Don't waste your worry on me [OPEN]

[halfheartedmagician]

Who: Asra
When: Throughout the week
Where: Various locations
What: Wandering magician life - namely failing to do anything legally at all
Warnings: None at this point


i.
[Asra isn't terribly concerned about the promise of a reward, but helping someone find a lost pet seems like the right thing to do and offers a chance for exploring. Which is why he's hunting around the harbour, enjoying the smell of salt and water, reminded of the years he spent in similar situations growing up.]

Any luck, Faust?

[He doesn't appear to be talking to anyone else close by, but someone who wanders a bit closer may find a pale snake winding around their leg and hear a faint voice, almost like a whisper in their mind.]

(Found friend!)


ii.
[It's a warm day, and the sun overhead glints off of Asra's jewellery and sends rainbows dancing across the stone walls of the alleyway entrance that he's set up in. He's seated on a brightly coloured blanket at the entrance of the narrow gap, an assortment of trinkets, a few carved masks, and one or two packets of herbs spread out before him. His cards flash from hand to hand as he lazily shuffles them, the bright paints and bits of gold leaf catching the light. Faust curls about his chest and shoulders, her head resting on Asra's shoulder, although she looks up and flickers her tongue at any who stop by.

Sensing someone watching, Asra looks up and smiles, crooks his finger for them to come closer.] Interested in a reading? Or something--

[Before he can finish, there's a shout from nearby.] Oi! I already told you to move on!

[An annoyed looking guard starts towards them and, quick as a flash, Asra is up, the cards disappeared and the blanket gathered up around everything and tied rapidly into a makeshift bag.]

Come on! [Laughing, he grabs for the other's hand and starts running down the streets, seeming to enjoy the sound of chasing footsteps after them more than he probably should.]


iii.
[Maybe it's late, or maybe it's early. Or maybe it's even the middle of the day with the sun warm overhead. It doesn't seem to matter exactly what time it is or even the location, really. Much like a cat, Asra finds places to sleep whenever the mood takes him and it apparently has now.

He's found in various places; curled up out of the way in a huge coil of rope by the harbour, sprawled out under a tree in a park, stretched out on the warm stone surrounding a decorative fountain. Should he be sleeping somewhere more appropriate? Probably. Are you going to wake him up to tell him that though?

...well even if you don't, that guard who looks severely done with the magician's shit right now might.]

Comments

ii

[grakraka]

[Spending the afternoon meandering around the city felt like the perfect thing to do on one of the nicer days, so Akechi did just that, hoping to get to know his surroundings better and perhaps pick up some gossip along the way. The colourful Asra catches his eye, so naturally he doesn't mind coming over to look through the wares or hear a pitch. In fact, he's very curious.

Unfortunately, he doesn't get the chance to hear more before he's yanked along. While he could probably have just stayed behind without running into trouble, going with the flow happens to be one of his better traits, so he simply runs with him, mentally noting that he'll have to avoid this area for a bit. The guard might think they were together from the start. That would be harder to explain.

Though at least this guy seems to be having fun, he supposes. Something about that attitude reminds him of another rule-breaker he knows. He doesn't say anything until they've finally stopped, looking both a little amused and exasperated.]

You're rather good at that.

[This guy has booked it from authorities before, huh?]

[halfheartedmagician]

[After a few twists and turns through narrow streets and crowded avenues, Asra is fairly certain that they're safe enough and slows them to a walk, taking a moment to tuck his blanket in his bag before he grins mischievously at the other man.]

They don't seem to like me setting up without a permit.

[He shrugs in a loose, rolling motion the prompts Faust to poke her head out of his shirt again, and Asra gently strokes his fingers along her scales.]

At least you need one in the shopping district, and some of the other places don't like people just setting up anywhere there's room.

[grakraka]

[Seeing the snake piques his curiosity. He doesn't know much about them but that one looks so docile and sweet. Staring seems rude, though, so he raises his eyes with a smile.]

Ahh, I see. Permits have their uses... but they also over-regulate perfectly benign businesses.

[Though he has no idea id this man's ventures count as that but he can't imagine simple tarot readings being bad. They're charming and fun for most people and at worst, no less a stupid way to spend money than capsule toys. It seems silly to regulate it.]

Who is your friend, by the way?

[halfheartedmagician]

[The fact that Asra could possibly get a permit himself doesn't seem to be something he's considered, and he shrugs at the idea of over-regulation or indeed any regulation about that sort of thing. He's never been particularly good at taking care of all those details and it hasn't changed much since he's arrived here.]

Where I'm from people can set up stalls wherever they like for the most part. We would sell masks and charms to help make ends meet when I was growing up.

