[Wolf's Cave] Stranger Reality [Nezuel]

[Hadrian]

31st Winter, 510 A.V. Another sort of man might have balked at entering the Wolf's Cave; it was owned and operated by a pack of Kelvic wolves, and most of its clientele appeared to be made up of the more ferocious races. Hadrian was undaunted. There was always the chance that it was all illusion, anyway, and he could very well have been a Druvin for all anyone could tell through the haze of illusion, so he didn't figure he was in any particular danger. And anyway, travel within Alvadas still stumped him from time to time. He had gone walking in search of food, and with that thought foremost in his mind, he had ended up here. Perhaps Ionu had a purpose for this visit. He murmured something vague to the Kelvic on guard and was allowed past. Not even a smidgen of hypnotic training, really, and he could manage a thing like that from time to time. Finding a table in the corner, he sat on a fur-covered chair and ate what was brought to him. A rare steak of some sort. Well, when in Alvadas, do as the Alvadans...

[Nezuel]

He had not been in Alvadas long but even he could figure out that like all other places, race divided people. People were wary of him and when he asked them were he could get something to eat they mumbled something about a wolf and a cave. Eventually after asking a dozen people he found directions to the Wolf's Cave. The Wolf's Cave was a tavern that usually accommodated the wilder races. He assumed that people recommended this place because with his cloak on he looked like a full zith who had used their wings as a cloak. After failing several times to get to the tavern he finally found it by following the smell of food. He approached the Kelvic guard and mumbled something about "food and zith." The kelvic stood there looking unimpressed. Nezuel let a low growl out of his mouth and the kelvic simply moved aside. When he got to the main room he looked around and was disappointed to find that there were no zith in the room. He found that he stood out against the rest of the tavern and instantly felt a little insecure. Compared to symenestras' pale skin his skin seemed like the darkest night. He was somewhat surprised to find a human in the room as when he had asked about the Wolf's Cave he found that most races avoided it. He quickly tore his gaze away from the human and sat down at the table waiting for a chance at meeting any zith that walked into the wolf's den.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian was comfortable enough eating among Kelvics, Symenestra, and the like, but he was wary of everything and everyone in Alvadas, because one couldn't count on understanding what was happening at any given time unless one had the gift of illusion, which he did not. He ate slowly, cutting small pieces off of the rare steak so that he did not eat too much too fast, his stomach unused to an entirely carnivorous meal. With his back to the wall, he could see who all came in, and hopefully have some warning if someone decided to put human on the menu, though Hadrian didn't have all that much meat on his bones. He often forgot to eat when he was hard at work or at study, and what was more, the practice of magic seemed to boil off excess energy, so there was nothing to accumulate as fat or, sadly, muscle. He had his Auristic sense engaged, an eye out for those flashes of red that often presaged violent attack. As such, he noticed that the tall man walking in was not as much a Zith as he appeared... Or was Hadrian wrong? Though a test would prove that the Zith-man only topped Hadrian by a scant inch, he had a sort of presence about him that Hadrian would never be able to duplicate. Pausing in his meal, he watched the man.

[Nezuel]

He imagined his fingers burrowing a hole into the table as his claws tapped on it impatiently. While in most cases he was very patient this was not most cases. Never before had he been surrounded by so many races that weren't human. Their looks made the human in his nervous and their smells made the zith in him want to fight for dominance. His fingers started to tap harder and faster as he got more and more unconformable. He turned his head to face the human and found him oddly watching him. What is he so interested in? he thought has he never seen a zith before.

Another realization dawned on him. Perhaps the human had seen a zith before and knew there was something odd about him. It was true that he looked nothing like a human but neither did he look like a full zith. Whatever the case may be he felt much more confident facing a human than any of the other races in the Wolf's Cave. He got up and quickly walked to the table were the human sat and joined him. He smiled showing his sharp teeth. "Can I help you human," He said, his voice low, deep and fair like a zith's. "I couldn't help but notice you were starring at me and I was wondering why." His predator like eyes watched for any hostile movement as he waited for the man's response.

[Hadrian]

Though Hadrian had terror responses the same as anyone, he managed to keep his nerves on the inside. He wasn't the smoothest operator, but he could subsume his emotions to his logic well enough to make the Ano Cult take notice of him. In fact, this wasn't the first Zith-human hybrid he had seen, though there appeared to be a range of differences between each of them, which fascinated him. "Forgive my staring," he said, quietly and politely. "You remind me of someone is all." In the stranger's aura he saw flashes of predatory things, and his spine stiffened in response. There was nothing Hadrian cherished more than his mind's freedom, and he would not be dominated. The stranger hadn't attempted any overt sort of domination, but there was something bestial about all the other occupants of this place and he knew enough about animal nature to know where human pissing contests came from. "I'm Hadrian. Buy you a drink?"

