Batwings and Other Things (Aurathea C)

[Aura]

It was a long day, an exciting day, and one heck of an adventure that started like most good adventures do, getting chased by blood crazed brutes and rescued by a hero. Now, typical stories would see the man save the girl and it is love at first sight. Not this time. This time it was the heroine saving the boy, and then saving him again against the one using holy magic, with her dark magic. This tale was certainly ruining all the typical tropes.

And now, here they were, going to her room in the tavern, not for that reason though. He knew it was not THAT reason, and his mind should be far from that, but all the same he found his face feeling hot. Going to a woman's room with intent or not, it was indecent in proper culture. Especially for a priest. Oh wait, he was a fake priest. As the two ascended the stairs to her dwellings he found himself looking over his moth eaten robes. Perhaps it was time for him to get new clothes. Some normal day to day wear, the type that did not peg him as a priest. It would certainly be safer considering he had the Etrurian inquisition AND some sort of cult after him. Wow, his life was a complicated one, and as he was concerned he had only been alive for... a month and a half? Give or take. It wasn't exactly easy to keep track on the run for your life and such. It was more of a did I die today? Yes or no. Obviously there were more nos than yeses.

He clutched the handle of the fruit basket tightly his knuckles going white. "I really, really, appreciate all the help you have done for me." He offered a smile. He also gulped down saliva nervously as he braced to enter the abode of a woman. Oh yeah, and a shaman.

[Althea]

"Well. It has certainly served to make my day much more interesting," Althea shot back with a bemused smile creeping to the edges of her lips. She still wasn't sure how she felt about this whole derring-do, save the day, big damn hero kind of thing, it seemed like a lot of work and she hadn't even gotten to practice her magic much in the process. NOR had she been democratically elected mayor-princess of Lycia. Queen? Empress? She... actually wasn't sure how the Lycian territory thing worked. Marquesses, right? What was the female title? Marquette? Nah, sounded too much like coquette. She was just gonna stick with mayor-princess in her list of demands.

With her head full of such important thoughts and literally not even the slightest consideration of impropriety, Althea led her not-actually-a-priest counterpart to her room, silently hoping that she didn't have anything too weird lying out. She HAD stashed the bat wings and human skulls under the bed, right? Or were they in the stew? Haha no she didn't actually do that. Only on Tuesdays. At any rate... it took a few moments to wrestle the keys out of her person and a bit longer to unlock the door, locks were an invention of the Devil after all, and opened said door to reveal a scene born from the darkest nightmares of the children of Hell itself.

...Well no it was mostly just a shitload of paper everywhere stacked in seemingly arbitrary places according to her less than ideal 'filing system,' if it could be called that. But there were also a small assortment of relics and other ostensibly-magical doodads lying around to make things even more messy! Wow, she really should have cleaned up this morning before going out... if she'd known she would have company... yeah there was no way that was going to happen haha. "Please do excuse the state of the room," the slender shaman stated as evenly as possible given her minor distress, entering the room and getting rid of her pack onto the bed as she tried to think of a way to stop time and immediately clean everything up. Not much came to mind. "I was... studying... before deciding to take a walk earlier. Which led to more walking, and then more walking, and eventually to the sequence of invents involving you and your adventures."

[Aura]

Aura looked around the room a mixture of apprehension and curiosity clear across his face. Oh, would you look at that! No skull candle holders and not a single bat wing in sight. Who knew? There was however, a metric ton of papers strewn about it the most disorganized mess imaginable! It was atrocious and irresponsible for any researcher worth their salt in the field. Why! He felt oddly at home like this. Weird stuff, maybe a lingering memory of his? Did he used to be that messy? Was he that messy now? He did not exactly have enough possessions of his own to decide one way or another.

He began to look at the occasional doodad and doohicky magic things she had. He wanted to touch and see just what they were but he decided better and would respect her room, regrettably. 'Please do excuse the state of the room' He chuckled to that one.

