07.07b: Greek Fire

[Wyvern]

Alys slips out of the ballroom, heading after the water dragon* Kizak - he's simultaneously the most suspicious thing she saw in the commotion, "obviously" sneaking away looking scared and guilty**, and the most interesting thing she's seen at the ball.

He is not, however, particularly good at situational awareness***, and the first clue he gets that someone's followed him to where he's waiting out the commotion in the side passages is when Alys asks (from around a corner****), "Hello? Is everything alright?"

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* In most elemental setups, water beats fire. Greek Fire, by contrast, burns even on water...
** Scared, yes. Guilty... not really, but a combination of a bit of bad stuff and general annoyance at being stuck underwater for the evening makes for relatively poor snap judgements of character.
*** In D&D terms, Kizak could roll a natural 20 on spot and still lose to Alys taking ten on stealth.
**** Because it's obvious that Kizak is... high strung, shall we say, and will probably react to being startled by attacking. Which Alys can't really blame him for; that'd be her twitch reaction to being startled right now, too. So she's making sure that there's no immediately available target - giving him at least a moment to think before he has a chance to act. Which involves backing off before letting him know she's there - she could have walked up and tapped him on the shoulder, but that would have started a fight; instead, she's around a corner, maybe ten feet down the hall, leaning against the wall with arms crossed, and at least trying to look comparatively non-threatening.

[Joshua]

Yay, planning vs bad stuff.

Anyhow, Kizak starts upon seeing Alys. He tenses, reaching for a weapon before remembering he is unarmed. Thankfully, he makes an effort to calm down. "I'm fine. It was just too noisey for me."

He adds, "I'm Kizak. Are you new here also."

[Wyvern]

Alys watches Kizak carefully, particularly interested in that initial reaction - trying to work out what sort of weapon he was reaching for.*

"Lady Alystrakos Obsidia Sybaris. And yes - I arrived just a few days ago, and this is my first visit to Rebma." Then she tilts her head, and asks, "Though I'm curious what made you think that."

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* Edit: Apparently a rapier.

[Joshua]

"Lyra didn't mention any others. Have you spoken with her yet?" Kizak is attempting to size you up. He is likely noticing that you are on edge and hunting, but is unsure what you're looking for. His paranoia giving him only one answer. "We can return to the ball if you would prefer."

[Wyvern]

"Other...?" Alys frowns, and nervously taps the claws of one gauntlet against the scales of the other. "Wait, you can actually See what I am?"

She takes a half step away from the wall, loses the relaxed stance in favor of a defensive one, and takes a quick look around, the topic having veered sharply into territory she'd rather not risk anyone eavesdropping on.

[Joshua]

"It's... not..." He cringes slightly, the act of a nerd. Actually, he does, in fact shrink almost two full inches. "We know each other. Doesn't that work here as well?"

[Wyvern]

"Apparently?" Alys looks past Kizak, in the direction of the ballroom. "Worrying, though; if you can do that, it would not be hard for... someone more dangerous* to copy it. Probably best to keep that knowledge to yourself..."

She re-focuses on Kizak, and relaxes slightly. "Though I see no reason to keep it from Lyra; it seems a thing that both she and I should learn."

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* Kizak can probably tell that Alys had a specific person in mind, here, but decided not to say the name.

[Joshua]

"I don't understand. I was told... that doesn't happen here. Why would anyone care if we can tell if ..." He shifts nervously. "What are you going to do? are we safe?"

[Wyvern]

Alys shakes her head. "I don't know what you're worried about. And I'm probably being overly paranoid; the odds are low enough that... An analogy might show it best."
She idly tosses and catches a knife with her left hand, not even looking at it. "The odds that I'll need to be armed tonight are very nearly zero. The odds that I'll need to be armed some night within the next ten thousand years... near certainty. But most people," Alys directs a pointed look at the missing weapon Kizak had reached for earlier, "neither have nor need that sort of perspective."

"So, what I'm going to do? Prepare for the worst, as always. And we're as safe here as can be expected; safer than most places I can think of, actually."

[Joshua]

Kizak cringes at the statement. "Don't eat me!" He will finally squeak out, duckign his head defensively. Cause, ya know, 'prepare for the worst' means 'eat all the dragon-meat I can'.