[His expression brightens at the question and Asra lets Faust move to his arm, the better to stretch herself out towards the other man.]

This is Faust, she's my familiar.

[grakraka]

[It sounds like a freer place or at least a very different one from the kind he is used to. Maybe even a little nicer, too, if it was something he did growing up. An out like that would have been a good option once.

But he finds himself more excited about the snake and smiles as he leans in.]

Hello, Faust. It's a pleasure to meet you. You're a very pretty girl, aren't you? Were you having fun back there, too?

[halfheartedmagician]

[As he leans closer, Faust will stretch out in an attempt to get onto the other man's shoulder and Asra will let her, assuming the stranger doesn't flinch away. And perhaps somewhat surprising, there's a faint voice at the back of the other's mind.]

(Like a chase!)

sorry for the delay!

[grakraka]

[Since she seems safe, he allows her to get onto his shoulder, but the voice surprises him. Can familiars usually talk? They are magical so he supposes it could be true.]

Haha, I can see why you two belong together.

[Well, he doesn't know much about the other man but he definitely enjoyed running off, so it makes sense. He reaches up to strokes her, gently, since he isn't sure if snakes like that.]

She's lovely. Does she help you with your work?

iii. gdi!!

[rowdyraven]

[It's late. Late, and ostensibly he's on his way back to the tower from a shift at the dive tavern he's currently working in, not yet given up despite recent revelations that perhaps he ought to be trying here. That in all likeliness they're here for a reason, all of them, and joining the dots, it's hard to disagree-- a doctor who'd once given everything to find the cure for a magical plague, dragged into a strange new world afflicted by a magical plague? There's a morbid logic to it.

He's begun researching, but not yet practicing, because all of this, the bright revelation that he'd feel better in this world if he put himself to some kind of use, it had come before he'd started finding feathers.

He's taken a route through the harbour to give himself time to pace, to think. Dread dogs his steps, reveals itself in all the knifey angles of his face, sharper than they have any right to be thanks to sleepless nights and too many skipped meals, the skin beneath his eyes dark as bruises.

His thoughts are turned inwards, all-consuming, threatening to devour him whole and he almost misses it then, the languorous figure curled within the ropes. A flash of fluffy white hair is what snags at his attention in the end though and, frowning, he paces closer to get a better look. Clicks his tongue, sharp, against the roof of his mouth when he realises he hadn't been wrong. At least finding Asra here like this has provided him with a momentary distraction from his own dark-moving thoughts.

He won't try to deliberately wake the fortune-teller, but it's entirely possible that the sweeping movement involved in being scooped from his coiled-rope bed to be lifted and held against a broad chest might stir him into wakefulness.]

lmao I'm sorry but that will never not be funny to me

[halfheartedmagician]

[The nights are warm enough that Asra barely notices the sea breeze on his skin, although the scent of it takes him back to his youth spent curled in similar places with Faust and Muriel, the three of them doing their best to avoid the attention of everyone else around them.

It's why, when he becomes distantly aware of being lifted, he just assumes it's his childhood friend and nuzzles in closer with a sigh, not even opening his eyes as he gives a drowsy yawn.] Hi, Muri.

[rowdyraven]

[It's not Muriel's deep, gruff voice that thrums through the broad chest Asra is currently nuzzling against, however, but instead one softly coloured by a Nevivon accent, not so harsh, not so guttural. And the scent of him, it's a mix of leather and musk and cheap whiskey.

Muri, Asra says, and Julian's brows pull together around a vague frown as he begins to walk, his grasp on the other man both gentle but firm. It's not a name he knows, nothing that holds any familiarity to it.]

Not ah, not Muri, alas. Sorry to disappoint.

[halfheartedmagician]

Mmm? [The voice is familiar, as is the scent, but he's not used to hearing it reverberating through a body he's cradled against and he stirs and blinks sleepily, frowning up as he pieces together what is happening.]

Ilya? What... put me down.

[If the doctor doesn't listen, Asra is confident he can wriggle free anyway, but he doubts that Julian will ignore him.]

What are you doing?

[rowdyraven]

[Hesitation, long and drawn-out as the confused command comes. He considers disobeying, refusing, insisting on maintaining his hold on the magician despite his protests. But he doesn't have it in him, ultimately, to outright ignore the subtle steel that underlies Asra's velvet voice.

And so he sighs, moves to set him down on his feet. Reluctantly relinquishes his hold.]

You're being ridiculous. You can't sleep out here like some stray animal, curled up in a coil of rope. Who knows what scoundrels are about at this hour? I could have been anyone, and you didn't fight me, did you? Anything could have happened.

