Paying in Kind, ii. [Tobias]

[Eitan Angevin]

50th of Frost, Year 121 Steel
Aboard the ZADC Schattenflügel

It had only been four days since Eitan Angevin was married, but here he was flying over the Northern Wilds from Zaichaer to Satesoria to confer with the chapter of the Order of Reconciliation there on the matter of Florian Albrecht. This wasn't his first time abroad in pursuit of the errant Lysanrin, nor the first time he had brought his mentee with him. Tobias seemed to perform better when Eitan was watching over him, both as an Aspirant and as a man. Perhaps it was because Eitan was his only ally and, now, friend. In any case, there had been a message from Satesoria, a possible sighting of his former private, and so they were en route so he could follow up.

He didn't have much hope that this would lead to anything, but he had to do his due diligence and see it through.

The Watcher seemed entirely recovered from the debaucherous party that had followed his wedding, but one could rarely tell with him.

"Fuck me," he muttered, surveying the frigate's aft shields. "Someone seems to run away from a fight."

He glanced at Tobias. "I hope you already got a bit of Mesmer practice this morning; today, I want to see you practice your Masquerade. Someday, I would like you to be able to cloak an entire ship with the illusion that it isn't there, so today, I want to see you make something small disappear. As with the Mesmer, though, baby steps. I don't want you overstepping. I want you to practice every day, but not to your limits. I want you to exercise those magical muscles, and when you know your own strength, we will start pushing your boundaries until you can manage more and more. Understood?"

[Tobias]

The marriage of Eitan Angevin and his wife, Lucrece would be something that would be within their presence. Tobias couldn't remember the night as clear as day, since he was talkative, chatty and somewhat needy. It was clear the debaucherous party had gone through his head. All he could remember was being caught in a tug of war between women and on some cases, men. The night had still bothered him as he wondered how much of a mess he made himself. The self-conscious reconciliator was still in this thoughts, but yet there was pressing matters at hand.

The fact that there was a witch lose in Zaichaer and that their was Eitan's matter to contend with. They were off to confer with the chapter of the Order of Reconciliation, although he seemed troubled at first, but didn't seem to make it so obvious. Tobias though couldn't fool Eitan, he could read him like an open book and knew if they were something wrong, thus he tried not to be so obvious about it "Oh, erm... Of course dar- I mean Watcher" The word had almost slipped out from before, knowing that was what he had called the women who hounded him at the afterparty. He felt uncomfortable and shameful after that experience.

"Masquerade, that's the rune I'm most comfortable with, I've used it more often than my mesmer one. One minute you're there. Next minute your gone, vanish in a flash. It's useful if you ever wanted to hide, although... You have your trusty monocle, something that I actually think I needed at that wedding." Tobias seemed unnerved, yet strangely paranoid. Maybe the night did affect him in strange ways, or weither or not there was a certain coven witch in disguise that night. There was no way of telling.

Unless they were a Semblance mage...

[Eitan Angevin]

"Aye," he said, turning an amused but not unkind smile upon his Aspirant. "I know what Masquerade does." Though he only had the one Rune—thanks be to the State—his understanding of magical lore was a great deal more broad than that, the better to understand what he was up against. He may have been out of his depths in the Warrens on the grand expedition, but there had been no way to prepare for it except to make educated guesses and now he knew a bit more about the mysteries of the deep.

"I don't think magic was what was happening at the afterparty and you seem to have survived in one piece. In any event, my aura glass will spot you if you go invisible, but at some point, your abilities may outstrip the capabilities of the glass—although there are stronger versions in the Order's arsenal; they just don't hand them out to anyone and everyone. Very well. Show me what you can do, and then we can discuss the party if you are feeling a certain way about it."

