Intro thread: the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaven
The door leading to the outside of his room is green. He doesn't remember it being green. Maybe it's a trick of the light? Anyway, it doesn't matter.
He extends his flow to the brass doorknob, twists and pulls, then pushes off with his flow again, on his feet, to send him and Damjen through the door.
"Eye mages can view the structure and operation of living things, which can include thoughts if their gaze is directed towards the brain. It's occluded by living things not congruent to the organism. Where I'm from," since apparently they have been brought somewhere very far away, "people sometimes wear caps with moss, vines, leaves, flowers, green wood, or other such live or fresh vegetable matter to prevent this. Theoretically, meat could also work, but no one does that because it's extremely inconvenient and distasteful to others."
"Thank you for explaining. This poses an unacceptable risk to the privacy of my other guests, so once you've claimed a room, I'll need to confine you there until I can prevent you from reading people's minds without their consent. I'll dialate time so that you won't have to wait more than a few hours. I apologize for the inconvenience. Your companion is not required to join you, however if he chooses not to, he will probably go more than a hundred days without seeing you. Does all that make sense to both of you?"
That's...a long time. Also, wow, she is truly a powerful entity to be able to just manipulate time like that. He's going to stop with the subterfuge and try to ingratiate himself to the Very Powerful Chronomagical Eldritch Entity instead.
"You are welcome, and I understand. Will it still be possible for people to give consent to have their minds read? In my home, I worked as a therapist" barely "and I used my power in my practice.
Relatedly, I am also able to view the internals of the body with my power. Will that also violate privacy norms?
May I know more about what it means to 'claim a room' and how that is done?"
"Yes, it will of course be possible for you to read minds with consent. Some people may object to you being able to see inside their bodies, I'm not sure. But once I can block your mind-reading, it should be relatively simple to block that as well, for anyone who is bothered by it."
"I had planned to show you how to claim a room after you both ate—it's easier to explain with a demonstration—but the short version is that the space inside the refuge changes, and most of its rooms are temporary and will vanish after you leave them, but you can establish a claim over a room by inhabiting and using it, which makes it persistent."
"Is it possible for a single entity to lay claim over multiple rooms? Or for multiple entities to lay claim over one room? Can claims be relinquished?" He wants to know that he won't be stuck with a bad room — whatever might pass for a 'bad room' here — for the rest of his natural life.
That might be too many questions. "If you would prefer to explain this later, then please ignore my questions for now."
"Yes, yes but only with my help, and yes. I am willing to explain this now, but unless it's urgent to you it probably makes more sense to explain after you've eaten."
She leads them into the kitchen. A few pots are simmering on one of the stoves.
"You can find other kitchens—I mentioned that we have temporary rooms, it's possible to look for specific things you want out of them—but this is the main one. Some of my guests enjoy cooking, and when whatever they're making is convenient to make in large batches—stew and rice, for instance," she gestures towards the pots, "—they often do. So you can often find hot food in here. You can also get uncooked ingredients out of the pantry, to cook yourself, or to eat raw. It should be capable of providing you anything you're familiar with, but it isn't always cooperative. If you're having trouble getting something specific you want, let me know and I can help. I'll also mention that this pantry is unique, the ones you'll find elsewhere in the refuge are more limited. Dishes are usually in those cabinets and utensils in those drawers. If you find anything you like, you can keep it—we have a functionally unlimited supply."
"That's very generous, thank you."
What ingredients does the stew have? Does it have meat? Does it look like regular food, to his spiritual and mundane sight? It's not like, an illusion?
Yes, Kandrad is also very interested in the food and whether it smells like the food back home, or whether it smells good. He'll be able to tell if there's spiritual energy in it, and how much.
The stew contains lamb, vegetables, and spices. It does not appear to contain any spiritual energy whatsoever. It does look and smell like normal food.
"Is it possible to conjure food that has spiritual energy in it? This food does not have any."
Assuming he opens the pantry and not one of the other cabinets in the kitchen, he'll find it full of ingredients he's familiar with (and a few he isn't, which don't have any spiritual energy) including, yes, a can of preserved meat.
It would be a stretch to say that Kandrad is familiar with any ingredient, since, before now, he has never actually stepped foot in a kitchen. He knows kitchens existed, he knows food is prepared in them, he knows what the shape and appearance of vegetables and fruits and meats are. He hasn't actually like, seen any, or touched any, or smelled any, or tasted any. Not until they've arrived to him already prepared.
What he is familiar with is the smell of the spiritual energy of the food.
He will pull the can with his flow and open it, then scoop it into his mouth, again with his flow. It looks like it would be really messy, with the meat just flying through the air into his mouth, but nothing goes anywhere it shouldn't.
It's simultaneously fascinating to watch, and deeply uncomfortable because it goes against all his deeply ingrained etiquette and manners training growing up.
He will just have some of the stew with rice. It's been a long time since he had meat; it would be interesting to eat some again. He will pull out a drawer and try to find a plate and cutlery.
That's easily done. It's pretty good stew, actually. It's not quite like anything he's had before, but it somehow still has that satisfying quality of comfort food.
It's a little awkward to eat standing up in the kitchen, but oh well. He likes the stew. The texture and taste of the meat is definitely interesting. He doesn't know what to think about it. But on the whole, it is pleasant.
"Are you still hungry?" he asks Kandrad.
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