Pseudo Stygian

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Viola. Viola. Hmm, Viola. Yes, actually, Lyra wouldn't mind being called that. She liked it, especially when it's Zeke doing it. The way he said her new name was kind, and the way he keeps looking at everything, it's kind of cute. "Ooh, well. This place is nice already. Quiet," Lyra said. She looked around at the perfect green grass and up to the blue sky. "It's pretty empty, though, yeah. The forest?"

She gave it some thought. The forest last night was dark and foggy and wet. It might be better now, but she wasn't very keen on returning to a place so enclosed after seeing the open sky. Besides, she could still remember the water in her lung...

"No, I've just been there last night. It's not a very nice place," she said. Her violin played a faint, depressing chord, as if it corroborate her. "The town then! I haven't seen a lot of it, but it looks very pretty from up in the academy grounds. It's not that big either, so it shouldn't be too noisy?." She pulled at his hand. "Let's go!"

@Regitnui

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Hahaha! I have now acquired internet in my room! No more will I be held back by mobile data quota, no more will I be fooled by the campus's inconsistent connection. A whole internet is mine all mineee!

I should be able to post more frequently now unless someone knock down and run off with my modem.

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"So you're a Zeke," Lyra repeated. "And a Zeke takes pictures with his camera and paint with light." She frowned. "I don't know about that. I know someone called Zeke back home. He's a shepherd. He's got a flock of sheep with him and he really loves them." She looked in awe as Zeke started to paint on the air above them. The picture didn't look like anything, just shapes and colours in the air, like clouds in a clear sky. Like sheep. The Zeke from Lyra's hometown loved his sheep to bits, even though he sometimes has to force them to move where they should go. When this Zeke was bumped around and had to erase his picture, he started pouting in the way that reminded Lyra of those sheep being shepherded around the plains.

She laughed merrily. "Now you're looking like a sheep yourself. Maybe I should just call you Sheep." She gently pulled him away from the crowds and to a quieter corner. "Right, I'll just run up and grab my viola, err, violin, and I'll be back soon, okay?"

Lyra ran quickly up the stairs, humming a bit along the way.

---

Her room was empty and just exactly as it was when they went out last night. ShiZhen was nowhere around; it didn't even seem like she was there today at all. Lyra briefly wondered where she could be. The last time she'd seen her she had half her legs frozen in the middle of the river, after all.

In any case, her violin was right there on the table where she left it. She picked it up and made her way downstairs.

---

She came back to the foyer humming the same tune she started when she came up, although it had improved somewhat. It took Lyra a while to realise that her violin was singing along, although faintly. She touched the strings and realised that they were, surprisingly, still. It was the small slice of air around them that was vibrating in the same way a string would. Odd, yet fitting. She's an air elementalist, wasn't she? Though it was curious why the sound would only make itself around the violin strings.

"Ooh, yeah, Zeke!" Lyra spun around to meet her friend. She'd somehow walked all the way past him. "Let's go?"

@Regitnui

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Just moved into the college dorm and there wouldn't be any internet until next week. What madness. At least I can still catch some free wifi in the lobby.

Lyra gonna follow Zeke wherever he goes, so whether he wants to get to the dorm rightaway so she can pick up her violin, or if he wants to take the long way around, I'll take whatever you roll with, @Regitnui.

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The blue dot! He made a blue dot in the air again!

Whatever thought that train was going was stopped by the hug. "Ooh! Yes, Hi!" Lyra stammered. It was surprising, but it was also really pleasant in its thoughtlessness. Hugging your friends doesn't need much consideration, does it? She hugged him back. "My violin? I... well, it should be in my room, I think. I don't think I had it with me last night. I was trying to let it dry some more after the fountain exploded, and after I crashed into the water elemental..." She sneezed, feeling a bit of a cold creeping in. "I kept having bad luck with water yesterday. Good thing I didn't bring it to the night run. Anyway. If we're just wandering. We can pass by the dorm and I can run to my room and pick it up."

