Scribe of Thoth

Of Blood and Magic

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"Hmm? Oh no, it was the traps going off. There's a bunch of falling rocks trying to kill us," Max responded as innocently as could be, "I dropped something, relax." He got cut off by a sudden gust of wind, eliciting a grumpy huff and a shiver, "Better not fucking rain." He'd hope Ryner would've had the foresight to at least check the weather before making them tromp around in the wilderness, if not call in a bunch of mages to just wrangle the climate into submission. Could that even be done? Probably. One of Ryner's personal mages was an aeromancer for fuck's sake.

Max gave little regard to Eris' footing in the undergrowth, only bothering to steer him out of the way of obvious roadblocks like trees and heavy foliage. When they arrived in the clearing, the mage let out a groan. The increasingly vague directions were annoying enough, but now they had another riddle. The colors matched the blocks from earlier, at least, which meant they probably got the first riddle right.

"Hang on, there's another stupid riddle," Max called back to Eris while he investigated the scene. No directions were even given this time, they had no choice but to solve the puzzle. It seemed easy enough, the only problem was whether he was meant to read both riddles together or if they were each a separate solution to the puzzle. Considering there was a bullshit teambuilding aspect to this test, the right answer probably involved both of them.

"Okay, there's two... things with square-shaped holes in them and they match the colors of the blocks we grabbed earlier. Each one has an incantation or something written on it. According to the riddle, I think we have to put the blocks in, walk five steps backward, and say the incantations at the exact same time. Your word is... what the fuck, stratum pecan? Sratum Picon," He explained as he tugged the vampire in closer, moving to grab Eris by the shoulders and steer him right up to the yellow hole. "Let your arm go limp and I'll guide the block in with magic so we're both in sync, then we can count down from three or something for when we need to say the goofy gibberish. Sound good?"

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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"Fair enough," Max replied, picking up one of the blue blocks as Eris went for the yellow, "We could throw the rest in the bushes or something just to be a dick, but we should probably keep going." Wasn't really worth it to have the vague idea that someone somewhere might be getting inconvenienced by him, and like hell he was gonna stand around to wait for some poor sap to wander by just for a cheap laugh.

"West was..." He mentally retraced his steps while his finger swayed left and right indecisively, "That way, c'mon Eric." The mage tugged Eris along as he started walking again, tossing the block up and down with one hand as the other held a granola bar, its wrapper ripped open by its own aluminum lining. Probably a waste of magic, but Max was honestly far more concerned with affinity progress than some little cantrip that let him see in the dark, and any opportunity to practice was a good one. It would help if they would’ve told them how many of these stupid stops they’d have to make, though he guessed not having any reference to properly gauge one’s stamina was also a facet of the exam.

He missed the catch on one of his tosses, prompting him to quickly bend down and pick up the errant block. Eris definitely heard it hit the ground, the question was whether Max should bother coming up with an excuse for the infinitesimally small amount of face he'd lose for not catching a fucking hunk of wood. Eh, it wouldn't matter, if Eris said anything there were plenty of trees around to walk him into.

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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This was painful. Max could see it everytime he looked back; the gears turning behind Eris' carefully crafted facade. Earlier he was likely just floundering for something to say, but now he'd been offered an easy question. Was he caught off guard by the fact that Max had bothered to reply at all? Or was he picking that statement apart for doublespeak and veiled malice? It was three words, for fuck's sake, what happened to all that talk of trust?

Nice to know Anderson was an actual big name, though. That mage really wouldn't have any way of fucking him over now that the test was already underway, and it wasn't like he particularly cared about his grade here anyway if they decided to flunk him for "cheating", but it was better to avoid annoying complications if he could. He had no idea who Diana Ilma was, but he assumed it was some big name acting coach if Eris bothered mentioning her. Or he was desperately trying to plug his mentor so she could become a big name acting coach.

Eris' second comment actually got a smirk out of him - or maybe that was from the vampire stumbling, who could say? Good choice, Eric, Max was far more comfortable talking shit than discussing inane bits of his home life.

