Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rowan's footsteps were almost completely silent as they entered the library. They had always been pretty quiet when they walked, but in the library they almost ghosted through the tall shelves, with nothing but the vague scent of lemon showing they had ever been there.

Their target today was a particular set of books of the informative nature. It was nice that the talents of the medium didn't seem to differ from race to race, just the specifics and intensity. It had been bad enough when Rowan thought they were hearing voices that weren't there. Then the little glimmers out of the corner of their eye. It had just about terrified them as a freshling. Thankfully there had been people to ask and books on the subject, so Rowan felt like they were finally getting a handle on things.

Not always. The voices would still speak up every now and then, startling the Nixie quite a bit. They never saw more than the little glimmers out of the corner of their eye, like wafts of mist that were gone when you turned to look, but Rowan was more pleased than not. It was bad enough hearing things, and if they had a choice they would opt out of that as well. Unfortunately they had no clue how to turn things off, so to speak, and were hoping that further studies would help. Failing that, well.... They'd just have to learn to cope, that was all.

Rowan selected two likely-looking books, both detailing the skills of a medium and how to manifest and hone those skills. The problem Rowan was having was that it was hard to tell if the books were written by genuine mediums, rather than charlatans. Even if they were, it seemed like there was no one true way to actually make this ability work. It was frustrating, but Rowan had hope that they would one day run across the right book that would help them out.

As they went down the aisle they passed through the mysteries section, and paused as a title jumped out at them. "Mediums of the Past and How Their Abilities Solved Mysteries". Huh. After a moment of deliberating, Rowan added it to their stack. Couldn't hurt to know what kind of real world applications this....ability had, on the off chance it might prove useful.

Rowan found their favorite table and settled down, setting the books to the side and selecting one of the informative ones first. It had looked quite interesting and they were eager to see if their hunch paid off.

Rowan glanced up, startled. They still retained the bad habit of not paying much attention to their surroundings when they were focused on a goal. They were working on it, truly, but it seemed observational skills weren't something you just picked up without a lot of practice. And they slipped up pretty often. They hadn't even noticed someone else was in the library with them.

The speaker was kind of startling at first glance. They looked like a tattered piece of shadow just sitting there. As details registered the description felt apt to Rowan. They could immediately see the speaker was Fey and Geist from the wings and tendrils. Black tendrils, which, when combined with the almost all black outfit just encouraged the shadow impression. The wings were pretty mangled looking, the worst Rowan had ever seen. They found themselves staring a little and wondering what had happened. Then they noticed the tattering on the ear, and the general shape of the ear. Ah, Litch. Perhaps this person had the rot curse pretty bad?

Rowan finally came back to themself with a bit of a start. Even with their limited social skills, even they knew they were probably being a little rude. They looked over to their book pile and eyed the red book, the second of the informative books they'd planned on reading.

"Good to know," Rowan said with a bit of a sigh. "That's how most of the books I end up looking through seem to turn out, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of options. The internet is an even worse place to try to get information." They shuddered a little, remembering what that search was like. "Wildly varied" was one way to describe it, along with "doubtful to utterly ridiculous". They'd had hopes that books might be a bit more reliable, though half of what they'd read until now could be chalked up to conclusion jumping, attempts at guided meditation or self hypnosis, or just doubtful monster stories.

Rowan looked surprised. The lending of a personal book was the highest level of trust the Nixie ever gave anyone. Maybe it was just their appearance, but the hybrid struck him to be about the same type. Even if they weren't going to be actually taking the books out of line of sight, it was still an interesting show of trust towards someone who was essentially a stranger.

"A-Ah, I would be very interested," Rowan stammered, suddenly feeling somewhat....flustered. Geez, if they didn't get a grip on themselves they'd starting acting like one of those girls in those silly teen novels who got all fluttery when a guy complemented them!

Rowan set down their book and stood up, intending to move forward but feeling some kind of shyness in their steps. Oh geez, the stupid teen-girl-complemented thing was getting worse! They sternly ordered their legs to work, and slowly made their way towards the hybrid. They gingerly reached out for the books with the care of someone receiving a relic of major importance.

"Do..ah... Do any of these mention the finer points of how to control medium abilities," Rowan asked diffidently. Of course no knowledge was wasted and they fully intended to get through as much of the books as possible, but that was the information they felt the most crucial need for.

Rowan nodded and carefully accepted the books, trying to cover their disappointment. Well they would still read through the books because there was always the chance they'd learn something that could help them, but they'd been hoping to find a way to make the voices stop.

