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Isabella skips down the list of cities by population to put a portal setup in Seattle. Mostly for her and her mother's and potentially Zeviana's convenience. It's the biggest city within reasonable commute distance of the clan lands.
It is here that he and Isabella are hanging out, unprotected by any wards, when someone back in New Kystle thinks to check.
"Darling!" exclaims Yerena Liandril. "I've found Adarin! That liar Antelier said he was nowhere to be found but I just double-checked, and he's with that extraplanar hussy in her plane. Holding her hand. Those odd birds they have are practically on top of each other. How is your mana supply, darling?"
dark_light
prodigal_miser
"A pity," says Adarin, looking incredibly uncomfortable.
A pity that they found him at all, not that it took them so long to find him.
A pity that they found him at all, not that it took them so long to find him.
dark_light
"I'm prrretty sure if we duck through the portal and they chase us my security aren't equipped to handle mages," mutters Isabella. "But if you want to try scramming you could maybe magic their daemons to the floor and let them be confused that they can't just walk away from them for a while, we could go through and get on warded property and bust the portal? I haven't announced this one, we can just redo it later." She has her bow off her pine and strung now, and one hand on an arrow.
prodigal_miser
"It's certainly an option. I'm not sure how much I like running, however. I want none of them to ever come after me, not - hide in a warded location for the next century until they're all dead or have given up," he says quietly. "But if this goes badly we can do that."
"Ahem," says Gervail, annoyed. "There's no call for that." He motions to Isabella's bow. "We mean no harm, we don't know what that girl did to spook you, but we'd like to try convincing you to come back."
dark_light
"Yes," says Yerena, "we're not uncivilized, not like that badly-bred creature who did - whatever it was."
Her cat licks his forepaw, still confused about existing but not enough to distract him from the desire to be tidy.
Isabella doesn't put down her bow. She looks with unimpressed, chin-raised arrogance at the intruders.
Her cat licks his forepaw, still confused about existing but not enough to distract him from the desire to be tidy.
Isabella doesn't put down her bow. She looks with unimpressed, chin-raised arrogance at the intruders.
prodigal_miser
Adarin has a reply to that, but he refrains from using it. It would not help, satisfying though it would be to say it. Instead he takes a deep breath, forces on a poker face, and says, "I am not accusing you of being uncivil, but all the same, I would prefer not to go back. Thank you for the concern, but my talents seem better suited here."
It is in his very best frigidly polite tone. He's had a while to practice it, it's pretty good.
It is in his very best frigidly polite tone. He's had a while to practice it, it's pretty good.
"This unknown quantity," chimes in Yerena. "You've seemed very resistant to - to wooing of all kinds in the past and the fact that - this is what succeeds is very odd, Adarin, suspicious."
dark_light
"Can I possibly improve anything by speaking in self-defense in Saratese?" wonders Isabella under her breath.
prodigal_miser
"Doubtful," he replies softly to Isabella in English, giving Yerena a cold look. "But feel free to defend yourself, I continue to dislike these people."
"Suspicious? In what way? Perhaps I have exotic tastes."
"Suspicious? In what way? Perhaps I have exotic tastes."
dark_light
Yerena casts a doubtful look in Isabella's direction. "You've been a target of so many discourteous attempts at - at collecting you, it's natural to wonder when you appear to have fallen for one for the very first time and from such foreign quarters, don't you think? We're concerned."
"You think I slipped him something or cast something on him and it worked where all your... relatives... failed because I'm working with different stuff," says Isabella bluntly in their language. "It's actually not a ridiculous thing to wonder from your perspective of not being close enough to the situation to have gotten any details since we are not friends... but the answer is no."
"You think I slipped him something or cast something on him and it worked where all your... relatives... failed because I'm working with different stuff," says Isabella bluntly in their language. "It's actually not a ridiculous thing to wonder from your perspective of not being close enough to the situation to have gotten any details since we are not friends... but the answer is no."
"It's not like magical or - or herbal methods are all you have available," points out Gervail.
