Closed Looking For Evidence (Clyde)

[Gybe]

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Gybe leaned forward in the earliest moments of the morning. He held his tired face in his hands let out a little groan. Something was off and immediately he remembered how Clyde had stayed over. He let his heart ease back and placed his hand on his pocket. Within was the shell necklace that had belonged to his daughter. Anger filled his heart as he rose. The creak of the wood chair giving off the faint sound that he stirred in the room. To an observant man like Clyde, he probably noticed, but that didn't stop Gybe from getting ready for the day.

He changed in his pants that were used while fishing and took off his shirt, this time folding his clothes and setting them off to the side. It was a bit different than the method that he had been accustomed to before, but it was fine. He then took his net off the wall, revealing the dagger that was behind it. With knowing hands he folded up the net into a tight compact square. Under his arm it was put and then the dagger's sheath slid through a loop built into his pants.

He headed out and fished for a few hours, doing his best to catch enough for his quota. It wasn't as hard for him as it was for the other fishermen due to his mark of Laviku, but they were far more skilled than him at the actual sport of it. This morning he did not go diving as he had important business to attend to. So by the time the first light was coming over the mountains, he was nearly done. He had nearly the same amount as he always did in the morning and so was recorded to deliver his catch. Upon dropping the fish off he turned to Herring Square and gifted the abundance of the day to the Havershams who were out and about setting up their booth.

The man chatted with them for a while before heading back toward his home.
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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Clyde Sullins]

76 Summer 515

Clyde awoke to find himself alone in another persons house. By reflex he clutched at Cha, gripping her tightly and close to him, before he recalled where he was and why. He'd slept with the staff within his arms, a habit of old that Clyde didn't stop just because someone could see him.

He'd felt something in his rest, a brief surge of anger in the air, bristling against his sides in a detached non-literal sort of way. A cursory examination had proven the anger wasn't aimed at him, wasn't a threat to him, and so he'd gone back to sleep. By the time he'd woken it was but a memory half recalled, uncertain if it had been in a dream or in a half lucid waking state.

When Clyde fully awoke he looked about the room, stretching as he looked things over. Gybe seemed to live in a bit of a mess, but not in filth or dirtiness. An important distinction Clyde found. He quickly went through his morning ablutions, relieving himself, getting a drink of water, and stretching out his body and its various muscles.

He then went over to his things, and looked through his pack for a few moments. He didn't think Gybe was a thief, but it didn't hurt to be sure. He'd purposely left his things sitting out, seeing if he'd perhaps temp the man.

Then again a mage was a silly person to anger, and usually didn't end well, so perhaps the lack of theft had more to do with who he was than who Gybe was. Hard to say, though Clyde did his best to look at the situation objectively and logically.

Nyka wasn't Clyde's favorite place, nor was it his least. It was certainly more of a home than Syliras, but much less than Ravok. But then like Sahova it had some issues in the food department.

But then, Clyde thought to himself, Clyde was much freer to practice his magics and work on said skills in Sahova than he was in Nyka. Besides his Reimancy he'd yet to really do any proper magic in Nyka, besides engraving two pairs of djed shackles.

His mind wandering to engraving, Clyde took out one of his tools for the craft from his pack, and sat at the table staring at it. Engraving allowed one to cut into a surface, not like a knife did, but in a slower method. Its head was a tiny diamond fleck, much harder than wood or metal or stone. When harder met softer, the softer inevitably gave way.

It occurred to Clyde that diamond was a stone. Clyde was a Reimancer, and could create stone. He'd once studied quartz, and learned how to create it. Logically then, he should be able to come to understand diamond, and learn to create it also.

Extending out his aura, focusing his mind on the tiny shape of the diamond fleck held within the engraving tool, Clyde extended his focus out of Cha and onto the tiny object, willing the motion into existence. It was not only the first time he'd examined diamonds aura, it was also the first time he'd examined the aura of something so small.

Clyde closed his eyes, staring at the aura not with his mundane vision but with his other sight, his aura sight. As his aura extended and grasped at the tiny diamond flecks aura, its own aura burst into life. Or more, glimmered. A tiny little grey substance about the diamond fleck, not much bigger than it. The aura of a dead thing.

When Gybe returned he'd find Clyde as such, sitting in a chair at his table, eyes closed, staring at a tool held in his left hand. Likely this would look quite odd with mundane sight alone.

