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TNT - The Nameless Tavern. (Always Open)

@aia2022 A young boy, not yet grown into his features, stepped out from the kitchen and into the tavern. He seemed out of place in the expensive neat waiters uniform that hung from his thin frame, with his disheveled dark hair, dirt stained skin and deep green eyes. With bare feet he stepped forward and out into the danger holding some sort of bottle protectively against his chest. He weaved through the chaos of the tavern without incident or pause like it was a mere slight distraction, an everyday occurrence.
As he neared the fox faced lady a thin smile slowly spread across his lips and with a slight nod he proudly held out the bottle to her with both hands.

The Hourglass Order

@Force and Fury
On this topic, any minerals or metals?
What makes a good wand?

The Hourglass Order

Vyrik

Balthazar Hall
Vyrik was in line behind the others of his group, yawning and snacking on breakfast leftovers when he noticed it. Like a tinder catching a single spark it began. He was beginning to think he had gotten away with it, the ‘incident’ at the ceremony that was. But no, it had just taken awhile for the spark of gossip to start, the tinder of his story dampened by all the other happenings and excitement going on. But now this, this situation was a fire pit waiting to combust and the lines couldn’t move fast enough. It started with a simple odd whisper here, a subtle pointing and smirking over there. A soft silence when he passed a group all eyeing him. He could physically watch it spread, moving like wildfire from mouth to ear. That flame was now undoubtedly lit and travelled down the rows of chatting students. He tried to keep his head down and shrink out of sight, but it was pointless, he stood out too much. He just had to lay low until it burnt itself out. When finally at the front, which didn’t take as long as it felt, he grabbed all his things and quickly hurried off to first class.

Sensing and drawing.
Zander Mozaru

A life in the slums had taught Vyrik to be untrusting, and while he still didn’t trust Zeno Mozaru, the man was proving to be reliable and was quickly becoming familiar. Vyrik was glad that he was teaching his first class and remained focused for the entirety of it, not going beyond but not shirking either. He gave the man his full attention and even went as far as to take notes, although they were more for him to use later with Josune. He tried his best in the confidential testing but was sure he did poorly. His grasp of Arcane and binding was shockingly poor while his ability to convert was near non existent. Maybe he was broken.
He didn’t let these thoughts or emotions interrupt his class however, for some unknown reason he was trying to earn a modicum of the Belzagggic’s respect and make up for his aloofness while staying at his house.

Avincian
Alcaster Serra

Vyrik enjoyed games but was slow to warm up to the word game, but as it went on and he got a feeling for it his competitive edge caused him to be more vocal and take a tiny step out of his shell. He found the old teacher of this class to be almost comical in his traditional style attire. He seemed to know a lot about a lot and had strong opinions on all things. Overall he talked too much for Vyrik’s liking.
When class was over Vyrik hung around awkwardly until all others had left, wanting to question the old teacher in private.
“How can I improve my RAS?”
He asked.
“I mean, theoretically what are all the possible ways?”

Lunch.

Three square meals a day of the quality and proportions they had been receiving was a foreign concept to Vyrik’s stomach. Not accustomed to the easy access of food he had treated breakfast like it might be the last meal they provide him, now as lunch rolled around he found he still wasn’t hungry. He thought about eating just for the sake of it as it did taste rather good but decided against it since he wasn’t feeling up to the social commitment it required, instead he headed straight to the arboretum to relax by the river and practice some of the lessons from his first class.

---

TLDR
Balthazar Hall->Class->Arboretum
Noticed people notice him.
(Probably not as bad as he thinks)
Tried hard in both classes
Skipped lunch and went to the Arboretum.

---

The Hourglass Order

@Force and Fury

So commons outside of the castle pretty much means something rotten and crowded in Mudville?

The Hourglass Order

Vyrik

It had been tricky but eventually with the aid of some audible magic Vyrik had managed to locate and get the attention of the young Eskandish boy that he had made a deal with just yesterday. Turned out his name was Josune. Following the happenings of his previous days antics, it was clear Vyrik would not be welcomed into Josune’s house nor could either of the boys rightly come up with an excuse to tell Josune’s mother, short of the blackmailing truth, that would sound remotely plausible as a reason to do so. This left them needing somewhere to study. Josune outrightly refused to go to Vyrik’s new place, which was understandable because Vyrik did feel like walloping him on multiple occasions, but it seemed more that it more to do with his stature and not in fact any fear of Vyrik. Vyrik felt a little insulted by that on multiple levels.

Eventually, after a short argument and a few unnecessary subtle insults the duo found themselves at the Arboretum and claimed a little quiet secluded spot.

Jomurr proved to be right, Vyrik was vastly unqualified and unprepared to be a teacher, lucky for him what Josune really needed more than a strict teacher was a friend. While the relationship started off rocky and had a long way still to go, it was clear from the start that their personalities, while vastly different, would eventually compliment one another’s. They mostly argued and insulted each other for the duration of their first ‘meeting’, the blackmail still remaining over Vyrik when he eventually left, although deep down he saw it it for what it really was, a bluff, a means to get him to come back.

