Closed [The Quarters ]Empty Bellies[Elsa Marin]

[Clyde Sullins]

46 Winter 513 Cold stone hallways, dark, unpleasant. Such was the circumstances Clyde found himself in, found himself expected to sleep in. He thought some of the inns he had seen were bad, but this? This was far worse. And they actually expected living things to sleep here? He of course would throw down his own bedroll over the mat, and sleep under his winter blanket, all in hopes of being a bit more comfortable, a bit warmer. But sleep would not be easy when he did attempt it. As it was, the room served as little better than a place to store his things when he was off somewhere else. At the moment, the halls seemed mostly empty. He saw one or two nuit walk by, most not even registering him as they did... But no humans. Not even anything alive. It was clear then that Sahova was where hope went to die... How could they expect the living to be productive when living in such conditions? Or did they do it in hopes of convincing them they were better off to become a nuit, just so they did not need to sleep here. Clyde was seriously beginning to ponder if that was there reason for such a place, in such a state.

[Elsa Marin]

The dizziness seemed to be fading. Elsa wasn't planning on throwing herself at any weird magic barriers any time soon. Or ever again, if she could help it. She'd wrung everything she could out of that little experiment. Staggering out of her room, Elsa decided she needed some fresh air. The day she got used to the smell of Quarters was the day she would slit her own throat.

"Oh my gosh." A person! A living person! A living person she'd never seen before! Elsa squinted, focusing on his hand. No ring! "Hey, you!" Elsa called out to the stranger, bells ringing as she ran to catch up to him. "Hi there, stranger!" She smiled, putting her best foot forward. Her hands signed happy hopeful friendly. "I'm Elsa Marin. Are you new? I haven't seen you before. What's your name?"

She hoped this one was friendly. Or at least not crazy. Or at least not homicidal. Elsa was tired of talking to the walls.

[Clyde Sullins]

At first Clyde did not notice the voice for what it was, talking. It took him a moment to register it, it being so out of place in such glum cold corridors. A sudden burst of speech was therefore easy to initially overlook. "Hey, you!" Clyde turned to find the owner of the voice, the throat from which the sound emitted. A woman, a girl, human by the looks of her. Or at least not something so far from human that it was immediately obvious. And alive, most certainly alive. You could tell by the color of the skin, the way she moved as she ran at Clyde. Luckily he was not holding anything Clyde might have thought was a weapon, or else he might not have reacted as he did. As it was, it took him a moment to recall the staff in his hand, and to keep it held firmly in place. "Hi there, stranger!" A grin came over her face, clearly happy to see him, another living person here on Sahova. Clyde understood this was a bit uncommon, but still... Her reaction seemed a bit overboard. Or perhaps he simply had not been here as long as she had, and so was not as ecstatic to see something non-nuit. "I'm Elsa Marin. Are you new? I haven't seen you before. What's your name?" Clyde paused for a moment, a bit surprised by her bracing greeting, and the multitude of questions launched at him all at once. He took a few moments to calm himself, rubbed his palm up his staff for a tick to feel the familiar wood, its texture, calming in its familiar feeling. "Clyde. Clyde Sullins. Nice to meet you Elsa. Yes, I am new. Well, old but new. I have been here before, but for this visit I am newly arrived. I have only been here a few days. Just getting a feel for the place again... I seem to have forgotten just how the living arrangements were since last I was here." Clyde paused for a moment, looking about, and then turned back to the woman. She was at least as young as he in years, but she seemed to exude a sense of youth. Clyde on the other hand, had been aged far beyond his years by his experiences. He was young in body only. This girl seemed young both in body and of mind. "And what are you doing here on this... I suppose it is still day is it not? Hard to tell in here. Anyways, what are you doing about here? Going for a stroll?"

[Elsa Marin]

Elsa walked around Clyde as he introduced himself, looking him up and down, occasionally nodding or signing approvingly. He was around her age, but he was the real deal. A genuine, serious wizard, staff and all. He probably knew ten times more magic than Elsa. Then again, most people did. She winced sympathetically as he mentioned the "living" arrangements. Not much of a living, really.

"Yep, just taking a walk. I try not to spend more time in Quarters than I have to. The common labs don't smell much better either, but at least there's magic to watch." More corpses than she was entirely comfortable with, though. Elsa found herself spending more time out on the Testing Grounds or some generic Sahovan corridor than stewing in the stench of embalming fluid.

"Soooooo..." she started, wondering how to broach the subject. "Are you just visiting, or are you here for a ring?"

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde did not even bother responding to the fact that Elsa was inspecting him like the wares at a store, even going so far as to circle him. It was odd, but not so odd to require pointing out. But still, if he was in a testier mood, he might have responded in a less than nice fashion... Probably involving fire... "Yep, just taking a walk. I try not to spend more time in Quarters than I have to. The common labs don't smell much better either, but at least there's magic to watch." "Yeah, I have yet to visit the labs. Besides, I know enough about magic to know some of what can go wrong... Especially with the haphazard preparations some of this nuits make. Unlike them, we can't just skip to a new body when a malfunction blows off an arm, or rots out our teeth." This of course was generalizing, and more things Clyde had overheard while on Sahova, with people speaking of some of the newer initiates. But then as was common in such rumors, there was a note of truth to it. Not everyone was as careful as they should be. And not everyone knew how to make protective barrier Glyphs like he did. "Soooooo... Are you just visiting, or are you here for a ring?" "Here for a ring. I just have not yet made my item to be judged. It will take some time. I doubt it will be done till the later judging of the season. And I assume you are also looking for a ring?" Clyde paused for a moment, and looked around, still alone in the hall with the female mage. Or mage apparently, as it seemed likely she was one if on Sahova. Not many non-mages would be here, nor would they last long. Sahova was one of the few places where all could assume one was a wizard. "So what do you do? Whats your craft?"

