“Why? Oh, I don’t know…the thrill is good until you end up killed due to a mishap.” The very idea vexed him greatly as he couldn’t understand why the hell she just didn’t use the stairs. Guiding from her stature and then from the way the stairs were made, her stride wouldn’t be able to handle the gaps between the stairs well. Still, he had to shake his head, but what was the point? It wasn’t his house and she could do whatever she wanted in her space. Hendrix refrained from putting his two cents in when the women spoke about something that was obviously not his business. But then the conversation returned to where it ought to be in his opinion and he scratched his head. What purpose did he have for a Wayfinder’s Tablet. He wasn’t the sort that went exploring all over the place. Still, it could prove useful at some point. He peeked at the screen part and then looked up at Marin. “Sounds like a gift from the gods. Wonder what the price was.” Had it been from his dear old father, he knew that the price would be exceptionally high. His father wasn’t known for doing anything absolutely free. There was always a price to be made. Speaking of which, he wondered what Marin’s price for fixing this would be; Eldora mentioned the possibility of her doing it for free, but he had his doubts.

“You must be very strong in that case”, he muttered as she aligned the lines. He hadn’t seen such magic being worked like that before and he was genuinely interested as his eyes watched her fingers at work. Even if she was a messy and somewhat mad genius, she was still a genius and he could respect that at least. There might have been a method to the madness that was her disorganized organization, but he wasn’t the sort to follow such a path. Mainly because he would have been lazier than her, to be honest.

“Huh? You’re leaving?”, he questioned right as Eldora vanished. Great, he was left with the mad hatter jr. now. For once, he saw something he could agree with her as far as going back. “I have no intention of seeing that place any time soon.” But then that left him with little option as to where he would go. Surely he couldn’t stay here; there was no telling whether she would bug him to no end. Marin seemed to change just a bit with her cousin’s disappearance though and the confused man moved to the now cleared seat which he reclined back with his hands behind his head. Hendrix supposed that he could get some rest before he was off on his merry well, but every time he tried to focus on that, he could hear her up to something and it made one of his eyes open to see her trying to get something up on a shelf. Clearly, the gadget she wields wasn’t able to get whatever she was desiring. With a loud sigh, he pressed himself off the seat and headed to the shelf. “Maybe make the thing a bit longer?” He reached up and felt for the thing, “Or maybe a step stool…hey is this it?” A short time later, he grabbed it and handed it over to her. Now that he thought about it, this place was really huge for one person, let alone someone like her. As much as it could seem like another world for her, it also hindered her in some ways because of her height. He headed back to his seat and resumed his position.

“Considering how much work you have, I guess it's reasonable that you have such a massive space…”

Orange eyes found his again as she studied him. “It’s odd you say that.” She bit her lip a bit. “My mother was one of the gods involved in its creation. My mother is known for her price to be… small compared to most gods. She exchanges things for small favors or her favorite teas. She never does anything for free but depending on why you need it she makes her price little. I grew up with people in love with her for her kindness. She’s only one I can one hundred percent trust all the time.” Marin shrugged a bit. “I haven’t talked to her in decades though. She keeps an eye on me I’m sure.”

Marin pondered his statement for a bit and shrugged. “Strength and precision are two very different things. You can be strong but not know how to control yourself. You can be precise but be weak. I’m not a fighter so I can’t tell you if my magic is strong or not. I have precision because I’ve practiced for long days and long nights. Sometimes I wouldn’t sleep for days at a time until I fixed a mistake and was able to do it perfectly. If I messed up I would make myself repeat how I messed up twenty times.”

She shrugged towards Hendrix and tilted her head. “Sularia is a nice place but it’s built for a specific type of person. I’ve always liked the cool weather of Venti. Mother says that’s the time of the year I was born. I went to the academy in Sularia and man it was a drag. It was so hot I had to ask the Oracles to cool me off repeatedly since Oracles are the only ones in Sularia allowed to use water magic there.” She narrowed her eyes at Hendrix before growing quiet and letting him rest.

Once he got up to help her she tilted her head. “The longer this thing gets the weaker the metal is. Without a reinforcement for the metal there isn’t really a way for me to make it longer. I’m still working out the kinks on a longer reacher… but a lot of other projects are of more importance.” She tilted her head. “I had a ladder for this bookshelf once.” She took it as he handed it to her. “YES! This is it! Thank you.” She opened the jar and took out a few crystals. “Had a customer get rowdy and threw me into the ladder… Broke all of the thingys.” She whirled her finger towards the ladder.

She moved over to a work table and began to fit the crystals into different facets. Once more he had more commentary for her and she blinked as she wasn’t used to it… but it wasn’t unpleasant which was odd. “I had an apprentice at one point… He stole some of my designs and ran off. This place was built for two people to use but I don’t have the trust to get another one. I got my designs back and he is six feet under but that still doesn’t help the fact that this place is big. There’s no point in letting a building like this go to waste though. The third floor is living quarters… If you want to rest.”

“God or not, I can’t fully trust my father”, he expressed bluntly, “Unlike your mother, you have to keep him within an arm’s length and make sure he keeps both hands where you can see them. He was a strict and callous father and a worse person to others. Heard he changed a bit, but I have doubts. In any case, making a deal with him is literally making a deal with the devil.” Hendrix didn’t mind sharing his feelings for Xunatar; while he didn’t hate him, he just didn’t trust him. It was vastly different from how Marin was with her mother, but it couldn’t be helped. They were both from different worlds and raised to see the realm differently.

