why does nøthing ever turn out right

[exuviiated]

[By the time Aaron gets to his lodgings in the slums, he's determined that doing that... thing, with the Nox, was a very bad idea. He hasn't even had time to explore what his newly-acquired magic can do, and already he can hear loud chittering from the sewers and every dark corner. Well, louder than normal. But nothing attacks him, so he figures that's a good thing.]

[He plops down ungracefully onto the bed he'd luckily bought before the whole carnival fiasco happened, groaning, pulling a half-priced sheet over his face and scrubbing at it a few times before finally settling down.]

[And sleeping. For a solid six hours.]

[After that, he changes and heads out to find people. Maybe they'll know more about this than him-- and maybe they can pool resources. Which finds him running up to the next person he sees, apologetic smile already fixed to his face.]

Hey! Can-- do you have time to talk?

Comments

[unrecovered]

[THANK GOD.]

If it's as harmless as you say, why trade your magic for it?

[...turns out he still doesn't know how to leave well enough alone.]

[exuviiated]

Because it is, and I know it.

[Wash won't get any explanation further than that.]

--and it keeps the Nox from attacking me ever since I traded my magic.

[unrecovered]

Well that's reassuring.

[That is not at all reassuring.]

That doesn't mean you're safe. What makes you think they're not tracking you or controlling you?

They gave you magic. What did they get out of their end of the deal?

[exuviiated]

One less person trying to kill them. Maybe if people stopped going after them, they'd stop going after us.

[It makes sense in his head, okay?]

And they're not controlling me, because I don't want to kill or attack anyone, but I-- well, it's a stronger magic, even if it doesn't really work on them, I think? I haven't tried yet.

[He pauses on his tangent to look at Wash.]

So, I don't really know.

[unrecovered]

[Oh you sweet summer child.]

Which would make a lot more sense if they didn't have a habit of going after us first.

[He tries not to sigh. Seriously, this is more trouble than he wanted to deal with today.]

That makes both of us.

sweet summer child? bitter winter adult

[exuviiated]

Probably because they know we've been sent to kill them.

[He crosses his arms. And really, he kind of wants to leave what he knows is a lost argument.]

But fine, have fun getting attacked by them.