Waystation Mingle Log!

[twocomplex]

Who: GAME-WIDE MINGLE aka everyone
Broadcast: If you want
Action: The Stations!
When: From 04/05 through the month of April.

[Well, that all sure happened. But at least you have the waystations! Whether you want to stock up on supplies, work, trade, or visit the very fancy Virtual Reality Dome, it's bound to be a nice break from the attacks of the 5th.

Make your own prompts, set up your own Virtual Realities, etc! For reference, the OOC post with info is over here!]

Comments

[hymnals]

[Adra runs his fingers over the book's pages, and he is interested, but something tugs at his mind. He glances back up, though his fingers are still splayed out over the foreign runes.]

--are you all right, Belthazar? You hit your head with some serious force, or so I was told.

[arcanepower]

[He's about to go into another rambly tangent but he stops himself. Adra commands his full attention.]

Oh... um, yes. I think something fell on my head during the attack. I... don't remember.

The wound is healed, but concussions are notoriously difficult to treat with healing magic. [There's only a little red mark under his bangs now, and he pushes them back to show Adra.] I'm supposed to rest for a few weeks.

[hymnals]

Hmm.

[Adra presses his warm palm against the red mark. Light limns his hand. Bel's right; certain injuries leave marks that only time can take care of. But magic always helps speed the process.]

You're damn right. You should be resting. Ought to have dreamed yourself up a bed in here.

[arcanepower]

[Aaaaaaaand he ducks his head again.]

There's nothing to do. I can't lay around in bed all day! I could be reading, or writing something, or... being useful...

[hymnals]

[Adra lifts up both his hands, as if to say, 'Okay, no more touching'.]

I know it's difficult, trust me. I was sick for at least half of my adolescence. But you'll get better faster if you take it easy for a few days.

[arcanepower]

All right...

[He can't really say no to Adra, not anymore. Also Belth's changed his mind about the touching. He decides he kinda likes Adra's warm healing hands on his head, and surreptitiously reaches up to grab his wrist and put it back there.

Despite the nice 'weather' in the VRD, he stifles a shiver.]

[hymnals]

[Adra makes a gentle 'tch' noise in his throat as Bel grabs his wrist. His hand, like always, is unusually warm.

He doesn't miss the shiver.]

You okay? You're not coming down with a cold as well, are you?

[arcanepower]

[Part of him wants to say SHUT UP AND PET MY HAIR but he is... childish and also a bit shy, so he's quiet about it.]

Your hands feel nice. They are warm, but I am cold almost all the time. [He's skinny as hell, that probably doesn't help.

Adra doesn't remember, probably, but Belth mentions her regardless:] Caspa's were like that, too.

[hymnals]

[Ah, but Adra does remember. Caspa--a priest he trained alongside, if not exactly with, when he was young.

Adrasteius fulfills Bel's silent wish absentmindedly, starting to run his fingers gently through Bel's hair as he draws the memory forward to the present. He compares his image of the woman with the boy before him, and it clicks.]

Caspa ... she was--a priest ... Your--sister? We didn't know each other well.

[He shakes his head.]

I was so shy back then.

[arcanepower]

[Belth's eyes flutter closed. The fingers especially feel nice, and before long, he's snuggled up against Adra. Don't say a thing, dude. He'll run.

But for now, he doesn't.]

Y-- yes, [he murmurs. This is the most he's ever spoken about Caspa, even to Adra. He's never even met someone else who knew her and it gives him the slightest shred of hope.] She raised me after our parents died.

[He turns his head up to look at Adra.] I didn't know you knew each other. Did-- did you see her when the city fell?

[That's probably a no, but he can't help asking.]

[hymnals]

[Adra tangles his fingers in Bel's hair absently, though he's careful not to pull against the boy's scalp.]

No ... I wasn't there when it happened. I was in Stormwind, in the Cathedral.

[arcanepower]

[He sighs despite the otherwise stressful conversation. That's... really nice. Dang it.]

She hid me in the cellar when they came. That was the last time I...

[His voice cracks a little bit, and he has to take a moment to steady himself.]

I never found her body. She-- she could still be alive. As long as there's a chance, I'll use everything I learn to find her.

... That's why I fought the other prospects for a chance under a magister. They were all twice my age, but I didn't care.

[hymnals]

Oh, Bel.

[Adra's hand goes still in Belthazar's hair. He leans over, and gently presses a light kiss to Bel's forehead.]

I'm sure she's looking for you, too.

[Is Caspa alive? Adrasteius can't say. Stranger things have happened. Their lives and families were blown so literally apart by the Scourge invasion. He's heard of people reuniting with lost relatives years after the fact.