Unsurprisingly Vyrik had failed spectacularly to teach Josune anything, least of all how to access the gift. Lucky for him Josune had found interest in the book he had brought along. The younger Eskandish boy was well educated, stumbling only slightly in translating its vast contents, moving through its many pages far faster than Vyrik could ever hope to. He explained to Vyrik the philosophies and ideals written within only to later argue against them. It was an intellectual debate that quickly crumbled to senseless squabbling. Childish antics coming equally so from Vyrik as they did the younger Josune.

They marvelled at the potential possibilities of hybridising natural sciences and chemical magic as the tried to wrap their heads around the theology. Their minds running off on wild and uneducated tangents. Owain was soon instructing Vyrik of things to try.
Vyrik was forced to go and buy a potato while Josune raced home and came back with some simple jewellery. From these Vyrik was supposed to be able to harness a tidbit of lightning.

They had no such luck. Vyrik was far quicker to give up the fruitless experiment than Josune, finding the notion ridiculous. Following a particularly sarcastic retort on the matter from Vyrik, they did discover a game of sorts that they both seemed to somewhat enjoy and could be considered training. Josune had retaliated by throwing the potato at Vyrik and Vyrik had used his gift to draw from its momentum, slowing it and allowing him to dodge the projectile easily. This went on for a while, all manner of available objects joining the potato, and it was fun until it wasn’t, when Vyrik was drained and could no longer dodge them. Josune scores a direct hit that left a scratch right on Vyrik’s forehead. It was at this point he had decided they had had enough and the lesson was over. Who’s lesson it was he didn’t rightly know.

Despite the frustrations, drama and failings Vyrik left feeling good. That mood was taken away from him back at Zeno Mozaru’s house when he further failed to light his candle, instead snapping it in half with a kinetic force. Unable to handle some basic heat transference Vyrik remained silent. Having it pointed out in front of everyone caused him to retire to bed early that night, although he did not sleep. His ears trained on the conversations of the house. As much as his magic would still allow, doing this between tossing the potato from earlier into the air and focusing on slowing its descent.

TLDR

Missed speeches
Spent afternoon training / goofing with Owain
Failed to light candle (Mozaru’s test)
Had a sad and went to bed.
Learnt the beginning of a new skill.

Skill

Name: Unnamed
Focus word: TBD
Style: Defensive
School: Kinetic
Speed: Reactive
Range: Close
Description: slowing incoming projectiles by drawing from their momentum.

Against Blood Ridden Skies: A colony last stand group RP.

Interested. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the OOC

P.I.C.S. Presents Paranormal Occurrences

Jason hadn’t caught what happened to Nora, he was busy texting Darcy after seeing her tear stained face. He couldn’t help but worry.

‘U ok? Don’t push yourself! Get out if needed. Got a drink waitin for ya.’

Was what his txt message said.

”Sorry Nors, I missed it, backing up the camera’s now. See if we caught anything.” he said into the microphone after switching to Nora and Baxter’s channel. He brought up both their streams and rewound them, going silent as he played them back in slow motion through various filters.
A shiver pierced his spine as even while slowed down he heard that sound again from before. The same one that ran through that old disconnect phone but now it was in his headphones.
Something subtle, something soft and barely there, a quiet whisper. It was like a mix of a distant screech crossed with nails being dragged over a chalkboard, or a scowl of a cat, all hidden beneath faint croaky static.

How could it be here, in this playback at this exact slowed down speed. If he adjusted the nob one way or the other it disappeared. It made no sense. His thoughts were pulled back to the screen.

”Ah, sorry Nors. Got some heavy visual and audio interruption happi... wait... what’s that.”
Then there was a ‘Click’. ‘Click’ over the phone as Jason tapped on his keyboard.
“Oh.” he whispered in disbelief.

A moment later his voice came back a little shaken. ”As I said, the feed musta dropped out for a second but it somehow imprinted one of you guys in the static, I can see a blurry silhouette but not much else, or is that Connor with you guys? Anyway the weirdest thing is I’ve got this really vague colourless static image but it’s gone and given him red-eye in one of the frames just before you left the room and slammed the door. Fuck, I hope you didn’t leave Connor in there? What are you guys playing at Nors?”

P.I.C.S. Presents Paranormal Occurrences

All at once everyone’s phone went off, ringtones and vibrations breaking the eerie silence that nested over the asylum. It was Jason, having finished setting up on his end he started a group chat.

”Ok Scooby squad, link me into what ever cameras you got or at least face your phone camera in the right direction. Talking to you Darcy.
And don’t mute me again Connor, I’ll cycle through the channels and only talk to ya one at a time.”

There was a pause followed by the faint sound of a keyboard clacking away punctuated by what could only be the swooshing of a bottle being put down.
After a gasp Jason continued. ”Ok, everyone, headphones in test the connection and tell me where your at. This maps a bit outdated so I’ll try update it live as you go. Who’s carrying the laser measurer?”

