SilverPaw

World Beyond the Lexicon

Ankaa Liu

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Interactions:@Blu@Matsuri@Chezka

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Ankaa shuffled onto the train with the others, marveling at the interior. She had only heard of trains, but hadn’t ever actually seen one. It was quite something to take in. She strolled along the carriage, noting all the little details. Midstride, she took out her journal, making some quick notations and sketches at the back of it.

Involved as she was in her activity, she missed much of the ongoing commotion, startled out of her reverie only when their instructor suddenly yelled at them to sit down. Liu blinked at the order, noticing that most of the other students were already sitting down. She joined the table seating Sanhan, Kress, Blumenthal, and Misaiya. Mandi was pestering the Lady of Thorns, but before Ankaa could intervene, Misaiya was the one to put an end to it.

Shrugging, Ankaa stared out of the window for the remained of their journey, captivated by the view. She stopped only to eat, finishing her home-made lunch. However, she did order some things to refill her lunch-box with, just in case she’d need it for later. She studied her journal, observed the students, stared outside the window, and even napped a bit to spend the time.

When they finally arrived, it was to an abandoned station outside of Genelogia. Ankaa actually appreciated the rural site they journeyed across, the nature giving her a feeling of home, even if it was fairly different. However, they soon noticed an odd sight – trees yellowed and reddened with late autumn. The problem being, it wasn’t autumn.

Ankaa frowned at the foliage, trying to get a read on the mana. But she couldn’t see anything strange. Subtle. Powerful? Their professor informed them that it was the work of magic, possibly temporal, but even he had difficulties figuring it out. An experiment? Or a natural occurrence? The martial artist would sooner bet on the former, but it wouldn’t do to fixate on one idea, especially not when the clues were so scant.

Liu was deep in thought as they walked. The village was surrounded by the autumn trees, and Ankaa bit her lip. Not a good sign. And lo’ and behold – as soon as she thought that, the appearance of the physically-altered villager confirmed the suspicion. Is that…some sort of magical tumor? A curse? I’ve never seen an affliction like that…

She may not have seen it, but Ankaa was determined to get a closer look. “Professor, I would like to inspect that person and his malady up close,” she murmured.

She looked at the other students. “We should find out how many are like this and if anyone spared of that knows anything,” she said to them as much as she did to Nyx. Then, her gaze was drawn to two specific students she thought might be able to help the situation most directly.

“Yvaine, does this seem like something you could heal?” she queried, working on the assumption that interfering and attempting to cure the condition they observed was the best course of action.

“And Blumenthal, since your magic has to do with plants, would you say this is likelier to have originated from a mage or from a natural source?”

She then turned to Nyx, as another question had occurred to her. “Professor, do you sense the same temporal magic interference as you had before, sir, or is there something else involved as well?”

Finally, Ankaa’s restless gaze wandered to the dazed villager. She was concerned how he might react to the presence of strangers – would he be aggressive or would he not notice at all? Perhaps he would even act almost normal. She’d have to observe carefully, but as soon as she had the teacher’s permission, she’d approach the man – unless the villager came over himself, that was.

Scion: Children of Light

Mm, no. I decided I have enough RPs on my plate, and I wasn't really feeling a SOL focused one. Thanks for the notification though.

World Beyond the Lexicon

I'll see if I can make a post in the next few days. I franky haven't cared much for the train arc so far.

I, the Demon King, Will Summon My Own Damned Heroes!

Asteria

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Asteria listened to the conversation between the three goblins, noting that interspecies cooperation was as difficult as she may have imagined for natives. The mention of a Boss and sacrifices worried her, because if the leader was a necromancer, then Ed was just about to deliver a corpse for his use straight to the doorstep. Ah, well, hopefully the force of living vengeful Myrminors would come soon enough to take care of the bandits…

Asteria carefully observed the layout. There was one entrance on the bottom and one exit near the clifftop. There were two more enemies on the balcony, but it didn’t look like many more bandits *could* fit into the dugout cliffside. She quickly used Monster Analysis II on the human and the archer Hobgoblin, intending to gather information about them.

She wasn’t about to act against two enemies alone, though, especially not when it would notify the others, and soon returned the way she came. When she arrived at their meeting point, Ed was already back. “Oh, hey. I take it you did your part already. It would be just our luck if our plan backfired…I’ve heard mention of the Boss being able to use some kind of power based on sacrifice. For your sake, I do hope it has nothing to do with the undead. Also, besides those three, I’ve seen two more enemies up top; one human and another hobgoblin,” Asteria made her report.

