open Salem University

[Duality 10,738]

It had been a week. A complete seven-day cycle, filled with paperwork and emergency meetings and paperwork and campus cleanup and paperwork and administrative overtime and paperwork and paperwork and paperwork. But today was special. Today was the first day of classes. Today meant - "No more paperwork!" Duality exclaimed gleefully as she rummaged through her wardrobe. Actually, there is more paperwork. There's always more paperwork. I think what you meant to say was 'less paperwork for a reasonably long period of time, thus affording you a temporary break therefrom', her inner voice remarked sardonically. "Oh, you hush! Not even you can spoil this for me. I'm even going to wear my favourite top!" The professor all but squealed in delight as she pulled out a smooth cerulean turtleneck from its privileged position on the top shelf and donned it with a minimum of blind flailing. "I haven't worn this in ages! Look, even the stitching is still pristine!" She gestured to the front of her shirt, where the equation "" was embroidered in bold black thread, unfaded despite the decades since she'd been gifted it. You enchanted it not to wear out, like you do with all your clothes. I'm not entirely sure why you're surprised. "Shame I didn't enchant your neurons not to wear out, otherwise you might have retained some of your sense of wonder," she sniggered as she snatched the lesson plan from her desk and a bottle of alpine water from the fridge and slipped out of her house to class. They're yours, technically, her mental monologue groused as she closed the door behind her.

On 10/5/2018 at 1:36 AM, Buck Testa said:

To be in such a horrid situation without her magic to rely on was beyond agonizing and stressful. She had never imagined her time here would be like this. Why had she forced that duel? Why had she wanted it so badly? Why had she gone so far to prove herself? What was wrong with her. 

She wiped her eyes before stealing herself in front of the door. She needed to focus, to learn. If she could do magic like she used too, maybe, maybe she could finally figure out how spells actually worked. 

She gulped, and entered her first class of the school year, one week late. 

"Good morning, Miss Druantia! Seems you're in my class today!" Duality grinned from her place at the blackboard, immediately noticing the diminutive girl among the handful of students trickling in early. "I do hope you're ready for some nifty runecraft-theory, because - lesson one - any lecture where I wear my Special Shirt is bound to be an interesting one!" She gestured happily at her top, her mood peaking out at critical levels, before a thought struck her and she turned her focus back to Dru. "How have you been doing, incidentally? Recovered well, adapting to suppressors, all that sort of thing?"

Edited October 9, 2018 by Duality

[Buck Testa 5,503]

18 hours ago, Duality said:

"Good morning, Miss Druantia! Seems you're in my class today!" Duality grinned from her place at the blackboard, immediately noticing the diminutive girl among the handful of students trickling in early. "I do hope you're ready for some nifty runecraft-theory, because - lesson one - any lecture where I wear my Special Shirt is bound to be an interesting one!" She gestured happily at her top, her mood peaking out at critical levels, before a thought struck her and she turned her focus back to Dru. "How have you been doing, incidentally? Recovered well, adapting to suppressors, all that sort of thing?"

Druantia was intensely unamused by the teachers cheerful questions. Her eyes were irritated and puffy with barely contained tears and it only added to the glower she gave. She sniffed and worked to straighten herself up, attempting and failing to keep her glower in check.

The students that were there were murmuring amongst eachother about her now. They glanced at her warily, like she were an animal that had escaped from the zoo. Still others though sneered at her. They were clearly wanting to test their mettle against someone with such a infamous reputation already. 

"I'm fine." She said in a tight, curt tone. She stomped towards the front rows of seats and picked the one right in front of the teacher. With a wave she thought for the chair to move. Except it only shook slightly. She sucked her cheeks and seethed at the chair not listening to her and glared at it, focusing on the wood. 

Murmurs increased as the chair moved under her gaze, and slid itself back in after she sat in it. Even with her restraints that reduced her power by 99% she could still do intuitive magic, though with strain on her face. Most magic users, including her classmates, would have been all but debilitated in the ways of magic with such restraints. 

She stared intently at Duality, ready for her lesson, even as her emotions broiled.

[Duality 10,738]

On 10/10/2018 at 5:15 PM, Buck Testa said:

Druantia was intensely unamused by the teachers cheerful questions. Her eyes were irritated and puffy with barely contained tears and it only added to the glower she gave. She sniffed and worked to straighten herself up, attempting and failing to keep her glower in check.

The students that were there were murmuring amongst eachother about her now. They glanced at her warily, like she were an animal that had escaped from the zoo. Still others though sneered at her. They were clearly wanting to test their mettle against someone with such a infamous reputation already. 

"I'm fine." She said in a tight, curt tone. She stomped towards the front rows of seats and picked the one right in front of the teacher. With a wave she thought for the chair to move. Except it only shook slightly. She sucked her cheeks and seethed at the chair not listening to her and glared at it, focusing on the wood. 

Murmurs increased as the chair moved under her gaze, and slid itself back in after she sat in it. Even with her restraints that reduced her power by 99% she could still do intuitive magic, though with strain on her face. Most magic users, including her classmates, would have been all but debilitated in the ways of magic with such restraints. 

She stared intently at Duality, ready for her lesson, even as her emotions broiled.

Duality, shocked out of the glee that her relief from paperwork inspired, realised far too late that Druantia was displaying horrifyingly obvious emotional cues entirely to the contrary of her verbal response. The students filing in past the girl varied in their attitudes towards her from stares to glares to sneers as she publicly failed to pull out a chair at the front of the classroom on her first attempt and eventually took her seat with a demeanour like a stormcloud, reddened eyes fixed rigidly on the professor.

Oh, I botched that something terrible. Feeling powerless, student body ostracising her, probable lack of suppressor support in the wake of the duel cleanup causing her to feel isolated and ignored, magic being such an integral part of her life and social standing that its absence causes her severe psychological stress as she tries to adapt accordingly. She's clearly struggling, but if I persist in trying to talk to her in order to offer support it will only serve to detract from what little remains of her self-perceived power and demean her in front of her peers, especially in the sensitive area of child-elder dynamics, thus causing her to reject my attempts at help with either disproportionate emotional outburst or complete denial of her emotions - upsetting her further, causing her to pull away into herself, and severely compromising my ability to potentially offer support later. However, if I do not attempt to offer support at all, she is likely to consider me entirely ignorant of her emotions and thus incapable of helping her - as she almost certainly does in part already, thanks to my overenthusiastic-to-the-point-of-clueless greeting -, therefore also compromising my ability to potentially offer support later. I have to help but I can't help too much, and I certainly can't help by talking to her in front of her classmates. What a horrid catch-22.

"Get to your seats!" Duality snapped at the students blatantly hanging back to get a good look at the rumoured Salem Witch. "Anyone who ogles anything but the coursework gets marking so merciless that you'll wonder why you even bothered putting your name on the front!" She waited for the clock to tick through the few minutes remaining to the class' scheduled starting time before she began, fidgeting with her lesson plan and avoiding Druantia's gaze in the meantime. "Right, then. Is that all of us?" she asked finally, scanning the half-empty classroom. "There's certainly more on the roll, but off we go, I suppose. Hands up who's heard of runemagic before. Ooh, that's a fair number. Far more than last year. I'd ask if anyone could define it, but I doubt I'd be as reassured by the number of hands lifted." A few titters ran around the classroom as the professor began to gather momentum, consciously attempting to at least outwardly regain her earlier good spirits and make the class a positive experience for as many of her students as she could.

"Runemagic, in its purest terms, is the imbuement of abstract thought into material form. This is a very broad definition, but runemagic is a very broad field. The term 'thought' may be subdivided into various aspects of mental activity such as belief, memory, and, what we deal with most commonly, intent. The term 'form' means much the same as how Plato used it: the set of properties of a material object. We deal most commonly with the shape of an object, since it is often the single property most easily conceptualised in the mind, but it is possible to imbue thought into something of a certain colour, or a certain material, or even a certain taste - solely through the fact that it possesses that property. Often, though, multiple properties of the object are imbued with thought, or even the object in its entirety as subjectively seen through the eyes of the imbuer, rendering it difficult to separate the magic from the material. A historical example of runemagic is the storytelling tradition of the indigenous tribes of Australia, which involved imbuing memory into their vast networks of ancient paintings and routes traversed in myth by the beings of the Dreamtime. More generally, various pagan religions of times past imbued belief into their idols and similar focal objects held to be sacred. In modern times, though, belief is frowned upon as a source of runemagic, since it only takes a bit of doubt to weaken the imbued thought - and let me tell you, people have far more doubt than thought nowadays."

Duality paused to take a calculated sip from her water bottle as another ripple of amusement went through the class. As she returned the bottle to her desk, she knocked her lesson plan off its edge in a seemingly accidental motion, causing the folder to slip through the air at an angle and hit the floor hard, paper bursting forth in a flurry that blitzed the nearest several seats in the front row of students. "Whoops," mumbled the professor as she hurried to gather up all of her various course-related documents from where they were strewn across the floor. All it took was a little sleight of hand for a note to make its way underneath the corner of one of Druantia's textbooks as Duality plucked a few errant sheets from the surface of the young girl's desk. In the same painstakingly uniform penstrokes as the rune that had proved so effective in taming Dru's magic a week ago, it read:

"Miss Druantia,

"At the conclusion of this class, could you please come to my desk as everyone leaves - perhaps under the guise of asking a lesson-related question? I would like to speak to you in private, but discretion is necessary, I suspect, to avoid the risk of further rumourmongering among the more gossip-inclined of the student body.

