Solo Through the turbulence III

[Cleon]

58th of Spring, 522 AV

Still reeling from that kiss, Cleon avoided looking anywhere near Lexi, focusing on Randal instead as he paddled across the pool. It was not to be a particularly long journey but he took his time with it, not very eager to get back to where he might have to face what happened between him and Lexi so soon. Not that he thought she might bring it up. Just, he wasn’t quite in control of his body. Because of this curse, Lexi was practically all he could think about as his mind alternated between imagining her in the clothes she was wearing and then something a tad bit more sheer.

No, not now, please not now.

Cleon focused on the coolness of the water, and when Luke started gracefully backstroking alongside him, he was strangely glad to see the boy. Something about how strange he now knew the boy had a way of cooling him off and reining in his focus back on what matters.

“How do you swim so effortlessly?” He asked, knowing the answer but wanting to see what the boy would say.

Luke slowed down somewhat to match his drift as he considered him carefully with those blue eyes.

“I dunno. Just do what I do. You human’s spend so much fighting the water when you should just go along with it, THEN try to guide yourself where you want to go by working with the water. Though that makes less sense here in this artificial pool.” Luke mused, and Cleon nodded at the boy, watching him swim off before continuing to the group. He would make sure to remember that later even if the advice was a tad too ambiguous.

As he drifted closer he spread his weight out on the board before sitting up on it, and ridding his momentum into the group slowly so Randal had plenty of time to catch the tip of his board to halt its progress.

“Well I think thats enough of a lesson for today. I hope everyone had fun, but I’m getting pruned as are the rest of you.” Randal said stepping out of the water.

The children didn’t put up much of a fuss, filing out and following Lexi who after drying off lead them away down the path towards where he knew the Children’s pavilion was. He couldn’t help but to glance at her as she departed, a hint of his earlier thoughts surfacing but this time he managed to push them down as he focused in on Randal and the conversation that was on his mind.





“Hey Randal do you have a moment?” Cleon asked and watched as the man turned to him with a curious smile that looked oddly terrifying with his animal features. Then Randal tried to grunt something, cleared his throat and then tried speaking again.

“Rrrr Sure Cleon, whhats up?” Randal asked.

“Well I got this bracelet recently. I think it came from Eywaat, or at least I suspect it did. Anyways that is besides the point. It came with a charm, this one here.” Cleon said, holding up the spiral crowned head for Randal to see. “Well this charm it lets me read surface thoughts for about five chimes and I’ve been using it to try and figure out this curse.”

WC - 550

[Cleon]

Randal’s features shifted from concern to curiosity as he took a good look at the charm. “And? Did you find anything out?”

Cleon shook his head. “Not really. Well, I know that boy Luke is not human. He claims to be Laviku’s son, and honestly, I kind of believe him. He also doesn’t trust Kyle and Kyle doesn’t trust him. Luke said he is here on behalf of of Laviku to watch events unfold but wouldn’t tell me anything more than-” Cleon stopped as Randal patted the air with his hand.

“Not so loud Cleon. Use your quiet voice. After what happened with Miss Hess, you don’t want whoever is responsible finding out you are investigating this. Speaking of, are you just doing this by yourself?”

Cleon nodded which elicited a long sigh from Randal.


“You really shouldn’t be doing that. Investigating alone I mean. What if someone found you out. If there really is someone responsible for this they might know or at least have an idea that you are using some power against them.” Randal said.

Cleon nodded. “Yeah, Luke actually figured out what I was doing which is why I believe he is who he says he is.”

That didn’t comfort Randal at all. Instead he sank into a pensive expression for several ticks until he spoke up again after a few chimes.

“How often can you use this power of yours?” Randal asked.

“Once a day, it lasts for about five chimes.” Cleon said.

“Well next time you plan on using it, make sure you’ve got people you can trust around you. Actually, let me arrange something. Who have you investigated already?”

