A Small Glade

[Seven]

Devon blinked. What was this strange sensation...? He felt...powerful....
True, he had already felt powerful, but he was still young--why, he had already been considered a bit of a prodigy to learn the new art so young and so well. And he was young; he expected many more years of training to accomplish higher levels. But now...
Now he fel even more powerful than he could imagine a human COULD be....
It felt almost ironic though, like such an overwhelming sensation should have caused time to stop and lights to flash all about him and the earth beneath him come undone. And yet, there he was, still sitting quaintly with a strange from another world and his darkling in his royal carriage.
Ironic indeed.

Devon blinks, snapping only half-way out of it, giving a little confused wave back to the Darkling. he then looks at Rojo with a confused expression, "...what just happened?"

[Rojo]

Rojo looked at the Darkling for a moment.
"Dunno..some kind of magical burst..." said the man next to Devon "anyway, this is Shadow." He indicated the dark figure, which blinked again.

[Seven]

"shadow...pleasure to meet you," he offers out his hand in a greeting, though he's still a little out of it from the sudden new sensations. We must forgive our poor Devon, this is all very new for him, and suddenly having new senses in a matter of moments is indeed very strange.

[Rojo]

Rojo looked at the rich man. He hadn't appeared bothered by the burst becuase he thought every world had magic. I mean, that goes without saying...

Shadow looked at the hand quizzically. Rojo made shaking movements with his hand. Shadow smiled and shook Devon's hand prehaps a little too enthusiasticly. He let go after about a minute and began staring around the inside of the carriage; he'd never seen one before.
Rojo shook his head
"You must excuse him, he's not familiar with meeting new people" he smiled a little.
"And you think we have culture differences" he rolled his eyes.

Shadow looked back at Devon, this man was different. Most rich people were snobs, and would have screamed at him and run by now, but this one was definitely different...

[Seven]

Devon briefly opens and closes his hand a few times, not having expected such an enthusiastic 'shake.' He causally put the hand beneath the none-shaken one, and returned to a pleasant smile, "Oh no, it is really no problem; in fact, it is a pleasure to meet Shadow," he said politely.

He pushed thoughts about what consequences this increased power might have on him aside. Devon would just have to run a series of tests on his new abilities once he had free time; after all, he didn't want to be a bad host for his new guest. Yes, he would ponder it later.

There certainly was a cultural difference, amongst all three of the carriage's passengers. Devon could not help but think (and fret slightly) about what would become of his new companion should anyone else discover his origins are the other strange anomalies about him. He leans forward slightly, taking up a more serious tone, "Rojo, I suppose you could imagine what may become of you if other people discovered your 'difference' from them. This is already, a controversial, political, and even dangerous time. I advise you do not place your faith in any more people about your origins and choose your actions very carefully. Even if no one realizes that you are from another world, they would quickly jump to the conclusion that you are some kind of 'new monster.' "He pauses here, before getting a little smile again, "Therefore, I'd like to invite you to be my guest during your time in Venera. Do to the fortune of being born into my current social status, no one would question why it is that you are with me. You see, though most nobles would find it simply preposterous to mingle with 'peasants,' " he says with mild disdain, "my family founded Maderal University, and therefore, from time to time, I personally invite promising youth to attend. I could see to it that you remain out of harm's way...especially now that the Episcopalian Authority was growing in power." He sighs, "They'd certainly have a ball with you..."

"Do tell me more, that I may understand, how is it that you ended up here? What was occurring that might have possibly brought you to our land and why were you doing it? How do you suppose you could return to you're own world?" Devon was worried he was being thoughtless. Being thrust into a whole new world had to be frightening and even trauma inducing--and here he certainly wasn't helping by bringing up the Episcopalian Authority. If anything, the poor fellow probably wanted some security of at least ideas that could return him home!


But still, Devon randomly pauses, still curious about Shadow. He can't help but ask.
"You mentioned that all darkling enact their 'lanterns' sin. I do not mean to pry, but what is yours and Shadow's case, Rojo? "

[Rojo]

Rojo was feeling quite contrare to Devon's thoughts. He was excited and apprehensive of this new world, and what wonderful new things he would discover. Rojo was usually like this, and it sometimes caused him to get in a little over his head.
"Oh! I'd be honored to be a guest of a nobleman such as yourself" he said, grinning "and as for getting into trouble about being 'a new kind of monster'" he smiled darkly "you've no idea" he was refering to the fact that he was, in fact, dead, well, technically.
"As for how I got here. Bloody wizards." he growled in his throat "We've got a new spell, sir. Teleports you miles away, sir." he shook his head "yeah, well, looks like I went gajillions of miles away, you bastards" he didn't know whether Devon had picked up on the face that his imitations of the wizards had let the fact he was know as a "Sir" meaning he had some kind of social status, probably.
"As for getting back...I'm pretty content here for the moment. I'm sure I'll get some way back, probably using a favour from Squall..."
He paused when Devon mentioned their sin and Shadow looked very uncomfortable.
"Um. It's up to Shadow, really, it's hard to talk about for him, which is sorta the point..." he twisted it a little in the hopes that Devon would understand without directly teling him.