"No worries, it feels homey like this." That was a terrible word. Sounded childish to him. But it fit so... "Uh, they say that brilliant people are too lazy to keep things clean. SO maybe you're just a genius!" Oh... that was a compliment! Oh, goodness, that was a terrible way of conveying a compliment. Or, an its okay to be messy? That did not exactly qualify as a compliment did it? No, that wording was incredibly insulting! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! "I'm sorry! I don't mean to call you a lazy slob! I just meant that..." He never included slob earlier! UGH! "I'll just shut up now!" He folded his hands behind him awkwardly and hung his head in shame to avoid eye contact.

"Um, well, It looks like you do an awful lot of studying." He managed after a strained moment or two. He scratched his cheek with one finger. "Any interesting theories to speak of?"

[Althea]

The typically seemingly emotionless shaman watched first in quiet surprise, then a raised eyebrow, then with some degree of open surprise and confusion as Aura managed to insert his entire foot into his mouth and then keep swallowing more and more of the leg before moving onward to inserting the other leg as well. Truly an impressive feat. She wasn't even insulted or particularly emotionally perturbed by the priest's choice of words, more just amused and confused as he dug himself into the flaming reaches of Disfunction Junction. Maybe THAT was why people were chasing him, they were just afraid the poor dear wasn't capable of functioning on his own and so they only wanted to help him out in comfort and safety.

Yea... probably not.

"Oh yes," Althea answered archly to Aura's final questions, a hint of smarm and snark evident in her expression as she began to move about the room, clearing off the bed and a chair to the point that a normal human being could actually sit on the edges of one without having to balance too carefully. Her chair, of course, was obviously off limits because the desk was HER domain, the queen's quarters so to speak. "Magical research, particularly historical and archaeological usage, is my specialty. I visit a great many ruins, crypts, tombs, and the like in search of interesting information. Sometimes I end up writing papers for my peers or aiding in their research, other times I go off on my own little tangents."

"Take, for example, the rumored Arcadia. A city of dragons. Not well known, generally agreed to be a myth, but there are a few mentions of the name in ancient manuscripts that suggest that pre-Scouring there actually was a city of some description named Arcadia. Likely the source of more modern rumors of the city - it's likely false of course, but born from a real city in the distant past." For some reason she felt like she could hear Jalid laughing uncontrollably, but Althea couldn't think of any reason why. "But it is not the only ancient city to have supposedly existed. One of my ongoing projects involves Nan Madol, said to be a Nabatan city some few thousand years ago, home to powerful blood mages. I've visited Nabata a few times looking for clues to its existence with... mixed success... well, I have found implications to its existence, but there were a LOT of traps." Her face soured at the thought. If not for Bryn she would absolutely have died there. Another reminder that for whatever strength she did have, there was far more left to learn.

[Aura]

As Althea opened space for him to sit he did so. OH! This bed was rather comfy, to his surprise. And it made a squeaky sort of Eheh! Sound when he sat. How fun. Eheh eheh eheh! He forced out the sound a few times before thinking better of being so, er, obnoxious. For all the trouble and chaos he had been dealing with in many more he had to relearn about simple things in the world like a child. This also made him prone to doing silly things.

As he regained his common sense, oh was that entertaining though! He folded his hands in his lap properly and listened to her explanation. "Boy, it all sounds so fantastic. The ancient world and uncovering the mysteries lost to the ages." It had, well, "It almost has a certain romance about it. I can definitely see the appeal." Which reminded him of a city he once read about.

"That reminds me actually, there is an old city called Darrun. I believe in Bern somewhere." The old ruined city itself was not a grand secret. It was a city destroyed centuries ago by a bandit king. If not for Hargus coming along that old bandit may have been a strong competitor for the greatest of his ilk. But what was interesting about it was, "They say there is an old door there, sealed by ancient magic and unopenable to all but the chosen few. Naturally the door has never opened, and has been debated on if it is really a door or just a fancy wall design. But that would be a trip worth taking don't you think?" Was he asking her to go ruin hunting with him? Or to let him go with her?

[Althea]

Aura was really more of a kid than a man sometimes. She didn't mean that insultingly per se... not that he was a mindreader... but it was a bemused thought nonetheless, one that felt somehow wrong, almost insulting, even if it wasn't actually intended to be. Bouncing on the bed. Ok, so she had done that before too, but that was many years ago, back when she didn't have anything to worry about except chores and books. Though he did seem to think better of it after a short time. For her part, Althea took her time rearranging a few papers on the desk and then sitting in her own chair, turning it to better face the not-priest so she could regard him as he spoke.

