Nevin nodded slowly. That was a relief - and it gave him an idea on how to handle talking about Stare’s collapse. Though it seemed he didn’t need to. He wondered absently why whenever Vitruvion glanced in his direction, the man refused to meet his eyes - wait. They were still glowing. Whoops. He hastily pulled his magic back from them, letting them fade to their normal, neutral state of red so dark they seemed black.
“I’m glad to see that she’s recovered so well. She was a tremendous help in the forest.” Of course, Vitruvion already knew that, he lived in the back of her head whenever he wanted to. But Nevin didn’t know if Mer was aware of that, so this would give an opening to talk about the events in the woods and not have it seem suspicious. Though, he didn’t really care about Mer himself, he didn’t want to make things more difficult for Vitruvion in his own house right now.
“Now. About the party in Radasanth.” He raised an eyebrow to the man. “While clearly it can be discussed later if need be - are there any steps I should take to prepare for the guests?” The bastards would be attacking near his own home, the Grand Celestial Brewery wasn’t that far, and some of its workers came by his store occasionally for hangover cures.
Vitruvion was not an idiot. It took him less than a second to figure out precisely what Nevin meant. A minor nerve in his hand flinched as he was reminded of the ever-present and growing threat of his brother. He drew in breath, stared at his food for a moment, then replied as he dropped his fork.
“Raevin is taking a group to greet them,” he spoke carefully, “Including Brer, who I believe you have met now. They will be treated well, do not worry.” Reaching out he grabbed his goblet of wine, his fingers curling around it like it was a neck to strangle. His other hand scraped back hair from his face. “You personally should not need to worry about making yourself … available.”
He drank back the wine and briefly twisted his eyes up the ceiling, checking on Stare. Pausing, he set the goblet back down. “You are making a shop in Radasanth?”
“I am. It’s primarily based in an application of the alchemical arts that are a bit divergent from those that I practice in Stonevale. More… focused on termination of contracts, if you will. I of course am a neutral party and all involved know it there, at least in regards to my wares, so I have been mostly left alone. It’s becoming popular with a subsect of the citizens, as I usually operate on later hours than the alchemists who are beholden to the Guild.” He frowned, thinking of that particular lot.
“An unsavoury group, the Guild. They put rather surprising restrictions on people, for a group of alchemists. I can’t stand them.” He shrugged. “My business does well enough without their interference. Though I think I may have to do something about them soon. It seems that if you don’t match a certain set of criteria, among them race, a Guild Alchemist can just kick you from his store.” He frowned.
