changejar

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

On the first day Hannah was already becoming pretty skeptical of all this magic training. What was she going to accomplish by sitting alone on a cold floor? Clear her mind. That made no sense. How does one even begin to not think about nothing? She did try her best for the first few hours. Really focused on not focusing. But then she started to get mad. Nothing was happening other than she was now cold and her legs had started to cramp. By the time she was excused she was beginning to wonder if she could leave and sneak into a different guild.

The next two days, though, really turned everything around for her. Who needed to clear their mind when Hannah could see spirits? Clearly everyone else was too busy being empty, Hannah was spotting the spirits. And the next day was a test, which Hannah had no problem with. This she could do. As soon as she saw the first spirit she had dedicated her time to reading and studying everything she could about magic and now she got to prove that she knew it all. She was definitely riding that high all night.

However, the next three days are reminiscent of the first. Everyone else was finally about to see the spirits, but then they started to get them to do things. Hannah, though, was stuck just catching glimpses of them. For two days she tried to stay calm and focused, to clear her mind and work with the spirits. But nothing was happening. The harder she tried, the harder it became to stay clear. The fifth day ended with her storming out of the classroom and punching a wall. That night she nursed her anger and sore hand.

On the sixth day, Hannah’s anger shifted. When it was burning and bubbling over and right on the surface, she could barely even see the spirits. But then something changed, her focus shifted from trying to clear her mind into sharpening her anger. She focused on the one thing she could and turned that anger inside herself. She felt it growing hard and cold inside of her, making her mind sharper and seeing the spirits better. Eventually she let the anger fully engulf her and that was when it happened. Magic Arrow. And many Magic Arrows followed that. She was over the moon excited. Who needed an empty mind when she could just be angry? If her teachers had told her that, maybe she wouldn’t have wasted two days.

The seventh day was graduation and Hannah was quite smug with her new black dress and pointed hat. One of the professors tried to tell her that anger was not a great source of focus; that she would have to let go of that rage. But the little fire spirit flitting around her head was essentially proof that she didn’t need to listen to him. She walked away from the school with the feeling of flames licking at her hands and a smile on her face.

The smile dropped fairly quickly though, when Hannah saw the rest of the group. She wasn’t even looking for them, yet here they were. She sighed and walked up to them, a sour look on her face.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

With destructive impulses in mind, Hannah didn’t have to walk very far at all to get to the Mage’s Guild. It was in the center of Andeave, after all, just like the Silver Moon Recruiting Office. Unlike that simple and rustic office, however, the Mage’s Guild was a grand affair, one of the taller, more architecturally impressive buildings around, crafted from beautifully marbled stone with a grand doorway that had ‘The Imperial Academy of Practical Wizardry’ embossed in gold above it. It was opulent to the point of being ostentatious, and the amount of individuals, young and old, made it clear that this wasn’t a place Silver Moon recruits only. Some looked to be children, despite their voluminous robes and their obvious air of disdain. Others actually were children, being dragged by their parents to study whatever served as ‘high education’ in Andeave.

The insides were just as transcendent, tiled floors polished to mirror-like perfection while great pillars supportered painted and domed ceilings. Massive staircases lead to ever-higher rooms, while smaller ones spiralled upwards towards the grand towers. Despite the grand dimensions, however, it slowly became apparent that the guild building was ‘roomy’ at best and ‘empty’ at worst. Plenty of people filed about from one place to another, and yet, even then, the spaces inbetween seemed oddly open. A curiousity. Maybe they spent all their money on the frame of the building, and neglected to purchase the fancy smancy furniture that would complete the look?

In the center of the room, a buxom woman with a monocle and odd, light blue hair sat surrounded by a mahogany counter. A clear bastion of direction and knowledge amidst the coming and going guild members, she occasionally answered questions and offered directions, all while maintaining a slightly dangerous smile on her face.

This woman was definitely a sadist.

Hannah eyed her surrounding with something akin to distaste. She was a big fan of people not being near her, but the whole place just felt a little pretentious. Who needed that much space? Not them, apparently. But she had more important things to do than to judge the décor. Hannah spotted the woman that seemed to be in charge. Or at least could point her in the right direction.

She approached and stood in front of the woman for several moments before realizing that no one else was there to talk for her. How unfortunate. Hannah scowled and cleared her throat, “Hi. I’m here to be a mage.” Hannah felt quite uncomfortable without anyone else to do the socializing. She briefly wished Muu or Matteo was around to navigate the complexities of social interaction, then reminded herself that that was a ridiculous idea. Hannah didn’t need anyone around.

For a moment, Hannah could have sworn that she saw a flash of disappointment in the eyes of the receptionist lady’s as it flickered first to her unwashed form, then to her foreign clothes, and finally towards the tag that hung from her neck. But that disappointment was quickly replaced by a professional indifference as she smiled at Hannah.

“You have enough to pay the ten silver fee for registration in our Combat Mage Crash Course then, young lady?”

