◆ Deviance ◇

Ah… there it was. Never mind that those at home had always othered him, because he was Miqo'te. Because he was a spirit, it brought up… complications. He just wanted to read, to listen to the insides of the book and learn their secrets. What hidden surprises awaited? His ears twitched, mind already wandering away from the melancholy. Distantly, he wondered if this was Fray’s work, dangling mental carrots before him to distract him from darker thoughts. Baltusar lowered mismatched eyes to the book in his hands, running a thin finger over the top of it in a delicate caress.

“I don’t have anything in particular… I just like stories…” A faint ache tugged at his left eye, and he pressed the back of his hand to it, the image of a petulant child reluctant to sleep. In the back of his mind, Fray whispered warnings. This man had identified them as a spirit immediately. There were those who could force souls to do their bidding, and magi ever sought new toys. Baltusar’s lips thinned, and he took a small step away from the man, his back pressing against the shelf. Only now did he become aware of how the other towered over him.

“And… and why am I to believe your office is safe? Or that you’d want to help me?”

How nice, a smart one. Hearing the question and detecting the intent behind it drew the tiniest bit more of Scorpius’ attention into the situation. The spirit had seemed to be a mostly innocent personality so far, not that it was a bad thing. However, he wasn’t a fool, fortunately. He knew better to trust a magus without reason. An admirable trait, considering how many people, colleague and otherwise, died due to poor decisions that could have easily been prevented with even the slightest bit of thought.

“It’s nearing exam week and I’d rather you not be a distraction to the students. It may be clear that you’ve no intention of that, but teenagers with budding abilities and an abundance of...shall we say, confidence, are much less pleasant to deal with than much else.” The spirit’s inquiry was responded to truthfully, but the thought of the possibility his actions were (perhaps futilely) trying to prevent from happening brought back a familiar pain. He wasn’t so saintly so as to say he wasn’t guilty of this, but children really were fond of finding distractions whenever possible. If someone caught word of a foreign spirit wandering around and paid more attention to that than their true priorities....only the most fantastic would follow. 

So absorbed had he been in the book, detailing the rise and fall of a grand conqueror, that Baltusar utterly failed to hear the footsteps approaching. At the sudden voice behind him, he jumped, tail bushing to nearly twice its size and his ears flattening against his head, while the book in his hands all but sprouted wings in an attempt to take flight. For a good three seconds he juggled it, before finally halting its erratic path and closing it before it could come to harm. He cast a furtive look about–there was no one else there that the dark haired man could be talking too.

“I just got here…” he stammered, running a hand self consciously through his hair. “There were just so many books! I had to look… pardon my intrusion.”

A clearer view of the guest revealed that he was most certainly not human, regardless of whether he was dead or otherwise. The spirit possessed a feline tail and ears, yet spoke as a human would. Intriguing, the man noted, but the questions pertaining to that would have to wait till after the matter at hand was dealt with. 

“I see, you mean no harm. As much as I can respect that, I must advise you to be cautious. I might not mind your presence here, but some of the others using this place might not take kindly to a spirit roaming around.” Magi or otherwise, panic and fear will always be an individual’s reaction to the unknown. The only differences between reactions would be that some would seek to destroy, while others would conquer their fears and act appropriately. Unfortunately for the cat-spirit here, majority of those in the Association were the latter. How pedestrian.

||| @inxictus

“I’m not that exhausted, you can sleep on the bed if you want to,” she speaks, breaking the ice betwixt them. Night time was like a broad daylight for Shiki after all, and she prefers wandering around the new City rather than resting ( she could do that in the afternoon after all ).