“Well, I meant it as in I assume it takes a good deal of mustering up enough mana and then condensing it to make into lines usage for such things. I can see precision being another key trait in being able to do so. Not my cup of tea though, I fancy using my mind…literally.” Psionics was more of his forte and another person’s mind was practically his playground. Other than that, he didn’t have much in the magic department. But he was smart enough to avoid most situations that would warrant him fighting. “Sounds like you talk this working thing too seriously. Do you ever take a break and relax? Kick your feet up and kick back?”

While Marin had a good reason for avoiding Sularia, Hendrix’s was more selfish than anything. “I’m good with wherever as long as I don’t see my siblings. The lot drive me bonkers and I haven’t met them all. Apparently, they all fancy your cousins- suppose its the way of Rosenites or whatever. “ He barely remembers the thing where she expressed some displeasure over having someone’s favor. Ceasing talking about it, Hendrix continued to relax. The object she wanted was a jar and inside were crystals? Heaven knew what she wanted with them, but it had to be a good point if she was going through hell and back to get them.

Rocking back and forth in his seat, he watched her hard at work and contemplated just how much of a workaholic she really was. But at least she had her hobbies; Hendrix was a slacker by heart. Smart as hell, but just as lazy. It drove many in his family frustrated that he was so gifted yet he squandered it away a lot. “A shame. Trust is a thin thread, unfortunately. Doesn’t take much to break it and damn near impossible to get it back after the fact. I might check out the upstairs in a bit, I guess.”

He then remembered something and tilted his head, “Hey, you said that you don’t sleep for days sometimes. Work yourself too hard much?” It wasn’t really his business, but it did strike him as odd that she would push herself to that extent.

There was a dumbfounded look on Marin’s face as she watched Hendrix. “…How does one relax?” She didn’t know the meaning of it. No one really showed her how and no one really corrected her.

“That is one thing we have in common. I like Mamlak because I don’t see my siblings. Once in a while visits are fine but the whole lot of them are annoying and sound like squawking birds all wanting Mom’s attention. Mom does her best to give them all equal shares. I just want her opinion on my work… They want braids in their hair.” It was clear to see that even when it came to family it was mostly about work for Marin.

“You can sleep in my bed. It’s fully made and has lots of pillows. I haven’t made up the spare room in decades…” Finally, though he asked her about why she was a workaholic. “I suppose… I get it from my mother. I watched her do the same thing. She’s a healer by trade and when someone needed her help she would slave over her work until it was done. I suppose that no one has ever told me any different.”

She stopped working for a moment. “Let’s go upstairs.” She left the tablet to dry and pointed at the stairs. “You should be able to use them.” She put herself on the pulley system and hoisted herself up and met him by the stairs. “See why they are terrible? I should have them redone but it means burly men invading my space… Or burly women…” She rubbed the back of her head. “Things have changed quite a bit in all these years…”

She took him up another flight of stairs this time these ones were better made for her and she went over to a kitchen like area. She pulled out a beaker and a gear and put some food on it before giving it to him. “Do you want some juice… I might have some grapefruit juice left. I might have to convince my neighbor to go shopping for me again though.” She looked at how little food she had now and rubbed her stomach. "OH! The gears and beaker are clean I'm just… I don't have any real dishes."

Hendrix couldn’t help but to start snickering, “Are you serious?” When it became apparent that she actually didn’t know how to relax, he ceased his laughter. This was the oddest case he had ever seen, for Pete's sake. “You just have to sit or lay down and think of things, pleasant things other than work. I do it all the time.” Perhaps way too much, but he didn’t voice that bit to her. “We all tend to stay away from Father unless we need something or he seeks us out. Telling him no is practically a death sentence, though there are worse things than death when it comes to him. Like those god-awful tombs. I was locked away for nearly thousand years, rounding up that is.”

His eyebrow rose up, not sure why of all things she would offer him bedding. It was clear that she hadn’t had a guest in some time, but still, it was her own damn room. He sat down for a few moments more before he once more came back up to his feet and looked around to see what she was up to. “Can’t be bothered to work all the time. Only do so when I feel like. Ask my brothers and they’ll say that its because I’m lazy. I’d preferred just not motivated, I suppose.”

His eyes went to the tablet that was on the table and then started over to the stairs. “Seem alright to me, but I can see why they aren’t so much for you, Marin.” It didn’t seem like she would have them fixed considering the amount of time and work placed onto her pulley system. Still, he’d prefer to take his own chances and use the stairs. Going up the second floor, the stairs seemed in better condition which allowed for her to join him. When they reached it, he met with the strange wares that she was playing off as dishes and shook his head. “Yeah sure, but first I’ll be right back…” He placed the wares down and traveled outside of the house. It was a bit before he came back with both proper kitchenware and enough food for the two of them.

“Since you were so kind to share, guess it was only fair to make myself useful and pay you back.” He shrugged it off as he handed her the plates and cups. “Just don’t do anything crazy with them aside from using them with food or something.” Hendrix picked up from where he left off and started to munch on the cheese and bread from earlier. "Not a fan of people or afraid to get stepped on?", he spoke in slight jest in between munchings.