[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qSXKgkY.png[/img]
[sub][@Nanaya][/sub][/center]
It brought a host of questions and only a few answers, but it was a satisfying discovery all the same. He couldn't read the essence that must have flowed through the flame nor the magic that scarred Gulliver through the recording, but that just gave him more reason to ask the gnome himself. He already understood that Gulliver was exceptional, possessing an Ethos that seemed uniquely valuable to the faculty at Wingram, and he had a sense that his twin was more of a homunculus or a construct. Now, however, with the transcription he had of Raja and the gnome's conversation?

March 8th. Avoid rebound, or damage will be dealt to the prime essence. He was a necessary part of their plan, whatever that may be. And it was a plan with a short enough deadline for them to be concerned. And then there was that incantation. Invoke Corda. Ethos? Or a spell that he had yet to discover himself? Otis glanced down at the paper, at his sketch of the runes that had been engraved upon Gulliver's body. Arcane magic utilized runes as well, but this, mayhaps, was rooted more in primal or occult-ish disciplines, branding with searing flame the symbols and patterns of dead languages and cultures. So many things to puzzle out, and that wasn't even accounting for the truth behind the Foreteller too.

March 8th though. Just a week. If Otis were Raja, if Gulliver avoiding rebound was the most important thing, he would go and simply imprison that narcissist for the duration of the week. Call it a punishment for going out of bounds during the entrance examination. And if she deposited him into the Iris Record, well, that would mean there would be no legal way for Otis to encounter him either. Which was a shame. He would take extralegal methods then, in order to sate his curiousity. What would happen indeed, if rebound [i]was[/i] triggered? If the prime essence was damaged? He chewed on his thoughts as he chewed on another block of dried meat.

It shouldn't be hard to provoke the Gulliver [i]he[/i] knew. It would simply be a matter of first locating his fellow classmate, and second avoiding interference from the Principal herself.

Amber eyes glowed in amber light. There was a squirming little worm of a thought in his mind, wondering whether or not he really ought to pursue such a path. But a worm was a worm, and he swallowed that thought up without hesitation. There was something [i]else[/i] that Wingram Academy desired, something else that the Principal desired. Something that she was hiding from the students. Something that she was hiding from him. Perhaps she would eventually speak of it, perhaps it would be kinder of him to simply ask about it. But it was the Principal who started with subterfuge, with alleyway portals and policies that encouraged division and conflict. Did she truly think that she was the exception to the Golden Rule?

She was not.

The door creaked open. Davil emerged, returning well into the night, his own blabbering charming with regards to the speed of delivery. [b]"I was studying,"[/b] he replied, head twisting 180 degrees from his desk in order to look at his roommate head-on. [b]"Hale's character is designed to be divisive though. Removed from the words he says and the expressions he makes, his actions make him an exemplar of sportsmanship. The mismatch, the gap, if you will, is simply what he constructs for the purposes of getting eyes on himself, and no other. And also, remember. Your Ethos is mine for study, starting from tomorrow."[/b]

Well, the snoring indicated that Davil didn't catch that last part, but that was fine. Otis would just wake him up in the morning, and they can get the first round of testing done before breakfast was available.