[Nezuel]

He smiled, "Sure. And my name is Nezuel" He signaled the waiter to come over and ordered himself some water. He looked back at Hadrian and saw that he looked a little nervous. "I remind you of someone?" He leaned forward a little bit "I would assume he or she was a zith? I've always wanted to meet one. Unfortunately I never found time to chat with one were I lived" He paused. "I was raised by humans...so you don't have to worry about the whole "eating humans thing."

He was about to say more but then bit his tongue when he realized that he was almost telling his life story to a complete stranger. He was lost in thought for several seconds thinking about what he had done. He snapped out of it and looked up at Hadrian, "I'm sorry, Hadrian for how I approached you. I've just had bad experiences with humans because of my...heritage and their choice of food." He was about to say more when the waiter slammed their drinks down on the table spilling water all of him. Nezuel accidentally let out a curse in the ancient tongue as he looked around for something to dry his cloak.

[Hadrian]

"Nezuel," he repeated, attempting to both memorize the name by saying it, and say it correctly by mimicking the hybrid's own pronunciation. "You remind me of someone I met in Syliras briefly. He was of both Zith and human parentage. He was not nearly so tall as you, and the eyes were different, but the similarities were greater than the disparities. I suppose if you want to speak to a Zith, you should travel down to Cyphrus where the Drykas fear to tred, though... You know, I'm not sure how they take to hybrids." That was an interesting anthropological question, to be sure. He glossed over the threat of eating, apparent or otherwise, and shrugged off his apologies. "Apology accepted, though unnecessary. You were merely reacting based on your best guesses at my intentions based on your previous experiences. I can hardly fault you for that, though you should know that I am rather... open-minded. To be honest, I find you fascinating rather than repulsive. Whatever that says about me..." Frowning at the clumsy waiter, he hoped Nezuel wouldn't eat him either. Hadrian didn't have enough clean clothes to change if he got blood-soaked now.

[Nezuel]

Nezuel calmly concentrated on his hands under the table and release res in the form of gas. Making the res hover over the wet spot on his cloak he attracted the water towards the gas and out of the cloak. This process took less than a few seconds and he took great care to make sure Hadrian didn't see his use of magic. He had to possibility to make a new friend and he didn't want to mess it up by freaking him out.

Many people hated and feared magic. For that was their nature. People fear things they don't understand and hate things they understand less. Many times he had seen unaware street performers use small magic suddenly be attacked by crowds of people. Because of the risk of using magic he would have usually just let the cloak dry naturally. However this particular cloak meant a lot to him, being the only thing he has left of his mother.

"I doubt I would be greeted by Zith with open arms. As I said, I was raised by humans. I would think they would consider me the same as any human...Perhaps a bit different and more open and more likely to survive...mating."

[Hadrian]

Nezuel was just fortunate that Hadrian's crossing of the Suvan Sea was so trying, and that, as a result, he was more sparing in his djed usage. This meant he did not keep his Auristic vision up as much as usual, wanting to hoard his energies as best he could. With the power and skill he was developing, he might have seen the bit of hydromancy even through the table, that flare of transmutation easy for him to identify as it was a skill that he too possessed. It might have been a conversation point, but life was full of near misses such as that. "Well, I would not be greeted warmly by a Zith colony either, so we have that in common," he said with a gallows grin. "They would surely invite me to dinner, but not as a guest. Ah well, perhaps someday I will be strong enough at combat magic to protect myself well enough to live among them and study their culture. It would be interesting." He had to laugh, though, albeit quietly, at the mention of mating. Not a few days ago, Vizyous the Symenestra had made uncomfortable comments about mating, and Hadrian felt he was learning more about non-human sexuality than he had anticipated. If it made him uncomfortable, it was only due to his own lack of experience in that arena.

[Vetala]

Hadrian

Auristics - 1
Observation - 2
Socializing - 3
Drinking - 2

Lores:
Lore of Wolf's Cave
Acholol makes anyone willing to be friendly

Ledger

-3 Silver for meal and drinks


Nezuel

Socializing - 3
Drinking - 2
Obsevation - 3

Lores:
Lore of Wolf's Cave
Lore of human interaction
Standing out in a crowd



Notes:

Thank you for letting me read this and grade it. I am sad to see it end in such a way however if Nezuel does come back and would like to keep going with it I shall take this off.

I could not find any price listings so I went with what seemed right as figured both would be drinking.

If you have any questions or problems please send me a PM.