The order given, he divided his attention between his Aspirant and the frayed, snarled weave of the aft shields. With the patience of an elderly person knitting, he went about shoring them up, darning the damage, and pouring fresh aether into the patterns. Given enough time, these would be stronger even than those upon the ZADC Aspirant Dawn, the airship they had taken to Haqs earlier in the season. Eitan was getting stronger, which was a double-edged sword, both good and bad. He would be more effective, but he would also be more dangerous, his growing power heavier on the scales that balanced with his loyalty. He understood this calculus and knew that someday, he would be more trouble than he was worth. Thankfully, he was starting his family before that time came, so if he was called to sacrifice himself for the State, his children would live on under the care of their mother and the rest of his family.

He was glad to count the Dornkirks among those.

[Tobias]

Tobias reflected on the incident which happened back in the earliest of the seasons, part of him wish that he didn't storm off; he knew if it hadn't been for the stealthy qualities of his rune, there would have been a child who had been wrongfully confined to a rune, their will reprogrammed to accept the rune with Mesmer. He smiled as he turned over to his mentor, Eitan; however, he was beginning to understand the tunings of his mesmeric abilities, knowing he is able to passively sense an incoming symphony. Perhaps the Rune of Mesmer was a unique gift to him after all, as it increased his awareness of other people, allowing him to become much more cautious of those around him.

There were times where Tobias had listened to Eitan's symphony multiple times. The traces of anger, compassion, duty and strange voices lingered within. The nature spirits that linger in Eitan's mind were strongly associated with his Dratori heritage. Still, Tobias grew curious as he wanted to pry about that subject "Oh, I'm not worried about that. As watchful and cautious I have become, I think I have some more... Deeper questions to pry, but for now the task at hand, show me what has to be done." He said. He knew that Masquerade wasn't his strongest rune in his arsenal, but he knew one thing. It was his cloak and dagger. It allowed him to blend into scenarios and remain unseen; he knew it had potential, but it was also costly on his aether.

Like Eitan, Tobias had a similar problem within his runes; he was also getting stronger every day, perhaps more quicker than any other mage in the Reconciliation. His Siltori heritage might have helped with that prospect as aether was freely charged within his body, making it possible for aether to be manipulated at a higher rate than others.

[Eitan Angevin]

Eitan sighed. He liked Tobias, and the man was getting better at just about everything, but sometimes he still didn't pay attention.

"I want you to make something small disappear from view," he repeated.

His attention was largely devoted to the repair work on the aft shields, but he could spare enough to hold a conversation and witness the use of Tobias' Masquerade glamours. But he smiled anyway, recalling the party in question. He wondered if he ought to tell Tobias that his wife had said he was "cute" and had asked questions about him. Of course, there were things he couldn't tell her because of the secrecy of their work and things he couldn't tell her because Tobias had told them to him in confidence, but he had fed her curiosity with tidbits.

Perhaps he would tell Tobias someday when he wanted to see him blush.

At least, he had to tell him before the next time he met Lucrece or else the woman was likely to tease him unmercifully. Well, she might do that anyway if she got an inkling that he enjoyed it on any level. She wasn't cruel, but she pretended to be. His wife was a complex woman, but their complexities seemed to fit into each other's nicely. He wondered if having a wife and children wouldn't stabilize Tobias somewhat, give him people he was responsible for. If anything, it would give him some empathy for Richard Zorrothy, who remained in prison. Hopefully, they would be able to do something about that soon.

He glanced sidelong at his Aspirant, dark eyes keen to see something vanish from sight.

[Tobias]

Tobias chuckled as he concentrated hard, trying to make something small disappear, he decided something simple would suffice and not something that would cause an accident or so he thought as he decided to use his abilities to make a small cargo of crates to disappear from site. He channeled his aether as he made them disappear from view. A worker looked alarmed for a moment as he shouted "Witchcraft on the ship!" He screamed. Tobias looked panicked for a moment as he shook his head, noticing the ship was crammed with chaos as workers dropped their tools and started running around like headless chickens.