As if on cue, Rowan thought they heard a whispering coming from behind them. It was several rows back, down one of the dimmer rows that had a burned out bulb. That bulb always seemed to be out. Rowan ignored the whispering, partially because they were determined to pretend nothing was amiss, and partially because they couldn't really understand what was being said. The voices were like that most of the time, just difficult-to-understand nonsense.

"I ah...I've read about charms that are supposed to give or enhance medium skills. I didn't know they made charms that could block them off," Rowan said as they walked over to their spot and set the books down as carefully as they'd accepted them.

Rowan looked surprised when the hybrid got up and came over. They reflexively ran over their actions. Had they done something wrong? Said something? Did they accidentally bend the cover of one of the books when they set them down?

Before Rowan could start panicking, the hybrid set a black ring down on the table. What she said made them visibly start and pale, and they quickly looked back to the table and the book in front of them.

Rowan had never told anyone about the voices. From the few and vague inquiries they'd made towards adults, they'd gotten the impression that not many people actually believed in mediums. They tended to chalk it all up to mental disorders. The ones that seemed open to the idea didn't seem to have any help to offer though, and Rowan had quit asking. Maybe they were mad. People always said the way they isolated themselves and kept people back was weird.

And this girl... Well if appearances were anything to go by, she was certainly the epitome of weird person who believes in spooks and ghosts. The kind of person who probably saw omens in everything.

But.

Rowan didn't really believe in judging by appearance. Maybe it told you about their personality, but Rowan thought clothes tended to reflect circumstances. Not all villains were scruffy or wore capes, and good guys didn't always wear white or shiny armor.

And he'd been bottling it up for so long, it was almost a bit of relief to finally say, "I...hear them. Not real clear, most times. Just indistinct whispers. I used to think it was just wind or ambient noise, but...," Rowan paused, glancing towards the spot they heard the whispering coming from.

"It get a feeling. Sometimes I get it when there's no whispers, but I always get it when there are. It's like my arms and the back of my neck start to tingle."

Rowan glanced up at the hybrid. "You see them," they asked in hushed tones, eyes darting back towards the aisle.

Rowan shook their head back and forth, though not in any kind of denial. Oiche had just met Rowan, didn't even really know Rowan, and had no reason to lie to them. It was just the thought of actually seeing something have them the collywobbles. The voices were bad enough!

They cautiously picked up the ring Oiche had put on the desk and slipped it on a finger. Instantly the whispering ceased, and the tingling feeling lessened. They sighed a bit. "I'm Rowan," they said, then shook their head again, this time a bit slower.

"I dunno how you do it. I don't like even...hearing. I can't imagine seeing." They looked up at Oiche, eyes holding a mixture of concern, bewilderment, and slight fear. "If this is genetic no one in my family has ever mentioned it. Things just started happening one day and I thought....thought I was just going...crazy or something. Too much mental strain, I dunno."

Rowan sighed and reached up to tug on a lock of their hair. "I suppose I could see that," they admitted a bit reluctantly. "I don't...I'm not exactly social with...with anyone. People just...give up when you shut doors. This..." They shook their head again, lips pursed. They could see how it would be useful. Even if they couldn't think up reasons on their own they'd certainly read enough books detailing various uses for talking with spirits!

But seriously, who would have ever though that they would be someone who could hear the dead? Ask anyone and they'd probably one and all agree that there was no one with their feet more (metaphorically) planted into the ground than Rowan.

"You...ah, you mentioned...complications? With long term charm usage. Do you...do you think you might be able to tell me about that," Rowan inquired diffidently, feeling quite uncertain. Even though Oiche had been nothing but helpful, amazingly so, even, they still were half-afraid she'd think they were lying or crazy or just a pain and go storming off or something.

That made sense. If Rowan though of it like a form of magic rather than something weird and intangible, it made sense. If you blocked someone's magic it would probably have some adverse effects, and suddenly unblocking it and flooding a system unused to those effects would probably hurt. Rather like unleashing a dam, they would imagine. The more power someone had, the more adverse the effect. Their magic was about middling range, not really weak but nothing to brag about either. They needed more training to tell if they'd get better.

"That's something, I suppose," they said, a touch of the dryness that was normal for them coming back to their voice. "It's a toss-up between eventual migraine, or a random voice just whispering in my ears at inopportune moments." They shook their head and rubbed their skin as gooseflesh rippled across their arms at the memories. There had been more than a few unpleasant scares in the beginning, and it still made Rowan uncomfortable to hear the voices out of nowhere.