Once an isolated and dying township, an influx of academics, adventurers and thrill seekers have made Scalvoris Town their home. From scholars' tea shops to a new satellite campus for Viden Academy, this is an exciting place to visit or make your home!
Over the course of the past couple of trials, Devin, his roommate Aidan and their amnesiac Sev’ryn guest that they had decided to call Mik’hail since they didn’t know his real name had settled into a bit of a routine. In the morning, Devin and Aidan showed Mik’hail pictures of different places in order to try and trigger his memory or let him try out different activities. In the afternoon, Devin went to university or did priest things while Mik’hail retreated into the garden shed in order to engage in what was apparently his greatest passion: basket weaving!
In the evening, Devin usually went to check on Mik’hail in the garden shed and take a look at his newest creations before they all ate dinner together. So, that was what he decided to do on the 66th of Ashan as well. He dropped his bag onto the floor in the hallway, walked into the living room and through the door that led into the garden and marched towards the garden shed, a smile on his face and a spring in his step because he was quite looking forward to finding out what the Sev’ryn had come up with this time.
Most of his baskets weren’t just baskets. They were amazingly creative, and each basket was shaped a little differently than the last one. And what more, he’d started to really enjoy working with Mik’hail and helping him in regard to his memory problem, even though he’d never admit it because being a nice and helpful person was kind of lame in his opinion.
His carefully cultivated reputation would be ruined if his doing nice things became public knowledge!
word count: 297
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
When Devin entered the garden shed that had more or less become Mik’hail’s basket weaving workshop, he saw that the Sev’ryn was kneeling on the floor, wearing one of Aidan’s old suits (because he absolutely refused to wear his traditional Sev’ryn outfit). In front of him was his newest project. It was the most unusual basket that Devin had ever seen. No, he realized that it wasn’t a basket. He was making some sort of person out of twigs!
Mik’hail smiled at Devin for a moment before he stopped smiling again abruptly. “I always liked Vhalar. In fact, I would love to get his blessing because he is the Immortal of Art. Sev’ryn don’t really worship though. They celebrate the changes of nature and such, but that’s it. I’ve also never been as interested in acquiring a familiar. I’m not sure if I even like animals”, he admitted and sighed softly before he added,
“Your goat is nice though, even if she eats trash.”
Devin stared at the other man for a moment because he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say before something occurred to him, and his violet eyes lit up. “Your memory is coming back! But how? We haven’t even taken you to any temples yet, although I did talk about my being a priest”, he remarked and looked at Mik’hail.
“I don’t know. I just had the thought when I was working on this sculpture here”, Mikhail replied. “I’m not sure if I want to remember anymore though. I’m having fun. What if I was unhappy in Desnind? At least I think I lived in Desnind. That’s where most of the Sev’ryn are, right? What if I don’t like the person that I am?”
word count: 310
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
Devin was normally not a particularly sympathetic or empathetic young man; on the contrary, he didn’t care about most people. He had taken a liking to his guest though; besides, there was something about the way that the other man talked that reminded him of himself – or the person that he had been once, in a distant past that he’d rather forget because he’d hated it and was embarrassed about the way he had been forced to live.
He came closer and sat down on a wooden crate where Aidan kept a few old gardening tools before he said, “Your past and your race don’t define you. If you were unhappy in Desnind, you don’t have to go back. You don’t have to resume your old life if you don’t like it. That you used to be a certain way before you lost your memory, doesn’t mean that you have to become like that again. You can be whoever you want to be.”
“You can forge your own destiny.”
“You can burn all the bridges behind you if you want to. If worshipping Vhalar makes you happy, by all means pray to him. If you don’t like animals, don’t work with them, but try to avoid them. It doesn’t matter what the other Sev’ryn say or do. You should think about yourself first and foremost. At the end of your life, you should be able to say that you were having fun and not regret all those lost chances”, he told the other man who was just staring at him in no uncertain terms.
