Collab Between Konan375 and Rtron
Althalus looked up a few moments later when he felt assured that the shaking was done, or at least wouldn't be noticeable by your average person. The man talking to him was the one who had been staring at him before. Apparently, having nightmares thrust upon you was a lovely way to begin a conversation with someone. "Oh yes. I just love having my memories ransacked, the worst one of them all being selected, and then that memory being twisted into something far worse than it had been when it was real. Before Satori came along, I was wondering where I was going to get my next fix from." Sarcasm dripped from every word, flavored nicely with a healthy dose of hate on the word Satori. Obviously, the memory had far more affect upon him than he had liked. Hence the reason a knife had been thrown at the bitch. Althalus watched the various students go past them, picking out those who were leaving permanently and those who were only going to their room to get some rest. The former didn't bother with Gargoyles and just headed straight down the familiar path to the courtyard and the gates. The latter found a Gargoyle to lead them. However, as the amount of Gargoyle's in the hallway steadily decreased, it became harder and harder to decide who was going where.
Althalus would have much preferred leaving to talking with this random man, but seeing as he was rooming with Mar and only she knew where the room was, he'd have to wait out here for her to reappear. The bottle of Lunar, with the rune to ensure that the flask never emptied of drink, was a reassuring pressure against his chest, hidden beneath his armor. Still, might as well make conversation while he could. The assassin returned his gaze to Leith, asking in his slight rasp, "So, who would you be, and did the lovely woman who gave us all horrific nightmares suddenly fall over with a knife sprouting from her chest?" He doubted it, as he hadn't heard anyone cheering or screaming. But hey, maybe everyone was too busy trying to restore order or breaking down to bother to see if the source of it all was dead on the ground with a knife sticking out of her. Althalus would have much preferred leaving to talking with this random man, but seeing as he was rooming with Mar and only she knew where the room was, he'd have to wait out here for her to reappear. The bottle of Lunar, with the rune to ensure that the flask never emptied of drink, was a reassuring pressure against his chest, hidden beneath his armour.
Leith raised an eyebrow at the man's question. It didn't exactly sound like he was doing any wishful thinking with that question. "I didn't notice anything," Leith said. "But then again, I was a little preoccupied in not losing my dinner. Being burned alive doesn't tickle, imagined or not. And to answer your first question, my name's Leith." He gave the man a once-over. The armour he wore looked like it allowed for easy movement. The dark coloration of it made it difficult to see him in the dim light of the hall. Leith had a feeling that the purpose of the armour was to allow the wearer the ability to move freely and to blend in in darker places. Something caught Leith's eye. The torchlight was reflecting off something on the man's hip. It looked like a mask. He frowned. It looked familiar to him.
"That mask, I think I may have seen it before." Leith tried to remember where he had seen it, but he couldn't remember anything. As he took a glance back at the dining hall to see if the Hydromancy demonstration had started, Leith saw a flurry of movement that made him stand up to get a better look. Near the head table, someone was being held in place by roots. Leith looked back at the man dressed in black. "It looks like someone tried to do something."
Althalus was disappointed. "Oh. A pity." Well, he hadn't really expected anything more when trying to spontaneously kill a master mage, but it had been worth the hope. At Leith's comment about burning alive, he gave a short laugh. "So I've heard. My name is Althalus." He only raised an eyebrow in response to Leith's once over. It wasn't strange for that to happen to him, but normally it happened when he met someone in the streets of his home as they looked for a weapon on him. Usually to make sure they could stab him easily, or to make sure he wasn't planning on stabbing them. It was only when he began to speak of the mask that Althalus resisted groaning. I'm going to leave this damn thing in the room for the rest of my time here. It's causing more trouble then it's worth. A brief smirk crossed his lips as he remembered Auriel. Well, not in the first instance, but it very well could have caused trouble if things hadn't turned out so...interesting.. As Leith informed him as to what all the commotion about, Althalus shrugged. "Good on them. Maybe they'll have more success than I did with trying to kill her." As long as Satori died, Althalus didn't particularly care about if the person who killed her lived after doing the deed. Unless it was himself, of course. He rather liked living.