"Thanks,
~ Dr. Duality"

The lesson plan recompiled and replaced on her desk, the professor returned to her lecture with the faintest hint of a contented smile hovering on her lips. If that doesn't work, nothing will.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Duality

[Buck Testa 5,503]

@Duality

So she wanted to talk. Dru felt a mixture of emotions at that. She still respected the teacher and her work quite a lot, and more than a little part of her understood why she had to put the bracers on like she did. The rest of her however was a tempest of emotion, indignation being chief among them. It didnt help that some of the students were quietly goading her. Now that she had a moment to process the situation she noticed the ones that were being aggressive towards her were teenagers. The older ones were more wary of her. The ringleader of the few teens in there was sitting behind her. He seemed to have some control over fire, as he was flicking sparks of flame near her hair, just subtly enough for the teacher not to notice. 

"Not tough shit now with those suppressors on eh" he whispered, causing his nervous posse to snicker, "not that you could do anything against me. I'm a pyromancer, I could burn anything you threw at me twerp."

Druantia closed her eyes and focused. They were passing notes to eachother, toying with her, attempting to bully her like this was some caricature of a highschool. She then noticed something amusing to her as she felt on his person with her highly restricted aura. There was some lettuce in the back of his teeth, near the wisdom on the right hand side. That gave her a delightfully fiendish way to curtail this annoying bullying before it could get started, at least with these boys. 

The pyromancer boy was chuckling at some crude joke that had been written down, however his breath caught as the message changed. 

You have something stuck in your teeth

The pyromancer teen sat bolt upright as pain like he had never felt before lanced into his mouth. His friends, who had been emboldened by him, looked away nervously after seeing his face go white as a sheet. 

Though she couldn't grow the chewed up sliver of lettuce like she could have with her unbridled power, she had enough to be able to spear it right into his nerve ending in the back of his mouth, piercing right through his uncared for teeth and toying with it mercilessly. He was paralyzed as well, like she had done with that mafia goon a week earlier, frozen in his seat, unable to cry out as the pain continued. He looked down at the sheet and the words had changed again. 

I once ripped a mans head off of his shoulders with some celery he had left in his teeth. It read.

She turned ever so slightly, using one of her eyes to lock into his. He looked like a frightened little lamb even though he was at least 6 years her senior, staring into her eyes and finding no sympathy in them. She ever so slightly pointed to his note that was in his quivering hand. 

Let this be a learning experience for you little man. There is always a bigger fish. Now tell the nice teacher you have a toothache and excuse yourself.

He nodded as best as he could, feeling returning back to his body as she willed the plant matter to shrivel up. He stood on quakey unsteady legs, his face blanched with fear and meekness as he timidly raised his hand.

"Mmm....miss Duality, may I be excused? I need to go to the nurses office. I... I have a terrible toothache." 

Druantia on the other hand looked like she was in a slightly better mood, taking notes on the things that were being taught with the smallest of smug smirks on her face. The note on his desk had now become blank save for a simple three word phrase.

Brush your teeth. 

 

Edited October 13, 2018 by Buck Testa

[Passion 3,478]

@dragon4111

IRA

In comparison to the events which had transpired a few days back, the recent week was quite uneventful for Ira. It was a stressful one, however. She had been questioned about the disaster and following incident under every angle, had to partake in clearing up all the mess and on top of that she had to get ready to finally start the delayed classes with her students. It cannot be said that she was particularly energetic as of today, in fact the magnitude of sudden, unwanted activities has been weighing in on her and her daily vitality. Ever since the unfortunate day, she had very little chances as well as desire of speaking to her fellow staff members. In fact, she had managed to talk with them maybe once or twice by accident. Yet, she was not very prone of getting back to the events of that day with her memory. Quite the contrary.

Ira was sitting at her desk in the classroom. She still had some 'free' time, which she decided to sacrifice on running through her schedules, plans and notes for the upcoming semester. The amount of papers lying on the furniture in front of her would make the desk writhe in despair, would it be capable of having emotions. Ira froze, glancing over a sheet of paper in her hand at the wood. "...is there any magic that would turn the desk conscious?" - she pondered for a moment, snapped from her activities - "I sure hope not. It's been frozen over so many times it would surely have a thing or two to tell me." - she sighed lightly at the idea and returned to studying the notes again.

 

A few minutes have passed when she heard the knocking on the door. She raised her head, with her hands congealed in air, a sheet of paper in each. At the same time, she heard the all-so-familiar voice. "Ira you there?" - her shoulders slumped as she suddenly became painfully self-aware of how much she's been avoiding the unfortunate trio that she happened to stumble upon a week ago. - "You wanted to talk so let's have a chat." - no she didn't. In fact, she'd be rapt should everyone just dropped the 'chats' altogether and moved on already to regular conversations... if her intuition was correct.

She looked around with resignation and carefully put the papers away back to the piles they belonged at. How long could she keep up this pantomime? "Come in Ghalan." - she announced loud enough for him to hear. If there was an emotion missing from her face right now, it certainly was joy. Somehow she currently felt as if she was performing a chore, really. She never had a chance to apologize to the three, and the fact that Ghalan took the blow of the post-apocalyptic incident did not make her feel any better. Then again, would she admit her own fault in this should she be confronted openly? Ira very much doubted that. She sprawled on her chair as he entered, throwing him a faint, forced smile. Her general demeanour however was betraying the tiniest signs of exhaustion. "Is there anything you need? I'm a little bit busy just before the first classes begin, as you can probably see." - she faintly motioned at the heap of papers laying on her desk.

 

LEY

"How utterly annoying..." - anger was swirling in the young Daemoness' eyes as she strolled across the halls of the University. Although, strolled was not exactly an appropriate word given the situation. Given that her feet never reached the ground, the term 'levitation' was more appropriate in this regard. She was deep in thought, with arms crossed just below her breasts. Jeeves was calmly following in her tracks. The duo still kept attracting occassional stares, but the gossip has already spread. It seems University was quickly getting accustomed to the esoteric student that joined their ranks. "Why do *I* of all studends need to attend summoning classes? Honestly, this is absolutely abstract. I bet my ultima on the fact that I know more about being a summoner here than any teacher available to this University, hmph!"

Jeeves kept quiet, over years he had learned when was it safe to make witty remarks over the words of his mistress.

"Preposterous!" - as she let out an irritated annotation, she moved a little bit upwards in the altitude. It seems as if her heated emotions were delicately influencing her levitation abilities. Comically enough, Jeeves who was walking behind her in arms reach extended his hand and grabbed Ley by the collar of her extravagant outfit, pulling her down a few inches back the the safe level slightly above the ground. Ley didn't even flinch. It was obvious it wasn't the first time this little ritual had occured. She groaned, throwing her head back and rolling her eyes in a defeated manner. "Eugh, it just cannot be helped can it?" - still slowly flying forward she raised her arm high above and grabbed it by the elbow, stretching her numb spine. - "No other choice, I will need to ace through it. Here's hoping that the teacher will quickly recognize what kind of talent they're dealing with." - it was astounding how quickly she came to terms with her predicament all of a sudden. Nevertheless, it was only on the surface. Later on, she'd complain about how ridiculous this idea was time after time. More than that, there was unshaken confidence in her words, not even a glimmer of shame could be found behind them. Ley was absolutely convinced her summoning abilities were more than this silly establishment could handle.

An esoteric grin reappared on her face, however it was heavily short-lived. "Milady, what about the Witch of the Salem University?" - a frown of annoyance flashed across Ley's face as she slightly tilted her head. Her eyes moved to the side, as if she was trying to look at Jeeves without actually turning her head around. He remained just beyond her peripheral vision however. "What about her?" - she replied with a question, daggers hidden in her voice. - "If I may, the girl has recently proven that she possesses abilities that could actually threaten our stay at the University. Moreover, it does not seem your acquaintanceship began on the right footing. May I suggest-" "Mind your business Jeeves." - Ley cut in abruptly, still refusing to look at the 'butler'. Very unlike her, her voice was quiet and had a seemingly real threat hidden behind it as she spoke the words. "Remember your place, you are here to serve me and I'm the tactician." "Huumph..." - a silent grunt of acknowledgment was the only response from the Daemon, however she was content with it. Ley's voice rose in pitch, as she feigned carelessness and disinterest. "But truly, now that you bring her up she is a hassle isn't she?" - the sentence finished on low note as the girl lowered a fist to her mouth in contemplation. Hearing the relation of the duel and the extent of damage it caused had Ley rethink her stance towards the child. It was obvious she was not to be trifled with. For now, her conclusion was that feigning ignorance and disbelief was the safest and most obvious solution. However her mental notes had warnings about Druantia written in red marker. It was even more frustrating when Ley considered that the girl was currently much more popular than herself in the University. True, it was definitely negative reputation, but did it really matter? The Daemoness knew precisely how to turn such reputation to her own advantage, but it seems that the child had stolen her spotlight. Her contemplations deepened as she muttered to herself under her breath, ignoring her surroundings. "...she destroyed the heavily fortified duelling hall... maybe if I erased the main building out of existance?..." - Jeeves' single eyebrow risen at the idea, as it seemed that the pink-haired summoner was weighing realistic possibilities of putting this plan in motion. The two students that overheard her however were too busy being frozen with their back against the wall and hoping she does not notice them. After a very short while Ley blinked and shrugged, deciding to push this issue aside for now. Her voice was carefree and cheerful, indicating she didn't feel like continuing the topic for now. "Well! No point worrying about it for now!" - a faint grin returned to her face as she proceeded with continuing her stretching. "At least I am free to do as I like without any prying eyes on me. Now..." - as she was about to inquire with Jeeves what would her first class of the day be, she spotted the janitor entering one of the classrooms. He was alone, and it piqued her interest. She landed and stared inquisitively for a moment, before making a decision. "Jeeves, wait here for a bit."

