Knowledge is Power [Vivian]

[Salen]

21st Ash, 4622

The early morning had risen and Salen was taking a look at Verant's marketplace, a perfect opportunity to buy some groceries and get breakfast for Vivian, particularly after he had given him a rough night. He had felt bad about it and proceeded to buy food, including an ounce of huge rind of Gentevarese cheese, a bottle of wine and an assortment of fruits, including seasonal figs, apples and pears. He didn't spend long, knowing that he could have eyes on him constantly, knowing that he was in the mists of Amoren's border; a three day travel for Dahlia's henchmen.

Salen's guard was up constantly as he proceeded to prick his finger and began to suckle the ichor from the blood he had proceeded to let, he would slowly enter a camouflague. Was he going to pay for the items? Please, he could get away with murder knowing his looks, his charm and the inner biological workings of his blight, the Shroud appeared to be an effective tool for escaping. Upon reaching the complex of Degare's old house, he proceeded to climb through a window as he looked around curiously to see if Vivian was up, if he wasn't he would simply place the groceries amongst the dining table and proceeded to take a tour of the house, remembering the first time he had stepped into this complex.

The thing that was missing was the decorative aspect, the macabre expressions that Degare had enjoyed. However, his world was black and white, Salen's was full of colour. He proceeded to go upstairs and stepped foot into the library where the untouched books of Degare's ambition would linger still. He proceeded to look through the books and open them, turning the pages of them, until Salen would find a subject that appeared to be interesting: Necromancy.

He smirked as he pulled the book from it's shelf and proceeded to look through the books, citing the methodologies of Necromancy. The first page was a guide on how to make Sinew Foam, but Salen didn't read it, mostly skimmed through various articles "What other things do you have..." He said as he looked around, finding a book titled The Kyrikaric Principalities: A Guide to Dream Travelling A large arcanium on the advanced principals of Remnant. This appeared to have stalked his interest more as he proceeded to look through it's contents. Salen opened the page about ascensions and began to read out loud.

"The path for an Ascended Remnomancer is unknown, for the last five hundred years, there has never been a known Dreamwalker or Abyssal chronicled in the hundreds of years, their elusive nature with unprecidented use of the mask has made them unknown to society for they can easily blend into people's lives as a normal person, the fact that they are so chameleon makes it scary."

He would pause for a moment as he turned the page of the book, detailing the diagram of an Ascended Remnomancer's the complications in the Reverie. "An Ascended Remnomancer appears to be an unexplained enigma in society, one that is unknown. Although there had been sources from Hyr'Norai chronicles, dating that the last two Ascended Remnomancers chronicled the events of their lives, explained that the Reverie becomes a physical presence to a Dreamwalker, but nothing can compare the fearful dark presence of an Abyssal's wrath, should one anger them."

He remained in thought as he would continue reading silently, slowly turning each page as he skimmed through various concepts that he already knew, such as Engrams, the Memory Palace and other concepts.

[Vivian]

Vivian yawned. He had gotten a decent sleep. He laid on his back, and ran a hand over his belly. "Morning." he mumbled to the swell in his belly, and slowly swung his legs down. He dressed, pulling his shirt over his head and his ratty coat over his shoulders. He didn't hear Salen around anywhere. He ruffled his hair and headed downstairs into the kitchen to paw around for some tea. He wasn't sure anything stronger wouldn't hurt the baby, and he was trying to eat healthier. He saw the groceries, and frowned. Salen had gone out and gotten groceries, then. He didn't see any of the servants around, but no Veir had taken this house yet. It would likely be assigned as soon as it was ready. He hoped Salen wasn't sneaking around.

Vivian sliced the cheese and bit into one of the figs, following it up with a slice of cheese. Gods, fresh fruit was expensive and good. At least rich men knew how to eat. He devoured the fruit in record time, cores and all. He could always find apple cores to eat on the street, and while they were tougher than the soft fruit they were at least edible. Sometimes fresh if he followed the person who had eaten the rest of the fruit around. Vivian wasted nothing. Cheese rinds, cores and all were eaten. Even the stems were chewed for any nutrition they might have. Vivian smirked and looked down at his belly. "Don't expect this sort of shit all the time. At least not until your father and I get our lives together." he teased.

He went back upstairs, and stopped. The library. He scowled and walked in, looking at Salen and the books. "You're not taking any books from this house. It's my ass when the new Veir shows up." he said coldly. "But...." he softened. "...thank you for the breakfast."