[Seven]

Devon smiles a little, getting the feeling that Rojo and him have more in common than one would originally assume. After all, how often does one get the chance to venture into new territories, much less new worlds? Why waste all your adventure trying only to return home? What good would that do? No, it looked like these two boys were not like the foolish Dorthy who started sobbing immediately about wanting to return home as soon as she arrived in the magical world of Oz.

And Devon, of course, was more than willing to be Rojo's host. After all, who knows, maybe one day Rojo would return to favor if the wizards he spoke of ever nailed that spell down. He did notice the 'Sir' part, though he did not mention it. He had already realized he asked a foolish question (about the sin), and saw the discomfort it caused Rojo; quite frankly, he did not want to repeat the sequence again. So rather than pushing the sin questions, he continued on the subject of Rojo's travel experience.

"I am glad that you aren't desperate to get back, I must admit. Though it is always fun to scour the world for hidden magic, it's never quite as fun once you have an agenda to complete," he laughs. But who is Squall? If he is from your world, how can you even communicate with him, much less ask him for a favor?" this was the only part that had confused devon a little.

[Rojo]

"Squall? He's an...old friend" Squall was a pirate, and Rojo knew him from the days as being a pirate. Shadow had returned to his normal inquistive mood.
"As for communication" he pulled a stone from one of his many pockets "I have this. I can contact anyone who speaks my name into theirs or vice versa with me."

((NOT MADE UP ON THE SPOT! He actually has a stone that does that))

[Seven]

Rojo certainly had a lot of stones....that did a LOT of things. He looked down at the one Rojo had handed him as well. While he would have been skeptical of whether or not a communication stone could work between worlds, it seemed the one Rojo had handed him worked just fine (whatever it did...). He was curious as to the plethora of magic that came from rojo's world--he wanted to know about it all.

Devon nodded though, "that's very interesting...how many other magical stones do you have?"

[Rojo]

Rojo laughed
"Our magic doesn't just work via stones! Watch."
He held out a hand with the palm pointed at a small cupboard with drinks in it. The hand lit up with a blue glow and the cabinate opened and the bottle poured a glass of wine and floated over to Devon.
It floated expectantly infront of him. Rojo grinned and waited for the other man's reaction.

[Seven]

Devon watched it with awe. How fascinating! Some how, he was afraid it wouldn't be real, that as soon as he'd go to reach for the drink, it would vanish, or splash all over him, or something! Nonetheless, he reaches out with a steady hand, plucking the glass from midair. He smiles, holding out the glass with in cheers and much appreciation, "Thank you Rojo--and I must insist that you teach me how to do that once we get somewhere more steady and private."

Speaking of which....
He looks back up to Rojo, "You know, when you gave me that stone, I felt a lot of power awaken within me...and quite candidly, I'm not sure how to tame it. I had a pretty good grasp upon what little insignifigant magic (for now it really did feel that way) I had before, but now...now I'm not even sure how or what would happend the next time I try a spell....."

[Rojo]

Rojo stared at Devon
"Huh, maybe it's due to magical difference between our worlds. Anyway, when you used magic, do you get a Magic Aura?" he meant the glowing that had emminated from his hand.
"And I would gladly teach you basic telekinesis"

[Seven]

Devon nods. Unless it was a spell that was purposely trying to conceal something, there was usually glowing. not just with him, but anyone on human on Venera who had strong enough magic.
He smiles at the latter comment, "Thank you--I'm looking foward to it. Though it might have to wait for a bit....you see, I was on a bit of a mission before I picked you up."

[Rojo]

The word "mission" pricked his attention, he sat up again. Mission, he had decided, was a fancy word for adventure.
"Yes? And what mission would this be?" he could be very nosy sometimes.

[Seven]

He watched the man's anticipation and couldn't help but chuckly, "I'm afraid it's not that entirely special. I was telling you about the scholarships that our family awards--my 'mission' is nothing more than offering a particularly intelligent young girl a chance to come to the university..." he sighs. It really WASN'T much of an adventure--in fact, he didn't even know WHY he had to be the one to delegate the message. Not that it was all bad, after all, it was an excuse to get out of the city's confines. "I'm very sorry to disappoint you--I'm sure the missions you went on in Yorl are by far more interesting, but on the bright side, there is always the possibility of running into highway bandits!" he jokes with a little laughter.