[Elsa Marin]

"I'm a voider," Elsa chirped proudly. "And yes, I'm here to be a wizard. My sister, Anna, is one already. Or, she will be."

An item to be judged, huh? That was definitely something Elsa would have to ask about, but later. So many makers here. So many clever hands. A shame most of them were necrotic. Nuits disgusted Elsa to the core. "She used to be a professor at the university back in Zeltiva. You won't find a better glypher this side of- and I'm still talking about her. Great." Elsa's smile never wavered, but her hands practically growled.

Moving on! "How much food did you bring?" Elsa tried not to sound too hopeful, but even with Osd and Celeste kicking the odd meal her way she could count more of her ribs than she even knew she had. "You did bring food, right? Visitors don't get fed."

[Clyde Sullins]

"I'm a voider, and yes, I'm here to be a wizard. My sister, Anna, is one already. Or, she will be." Clyde nodded. He knew a bit about voiding, being one himself. He still had quite a bit to learn about it though, having never really had any formal training in it. And what little skill in it he did have, was rather minimal. Especially when compared to his greater magics. It was however interesting to hear the girl had more family members here, ones that were also mages. One that so happened to be in a position of some power, being a wizard by rank. Or did she mean wizard as in the term for describing being a magic user? He supposed it was the former. He on the other hand had no family that knew magic, he was alone in that fact. His father was very against it, which was one of the reasons he had left Syliras. He supposed it must be nice then, to have family who could understand one being a magic user, by being one themselves. "She used to be a professor at the university back in Zeltiva. You won't find a better glypher this side of- and I'm still talking about her. Great." "A professor at the university? Funny, I was one before leaving Zeltiva, that's where I just came from. I was also a Glyphing instructor, of upper level Glyphing classes. So she is also a Glypher? Well, our relative skills in Glyphing remain to be seen, perhaps she is better than me... Perhaps not." He did find her words a bit funny though, to hear her so strongly claiming her sisters ability in a magic, and then in turn trying to change the topic as fast as she could to something not of her sister. Clearly there was something more there, some anger or something against her older sister who was also a mage. Though if she was in fact a greater Glypher than him, she must be pretty good... Somehow he doubted it though, he had yet to find a Glypher as good as he, and he recalled the head of the magic department had been quite amazed at his skills, praising them highly. In fact, he had said "no greater a Glypher has graced the halls of the University." If she had been the teacher before him, then that would mean he had even then been better than this Anna. "How much food did you bring? You did bring food, right? Visitors don't get fed." "Ah... Not much I am afraid. I guess that was another thing I had forgotten about... I mean I seem to recall there being some places to find food, but my memory is a bit... Fuzzy... I usually can find something proper in the woods, though I am unsure what could be found about here on this stony isle. What of you, have you spent much time hunting?"

[Elsa Marin]

Elsa tried not to look too crestfallen when Clyde revealed his lack of food. So much for sharing. For someone who was supposed to have been to Sahova before he sure hadn't thought very far ahead. Could be he was just lying to her.

If he wasn't lying to her, though, and if he knew where to find food, they could achieve a lot together. If he turned on her, she'd just Void him. Simple enough. "Nope. I haven't hunted a day in my life. I'm a fast learner, though, if you know anything about hunting."

OOCShort, sorry. Today is nrgh. :C

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde seemed lost in thought for a bit, as he tried to recall memories of his last visit to Sahova. "I don't think it was an issue last time... They fed me last time, at least occasionally they fed me when they did not have me at work... Something to do with... Bodies..." Clyde strained to recall for a few moments, but was drawing a blank. He knew the last time he had been here he had been doing something involving bodies, as a image of one had appeared, along with a pool of some liquid that was certainly not water... But that was as far as he could recall. But then, having high level Hypnotism effects cast on you, and then later having them removed, was a tricky enough business as it was. So it made sense that for the time in which the effect had been active, some memories would be confused. As Elsa spoke however, it brought Clyde back from his memories. "Nope. I haven't hunted a day in my life. I'm a fast learner, though, if you know anything about hunting." "Well I know a little bit, but I am certainly no master of hunting. But I know a few things from prior trips. Like I said, in my experience forests are a good place to find food. Usually something or other lives in them that's decent for eating... Do you know of any forests around here that we could try?"

[Elsa Marin]

Elsa had to give the question some thought. She hadn't done much exploring on Sahova, what with how half the island was barren rock and the other half was an active magical testing ground, but she did venture out of the citadel to take baths, and she did remember seeing something. "I think so. No guarantees that the trees won't try to eat us, though. Come on, Clyde."

Elsa led the way out to the testing grounds further in on the island, towards the forest of thorns. "Sooo," she started, trying to make some small talk. "You said you were making something? Are you a world mage?"