[Gybe]

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Turning toward home he had some fish with him taken from the square. He figured Clyde would be hungry, and to be honest he would have been if he didn't eat a fish already on the boat. The man at his home however didn't have anything yet. Eventually he headed toward his street and made it to his house. The shuffle of feet could be heard on the doorstop as he approached.

"Well the place isn't burned down", he thought as he opened the door. In his hand was a string with two medium sized fish and in his other was a net. He maneuvered the door open somewhat clumsily and squinted as the morning light flooded in behind him. The sight of Clyde was a bit strange and he looked away from him and then back to him just to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was.

“Morning..." He walked in. " Hope you slept well on that bed. It's not the most comfortable of things.”

He didn’t expect the man to answer and as he came in the scent of fish would fill the air. Not only was it on the end of his string, but fish slime was upon his pants and his net. Moving over toward Clyde as he sat in the chair, he hung up his net and then got busy about making some breakfast for the man. Fish was something he made all the time, but it was not something he ever made for someone else. It was more his lack of palate that made him worry about his guest liking his food. He was silent otherwise and let the man go about his strange close-eyed business as long as he desired it.

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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde looked into the stone, the tiny prick of aura within his awareness the only thing he saw. He reached deeper within, shoving himself in hands deep to press in upon its outer essence.

He could feel it upon his skin, tough and strong, hardy. Could feel its surface, a bit rough as it was but a tiny fleck and not a full stone, let alone a cut one. He wasn't really sure what one would call what he attempted in making the stone.

Gemcrafting? Geomancy? Stone making? Names didn't matter, didn't affect a thing, but in that they conveyed understanding they did have meaning and some importance. Often putting a name to a thing was the first thing one did in understanding it.

He tried to smell it, but it being a stone it didn't have much of a scent. Though as he pressed at that sense he did pick up a few small things, likely rubbed off from other things and not of the stone itself.

Done with the mundane senses one could use without magic, Clyde pressed onward and inward, deeper into the stone. Seeing inside of it, its wholeness, its imperfections, its nakedness. Overlaying the vague image of the stone was a river, nothing but a tiny white trickle. Perhaps not even enough to a ant to bath in, but there all the same.

As he pressed onto the stone and its river it began to squiggle, cutting and jerking in its unique fashion. He'd seen something similar when he'd learned to make quartz. He wasn't sure what it meant, what it was his mind was trying to understand, but perhaps that was the point. It was of the nature of the stone, its make, its river or trail, and so not something one could understand linearly.

It was like trying to make a fish understand air, or a duck to understand love, it was foreign and beyond their ken.

With a dead stone the stream was usually a single trickle, simple and straightforward. When he'd done something similar with more complex objects, such as a weapon, he'd gotten much more. But then again he'd been Magecrafting the weapon at the time, so perhaps that was also a factor.

Either way Clyde was fairly certain this tiny squiggled line was important, and something directly relevant to his task even if he didn't yet understand how.

He'd been at this for a time, perhaps a few chimes, more likely a bell or two, when he heard the sound of someone speaking.

Willing his aura sight to expand, he extended his reach in the direction of the sound, and felt the contours of another aura. Within moments it bloomed within his aura sight in its simplest form, showing him who spoke even though his eyes were closed.

Gybe, and his aura, bloomed to life in a way only possible within auristical vision. He could see him, but in a way beyond what his eyes could see. He could see all of him, his true vision as if seen from every direction and none. Nothing was missed. Being both a living thing, and a sentient thing, his aura was much larger than the tiny stones had been.

He also smelled a twinned scent, both with his physical senses and upon the man's visage's scent, fish.

Holding out his left hand palm up, Clyde focused his magic, willing a tiny bit of res to rise, but a single spurt.

“It was fine. Trust me, I've slept in far worse. Besides, I was quite tired, it being such a busy day yesterday and all.”

Unlike his auristics, the tiny bit of Reimancy was physically visible, this time as a single glowing-ish gob of bright silvery material sitting in his palm. Where the night before he'd made tons of it as a gas, this time he made but a tiny bit and as a solid. Or as solid as res got, which was more like a thick paste or such.

“I suppose today is the day we'll be going to the hall of robes. I'm just working on a bit of some research...”

