A Familiar sort of Apocalypse (Nivansrywyllian, Feltipped)

Levyne for his part, kept his eyes on his bondsman 'til the door obscured her from view. A tension that he hadn't known that he'd been holding released from his shoulders. She wasn't what he'd been expecting. For that matter, he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. Down fell his overly-large leggings, and he kicked them casually into the corner. Into the shower he climbed, wary of the of the stream. He tested it with his hand, before stepping under the lukewarm spray.

Pleasant surprise radiated from the bond, as he basked in the luxuriant spray. He washed himself slowly, relishing being thoroughly clean. He'd had rare occasions to stop and refresh himself before he'd arrived here. Once he was thoroughly scrubbed, and rinsed, he simply stood under the stream for a minute. Soon, his thoughts turned back to Sana. A thermomancer. HIS thermomancer. He bent casually, to begin fiddling with the faucet knobs. How had she turned them on? They seemed simple enough. He'd just keep fussing with them 'til he found out.

Suddenly, sudden alarm radiated through the bond, accompanied by a yelp from the bathroom, and a crash. Self-conscious embarrassment came next, although it seemed somewhat muted.

Levyne had turned the cold water on full bore, and had fallen out of the shower in his scramble to get out from under the frigid spray. Clambering to his feet, he continued fussing with the bath from the tubside, safely out of the water's stream until he shut it off.

Back to the towel he turned, taking it up to rub himself dry. He'd wait 'til he was composed to go back out to face his companion. Why would anybody's bathing amenities have a setting to chill you to the bone?
 
The alarm that pulsed through the bond caused her head to jerk up, staring straight at the bathroom like he had called out for her beyond the door. The accompanied thud made her drop the knife into the sink with a clutter, task forgotten. She was down the hallway and at the door of the bathroom before she even remembered telling herself to walk, suddenly concerned. What had happened in there?

Sana's hand was reaching for the door and settled on the doorknob before she stopped herself. Her manners reminded her that barging in was probably going to end with someone's feathers getting ruffled and she paused, instead, to tap the knuckles of her other hand against the door.

"Levyne?" She called, voice as worried as the bond was suddenly reporting from her. "Are you okay in there?" The thermomancer leaned her head and shoulder into the door, listening for him on the other side.
 
"Fine," He called, and the embarrassment flared again. His hip throbbed through the bond, and he'd be sporting a bruise later. "Nothing damaged but my pride." He finished toweling off, and slipped back into his leggings. He slung the damp towel over a shoulder. He could feel Sana on the far side of the door. The connection with her was strange. New.

He approached the door, laid his hand on the handle, and paused. A smile overcame him as he turned the handle, and pulled open the door. "This world has some surprises that I have yet to get used to." He admitted. "I will have a lot of learning to do, if I'm going to be protecting you."

He let his nostrils flare, and his stomach gurgled hungrily. "Is that food ready?" He asked. His tone was neutral, but the eagerness in the bond put lie to his composure. How long had it been since he'd last eaten? He couldn't recall, exactly.

"What are we having?" He added, on the heels of the last question.
 
Sana leaned back only as she felt him draw closer to the door, narrowly avoiding a full tumble into him as he pulled it open. Her gaze took him in for a moment, looking for any sign of what was causing the pain through the bond, but she dismissed it when she saw no signs of blood. He didn't want to bring it up, so she wouldn't push him anymore lest she make the embarrassment worse.

"Oh, the ones inside are hardly the most peculiar." Her smile was almost impish now, but she turned back to the kitchen with a small laugh. "It's not quite done." Before she set foot into the kitchen, the microwave let out a series of trill beeps. Without another word to him, she turned the faucet on hot and went to take the meat out of the microwave. It already filled the air with the aroma of cooking food from being heated, but she formed it into two generous patties and set them into a pre-heated skillet with a sizzle. After she washed her hands under the almost scalding water, she glanced back up at him.

"Cheeseburgers, a favorite meal here." And not likely one she was going to have for a while after this, she wagered. She used a kitchen towel to dry her slender hands, then seasoned the cooking burgers with a mix of dry and bottled spices. In no time she was back to chopping potatoes and transferring them into the oven. Even her own stomach was growling by the time the kitchen began to fill with all the different smells. She leaned on the counter next to the remaining ingredients and glanced up at him. "It's been a long time since I had anyone else to cook for." The bond could tell him how pleased she was, even if she'd grown accustomed to a life alone.
 
Levyne hid his disappointment that the food hadn't miraculously finished in the time it had taken him to wash. He quashed his impatience, and moved into the kitchen to watch his bondsman work. "This... This is a burger?" He asked, eyeing the formed beef in the skillet. He didn't see any cheese around, but assumed that the woman would produce some from... Somewhere.

