abraxaslogs | One must always be careful of books

Wanda ambles into Istredd's domain with little expectation for company. After staying in Sam's idea of Thanksgiving dinner for a lot longer than she was anticipating, she's more than socially tired at the moment. While it's easy to simply pull herself out of the Horizon, she knows that she'll be restless in bed, too hungry after spending most of the day in here, and so figures she could wait a few hours so that morning can draw closer.

Why this place, and not her own? She thinks she could find a book or two to entertain herself with. Still, she wasn't expecting the place to be occupied by two people already.

She hears their voices somewhere atop the stairs from where she is. Istredd must very well have realized her presence before she even starts to push towards their telepathic connection, a gentle I'm here, as she follows the sounds of their voices.

Istredd—and Lucifer. What a pair.

"Am I interrupting the boys club?"

Her hand lingers on the banister of the stairs as she reaches the landing, looking them over.

"Maybe that's what was wrong with your domain before," Lucifer says, "all the Summoned thrown back into the sea knocking to be let free."

That might be a more terrifying thought than all their theories about the gods though.

He stops the line of thought, blinking down towards Wanda before a slow smile finds its way across his face.

"Well, look who extracted herself from the party."

Istredd feels Wanda's presence and that cuts off what he might have been able to say, glancing toward her. He is aware now that Wanda is friends with both of them, Lucifer admitted to caring for them both (how embarrassing), so at least he doesn't have to be worried about an awkward introduction. Which he would never mind doing with these two, but this does make things easier.

"You are welcome in any club we're a part of, I wager."

He isn't going to focus on filling the new alchemy book he had in mind when there are two people to talk to, so he closes it for now, focusing on her. Ah, so she did go to the party. Istredd hasn't tried to sense who was there, it seemed like flirting with disaster.

"If you came here to get some quiet, we can pretend you're not here."

He smiles faintly; as a fellow introvert, it's the least he can offer.

Lucifer says something that catches Wanda off-guard a bit. So, he knew about the party—knew that she was there? Either she mentioned it before and forgot, or he actually went there himself for a bit and she missed him.

"It wasn't my intent to stay," she says, almost defensively. Wanda figures that sounds somewhat childish, so she waves a hand dismissively with a light roll of her eyes, moving herself towards one of the nearby, cushioned chairs.

She whisks herself a cup of tea, which she's happy to sip on, as she pulls her legs up to sit crossed under her. Glancing between the two men, she lingers on Istredd. The offer is kind, but she would not mind participating to whatever conversation they were having.

"I found out recently you two knew each other."

Through Lucifer, of course.

Through Lucifer and his Not-So-Great Self-Inflicted Continued Very-Bad Time.

She shouldn't feel bad for missing him, just like he doesn't feel bad for leaving her. It was minutes at most of him poking his head in and ducking right back out. Safety first!

"Peas in a pod we are," he sings, though the tune doesn't make the statement inaccurate. He continues in his normal tone, "Istredd's looking for someone with library access in the Free Cities. Do you know anyone?" They could bank on Rhy, but Lucifer likes having multiple options open.

It was not the conversation they were having when she walked in. He knows Istredd and Wanda are friends and have their mind link thing, and while she likely already knows about whatever happened to Istredd's domain, he's still not going to be the one to mention it in case she doesn't. That's on Istredd for who he wishes to know.

"We became roommates when I first arrived and here we are months later and he's spending his free time lounging like a cat high up in my tower."

Istredd says all of that dryly but he's smiling. Wanda has an extra layer of knowledge considering their bond so she can feel Istredd's genuine warmth and affection for his friend, even if the two of them can be sarcastic about it out loud. They do spend a lot of time together and for whatever reason haven't grown sick of one another yet.

The change to Istredd's domain from monolith to tower is a mystery to anyone who isn't from his world, although he doesn't know if that would make a difference were the heralds to come now. Would it still be causing an earthquake? He doesn't think so. He and Kyle may have come across a good theory as to why that happened. Too bad they can't test it.

"I'm hoping to see what the Free Cities has on the gods and high magic. I've exhausted what Thorne knows, or allows us to know." He and Wanda have already discussed the gods and the arm sacrifice.

Lounging like a cat is a way to put it.

"He likes to sit on the trees of my domain," she says lightly as brings the cup to her lips and adds, right before taking another sip, a similar tone to Istredd's when he speaks of Lucifer. "Keeps the ravens company."

Setting the cup down on the arm of the chair, she places her hands over her knees, leaning back comfortably.

She falls under the impression that the Free Cities will not have much on the gods and high magic, seeming to have relinquished it all for weapons and science and power in the military—so far away from previous believes they may have held on gods or whatever. Still, she considers who could have library access.

Wanting to say Matt is tempting, but... he's quite busy working on helping the refugees. The last thing she wants is to encourage any connection between him and Lucifer anyway—he got so upset last time Wanda had brought him up.

"Most of the people from my world are in the Free Cities."

Excluding, of course, Natasha and herself.

"I could ask them about it, or about whether they have any suggestions on who to go to."