With that Clyde closed his mouth, and focused on the image and feel and touch of the diamond fleck, of the squiggling line that was its understanding in some way. Willing that into existence, focusing on its concept, he transmuted the res, attempting to make a tiny diamond.

One moment it was res, bright and off glowing. The next it was replaced by a stone. No flash of light, no moment of conception, no poof or sound, just the new existence.

Opening his eyes finally, Clyde looked down at the tiny stone set on his palm.

It was tiny, though larger than the diamond fleck. Perhaps a millimeter across at its widest, though its shape wasn't uniform or fully cut as a proper gem would be once polished and ready to be sold.

Reaching out another tendril of his aura sight, Clyde focused on this third form, this gem in his hand.

He felt its toughness, its surface, its... Offness...

After a few moments of comparing it to the other aura he was sensing, he noticed the difference. The squiggle hiding within. It wasn't that of the diamond, but that of quartz. He'd made yet another piece of quartz.

“Dang, another piece of quartz. I'll have to try again later.”

Clyde set the tiny piece of quartz on the table, next to where he'd set the engraving tool, and pulled back his aura sight from the two stones. For now he kept the one tendril latched onto Gybe, sensing out his "Gybe"-ness.

Apparently he hadn't quite figured out how to make diamonds, though he'd gotten a good feel for its nature. Perhaps next time he'd try it a bit differently, and get it right.

[Gybe]

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Gybe watched with a strange look upon his face at Clyde’s actions. The man was a weird one. Eventually watching his visible reinmancy, a little fear crept into his heart. What if this guy wasn’t so good at his research as he was with his fire extinguishing skills. Eventually Gybe had to put it out of his mind and leave the man to his research. While he kept an eye on him and his actions, he prepared breakfast for the two of them. About the time he was halfway through making it, the man spoke up and it shocked Gybe a bit. He chuckled a bit at his surprise over the eruption of the man’s words and then out of curiosity asked him.

“What are you trying to find out? Do stones have magical properties?”

It was clear he was confused as to what was going on. Now he had a piece of quartz set down on his table where there wasn't a stone previously. He blinked at it and considered, did his eyes even see a stone in his hands before? He was unsure, but it left a bad taste in his mouth. It wasn't just sleight of hand. Perhaps it was his lacking ability to notice subtle changes in things that made him miss it, but he could have swore that this man just made that piece of quartz.

"Good good, glad you were able to sleep on it. Yeah that's the plan. We'll head there and figure some stuff out. ...um...Was that quartz always there?" He thought he must sound ridiculous right now.

Eventually he went back to the fish, not letting their breakfast burn. The man’s aura was one of confusion at the moment. Residing deep inside was heavy wrath, something that doesn’t conceal itself so quietly, yet his most prevalent aura was one of thought. It seemed the man was constantly devising, thinking, and struggling to do so. He was a fisherman, not a trained spy, and he had a goal, a large one after all, and had no idea how to make it happen. There was no love in his heart, though toward Clyde there was near friendship and openness. Toward this house, this place and everything Nyka, there was that wrath. After a few more minutes he dished up some breakfast for him and Clyde, putting a plate in front of both of them, and then proceeded to scarf it down just as quickly as Clyde did last night.

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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde puzzled over the mans words, uncertain what he meant. Did stones have magical properties? How would he know? Of course since he'd visibly made a stone, perhaps he'd thought that was the avenue of his research, the research of stones, not learning how to make various ones.

“Eh? Stones? Possibly. Maybe. How would I know? That's between stones and themselves. I've never bothered to ask them if they are inherently magical.”

Clyde shrugged, and simply looking at him it would be difficult to ascertain how serious the mage was being, or if perhaps he was joking.

“And no, that quartz wasn't always there. Heck, this house wasn't even always here. Nor was this table I'd reckon. So it'd be unlikely wouldn't it that the small bit of quartz upon it would have always been here.”

Clyde paused for a moment, putting on an expression of pondering and puzzling to himself, before returning to a more passive expression.

“Anyways, this bit of quartz is quite rude. It didn't listen. I wanted it to be a tiny bit of diamond, but instead it became quartz. As for magic... I could perhaps show you some. If you'd like anyways. Fetch my ink, quill, and a piece of parchment from my pack, and I'll show you. Or not, I don't really care either way.”