"Ryner had something to do with this. She wanted to make you guys squirm, for one reason or another. Maybe keep the new generation in line, maybe get a cheap laugh," Max theorized aloud, "As for the extra credit, I don't really care if we get it or not. If it's a pain in the ass- oh, look, a pain in the ass." He gave Eris' arm another sharp tug, increasing his pace as he spotted the random table in the middle of the woods.

"Another riddle. We got a table and two domes, one's got yellow blocks inside and the other's got blue blocks. There's some runes or some shit on them but fuck if I know what they mean," Max described rapidly, taking note of Eris' earlier whining about getting an inadequate visual description. "Riddle is 'Take what solace you each can find, that of others or that of mind, and keep it close as you trudge west to try and pass your first test.'. Direction's clear, so this is obviously part of the extra credit. You got any ideas or should we just keep going?"

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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Huh, Max wasn't expecting Eris to start tripping over his words. Either he didn't expect Max to go along with what he'd said or he was genuinely having a hard time with candidness. And he wonders why Max wouldn't find that trustworthy. This was all over the leech's public image anyway. What did he want Max to say? He'd behave in front of important people? Max wasn't even sure who important people were. Besides, trusting had nothing to do with liking. If Eris thought he'd avoid backtalk through fun little chats in the forest, he was severely underestimating Maxwell Alderman.

Not that his small talk was much better. Definitely not any better at putting Max in a good mood, at any rate. There didn't seem to be a lake around yet, unfortunately. He'd just have to bide his time.

"Do I... have any family?" He repeated, staring back at Eris incredulously. "Yes. I think everyone does." And that was as far as he was going to elaborate on that. Rough start, not that Max could really blame him; generally when you want someone to talk, you ask them about themselves. Unfortunately, Eris would've been better off talking about Harmonica or whatever the fuck his sister's name was if he wanted to play the family angle.

"Who's Emmett Anderson?" He asked abruptly, throwing the vampire a bone. Better to avoid pestering on sore subjects, even if watching Eris squirm was enjoyable for the time being. Plus, it would be nice to know who the fuck he name-dropped earlier in case it came back to bite him in the ass somehow.

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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Really Eris? Trust building? What were they supposed to do? He didn’t trust Eris to do anything outside of his own interests, which was fine as long as he was consistent, and Eris trusting him was a nonissue as far as Max was concerned. If anything, he preferred it if the leech was the tiniest bit uncertain whether he’d wake up every morning staked on a metal pole. Or worse, was this Eris’ attempt at small talk? It made sense, he was always on his phone, and now he only had Max to talk to.

"Do you just like hearing yourself talk or do you have something in mind? Because I was under the impression vampire is synonymous with untrustworthy," The mage grumbled, lessening the harsh tugging on Eris’ wrist to a gentle pull to conserve energy. "If it’s the former, maybe pick a conversation topic that won’t end with me shoving you in a lake."

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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"Eric, for your own sake, don't tell me to go around exacting revenge," Max muttered as an empty threat as he stared at the sign.

"There's cardinal directions marked on the top of the sign, so I think a compass to clock analogy was probably the intent. Then again, Professor Hot Wheels does seem to love fucking with me..." This was so stupid. How far apart even were the signs? How long did he need to wander before he'd figure out he went the wrong way? Whatever, he was wasting time sitting here, and he doubted some epiphany would strike either of them anytime soon.

"If I turned around, that'd only be noon to six. So... you're useless. We're going north." Figures Eris wasn't any good at riddles, despite vampires' insistence on always talking in them. This became significantly less fun very fast. Then again, if Eris wasn't going to be any help, Max really didn't have much of an incentive to treat him nicely. Decisions, decisions.

He glanced up at the sign for confirmation and trudged off, yanking his arm to drag Eris along with him. "Stay close if you don't wanna trip." To his credit, Max stepped a bit more heavyset than he normally would to give Eris some auditory clues on where he was going. The less magic he had to waste tugging him around, the better. Best case scenario, a vampire with a competent mage steps into range of his magic field and he can tail them back to the finish line. Worst case? He's gonna have to start walking Eris into trees to keep himself entertained while they wait for the time limit to expire.