“Well Julian, Lexi, and Luke I’ve read twice so I’m pretty sure they’re alright. Brea and Kelton too. They seem pretty normal. I tried reading Kyle and he’s definitely hiding something. Maybe I could provoke him into thinking about something by mentioning the curses?” Cleon reasoned.

Randal nodded. “That’s a good idea. Alright I will round up the rest of them. I think I can get them for an evening around a campfire on the pretense of telling stories, and cooking up a few skewers and such. I’ll get Buraga to supervise as well. Till then stay out of trouble okay? I don’t need you looking for this individual as they are highly dangerous. Be seeing you Cleon.” Randal said, standing up as he did so and waving at him before walking away down the path.








Cleon decided to stay in the water a little longer, not quite finished yet. Floating on his back he thought about what had happened for a while before he tried swimming like Luke had earlier. Trying to keep the boys advice in mind, he worked on not fighting with the water as he let his body stretch out along it drifting with occasional bursts of movement from his limbs.

Always he would sweep his arms out to the sides like his arms were wings while his legs would flutter a sort of scissor kick although not nearly as gracefully, and splashing a whole lot of water all about himself as he did so.

Eventually while he was enjoying the mildly warm water he remembered back to what happened between him and Lexi. Bringing up his bracelet in front of his face while he treaded water with his other arm and legs, he studied it carefully as he found the charm she had thought fell off.

Abruptly he stood up in the water, unable to keep himself afloat and study this properly at the same time. With his other hand now free, he pinched the fang between thumb and forefinger studying it for a long moment as it seemed to whisper a word at him. As he focused his mind more upon the charm itself he suddenly had several images flash through his mind. Someone holding the fang. Touching it to a door knob. A different hand grabbing that doorknob now shiny with some kind of oil. A person writhing on the ground. Them touching the doorknob again. Words. The whisper took briefly physical shape. Envenom. Purify.

Cleon dropped the charm to find himself breathing hard, and suddenly feeling very hot. He didn’t know what brought on those visions, the other charms certainly hadn’t done that but then again the other charms hadn’t been weapons. Looking at it, he shuddered as he realized he had been touching it so casually, and was suddenly a little bit afraid of this new charm on his wrist. Fortunately it didn’t seem like the sort of charm he could just accidentally activate, and he thought, well more liked hoped that whatever poison it produced it wouldn’t affect him. It wouldn’t be a very good weapon at all if it did, and that was just the sort of thinking that got him calmed back down as he splashed gently at the water.

What an interesting charm to just stumble upon. Up until now he had been able to link each charm to a god or goddess, however this one he had no name to reference. He suppose he would have to ask someone if there was a divine with a domain over snakes or poisons. If he had a guess, he suspected there was as there seemed to be one for everyone of them, and perhaps if he remembered when he got back to the inn, he would check for just that in the book he had borrowed from Matthias.

Speaking of he should finish reading that and get it back to the man soon. It would do better kept in Matthias’ house than his room at the inn he was pretty sure of.

WC - 950

[Cleon]

Cleon started to head back to the Inn not long after having that thought, and was just emerging out into the Commons when there was a burst of motion from his right. Before he could raise his hands to defend himself, a slender body wrapped their arms around him and tackled him to the ground giggling. Their long brown hair fell over his face obscuring his vision for several ticks as he felt their body grind up against his before she brushed her hair aside and he saw that it was Lexi.

“Sorry I couldn’t wait.” She said, before bending down to kiss him roughly on the mouth, her firm breasts pressing up against his chest as her hands explored his back and sides before Cleon rolled them over to pull away from the kiss.

Now that he was on top, Lexi’s long brown hair pooled around her head as she grinned up at him, trying to tug him back on top of her but he resisted.

“Wait a tick. I- well - I haven’t even had anything to drink yet. Why don’t we do that before we talk about continuing, y’know this?” Cleon said, working through his confusion slowly as he tried to rein in his impulses.