"Darrun..." It sounded vaguely familiar, but not in some deeply meaningful way, where she instantly recognized it as the home town of the Bandit Emperor Dingus, just a name she had heard once or twice before. Admittedly her focus on history outside of its more magical aspects was at times lacking. Something she usually hid fairly well given that say, the Scouring WAS quite magical, but it did not always serve her well when the subject was some important but boring event between normal men. And, er, kings and emperors. "Interesting. An ancient door, a gateway to the unknown. I had not heard of it," she admitted openly, not ashamed of it as she might have been for some other subjects but not particularly happy about it either.

"There is a certain mystique to gateways to another world. Locks are simple when one has the key, but legends spring up around those which do not. Tir na Nog, gateway to the realm of youth. Arcadia, home of dragons. Dragon's Gate, said to lead to another world as well. Few turn out to be anywhere near as amazing as the legends say. But..." And here, Althea smiled, almost impishly. "That never stops us from searching for the ones that do, does it? That does sound like an interesting destination. Is the city entirely ruined?"

[Aura]

Her words were like the sweetest poetry in his ears. Her manner of speech was that as to invite mystery and intrigue to the listener, like a glimpse into the passion in her own mind. That driving force that sees her continue to search and research into the unknown. Perhaps he was being dramatic, or perhaps it all just awakened something in him. Something that had since been suppressed in his memories.

When her comments transitioned into a question for him he felt lost, well, how did he know all that about the city in the first place? He did not remember reading about it since he first awoke, but he remembered it... A memory from before? His head felt oddly hot. Like a fire being lit in the back of his head and smoke rising to the front. He put a hand to his forehead with a soft groan. He did not want to alarm Althea but something was there.

Like flashes, hazy glimpses into an odd dream he saw them. A door at the end of a great hall. Cracked walls and high pillars. Beautiful pillars with arts lost to time. And, a man... another man with blond hair? Who was the figure? The two had found the door before but it would not open.

"I... ugh..." He looked at Althea. "My head suddenly hurts." He admitted. "No, the city is not completely ruined, just lost to time. It is still accessible but none live there anymore. A real shame. It was beautiful. Skeletons aside." Another flash. The two tried everything they could to open the door but it would not. There really was magic barring it, magic strong enough to keep even him out! HIM! AURA, A DOOR HE COULD NOT OPEN!? The strong emotions of a fanatical wonder and need, nay, hunger for knowledge insatiable consumed him. It felt like he would be consumed by a singular drive but then nothing! The flashes, the memories, gone, all of it.

He looked at Althea once more a vague sense of dread and cold sweat like someone being called out for something they did wrong in his stomach receding down his back. It made him sick. "That door is real... something fierce guarding it too..."

[Althea]

A more... normal person probably would have been a lot more worried about Aura's strange reaction, the headache, and especially his scattered words. Some might even, reasonably, conclude that Aura was either crazy or had been there and done something to the door before losing his memories, and given his seeming links to the dark cult, assumed that they were probably bad things. Althea just nodded understandingly. When one had their own form of memory loss and a sometimes-bloodthirsty spirit of living darkness living in their head, well, 'DO YOU HEAR THE VOICES TOO?' became more of a bonding moment than any sort of really worrying prospect.

...That... probably wasn't a good sign. She tried not to think about it too hard. What she DID try to think about instead was his description of the city. It was clear that Aura had been there, that much was certain. He spoke of it too familiarly, and it appeared to be linked in part to his memory loss. How intriguing. A small part of her, the heartless researcher, wanted to bring him there immediately and see how he reacted, if any knowledge of value could be gleaned. But the ah practical concerns of making a journey that length without warning were certainly sizable.