[dragon4111 914]

@Passion

Ghalan walked in as levitated a chair over to him. He then closed the door behind him. "Hmm you've been avoiding me Ira," he stated gently as he sat down after levitating his staff away from him. "So tell me you aw my old injuries and how my old partners on the swat team was reckless," he stated simply. But then he said "Are you alright after what happened?" he asked with a gentle smile on his face. Though something felt off. He leaned back and said "Well what did you want to talk about?" he said with a charming smile on his face as he laid bak into his chair. He had relayed everything from that day that had happened to up to the explosion that annihilated the dueling hall. Still a cut from his paycheck from this school wasn't bad he still had plenty of money left from his other on going job. He pulled from his pack a thermos full of coffee. He was currently wearing a nice suit.

[Duality 10,738]

On 10/14/2018 at 5:33 AM, Buck Testa said:

He nodded as best as he could, feeling returning back to his body as she willed the plant matter to shrivel up. He stood on quakey unsteady legs, his face blanched with fear and meekness as he timidly raised his hand.

"Mmm....miss Duality, may I be excused? I need to go to the nurses office. I... I have a terrible toothache." 

Druantia on the other hand looked like she was in a slightly better mood, taking notes on the things that were being taught with the smallest of smug smirks on her face. The note on his desk had now become blank save for a simple three word phrase.

Brush your teeth. 

"In this course I'll be teaching you based on the Revised International Pasigraphy Standard, the most widely used symbolic language among modern mages, although you are more than welcome to devise your own language instead - most runecrafters have several self-created arcane alphabets of varying levels of secrecy and security. I myself have personally constructed about ninety distinct runic systems in my career, not counting the ones I keep too secret to so much as - ah?" Duality lowered her chalk and stepped away from the bescribbled blackboard as a teenage student interrupted her, a look like death on his face. The professor glanced on a hunch to Druantia, who looked ever-so-slightly too pleased with herself for mere coincidence, methinks. Toothache, he says? Her senses cursorily and discreetly flicked over the interior of the boy's mouth, noting what appeared to be chisel marks cutting deep into his enamel. Tch. That's coming out of my faculty budget. A first-day mistake, not paying more attention to my students.

Duality slid a pen and a piece of paper out of her pocket and proceeded to write up a note to the nurses explaining without specific detail the circumstances under which the student bearing the note had come to need minor dental reconstruction and stating the department of the school from which to deduct the price of the operation from. The University's healers, while extremely efficient, still needed to be paid somehow, and charging the faculty responsible for the oversight of the students involved in any such incident provided additional incentive for the teachers to keep their classes uninjured to begin with. Of course, the note was not written in English - the professor never missed a relevant teaching opportunity.

"This here is what we call the Salem Script," Duality waved the note briefly in front of the class before rapidly signing it and handing it to the clearly pained teenager, who exited the room almost at a run. "It - eyes over here, he's gone now - it is the language that the staff of this school use to communicate if we don't want students to know what we're saying. Makes it easy for us to have sensitive discussions without any of you lot trying to snoop us out for gossip. It's something of an unofficial and uncondoned university tradition for runemagic students of any year level to try and crack it without any of the faculty noticing, in fact, and I don't doubt your thoughts were beginning to turn that way too. If you do actually manage to figure out how to comprehend the Script, you get a ten-thousand-dollar research grant working with me on cutting-edge international runetheory projects, no questions asked. However, if any of the staff catch you listening in on our S.S. personal conversations, regardless of whether you understand a word, you get a month of duty rosters with your name on it. I helped design it, I keep it maintained, I improve and update it regularly. My advice is to try it only if you think you're a bona fide prodigy. That's Salem Script version 5.1.9, in case you want to scope out what the library has on it."

The rest of the lecture passed with a minimum of further incidents, due in no small part to the nigh-omniscient sixth sense that Duality kept carefully trained on her class throughout. She only had to intervene on one other occasion, however, and that was a simple enough case of throwing her empty hot-water mug at the head of an adolescent mage who had covertly attempted to cast a crude sight spell on the underclothes of one of his female classmates. Less simple paperwork following up why she'd had to evict him from the lecture, of course, and possibly regarding the origin of his hefty bruise, but that was a task for later. Idiot, the professor mentally muttered as the last of her students filed out - barring Druantia, much to her satisfaction. Duality rose and walked lightly over to the young girl, sitting in an immediately adjacent seat; in her experience, it helped students feel slightly more at ease when they weren't forced to come to the front of the room and sit before her formidably large desk as she stared them down head-on. "So, ah, Miss Druantia." A pause. "I... am of the impression that no support was offered to you by the university regarding your suppressors. They just slapped them on and sent you out with vastly impaired magic - no advice for how to adapt to them, no explanation of the regulations surrounding them, no nothing. Is this correct?"

[Buck Testa 5,503]

@Duality 

"Explaining such things," Dru began dryly "would require being in a room with me for extended periods of time. Something your faculty seems to have a problem with."

A batch of sticky notes floated out of her bag. The little square batch of yellow paper wasn't too difficult to manipulate in her weakened state, but she detested how she had to actually concentrate even a little to make it work. 

Swiftly the notes filed out, folding themselves and changing colors as they began to create a scene on Druantia's desk. Paper folded in clearly practiced ways in some advanced variety of Origami, creating a scene complete with little people and a scale model of part of the campus. After a few seconds it became clear she was recreating the scene of her battle with the janitor. 

Dru watched the scene on her desk as she spoke, her eyes locked on her small paper doll version of herself that reenacted her first attacks. 

"I've only lost control like that a couple times in my life. Usually my magic listens to me. We are in agreement, I don't even need to think about the little details of what the magic does, instead just focusing on the broadstrokes." 

The scene on her desk gave the impression of zooming in as the paper began to scale up the dolls and relinquish the background scenery. It was impressionistic and had the look of some sort of stop motion animation in a way. The paper Druantia looked like it was enjoying itself, an animated grin on her face as she went through the motions of orchestrating the attack against the doll Janitor. The scene took a drastic turn when the opponent sent out an attack, and the paper vines instinctively acted to pull her underground to avoid it. She created the effect by making impressions of the dark earth around paper dru's body with dark brown almost crumpled paper, giving the sense of frantic speed as she was dragged further underground. The doll looked terrified as the vines held her limbs, roughly dragging her down. 

The real girl looked more than a little disturbed at the scene she was reenacting on her desk for her teacher. She didnt know why she was sharing so much. Maybe it was because she knew that Duality was someone who would actually listen to her. Most of the faculty treated her like a bomb that was about to go off. 

She looked like she wanted to say more, but her voice wasnt coming to her anymore. She couldn't articulate the mixed feelings she had towards this situation. Part of her was terribly irritated with how restrained her magic was, but at the same time she was afraid to even try to remove them. Even if she figured out a way, part of her worried if her magic would just turn on her all over again, finishing the job this time. She felt unsafe with the thing that had given her so much security. 

With a snap of her fingers the origami scene collapsed into itself and reformed into the block of sticky notes, the leaflets ruffling and crackling as they got back into place. 

"Anywho..." she said with a slight shudder to her breath, still disturbed with the memories the animated scene had invoked. She decided it was a good time to change the subject, and put on slightly forced smug look for her teacher

"I will crack that Script of yours."

The notes began to file out again, but this time they retained their square shape, instead opting to have symbols appearing on their surface. It didnt take long for it to become apparent that on those myriad of notes covering her desk was Professor Duality's own runescript alphabets. Every single one the teacher had ever published could be seen in those tiny etchings. 

"You're quite experimental with how you design your runic scripts, but there are commonalities that can be observed..." 

She began to launch into a lecture, her youthful voice gaining some strength back as she smugly explained how much of her teachers work she had studied up on. Part of it was to show off of course, but it was also to calm her rattled nerves. It was more than clear that her magic nearly killing her had had some traumatic effects on her anxiety. Relishing in her own knowledge like this helped soothe her rapid heartbeat and stop herself from shaking quite so much.

"...So, as you can see, regardless of how advanced your so called Salem script might be, I'll probably crack it before the week is out." She concluded with a triumphant grin. It wasnt a sinister expression, but more of an amusingly mischievous look that resembled a cat which had just tipped a glass off the counter.

[Duality 10,738]

9 hours ago, Buck Testa said:

The real girl looked more than a little disturbed at the scene she was reenacting on her desk for her teacher. She didnt know why she was sharing so much. Maybe it was because she knew that Duality was someone who would actually listen to her. Most of the faculty treated her like a bomb that was about to go off. 

She looked like she wanted to say more, but her voice wasnt coming to her anymore. She couldn't articulate the mixed feelings she had towards this situation. Part of her was terribly irritated with how restrained her magic was, but at the same time she was afraid to even try to remove them. Even if she figured out a way, part of her worried if her magic would just turn on her all over again, finishing the job this time. She felt unsafe with the thing that had given her so much security. 

Duality, headed off from responding to Druantia's initial comment, watched in something close to wonder as the notepaper folded and twisted and spun in mesmerising replication of the duel. She flinched as the scene followed through on its dark twist - the vines yanking the student underground was something she'd only heard about indirectly from formal witness accounts of the duel, and the terror on the paper Dru's face was a detail that nobody except the girl could have known. Glancing away from the diorama for a few instants, the professor noted that the student's face displayed something like fear as she fixed her gaze on a scene of her own creation. Oh, dear. She's scared of what her own magic is capable of, on top of everything else. The fearsome on the inside and the fearful on the outside. She's caught between us and It. Duality began formulating some sort of consolation or advice or something - anything -, but was cut short once again by Druantia's abrupt change of subject.

9 hours ago, Buck Testa said:

"Anywho..." she said with a slight shudder to her breath, still disturbed with the memories the animated scene had invoked. She decided it was a good time to change the subject, and put on slightly forced smug look for her teacher

"I will crack that Script of yours."

The notes began to file out again, but this time they retained their square shape, instead opting to have symbols appearing on their surface. It didnt take long for it to become apparent that on those myriad of notes covering her desk was Professor Duality's own runescript alphabets. Every single one the teacher had ever published could be seen in those tiny etchings. 

"You're quite experimental with how you design your runic scripts, but there are commonalities that can be observed..." 

She began to launch into a lecture, her youthful voice gaining some strength back as she smugly explained how much of her teachers work she had studied up on. Part of it was to show off of course, but it was also to calm her rattled nerves. It was more than clear that her magic nearly killing her had had some traumatic effects on her anxiety. Relishing in her own knowledge like this helped soothe her rapid heartbeat and stop herself from shaking quite so much.

"...So, as you can see, regardless of how advanced your so called Salem script might be, I'll probably crack it before the week is out." She concluded with a triumphant grin. It wasnt a sinister expression, but more of an amusingly mischievous look that resembled a cat which had just tipped a glass off the counter.

Duality listened to Druantia's explanation with a gradually growing grin on her face, finally breaking into delighted chortles as the student finished with a flourish. "Ha! In all my years I've only known a couple of dozen students who researched my runic design methods in so much detail! Fabulous analysis. So many similarities across all my codes. Who would have thought it?" She paused. "However, surely you've noted that during the lecture I mentioned that I've invented at bare minimum ninety different and distinct languages over my career. You only have about thirty there, not counting trivial variations. Of course, there are only so many one can publish, and only so many one would consider for publishing, but a full two-thirds never so much as mentioned in my literature? Perhaps, and this is just food for thought, perhaps I only ever published ones with commonalities? Perhaps, by some dwindling chance, I tweaked even the most original of my research-specialised languages before publishing them across the world in order to include redundancies, copy-pastes, relics of syntax from papers past? After all, the easiest enemy to defeat is one who underestimates you, and in academic politics, there lurk a lot of potential foes, all of whom would do nearly anything to have my deepest secrets cracked from code for various nefarious purposes - especially given that some of my work is used in high-level government encryption. I'm not saying that you're necessarily on the wrong track, but do remember that I have spent my life working on these things; I'd like to think it would take more than a week to break them."

Duality grinned afresh. "That said, do keep up the ingenious work. I'm very eager to see what you manage to turn up. Wait - actually, have this. Might save you some of the bother of evading duty rosters." She plucked a piece of blank notepaper from underneath a marked sheet and began scribbling on it with her pen, handing it to Druantia when she was done. It resembled the work of a spasming toddler with handfuls of crayons jammed into all possible facial orifices. Both sides were covered almost entirely with wild zig-zags, spirals, dashes, splotches of ink, and even a puncture mark at one point where a line switched from one side of the paper to the other - resembling to exactly nil extent the tame and ordered symbols she'd placed onto the pyromancer's nurse note. "That's your name in raw S.S.," the professor announced happily. She pointed at several sections of the arcane glyph in no apparent order. "See? 'Druantia The Floramancer'. If you like, you can also recover that note I wrote earlier in the lecture from the infirmary reception if you show them this and explain what I told you. You'd better do it before dinner bell, though, all general notes written in the Script are kept and destroyed daily."

Duality grew more serious as she began quoting from her doctoral thesis, an intensely philosophical treatise simply titled Symbol and Reality: "Now, remember: 'Symbols are not Reality; Reality is only known through the symbol', and 'Idolatry is the sin of mistaking symbol for Reality; the layman is guilty a thousand times over for looking and feeling and hearing and smelling and tasting and saying "This is Reality; in this is found all I am."', and, most of all, 'Symbols may be layered one upon the other to infinity; yet the only true meaning is found in Reality'. All natural languages use collections of letters - symbols -, to mean collections of words - symbols -, to mean collections of sentences - symbols -, to mean collections of linguistic expression - symbols -, to mean collections of perceived actualities - symbols -, to mean Reality. The symbols you see in the Salem Script are not Reality, as per the obvious - they hold no absolute meaning in themselves -, but the question you must ask yourself is not merely what Reality they mean. It is whether the symbols mean symbols mean symbols and how far the hierarchy goes if so. Code-cracking is only an easy task if the language has syntax like your own, with 'letters' forming 'words' forming 'sentences'. Otherwise, it becomes a very tricky business indeed - it's hard enough to figure out what symbols correspond to which Reality without having to determine simultaneously how the symbols interrelate with one another and how many levels of symbol-layering there are before an effective correspondence to Reality is established."

The professor fell silent for a moment, letting her words sink in, before jolting back into speech as a realisation hit her. "Wait! I have something for you!" She rummaged around in her pockets before triumphantly snatching out something on a silver chain. "I've had a bit of practice in engraving - you know, for all the rune-etching -, and I found a droplet of tungsten when I was cleaning some paperwork out of my desk a couple days ago - one of the magical reactor cores I keep running for my projects quite literally melted down late last year -, so I took it upon myself to make you a memento of your ability to control your magic. Here, take it, it's yours." Duality placed onto Druantia's desk a polished metal pendant with the rune that had helped her kill the Abomination scored deeply into its surface. "Its melting point is over three times that of the basalt you burnt to cinders last time, and the chain has an advanced heat-dissipation enchantment woven into it that projects all excess absorbed energy into a single confined electron in my laboratory. Effectively heatproof. You don't have to wear it, of course, but I thought it would make a nice souvenir."

[Passion 3,478]

@dragon4111

Ira didn't pay Ghalan an ounce of attention as he nonchalantly strolled into the room. Her mind was preoccupied with a few indocile sheets of paper that attempted to make their escape due to the draught created by janitor's entrance. As he took his sit, she couldn't help but to exhale deeply with her eyes closed upon hearing the very first sentence. "Hmm you've been avoiding me Ira." - instead of interrupting him however, she focused on, quite needlessly as they were already in perfect order, filing the documents on her desk. It was painfully obvious she's been doing this only to keep her hands busy, as she half-listened to what Ghalan had to say. As he finished, she took a deep breath and ceased playing with the paper. Instead, her hands heavily landed at the desk in front of her. Crossing her hands on top of one another, she raised here eyes at the janitor to finally pay him some more attention.

"Listen, Ghalan, I've- " - only now did she notice he was dressed quite... elegant. And his general demeanour betrayed that he was, quite possibly, not exactly aware of the atmosphere hanging in the air. Her train of thought went off the tracks for a moment as the feelings of surprise and tiniest hints of curiosity flashed across her face. She was just about to ask what's the occassion, but she instead shook her head lightly, letting out an extremely silent groan of irritation on how easy she was to distract sometimes. Composing herself, she continued, looking straight at her visitor. "...right. I have not been avoiding you. At least, not specifically. I've been avoiding everyone ever since that bloody day." - Ira carelessly pushed herself away from the desk, allowing her chair to roll away about half'a'meter back. She fell onto the backrest as if it was a comfy bed calling her to rest. It seemed that even when in not the best of moods, her carefree personality would find a way to express itself. "I don't have much to say about your wounds and... scars. I'm not the one to pry, never was. But I do not understand..." - she rubbed her eyes spontanously, albeit delicately to shove away the gentle tiredeness that was trying to take over her body - "...who is spreading the rumors that I want to talk? Is it Lilith?" - Ira instantly started speculating - "No, that makes no sense. She is already taking her toll on me with those 'oh how necessary' training sessions." - she remembered the figures involved in the event - "Shadow's out of question too. Way to aloof to care for any of us, really. Least I get the vibe... Maybe Duality? Or Mindy? These two are like two giant moms I swear, sometimes." - before she managed to trail off with her ramblings, the cryomancess addressed Ghalan directly once more. "Nevermind I guess. I sometimes forget how fellow staff tends to treat me like a frivolous, merry-go-lucky girl who, by default, must adore ... human..." - Ira pondered how politcally incorrect this term has become while allowing her wrists to rest on the chair - "...interaction, right? Well." - she pulled herself up slightly - "I've spoken with my besties, if you need to know already, and I'd just love to let that topic go."

Due to the conversation at hand, it was impossible for neither of them to witness the classroom door move ever so slightly, and a tiny, peculiar creature fly in, making its way high under the ceiling. It was hardly bigger than a bee, and could be best described as a somewhat morbid, flying eyeball encased in midnight purple skin and carrying its weight on batlike wings. It was absolutely silent, and the amount of energy emanating from it was so miniscule, that it would probably have to fly just by someone's head for them to realize something else is in the room with them. It kept to the shadowy corners of the ceiling, emotionlessly observing the talking couple.

~~~

On the other side of the door, Ley slowly backed off, focusing part of her mind on maintaining the possession spell. It was a powerful tool available for summoners, as it allowed them to push the power of their singular summons past their limits, tapping in into the very well of energies they derived from and adding her own magical powers to their disposition. The major drawback was that the technique was so advanced that it took years to master. As of now, Ley was barely beginning to dream about tying her very self to anything else than that tiny, spying familiar.

She observed the two from a distance, tapping into their conversation. The entire process was not affecting her physical state at all. For the passing students, she looked as if she was just calmly waiting for something, with her backs against the wall. Some could question what would the reasons be for her to even attempt such act. But to Ley it was more than natural. She had more than enough time to learn that if one wants to stay on top, one must gather as much data as possible. Knowledge was power, a power so strong that, in some circles, possessing too much of it was perceived as dangerous.

Although the bat-like familiar did not have any visible ears, it somehow relayed the voices over to her with crystal clear precision, imitating every slightest accent fluctuation. "That being said..." - she fished out an unknown, female voice. As the eyeball focused on the one who spoke, Ley realized that the woman was quite young. In fact, she probably couldn't be further than in her thirties, or something like that. What was odd about her was that she was wearing an old-fashioned leathery suit... often one that could be found on archers in those silly, fantasy movies. Or maybe assassins...? "What if she is a blade to hire?" - a thought flashed through Ley's mind, but she waived it off instantly. She quickly realized the University would easily condemn the dark arts of wetwork. "...I cannot quench my curiosity." - the woman pointed a hand at the janitor, measuring him from the top to the bottom with her eyes. "Is there a particular reason behind your... style, today? Any occassion I don't know about?" - it seemed as if she was referring to his tuxedo.

The daemoness grimaced in boredom. Sure she wasn't expecting conspiracies aiming to overthrow the government to take place here, but... they could have at least spoken about something more interesting than that old fart's dressing habits.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

@Duality

"I don't think I'm in any danger of melting this thing," Dru said with a wry tone to her voice ",even if it was made of Basalt like last time. The bulk of my power is inaccessible after all. I can barely feel the plants outside anymore, and only when I'm close to a window. It feels like I have a blindfold on while having an arm tied behind my back at the same time." 

Dru leaned back in her chair and looked off into the distance as she thought about her aura. While she could feel things in a given room now, she couldn't push past the warded walls like she could before. The closer it was to her person the easier it was to manipulate, but she still had to concentrate to make it work. It limited her to one or two specific tasks at a time instead of running a whole bunch of different things at the same time like during her infamous battle with the janitor. Absently she spoke out. 

"Back home, my father's estate was about five thousand acres. I could feel all of it no matter where I was on the property. At any moment I could change anything I wanted, anywhere I wanted. I've noticed that auras don't normally go out that far since I've came here. Now, with these wards, I'm not sure how far mine extends anymore. I can almost feel the rest of my power underneath the surface, waiting to come out. It feels like a caged animal in there, feeling around it's confines." 

She got up from her desk and stretched a bit while her notes neatly put themselves back together and slipped back into her bag. Her body shook slightly with the way she stretched her muscles out, looking rather cute while she did so. She could shift between childlike and adorable and menacingly scary so quickly, it was so jarring to people in her life. Her own bodyguards never knew what kind of Dru they would be dealing with. Now that her power was repressed she didn't feel those mood swings quite as intensely as before. It was almost like that those sudden shifts weren't all her. 

"Still, I learned a lot from just this class. I'm looking forward to trying some of it out. Though I'm weakened significantly, I have a feeling I'm still powerful enough to experiment with them. I've already got some interesting ideas. For now however, I need to head to my next class. I look forward to speaking with you again Professor."

With that she waved and left the room into the hallway, heading to her next class.  

Edited December 2, 2018 by Buck Testa

[dragon4111 914]

@Passion

Ah yeah I am heading over to the police ball," Ghalan stated with a chuckle. "Wanted to ask you after work if you'd like to come along," Ghalan said with a grin on his face slightly. "But if you don't want to Ira maybe I can ask Miko or Mindy," he said with a grin on his face. But then he dropped it and said "I'm just glad you are okay Ira," Draco stated gently. as he clasp a rough but gentle hand onto her shoulder. He looked around the classroom. He then shrugged H was probably being paranoid but something felt off in the room. "I'll leave you to your work Ira," Ghalan said after he stood up slowly and walked out of the room slowly. He began to hum to himself He noticed Ley leaning against the wall. He sighed "Ley get to your next class," he said simply as he rolled his eyes. He walked away from her slowly.

[Duality 10,738]

On 12/2/2018 at 2:13 AM, Buck Testa said:

"Still, I learned a lot from just this class. I'm looking forward to trying some of it out. Though I'm weakened significantly, I have a feeling I'm still powerful enough to experiment with them. I've already got some interesting ideas. For now however, I need to head to my next class. I look forward to speaking with you again Professor."

With that she waved and left the room into the hallway, heading to her next class.  

Duality farewelled Druantia, waiting for her to get out of earshot before letting loose her elation. "Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! The Special Shirt works its wonders once again! Yet another student added to the lifetime list of the cheered and encouraged." Her eyes flickered faintly, smile fading in reflection. "That was a massive aura she mentioned, though. Better add that to the file." Idly toying with the Stylus, which, despite intense scrutiny, had exhibited no further behavioural oddities over the past week, the professor opened her file system once again.

D:\mind1\memory\longterm\artificial\professional\miscellaneous\Potential_Foreshadowing.ccpt

Edit Entry:>_

Miss Druantia

• Ludicrously wide unfettered aura - personally described as covering over 5000 acres

She stopped abruptly, realising another implication of what Dru had mentioned in conversation.

• Aforementioned 5000 acres stated as her father's home estate - significant family holdings possibly associated with cannabis leaf found as a result of her first-day plant alterations? [flagged for followup]

Speaking of the student's plant alterations - Duality grimaced as she looked at what remained of the large clump of moss she had carefully cultivated in a pot on her desk for the past several years. It wasn't that it was dead, per se, it was just that it was no longer moss. "It's good I noticed it before I returned that book on botany to the library, I must say - even with the thing it took me quarter of an hour and a magnifying glass to figure out what on earth the plant had turned into. I should have asked Druantia what sort of twisted dreamworld gave her the idea of a neon-purple peach tree, let alone a miniature one." On the bright side, though, the tiny violet peaches appeared to be produced perpetually, and the tree yielded about a tablespoonful of ripe fruit daily, each containing a stone just slightly larger than a raspberry seed.

Saving and closing her mental file, Duality rose and stretched, lips quirking as she remembered the distinctly cuter way that Dru had done likewise. "When is an adorable innocent kid not an adorable innocent kid? Why, when the kid has magic-related personality fluxes rendering them psychopathic at random intervals, of course! Fermion, but we could do with more kid psychologists on campus." The professor, noticing that her water bottle was running low, idly glanced at her schedule for the day before remembering that she always had the second period on Mondays free and making for the door behind her desk. Emerging on the other side in her office, through an enchantment-induced twist of spacetime, Duality scanned her fridge with the eye of a connoisseur, finally settling on a tasteful glacial Russian vintage of water to refill her bottle - newly supplied that very morning via a portal similar in mechanism to the one between her office and classroom. "Nothing goes with paperwork like fresh Russian," she declared as she returned to her desk contentedly.

[Denim&Venöm 16,451]

"Mom. Mom look, I'm not a sex worker, I'm a teacher. ... what difference does that make? One is about helping young adults learn and adapt to the world and all it's wonders through mutually beneficial experiences. The other is teaching." 

 

 

 

@Mentis Soliloquy @Buck Testa @reader8363 @Arid_Blitz @Passion

The hallways of Salem U resembled a normal scene, in relation to most schools that is. Crowds of students and faculty alike on the move or socializing in the brief interludes between classes. One such teacher was-

"Okay so the following field trips have had to be cancelled or postponed." said a tan earth mare in a lab coat. "Museum of geological history, the amethyst mines of Thunder Bay, the nearest tectonic fault line, the blood stained glaciers of Norway-" 

"Angel!" Angel's ear flicked. "That voice..." she turned around and saw another pony, a thestral, a blood red thestral running up to her. "Ruby? Ruby what are you doing here? I thought your classes in Julliard started this week?"

"Yeah.... about that."