Jason was sitting in the back of mothership, the bed folded away and replaced with a table and chairs. On the table were two laptops and a spare, larger monitor connected to the wall. The larger monitor was divided into screens for each camera he was connected too, be it simple phones or more professional recording equipment. He even had visage of the cars and front door due to the cameras set up on his roof.

One of the laptops held a digital file of all of Darcy’s findings on the place and Jason was slowly making his way through it. The last laptop controlled the group meeting and who he was talking too when. It also held the sound and audio analysis software should he need to teplay or study anything but right now it was simply being used to play metal music through only his left headphone so none else could hear it when he talked to them.

While everyone made their checks and set up, Jason continued to swig away at his second bottle of bear while rotating between various apps on his phone. Namely Tinder, Insta and reddit.

The Hourglass Order

VYRIK

Vyrik barely heard Zander Mozaru’s speech as the Zeno lead the small group around on a tour of the campus. His voice droning out amongst the background noises.

Starting the tour in the Grand Plaza, Vyrik began by splashing his face in the large fountain to freshen up a little and then, after sighting a lone coin in the water, got a bit wetter trying to dig it up. The coin being just out of his reach, he had attempted to make a display of his abilities and drag it towards himself with some kinetic energy but only succeeded in splashing the entire group. Himself mostly.
While he was all smiles and laughs at the situation, not everyone else shared his humour or enthusiasm.

Balthazar Hall bored the daylights out of him, and it showed in his mannerisms and unrelated interrupting questions. He needed some aid drying his clothes before entering however. Heating was not a gift he was proficient with.

The greenhouse held a bit more of his attention as he explored the trees and plants with an almost curious interest. Climbing what he could until scolded and told to get down. The Treacle and Habregon Buildings seemed of import and he made a mental note on how to find the chemists, alchemists and runecrafter. He later queried as to who the best rune crafter was.

The Theatre amused him for a minute due to its sheer size and acoustics. Then he once again got to testing his gift, trying to get free advice from Mozaru. “I can manipulate and draw incoming sound.” he said. ”but not outgoing.” he complained. Vyrik had recently taken a sudden fascination with silent moving. ”I know it can be done, that person you sent to me did it...”
Just mentioning that caused memories to come back along with thoughts he had forgotten. It brought back that uneasy feeling.

Vyrik was soon starring at the massive, faintly glowing clock face of Clocktower, trying to discern how to read it despite just being told. To him it was an intricate marvel of moving parts and magic that truely amazed him. It was probably the most interesting thing on this tour beside that one older girl he saw in a class. Their passing of the window was only brief but she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Light magic emanating from her every pore, and then in a blink darkness took the room entirely. It was so brief and sudden he couldn’t even be sure any of it was real.

Next Vyrik was reminded why someone like the beautiful and mysterious girl in the window could never be his. Classism. The dorm segregation was a brutal reminder that he grew up differently to some others. That he would be looked upon differently. It made Vyrik mad. He thought just maybe here of all places things might be different but he was wrong. While he had been too distracted to notice it, it was everywhere. The separation, the discrimination. He took his key but his thanks was flat and empty.

Vyrik was far from flagging in energy when they finally reached the Grand Library. He was riled up and ready to take on the world. He continued to quickly scan through the paperwork thrust into his hand and scribbled down his selection.

The Required course registry was easy. He just picked the only things he was any good at. The form did say three right?
Kinetic
Chemical
Magnetic

The Elective course registry was s bit trickier. ‘To hell with all the pompous arts’ he thought to himself. ‘Leave that for the snobby nosed fops.’
His first choice was an easy choice. Sports equaled games. And then came his second. Until he crossed it out for another. While he wasn’t fond of gardening two words stole his attention. Animal familiar.
So with two choices already both from the skills stream he had to pick something else.
Natural sciences was the only academic that he might find slightly interesting so he picked that. Then he looked at languages and back up at the arts. He hesitated feeling the weight of his choice. Finally he just went for it and his choices were made.
With a sigh he sat down.

SK104 - athletics, agility, physical fitness & sporting activities
SK02
SK103. Plants, gardens, farming and Animal familiars!
AC102 science stuff.
AR103 Instrumental and vocal Music

The Hourglass Order

VYRIK

“So, Yemu was it?” Vyrik asked the small Rettanese girl, skipping up to her as they exited Zeno Mozaru’s house.
He seemingly hadn’t fully awoken yet, eyes still heavy, movements sluggish and a yawn escaping his mouth.
It was clear he had missed all the details of the day ahead, yet he carried on completely unphased by his utter lack of knowledge. Fully happy to just trail along.
He was bare of foot, hair an absolute mess and his black eye, while faded, still accentuated the odd colour of his iris.
”Where we going?” he finally asked offering her a strip of bacon that he swiped on his way out as he bit a chunk off the sausage he held in his other hand.

”Oh, this is good.” he murmured while chewing.

He was not used to such good food.
As he steadily awoke a thought infiltrated the back of his mind, more of a memory. A memory of a deal he had made. Vyrik groaned suddenly, eyes rolling without explanation. Oh well, it was just something he would have to take care of later today, if he could escape.

@TheMushroomLord