Random 34

Ayu-Asra sneezed twice, in canon, and made a beeline for the fireplace. While he curled up in the middle of the fire, Sylvie said, "Hello," and pulled up a chair, automatically scanning the table. There was a small, sceptical twitch as she noticed the address and signatures on the letters in passing, but she focused on the tin she thought she recognised last before turning to Sebastian.

"And, are you getting anywhere?" She'd found some of her habitual smile, but was obvioulsy tense.

Sebastian opened his eyes lazily when Sylvie said hello; the smile appeared much sooner but was no less genuine. He raised a hand to give a very tiny wave and caught a glimpse of Ayu-Asra in the middle of the fire, but decided rather quickly that it was just normal... somehow.

He had seen stranger things, anyway.

"Nowhere helpful," Sebastian said and smiled some more, leaning back in his chair to crane his neck and to send a look toward a teapot in a shelf. He wondered if he'd be able to reach it from here. "How about you?" the half-elf asked and looked back to Sylvie as he spoke.

"Depends," she answered. "Where did you get that glass spindle from?"

The answer got the man's eyes to light up with something. Curiosity, perhaps? He seemed a little amused by the answer, too, but that was only momentary.

"The prior resident of my room in House had stored it under the floorboards. She broke in on two separate occasions to retrieve this and a bunch of other things." He fell silent. The little trinket was driving him mad. What was its use and why had Fate brought it to him?

Sylvie grimaced, for a moment tempted to ask if things slike that happened to him often, but it did not matter. She did not take up smiling again, but explained businesslike, "What I found was that magic scales up decently here. The example given was wind, not rain, but it explained the general principle. You start with a trinket, look how it works, transfer to something bigger, using your observations and certain formulae for adjustments, and repeat until you're happy with the result. It's a slow process, but according to those two books, it works."

The half-elf continued watching Sylvie for a time after she was done talking. "So... I've been sitting around with a clue all this time." He didn't sound particularly surprised, simply like someone who was growing tired of some kind of joke. But even so, he looked down at the tin, both brows raised, and opened it to take out the glass trinket; he offered it to her with an expression that bespoke of his interest in the matter. Sebastian looked almost excited. Luminous, almost. "Let's see how it works, then?"

She shot a look at the now quiet dragon and anwered, "With a couple of hours of quiet I could try. Knowing who made it would be more directly useful, though. Is there any way to track down the previous owner?"

"Unfortunately, all I have is a name -- Kirrya -- and a very vague description. I've given thought to going to the neighbouring building to straighten out a few things with the thieves' god's flock. Maybe I might get some information from there. I doubt it, but..." he shrugged. "Regardless, she didn't seem like the magical type."

"Might still know where she got it," Sylvie mumbled, turning the spindle in her hands. "Or maybe not. Anyway. Do I want to know what you are looking for here?"

He looked down at the papers. When his eyes caught up with the diary, he looked... a little angry. "In all honesty, maybe you don't. Suffice to say I couldn't stop thinking about how strange it was that Brannig was sent away, not after it turned out he really was hired by Ludovic and Brice," he said, relaxing once he looked away from the diary. Sebastian was doing his best to pretend it didn't exist. "I didn't find out anything more about that, but a lot about 'business as usual' for the Sabas."

"One would hope this would be unusual business." She didn't trust herself when thinking about a possible connection between Ludovic and this mess. He'd struck her as incredibly self-centered and manipulative, but petty, and she shied away from casting him as a monster, uncertain how much of that was nothing but her personal dislike.

"I don't remember hearing them talk about anything that might be related to hiring Brannig." Which didn't mean anything, really. She frowned, lost in thought. "I guess if there was something on the rumour mill on the lines that a glass bauble had been stolen from him might pass as a hint. But short of finding something conclusively pointing at someone else, I don't see how we could exclude Brannig..."

Sebastian had his suspicions, but he didn't want to talk about them before he had more to go with. Hypothetical talk about people was often useless to begin with. Nonetheless... he took the diary from the table and looked at its covers. "Short of finding anything conclusive or explicit, we'll have to follow hunches." He smiled. "Aside from the glass. I'll see if I can find Kirrya. One way or another."

Sylvie looked blank for a moment, and then amused if faintly disturbed.

"I just had a vision of you threatening some woman with throwing her to the dragons. While he" - she jerked her head to indicate the fireplace - "was in plain sight. The look on her face was... quite something."

Sebastian looked perfectly blank himself, but a blink finally broke his composure. He snorted his way into a chuckle. "I'm sure our scaly overlord here would put the fear of dragonkind in the poor lass."

Sylvie answered mostly seriously, "If freshly from the fire, certainly. I should try to get him out of there."

She got up, leaving the spindle on the table for the moment, produced a few raisins from a little bag and strew them on the flagstones in front of the fireplace. The dragon's right head feigned disinterest, but the left stretched its neck.

"I didn't honestly expect him to be fire-proof," Sebastian said and put the diary down again, leaning over the table to get a better view of the stubborn little creature. "It's fascinating."

"Yes, and the most puzzling part is that he doesn't choke..."

Ayu-Asra stretched and crawled off the hoard of coals to collect the bait. Sylvie pushed a few spilled ember back with the fire iron, keeping an eye on the dragon. whose heads were darting around as if racing who could pick up more raisins one by one.

"I was serious, by the way. Resting in fire does tend to calm him, but if he ever comes at you right from a fire, get out of the way. He leaves char marks on wood."

"I'll remember that," the half-elf said and leaned back again, watching Sylvie. Once again he wondered if it had been fair to let her know what was going on, but then again... she was key now. He drummed the floor with his heel and thought.

Sylvie had a rather lower opinion of her contribution.

After a while - the dragon had curled up again on the spot in front of the fire, rather than in it, and was cooling slowly - she said, "I guess I should go back and see if I can draw anything else useful out of the books. Or that spindle. I can't imagine that being any help finding who or what is causing this, mind."

Sebastian tilted his head and smiled, pointing at the glass item. "Actually, this is the first solid clue we have. I was also wondering if you'd want to come with me to the neighbour's. Gamble a little or just enjoy the show, whatever you prefer." He looked serious. Not at all jesting. She was part of the team now.