"What "About that?" Somepony with a full scholarship doesn't have much of an excuse to be skipping classes, young lady."  "That's... kinda why I'm here Angel..." the bat pony said as she turned away, rubbing her arm. "Well I'm listening."

"It's... it's because... look you're not gonna believe me if I tell you, so I should probably just..." she exhaled, and then took off her glasses. She closed her eyes in focus. Then squinted them as she hummed. Then grunted as she concentrated harder.

"What are you doi-" *CRACK* A pillar of earth shot up from underneath angel, sending her into the ceiling above. "Sorry!" she screamed out. She gritted her teeth and focused again. And the pillar went down as fast as it came. And with it professor Angel, who yelled as she fell into a crater left in the floor. "Sorry again!" 

Coughing could be heard down below, as Angel climbed out. "Ruby... you're a geomancer!" she said with enthusiasm. "Y-yeah..." "You're one of the enchanted!" "Y-yeah..." she said as her ears began to splay. "Oh horse apples.... you're one of the enchanted." Angel said as realization struck her with what that meant. "Give me a sec." the pony said as she climbed out and trotted to the nearest broom closet. She dragged some traffic cones out and placed them around the hole in the floor.  

"C'mon, we can talk in the teachers lounge." Angel waved her on as Ruby followed, now very much aware of all the stares and whispers coming her way. 

[reader8363 1,281]

Shadow  and Rose sparred since early morning. Shadow called ad he blocked on of her attacks, "that's enough for now." They sat down on the grass behind the school, panting heavily due to sparing everyday. They both had bruises from each other. He said as he got up, "Go get ready, and I expect you to be in class." Rose ran off to her room, leaving Shadow on the grass. He picked up his cane's Handel and made it solid, then he headed to the teacher's lounge to cool off before class started. 

Rose winced with each step. Even though her dad went easy and pulled his punches, he still packed a punch. She got to their room and took some pain relievers and got out of her workout clothes. She looked dug through her drawers for her school outfit and headed to her first class. She wished that they could spar with weapons, but he forbid weapons at school.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

With the new limitations came new challenges for Dru. Though her powers were weakened, they were still rather versatile, which meant that she would have to lean into finesse and creative uses of her abilities more than just brute force. As she walked through the hallway she found that while growing plants at an alarming rate was beyond her abilities now, at least in any combat effective way, she could still control the composition of a plant with some concentration. As she walked through the halls she went over the things she had learned from the Professors class. The growing knowledge of glyphs and how to apply them, coupled with practical experience now was putting puzzle pieces together in her mind. Potential combinations and applications of this magic was going to be very fun to experiment with. 

@dragon4111

As she turned a corner however, all those thoughts were exchanged for heart thumping panic. The second she had turned the hallway, who should be on the other end of it but the Janitor she had gotten into a duel with a week earlier. She let out an audible yelp before she darted back behind the wall and put her hand over her mouth. She didn't fully understand why she was hiding from the Janitor or why she felt so embarrassed, but all she did know was that she wanted to be anywhere but around him at the moment. Maybe it was the fact that she had completely lost control of her powers while fighting him. Maybe it was because she had no chance of strong arming him now that she was only at 1% of her power. Maybe the fact that their fight was pretty much the source of all her problems made her feel a whole casserole of emotions towards the man. 

If she were at full power she'd have just leaped out the window and let the grass break her fall on the way down, but she was not confident she could get them to react to her quick enough or grow big enough to do so. She'd have to think of another means of escape before he found her. 

[dragon4111 914]

@Buck Testa

"Ah there you are Dru," Draco stated with a grin on his face as he looked behind the wall. "Come there is something I want to show you and an assignment for you," Draco said with a smile on his face as he walked with his staff. "Come along now," he said simply as he looked towards Dru. He chuckled and said "Ah if it's about that day don't worry about it. Rather I'm impressed by your power if you can reign it in then you would be quite the force for good. Regrowing the rain-forests giving the endangered animals their habitats back  think about the uses you can do," Draco said with a laugh. "A shame they put that limiter on you I could teach you a few things about your power and how to use them," he said as he looked at her. He crossed his arms slightly over. "Of course control is what I will teach you if you should want lessons from a mangy janitor like me,"

[Buck Testa 5,503]

@dragon4111

Dru's face paled at being told to come along. The whole thing felt rushed and incredibly uncomfortable. She could almost hear the voices of the many people who had tried to kidnap her over the years using similar language. People she killed in self defense in ways that stuck in her psyche years later. This strange man trying to get her to follow him triggered all sorts of instinctual emotions and feelings inside of her. Her aura slammed against its confines like a caged animal, wanting to lash out instinctively at the threat her mind was registering. She backed away from the Janitor with a haunted look on her face, her eyes almost seeing through him rather than at him. Her aura, even repressed as it was, violently came to life and became visible to the naked eye around her. His voice was distant and muffled to Dru as he continued and it made her back up slowly from him. 

Trace amounts of pollen in the air and in her clothes began to move and swirl about her, becoming highly toxic and dangerous to exposed skin as they formed a protective barrier around her. Her hand went up and gripped onto the pendant that @Duality gave her and with a shuddering breath she started to focus on it. As fast as it had flared up her aura had started to die down as she focused it onto that piece of metal, barely warming it up in the process. It truely was far more sturdy and heat resistant than the Basalt was. Although her aura calmed down though, she was still very much on edge with the man trying to lead her somewhere. 

"I need to head to my next class..." It was difficult for her to form words with how tense her body was at the moment. The memories of her previous kidnap attempts were still sending fight or flight signals to her brain, and the fact that her magic was so repressed did not help her anxiety any. 

She gave the Janitor a wide berth, her eyes locked on him and her body almost shaking as wanted to get away to the next class. Part of her knew he didn't mean anything by being so intrusive, but she was far too on edge to care after that exchange. 

[dragon4111 914]

@Buck Testa

"Ah but of course here," Ghalan stated as he tossed her a seed. "It's a simple seed but I found that if you sent your mana into certain seeds you can craft a staff that can store your excess mana," Ghalan said with a grin on his face. "I do apologize with how I came off. I was merely eager to teach you how to control your magic," Draco stated as  started to walk away. He began to hum a song as he walked. He walked  around the campus and finished up his job as he pulled out a pocket watch. Hmm quite a while before he had to go to that ball. Well might as well just relax for a bit. He looked around and then he used his anti gravity around him just floating there. He began to try and take a nap. What was the use of getting stressed  in this world after all. He just let himself just hover there in his hiding spot.

Edited January 16, 2019 by dragon4111

[Duality 10,738]

@dragon4111 @Buck Testa

Ping.

Duality's attention flickered away from her paperwork as a medium-priority mental alert from her particle confinement system signalled that it had detected significant energy fluctuations in two of her pet electrons - one of the fluctuations large enough that the electron had been used in an automated high-energy collision experiment - the results of which she resolved to check later -, and the smaller of the two only about a hundredth of the magnitude but still sufficient to require additional power from the school grid for confinement. "That can't be a good sign," she mumbled as a nigh-instinctually deployed lookup protocol returned the IDs of the electrons in question only to confirm her hunch that they were the two assigned to Druantia's bracelets and tungsten necklace, respectively.

Rapidly cross-referencing the approximate energy source data recorded by the confinement system with the micrometer-precision absorption data within the school power grid, the professor located a visual feed from Druantia's location in the corridor just as Ghalan tossed the obviously terrified child a seed and walked away. "That could have ended a lot worse," Duality mused as she checked back through the tense interchange leading up to Dru's power flare. "Hey, hold on a moment - did that relativistic trash-eliminator give her an energy-storage staff seed what is he thinking this directly undermines her suppression bracelets' purpose she's just starting to get used to her existing power levels who even knows what sort of terrifying tool she could turn a piece of magical botany like that into oh wait I took that into account when designing those bracelets they'll drain 100% of the stored power from any personal storage device if she tries to use it. Turns out younger me isn't an idiot after all. What an bizarre concept. Still, I do hope it doesn't overload the network if she charges it up to ludicrous levels and attempts to blast something with it. Might have to warn her not to try that on the grounds of not wasting her effort." She reflected for a moment. "Also, I should probably tell her that the bracelets serve the - heh - dual purpose of nullifying particularly hostile forms of magic in the circumstance that anyone tries to murder her while her power is depleted - even staff members like Ghalan. Protec and attac and I've got your bac sort of thing." The professor made a mental note to send Druantia a memo about the suppression bracelets before resigning her mind once again to the sultry grip of perpetual paperwork.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Duality

[Buck Testa 5,503]