His penguin makes an agreeing chirp, preening her feathers. She's getting used to existing, though it's still strange.
His penguin makes an agreeing chirp, preening her feathers. She's getting used to existing, though it's still strange.
prodigal_miser
"And what," growls Adarin, "other methods are you accusing her of? She's innocent of them all, I assure you. Because she hasn't done anything 'discourteous' to win me over."
dark_light
"Well, there's discourteous and then there's... inelegant," says Yerena, words dragged from her like she regrets very much having to allow them voice. (She doesn't.) "And Adarin, you must admit - the rapidity, the - the -"
"Outfit," sniffs the cat.
"Yes, that," she says, blinking in approving puzzlement at her new daemon. "Are suggestive."
"I am," mutters Isabella, "tempted to throw my outfit at her head."
"Outfit," sniffs the cat.
"Yes, that," she says, blinking in approving puzzlement at her new daemon. "Are suggestive."
"I am," mutters Isabella, "tempted to throw my outfit at her head."
prodigal_miser
"Please refrain," Adarin mutters back. "It would give her more ammunition."
"Inelegant. I see. A different style of dress does not mean she will fling herself at me like a back-alley whore. Perhaps," he says, angry and deciding to go on the offensive, "you are merely culture-shocked by the both of us being near the same age? I assume if she were twelve this entire situation would be much more amenable to you."
"Inelegant. I see. A different style of dress does not mean she will fling herself at me like a back-alley whore. Perhaps," he says, angry and deciding to go on the offensive, "you are merely culture-shocked by the both of us being near the same age? I assume if she were twelve this entire situation would be much more amenable to you."
dark_light
"Pish tosh," says Yerena. "We mentioned Elasali to you early to give you time to get used to the idea. There would be no reason to expect it to be more than an idea, maybe a prolonged engagement, until there could have been children. Are you expecting us to believe that she instigated nothing whatever? That you suddenly adopted the inclination to press suit against all the trends of your history with no intervention of drug, magic, or seduction? It isn't as though there were no mages whatsoever in your age bracket if that was the problem; we'd have been delighted to have you for a son-in-law but there are plenty of cousins about if it's completely intractable."
prodigal_miser
"Ah, yes. It must seem entirely foreign that I just didn't like any of them. If you want me to start giving reasons to names I shall, but suffice to say that none of them were my type."
"And Isabella was careful with my Adarin," pipes up Vern. "She didn't just care about getting something she wanted from him, she liked him."
"She could be an extremely capable actress," points out Gervail. "And it's all an act to get what she wants out of you."
Adarin pauses, then he laughs. "If you knew anything about how we met, you would understand how utterly absurd that is. Not to mention knowing her. But that's the entire problem, isn't it, you don't know her and you're trying to pass judgement from afar because I made a choice that doesn't benefit you."
"And Isabella was careful with my Adarin," pipes up Vern. "She didn't just care about getting something she wanted from him, she liked him."
"She could be an extremely capable actress," points out Gervail. "And it's all an act to get what she wants out of you."
Adarin pauses, then he laughs. "If you knew anything about how we met, you would understand how utterly absurd that is. Not to mention knowing her. But that's the entire problem, isn't it, you don't know her and you're trying to pass judgement from afar because I made a choice that doesn't benefit you."
dark_light
"You made an uncharacteristic - 'choice' - under the most peculiar of circumstances, to the point where it might easily have been no such thing," says Yerena. "Something odd has to be going on. Your own people aren't so void of personal charms, Adarin."
"Aren't they?" mutters Path, in English.
"Aren't they?" mutters Path, in English.
prodigal_miser
"Thank you for your concern, but I would like to ask you a question, Mrs. Liandril. Where were you in this crusade of protecting my personal choice when I was getting drugs in my food and drink regularly? When Lenora would drape herself over me because she liked seeing me try not to squirm? Did you hunt someone down then? Maybe get them to stop? Or is the idea that I would find 'my own people' so utterly devoid of anything I can admire that I gave up trying and decide to look elsewhere utterly foreign?"
dark_light
"If someone had gotten anywhere with any of that of course we would have been concerned, just as we are now," asserts Yerena.
