mallow_logs | [Open] Boredom

Entry tags:

[Open] Boredom

Who: Reid and anyone!
What: Reid is bored, that means fixing it his own way
Where: Orlea
When: 3/16
Warnings: None

[Previous days, he'd managed to keep himself occupied in some way or another. Picking out a place to live, throwing a party, wandering around and exploring, but now? Now he's bored. Which is why he's tucked away in the corner of a bar in Orlea-not for the drinking, because he just has a Coke, and not to play pool, even though he could if he wanted to. No, he's here to screw with people. That is what he's resorting to right now in his boredom, because he sure as hell can't figure out anything else to do.

Needless to say, Caleb would be giving him a disapproving look right about now, but Caleb's not here, so there's no one to stop Reid from Using as much as his heart desires. He's keeping it small, at least, as he sits at a table in the corner, just the briefest of red and orange eye flares whenever he Uses, just brief enough to maybe be mistaken for a trick of the light should anyone even be looking at him. Otherwise, the results of his Using are also fairly small. Just like annoyances than anything else-someone 'accidentally' spilling their drink down their front, someone's chair not quite being where it's supposed to be when they go to sit down, stupid shit like that. It's enough to entertain him though-for now, at least.]

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_{[Balfour is at the bar ordering a soda when he notices a chair move out of the corner of his eye. He glances over, wondering if it was a trick of the light, and then goes back to what he's doing. It's only when he sees it a second time that he realizes that something's up. Someone here is playing pranks.

He looks around a little, seeing if he recognizes anyone here once he gets his drink, then smiles to realize that he recognized that face in the back corner. He walks over to him with a smile.]}

[Which is a cue for Reid to stop Using, when he sees Balfour-only mistaking him for Tyler for a split second before realizing it's not. He's done well this far on not exposing himself as a warlock-not that it would probably matter as much here as it would back home, but it'd certainly ruin some of the mystery and surprise when he was sitting here doing things like this.]

Imagine seeing you here. [He grins, sitting up a little straighter in his chair, but only a little, and shifting his feet off of one of the others to make room at the table for someone else to sit.]

_{[Balfour had caught the last eye-flare, curiosity mingling with disbelief. Most likely, he was seeing things, but he didn't bother mentioning it. He slid into the chair across from Reid, leaning forward to brush his fingers across his hand.]}

Someone's playing pranks. Pretty good, too. I didn't see any string at all.

_{[He grins, impressed. Consider yourself warned, Reid.]}

Pranks, really? Who'd do something like that?

[He grins, quite proud of himself right now. Except he's terrible at looking innocent, even when he is innocent, so, even someone who hasn't known him all of his life can probably tell right now.

Then again, with the way things have been here, and with no Caleb to keep him in line, Reid might be half considering purposely exposing his secret. At least to Balfour. Guy doesn't seem anything remotely like a threat, after all.]

Tell me how you keep the string hidden.

_{[It's a whisper, Balfour leaning forward. Reid really has a terrible 'innocent' face. That's all it takes to clue him in. He reaches forward, finger darting along his hand again, tracing the bones.]}

It's really quite clever.

[He shifts his hand over to take hold of Balfour's loosely, still grinning while he debates what exactly he's going to say. There's a part of him that really wants to just spill the truth, both so he doesn't have to keep it a secret any more, and so that he can show off. Tyler's used to it by this point and Pogue doesn't always approve of Reid showing off, so.]

There isn't any string involved here.

So how are you doing it?

_{[He's curious, that much is obvious, but one must also keep in mind that he's been around magicians before. Curious as some are, the whole thing doesn't really bother him in the least.

Perhaps he's told Reid? He's not really sure.]}

Well... [He hesitates for a second, actually, honestly thinking about it. Anyone who knows Reid would know this is something of a miracle-Reid, thinking before he does something? Yeah.]

It's kind of a secret. [But if Caleb had told Sarah...then again, this really isn't anything like that. But it's close enough. At least, for Reid. He sits up a little more, leaning closer.] It's magic.

Oh! Well I suppose that explains why you wouldn't need any string, wouldn't it?

_{[He laughs a little and squeezes Reid's hands, rather unaffected by the news. As interesting as magic was, he wasn't really surprised to find a magic-user here.]}

[Well god, just burst his bubble, why don't you. That is not the kind of reaction he was expecting, and the confusion shows on his face. People back home would react so much differently-and there is some pride involved here. That tends to happen when you're told as a kid that you're one of the most powerful warlocks in the world.]

