Re: Lakeside:Theodore/Hugh
Theodore didn't wave it off, exactly. It wasn't the sort of knowledge you really wanted to drop on a new friend right off the bat, however, he knew it was bound to come up, as much as he talked about his family, and better sooner than later. "Thank you," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "You couldn't have known and, well, I was bound to mention it eventually," he voiced his thoughts. "Thank you; I think she'll just be excited to hear I've made a friend in town. She's...I think she worries about leaving me alone. She's nearly as protective of me as I am of her." Another faint, fond smile.
Theodore bent his knee and leaned forward, listening to Hugh describe the strangeness of Repose, one hand on the thestral-headed walking stick he carried. It was a touch morbid, he knew, and fanciful, but it was easy to play it off as the one of the Mares of Diomedes: flesh-eating horses from Greek myth which had featured in his second novel. Not a (and to most - off-putting) real magical creature of the type which he was inordinately fond. Of course, he kept it with him at all times, since it concealed his wand. And while he was a good enough wizard that he didn't need to be waving it around, it still was a focus for his magical power.
He was very glad Elaine had gone to sleep early, and would remember to warn her against going out after dark without him. She wouldn't like that, and would complain that she was of age to do magic without supervision, but he wouldn't risk her if this town held such a darkness. "This is, admittedly, the first I've heard of anything of the sort," he said slowly. He was very careful that his tone not convey disbelief. "They didn't leave me a note either," he added with a dry smile, thinking he would have to go back and read some of the older forum posts. "Before I became a writer, I, well Jamie and I both, we were archaeologists." Of a kind. "Admittedly, it's a lot of...poking around in dead civilizations' most sacred places. And you come to find there's a reason they held those places sacred. Not to sound like an alarmist kook, but...there are just places where a certain type of energy gathers. If this is one such place, perhaps that is some of the explanation in your inexplicable."