WeepingLiberty

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_{Mentions: Maddie @Achronum and Victor @ReusableSword}

Amaris hummed to herself quietly as she scooped up the remainder of her notes and packed them away. She had spent the night drifting excitedly from one class to the next, absorbing as much information as her attention span would allow. Between her Culinary Arts in the early evening and her late course of Myth and Mystery, Amaris found herself gleefully invested in her course work. There was, however, one unfortunate sore spot to an otherwise delightful schedule; Dark Age Economy: Rise of Favors. She had thought she lucked out this time around with the lack of Sinnenodel presence in her day, but the Countess couldn’t escape the noble forever it seemed. Still, she was determined to maintain as much of a courteous distance as she could for the sake of her partner, at least.

Looking around, Amaris realized that most of her classmates had already filed out of the room to enjoy the remainder of their time. She hadn’t really planned anything in particular for once classes had let out, so the Countess made the decision to try and catch the end of Maddie’s final course of the night. The mage’s night was only extended by an additional 45 minutes, but Amaris thought it might be nice for her partner to find her waiting up for her once it finally let out. The young vampire subtly picked up the pace out of excitement as she began making her way to the other building.

Had her excitement not distracted her, the crackling of static emanating from her bag might have spooked the Countess, however, it wasn’t until she heard Victor’s voice that she slowed to a halt and looked around her. She couldn’t see the Count anywhere but he sounded so close when he spoke. And what was this about a…

“Oh, the radio!” She exclaimed to herself, fishing through her bag to retrieve the device. The Countess fumbled with the device as she continued on her way to check in with Maddie, looking up every other moment just to be sure she was moving in the right direction.

Over and over the walkie talkie turned in her hands. What were her instructions again? There was only one button she was meant to interact with, right? Steadying herself, Amaris pressed her thumb into the button.

“Okay, that’s the button… Ummm, Amaris to Victor? Is this thing working? ……… Oh, uh, over!” The Countess managed to stumble her way through something concerning the device. The single button was easy enough to understand but Victor clearly understood that there was some kind of etiquette when speaking through the box, and the best she could do was parrot it back to him where she could. Shaking her head, she gripped the radio close to her as she hurried on toward her destination.

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_Mentions:

The Countess beamed down at her creation, hands lifted away from the sandwich at the professor’s call. There was a part of her that was still questioning whether she had made the right selection of ingredients her second time around, but there wasn’t anything that she could do now except to present the dish to her partner and hope for the best. As carefully as she could manage, Amaris wrapped the sandwich up and prepared it for delivery according to the instructions left out for the students. She found herself imagining what Maddie’s reaction was going to be when she presented her with the hand made ‘meal’, seeing as she had been waiting to surprise the mage once the classes had actually started. While sooner than she expected, she was still very much looking forward to the reveal.

Amaris was quick to tidy up her own station and return her cart to its home in the cooler, impatient to get a move on toward the lunch space where her partner should be. However, she was not so rushed as to forget to thank her professor before gathering up her belongings and exiting the room. The halls were packed with students trying to fight their way to their destination, whether it be the main food space like the majority or a more secluded spot away from prying eyes.

Despite the hordes of people before her, the Countess continued to scan the halls with the small hope of catching sight of her mage. It wasn’t necessarily a regular occurrence to run into her along the way, but with the new schedules it wasn’t entirely off the table either.

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_Mentions:

This type of tomato? There are more than one? Amaris thought as surprise lit up her face. Perhaps another version might have been a better fit flavor-wise, however, the more Nasir spoke on the subject, the less she agreed with her own assumption. She could understand the clashing textures, as the slices had been rather soft and saturated with water… but how was she to know about the acidity? The deliciously red food hadn’t given her any indications that it would be such a counterproductively bold ingredient.

Needless to say, the Countess was rather disappointed in her failure. Her expression spoke clearly to her frustrations, but she kept her concerns to herself and instead refocused on the advice the professor was supplying her. It wasn’t as if the ingredient was a bad one, it had simply been a poor choice when paired with her other selections. To combat the softness of the ingredient she should have used something crisp or crunchy, which bacon or lettuce was recommended for. After a moment’s deliberation, Amaris nodded her head in understanding and smiled her acceptance of her new instruction.