[A fluttering pause, and then--]

I was taking you back, with me. To the tower.

[halfheartedmagician]

You're being ridiculous, Ilya. Nothing would have happened, Faust would have let me know if there was any danger.

[Hearing her name, Faust's pale head peeks out from Asra's scarf and turns towards Julian. Asra uses the moment to observe Julian's face, noting the sharp angles that catch the light and the dark circles under his eyes. He hums faintly in thought, turning over the other man's words in his mind.]

I suppose I'm hungry.

i,

[civicbooty]

[ Aymeric is standing, tall and armored and conspicuous, not quite out of earshot, allowing himself to be oblivious to everything but the pleasantly alien atmosphere of the harbor (though he has a purposeful way of standing still and looking around that might suggest he's doing something productive). The whisper in his ear (or at least not in his mind, he's forced to rationalize) interrupts that, and he turns sharply to look behind him — and very narrowly avoids tripping over the snake, catching himself on his back foot and a rough crate.

He kneels carefully, hooks his fingertips under the snake's pale coils, and lifts it away, holding it across both palms. He's probably too old to be this boyishly fascinated.

He's also probably about to make a fool of himself, but he looks up at Asra: ]

I beg your pardon — might you be searching for this?

[halfheartedmagician]

[Faust, for her part, immediately attempts to curl about his wrists and rise up to flicker her tongue at his nose, seeming almost gleeful about the situation. Hearing another voice, Asra starts towards him, then huffs with laughter at the sight.]

Not exactly. That's Faust. She's helping me look for a lost cat.

[civicbooty]

Oh! I—

[ He has evidently walked into a faux pas, but the snake — Faust — mercifully distracts him, and he pauses to attempt to keep one of his wrists free, the motion of his hands apologetically slow. He addresses the snake, very soberly, because of course: ]

'Twould seem I've made a foolish assumption. Forgive me, Faust.

[ Possibly he should be setting her down, but since she doesn't seem to mind this, he positions his now-free arm for her to slither onto again. He will definitely stop doing this in a second, probably. ]

I ran across a cat as I came this way, though I confess I was preoccupied. Gray, perhaps.

[halfheartedmagician]

[Faust is more than happy to work her way from arm to arm of her new friend, although when addressed she stops and curls around his wrist happily.]

Hmmm. She likes you.

[Asra's smile is gentle and pleased, unconcerned about Faust taking to the stranger so quickly; he trusts her judgement and the other man seems to understand to be gentle with her.]

Oh, that might be the cat we're looking for. Ms Mittens, I think. Would you like to help? [Asra laughs then.] Not that I think Faust is going to leave you right now even if you don't want to.

[civicbooty]

[ And now, of course, the whispering voice doesn't return. Aymeric watches Faust move, perplexed and charmed, and gets to his feet, cradling her body where it's not wrapped around his arm. ]

'Twas not far this way, if I recall aright.

[ He turns to head back the way he came, though he's devoting half his attention to Faust rather than all of it to cat-finding. A little tentatively, after a pause, he adds: ]

Forgive me if I am mistaken — did I hear another voice, a few moments past?

[halfheartedmagician]

Hmm?

[Asra follows, keeping his eyes open for any sign of a cat, although the question surprises him.]

I don't think so, there's only me and Faust here. [It doesn't occur to him that anyone else can hear Faust, since usually they don't. Faust, however, squirms happily and lifts her head up.]

(Me!)

I

[oceanschild]

[Honestly? Paris doesn't react all that badly to feeling something coiling up his leg. Aeto wraps her tail around him sometimes. What confuses him more is the little voice that seems so small but so close, and he winds up looking around in confusion.]

Friend...?

[halfheartedmagician]

(Friend!)

[Asra looks up at the sound of Faust in his mind and notices Paris standing there, looking confused.]

Faust, that's not what we were looking for.

[oceanschild]

[Paris finally looks down, smiling a little when he spots what's happening.] Oh... hello.

[He turns the little smile up at Asra, still a bit unsure but at least happy to identify what's going on.] What were you looking for?

[halfheartedmagician]

[Faust climbs up a little higher and Asra shakes his head with a laugh, reaching down to gently pry her free.]

We're looking for a lost cat, actually. Not other people, Faust. No matter how much you like them.

[oceanschild]

A... cat?

[Though wait no he should have other questions first.] Did she talk to me? [Can snakes do that??]

[halfheartedmagician]

The cat? [Now he's confused. He hadn't considered that it might be a familiar. Maybe he should approach it differently?]

I don't know... we could try asking her.