It took a while before Lyra noticed that the boy hadn't told her his name, but had given her one. Viola? "Okay. If I'm Viola you're-" He was handling a camera. But viola's the wrong instrument, so he's gotta be the wrong light-catcher-thing too. "Mirror. No. Quartz. Or Crystal. Silicon? The thing glasses are made of? Quartz sounds nice. Hmm." She hummed a bit to herself. "Might be the wrong direction to take. Ink? Picasso? Canvas?" It occurred to Lyra that she wasn't very good at this. And then she remembered that he'd also mentioned some other names. "Who's Yellow and Icy?"

@Regitnui

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When Lyra opened her eyes, and blinked at the light, she knew for sure that she was dry and standing in a corridor. For a second there, she felt like she was still in the water, being tossed around by the waves. It was odd how the sensation wouldn't left her even now.

There was a clicking sound, and after Lyra had found her footing again, she looked up and saw the boy with the camera. He seemed oddly fascinated by the corridor and the door behind her. Wait, was he taking a picture of her? What, without even saying hello? Is that rude? Lyra wasn't sure if it was rude. She'd done things like that and sometimes people say it's rude. Either way he didn't even seem to notice her and just went on his way down the corridor.

"Hey!" Lyra called. She made her way down to him. "Hi! You're the light-painter! You're ... Sorry, what's your name again?"

She glanced at the camera in his hand. A light-painter who also captures light! Interesting!

@Regitnui

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Lyra dreamed of water. They were snakes, clear as a river in the mountain. First they were tiny, like ribbons twining around her legs, then they got bigger and fatter and they become a swirling lake that covered the floor. They rose, twising around her, submerging her little by little. She knew she had to get away but found that she'd forgotten how to move. The water rose to her nose and she realised she couldn't breath. It rose to her eyes and as she closed them, she realised she couldn't see. But her ears were open, and the water was singing.

When Lyra opened her eyes again, she was dry. Mostly. She coughed, and found it was easier to breathe than expected. Her dreams were already running away from her, which, surprisingly herself, she was disappointed with. The song that the water was singing was lovely, even in a near-death sort of way, and there wouldn't be any chance of hearing it again. Humming what little traces of it she could retain, she pulled herself up to a sitting position on the bed.

She was in a hospital.. no, an infirmary. What happened last night? Water. Snakes. Popsicle. ShiZhen! No, she's probably okay. The bed next to her was worn. She might have woken up earlier and left. Lyra's eyes were drawn to the paper on the table. A notice. Classes will start at midday. What classes? It took her mind a while to bridge her memories together.

Oh, right. The elemental academy. Elementals. Flying women. Exploding fountain. River is a giant snake. That two teachers on the tree... Interesting.

After she finally sorted everything in her mind (she wouldn't count on it lasting, though), she talked to the nurse and left the clinic, still humming the song her sleeping mind had made up. It would still be a while before the first class at midday, so what should she do? Go back to her room and unpack? Pick up her horn? Her violin? Take a walk around- oh hey! Isn't that the light-painter boy, down the corridor?

Lyra thought of saying hello, but then she had to stop when a headache was crawling up to her head. Last night was still taking its toll.

@Regitnui

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Shoooot I almost forgot about RPG. Anybody know how to, like, have the site email you if there's a notification? I'm a bumbling forgetful idiot sometimes.

@Pseudo Stygian, willing to have Lyra run into Zeke on one of his wanderings?

@Regitnui

Sure, let's make some noise... lightplay... fun, yeah, fun!

Also, about the current IC post, what's the flyer next to ShiZhen and Lyra?

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I think the Night Run was mostly fine. But yeah, there's some aimless wandering too. There's not a lot to go on with in a dark forest, and the idea that this is a race clear-goal challenge thing kind of make us unsure about making stumbleblocks up? I think?

Lots of interesting things happened though! Lyra gonna have plenty of things to think about in the morning (along with a cold and a concussion, probably).

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Whelp, Lyra and ShiZhen are still in deep water right now. If the run's wrapping up I'll just let @Regitnui decide whether we make it pass that river or if we drown are inexplicably saved by ~mysterious circumstances~.