And this... door, and its guardian, did not much strike her as the kind of thing that a helpless priest and a daft shaman were very well suited to investigating right now. "Then it may be wise for you to gather your strength before venturing back to that location. Even if you do not relish the taking of life. The ability to defend one's self is an unfortunate necessity in today's Elibe, as I have been... forced to learn," she stated with a sad smile. Althea wasn't actually completely broken up about it anymore, but the realization had been harsh in deed and it still struck her as exceedingly strange. The idea that in order to pursue her research, she had to learn to - be willing to - kill, and kill freely. Even if it was only delivered to those who deserved it. It did not change the harsh reality.

[Aura]

"Gather my strength before going back?" He smiled to that. "Hmm... it does sound like a good adventure. Fun even." Though there was a looming sense of darkness in his mind about the place. Whatever was beyond such a door was either sealed so strongly for a good reason, or a power that men were not really meant to have. Both prospects were simply intriguing though. Alas.

Aura passively looked at his hands when she made talk of taking lives. It, it was certainly something he did not relish. It was something he did not desire at all, he wanted to distance himself from such things as much as possible. In a way it felt to him as distancing himself from his past, one that was mired by darkness and tragedy, but not tragedy of his own, tragedy he brought others. By Elimine he needed to stop brooding on these dark matters! At this rate he would never be positive again!

He pushed the dark thoughts away and returned to the more positive aspects of things. "Well, defending myself sounds grand but... I am a healer, I know nothing of combative magic and... I am a lousy healer to boot." He was quite forthcoming when it came to admitting to those flaws. "But you were something else!" He did not mean to flatter her but she really was incredible with how she fought. "I don't have a tome or staff, sure, but I do have..." He cut himself off. "I mean, you are the same way, but what you could do like that was amazing. Do you think you could teach me?" Then again, a priest learning dark magic was probably, no, not probably, was frowned upon.

[Althea]

An adventure. Yes, going by her standards, it was likely to be a wonderful adventure, full of dark forces, insane killing machines, monsters, wraiths, bandits, brigands, highwaymen, mercenaries, assassins, and possibly a dark god or two. The shreds of Althea's remaining sanity helpfully suggested that she never go anywhere near it and that the fact she was even considering it was proof she had gone quite mad; as usual the shaman simply crushed them beneath her heel like so many flies. Life was more interesting when it was dangerous, after all!

Though that was also a fast and easy way to transition from life to... not life. Something to keep in mind before getting too carried away. Hm. How COULD he defend himself? She didn't really... spend much time around clerics that she could help, too much Eliminism. And she was... pretty much only good with dark magic. "Well. Nonsomantic casting -" Althea paused, "-without a component. A tome. It relies on knowledge of the fundamental underpinnings of the spell, which in turn requires - a tome. Usually. I learned Flux the same as any other practitioner of the dark arts. It is from there, and with a great deal of experimentation of varying degrees of success... and a few life or death situations... that I moved to nonsomantic casting and more powerful spells alike."

"I don't mind trying to teach you, but have you considered your other options? Light magic," which was ironically a backburner interest of hers as well, "anima magic, typically considered the easiest of the three great schools to learn," and for boring people who thought that a fireball was exciting, or... what else? There was Jalid, she supposed, but Althea had no idea what the f**k that was about. "I met a man recently who used some form of martial art enhanced by magic. I know not the mechanics of how, but perhaps mingling reinforcement magic with some kind of simple weapon? A rod or a staff? Depending on your proficiency with light magic, if you are concerned about appearances as a priest, or..." with a small grin, Althea waved her hand dismissively, "not-a-priest, that would likely fit the bill well, though I am much less familiar with it myself."

"And while I appreciate your compliments. Without time to cast, my ponderous magics were of little effect there. Something I am attempting to remedy but will take time as I experiment with alternative casting vectors. Given time I am capable of far more destructive magic." ...Wait, was she bragging?

[Aura]

Nonsomantic casting? So that is what he had been doing. Well, that might just explain his boundless difficulties with it. He carried no staff or tomes on him. Maybe the fact he could even heal anything, his own bloody nose least of all, meant a lot more than he realized! Or he was just grasping at straws here? Still, if he was to get stronger he needed a catalyst until he understood the magic at its core. Then he could wield it freely, fascinating.