The pleasure at being able to cook for someone else shone through the bond, and broadened the familiar's smile. Amusement echoed back. "You seem to be doing admirably, if the smell is any indicator." Against the island he leaned, his attention torn between his bondsman and the food she was cooking. "Why though?" He asked.

After a moment, he realized that the question might need clarification. "Why are you so secluded?"
 
Sana's eyebrows had risen when he asked the question, showing that she had, indeed, not been quite sure what he was asking her. Then clarity ceased the motion and she pushed herself up with her hands, away from the counter top. For a moment she didn't answer him and the bond reported nothing clear, just a tumbled mix of different feelings. She took the time to turn to the fridge and grab a rectangle pouch, filled with several layers of hard, orange pre-cut cheese. Those long, pale fingers fiddled with the zipper for a moment before she set it on the counter.

"It's harder to live in this world with other people, sometimes. My family was very destructive and we no longer look out for one another. You lived in a group, right? With other familiars?" Her emerald eyes swept back up to him with the question and though there was sadness now blooming in the bond, she seemed very guarded for the first time since he'd turned up on her doorstep. "I had to leave to survive and I've never found my way back into another group, I'm just a lone wolf." A pause, and she added, "until now, I guess." She had promised not to lie to him and she didn't want to avoid the truth either. He would know, eventually, more than she ever expected him to. She was sure of that.

The thermomancer crossed the kitchen again and grabbed a package of buns. She took a second to inspect them, making sure they hadn't mysteriously spoiled on her as bread had a tendency to do, then opened the oven to set them on a higher rack above the potatoes. It filled the room with a gust of hot air and another wave of the aroma, making her stomach grumble loudly. Her hand pressed against her stomach against the offending noise, then she reached for the cheese. The package zipper slid open easily and she set a piece each atop the patties she had formed, then covered the pan with a lid to let it melt.

She put the package back in her refrigerator before she turned back to him, leaning against the counter next to her cooking food.
 
Levyne frowned ponderously. He began to nod slowly in comprehension. "I see." Some of her colloquialisms didn't make sense, but he passed them off as common speak in this world. The mystery of semi-shared language would have to wait for another day. "Now you have me. I won't claim to replace your family, but I'll be here for as long as I live."

Again, surety shone through the bond. "It is a sad thing, being alone. Even if you don't realize that it makes you sad." A long fingered hand rose to brush his hair -still dark with dampness- back from his angular face. "Dinner smells delectable," he added, stepping away from the counter to hover hungrily about the food being prepared. Levyne had many admirable traits, but his patience evaporated rapidly on an empty stomach.

"Where did you learn to cook? Is it common for people to prepare this sort of meal?"
 
The woman smile slightly as he reminded her of the bond and her eyes fell, in a shy gesture. As much as her phrases were new to him, so too was his loyalty. There was nothing in her world that made someone behave so, not even marriage was a forever bond anymore. She crossed her arms over her chest to avoid reaching out for anything to occupy her fidgety fingers with.

She was relieved when he rounded the island and brought up the conversation of dinner again. At least, until she remembered how hungry she was too. The sight of him hovering over the food amused her and she pushed herself away from the counter again to bring down two plates.

"I learned a bit from my grandmother, and a lot out of necessity." She had only been able to stomach so many meals of scrambled eggs and grilled cheeses, which were her mother's only two real specialties. "I guess our people have gotten a little spoiled, this is about as simple as most of our stuff comes." If one counted out fast food and finger food from the freezer, but she didn't want to confuse him with the intricacies of how lazy they had gotten either. "We've got a way of sharing information across the entire world, we cook more things than I can probably even fathom." She added a laugh at the end, then made a motion of shooing him back from hovering over the food so she could reach for the oven door.

"Go sit on one of the bar stools, it's nearly done."
 
"Yes ma'am." He said, grinning as he rounded the island do seat himself on one of the stools. He was perhaps surprisingly lacking in bashfulness. There he was, sitting in Sana's kitchen, shirt free, and drooling over her cooking as if he'd been rooming with her for a year.

Something she'd said struck him as odd however. "Across the whole of the world?" He arched a brow quizzically. "I thought this plane didn't hold magic. We could speak over great distances back in Derelev, but it usually required the aid of magi who specialized in auditory magics. It was different from your magic, so it all seemed a bit over my head, but..." He frowned.

"Unless there's another way. Would you show me how to speak across the planet?"
 
When her familiar finally cleared the space around them, Sana went through the motions of plating all the food she'd been preparing. First came the buns, though she left the potatoes cooking for last. One each went onto a plate before she removed the lid over the cheeseburgers and set one each carefully atop the bun. She opened the fridge again then and fetched a bottle of ketchup and mustard for herself, as well as a jar of small sliced dill pickles. A sparse amount of each went onto her own burger, but she left his plain, not knowing if he would take kindly to all the condiments. She suspected if he was a regular hunter, mustard probably wasn't on his menu very often.