Lexi looked almost disappointed at the suggestion, but she accepted his hand up, brushing the sand off of herself before looking up at him. Unfortunately, Cleon didn’t have as good a hold on his impulses as he would’ve thought and seeing her hair parted to the side, a little more messy than usual was enough to send him over the edge. He pulled her in for a kiss as he pushed her back onto the sand with him on top now, and didn’t stop kissing her until long after all of their clothes had come off.



In the afterglow of the moment, Cleon decided that Lexi had chosen her ambush well. It was before they were right out into the commons so they were still obscured by the foliage that flanked the cobblestone road. Mostly anyways. Enough so that he felt comfortable slowly getting dressed it was all said and done, pulling on the articles one at a time before sitting beside Lexi on the sand.

“We really should have done that back at the Inn.” He teased as he pulled a bottle out of his backpack. It was an empty bottle of Bluevein gold that had long since been drained, but that wasn’t a problem with the wine bottle charm on his wrist now. Tipping the charm against the top of the bottle, he brought up the memory of how good that wine had tasted and watched as it filled the bottle completely.

Lexi stared at it for a moment, alternating between giggling and grinning before she leaned against him to rest her head on his bare shoulder. She was wearing his. A muted gray Isuas one that Oralie had bought him earlier in the season. Hers had gotten a little torn in the flurry of their activity, and he had put it away in his back pack to get it repaired later.

After taking a swig of the bottle, he handed it to her and watched slightly amused as she took a drink. He took a little pleasure in how much she seemed to enjoy the wine, the surprise plain on her face from its range of flavors. After she had taken a swig she handed it back to him, giving him the most honest smile he had seen all day from her.

“That is quite the trick you’ve got. You seem to be full of those.” Lexi said, arching an eyebrow at him as brushed her long hair over her shoulder.

Cleon shrugged. “A man’s got to have his secrets. We all do I suspect, but I don’t mind sharing mine with you.” Cleon said easily. He didn’t know quite why he said it the way he had, but partially it was because of the thoughts he had gleaned from her already. They were still with him. He suspected they all would be with him for sometime to come until he got used to this. It was a burden he thought he could bear as long as it took to figure out the person behind these curses.

“Well I don’t suppose you have a food charm on you?” Lexi asked with a giggle.

Cleon shook his head. “Sadly no. But the Inn should have a meal ready around now. I could share my dinner with you if you wanted.”

“Well I’m not going to say no to a free meal. Lead the way magic boy.” Lexi said, waving at him as he got up, and then helped her to her feet. She stumbled into his arms laughing and he had to adjust his grip on the wine bottle to avoid dropping it.

“Careful now, you haven’t even drunk much.” He joked.

“Must be cause its on an empty stomach.” Lexi said, chewing on the bottom of her lip as she stared into his eyes. She stole a quick kiss, then pulled the wine bottle from his hands as they drifted apart. Cleon smiled as she took a deep swig as they walked along the path towards the Inn.

It was actually kind of nice allowing himself to be this carefree for once, and more than that, getting that mental itch scratched however briefly. Although that wasn’t very good conversation so he kept things light as they returned to the inn. He was enjoying their time together too much to bring up some of the other things he had gleaned through his magical charm. An he certainly wasn't going to tell her about what he had discovered about the others save maybe the broken cross because that seemed harmless enough. It still hadn't refreshed from the first time he had used it and he was starting to wonder if it ever would. He really wasted his gift from Laviku if that was the truth, however that didn't seem likely given what he had learned about the charms so far. Perhaps its effect was just so powerful that it needed time to recover.

Whatever the case, he wasn't going to bother with thinking about it now. Nor about the events of tomorrow. No tonight he would enjoy with Lexi alone.

WC - 1,059

[Cleon]

Grade Award!

Cleon:

Skills:


Logic: 1
Investigation: 1
Observation: 1
Rhetoric: 1
Swimming: 1
Seduction: 1
Surfing: 1
Socialization: 3


Lores:

Informed Randal of charm bracelet
Investigation: Keeping quiet about results
Snake Fang Charm: Appearance and Usage
Relationship Lexi: Intimate partner

Feel free to pm me with questions or concerns about your grade, and don’t forget to edit your grade request!