Almalexia. (arithmeticks) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-02-24 12:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, almalexia lliryn, magnolia paget |
Who: Almalexia Lliryn & Magnolia Paget.
What: Lulz, those Cassuls.
Where: The Roast.
When: Today.
Rating: Tame.
Status: Complete!
For most people, morning coffee was a necessity to start the day on the right foot―or at least wake up enough to notice what foot went first. Mag wasn’t one of those people. For better or worse, by seven in the morning she was wide awake. If she had been out drinking the previous evening, her body might allow her to sleep in until nine, but later than that was rare. It was for this reason that she seldom bothered to set an alarm. Most days, she was out of the house before most of the stores in the Bazaar had opened. Her first stop, before the guildhall or whatever other place she had to visit, was usually The Roast, perennially open for the sake of St Iocus students studying for exams or cramming in homework at the last minute. While most patrons clung to their mugs like lifelines and chugged their coffee with something like desperation, Mag liked to take her time (she could afford to, considering the early hour). Usually, she would claim a small table and sit by herself with a book, but that morning the coffee shop had suffered a large-scale invasion by an army of bleary-eyed, tousle-haired students, and few empty chairs remained (never mind tables). After paying, Mag considered drinking her coffee on the way to the guildhall for once, but then she spotted a familiar face at one of the tables. The arithmetician she had met during that mission to root out the undead in the Outlands, back in the summer: Almalexia (the surname escaped her). Often, Mag had seen her in the Cathedral during Mass, and a couple of times with a drink in her hand―Rictor’s influence, no doubt. After a moment’s hesitation, Mag decided to approach her. When the café was crowded, it was not rare for patrons, even strangers, to share tables, and hopefully Lex would not mind the interruption. “Hi,” Mag said with a smile. “I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Mag Paget, Aspel and Rictor’s friend.” She nodded at the empty chair. “Mind if I sit down?” The Roast was not an establishment unfamiliar to the mage, nor was the solitary act of reading, alone with her thoughts and her cup of coffee. Lex had found a number of ways to venture out longer in the city, whether it was for business, for academics (not unlike those students around her), or for personal interests. The mage had entered the coffeehouse quite a while before the eventual interruption, slipping in nearly without notice, buying for herself a coffee (and a pastry as well, already long consumed) and slipping into a table in the corner, away from the cold breeze coming in from the door and away from curious eyes. At least, that was what she had thought. Looking up at the familiar woman, Lex carefully shut her book and offered a polite nod of her head. “I do recall, in fact,” she professed. Without much visible surprise or hesitation, she offered the woman the chair opposite her own with a slight gesture of her hand. “Please make yourself comfortable, of course.” A friend to both Rictor and Aspel--now that, she considered, might very well have been the case. She had seen the woman in their company before, and recalled some mention of her from time to time. Lex’s curiosity, therefore, had been piqued just enough to wonder about the woman now before her. “Have you been well of late?” Mag sat down, carefully setting her mug and a book of her own on the table. "I've been okay," she said. If she were honest, the last month could have used serious improvement, what with Lav's breakdown, the argument with Bram, Aspel's avoidance and, to top it off, the latest attack on the city. But honesty was not the usual response to such a question and, in hindsight, she suppose things could have gone much worse, though most days she couldn't see exactly how. "And you?" She nodded at the book in the mage's hands. "Studying hard?" Lex gave a nod, and certainly the thick tome in question seemed to prove that it was so. The mage, ever observant, gave Mag’s reply a quiet amount of consideration before speaking. “As can be expected I suppose,” she said, her hand inching toward her coffee cup, its contents half-drained. There were few revelations on her own current status that the mage was likely to give, vague and mysterious as she often was, content with her books and private ruminations. Her gaze lingered on the woman sitting with her now, taking in her current state. As was typical, she strived to keep the focus of the conversation on matters other than herself. “I have heard much of the events outside the city,” she said, glancing over her shoulder to those around them, men and women engaged in similar conversation. “Another in a series of unfortunate occurrences, I believe. Do you know much of it yourself, I wonder?” “This last one?” Mag shook her head. “Those of us who went out ended up fighting big happy family of monsters. Strong ones, too. There were Fire elementals attacking the Palings around the city. I’m no mage, but they seemed to do quite a bit of damage before we put them out.” She considered the arithmetician. The one time they had gone into battle together, Lex had gone with the Blades and so Mag had not seen her in action. She seemed the type to favor the indoors―but the circumstances of late seemed to be prompting the rise of many unlikely heroes. “Were you out there fighting?” she asked. Lex took the descriptions with a grave amount of consideration. While she had certainly found herself attempting to defend the city from a similar attack not very long ago, she had not observed any creatures of similar elemental property. Another oddity without answer--this, she had decided, was yet another matter in need of further looking into. “Not most recently,” she admitted reluctantly. Her own inability to aid as many as her abilities could provide proved quite challenging at times, and it did not fail to bother her again here. Lex’s serene expression remained as it was, however. “The last time I was able to venture out myself, I did not witness such peculiarities.” A thoughtful sip of coffee, and she added, “Though I had been able to provide some assistance for--” here, a slight pause, as she sought a proper title “--Councilor Cassul during that time.” Lex was far more accustomed hearing of the woman from her brother Rictor, of course, and in more familiar terms. "Yeah, she definitely needs that. She seems to come back broken every time she goes out to fight." The words were out of her mouth before she could recall them. She gave Lex an apologetic smile. "Part of the job description, I suppose, but still." “A cause of much concern I would assume, regardless,” Lex said, slightly taken aback, perhaps, by the comment (though not entirely surprised). “As a leader of her guild, I imagine she must indeed carry such difficult responsibilities.” As much as her own considerations regarding the guild had begun to deepen, there was, admittedly, more she had yet to learn regarding them. The need to protect the city, however, and aid its citizens were duties shared by all--or so it seemed to the mage at least. “If ever there is need for a healer, of course,” she continued, “I would offer my own services.” “She was taken to a clinic and she’s slowly recovering from her wounds. But it’s very kind of you to offer,” Mag said, smiling. She took another sip of her coffee, and without her meaning to, her eyes flitted to the book on the table before Lex, what seemed to be a complex volume on magicks. Likely, if Mag were to take a look through the contents, she would be lucky to understand even the title, but still curiosity could not be denied, and she took her own book and placed it standing on the desk so Lex could see the cover. An anthology of modern Kerwonian poetry. “I have this terrible compulsion to leaf through other people’s books, even if they’d be incomprehensible to me,” she confessed. “Trade you?” “Oh?” Lex, immediately curious about the offered book, took but a brief moment for the sake of politeness to consider the gesture before nodding her head in agreement. To her credit, the mage’s expression only turned to that of the slightest of visible interest. No one need know the rapidly growing extent of her (highly intellectual of course) interest in Kerwonian reading materials, even if they were a pleasant acquaintance such as the woman sitting across from her. “If you would like,” she said in agreement, sliding her own book across the table for Mag to take. “I hope you find its contents informative and useful regardless.” “I’m sure most of it will go over my head,” Mag laughed, “but I’m hoping it has pictures.” They sat in silence after that, books exchanged, drinking their coffee while they went about their reading, a perfect mimicry of every other patron in the café. |