"So, what Blood are you? My own is Noxomancy, Shadows to be specific." Althalus asked, more to occupy his mind than actual curiosity. It turns out, having a bad memory suddenly and forcibly shoved into your mind and twisted into a nightmare tended to stay on your mind longer than you would like to think about it. And since Mar had stolen his coin, he didn't have any meaningless thing to distract himself with. Thus, conversation with a complete stranger would have to do.
Leith kept an eye on the scene at the head table. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when the person was let go by the roots only to be grabbed by them again. He turned to Althalus when the man asked what blood he had. "I'm a Hydromancer. I'm looking forward to the demonstration, but I do wonder how the Necromancy teacher is able to do Hydromancy as well. A strange man, Uicle. He's nothing but a suit of armour and he can do both Necromancy and Hydromancy. Terrible luck, too." Leith looked back at the head table just in time to see the roots let go and the person walk away.
"It looks like that attempt was a failure as well. You may have to try again," Leith said to Althalus with a smile. His smile dropped when he felt his tiredness start to come back. Leaning against the wall with a sigh, he slid down to a sitting position. "I really hope that the Hydromancy demonstration comes first, I don't think I can stay awake for much longer." Silence filled the dining hall, causing Leith to look up. Uicle had stepped up and started talking. Leith stood back up. "Well, what do you know..." he trailed off. After a short explanation of Necromancy and Hydromany, cups suddenly lifted off the ground and were filled with drinks.
Leith spotted a cup that was hovering in place. As he stared at it, the cup shot off in his direction, causing some of the students that were in way to duck. It left the dining hall and stopped right if front of Leith. There was steam rising from the drink. Tentatively, Leith reached out and took the cup. He raised an eyebrow at Althalus, took a drink, and started coughing violently. He was caught off guard by the hotness of it. The steam was no indicator of how hot it was. Once his coughing fit was over, Leith gave Althalus a pained smile. "I guess that teaches me to not test the drink first before taking a drink. Gods, that was hot." He gave the cup a wary glance. It was definitely a sipping drink.
The assassin only gave a brief raise of his eyebrow at the description of Uicle. After Satori's demonstration, he really just didn't give a damn about the oddities of any of the other teachers. All he wanted to do, frankly, was find Mar and get out away from that crazy bitch as fast as possible. As it was, he'd have to wait for the Naga to make her way over to the hallway. At Leith's words about the second attempt on Satori's life failing, Althalus shrugged. He hadn't really expected anything to work. Not when everything was so spur of the moment rather than carefully planned. Sloppiness was a sure way to have something fail, no matter what you're doing. "From the sounds of it, there's only Necromancy and Hydromancy left to go. And if I was the this Uicle, I'd do both at once." As if on cue, Leith stood once more, watching what apparently was his Blood's demo. Soon enough, a goblet flew towards Leith, filled with a steaming liquid Althalus recognized. Leith himself clearly didn't. Smothering a smile, he watched the other man take a drink.
Sure enough, Leith began coughing and sputtering, unprepared. "A bit to spicy, is it?" Althalus asked mildly after Leith had recovered enough to talk. As the crowds began to pour out, Althalus stood up, and began searching for Mar. It shouldn't be too hard. Just find the only topless Naga that doesn't look like it was crossed with a fish at birth, and that would be the one he was rooming with. "It appears that the Demos have ended, and everyone who hasn't already left is heading to their dorms."
Leith gave Althalus a dry look at his remark before chuckling. "Yeah, just a little." The sounds of conversation started to pick up again, and students started to leave the dining hall. Leith looked at Althalus when he spoke again. "So it does. I believe I will be doing so as well. Good night, and I guess I'll be seeing you around." Or hearing you, he added silently. He smiled when he got an idea. Maybe he could use the buzzing in his head and make a game of it. When it got louder because Althalus got closer, he could speak and possibly freak him out. Pushing himself off the wall, Leith gave Althalus a friendly smile and started walking in the direction of his dorm, sipping at the drink in his hand as he did so.