Oh good, no small talk. Money exchanges Hannah could handle. Hannah handed over the bag of silver that she received. The guy better not have lied about how much he was giving them.

The woman gingerly loosed the dirty bag, pinching it between her index and her thumb as if it was a piece of garbage, before upending its contents. Offering the empty coin purse to Hannah, she counted the coins and nodded.

“All in order. Name?”

Hannah took back the bag and shoved it into her pocket with little care. It was empty and of no use to her anymore.

Ugh. Giving her name. And here she had worked so hard to keep that information to herself. Hannah was tempted to leave right then, find another guild that wasn’t quite to nosey. But magic. So she sucked it up. Besides, none of the others were around. “Hannah.”

The woman nodded, unravelling a scroll before scanning downwards. After a while, she pulled out a quill from an ink pot and scribbled down a name. “Room 402, on the West Wing. There’s no lock, but you don’t own anything anyways. Orientation’s in...forty seven minutes, starting at the lobby. Questions?”

“No.” and with that single word, Hannah turned to leave. While she didn’t really need to go to her room to drop anything off (the woman was right, all she owned was a now empty coin purse), she was interested in seeing exactly where it was. She wandered off towards the West Wing, keeping an eye out for door numbers and just trying to keep track of the time in her head.

Upon finding room 402, Hannah didn’t even bother going in. She knew where it was, that was good enough for her. Plus, she really did not want to be late, so she traveled back to the main lobby. She would never admit it, but Hannah was excited to get her learn on.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

Upon leaving their shelter for the night, Hannah stuck close to Muu. The girl seemed like she needed it. Plus, Hannah was absolutely planning on using Muu as a distraction if anyone tried to talk to her. Fortunately, since the walk was so hard it seemed like the only one capable of talking without giving off awful wheezing was Muu.

Finding herself, once again, in the recruiting office, Hannah kept up her stoic image and let Muu and Matteo do all the talking. And paying, it seemed. Thankfully with her height Hannah had no problem reading over Matteo’s shoulder and skimming through the guild directory.

Even though she did not know a lot about herself, Hannah knew that anything too physical was just not up her alley. Judging by how winded she got just going up and down some stairs, the active guilds were pretty much off the table. Magic, though, now that was something that appealed to her deep down. It was hard to explain, but there was something about using magic that felt right. Considering that nothing felt particularly right since she arrived in this place, Hannah was inclined to follow that instinct. But what kind of magic? She didn’t really know what a mage would do. Or what a priest would do. Her heart said mage, because, well, who doesn’t want to play around with magic? Priest, though, caused Hannah to look around at the ragtag group she was apparently stuck with and having someone there to keep them alive to keep her alive was also rather appealing.

As they left the office Hannah cleared her throat and shot a glance at Muu (to make sure that if need be, Hannah could direct conversation at her) before speaking, “what does it say about magic? Or the Order of the Silver Light?” It wasn’t that Hannah really wanted to join the Silver Light, but she had already met them, so if everything worked out, that was less people for her to meet overall, which was an important thing to consider.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

Hannah awoke to find that her current life was not just a dream, but a very weird reality in which she knew nothing. She had literally just woken up and was already tired. But the thought of spending any more time sleeping on a pew made her whole body creak, so it was probably best to get up.

The offered soup was sub-par at best compared to the feast she had the night before and she didn’t really eat any of it. Her stomach was still relatively full so she just twirled her spoon around in it until she noticed Muu start to move towards the group.

Hannah did the polite thing and pointed out that the others were in the same forgetful state and then decided that she had contributed enough. If someone wanted more out of her, they would have to directly ask her. Honestly, though, Hannah still probably wouldn’t have answered.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

When Hannah wandered away from the others, she was expecting to find herself a nice moment to reflect and gather her thoughts. Not that she had many thoughts to gather, considering her memory was all rather recent, but still. The thought of going towards more people that she didn’t know with a small group of people that she also didn’t know made her skin crawl. A dislike of people was added to Hannah’s rather short list of things she knew about herself.

Her steps faltered when she came across quite a scene. A man and what looked like a younger girl were…engaged in some sort of misadventure. From her viewpoint, Hannah couldn’t quite see what was going on, but from noise alone she got the feeling that it would be best to just be on her way. Hannah was about to turn around when she realized that she recognized the girl. She was there when Hannah first came to, but went in a different direction. Hannah figured it was safe to assume this was the other member of their forced party that the angry man had mentioned.

Still not actually wanting to be involved with whatever trouble the other girl had gotten into, Hannah stayed back and watched from a distance. She didn’t actually feel any desire to charge in and help, but it didn’t feel right to just abandon her either. Unless someone else had found the other, then the girl was wandering around a strange town with absolutely no idea what was going on. As much as Hannah found herself annoyed with the thought, she followed (at a reasonable) the girl to make sure that nothing too bad happened to her.

When the girl knocked on a door, Hannah moved just a little bit closer to make eavesdrop on their conversation. Hannah was unsurprised that most of what this man said was just as confusing at the other. She wondered if it was a man thing, or if the people of this town got their kicks from confusing the already very confused visitors.

Upon being addressed, Hannah stiffened and debated hightailing it away from the situation. But then the other girl would be alone. She wasn’t sure why she cared, but Hannah rolled her eyes and stomped forward, casting a look at the girl as she passed and entered the building. Knowing her luck, Hannah was fairly certain that they had just walked into a cult.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

A purpose Hannah wanted and a purpose Hannah received, even if it was vaguer than she would have preferred. They were to fight monsters. Now, she wasn’t exactly sure how qualified she would be in that area. Did she fight monsters before? With how blasé the man was being, Hannah assumed that he was confident in their abilities. Or at least Hannah did not have any negative emotions towards fighting monsters. Actually, she didn’t feel positively about it either. Maybe she was so used to this lifestyle that fighting was just boring. There was no use dwelling on it, however. With their very clear dismissal, Hannah put on her tags and grabbed her money.

Outside of the office Hannah didn’t bother to introduce herself. It didn’t really matter in comparison to her saying a word she didn’t know the meaning of. That none of them really knew, apparently. She did not like not knowing what she supposedly should know. Or that she didn’t have access to all of her own thoughts. Why didn’t she remember? If her life before this evening was really so important, how could she have forgotten it? All of these questions were annoying her.

Hannah found herself facing a choice: two of her…companions? Colleagues? Headed towards the noise of a crowd and while Hannah thought that it was implied they were a team, she desperately did not want to go towards all those people. Again, Hannah did not know if what she was feeling was a new emotion or an old, but it didn’t really matter. She was not going to go with them, not if it meant going towards all that noise.

Turning east, Hannah walked quickly away from the others and into the quieter part of town.

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

There were only three things she knew: her name was Hannah, she was angry, and that she knew nothing else. She wasn’t afraid of not knowing. Annoyed maybe, but the white blank in her head where she was pretty sure memories should be did not scare her. Hannah opened her eyes to see others in what she assumed was a similar state and some guards. Were they in trouble? Arrested? Hannah wanted answers...no, a purpose. Hannah wanted a purpose and it seemed the only way she would get that was to follow after the guards.

Hannah found herself in the back of the group listening to the boy ask just so many questions. Sure, Hannah wanted to know more about the area she has found herself in, but judging by the curt answers the robed man was giving, he was also annoyed at the questions. She rubbed her aching left arm and tried to not be too mad at these people she didn’t know. Or maybe she did know. She couldn’t be sure.

The robed man seemed to only answer the questions he cared about, and while Hannah could appreciate that, she was tired of just standing around. Clearly they were at this strange place for a reason and they didn’t remember anything for a reason. Asking all these round-about questions weren’t going to help. They were recruits and the only thing her blank mind could think of was that they were recruited to fight. Fight what?

When the boy finally shut up for a moment, Hannah stepped forward and asked the only things she particularly cared to get an answer to. “You gonna teach us to be useful now? Or are all new recruits supposed to be memoryless cannon fodder?”

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance

Hannah

Moniker: Hannah
Sexuality: Female
Countenance: 5’8” / 140 lbs. Blonde, conventionally pretty, blue eyes that have a hard glare to them. Her hair is usually pulled back out of her face. She always wears long sleeves and gloves.

Facade: Hannah is beautiful on the outside. She looks approachable and like the girl next door. However, Hannah is kind of a bitch, sour, angry, judgmental, and just not a great person to be around. She has very little patience and prefers to act rather than sit and talk for ages. Hannah would rather be feared than liked and thinks that intimidation is the quickest way to gain respect.

Despite all that, Hannah is weirdly dependable. She doesn’t even know why she will stick with her promises and help out those she loathes. Also, she is very curious and wants to learn about everything around her. In her own gruff way Hannah will ask questions about anything and everything.

Competence:
Vibrance – C+
Gestalt – E
Conformity – B+
Physique – D
Composure – A

Altera: Of Departures and Deliverance [Isekai/Survival]

Moniker: Hannah
Sexuality: Female
Countenance: 5’8” / 140 lbs. Blonde, conventionally pretty, blue eyes that have a hard glare to them. Her hair is usually pulled back out of her face. She always wears long sleeves and gloves.

Facade: Hannah is beautiful on the outside. She looks approachable and like the girl next door. However, Hannah is kind of a bitch, sour, angry, judgmental, and just not a great person to be around. She has very little patience and prefers to act rather than sit and talk for ages. Hannah would rather be feared than liked and thinks that intimidation is the quickest way to gain respect.

Despite all that, Hannah is weirdly dependable. She doesn’t even know why she will stick with her promises and help out those she loathes. Also, she is very curious and wants to learn about everything around her. In her own gruff way Hannah will ask questions about anything and everything.

Competence:
Vibrance – C+
Gestalt – E
Conformity – B+
Physique – D
Composure – A

ERode said I could join this potentially as a backup or if someone dies just, like, super fast