[Salen]

Salen wouldn't notice Vivian coming into the library, until he had spoken to him coldly. He appeared to be confused by his accusation of stealing as he raised an eyebrow "Veir? Oh, theres another Veir living here? Well, it's their ass if they dare try..." He retorted in defiance, knowing he could deal with the average Veir in Daravin. He was also a powerful Remnomancer, he could deal with people in a civil or brutal way with his magic, designed to manipulate the mind and the dreams of others as a way of pacification or torture. He continued to read further about the consequences of overstepping in Remnant, something which he should've learnt a long time ago, but had been neglected by his studies with Dahlia, particularly with the consequences of collapsing an Engram or overstepping in the dreamscape. He could bring a harmful nightmare forward to him, resulting in his sleep being deprived.

Like it already wasn't.

Salen's facial expression changed as he incredulously looked at Vivian, as if he had been scorned by him for a moment. He furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance and began to sigh in frustration "Wait? Breakfast? You mean you ate the whole entire lot, like some greedy gluttonous pig of a Veir?" The half Sil'Norai exclaimed in frustration. How was he going to eat now, since the greedy malformist had snatched his groceries, before he could announce his intentions. "I brought those with the intention of sharing, I guess I shouldn't keep my back turned for long, eh?" He said with frustration as he made a big deal out of the situation "At least you've admitted you ate it; I'd rather have one thing. A thief than a liar..." He spoke out to Vivian, rolling his eyes, knowing it was his fault that he probably did not communicate with him correctly and since he was pregnant his hunger was bound to be hefty.

"Just ask next time... The worst I could say is no..." He spoke softly as his expression softened, before beginning to reading "Now to the current matter, I have no intention of stealing these books, they are pervaded, they all have a mnemonic trace, connecting the knowledge of the book, they pay Remnomancers to actually sit and read for hours in Libraries sometimes, just for someone else to acquire the knowledge as fast as possible" He said bluntly "Boring eh?"

[Vivian]

"Let me make one thing clear; you are an intruder here. I didn't invite you, the Veir didn't invite you, and I only allowed you to stay because of our mutual problem with a man who is now dead." Vivian sighed. "You swinging at the people who own this house isn't going to endear you to Daravin or me, and if you get yourself discovered and kicked out it might be me right alongside you. So you'll stow your fists and magic in this house, or I'll cram you down my throat and vomit you up outside. Do I make myself clear?" He didn't use a cruel tone, nor was he shouting, but he was making it very, very clear he expected to be obeyed. Perhaps he would make a good Valran after all! He was already speaking like one...or like a mother.

The pig comment went a bit too far. Vivian walked up to the Remnomancer and cracked his hand across his face. "You kept me up half the damn night! I thought that was an apology! Clearly, I gave you too much damned credit." he snarled. "Make a comment about the way I eat again and you're next. Gods. How did he not tear you apart?"

Vivian paced a moment. "He promised you a reclamation of your family, right? So why linger here?"

[Salen]

Salen felt Vivian's back hand slap him across the face, he turned to the side and took it without any protest, before turning towards him and glaring at him "Alright!" He lashed out. "I apologise dearly... I'm sorry." He said before his look softened, glancing around the room "I guess I deserve it after giving you hell all night... Call it even." Salen rolled his eyes for a moment, as he watched Vivian pace back and forth, beginning to talk about the reclamation of his family "Well, I was hoping he'd have answers, any records or documents or even any source of information... Turns out all that's left are his old books on magic... Remnomancy, Mentalism and even the scourges of Bane and Necromancy... Some of them might be useful." He said with a shrug as he turned around "I'm retracing my footsteps, if not I'll head back to Genteven and live a life of meaningless existence I suppose possibly for the rest of my life." He frowned.

"Degare was indeed a charming man, using his wits to get what he wanted and so it also led him to his demise, so you say. You see, if I were a blood mage, I wouldn't get caught, I'd know exactly how to hide, of course most arrogant Veir aren't careful enough that they expose their inner armor." He said with a sigh, shaking his head "Veir are cruel, Daravin's such a shitty place to begin with... Why do you live here, why do I even live here?" Salen sighed as he seemed depressed, letting emotions take hold of him as he paced back and forth before sitting down in thought "So, what's he done to you since we're both scorned by the despicable acts of the Entente, I want to know. I might even find his grave one day and dance on it..." He said with a sigh "On second thought, I don't think the sight of my butt is something he's deserving off..." He paused for a moment as if embarrassed,

"Forget I said that..."