"Silence!" Tobias shouted as he unveiled the mask "It was a simple training exercise, reconciliator to reconciliator." The workers seemed to calm down for a moment as he took a deep breath. If this was him months ago, he would've fled from view, knowing the damage he had done. Now he was in full control "Perhaps, I chose the wrong item." He said with a shrug as he put his hands around his back "I seriously hope that's not going to get me into trouble." He side eyed Eitan as the guilt settled in.

Still, he couldnt understand why he had so many women chasing him during the wedding. Was he truely good looking? Especially from the stunt that those two witchy harlots at the bar with Brenner. There was no need for such atrocity, yet it happened. Why? Would Tobias truely be safe in a room full of single ladies? There was no question about it, so he simply asked: "Just one question, why was I being chased by groups of women at the reception? Am I that special?" He said in a self-depreciating way. "Am I a pearl? I mean look at me, grey haired, skinny. I'm still surprised about how many amounts of women could hurl themselves at me when I look... I don't know, what's the word. Ugly? I ain't exactly much of a swan am I?"

[Eitan Angevin]

Eitan closed his eyes for a moment and sighed inwardly, but he let Tobias handle the mess he had created. While he wanted the Aspirant to depend on him, he also wanted him to be able to take care of things when Eitan wasn't there to depend upon. Their ability to function as a team was excellent and a thing to foster, but they both had to be able to fly solo when necessity required it. The man's way wasn't how Eitan would have done it, but it got the job done. He had just remained calm so if any of the airmen had looked at him, they might see that everything was fine.

"Perhaps not," he said, "but sometimes 'tis better to be feared than loved."

The airmen would certainly fear Tobias now.

As for the rest, he blinked over at Tobias incredulously.

"Are you joking?" He looked the man up and down, perhaps too critically for the Aspirant's comfort. "Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose, and I know that I thought I was ugly because I didn't look like my family. You're quite handsome, Toby. And your hair isn't ugly... It could be seen as distinguished, or even novel. You just have to own it. And you may be slender, but you are athletic. Don't forget how much time we have spent training your body, and I have shared a bunk with you. I'm certain plenty of ladies would like to share a bunk with you and then some."

Eitan would give Tobias a little and then some, but it seemed wrong for him to seduce the man whose career and family were largely in his hands.

[Tobias]

Tobias couldn't help but blush at the compliment, but then he shrugged it off, letting his inner insecurity start up again; he wasn't sure if Eitan had meant that truely or was just trying to compliment him to raise his confidence "If you say so" He replied. Maybe he was right. Maybe he was a paragon of beauty that was held so closely within the eye of the beholder. He didn't know what to think, how to take the compliment as he snickered, looking Tobias in the eyes with that once shit eating stare of disrespect he had when he met him. Only it was different now; he respected him as Eitan respected him.

However, there were times he would need to fight his own battles and make his own accomplishments, before he crossed his arms "Although, I know that as a Mesmer, I can't be let out of your sight; I understand that perfectly well. Maybe magic was made by forces of evil that we cannot comprehend. If the State needs to call me for sacrifice one day. I most certainly will do so, as will you Eitan. I know how much pain it's brought to me and I do not wish it upon anyone else." He said with a rueful smile as it was a sorrowful speech to intertwine into their conversation. Finally, the edge of professionalism had settled in, maybe it took observing the child affected by Mesmer to see it, that what he had done meant utter disgrace to the eyes of Zaichaer.

"Gerald also apologised to me, a rather awkward moment when I was having a conversation with Stefan's brother." He rubbed the back of his neck "I don't think he seemed to like me at all, maybe it's my name. I will clear that with no doubt, mark my words. But yet again, perhaps your right. Tis' better to be feared." He looked up stoically as he remained this stance for some time, but there was something deeply troubling him. He watched as the sunset risen, before he put his hand on Eitan's shoulder, giving it a slight pat "Come, time to get our night time snoozies" He said.

[Rune]

R E V I E W

Lore:

Tobias: 8


Eitan: 8


Points: 10 each

Injuries/Ailments: None

Loot: None

Notes: