accordancy | ❦ 01

[though it very much seems otherwise, he knows that it can't actually be a dream because of how immediately and distinctly not right he feels upon finding himself in this decadent little room. Doing his best to remain calm, he pokes around, finding an exceedingly strange book with his name on it, peeking through drawers and listening for sounds. Eventually, his search leads him out into hall of faceless doorways, down some stairs, and into a sprawling lobby. Just wandering, hypersensitive and quiet, until he hopefully walks into something that makes some sense. Just stay calm...

He finally stops when he reaches a window, staring--a little shellshocked--at nothing but fog. ...And there he stays for some time, silent in deeply unsettled thought.

Finally, he suddenly remembers the book in his hands. It gives him something to fiddle with, fidgeting with the little clockwork gears until something finally clicks into place and the thing falls suddenly open]

...That seems a bit much.

[and the book helpfully jots down his words for him]

--Oh.

[there is no way this could be a good sign]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I was merely commenting.

[...in that way that make very little attempt to hide the fact that he is most likely not merely commenting. Almost knowing.]

Is that so?

Mhmm.

[he's just... gonna amble on over while he speaks, very relaxed in motions and voice, even if there is still that sort of intent undertone]

I once knew someone with eyes like that. [many someones, actually]

How lucky they must have been, to have someone like their eyes so.

[a noncommittal musing noise as he reaches her, just a little on the inside of what the usual conversational range with a new acquaintance would be]

There is a big difference between you and them, however.

[pausing before he goes on, eyeing her carefully at this much closer distance]

Oh? Are you going to divulge these differences or must I guess?

[a little pause that says that he's still deciding exactly that.

...Luckily, the deliberation doesn't take too much longer, however]

I could tell what they were.

[the fact that she hasn't jumped in at any of these hesitating points tells him a lot. It makes him frown a little]

...Are you going to make me guess, now?

Until you give me a reason to do so otherwise.

[hmm... alright. He'll just get right to that guessing thing, then.

Clasping his hands loosely behind his back, he begins to walk around her in a slow arc, pretty much openly looking her up and down, inspecting her, while the wheels visibly turn in his head.

It's almost as if he's listening for something, leaning in a little with a curious tilt of his head, as he steps around her]

Hmm...

[suddenly, he gets a smile]

Let's make it a game. I'll ask you questions, you answer honestly, and I'll make a guess at the end.

Very well.

Let's see...

Where do you come from?

The mountains of Westbreach.

Were you born in the city, or the countryside?

Countryside.

Mmm. Any siblings?

A few.

[that's actually precisely the sort of answer he was expecting. It makes that smile of his twitch a little bit]

If you had to spend many years in one place, would you rather it be... [hmm, let him think for a moment] deep in the forest, high on a mountaintop, along some distant beach, in a bustling city, or... let's say, in a desert?