"Martial combat enhanced by magic?" That was a very interesting concept. It sounded all too familiar even. "Martial magic..." She seemed to have struck on something. "I feel like I explored this once before. There is a magic that stems from staves known as Strength. It makes someone stronger, faster, all around tougher. Maybe that is what he was using!" He flopped back onto the bed not fully conscious of the fact it was someone else's room. "It's absolutely BRILLIANT!" His excitement seemed to be overwhelming him. He sure hoped it was infectious, else it was going to become very annoying he suspected.

"A staff and rod are two excellent ideas, they really are!" He shot right back up and was soon standing, spinning on one foot even, oddly aware of the papers on the floor and avoiding them expertly. "But first I should train my body, do away with all this... this weakness, this blahness! Why, I need a master!" When she mentioned the priest bit he sort of stopped in his tirade and returned back to his senses for a moment.

"Well, on the subject of that, I have decided to drop all pretenses, just as soon as I can get some new clothes. Etruria wants me dead and I hardly know all the tenants. I am no priest, but light magic could be good. It is a quicker casting."

He stopped and just breathed. "Actually... if you can grow stronger, why not right?" He just paused and smiled. Boy, that was a sudden outburst, even by his standards.

[Althea]

"Strength magic..." It took a moment to mentally locate the data entry. "Yes, I've heard of it before." Slightly ironically the last time she had thought of it was when dealing with Jalid and his unending shenanigans, at which point it had only been to confirm that no the overbearing individual had definitely NOT been using it. Though she decided not to share that with Aura. Whatever the reason for Jalid's secrecy, she would respect it until such time as he saw fit to share with her... or her patience ran out and she found a way to learn the answer on her own. Even if that meant nailing him to a cross and crucifying him until he answered, maybe have Aura healing him every so often so he didn't pass out.

Wait, no, that was quite unreasonable.

He'd just break the cross after all.

So... a metal cross...?

Slightly grateful that her inner monologue was not, er, external, Althea allowed herself to simply watch with ill hidden amusement as Aura capered around the room, excited at what had apparently been a good answer. She didn't even know that much about any kind of melee magic, only that she had seen a guy using a rod once and that Jalid was a thing, so she'd been bullshitting for most of that. Though... it did feel kinda nice to be called brilliant. Even if it was only for her ability to BS. Aura for his part was acting like an almost adorable kid, dancing around the room... NOT stepping on as many things as she had expected. How curious. Had he misled her about his unfamiliarity with martial magic, or... did it lead back to his lost memories?

While the enthusiasm was not infectious - Althea did not know the meaning of the word 'fun' and she had long since ripped out and stepped upon all sensation of joy and happiness within her being - the thought of self improvement was an interesting one nonetheless. She had her dark magic of course. And while Althea was not generally prone to bragging, she was becoming aware that it was developing into something of its own. Something beyond average. She was no Branimond certainly, nor even a Drei, but seeing her own progression grow in leaps and bounds was... gratifying. If anything, it made her want to grow faster as well. Or maybe that was just Aura's overwhelming boyish excitement, who knew?

"On that note, Aura. How does healing magic... work?" Her voice was more uncertain than normal, the question clear. Althea knew the very simple version of healing magic - use magic to make good guys feel better - but little of its mechanics or usage. Out in the field she was used to basic first aid and little else; hiring a healer was typically too expensive for most expeditions so they made do with what they could. It DID sound like a useful skill, though, and she had a healer in front of her... who owed her a favor... HMM.

[Aura]

"How does healing magic work?" He found himself repeating her words back quietly to himself in order to take the question in and digest it. How DID healing magic work? Well, properly it would require a staff and what Aura was doing was apparently called nonsomantic casting. If he did not even know that much about it perhaps he was not going to be the best person for the lesson but, to the seven hells with it, he would do his best to explain it all.

He sat back down on the bed and organized his thoughts briefly, "So, you know how you have the four great magic branches and they each require very different base functional theory to wield properly?" A rhetorical question really. Althea was certainly well versed enough to know this already. "Light, requires faith, dark a deep understanding rooted in knowledge, and anima... well, I'm not all that sure about anima... I THINK its something to do with oneness of nature maybe?" He should look into that.

