"Do you know him?" Jigano asked curiously of Loren, catching the familiarity in Peter's phrasing. "He's a great improvement on Zariah, that's for sure. It's not a family I'd recommend getting too close to, though. They're all a bit - or more than a bit - crazy. And there's a cruel streak in most of them... even him, though he's trying to overcome it, thankfully." Still, what he'd done to Remi by abandoning the young alchemist struck a chord with Jigano, who had done something similar when he had been ill, albeit for a far shorter time. He could understand why Loren had done it, but just as he wasn't inclined to forgive himself, nor did he gloss over the weakness in the Launceleyn man.
"Anyone can be a loreseeker," he agreed, his expression lightening back to a smile. "All you need is a strong sense of curiosity, and a desire to learn more about something. Usually several somethings," he added with a chuckle. "But there's something to be said for specializing!"
The mud was giving way reluctantly, but the two men were determined and worked steadily, giving it no chance to regain the ground it was losing. The other helpers were having more difficulty dealing with it on the ground, as it schlorped its way under the wagons or clutched at boots and shovels to spread itself around, but until it was off the stairs there was little Jigano and Peter could do to help. They were getting close, though, and talk of the guild put renewed strength on the Provost's arms as he grinned at the personal question. "History, geography, and music," he said cheerfully. "Trying to piece together the past of this world and the truth of what happened three hundred years ago, exploring beyond the barrier now that it's fallen, and learning new songs and tales from natural and outlander alike."
He hummed a few bars of a song he'd learned from Rory in demonstration, then turned the questions back on Peter. "What about you? What interests do you have? And what do you want to learn? If it's something I or one of my guildmates knows, we can certainly share that knowledge. It's part of our purpose." His smile softened as he heard the uncertainty in the other man's voice, and he nodded apologetically. "Ah, sorry. Those are just fancy words for plants and animals. Things like Wicker Women and Gilded Lilies, or Magna Vermis and Bloatbeetles... or Banshees and Boggarts, if we're talking about things to watch out for." Neither of which were things he wanted people running into unprepared, if they were unlucky enough to run into them at all.
As they finally scraped the last of the mud off the bottom step, Jigano raised a brow at the useful display of magic. "Like Remi and Deimos," he agreed with a chuckle. "That's a useful talent to have." His own abilities went in a different direction, but he flashed Peter a brief grin before he reached out with his own power, running invisible fingers over the sparkling green and brown strings in his soul and plucking them in quick succession. He couldn't make the effortless constructs that Remi could; his own were far cruder in comparison. But he could still raise a lip of earth up between the ground and the bottommost step of the Atheneum, curling it back at its top to prevent the mud from lunging back up the stairs while they worked. Three more walls of earth and stone lifted around the largest pile of Memory Mud they had just beaten back, corraing the rebellious muck so that it couldn't keep escaping.
A faint sheen of sweat shone on the Provost's brow as he looked back to Peter with curious blue eyes. "Are you from Korofi, by chance? Sunjata mentioned a similar world where he came from."
"Anyone can be a loreseeker," he agreed, his expression lightening back to a smile. "All you need is a strong sense of curiosity, and a desire to learn more about something. Usually several somethings," he added with a chuckle. "But there's something to be said for specializing!"
The mud was giving way reluctantly, but the two men were determined and worked steadily, giving it no chance to regain the ground it was losing. The other helpers were having more difficulty dealing with it on the ground, as it schlorped its way under the wagons or clutched at boots and shovels to spread itself around, but until it was off the stairs there was little Jigano and Peter could do to help. They were getting close, though, and talk of the guild put renewed strength on the Provost's arms as he grinned at the personal question. "History, geography, and music," he said cheerfully. "Trying to piece together the past of this world and the truth of what happened three hundred years ago, exploring beyond the barrier now that it's fallen, and learning new songs and tales from natural and outlander alike."
He hummed a few bars of a song he'd learned from Rory in demonstration, then turned the questions back on Peter. "What about you? What interests do you have? And what do you want to learn? If it's something I or one of my guildmates knows, we can certainly share that knowledge. It's part of our purpose." His smile softened as he heard the uncertainty in the other man's voice, and he nodded apologetically. "Ah, sorry. Those are just fancy words for plants and animals. Things like Wicker Women and Gilded Lilies, or Magna Vermis and Bloatbeetles... or Banshees and Boggarts, if we're talking about things to watch out for." Neither of which were things he wanted people running into unprepared, if they were unlucky enough to run into them at all.
As they finally scraped the last of the mud off the bottom step, Jigano raised a brow at the useful display of magic. "Like Remi and Deimos," he agreed with a chuckle. "That's a useful talent to have." His own abilities went in a different direction, but he flashed Peter a brief grin before he reached out with his own power, running invisible fingers over the sparkling green and brown strings in his soul and plucking them in quick succession. He couldn't make the effortless constructs that Remi could; his own were far cruder in comparison. But he could still raise a lip of earth up between the ground and the bottommost step of the Atheneum, curling it back at its top to prevent the mud from lunging back up the stairs while they worked. Three more walls of earth and stone lifted around the largest pile of Memory Mud they had just beaten back, corraing the rebellious muck so that it couldn't keep escaping.
A faint sheen of sweat shone on the Provost's brow as he looked back to Peter with curious blue eyes. "Are you from Korofi, by chance? Sunjata mentioned a similar world where he came from."