“Listen, I’m just going to try and make contact with the beast. If it seems like I’m about to be noticed, I’ll return. If you hear a commotion, you better hide.” That said, she went fire right along the fence, up until she reached the cage’s location. She dug a tunnel right to the side of it, so that the hole and her entry were less likely to be seen. She was much more careful this time, as the trio was a bit closer than when she’d been entering to the left. Once done, she wriggled her way through, and warily stretched a paw into the cage with the beast. As soon as it made contact with her, she was prepared to use Telepathy to send a full blast of positive soothing emotion its way, to try and establish that she was not an enemy nor a snack. If all went to plan, she wouldn’t even loose a paw to the endeavor.

Scion: Children of Light - Bronze Age Fantasy Magic Academy

I'm wondering how you intend to handle the Telepathy branch of magic. It includes the kind of powers that are usually iffy if not outright restricted in RPs (especially the mind domination); they're powerful on paper but tend to be rather nerfed in practice (for due reasons). Even illusions can be difficult to pull off, since there's the question when and how can they be recognized by others.

World Beyond the Lexicon

Ankaa Liu

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The two weeks of training under Nyx had been pretty standard stuff; physical training and meditation. Ankaa was quite successful at both, and didn’t particularly feel satisfied with just that. Instead, she contemplated all the spells, techniques, and strategies she’d seen her classmates exhibit at their first (and hopefully not also last) matches. Liu thought about how she’d match against each, and came to the unfortunate conclusion that there were not many she saw herself winning against for sure. There were only some she found it likely she’d get a draw against, and a fair number she admitted she’d probably lose to.

So, she also spent time to train on her own, perfecting her existing techniques and spells, and thinking of potential new ones she could learn and implement. Their lectures focused on the history of magic and mana; some thing she’d already known, and some she hadn’t yet – Ankaa listened to them all attentively, however, and made careful notes of the information new to her.

At some point in this period at the academy, she visited the Arcane painters with Kress and Misaiya. She’d discovered that the life-like paintings didn’t give exact information, but based on what she heard, she though that perhaps the things could be refined to provide more detailed knowledge on a painted person or even a painted location. However, she did not feel like dedicating years – because it would surely take as much – to such a pursuit. Nonetheless, drawing was a hobby of hers, and she’d not spent as much time using paints so far. Seeking to rectify that, Ankaa joined the club. It was more so of a leisurely activity for her than anything else, but everyone needed down-time, even her.

When she was just thinking that her current schedule was becoming an established routine, professor Nyx informed them that he’d managed to procure a mission for them. They were to apprehend two thieves and secure the artifact they’d stolen from their academy. The notion that all thirteen of them would be sent to seek for two thieves was a bit strange, but understandable; they were inexperienced, so the numerical advantage would do them good.

What Ankaa worried most about was that she’d not heard their instructor mention any sort of strategy to them yet, and she didn’t know if he already had something in mind and would fill them later on or if it would be all left to them. If just the thirteen of them had to come up with and agree on a plan…Liu sensed it would end very, very badly. They didn’t know one another well enough for one, and despite having a class representative, it was doubtful that all students would listen to Kiara. Never mind that it was an unknown how good of a strategist the other girl was.

The day of the mission dawned on them. Ankaa roused when she heard Caelum getting ready on the other side of the room – after her first day in their dorm, she’d had to switch to where Eris slept, since it was apparently a girl side, boy side kind of situation – and stood up not long after him. She made herself a simple breakfast, ate, and went to the courtyard for a short training session. After returning to her dorm, she saw that the other occupants had already left. She took some time to make a lunchbox for herself, then added it to the rest of the packed essentials – her journal, some money, a spare set of clothing, a packet of dried food, a matchbox – and after sheathing her sabre at her hip, left for the station.

She travelled at a light jog, marveling at the unknown land. When she finally arrived, a good number of students were already there – perhaps they’d come so early due to nerves or eagerness. Meanwhile, Ankaa could admit that crowds such as the one waiting for one train or another did not suit her. Still, she’d made it well in time, and approached her classmates. Liu simply nodded at some of them in greeting, then stood at one of the more secluded corners unobtrusively, and leaned against a wall. While waiting, she listened to the conversation of the other Class-C students, and watched the general goings-on through half-lidded eyes.

