dirk rider (inatower) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-03-29 22:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, cecilia fennes, wilham wolfe |
Who: Cecilia Fennes and Wilham Wolfe
What: An encounter in the libary.
Where: Mages’ Tower
When: Before the monster attacks
Rating: G
Status: Complete
Cecilia had not been born a reader. In fact, she was hardly one now. She had spent the first month or so of her new life in Emillion familiarizing herself with the habits and schedules of people in the tower. That had been done with a purpose. So that when she went to the library, as she did now, there was a minimum amount of scholars and senior mages. Twilight, right before dinner time - with most of the Towers' residents eating and the rest of the mages home with their families, only the most dedicated were still perusing the vast collection. And they were not likely to notice the quiet mage slipping in. The problem was accessing the materials she needed. She could see the restricted section of dark magic texts from where she was but she knew that without permission, she would be attracting attention if she stepped near it. Still, her curiosity pulled her towards those shelves. Her fingers drifted over the bindings of unrelated books - In Defense of Earth Magics and Practical Monster Theories of Magick - but her eyes were focused on the mysterious books just out of her reach. If she peered around the corner, maybe she'd be able to see the titles on the bindings… She took a glance towards the bent heads not watching her and carefully craned her neck to give herself a better look. Meanwhile, Wolfe had finally been shaken out of his studying reverie. Practicing geomancy with his bare hands and body was much easier, wresting the earth itself rather than reading about it—he believed in learning through doing—but there was a limit to how much of Toku’s training time he could monopolise, and the theoretical foundation was still important. He’d taught himself that long ago: research all one could before seizing it in praxis, preparing oneself adequately before going lurching off the map, into the unknown. But it was on his way to return a book on earth magic when he spotted a lone figure lurking in the stacks. Wolfe stepped lightly for a man his size, turning the other corner and watching the blonde watching the books. He didn’t recognise the girl, but recognised that look in her eye: the surreptitious sneaking of glances, the gravitation towards the aisles cordoned off with thick velvet rope, the high shelves stacked with restricted books. He’d been there before, after all. “Need any help?” the man asked mildly, the earth magic book tucked in against his side. Inside, she was urgently shuffling back her curiosity - hiding it behind the layers and layers of smoothed-out smiles and calm eyes she wore. As if she had not just been caught eyeing the forbidden section - and for all she knew, she had not. Her eyes flicked upwards, studying him without reservation. She could go about this one of several ways. She could assume he had seen her; and explain herself. But if he had not - and he had not yet mentioned it… “Perhaps,” she said, her voice even quieter than usual, as if made heavy and pressed to the ground by the weight of all the silence in the room. Their voices were the only other noises besides the soft swish of turning pages. The light footsteps in the hallway. “I have not yet familiarized myself with this library. I was wondering about what materials I should be seeking out in order to acquaint myself better with my new class.” It was a good excuse. It was one she had kept tucked inside, in her mouth like a secret. Just in case of a moment like this. “There is more information available than I realized.” “I’m doing the same.” Wolfe waved his own textbook aimlessly, giving a brief glimmer of the cover, the stylised rocks carved into its hardcover spine. “New classes never really stop being challenging, I’ll grant you that. Sometimes the assigned reading can seem endless.” He was still sizing up the younger mage, compiling an image of this unruffled student, and wondering. Wolfe couldn’t tell if she was new, or simply new to him: the man had been gone a long while, after all, and the tower had slowly filled up with fresh faces in contrast to all the old familiars. “What’s your class?” he asked politely, his voice soft and drowned amongst the books. “Black mage,” she replied automatically. Her hand closed over a book at last and pulled it out of the stacks. She liked the feeling of the weight of it. She didn’t even know the book’s subject. Sometimes the way a book felt was simply more important than its contents. Cecilia kept her eyes on Wolfe, curious but not probing, taking note of his choice in reading. “Are you a geomancer, by any chance?” Not that she particularly cared. But her voice had a lulling, calming effect - probably from its practical monotony. When most people spoke, their voices dipped and climbed. Cecilia’s was like taking a stroll down a flat street. Or a stationary object. Very few people got the chance to hear her voice, uncumbered by her learned set of defenses carefully erected around her. Being dull was a defense - being uninterested another wall - being difficult was her moat. “I am, yes!” Wilham Wolfe’s voice, to contrast, rose and fell and bubbled: he was the fluid water filling the moat, seeping through the cracks, accommodating. “But I was also a black mage for many years—twenty long ones. So if you need any help, you’ve only to ask.” A pause, a gamble, then: “Even if it’s on one of those shelves.” He tipped his head to the cordoned-off section. Cecilia’s smile revealed nothing. She kept her lips closed over teeth. But the little nugget of information was noted. Kept. She tucked it into her mind for later use, to mull over - because if he was being sincere, or honest… This was an opportunity she would do well to take advantage of. “Perhaps,” she said quietly, flipping the book over and over in her hands - a repeated action merely meant to keep herself busy, to sooth the nerves that came with being found out. Possibly. Probably. Perhaps seemed to be one of her favourite words, he noticed. But if the man had any suspicions, he wasn’t voicing them aloud: the geomancer’s face remained affable, placid, as if they were merely discussing the weather. (One thing he had learned over the years: never to tackle such matters alone.) “My name is Wolfe, by the by,” he said, the earth magic book lowering to dangle from his fingers by his side. “It’s always a treat, meeting new people around the Tower.” It was home, or at least the closest he could get to one. “Is it?” she asked, smiling that small, little smile that both meant nothing and meant something enormous, though hidden back behind those cool eyes. Wolfe. A former black mage turned geomancer. Now, an acquaintance. “I seem to be doing it all the time these days.” Then, an afterthought: “Cece.” “A pleasure.” He didn’t offer his hand; they were both carrying their respective books, holding them like shields (or walls or moats), words arranged into the shape of protection. And he saw no point to it besides; a simple, gracious nod of the head would do the trick. For a fleeting moment, Wolfe considered the differences between this young mage and the other one he saw most often, Flynn. The girls were practically as different as night and day: Cece was a blank canvas where he almost expected fire, and all shuttered looks where his protege wore her heart on her sleeve, messy and dribbling all over the place. He was on the verge of bidding her farewell, letting Cece sink back into her own day, her own life—but one last thought occurred before he did so. “Cornelius’ texts are a good starter,” Wolfe said. “He takes a broad overview approach to black magic, covering all of the elements in such a way that you can find where your strengths lie with them, aimed at sussing out which ones work best for you. I always found it was a solid place to begin. It helped me, at least, when I was newly-minted and trying to… acquaint myself.” If there was a moment of recognition - like finding like or the temporary lowering of walls - it left as quickly as it came. Cecilia stared at Wolfe in silence for a long moment, the smile having slipped from her face. In its stead was a steady expression of seriousness. “Thank you,” she said. “I will keep that in mind.” “You’re welcome.” Stepping forward past her, Wolfe found the blank space on the shelf where his text belonged. He replaced it smoothly (not one piece out of place, everything in its right order and location), and then glanced down at the girl. “I’ll let you get back to it, then, shall I?” Cecilia smiled, empty of sincerity. She was already somewhere else. As she watched Wolfe walk away and then returned to her own perusal of the shelves, she wondered where she might find a Cornelius text. She walked down the aisles in pursuit of her new starting point. |