"And I - I mean - Yerena," says the cat, stumbling over the question of his identity with his memories, "did make a remark to Lenora, once, but she ignored - it."
Yerena picks up her cat and pets him.
"And I - I mean - Yerena," says the cat, stumbling over the question of his identity with his memories, "did make a remark to Lenora, once, but she ignored - it."
Yerena picks up her cat and pets him.
prodigal_miser
"Mhm. Except they did get somewhere. That is what caused me to leave, not Isabella."
Vern is picked up. She buries her head into Adarin's chest and he pets her. His face is an emotionless mask that Isabella would recognize quite well.
"You are new to your daemons, so let me give you advice. Do not let anyone touch them. It will be worse than anything else in the world. It will be like the person is everywhere, too close, in your soul, in your head, and there's no escape no matter how much you want to get away. You try and distract yourself from it, but you can't. You try to think, but you can't, you try to breathe but all you can feel is that they're there, that's it, that's all you have. Every second feels like an eternity of desperate attempts to do something to get it to stop, but every - single - moment you are reminded that there is nothing you can do. There is no escape, there is no getting away, there is no stopping it, it's agony of the very worst kind and it just goes on and on."
Pensive kagu pet.
"For reference, it was the most wretched experience of my life. That includes the invasion, mana deprivation, and the loss of all members of my immediate family but my sister. So don't you dare sit there and play your petty little games of bloodlines and politics, trying to manipulate me into thinking you are on my side, not after that. I know better. I don't give a damn about your false concerns and your worries for the fate of magic everywhere, I will not go back. You can try to blame it on Isabella, but if I'm perfectly honest she's barely got anything to do with why I left. She is a reason to be here, not a reason to not be there."
Vern is picked up. She buries her head into Adarin's chest and he pets her. His face is an emotionless mask that Isabella would recognize quite well.
"You are new to your daemons, so let me give you advice. Do not let anyone touch them. It will be worse than anything else in the world. It will be like the person is everywhere, too close, in your soul, in your head, and there's no escape no matter how much you want to get away. You try and distract yourself from it, but you can't. You try to think, but you can't, you try to breathe but all you can feel is that they're there, that's it, that's all you have. Every second feels like an eternity of desperate attempts to do something to get it to stop, but every - single - moment you are reminded that there is nothing you can do. There is no escape, there is no getting away, there is no stopping it, it's agony of the very worst kind and it just goes on and on."
Pensive kagu pet.
"For reference, it was the most wretched experience of my life. That includes the invasion, mana deprivation, and the loss of all members of my immediate family but my sister. So don't you dare sit there and play your petty little games of bloodlines and politics, trying to manipulate me into thinking you are on my side, not after that. I know better. I don't give a damn about your false concerns and your worries for the fate of magic everywhere, I will not go back. You can try to blame it on Isabella, but if I'm perfectly honest she's barely got anything to do with why I left. She is a reason to be here, not a reason to not be there."
dark_light
...Yerena looks dubiously at the cat in her arms.
"But that wasn't us, that was Enathira," says the cat. "She's only one person."
"It was," says Isabella, "but she wasn't the only person to try it that day. I'd recommend you be very, very careful with your cat and your penguin, when you go home."
"But that wasn't us, that was Enathira," says the cat. "She's only one person."
"It was," says Isabella, "but she wasn't the only person to try it that day. I'd recommend you be very, very careful with your cat and your penguin, when you go home."
prodigal_miser
Gervail looks at his penguin with confusion.
"Even so. It was one person. You are giving up on an your people because of what one person did. Think of all that you can do, all that your children can do."
Adarin closes his eyes and sighs.
"Even so. It was one person. You are giving up on an your people because of what one person did. Think of all that you can do, all that your children can do."
Adarin closes his eyes and sighs.