World Beyond the Lexicon

How do you envision the Arcane Paints event going?

@ERode

<Snipped quote by ERode>
They should take a group photo painting at the end, that’s for sure. Maybe show off the hidden side of the club, see what eldritch horrors pop up when you combine magic paint with the avant-garde. Or the enterprising doujin artists trying to make their waifus real…

@samakama

Sounds good. Ankaa would pester them with questions....she might have joined on a temporary basis, though I'm not sure she'd still be a part of it after two weeks a week.

UNTOLD STORY: Final Dungeon

If I manage to come up with something satisfactory...it's been a dearth of ideas so far for me though, so...Eh, we'll see.

World Beyond the Lexicon

Ankaa Liu

_{Interactions: @samakama}

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When the matches were all completed, Ankaa went to line up with the others, waiting orderly for the professor’s proclamations. She raised a brow when he quipped that he couldn’t expel them all. Does he expect us all to be at the Miracle Seven’s level? she wondered. On the one hand, it would be helpful if he pushed them to accomplish more, but on the other, high expectations like that led to exactly the radical decisions Class C witnessed next.

All but 13 of them were expelled. If all he wanted to see was mana control, why did he have us fight in the first place? she shook her head in disbelief. She’d enjoyed it, and found it to be as good a practice as ever, but if their instructor wasn’t even going to bother to give out commentary…

Well, she sighed. At least I know that expulsion results in a return of one’s tuition. That was a bit of an odd point, admittedly, since she’d thought this place was all about personal responsibility. Besides, if expelled students regained their tuitions, would the same be done for those not managing to graduate? Mm, doesn’t matter right now, she decided. She was in for now, so she didn’t need think of the ‘what ifs’. It was a shame for those dismissed students, but such was this institution.

Someone also raised an issue with Misaiya, and having observed their fight, Ankaa could understand those doubts. However, the professor was correct; strategy was essential in warfare. Admittedly, she’d not looked at the matches as a genuine battle, but it was a valid interpretation. One that professor Nyx seemed to favour, apparently.

She also contemplated the ‘sever the dead limb’ phrase. Certainly, if a person’s leg was gangrened, it was often best to simply cut it off. But could whole humans really be talked about this? How could one showing tell the professor that those students weren’t effective enough to be included? Or what if any of the Festival’s events were geared to including a larger number of students? Ultimately, it was irrelevant to speculate, however.

Ankaa blinked at Nyx’s parting inspirational sentence. Even flowers…But is the warren wasteland Class C or the academy as a whole? From what she gathered from their instructor, she wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter; her respected very few, and probably wasn't impressed by anyone below his ability or status.

Liu turned to go to the dorms, and was heading out of the courtyard when she was stopped by Misaiya. The agreement to go see the arcane painters’ club had honestly somewhat slipped her mind – or rather, Ankaa had assumed they would not be going after today’s exertions. As such, she nodded when Misaiya had approached her about the matter. “Agreed. Some other time, then,” she replied.

It took a few minutes longer than she’d thought to get to the right dorm, since the hallways and rooms were so very drably similar – the plaques with their names the only unique characteristic of this particular stretch of walls and doors. Ankaa smiled when she saw that she’d room with Misaiya, someone she was already familiar with. When she entered the room, she was bemused to find him asleep on the floor, while her other male roommate – Caelum – was napping on the couch.

He’s definitely going to get a crick in his neck, she thought as she gazed at the long-haired boy. She seemed so soundly asleep that she really didn’t want to wake him up, however. He won’t feel weird about it if I carry him, right? Since there was no one to answer her doubts, she simply approached Misaiya, crouched down next to him, scooped him up in a princess carry, and heaved him up with a huff. Ankaa walked the short way to the bedroom, and deposited him in one of the beds as gently as she could. His body still thumped a bit against the mattress, and Misaiya ended up sprawled on it a bit awkwardly, but at least he wasn’t on the floor anymore.

That done, Liu took a few minutes to stretch her own body, then went to fetch her own belongings. She had but a meagre bag of possessions; some spar clothing, a sewing kit, and a bunch of studying and writing materials. The martial artist missed the intended function of the wooden partitioning, however, as she simply settled herself on the same side as she’d put Misaiya, simply claiming the empty bed next to him. She set her bag against the bed’s frame, then settled in for a nap herself.

World Beyond the Lexicon

@samakama Mind if I have Ankaa carry Misaiya to his bed?