lies.”
Alys studied the road away from the pond and gave a slow nod, “well, an escort would certainly make the journey a bit more interesting,” she handed him the book, fingers reluctant to part with the tome.
“You’re not taking it seriously at all, are you?” She led the way back down the path she’d come towards the main road. Her brief respite over. The woman wanted to return to the city in good time, and standing around talking wasn’t going to get the book delivered. “Do you not believe in the Immortals, or do you just not care?” The interest was genuine and she watched the man as they walked “they say, of the Sacred Seven that Gawyne was the son of an Immortal, that he still lives…” It was a myth she particularly enjoyed. The possibility of meeting the Immortal Son, of being raised to a position of power when he fell desperately in love with her. Well, she could dream.
“Instead of reading a book I know backwards to me, and mocking the words that some poor soul has sweat over,” she paused, remembering some of the stains in the pages and wrinkled her nose. It was quite possible the authors sweat was very much in the book, “would you tell me about what you were doing? What…was that thing on your wrist?” She glanced at him.