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Does Lindon think he's safe? Immune from…sorcerors trying to nab him? Probably. You know what to expect with sorcerors. A lot of talking about…the greater craft, and so on, convincing that they are the ones that need to have access to allllll that information. Predictable in their niceness, their bribing, and finally their ferocity. Maybe Lindon has even had run-ins with evil supervillains, just trying to outright capture him. Again…predictable, because its all about power. What he's probably never encountered is an Inhuman Royal as mad as a hatter who finally has a plan to get back that crown of his. Lindon receives a knock on the door.
*
Lindon lives in a state of low-key constant fear about so many things, the prospect of sorcerers coming after him is just another layer of awfulness on what's shaping up to be a really awful life. At least his intellect keeps him safe most of the time. Anything predictable moves in patterns, and patterns he understands.
Besides, he takes the normal precautions. Different routes home, keeping different schedules. He always has want ads for new places lined up just in case he has to move. Though he'd prefer to stay in Queens, there are a number of boroughs he could pick from. But no, of Inhuman Royals, he knows nothing. At least nothing his brain has spat at him yet.
He comes to the door and opens it cautiously. "Who are you?" he says, where others might say hello. There's a security chain on the door, one he's not yet unlatched.
*
Maximus smiles with rubies. His black hair dusts around his face in ringlets and he reaches out to the door with his right hand. His nails are painted black. He's wearing a long black coat with white, sweeping designs on it, and pants that look to be made of reticulated metal bands, with boots of shiny black. "Maximus the Magnificent." Fingers curl around the door and he pulls it like he's going to pull it shut and trap his own fingers, but then he shoves it forwards with a sudden jerk to try to snap the chain so he can just…barge his way in. Steel eyes display his own madness openly this evening, the brilliance in them…unbalanced.
*
This is what Lindon gets for renting a cheap apartment, even though he could avoid better. The chain comes undone and Lindon stares at it as though he's been betrayed. He retreats, stepping behind his desk to put it between this unknown bastard and himself. All right, during the boasting, he'll come up with a plan. On second thought, those eyes are terrifying. Great, a crazy sorcerer is harder to handle. "Get out of my home."
As for the apartment, there's one overarching theme: books. All of the walls save for half of one are covered in shelves, and those shelves are covered in books. There are books on the coffee table, books on the desk, books everywhere.
*
Maximus paces in a couple of steps and shuts the door. He doesn't immediately explain what he wants, though he does look around the place. "Do you recall a man who called himself…Sahamar the Great? You met him some years ago…he tried to…bottle you, which I find to be rather comical. Lindon, right? I am not going to harm you. In fact, I believe I can save you from becoming entirely insane."
*
Lindon's hand strays to a paperweight with a decent amount of heft. It's a quartz crystal cut into the shape of a pyramid so it's got some nice sharp points, too. "Yeah, I remember him," he says. He tests the heft of the paperweight. To throw or to wait and use it as a bashing weapon he won't lose after one go? Decisions decisions. "Why, what happened to him? And why do you think you can fix my insanity?"
*
Maximus turns his head to look at Lindon and his paperweight. The way his expression changes, its like he's /seducing/ the paperweight, or delighting in the fact that Lindon might try to use it against him. "I am not sure where he is now, but…I can tell you this…he does not. remember. /you/." he pauses. "anymore." He draws in a deep breath that swells his chest. "I need information, which you have, and you need solace, which I can give you."
*
Now Lindon is starting to get afraid. This intruder isn't following the pattern. Is he a masochist? Narcissistic? He tries to drudge up everything he can remember about the various disorders psychiatry has discovered. Their tells, their treatments. "That's great," he says without much inflection. "He was a bad man. Loose-lipped, too, I take it?" He wets his dry lips with a flick of his tongue. "I'm not going with you. You just broke into my home."
*
Hard to tell with Maximus. Its almost like someone rolls a dice every day he gets up and that determines how batshit crazy he's going to be that day. He steeples his fingers in front of him. "You would, if I wished you to. I live in a much better place than /this/, though…ugh…moving all of those books seems exhausting. /How/ do you do it?" Another breath. "Once upon a time…" he starts in a sing-song voice and spreads his arms out wide, "there was the magnificent city of /Attilan/. Have you heard of it?"
*
"Small, frequent trips," Lindon says blandly. He stands poised, still as a deer who's heard a snap of a twig. Slowly, he says, "If I tell you what you want to know, will you leave?" He's going to have to move again. Damn it. He was getting used to this place. His gaze goes a bit unfocused, eyes moving back and fort as of one reading from a page. Attilan. Attilan, Attilan… If it's Forbidden Knowledge, it'll need a vision to unlock it.