Clyde would shrug to himself and tuck into his food, not paying a large amount of attention to his host.

His auristical sight was still surrounding Gybe, slow synchronizing with it over time. He could have done it much faster if he'd been more actively focusing his will on the man, trying to prize out the deeper things, but instead he kept only a slow and steady pressure upon him.

His aura had slowly shifted from its earlier grey hue to a bluish color. Blue mixed with a small hinting of grey and red and green. It also had a smell about it, a scent, though one Clyde hadn't figured out. Perhaps it wasn't a true scent, but something else entirely.

“You know, you've told me what you do, but you've not told me what you want. What investment do you have into figuring out this monster? What is your desire, your wanted end result, whether relating to this thread of inquiry or in general? My interest is pretty straightforward, new magic interests me as I am a mage. But your interest doesn't seem so clear cut.”

Pausing for a moment, Clyde carefully chewed a bite, pausing to take a bone out of his mouth that apparently hadn't been properly removed from the fish.

“Also... Your gnosis... I've not heard of its type before. What specifically does it do?”

[Gybe]

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“You’ve never asked them?” Clyde’s words confused him greatly as he cooked the fish. He couldn’t help but let out a laugh at that, even if it wasn’t funny to the man, it was funny to him. “Sorry…It just sounded humorous.”

Clyde had a way about him and it was a strange one. His answers were all sorts of confusing to Gybe who had little to no understanding of magic. All these were what he signed up for when he invited the strange man into his home. Now it was clear though that Clyde was trying to speak to the stone. Or not speak to it, but ...well something, he didn’t get it.

Gybe raised an eyebrow at the man’s demand for him to retrieve his things. Perhaps Clyde didn’t know who he was talking to. He wouldn't understand if he wanted to. Besides, they had a lot to do today. It may surprise Clyde when the hardened man sat down to eat. "We've got a lot of business to do today, best start early man. But if you want to show me" he waved the man to get his things from his pack. It seemed like Gybe was like a bloodhound on this business.

The man across the table from him was prying into who he was and into the business of his God? He decided he would eat a bit first and then with a full mouth, he responded.

“Well...Lets just keep this strictly business. I don’t have any intention of laying out my life story to a stranger, whether you’ve slept here or not.” He clarified, “I’m not trying to be ass. I’m just saying... I don’t need to know what your life story is, and you don’t need to know mine. If there is some crazy ooze out there sucking people dry and it’s being concealed, I want to know why. As for my Gnosis, it blesses me with the ability to know tides, drink sea water...that sort of stuff.”

He finished his food more than likely before Clyde. Fish was what he ate all day and night, so he knew where the bones were going to be and avoided them while cleaning all around them proficiently. With that he took his plate and disposed of the bones before proceeding to wash the dish. He was ready to start on his way, but before that he was to change. “I am changing.” he said to give the man fair warning and threw down his pants, not caring if the man saw his nakedness or not. He then slipped on his clean pants and a shirt, brushed his hair lightly and backward, then kicked his fish covered pants under the bed for the time being.


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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Clyde Sullins]

As Clyde had come directly from the square and never returned to his room, he didn't have another chance of clothes. Instead he had the same old clothes on, likely somewhat smoke scented from the events of the day before.

Basically walking into a inferno tended to have that effect.

Clyde more or less ignored the man laughing in regard to his first comment, letting him think as he wished if he wished. It was of no great importance to him either way. He kept his serious act on, focusing on his food and being mysterious.

However to his other response, Clyde let out an exasperated sigh. Clearly the man thought more of himself than Clyde did, or felt his own story was more important than it likely was. Acting defensive only tended to draw more attention to something however, and Clyde felt that if he truly didn't want to discuss it he'd perhaps not gone about it the best way.

“If you don't want to see it enough to grab what is needed, then why should I care to show you? I've done it and seen it more than enough times. The benefit was only for you, so if you've no interest in seeing it then I've none in doing it.”

“I couldn't give a flying shyke about your life story, did I say I wanted it? I could care less if you were a wastrel or a son of a rich merchant. I asked on intent. Intent is important. Intent begets purpose, and influences ones convictions for a task. If this is just a passing interest to you that tells me one thing. If you've got a greater reason for your interest, that's yet another. But both influence how I act.”

