Finding the Chapter

[Aaron van Valen]

Little John. Really?

Aaron shivers. Yes he felt the Fire. It was terrifying. Could these creatures actually work with it?

'I just arrived myself. Still looking for a place.' And he looks around, would they leave this place soon? And would they exhaust the perilous energy with the completion of their work?

Then back to the big guy. The Lord still wants to know what they taste like. 'We can make an official pledge, to establish a bond of trust in each other. We work our connections to make sure you have time, you promise to leave afterwards...' ​He opens his arms with the suggestion.

[Yumyumcrow]

"Of course we will be leaving when the task is done. Why would we stay?" Tess says with an almost childish brusqueness.

Little John stared. "The Fire goes where it will. If the Fire stays, then those who wish to follow it will. Just accept it." There was force behind his words, but no anger.

"But yes. Once Tess has done her Work, we will be moving on. Once she is finished. When she is finished. I don't hang around cities like this for too long."

"I know I'm close. I feel it in my... bones.".

Tess concluded with a deliberate pause. Little John glared at her.

[Aaron van Valen]

Aaron is having an internal conflict. It seems like they could just walk away and come back later, but he is also very curious to learn more.

'Yes. I will try to just accept.' Said while resisting an urge to take complete control of the situation. The main problem is that these creatures are hard to gauge for the Lord. He's not ready to make that one final mistake.

'Of course, we will not risk anything. However, we have to know what we are protecting. Do you also consider yourself Alchemists? Or do you have another name?' Researching with such a term would be too broad and vague.

Then a crazy idea jumps to his mind, just as she mentions bones, 'I don't suppose we can be of any other help? Like I said, I - or we both in a certain way - specialize in working with... bodily matters.'

[Yumyumcrow]

"We create nothing. I am here to learn from the Fire. Its all around us here. Everywhere. But it sat up here in the burned room. Where did you say you went again?"

As Tess spoke, so Little John appeared to wince.

"Yes. Tess is an alchemist!" The giant uttered with an exasperated sigh.

Tess shot him a warning glance of her own. "I am no mere Alchemist. I am a Serpent!"

Little John was about to say something more. His expression shifted to something akin to a face slap of embarrassment.

"Fine. Fine. I want to see a... Ballet. To study movement. And what are you?"

The huge figure stared once again. This time he was joined by Tess, moving from the landing on light feet to the stairs.

"What bodily humours?"

[Aaron van Valen]

The interaction between the two is very interesting. The large and seemingly dangerous man is apparently looking up to Tess. Serpent is a rank of alchemist for them? Questions would only lead to more follow-up questions.

'I encountered it in the basement. Though its force was quite overwhelming.' So powerful, it makes his undead body shiver even now. 'How do you commune with it?'

When Lina goes on to socialize perfectly, finding good answers, Aaron watches her display her skills. The Lord just thinks about how he could actually dance a little. One of his most hidden and private skills. It would remain to be so, for now.

'All of them, the flesh, the bones, the blood, perhaps other fluids, our alchemy has a use for them: to alter our own bodies, perfecting some of its functions. I'm even developing a control over other bodies, so not studying, or demonstrating,' from Tess, he moves his attention to Little John and then Lina, before finishing his sentence, 'but controlling movement.'

[Yumyumcrow]

The giant watched Lina's display with a harsh attentiveness of a warrior. Little John really was studying the Deava - his eyes attentive to the interplay of muscle and sinew, not the aesthetics of the the Kindred's body. In other contexts, the sheer focus the huge man displayed would have been unsettling, if not worse.

"I can see the Fire burning still. I seek the make my inner Fire in the same likeness," Tess replied calmly while Little John was totally absorbed in his study of Lina.

"What are you," Tess continued, her voice turning to child-like awe, as Aaron continued. "We should work..."

"No. It is enough to finish your Work here and be done with this place. We have stayed long enough." Little John broke free of his reverie and glared again at Tess. And again at Aaron and Lina. "Some things were were not meant to know. And some things you don't understand yet!"

His glare, returning to Tess, was withering in only the way a protective brother could be. The woman almost shrank from it. She slumped into defeated silence.