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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Max shot Eris an unamused glare at the insinuation that Max would ever stoop to holding a vampire's hand, neglecting to notice at first that Eris would have no way of seeing his face.

"I'm specifically trying to avoid that. Now hold still," Max grumbled as he raised his own right arm to mirror the gesture. His vambrace disassembled itself and the components hovered over to Eris' forearm before putting themselves back together in a decidedly not gentle fashion. "There's your leash, don't fuck with it or I'm leaving you behind."

Of course, his plan to not have to touch Eris hit a snag when the mage told him they'd have to be in contact with each other during the teleportation. Whatever, it'd be a few seconds, tops. He grabbed Eris' arm as the mage approached, rolling his eyes through the stupidly long incantation. It sounded like a babbling toddler, for fuck's sake. Max clenched his hand a little too tightly around Eris when the spell's unpleasantness hit, immediately releasing his grip and staggering away once they were back in... whereever the fuck they were now.

"Fuck... Tiltoure."

Fuck teleportation. Fuck that mage. Fuck whoever thought up this asinine test. Fuck Eris too for good measure.

He peered up at the sign as the forest around him brightened, immediately furrowing his brow. Already with the fucking riddles?

"Turn noon to midnight to find your way beneath the moonlit sky, what the fuck does that even mean? It's already midnight!" He fumed before looking toward Eris and tugging the vampire toward him by the metal on his wrist. Least he could do was make himself useful, "What do you think? North? Like noon and midnight on a clock? Or... like, west, because thats the way the sun goes between noon and midnight?" He threw out his two best guesses, hoping the leech would make better sense of it than he did. Pretty faces and brains were often mutually exclusive, though, so he wasn't holding his breath.

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@Hero

World Trigger: Surge

I’m interested. World Trigger’s a great RP setting imo

Of Blood and Magic

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Max let out a snort as Eris thrusted the water bottle out like an idiot. Bringing extra was the right move, then. It clearly messed with him. Max eyed the pendant as the vampire tucked it into his shirt with interest - that could be fun to tug him around by. No, wait, it was their ticket out if they got lost; he couldn't risk breaking it. Not to mention, Eris was regaining his composure alarmingly fast. And he had a point, Cinnamon sounded like he was about to angry cry and the rest of the leeches further away seemed to have varying stages of grief written all over their faces.

"We're like five feet from all the nobles. I have no idea who anyone else here is," Max answered as he surveyed the area a second time. He had no idea what Eris' idea of someone important was, and there was certainly no one around that he recognized aside from Cinnamon and Astronomy.

"Hold out your right arm." With the pendant out of the question, he'd need something else to tug the leech around by, because he'd sooner tell the Queen his honest opinion of her to her face than skip through a dark forest holding hands with Eris. And as amusing as it would be to watch Eris fumble around guided by voice alone, Max did want to get out of the forest sometime in the next few hours.

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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Aaron was already resigned to his fate, which meant teasing him wouldn’t be any fun. What a downer. On the other hand, Max would have a good few hours of dicking Eris around to keep him entertained, or however long it would take for the novelty to wear off.

When the vampire actually arrived, Max wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or amused. Eris was already cracking and the game hadn’t even started yet. At least he had enough pride not to grovel.

”Seven,” He picked a number arbitrarily in a bored voice. The leech’s saving grace here was that Max didn’t want to trounce through a dark forest any more than Eris did, so he was at least incentivized to get the test done quickly. Not that he really had a problem with failing, but like hell he was going to sit out in the cold just to prolong Eris’ discomfort slightly.

Max held out the extra water bottle he grabbed, pressing it against Eris’ chest. ”Be a dear and carry this, will you?” Huh, maybe he should get him to grovel; this was fun. ”And try to keep it together, Eric, there’s people watching.” The nobles were right there, including whoever Eris was confronting earlier - oh, pale girl’s vampire; he could’ve sworn that was a woman - so it was probably in the vampire’s best interest to wait until after they were dumped in the middle of the woods to have his dramatic breakdown. Let it never be said Maxwell Alderman was inconsiderate.

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@Hero