Prometheus heard a knock at the door. He had been contemplating for longer than he realized. Usually he would take the time to head down to his laboratory and work, but especially when it was getting later into the night, but for the first time he found himself having trouble staying awake. He felt himself begin to doze off at his desk, his eyes feeling heavier and heavier. But the knock was just enough to wake him up for the moment.
"Come in," he said. He blinked his eyes a couple of times to try and adjust to being awake, but even still he felt overcome with exhaustion. He expected the person to come through the door to be Varithorn, or one of his staff artificers, maybe even a drunk Qrow, but to his surprise it was Fuju.
"What are you doing here at this hour?" He asked. Fuju walked across the room and sat himself down in the chair across the desk. He waved his hand and a bottle of wine vanished from Prometheus's untouched bar and appeared in Fuju's hand. He uncorked it and reached for an empty glass on Prometheus's table and poured a healthy handle. After his pour he tilted the bottle back and began to drink from the bottle, passing the cup to Prometheus. Prometheus looked at the cup confused by the entire exchange but also intrigued.
"Aaaaaahhh!" Fuju said after taking a big swig, "I don't know much about Xerxes but I will say their wine is truly exquisite." He continued to drink the bottle but somewhat more sparingly, trying to savor the flavor. Prometheus continued to listen silently, waiting for the inevitable punchline. "Rijin and I broke into your laboratory tonight," he said suddenly.
Prometheus raised an eyebrow, "is that so? Come to confess your guilty conscience?" He asked.
"Not at all, more like seeking clarification," Fuju said.
"Clarification on your breakin?" Prometheus retorted.
"If you know about the breakin why didn't you do anything to stop it?" Fuju said, "I checked that hallway up and down. Usually ships like yours are filled with anti-magic runes of some kind and yet, you have nothing. And with how tight you run this ship I imagine there is not a single inch of it you don't serval. Which brings me to my first question, why didn't you do anything?"
Prometheus took a minute to think, his grogginess was impeding his ability to retort. Fuju was correct of course, he had known about the break in from the moment Rijin took an interest in the door, it was only a matter of time. But he didn't trust Fuju; the man had a way about him that said if you give him an inch, he will take a mile.
"I feel like the better question is why did you break into my laboratory? Did you find anything interesting?" Prometheus asked.
"Surprisingly, no" Fuju said, "it was a pretty standard artificer's lab by all normal standards."
Prometheus let out a slight sigh of relief. He knew they would never actually find out the truth, but it was still nerve wracking. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, you can keep the ring by the way; I think you will find it more useful than I do," Prometheus said.
Fuju snickered, "for someone so oblivious you truly are two steps ahead aren't you?" Fuju said.
Prometheus was confused by what he meant, he didn't have any idea what Fuju's jest was implying, but he also couldn't leave himself exposed. "Leave me Fuju, I have a lot of work to do," Prometheus said.
Fuju continued to drink his wine, "what do you know about reavers?" Fuju asked.
"Next to nothing," Prometheus said, "I know they are of Midoken descent but other than that…"
"Cut the bullshit," Fuju said aloofly. It caught Prometheus off guard, "let me be frank. For weeks now I have been having veiled conversations with one person after another. It's exhausting. For once I am able to meet with a scholar who matches my wits and my looks and the last thing I want is another heavy handed discussion. So please, do us both a favor and speak plainly…if even just for tonight."
Prometheus was shocked but also moved, he agreed with Fuju's notion. He shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the glass of wine, he had never had a taste for it but it seemed appropriate at the moment. "Very well. Reavers are caused by an overflow of magical energy into a mortal body, causing the body to go feral. Only a few reavers have been known to actually exist, the rest are speculation. The one seen today is one of the first seen in…" Prometheus said, he thought of how long it had been.
"3 decades," Fuju answered, "3 decades since the last reaver was seen during Heather's reign of destruction that brought together the first council of Zerlif. Now suddenly one shows up on our doorstep…in a land that has never had reavers one suddenly appears. How might that happen?"
Prometheus thought for a moment, "reavers are not bound to any certain country. Just because they have never been here before doesn't mean they couldn't have appeared here before," Prometheus said.
"So you are saying this is all a coincidence?" Fuju asked.
"More like laying out the facts. Wherever that reaver came from, the person who created it wants us to believe it was by coincidence that it appeared here…or rather…" Prometheus thought for a second, "you said that Telluides came up to you to discuss the reavers?" Prometheus asked.
Fuju nodded, "he talked into our conversation, what of it?"
"Interesting," Prometheus said, "it is one thing for him to listen, another for him to join in entirely. From what y'all said it sounded like he could have talked to y'all at any moment about his suspicions, but remained quiet. But then upon hearing that you were having your doubts and had discovered a reaver, he barged into the conversation with the exact necessary information…it's just interesting that is all."
The two both thought for a moment. They continued to sip their drinks while they thought over the evidence. Prometheus did not trust most things by nature, but most of the time he fought against his nature. This time was different, he could tell there was validity to his thinking. He knew of a way he could find out more, but had to find a way out of this conversation. Fuju didn't want to seem to leave, they were both titillated by the conversation. Prometheus came up with an idea.
"Where is Garus?" Prometheus asked.
"Garus?" Fuju said, "I'm not sure. Probably out in the town pretending to enact his plan while in actuality enjoying the local 'sights'." Fuju made air quotations with his hands.
"Could you go check on him?" Prometheus asked.
Fuju almost choked on his wine, "why me?"
"Because you have the best chance of actually finding him," Prometheus said, "listen, Garus is the one who concocted this whole plan, Garus is the one who is at the center of it as well. If he is off doing gods know what then we have no assurance that the plan tomorrow can actually go off without a hitch. I care little for his well being, but being out this late can only be bad for us."
Prometheus waited for Fuju to take the bait. He knew that Fuju didn't really care about Garus, but he did like feeling needed. If he could appeal to his ego, then maybe he could discreetly lure Fuju away.
"Please Fuju, I think you are the only one who can actually find him. This plan can't fail especially with all the unknowns," Prometheus said.
Fuju smiled and stood up. Hook, line, and sinker. He smiled at Prometheus. "Well if you insist. I'll be back in a moment to finish that bottle." Fuju took out his wand and pointed it towards the door. A rune of blue energy appeared across the door. Fuju walked over and opened the door. Instead of the deck of the ship the bustling late night streets of the Blessing of Love laid out before him. He turned around and winked at Prometheus before closing the doors behind him.
Prometheus sighed, it was time to get to work.