It took Dru almost until she had reached her next class before she had become less tense. The flashbacks she had experienced had raised her hackles quite a bit and it had made her rather tight lipped and and pale in the face. All of the stress that she was under along with the new setting was not helping her mental state at the moment, but she sought to calm herself down as best as she could, breathing in and out deeply and slowly as she approached her next class's door. It would do her no good to be needlessly agitated and anxious in the next class. Thankfully this one didn't really have a lot she'd have to focus on in terms of learning magic. 

 

Dru wasn't exactly sure why she chose this particular class in her curriculum. It had nothing, or at least very little to do with, magic or magic theory. It was a strange course that stuck out like a sore thumb in the otherwise mystical sounding classes. Critical Thinking & Independent Living. Maybe it had to do with the idea of independent living being appealing to her. Dru's whole life had been surrounded by hoards of adults. Independence was not something she had really experienced up to this point. All of her needs and wants were taken care of and it. Maybe part of her knew that she'd need a less stressful class to help balance out all the other ones she had taken up. There could be any number of reasons subconsciously as to why she chose such a class, but at the moment none of them were seeming all that viable. Still, she took a deep breath and opened the door to her next class of the day. 

This was a new batch of students than the group she had been with before except for one key difference. One fiery haired teen who was nursing a partially swollen cheek. It was clear that the damage she had done to him earlier had been mostly healed from his trip to the nurses office, but it was still rather sore from the looks of it. His eyes widened momentarily in shock at her entering the room, but he tried to make himself smaller in his desk as to not get noticed. It was too late though, he was the only one in the class that Dru DID recognize and she was still feeling rather smug about her handiwork. With confident strides she went over to the desk beside him and plopped herself down, her feet noticeably dangling in the air sitting in the chair compared to everyone else. 

There was some murmuring about who she was like last time, but it wasn't quite as bad as the last class which put her a bit more at ease. Not everyone was immediately demonizing her, but they were curious about who she was and how she could have caused all that damage. 

The red haired teen was quite unhappy she was sitting in the desk next to him with that infuriatingly snarky expression on her face, but he learned his lesson earlier when it came to messing with that one. He could still freshly remember how painful that assault on his tooth was. He would have moved, but the rest of the desks were taken, and he didn't want to provoke the she demon beside him with sudden movements. This was going to be a long day. 

 

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,024]

Since the earthquake, or magic-induced one... or whatever it was, not exactly like Kat knew what caused it. She'd returned back to her dorm and had retrieved her bag and and gotten a few other minor things and had attended her first class (off-screen) And was heading to her second when she noticed some earth magic being used in the hall to knock a teacher over? "Well that's something new, never get bored here." As she watched the little scene and then the parties depart. She got out her timetable to see what class she had next, just like last year when she first started and back when she was a younger girl she was terrible at learning her new time table. Something about them just took a long time to click in her head for some reason she'd never been able to figure out. 

She looked at the sheet of paper trying to make sense of what she was looking at. "Non ce n'est pas un vendredi?... non, c'est lundi semaine ou c'était 3, j'ai entendu quelqu'un dire que non c'est idiot." (No it's not a Friday? no, it's Monday week 1 or was it 3, I heard someone say that no that's silly.) Her finger was drawing along the setup lines as she looked for what she was to attend next hopefully not with Miko... she honestly didn't want to see her again possible ever frankly. 

[Passion 3,478]

By the moment the Janitor left the classrom in which he was talking with the unknown teacher, Ley was already innocently leaning against the wall with her arms intertwined behind her back. By now her tiny spying familiar long dispersed into a vanishing cloud of gray mist. As the door opened, she pretended to stare down the corridor, as if observing a closesly unspecified, interesting event of sorts. "Ley get to your next class." - she moved her head ever so slightly, turning her sight at him for show. She didn't even try to acknowledge his presence, instead she quickly fixated on the same spot she was just starting at, giving the janitor cold shoulder. As he walked away, Ley followed him with her eyes, fully giving herself to contemplations on methods of her revenge. An alien voice turned her attention however. "You must be the one I've heard about so much."

~

As Ghalan walked off, Ira fell into her chair again and let the air escape her lungs heavily. She lazily turned her head after him, and after a moment of internal struggle stood up to follow him. She finally reached the entry to the class and leaned against the doorway, crossing her legs under an angle as well as doing the same with her arms, just under her chest. She followed him with her eyes, wondering just how much unjustified blame did she make him take on his shoulders in her name. It stung. She lowered her head a bit, feeling a wave of remorse hit her thoughts. It really wasn't her... style. This wasn't who she was, was it? An egoistical unit who would not hestitate to sacrifice other's well-being for her own gains?

Ira shook her head violentily, resisting the urge of slapping herself. "It was all stress, you could have died back then that day. Not other explanation." - she once more repeated the lies to keep herself together. Cryomancess inhaled deeply to calm herself and looked around the corridor. It seemed that none of her pupils were present yet, it was quite early honestly speaking. The continuous stream of studends seemed to be very slowly gaining on strength, but there were still only quite few of them. Peculiarly, they all seemed to be keeping close to the wall opposite side of the hall. That caused Ira to lean out a bit more, only to notice the cause of such odd behaviour.

One had to give it to her, she only flinched ever so slightly. Not far in front of her, facing the other direction, the same Ghalan walked away, stood one student she had the unquestioned 'pleasure' hearing about. Absolutely out of proportion rich clothing, extravagant style and an impossible to mistake skin and hair color. What did the dossier say about her again? Daughter of a noble family, known to take full advantage of her position? Spoiled beyond measure? Somewhat unpredictable, motives unknown. But most importantly, half-daemoness. Clearly, a walking precedent. "Stay calm Ira, diplomacy." "You must be the one I've heard about so much." - although her tone was kept in a cheerful manner and she followed up with a smile, she quickly gave herself the business. Her choice of words could really use some practice, why did she need to be so direct at times?

~

As Ley turned her head to the other side, she witnessed nobody else but the same teacher that was having a conversation with the janitor a few moments ago. She tilted her head ever so slightly. The gesture was more of an inquisitive one rather than anything else. What was that heacher implying, exactly? Finding herself at the disadvantage of knowledge, Ley quickly chose which line of behaviour to express here. She turned her entire attention at Ira and gracefully moved her feet, assuming a formal stance. "So, somebody actually did hear of me in this sad place? How delightfully surprising. Nevertheless, allow me, I insist." - at these words, Ley grabbed an edge of her elaborate skirt and presented a shallow curtsey. It was clear that the motion was natural to her and practiced multiple times to perfection.

'So fake and pompous.'

"Lady Lay of the Crimson River family, fourteenth of the name and first in line to heritage. I have graced the Univeristy with the chance of doing me proud."

'...I feel graced already...'

"You, on the other hand, must be the renowned Lady Ira, I presume?" - although Ley had no idea who she was actually dealing with, it was obvious that the one called Ira knew something about her. This was a game two could play, even with the scant amount of information she had.

~

Based on Ley's behaviour, everything in the dossier seemed to be confirming itself. Her absolutely self-centered behaviour could potentially quickly be her undoing in Ira's eyes. All her gestures were well known to the young woman, a result of stiff rules drilled into her while she was young. Completely hollow in meaning, nothing but a tool for making others think she was somebody else she actually was. Ira wasn't falling for this one so easily. "You, on the other hand, must be the renowned Lady Ira, I presume?" - Ira's mind recoiled abruptly. As far as she was concerned, Ley had no abilities that would qualify her to attend Ira's classes. That meant she would have literally no reason to take any particular interest in Ira herself. And, although not a secret, her lineage was not something she was flauting at all. It struck the woman as odd to have someone mention her name to that particular student for any reason. "I-I am, indeed." - she staggered ever so slightly - "Not certain why somebody would even find it a remotely useful idea to mention my name to you, however, seeing how you won't be attenting my classes." Ira observed as Ley thrown her a somewhat dejected smile. It was painfully obvious to her eye that she hardly meant anything with her words. "A shame, isn't it? However, I must beg your pardon, but as must be aware I must attend my classes. Been a pleasure." - as soon as the girl finished, she bowed ever so slightly and pranced away with unconcealed dignity in her every move. "Yes, of course. Farewell." - for another moment, the green-eyed cryomancess stood there, raising her fist to her lips in contemplation while not moving an inch from the doorway. A few of the students threw her an inquisitive stare or two, but it wasn't only until one of them approached her when she recognized that the class had already started gathering. Ira stepped away from the door and looked down the corridor, where Ley disappeared. 'That girl's gonna be nothing but trouble... I hope I won't get to meet her anytime soon again.'

~

Ley on the other hand did not pay much attention to the meeting at all. Au contraire, she labeled the entire event as 'insignificant' and quickly pushed it away from the plane of her mental existance. Ira proved to be as bland as most dirt laying around in the corners of the corridor. Yet another insignificant gear in the great machine called the world. This pretty much summed up Ley's thoughts on the topic: Ira had to be there for world to function, but it wasn't like the world noticed.