That's-and you're just perfectly fine with that?

There are magicians in my world. Such a thing isn't particularly new to me.

_{[He smiles, turning Reid's hand over to run his fingers along the inside of the wrist, eyes on the veins there, the tendon running up the middle. He is mapping that bit of Reid's body, memorizing it.]}

So, what exactly do your powers entail?

_{[At least he's not uninterested.]}

Magicians. [He snorts a little. That just makes him think of pulling rabbits out of hats and performers on a stage, is all.] We're warlocks. Sounds a lot less cheesy. [No offense, or anything. Reid's just blunt about things.

He also has no idea what Balfour's doing right now, but he's not even going to ask because it feels nice.]

Whatever I want to do. There aren't any limits. [There are, Reid's just overconfident about what he can and can't do.]

_{[Balfour shrugs at the snort, not really caring much about his derisive attitude. Magicians were magicians. Some were Margraves, some were Wildgraves, some had no title; however, they were all magicians.

He glances up when Reid says that there is no limit, his expression serious.]}

There are always limits. You may not know yours yet, but there is a limit.

_{[At home, magicians were limited to one scope of power such as combustion or power over metal or bringing lightening from the sky.]}

Your range? I mean...what exactly can you do? In my world, magicians only have one Talent. It's a rare thing for one to have two.

[Reid doesn't like to think that he has limits, or that he's not the strongest of the four-and he's not, because Caleb is, and he always will be.]

Fine. Maybe I do now, but I won't after I Ascend.

And I can do anything. If I want to fix a girl's car, then I fix her car. If I want to jump off a cliff-and, you know, live, then I do. I could probably even pull off a creation spell if I wanted to. [He had, in the past, but only a few times. There were lots of other things, but he's gotta leave a little mystery to things, doesn't he?]

_{[Balfour is silent for a while, his fingers pulling Reid's to lay flat, beginning to map his palm, now, the curves of the tips of his fingers, each line, each protruding bone. His fingers are light, soft behind the kidskin gloves, careful.

When he does speak, it's very quiet, just audible over the music of the bar.]}

There have been tales of magicians driven mad by their magic, in my world. The well water, which fuels their talent, is laced with their blood. If they use too much, it drives them mad. If they use too much at once, if they push their limit...

_{[He looks up, still very serious.]}

...they die. I don't want that to happen to you. All magicians have limits just like everyone else. Don't push yours, Reid. Please.

[Well. This is going a lot different than he'd imagined this conversation would. Not that he's entirely sure how he imagined it, aside from a lot more playful than this. And he hadn't imagined that Balfour would actually start to remind him of Caleb.]

It doesn't work that way for us. [No one even knows where the Power comes from.] I'm not in any danger. Yet. [He's got a completely free reign to Use as much as he wants with no aging consequences until he turns eighteen. Only the risk of becoming addicted. But he would not end up like Chase, or his father, or any of the others.] There's nothing to worry about.

Just know your limits and be careful. That's all I'm saying.

_{[He leans forward, pressing his lips casually to Reid's, then leans back with a smirk, releasing his hand as he goes.]}

I know how much you like to show off, so go ahead. Show me.

Careful isn't exactly something I'm good at. But I could try. [Trying is all he can promise.

He returns the kiss, grinning.]

Well, you know. I'm going to have to try to figure out something really good now. [You know, to impress him.]

_{[He's willing to take 'try' as a promise, luckily for Reid. He grabs his hand again and turns it palm down, fingers moving over the surface once more, mapping veins and bones, curves and lines.]}

Oh? Well I'm not that easily impressed.

_{[And he's not that good a liar, either. Obviously, he's excited to see some magic, because though magicians are common in his world, he's mostly heard stories or met them during parties where they couldn't show off.

He's never seen any magic before.]}

I wouldn't think so.

[He grins, teasing. The thing is, what can he do that's adequate for showing off. He's already done the simple, small things in here, and anything destructive probably wouldn't be good, so...

But then, then an idea occurs to him. Oh boy.]

I've got an idea. But. Do you trust me?

_{[Balfour laughs softly, shrugging. It all depended on what he meant by trust, in truth. Trust him not to hurt him too badly? Yeah, sure.]}

Yeah. Go for it.

_{[Much else? Eh, maybe not.]}

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