Devin wasn’t just trying to make Mik’hail feel better, he was speaking from experience. He had grown in the poorest part of Lowtown which had been the poorest part of the city of Andaris. His father had been a builder before he had lost his job, and his mother had been a maid (they were both still alive, but retired now). He hadn’t liked the kind of life that fate had had in store for him. He hadn’t wanted to be a builder, or maybe a tailor (his father had tried to arrange an apprenticeship for him). He hadn’t wanted to live in a tiny house and make just enough money in order to pay the bills (and sometimes not enough to pay the bills).
He had been deeply unhappy, so he had decided to get out and use any means possible in order to reach his goals – fame, money and a life that was actually fun, and he had never looked back.
word count: 444
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
“I would like to open a little shop”, Mik’hail admitted after a while. The Sev’ryn who, judging by the scars that he had, had been a hunter or something like that in his old life looked a little shy and hesitant, Devin noticed, and his tone of voice was unusually soft. “I’d like to sell my baskets. I think I would enjoy that.” Having said that, he fell silent for a while and continued to work on his newest creation. Devin watched him, furrowing his brow as he did so. There was something strange about the thing that he was making. It looked almost as if Mikhail made …
“I overheard Mister Aidan and you yesterday”, Mik’hail suddenly said. “I heard you say how much you wanted wings, so I thought that I’d make a little something for you, in order to show you my gratitude. Mister Aidan and you helped me a lot. You took care of me and gave me a place to sleep when I had nowhere to go and didn’t know who I was. Not all doctors would have been as kind and understanding as you are – and spent so much time trying to solve my memory problem.”
“They would probably have put me into a room and left me to my own devices for most of the trial.”
Before Devin could say something, he thrust the basket sculpture thing that he had made towards him. The Mortalborn could see that it was a person that had wings now. It didn’t look anything like him, and the fact that Mik’hail had actually called him a nice person made him feel all weird. He didn’t want to be a nice person because nice people often lost out and were being taken advantage of. Nobody was going to take advantage of him though! He was an evil criminal, thank you very much!
For some reason the weird basket sculpture thing and Mik’hail’s words made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside nevertheless, though.
It was such a peculiar feeling that he actually wondered if he was really himself for a moment or if he was being possessed by some sort of ghost, especially when he heard himself say, “That’s an awesome gift, Mik’hail. If you want to, you can stay with us until your memory has returned completely; and we’ll help you set up your new shop, of course. Did you know that I’m a member of the Scalvoris council? It’s about time I took advantage of my position and did a friend a favour!” he proclaimed.
The possibility of may abusing his power a tiny bit in order to help out someone in need made him instantly feel better again. Nice people didn’t abuse their power. Nice people didn’t take advantage of their position in order to help a lost Sev’ryn open a business. At least he hoped that they didn’t because he really, really didn’t want to be a nice person. Maybe, he thought, he could also steal something, scam someone or perform another one of his fortune telling cons, he decided, in order to balance out all the niceness.
Yes, he’d do that!
Mik'hail just looked at him though and shook his head.
"I'd like to do this on my own, Mister Devin", he said. "I'd like to be a successful businessman because I'm good and not because I'm friends with someone. I thank you for the offer though", he added.
When he heard that, Devin pouted, but only for a moment before that weird warm and fuzzy feeling returned.
Mik'hail was so grateful!
Nobody had ever been that genuinely grateful to him before!
word count: 636
Appearance
Due to an encounter with a magical tree Devin has bright violet eyes.
Devin has fancy black claw-like nails. The Grafter Rakvald made them from the spines that grow on the dubaebo's back and attached them to Devin's hands.
Items
Devin owns a Ring of Reversal. He's always wearing it, unless stated otherwise.
Consequences: A new friend, and perhaps an improving reputation throughout Scalvoristown.
Comments: Uh oh, Devin! You'd better run before you start to feel feelings! It was funny to listen to Devin's internal struggle to think of himself as a hardened criminal and not a nice person.
I think Devin is the kind of criminal, though, where being nice helps... Nobody will listen to a conman that intimidates and is rude! Nevertheless, this was a fun and interesting bit of character development. Hopefully Devin doesn't turn completely good and selfless! It'd be hard to imagine him being so.
If you have any concerns about this review, please PM me about them.