He likes high places and he likes perching on things, what can he say? He's both bird and cat and sometimes angel. "The ravens are enjoyable," he tosses out, because they are. "You should get some ravens, Istredd." Or flamingos. Ha ha. ... He's not actually sure Istredd's ever been to his domain.

"Anything is more than what we have," he says, on the topic of knowledge. "They like to keep us in their little sheltered bubble." He does not say 'cage', though Wanda likely knows him well enough by now that she understands it, anyway. She's already asked him how he's felt about Thorne in the past. The answer is still the same, if extremely strained now.

"Make your own ravens, you know how this place works."

They both know that it is remarkably easy to change Istredd's domain into whatever a visitor wants from the structure. He assumes it has something to do with his psychic nature, but it's unknown. It is much more malleable to the minds of others, although never straying from the general library aesthetic. But it would be very easy for Lucifer to add in ravens or anything else, including flamingos.

"Please do, if you would. It's not a priority, but it is of interest." Istredd's priority is the Singularity, from the moment he woke up here and was made aware of it. But that doesn't mean he can't have other interests or research topics. The gods do seem to be an important topic, considering what happened with the heralds.

"Our cage can become incredibly uncomfortable if we make a fuss about it." Istredd just says the cage part out loud.

"I thought we were not allowed to say the word 'cage'," she teases, gravitating towards Lucifer's dislike of that term and what it entails and Istredd's easy way of either being oblivious or not caring about it.

After shooting Lucifer an amused look, she grabs for her cup again.

"I'm sure there's something positive to be said about Thorne." Even if literally everyone she talks to about it isn't entirely too excited about it. "I talked to Wilhelm, like you asked. I shared some runes with him should he find himself in a position where lying confidently is his best option."

Here, she takes a sip of her tea. She is sure that Istredd is aware of the Wilhelm situation, and so Wanda fears not for Lucifer's wrath on being open about it.

"What is that about, anyway? Are the Thorne authorities unhappy with the Summoned?"

Thanks for looking out for him, Wanda. There was the briefest of reaction just from Istedd saying the word alone, which is stupid. He's hardly some sensitive maiden.

Despite how close him and Istedd have gotten, Lucifer's Cage Issues haven't come up. To be fair it only came up with Wanda because the choice was out of their control.

"There's nothing positive about Thorne." And now they're getting into winter. "Thank you though. For that." There's clear relief in his expression.

He debates telling Wanda the information, only because of it being the Horizon. But the knowledge isn't secret. "They've been pulling people for interrogations. They got twitchy after... everything."

Istredd raises an eyebrow since he hasn't been informed that cage is a testy word, although he notes it away without comment. For now. He may come back around to it another time out of curiosity, always his downfall.

"There are two positives about Thorne. The other Summoned, for one." A smile at Lucifer, as he is one of them, and also he knows that a few people have gotten under his skin. So there are good people. "The access to spells and magical knowledge is unparalleled." Also they are the only place he will have any hope of getting to the Singularity with.

"I hope he was less rude to you than he was to me." Istredd doesn't mean that as a slight to Wilhelm and he's not annoyed. He's a teenager and he's angry, it makes sense he would strike out at others. But Wanda's too nice, she doesn't deserve the same attitude he got.

"They're looking for scapegoats and anyone they can blame. I wouldn't be surprised if it's just fear tactics, planning on throwing a few of us in jail to scare the others."

She takes a sip of her tea again, glancing between the two men; accepts Lucifer's gratitude, and takes in Istredd's ignorance to the Cage Issue. Still, it is nonetheless amusing to find just how opposite the two friends are—one clinging to the negatives while the other drags out positives to the forefront of the conversation.

"Istredd seems the type to really enjoy staying stuck in a place full of books," she says, playfully, towards Lucifer. Be it that they're all homebodies, Wanda could never find the preference of inside to the potential outside. She turns her attention back to the sorcerer. "And yes, he wasn't rude. Even if he was, teenagers tend to be like that. I take it with a grain of salt."

Perhaps these very two old men have forgotten what that's like, to be a teenager? They likely don't know how emotionally burdened Wilhelm is, either. It's funny, however, that Istredd juxtaposes those words about incarceration with his previous comment about the positives.

"Try not to stand out too much, I suppose."

Is there any advice she would give that they would hear? They're all stubborn in their own right, and she's the youngest compared to them.

Istredd enjoys staying in stacks of books until everyone else is like hm, where did Istredd go? Is he still alive?

Lucifer hasn't at all found him more than once.

"Too late."

He grins, too wide.

What? She can't be surprised about it.

"That's where the problem with Wilhelm came up in the first place. After our afflicted mess, I walked him from the Castle gardens to the teashop. Very publicly." He shrugs. "Got dragged in over it. I was afraid they'd pull Wilhelm afterwards and he'd get spooked and rattle off his other problems." He looks pointedly to Istredd after that. "She doesn't know about those." Because he is not going to risk Istredd accidentally slipping because he assumes Wanda knows those 'other problems'. He doesn't imagine Wanda will be upset from that. It's all caution.

One must always be careful of books

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