*
"After I show you what I can do…you will keep seeking me. Would you like to see it? I think, perhaps, my information can wait until after you have tasted it…" Maximus starts to near the other man, slow, careful steps.
*
Lindon holds up the pyramid paperweight, a subtle reminder he will brain a chump if he has to. "You wouldn't be the first one who said he could help me," he says. "Just stay where you are. Tell me what you think you can do for me." He's just not a forceful person by nature, and once in awhile, curiosity does override sense. He studies every subtlety he can of Maximus' features, looking for some order in the chaos.
*
Lindon can glimpse it, right before the mental assault, for Maximus is both intelligent and calculating. He knows exactly what he's doing, how much to do it with, when his own mind slithers out at the other man's, tendrils of blue trying to invade the library inside the mind and…replace alllll the books with just one, a sense of familiarity with Maximus. If it works, Lindon would experience what its like to have no memories, no information besides the very basics of life, like…hot burns, and how to speak. Capable of doing it on a longer timeframe of absense, this absense would only last a couple of minutes.
*
Maximus probably isn't used to what happens next. Those tendrils bounce off of the words whispering around in Lindon's mind. The goal of Lindon's mind, the part of him that's him lies nestled behind these facts and figures whipping around. A few manage to brush up against him, and he blinks a few times, looks at Maximus. It… doesn't work. Mostly. Lindon does get a vague impression of quietude, and he blinks a few times. "I don't know what just happened," he admits. "Maybe just explain it." Maybe a harder push.
*
Not used to it, but…not entirely unexpected either. After all, it works easiest on those who are not particularly intelligent, and Maximus does assume that Lindon is smart. Maximus arches a brow and then makes a dramatic sigh. "Its sooooo much better if it works. When I tell you, it loses so much of the surprise. I could…if you are /willing/, wipe out your mind so you could sleep like a child without worries. And…it would all come back, later."
*
"I don't like surprises," Lindon says. "Even before this happened, I wasn't a fan." His tone is calm, almost soothing. Keep the crazy person as rational as possible. Tilting his head, he draws inward again, consulting the vast repository of knowledge in his mind. "If I achieved that sort of quietude, I would be susceptible to whatever it is that allows your mind to touch mine." He frowns, then. "Who are you?"
*
"I am the rightful king of Attilan, and I have been exiled to this polluted country against my will. I seek a return, but to do that, I must create something so magnificent that the council cannot deny me. If you know so much, then you will know how I can find what I seek. I cannot do anything to your mind besides…clear it." Its a lie, but it fits his intention well enough to be true.
*
Lindon shakes his head and looks away from Maximus, looking for all the world like he's about to get back to his books, save that he doesn't put down the paperweight. "Attilan is a myth," he says. "Which means you're either mad or, as is usually the case, the myth has some basis in reality." He glances at Maximus again. "Or both. What's this thing you need to create?" He'll play along.
*
"A device that creates a substance called terrigen. My people need it…and our supply of it is finite. There are rumors that long ago we knew how to create it, but that has been lost. I could…/save/ the future of my people if I knew how to create it." Maximus answers rather sanely. "Attilan is a myth because we like it that way." He lifts his chin.
*
Lindon frowns, such is how he expresses complicated emotions like sympathy. "I don't have the recipe for terrigen," he says. "Rather, I have it but I can't…" He gestures vaguely with the hand not holding the paperweight. "I can't access it. I don't know when it'll come to me. I know that it hasn't yet." He reads the notes he writes while he's in his madness. Terrigen never came up. Slowly, he sets down the paperweight. "Your people. I know this one."
*
Maximus makes a hissing sound and turns away from Lindon, sharply, moving towards one of his shelves with books. "You do not know everything? I was told you were a repository for…the knowledge of the ages. I should return to that braggart and erase him for /another/ year. What would it take to cause you to know it?"
*
"I know a lot," Lindon says. He watches Maximus, the fear now a numb ache he's used to. Besides, he has the comfort of knowing people who wants information are more likely to protect him than threaten his life. "More than my mind can hold." He half-smiles and puts the paperweight down. "I have visions. I can't control them. I can't control what they're about. They drive me to madness, but while I'm in it, I know things forbidden, things bigger than I should be able to comprehend. I guess the best you could do is wait around and hope you get lucky."
At this point, Maximus storms out, frustrated and intent on formulating another plan.