"Oh, it's not magic," with her back to him she managed to hide the wide, amused smile and stifle the laugh, but the amusement would still shine through their bond loud and clear. She was growing fond of his naivety, it was such a stark contrast to his knowledge of magic and.. well, her new nature. The bond was going a long way to warming her up to the stranger now making himself at home. "But I'll show you, yes. It's probably just as strange to you."

She pulled the potatoes from the oven with a frayed, green mitt and set them across the cool burners of her range. The woman tossed the mitt onto the counter and flipped off both dials of her stove, for the oven and range itself. Then she set the potatoes on the plates, now looking somewhere between processed potato chips from the bag and french fries, and brought them over to the bar. She set his down in front of him and took a seat at his side.

"But after dinner, okay?"
 
Levyne didn't have to be told twice. Propriety was all that kept him from snatching the plate on it's way down. He tested the food gingerly with his fingers before lifting it to his mouth, and taking a generous bite. He could feel the mirth flowing through the bond, but he didn't mind. The food was delicious. He made a muffled sound of appreciation, although his second bite was somewhat smaller.

The burger vanished before he spoke again. "That was delicious." He said, taking to the fries next, they too were quite good, but they didn't hold a candle to the burger. "These are alright too." He grinned. Soon enough, they too vanished from the plate. No ketchup, no mustard. The man simply appreciated the food as it was cooked.

Licking his fingers clean of salt, and cheese, he stood up from the counter. The way that his food had vanished suggested that he was hungrier than he let on. He went to the tea-cup he'd left earlier, and filled it with water from the tap. "Don't feel rushed. Food never lasts long when it's set before me." He added.
 
Sana picked up her burger and took a bite, watching him over the top of the bun as he began devouring his food like a starving wolf. She probably should have made more but it was still relatively early in the evening - she could always rummage up a snack or two for him later. Considering they were going to be leaving this apartment, likely forever, then she might as well eat as much as she could of her stores before they left.

"You're welcome," she offered back with a please smile, dabbing at a bit of ketchup that missed her mouth and dribbled down beside her lip with a paper towel she ripped from the nearby holder. After a few bites, she looked up at him where he stood sipping water from the cup.

"We should probably get you clothes that you aren't drowning in if we're going to be backpacking through the wilderness." She didn't have any men's clothes in her apartment, unfortunately, but she did have a small savings to draw on. Her head tilted as she took another bite of her burger and considered where she could take him, what might suit him most. She half suspected he didn't really have an opinion on what he should wear, apart from durability.
 
Levyne downed the last of the water, and filled himself another mug. This one he sipped at more slowly. He began to walk around the apartment, taking it all in once again. "Boots would be nice," He said, almost to himself. "My feet are tough, but if there is so much concrete, and blacktop in your world, I would like to protect them better." The way he said the words 'concrete' and 'blacktop' suggested that he'd heard them somewhere else, and only recently.

"I hesitate to take you up on your offer, however. You must have worked hard for your money. It would hardly be right for me to steal it from you when I've just come to steal you away from the only life you know."

He grinned over his shoulder at the woman, before meandering towards a window. He parted the blinds casually, to peer out upon the street below. "Are you at all familiar with combat?"
 
Sana finished the remainder of her burger and began working on her fries, popping one after another into her mouth and munching on them casually as she considered his words.

"Well, you just vowed to protect my life, didn't you?" She glanced over her shoulder at him as he meandered through her apartment, then went back to finishing the fries on her plate and speaking between bites. "You should be as well-equipped as possible if that's your purpose from now on. If you think about it, I'm just helping myself." She slipped off the bar stool and collected both plates, then flashed one challenging smile at him before she rounded the island to deposit both of them in the sink. She was never one to spend more money than she had to, but she was also realistic about what was needed.

"No, not really," she dropped her eyes away from him, and the window, as he began to part the blinds. Though it was unlikely she would be able to see anything from across the apartment, she wanted to avoid the sight of the sky at all costs. It still caused an uncomfortable, empty feeling in her stomach when she thought about it. "Running is my choice of exercise, I've never had much reason to fight."
 
Back to the window he looked, and he made a ponderous sound from within his throat. A long-fingered hand rose to stroke his braided goatee. The bond turned ponderous, as he turned his mind to plans for the immediate future.

"I suppose I must. I can only assume that this outfitting won't involve a sword and armor." He mused, wryly. He hadn't seen any blade larger than a kitchen-knife since he'd come to this world. He didn't know how the people of this world went about their fighting, but it wasn't with blades. He'd seen one uniformed fellow with a thick belt on, which had numerous tools and contraptions, but the only thing he recognized were a pair of shackles that looked too small to detain anybody.