She was more focused on the class ahead of her. The history of magic across the ages... it seemed like an obvious choice to her. She wondered if University used any sources that could prove useful in understanding the nature of powers surrounding her she didn't have access to. Just before reaching the classroom, however, she stopped and patiently waited for all the rings to bell and the class to go underway. She spent two minutes whispering simple enchantments into her attire, making it reflect the light in more marvellous ways before proceeding towards the doors. "Lady Ley, is my presence a good id-" "No, you're free to do as you please for now." By sheer coincidence she had forgotten to let Jeeves go. She took his presence for granted, to a point at times she even ceased noticing he's around at all. Good thing he had some common sense in him. As her Daemonic minion disappeared in the depths of the portal, she stepped towards the door, letting out a sigh. Having her superiority lowered to a point where she was to be considered as an equal with this worthless rabble? Obviously, forcing them all into submission would be the easiest answer, however she knew far to well that it would also be a long-term social suicide. She entered. "Ah, Lady Ley, so you decided to show up after all." - the teacher addressed her nearly immediatelly. Good. This one seemed to know his place. She walked to the centre of the class, the silence which appeared in the room was nearly deafening. Yet, it was quickly replaced with unintelligible whispers, raising in volume. "Everyone, please. Lady Ley will be joining your class..." - the whispers turned into open conversations - "...and will be your fellow student from now on. Remember to pay her the required respect and-" "This won't be necessary." - Ley silenced the teacher with a friendly gesture and turned to the class. By now she had already scanned its members, witnessing disdain, fear, prejudice... but also fascination, enchantment and outright... friendliness. The last one caught her off-guard. Yet, she kept the mask on. She had already picked her target, the one with the most curious stare. Ley took a few steps to the side, looking at one of the girls. "You, what's your name?" - the girl blinked in surprise, being put in the spotlight - "Me? Well... uh, Lynn." - "That's a lovely name, just as lovely as the outfit you are wearing! I was wondering... you see, my traditional clothing might be a little bit... improper for typical daily routine. Would you mind helping me out in choosing something more in-line after classes? I'll make sure to make it worth your while! Please?" - truly belittling behaviour, yet it had to be done... "Well, I..." - now, here's hoping somebody would take th- "I'll help you!" - Ley raised her eyes. She was expecting someone show some level of acumen and... greed. Present yourself appropriately, and no matter who you are some will instantly understand being on your good side can be profitable. It wasn't the first time she'd have to buy herself in into the graces of others. "You? You couldn't help yourself if you wanted!" - another voice joined the conversation - "Oh look who's speaking!" - "Why would you both even want to?! Just look at her!" - "Why don't you look at yourself first?" - "She's a daemon." - "Yeah, a freak." - "Please! She still doesn't beat that dude in front of me in this aspect!" - "HEY I HEARD THAT." - "Good, freak." - "Ah com-"

"ENOUGH EVERYONE." - a smug smile appeared on Ley's face. This went even a little better than she was expecting. She thought the teacher would interfere earlier and belittle the chances of her little plan working out, but everything turned out just fine this time - "Ley, would you please take the seat next to Aria? And please, stop shining around. These kind of enchantments are not welcome during my class." - "Of course."

As Ley took her seat, a voice reached her from the right. The one called "Aria" supposedly. "You've certainly made your entrance." - Ley turned her head to the long-haired girl and observed her for a moment, contemplating the appropriate response. In the end, she settled with a simple: "I have, haven't I?"

A moment later, once the events of the last few minutes finally reached her and she realized how much could have gone wrong, her mind went into overdrive as she made her best efforts not to succumb to the urges of hyperventilation. Ruling her minions and ordering her servants around was one thing. Plotting a way of coercing at least the majority of this gang of bratty kids was another thing altogether, one that could have completely ruined her image in school should it go wrong. Did it go well though? She looked around the class, she could still spot odd glances, she could still hear whispers. The act carried on, and for some reason she felt that keeping it would be more dangerous than mental combat with her daemonic minions she had to perform in order to force them to her will...

~

In the end, the class finished without any greater incidents. And although keeping the act up nearly caused a mental breakdown in Ley, she endured. With time people would probably get accustomed to her, they always did in the end. That, or she forced them to. Yet, for now she made her best effort to actually try and, as silly as this sounds, befriend the group. Now, if only could she remember what was the next class about... and whom actually led it? It was a bit odd, some of the classess were mandatory and they had a premade group of students attend them, but the remaining ones were actually up for choice of the students themselves.

Was it normal she didn't really take any? Was it because of whom she was? ...was the knowledge of her innate powers... public? She hoped not. That would definitely be an... inconvenience to say the least.

[Denim&Venöm 16,451]

@Mentis Soliloquy @Buck Testa @reader8363 @Arid_Blitz @Passion 

 

"Having magical powers isn't exactly the best job. Challenging work. Doesn't open a lot of doors. Actually closes a lot of doors. I guarantee you'll probably go hungry. Because as long as there's two people left on the planet, someone is not gonna want to hike up their insurance premiums by employing an enchanted." 

 

Room 237

Critical Thinking and Independent Living

 

Ruby entered the room for her first class. It was a surprisingly spacious room. As big as a lecture hall, only without the raised seats. There was even a staircase that led to a cat walk and windows a full story above. All the seats were arranged in a semi circle, a ways off from the lonely teachers desk up front. 

"No front seats to hide in. It's the last place the teacher thinks to pay attention to." She thought with dismay as she went to the last vacant seat. 

 

"I'm sorry that this had to happen so suddenly. I know you had your hopes set on Julliard. Just one more curve ball life throws at us huh? I wish I could make it easier for you, but students can't room with teachers unless they're family, as much as I think of you as such. And students will have to stay on the grounds until the next break from classes. I'll try to room you with somepon- erm, someone that's easy to get along with. There are a couple of good kids in this school. That should help make things easier. And I'll try to make things easier. You know you can come to me for anything. For now, I guess all you can do is head to your next class. Do your best. 

Think of it like this. You'll be unlike any other musician in the world if you can make it here."        

The words of her friend, now one of teachers, echoed in her head. At least she had one person to count on in this place. The last place she'd thought she'd ever be, as one of the enchanted. 

The final bell rang. Students murmured and chatted to each other as the waited for class. Ruby just sat still, open note book on her desk. Pencil in the crook up on top.

Then her tuffted ear twitched. She heard something. From outside. Something that was.... was it a song?   

"It sounds like... highway to the danger zone?" 

By this point, the muffled song was getting louder and louder. It could now being heard through the outside wall.

 

*Highway to the-* *CRASH!*

The wall exploded in a shower of debris in front of them. The loud roaring of an engine could be heard with the clanking of metal. And through the dust rolled in a tank.

An actual tank. A T-55 Am2 by the looks of it. With the words "YutzWagon" embroidered on the side.     

Which proceeded to steamroll the desk at the front of the room into saw dusk, before stopping halting atop the remains. Then the turret began to swivel, right in the direction of the students. 

Ruby gulped. "...Eep." she squeaked. 

Just then, the engine was cut, and the mechanical beast went from a roar to silence. The creaking of the top hatch could be heard, before it swung up and down and clanged against the roof.  

"Who the hell puts a desk in the middle of a parking space!?" a slightly raspy voice came from within, before hand standing her way out of the tank and rolling to a seated lotus position on the barrel. 

"Konichiwa jabroni's! Welcome to your first day of crit. thinking and indy. living! As you may have guessed, I am the head of this classroom, Tachibana Miko-sama! But please, do call me Sensei. Or Doctor Tachibana. Whatever fits your prerogative. Guess what we're doing first today kiddies? That's right. Pop Quiz!" 

The vixen then proceeded to pull a box from the tank. she reached in and pulled out what appeared to be a paper triangle, which she then flicked to the nearest desk.  She would then proceed this for the entire class in rapid succession.

Should the students unfurl their paper triangles, they'd find this worksheet. 

 

 

       

"Now think very carefully about these. This is critical thinking, and were gonna gage your baseline skills with this. Consider your answers carefully. No using a search engine. Yes I know some numbers are missing. Those were questions that contained answers to other questions. It's an old quiz. They didn't really think things through. Anyways, everyone got a quiz? Anyone got an extra quiz? Cool. Kay. You've got 5 minutes. Go!" 

[dragon4111 914]

@Denim&Venom

Ghalan awoke from his nap to see...A TANK GOING THROUGH A WALL? He began to walk towards it. Only one idiot could do such a stupid thing. Miko Tachibana. He quietly levitated as he flew towards it faster. Kill that damn fox was what was going through Ghalan's mind right now. He reach out his hands and was aiming for her neck...Except he went lower and aimed for her fox tail. If he wanted to hurt her, her tail would be a good target. Plus it was fluffy he liked fluffy things along with scaly things. Thankfully his anti gravity power worked well with his telekinesis.Those poor kids jeez Louis well if there was one thing Ghalan was good at it was causing a ruckus and distraction. Now time to grab that fluffy tail and put an end to the whole tank through a wall bullshit. He looked at the class as he flew by then.