“That's all nice, saying you want to know out of simply wanting to know. But you've asked my help, and I want to know which way you'll scarper if the wind blows one way or the other. You might not think its important, but I do. I'm a foreigner in a strange land, and your a local. Your invested in one direction or the other, and what I do going forward is affected by that. Where does your loyalty lie? That's the center of it I suppose. Not your petching life story.”

Clyde paused for a moment, at the end, before continuing.

“As for your gnosis, and allowing you to drink seawater... What do you mean by that? In this case the specifics are important, even if you don't understand how. I'm a mage of a wide base of magics, and it could be relevant to one of them. Often with magic specifics and intent are more important than words or feelings. How does it allow you to drink sea water? In what fashion?”

Clyde didn't care about his changing, he simply continued to eat his food, finishing up around the time he finished changing.

[Gybe]

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It seemed that he wasn’t the only one to be pissy in the morning. Clyde was a volatile man like the flame he commanded. Gybe was to a point but he would back down when it came to a fight. Some if they knew his personality would call him a weasel rather than a fighter. The man berated him for a good while on his influence and such things. Gybe listened to it all.

He finished changing as the man paused, his curses adding to his intent, yet he didn’t come off as a mad angry man, just one who didn’t waste his freakin’ time. Gybe could respect that and if the man was watching he could see that perhaps there was some sort of admiration turned upon Clyde where there was little to none before.

“Fine Shyte…” he said after the inquisition was over. “My intent is to see this through to the end, but I don’t intend to fight monks, monsters, or cities to get to it. My loyalties lie to myself and those I deem worthy of them. Now you tickled my interest a bit with your magic and yes, I do want your help, you are an intelligent and observant man, but I’m not a team player. I do things on my own, I go my own way, and I haven't had any coffee yet, so forgive me if I’m a little pissy this morning. The sooner we get the information we are after, the sooner this will all be sorted and whatever good or bad may come of it. I have no desire to influence it either way.” the man said with a bit of sass and started to pack his pockets with some coins and such things that they may need. He tied a rope belt across his waist and continued on explaining for the man.

“My God Laviku blessed me with this mark, enabling me to drink sea water. I stick it in my mouth and I don’t die like everyone else. I don’t know what specifics you want.” he honestly didn’t know. “I can place my hand upon the waters anywhere and tell which way the currents flow...like I can see them in my mind. Other than that I don’t know much about it. There are people out there who have similar blessings that do various other things. Maybe it is that my body converts the seawater to normal water in my body...I can’t see inside myself though so I’m not sure.”

He finished getting changed and ready to go and nodded toward the door. “Are you going to change into something from your pack or are you okay. Do we need to make a stop at your place?” He then added, “And I’d like to learn that thing...later you know? We should just really get a move on.” Meaning whatever he was going to show him with the ink, quill, and parchment.

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Other's Words -- My Words -- My Thoughts

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde was more or less satisfied with Gybe's answer. It was some of what he'd expected, after seeing him and his actions a bit, but it was always nice to confirm things. Then again it also told him some new things that he wouldn't have known without being told.

Of course, he took everything with a grain of salt, not fully trusting what he said as true. It wasn't that Clyde didn't trust the man, it was more that he'd had far to much time around liars to outright trust someone's word completely.

Often people tucked in lies and secrets, perhaps not even realizing it at the time.

He openly admitted he wasn't a fighter, and wouldn't fight. He was loyal to himself and only others upon his choosing... He wasn't a team player, so likely couldn't be overly relied upon in a critical moment if it would be too costly for Gybe to aid. He seemed like he'd help if he could, but only if it wouldn't hinder or harm his own position.

In response to the seawater drinking thing, the simplest question seemed to be “Does it taste salty? If your body changes it, then it'd be seawater coming in. But if it changes as you drink it, then logically it'd change as it went in and you'd be drinking pure water not salt water. So when you drink it, is it salty?”

In response to the wanting to see the thing later, Clyde simply picked up the bit of freshly minted quartz and dropped it into his pack for later. Since it was magically created, it was thus seal-able in glyphing. If the man brought it up, he might show him it later. Or not, as he cared little either way having done it quite a few times.

“No, this apparel is fine. We can go now. My only other set of clothes is nicer, a fancy set, and I wouldn't wear that for this. I'm fine to go as I am now.”

With that it seemed it was finally time to go, and for Gybe to lead the way.