Richard smiled a little. The conversation flow was finally going his way. [color=purple][i]Won't stay like that for long.[/i][/color] Mort warned. [color=purple][i]Be quick about it.[/i][/color] [color=lightyellow][i]I know, Mort.[/i][/color] He cleared his throat slightly. He needed to take initiative and say what he needed to say before the girl did something else. Besides, the ship had arrived, so maybe it was his best interest to end things quickly. [color=lightyellow]"Thank you for the explanation, Zachary. Hm, can I just call you Zach? Nevermind."[/color] The boy began. Richard took his hat from his head before speaking again. [color=lightyellow]"Since you two have so kindly given your introductions, please let me make mine."[/color] He said. [color=lightyellow]"I am the great Richard Ashfield."[/color] He held his book to his chest and bowed deeply, stretching his hat-holding hand out behind him with a flourish, as if presenting himself to the world. He held the position for less than a second before rising to his feet. [color=lightyellow]"Pleased to make your acquaintance."[/color] In the boy's mind the demon Mortimer burst into raucous laugther. [color=purple][i]The great Richard Ashfield he says... Oh hells![/i][/color] Richard ignored the laughter. He had practised that bow for quite a long time and he was sure he did a good job, though the demon thought otherwise. In any case, it was better to play the fool than to be played like one, and he needed an impression that didn't lose out to his conversation mates. Disregarding the peals of laughter ringing in his head, the boy continued. [color=lightyellow]"Although, it's not surprising if you haven't heard of me and my family."[/color] He said, still smiling. [color=lightyellow]"You see, the reason I'm going to Arkus is this right here."[/color] The boy held up his book, plain for the others to see. Its cover was a patchwork of leather; mostly cow leather, but he knew there was leather of an unknown origin mixed in here and there. It had no title and would look more like a journal if it wasn't of a size comparable to a textbook. [color=lightyellow]"I inherited this book from my parents. It holds many strange magics of unknown power."[/color] He continued. [color=purple][i]Seals of unknown power... In that voice... pft.[/i][/color] Mortimer chortled. Internally, Richard frowned. He had instinctively adopted a more formal tone of voice when addressing the group, maybe that wasn't the right idea. But it was too late to change that now. [color=lightyellow]"And I know that it holds some kind of... being, but, to be perfectly honest, I had no idea what it was. So..."[/color] Richard turned to the girl and bowed again; a short, proper bow rather than the exaggerated one he'd used before. [color=lightyellow]"I must thank you, Arael, for telling me its name."[/color] He said, smiling good naturedly. [color=lightyellow]"But I'm sorry to tell you, the being in the book - Mortimer, I think you called him - and I have no contract between us."[/color] That wasn't technically a lie. Mortimer was trapped inside Richard's book, but they didn't make a contract with each other. As far as Richard could tell, the page Mort was trapped in described the terms. The demon gave the holder some magic power, as agreed between the two of them, and could use magic if the holder specifically allowed it to. As for what it gave back, he wasn't sure. But while he technically did have a traditional pact with Mortimer, it was really a pact between Mortimer and the holder of the book. [color=lightyellow]"You see, I don't think my parents ever intended me to have this book. Most of it is completely unreadable to me."[/color] Richard explained. That much was true. He hadn't been sure what his parents had intended to do with him. Maybe they'd intended to teach him the knowledge necessary to decipher it, or maybe they had been planning on sending him to some school so he could gain the expertise needed to practise the spells in it. Either way, they were gone, and this was all that they had left behind. Well, that and a few other things. [color=lightyellow]"So while I knew there was something in here, I didn't know where it was, or what it was, or what it did."[/color] He continued. [color=lightyellow]"And I could never get it to communicate with me like you do with your demon."[/color] [color=purple][i]Good old unholy Lucifer himself, I haven't had a laugh that good in a long time.[/i][/color] Sadly, that was a lie. It was getting him to stop communicating that was the issue. [color=lightyellow]"So, I'm attending the academy as a mage trying to decipher the family text."[/color] That was more or less the narrative he was going with. Still, he needed to drag the conversation out a bit to satisfy the Arael's curiosity. Maybe then she would consider not bothering with him anymore, which would be the ideal scenario. He would probably need to plan out ways to minimise contact with that crazy girl if he wanted to keep his sanity. [color=lightyellow]"But speaking of pacts, would I be right in thinking that you and Sirocco have a pact together, Zachary?"[/color] Richard said, turning to the blindfolded boy. Pact magic, after all, wasn't just useful for demons. And he was pretty sure that mages who didn't have animals for pact magic were in the minority, since he himself saw no reason to keep an animal otherwise. Except maybe for farming purposes. [@Katthaj][@Scribe of Thoth]