"Well, staves, much like light magic requires faith. But, there are ways to direct that faith. Faith in a higher power, faith in oneself, a friend even." He held his left hand out. "I am told it is some of the most difficult magic to master, and that is why you won't find tomes on it, instead entire staffs to channel and amplify." He shut his eyes and focused the magic to his outstretched hand. There was a soft swirling of magic there, a faint green glow with a soft soothing aura. "But more than faith, you need selfless desire. A need to help someone else. The stronger those emotions, the greater the potency. Well, that and your own abilities. But that condition makes self healing difficult at best, impossible at worst." He hoped he told it right, it was how he seemed to understand it at least. Maybe he was wrong and that was why his healing was so weak. Hmm... he should look into that.

[Althea]

It was hard to tell initially if Aura was mocking her or just repeating the question - not because he had ever done anything to actually legitimately make her think that he would ever do so, but because Althea was a petty, jealous creature at times, never more vulnerable than when admitting her lack of knowledge, and prone to misreading situations at the best of times. But she did manage to keep her concern in check for the priest, or not-priest, whatever, did his thing. So the dark mage just listened to him quietly as he spoke of the four great schools of magic, nodding here and there to help show attention. She had HEARD of them all of course, and was reasonably familiar with each conceptually, but much as she didn't understand Anima on a fundamental level, at least not beyond 'you ask the spirits for help or something, I guess,' her understanding of how healing magic actually WORKED was basically 'point stick at hurt good guys and make them not be hurt.' Not the most refined or intelligent of positions to put it lightly.

Faith. To some a simple concept. To her, an alien rune. Althea didn't really have... faith in much of anything. Hardly even herself, and even that was only in that she objectively recognized that she was fairly intelligent and analytical, capable of reading several languages and puzzling out most problems given time. Not some wishy-washy, feel-good concept of... of faith in the whore saint, or whatever. Probably something best NOT repeated to Aura, she noted. "A desire to help someone else..." Raising her hand as Aura did, but not to show off so much as simply mimicking the motion and staring thoughtfully at the upstretched digits and empty palm. A hand that would never hold anything, nor anyone. Only destruction. She didn't hate herself for knowing dark magic of course, that was just what she did, but it was hard to say that was all she ever wanted to do with herself. For all that she had studied archaeological magic and the like, something of more utility, substance, would certainly be nice.

"I suppose the thought of free first aid was tempting," she admitted with a wry smile, still staring at her empty hand, "But the more I fight, the more I see allies injured. Some, dead, that I could not prevent. I... I don't know how to fix that. More power certainly. But more dangerous magic, to prevent the damage? Or the ability to reverse it? I've never had any particular aptitude with healing staves, I'm afraid, but seeing you heal yourself earlier set my mind wandering on the subject."

[Aura]

Vincent smiled at Althea as she admitted to not being sure of her own capacity to heal others. Though, he could not smile long as she also expressed her not wanting to see and let others continue to die and remain hurt before her. Something inside him moved when he saw her stare at her empty hand and speak. No, he could not know her mind or peg what her thoughts were, but it felt so familiar to him. It struck him as a call for help, but he would not chance that guess and risk making the situation an odd one. That would certainly strain the rest of the evening.

"Well, aptitude or no, with enough hard work you can master anything. That is a philosophy I wholeheartedly believe in. Look at me, I am terrible at just about everything I do, but if I gave up just because of that, I would be best off lying down and dying." A bit extreme but he made his point he hoped. On the subject of more magic power to stop injuries, "More power is good but only to a point. The application is the most important aspect of things. Think of when you make that breakthrough in magical talent where everything just clicks and wielding becomes easier. Yes, you could wield massive showy power, but you could also focus it into more potent and smaller uses. Think of it as... a hammer or scalpel." Yeah, that sounded like a good comparison.

"You can swing a hammer wildly in hopes of crushing someone in one good hit, but you tire yourself out quickly, conversely with the scalpel you can use smaller light strikes to easily cut and bring an enemy down with near no exertion." Ah, getting sidetracked with magic theory. "Auh, but, back on track, think less on more, and more on focused. When healing it helps to focus the magic into a small radius, the wounds will mend faster and better versus wasting it over uninjured flesh."