People did not come to bars to drink. Of course, there was alcohol, and drinking did occur. But really, if you wanted to get drunk, there were other ways... No, going to a bar, or a tavern, was all about socializing...
So with this fresh in his mind, Clyde was doing what else, but going to a bar... Though he could not recall who had said this... Was it someone at the institute? A professor?
It was a bit funny though, considering Clyde was a bit of a loner, and usually sat alone and drank by himself. But perhaps, deep down, he did want to be approached, and to interact, and that was the reason he went to the bar every so often... For that faint glimmering hope of human interaction, of being with other people...
He of course did not think there was much chance of this... On the most part, he was not to bad to look at... He was not fat, though he also was not muscular... Though he was reasonably tall... His features were not to bad, though his face was a bit messed up, with the facial burns scarring his face since childhood... But that just brought back bad memories, which even today he could not see clearly, so he did not dwell on them...
Though it did make some wonder about him... Especially those who knew he was a reimancer... Most often they thought it was the mark of carelessness, that he had burned himself while messing around, and had earned his scars that way... But that was no where near the truth...
He had ordered a ale, but it seemed to be taking awhile, with the place so busy... That is when he noticed his tables candle had been blown out, by a gust of wind, as someone had entered, at some point in time...
For some reason, this fact really annoyed him... Really, what kind of place were they running? Then an idea occurred... Once more, it was an excuse to do magic... No one would notice... The place was to busy... But he fought the idea... Really... It was a frivolous use of magic... But it had been a bit since he last used magic...
He really NEEDED to use magic... It was itching at him in a non-physical way no non-mage could have understood... It would not take much... Just a drop of res, collected on the wick, and lighted, would be enough to set it going...
Unable to think of a good excuse for why he should not, he licked his lips, and brought his finger up to the candles wick... And let out the tiniest drop of res he had ever tried to make... Already he could feel that joyous feeling, and a good bit of that annoying itch disappearing... It felt so good to do magic... He really needed to work on that... He was fairly certain it was not a good sign, to enjoy using magic that much...
If only he had a mage he trusted that he could talk to... One he did not fear of turning him in as crazy... To bad he did not know of any such mage... His kind were far to paranoid for that...
Thinking of this, Clyde put his hands back down on his table, using only the most infinitesimal amount of concentration to keep the drop of res intact... He looked around to make sure no one was looking, and used another twitch of his mind, to turn the res into fire, just big enough to light the candle wick... It would not be obvious to any non-mage he had used magic... Unless they had been looking exactly at the wick as it caught alight... And even then, they might think it was just a trick of the light... |