[Vivian]

"Degare wasn't a big note taker." Vivian said, his tone softening. "Especially information someone else wanted. He'd have never written it down, or if he did it's in code, and not somewhere easily accessible. He wasn't stupid, Salen. He wouldn't have let you steal it." He couldn't stand self-pitying men. He'd been in far worse situations than Salen and he wasn't whining about his life, was he? "Return to Genteven to lead a meaningless existence..." he huffed. "Men like you usually don't amount to much anyway, putting stock in some secret will and bloodline that would suddenly boost you toward nobility. You make a man out of yourself, you don't count on something Degare told you. It may not even be true."

Vivian laughed, and pulled up a chair. "Oh honey, you'd get caught in a moment with that attitude." he chuckled. "Not having enough respect for his own magic was Degare's mistake, and yours. You'd be caught, especially since you're so terrible at breaking and entering." He shook his head. "Daravin isn't so bad, you've got to learn to work around it. Degare taught me how to give my magic respect, and he helped educate me and give me a safe place to stay. Sure, he took advantage, but I hardly expected less and even participated on occasion. Much as you hate him, I can say objectively Degare was a better lover." he smirked wryly. "Forget him. Let it go. He's dead."

[Salen]

"What's it to me now..." He said with a sigh as he thought about the predicament he was in, but now his prospects seemed impossible to achieve and yet he was going to have to wait for an opportunity to arise from now on. Salen knew he was going to have to look over his shoulder a long while until he had an opportunity to sort this predicament he was in. It turned out Brazim's blessing was as much as a curse for anyone who craved even the slightest findle of desire. That's when Vivian appeared to have hit a nerve, his eyes glanced at him with annoyance, before he rolled his eyes "Yes... Yes... Yes to all the above and still you probably don't know what it's like to have a knife in your back constantly... You get use to it for a while sometimes, even if you try and work hard your still thrown in the gutter by the higher class wigs of society... Progress for the sake of progress is prohibited so it seems..." He said with a sigh once more.

"Perhaps your right... Perhaps I'm just hoping for a miracle to get me out of this predicament I'm in... That's... A long story for another time though." He appeared to avoid the issue that was bothering him, particularly when it came to the darker provinces of the Entente underworld, there were some pretty dodgy players in this world.

Salen remained in thought for a moment, as he mentioned the breaking in thing, relating to the previous topic of Blood Magic, but yet again Vivian was right, but he always had a reason to try and defend his actions. "I actually wasn't breaking in, he knew of my predicament, knew I had to be discrete as possible, was expecting him there but I found you and to me... That was a horrifying surprise."

Salen rolled his eyes as there was a hint of embarrassment on his face, as if he didn't want to be caught off as the type who would scare easily, the fact is he feared a lot of things and the monstrosity that he once met within the Badlands. "Maybe I should've not come back in the first place, some things are best left forgotten... Although these books will be useful fodder..." He said with a smirk before he placed placed the book of Remnomancy on it's stand once more as he turned to the page on the mastery of Astralisation.

"A Remnomancer masters his mindscape once he has been given the bridge between the Reverie and Reality, the fact that they are both split into different levels, allows a remnomancer to achieve an almost out-of-body like experience when delving into mindscapes, upon Voyaging it's as if they transfer their own existence between the realms, ensuring that they enter an astral-like state whilst dreaming and awake, it requires a remnomancer to focus all their energy into such a thing, although it is more easier to get lost as a Master Remnomancer. Voyaging barely costs any ether, but it may deprive you of ether reserves the longer you're in your dream-like state." He paused as he continued to read on further.

"A Remnomancer of such expertise can also project aspects of their dreamscape into the real world, creating things that would appear in a dreams. From Palaces to the remnomancer's greatest desires. Much like the illusory concepts learnt within Phantasms and Reckonings, they are much more versatile and larger scale and may ethereally deprive a Remnomancer if such feat is performed at a larger scale." He closed the book and stared at Vivian.

"May be nonsense to you, but useful to me... You should try your hand at this place, grab a book... Any that suits your fancy... " He smirked as he tilted his head, looking him in his eyes with his beguiling stare "I know you want to... Come on..."