Of course, sometimes the lost relative was a death knight.]

[arcanepower]

[Oh, Bel. Not the first time he's heard that. The little kiss on his forehead makes him freeze up for a moment, simply because it's... not something he's received in about seven, eight years. He stares up at Adra with wide green eyes, and then he has to shut them so he doesn't start crying. Ugh, how embarrassing.

The tiny mage takes a deep breath.]

I haven't seen her. Either she doesn't want to come back to Silvermoon, or she doesn't remember me...

[Or she's dead, but he's not ready to face that just yet.]

[hymnals]

Don't think that way. Not productive.

[He brushes his hand through Bel's hair, drawing the thick, dark locks away from the boy's face.]

Silvermoon is a big city. And she might not even be there, besides. The war scattered us to the four winds.

[arcanepower]

[Belth is hushed, and he obeys. It's hard to think sad thoughts when Adra is doing that thing to his hair. The only person who ever touched him like this was his sister, and maybe his parents, though he doesn't remember them very well.

Adra has children. He's mentioned them in passing. Despite the jealousy that rises at the back of his throat, there's some curiosity. He'll meet them sooner or later, provided he can... remember his promise to find Adrasteius. He also wants to know more about his former master's life. Things had been so hectic in Exsilium, he didn't really have the chance...]

You have children, don't you? Can-- can you tell me about them?

[hymnals]

[Adra continues to comb his fingers through Bel's hair as he talks, but he's delicate: if he comes across a tangle, he teases it free (or bypasses it entirely) without violence to the boy's scalp.]

Three. They're all very young, much younger than you. My daughter, Alrune, is the oldest--she's a little more than ten years old.

[His expression becomes very fond as he thinks of Alrune. Light of his life, star of his heart, etc.]

She used to teleport under all the furniture as a baby. She does less of that now. Talks about becoming a rogue, of all things.

[He shakes his head.]

Daugion is only seven. He keeps trying to pick up his mother's sword. It's worrying. And Galen ... he's an infant. I'd say he doesn't do much except cry all day, but he doesn't even do that. It's like he was born enlightened.

[He shuts his eyes, laughs.]

I'm jealous, honestly.

[arcanepower]

[If he was a cat, he'd be purring right now. As it is, he's happy to just exist in the same warm bubble as Adra. Even if the older elf isn't his master anymore, there's still... some kind of bond there. Belth wants it to be something really special, maybe even parental, but he's afraid.

He's so afraid.

For now, though, he sets those fears aside and listens to Adra talk about his kids. Children are-- they're a thing. He's never really sure how to act around other youngsters. He's older than all of Adra's, clearly, but as the youngest sibling he was always doted on rather than the other way around.]

What's their mother like?

[hymnals]

[PETTING CONTINUES. Adra gets a faraway look in his eyes, picturing his wife.]

Ahh. A wretched, sycophantic member of the upper-class. Or, at least, she was when I met her. She's still upper-class, but some things just can't be helped.

[arcanepower]

[That snark actually gets Belth to smile a bit. It's small and a little self-conscious.]

Well, you are a magister. I suppose you would attract high-born types.

[hymnals]

[Adra shakes his head.]

We met long before I ever had that position foisted on me. [He scratches behind his ears, remembering.] I used to sleep on a few more benches than I do now. I liked to put myself in the way. That's how we met.

[arcanepower]

You-- what? But wouldn't you get kicked? Or arrested? [These are things Belth tries to avoid.]

[hymnals]

Sure; all the time. Not for the benches, though.

[He yawns. Bel is a warm weight against him, and he's starting to feel sleepy himself. Especially since the empty city is so sunny, so quiet. He mutters.]

More often for reprogramming the arcane constructs than anything else. Occasionally for 'causing unrest'. And so on.

[arcanepower]

[Belth is sort of like having a cat curled up against you, complete with moodswings. He stares openly at Adra for a second, though-- and then he laughs.

He really needs to do that more often.]

You reprogrammed the constructs! That's amazing! I wish I had seen it. I, ah... I didn't go outside very much before all of this, [he says, like it's not completely obvious.]

[hymnals]

Of course. Those slogans were terrible. Telling people to shut up and sit down, basically. The last thing we need to hear.

[He smiles at Bel, gratified for the laughter.]

Here's where I say you should go outside because fresh air is good for you, but we all know that this whole place is basically climate controlled. So, instead --

[He touches the tip of Bel's nose, very gently, with his forefinger.]</small --instead you should go outside because that's how you learn what's happening in the world.