"But that shouldn't matter Much, until the portals widen enough to allow the armies through. I assume the people of this world have some way of fighting. Where there are three men, there will also be conflict." The last one had the sound of an oft-spoken quote.
 
Sana smiled slightly as he mentioned armor, and gave a small shake of her head to confirm his suspicion. "Most of the common people don't even have weapons anymore. Armies are set apart, trained apart, and employed by the government to protect us all. In theory, of course." There were always flaws in any system and she was more than aware that there were plenty here. "I suspect if anyone catches on to what the sky means, we'll see plenty of soldiers showing up around the portals. Unfortunately, we don't have magic here, so it might take some time to convince our leaders."

The idea of armored tanks and soldiers in Belleview made her grimace. Maybe it really was for the best that they were leaving, away from the conflict and the promise of intensity that soldiers always brought with them. The uneasiness popped to the front of her emotions in the bond and she chose to exit the kitchen, making a beeline for a desk set up on the wall adjacent to the couch. A laptop sat there, closed and still. She unplugged it and sat down on the couch instead, patting the seat next to her, beckoning.

"Come sit down. I'll show you the internet." She had already opened the lid and brought it to life, tapping out a password quickly on her keyboard. Her browser flashed to life and settled on the google homepage, but she waited for him to take a seat now.
 
Levyne nodded, his suspicions confirmed. "There are some places where people live that way in the other world. It is not a bad way." Of course, as a warrior, Levyne much preferred a society that allowed him to go armed, but as he had come to learn, life landed you in unexpected places. That was the way of familiars.

"Here's hoping that someone more upstanding than I am comes through. I would not want to be around if an army of magi comes around unexpected." When he felt Sana move away from the kitchen, he turned to watch her. When she retrieved the little black... Book? Tablet? Thing. When she retrieved the little black thing, he drew close. "That doesn't seem like the sort of place you'd keep a net." He said, confused.

He sat down anyway, surprised by the illumination coming from within the book. "You said that this world has no magic. Then this... This is... What is this?" He asked, reaching over to feel the buttons of the keyboard. One depressed under his digit. "Is this meant for illumination? Why does it have so many buttons?"
 
Sana was troubled for a moment as she considered what it might mean if the soldiers of her world, a world of technology and nuclear might, were to go to war with something they didn't understand. The bond reported this troubled feeling even more than the way she bit and worried at her lip. She'd seen the photos of entire cities devastated by humanity's eternal pursuit of power and she knew, first hand, that the leaders of the first world countries were not the type that liked to feel beaten at the game of war and power.

What would magic do to this world, just by existing?

She swallowed hard against a lump in her throat and returned her attention to the laptop instead, letting his inquiries slowly beat back her worries with humor. He was almost like a child in the way he reacted to the unknown, pouring out question after question. It was a good distraction from the idea that everything she had ever known was about to change. A small bit of solace, for now.

"It's not magic, not really, though I guess it might seem similar when you explain it." She wracked her brain as she tried to think of a way that she could explain it, then realized that every comparison depended on something else that he probably didn't understand. "My world has made a lot of advancement in the last one hundred years or so. We've learned to harness energy that we use to power things that otherwise wouldn't work, and to send and keep information in a subspace called the Internet. I can access anything that someone else has put here, from anywhere in the world, as long as I have an access point. It's not really magic though, I'm not.. channeling. Anyone can do it with one of these." She picked her laptop up then and wiggled it slightly to and fro, to show what she meant.

When it was settled back in her lap, she typed in 'what is wrong with the sky?'. Google brought her a dozen or more webpages and news articles, theories on what was happening. She scrolled through them, reading things like armageddon and rapture, even theories about global warming reaching a critical point that no one had seen coming. She laughed and shifted her laptop to show him the screen, only pausing as something odd occurred to her.

"Um. Can you.. read?" A trickle of embarrassment had sprung up in the bond, showing that she wasn't sure if she was being rude or not for asking.
 
Levyne considered her explanation, although he noticed the trouble drifting across the bond. He'd ask her later, if the concern returned, but by the look of things, she didn't want to dwell on it.

This world had learned how to harness energy without magic. Fascinating. He stared at the screen intently as his companion's fingers danced over the complex set of buttons attached to the screen. "Fascinating." He echoed his thoughts, reaching out to touch the screen curiously. The question pulled his eyes away from the screen, but only for a moment.

"I've learned some, but it was an area of study that I hadn't had the time or opportunity to pursue. We had a records-keeper in our tribe who taught all children the basics, and went on further to any children that showed promise." He didn't seem ashamed however.

"I don't recognize some words. Perhaps because of my training, and perhaps because we do not have these things where I am from."
 
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