Clyde just glared at the woman, as he sat himself down, fuming. If she had been smart, she would have left well enough alone... She would have been wise to leave right then and cut her losses, get out before she got him really petching mad... But of course, she did not do that. She just had to go on, and keep poking the dire bear in the belly, wondering what was going to happen, and angry when it ripped her head off. What a petching idiot woman, Clyde thought to himself.
As the woman responded to Clyde's words, the barmaid flinched, realizing what had just happened, and hoping to petch the mage was not going to flip out worse than ever before, and burn the entire place to the ground. She wondered why the Stryfe put up with the mage, and his anger... Though he was a student at the Institute, or something like that, so maybe he did something for them, and was under their protection. And so far he had not really caused any real damage to the place, and had kept his flares of reimancy down to a minimum, or directed at the people who caused the issues with him. But really, was he just a magnet for jerks and people who set him off?
Clyde's anger rose once again, as the woman responded to him. But it was also mixed with confusion. Was she saying she was that same Ethaefal? Which made no sense, she was a completely different person, not that horned lady... But she did seem to know a good bit about what had occurred, and seemed just as stupid and prone to causing trouble and getting him riled up. Who else but the woman who had pushed him as far as last time, could do so again, and make him do something he would regret.
"Maybe your ears don't work, or you are slow, but I think you clearly heard what I said! And what nonsense are you talking about, being that woman. She was a lady with big horns on her head, not a human. I think I can tell the difference, when people look that different from before and now. I doubt you changed that much, or became some master shifter that can walk around in others forms, and then is foolish enough to go out and tell people about it."
"And if you had listened, you would have heard what I petching just said, which was telling you the petch WHY I left her there to rot. Because if I had stayed one moment longer, and not forced myself to leave, she would have had a fireball thrown down her throat. I would have lost all semblance of control, and killed her right there and then. Only by my great withholding did she not die. So then, are you saying what you would preferred for me to do, what would have been better, was for me to kill her? She might have magic in her blood or some such nonsense, but a fireball down your throat, or a earth spike through your head would probably kill her the same as any other person. Are you really fool enough to say that, and say that I should have stayed and killed her!"
"I have nothing to petching fess up for. My choices were to let instinct take over, and to kill her dead right on the spot, or to leave right then and fight my instinct, and the djed in my bones and blood urging me to finish the job, and boil out her insides with a cleansing flame. Maybe if you listened through those holes in the side of your head, you would have heard it the last time I said it!"
By now Clyde was towering into a rage once more, and getting quite mad, back on his feet, staff in hand, clenching it a bit to tight really for comfort, but it was that or grinding his teeth.
Clyde just glared at her, at her gibbering words, so nonsensical, and so full of ignorance and untruth.
"Yes she profited, I gave her a new skill, don't lie and tell me I did not. I felt the power of it, felt it from the inside, felt as a part of me opened up the natural blockage in her vessel, and made it possible to do what I had done. Some people would kill for access to such magic, to be able to do as I, and many have. Do not feign ignorance, you of all people know what I can do, and what she can to an extent."
"And maybe she would have answers, if she came here herself, and asked nicely, instead of accusingly, and with anger. Maybe if she showed a bit of humility and saw that it was her fault, and she had wrought it all, and asked me nicely to explain, then I would. But not through a messenger, and especially not one as rude as you are."
Clyde glared at her, as she spoke of pain. What the petch was she talking about? Pain from reimancy? There was the initial pain of initiation, which was great, but there was no pain after that. What the petch was she talking about, and what was wrong with her?
"And she misinformed you then, reimancy is not pain. It is at first, but then when that fades after the initial bit, it is not painful to hold or have. If she is in pain, she is so from something else she has done, or some other wrong she has in her. Some other magic she is doing. But not reimancy. It is not painful in that way, unless you do to much. And magic is a doorway. Once you walk through it, there is no going back. It has been opened, she can never close the door."
Clyde turned on the woman, and headed for the door, taking one glance over her shoulder, before walking out.
"And if you are her, then that means you can do reimancy. If you are who you say you are, then prove it! Do some! Otherwise, leave me be. Maybe if she asks nicely, I will explain to her the questions, but not until I get an apology, and a kindly phrased question."
With that Clyde stalked out of the door, to the relief of a few of the patrons, and especially the barmaid, and the owner. They had survived another of the mages rages, without being burned down.
Though had Clyde actually just told the woman to do reimancy, to show him? Surely that would not end well, regardless. Either way, the ball was now in the woman's hands, not Clyde's. It was up to her to make the next move. |
