Paradox walked slowly around the wing, her tail flicking behind her. She was comfortable here, it felt like home. So natural and inviting to her. She perked her ears forward and walked along one of the many large tables in the room. The wood was oak; thick, pale, and strong, the perfect material to use in this laboratory. There was a faint scent of people in this room and she figured this wing was one that was often used. Right now it was abandoned, and only Naota and her stood amongst the fixtures.

She heard him talk to her and she gave a soft smile. "More than once," she said quietly. "Anti-cavalry weapons are a favorite weapon choice amongst centaurs." She waved to her legs. "For obvious reasons." She turned and inspected several vials that hung over the two of them in some sort of rack. "We like long handled weapons, either with a blade or a spear. Thrusting and hacking are primary techniques used in close quarter combat. Human weapons are usually too light and small for our needs, so they aren't very effective in battle. We had a few archers in my herd, but they were a minority and needed specialized training."

She diverted her attention down to Naota as he started to speak again. "How are you not a contradiction?" She asked him. "You look like a man and act like one. But you aren't one, and you sure don't smell like one." She bent down and held her head even with his so she could look him in the eye. "You are a man, at least part of one. You are smart, but still have things to learn.  You are good, and yet you still have evil in your heart, like all creatures." 

She shook her mane and straightened upright. She reached for one of the large vials above them and grasped a corner of the rack. She heard a sharp snap as one of the cables holding the bottles broke and she had only a moment to brace herself for the thunderous crash as a dozen glasses fell to the ground. She closed her eyes and hid her head under her arms. She heard the glass shatter around her and felt several spill on her body, the liquid running across her flanks before dripping off her belly to the floor. 

She looked around them and stared at the shards on the floor, hesitant to move. She looked at herself and saw several parts of her white-grey fur was now discolored. Her one hip was blue, while the other was orange. She had smears of red and green along her sides. She had splatters of several other colors across her horse and human halves. She looked like one of the color arches she'd seen in the sky after the rain came. She felt several bruises start to form and looked over at the sorcerer. His black hair was a stunning magenta as well has his face and shoulders. A sickly shade of bright lime green covered the majority of him, with several other colors thrown in. She sighed to herself. She was not having a good day…

He imagined her having to fight someone and found himself enjoying the image of it: there’d be so much power and grace behind her movements, just as the weapon had been used.  He respected that in any warrior and was always intrigued by those that knew how to wield and fight in ways that he did not.  Should they build a friendship after today’s library excursion he knew he’d ask her for a demonstration and quite possibly a lesson or two.  It was never too late to learn something new, and he had all the time in the world since it didn’t seem like he was going to age physically any longer…

As she bent down to be at his eye level it was then that he realized how large she actually was.  Of course being a centaur he wasn’t surprised, but now that her head was so close to his he could take in the contrast of her human sized parts to her horse ones.  It was…different, not bad, just different.  Nearly distracting, but luckily not quite.  Rather than keep attention on this more sensitive of a subject, sensitive with him at least, he smiled, 

“In that right I suppose you could say all of us are contradictions.  Hmm…though some more than others.”  She had no idea just how accurate she really was, and Minasé was itching at the back of his skull to make himself known.  It wasn’t often he was given attention by an outside source, even if it was unintentional, and it took more strength to keep his voice out of his head.

He watched as she straightened back up and continued throughout the wing.  With it, he felt tension easing away from him and didn’t like how much it had been building up.  Any time kept from bringing up the other soul that inhabited his body was much preferred and he distracted himself with something else in the room.  Which admittedly so was an easy task as there was so much here.  While his stance with the Rosenites wasn’t a pleasant one, he could still only imagine what Angela would have been able to do in this wing.  It was her very lifeblood.

As Paradox reached up his eyes caught sight of a more unsteady cable and before he could get the words out it had snapped, causing floods of colors to rain down on the both of them.  The mixtures, as far as he could tell, weren’t toxic or else there’d be a much greater reaction than a quick jolt back and widened eyes.  He brought his hands up, turning them this way and that as the bright green ran down his arms, dripping onto the floor.  Fluorescent magenta dripped from his hair onto his nose and he ran his fingers up, pulling them in front of him to see the two very different colors meld on his skin.  When he looked at Paradox she wasn’t much better, in fact more colors were splashed onto her than him.

His lips slowly pulled in but he couldn’t help himself as he began to laugh.  Ridiculous, the both of them looked absolutely ridiculous.  The moment had been so serious, almost somber, and now look at them!  His hands wiped at his eyes and face to get away any excess but he couldn’t stop laughing, though it wasn’t boisterous.   “F-Forgive me, I know it was an accident, but it’s funny…”  He breathed out slowly, straightening up and willing himself to keep from laughing any further.  Even with the magick and psionics he knew they’d still be stained until they could get a proper washing.

“Perhaps we should clean up the wing and take a break for a little while, find a place to wash up as much as we can.”  Again his lips pulled in and he bit down on his bottom one to keep from smiling.