“I appreciate your guidance sir, I will certainly try to make full use of these notes.” Turning back to her station, Amaris stepped up to the plate and cast her failed creation aside. Rather than starting with the bread, same as she had the first time, the Countess instead decided to pull the tomato, lettuce, and bacon before her on the table. From what she understood of the ingredients, they should have worked fine on their own, but something still felt lacking. There had to be something else she could add that would compliment the combination the instructor had suggested, but what was left for her to work with? Without the peanut butter and slices of banana, Amaris was left with just three options: jelly, mayo, and mustard.

“A spread could tie the flavors together without drastically altering the texture… If I pick the right one.” She mused softly to herself. But which one was the right one?

The Countess carefully slid the jelly to sit among the triad before leaning in to take in the scent. All she was met with, however, was the overwhelmingly sweetness of whatever fruit the jelly had been made of. If the smell alone was capable of drowning out the rest of the ingredients, Amaris assumed it would do the same with the taste. That left her with only two options: the mayo and the mustard. She repeated the same process with each of the spreads, but neither stood out as being particularly inappropriate for the selection. Still, she had to choose something. After a bit of back and forth, Amaris finally settled on the more subtle of the two options and set to work carefully constructing the sandwich she would be presenting to Maddie.

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_Mentions:

Allergies. Huh, so that’s what they’re called. I should consult Maddie’s health report and do a little research just to be on the safe side. Amaris thought to herself as she imagined all of the possible consequences the professor had just described. How bizarre that the very thing the mortals needed to sustain themselves could also kill them with no warning. Leave it to nature to have such a twisted sense of humor.

There would be time later to ponder such things, though, as Nasir ushered the lesson along into their task for the day: the sandwich. Such creativity could only have been made possible by mortal-kind’s limited lifespan. There would be little to no need to seek out such extreme shortcuts, especially when it came to one’s food source, without the ever-looming presence of an existential expiration date. They always seemed to be in such a big rush and somewhere down the line it had resulted in the creation of what would be her very first culinary assignment. In theory, the goal was a simple one: put complementary items between two slices of bread. Easy… or so Amaris thought until Nasir wheeled his cart over for all to see.

One quick scan of the available foodstuffs was all it took to remind the countess why she was here. Amaris failed to recognize quite a few of the provided ingredients and had no idea where to start with combinations. Alas, it seemed that Nasir intended the students to approach the challenge via trial and error. With small plaques to act as their guides, the professor released the students to go about solving the culinary riddle.

“I suppose the best place to start would be the bread, right?” She spoke to herself softly as she set to work. Of all the available ingredients, bread was probably the one she had no problem with identifying. With her bases in place, it was time to figure out what she was going to put in the middle. A quick glance at several of the plaques didn’t appear to reveal a whole lot about the nutritional values so it would appear the trick to these sandwiches really did lie in the appeal. But what, then, paired well with one another? Did the textures of the ingredients matter? Or just the flavor profiles? Amaris spent the next couple of minutes reading up on and poking at the various items, sniffing cautiously at a few as she weighed her options.

At last, the countess was struck with inspiration, her hands moving quickly but gently to carefully construct the sandwich. The last thing she needed was to ruin the presentation because she couldn’t be delicate. When all was as she wanted it to be, Amaris took a step back and admired her work, excited to see what Nasir thought of her first attempt: A peanut butter and banana with sliced tomato sandwich.

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_Mentions:

If there was anything the Countess could gather upon her entrance, it was that she had absolutely no idea what it was she had been expecting of her new class environment. As Amaris stepped through the door, she shuffled somewhat to the side to allow passage to others, and surveyed the room curiously. To her, the space was incredibly bright, though for what reason she did not know. Whatever light was present in the room was only intensified by the white of the walls, reflected off of the uniform metallic surfaces filling the space only to be bounced back once more. Aside from that, however, there wasn’t much to the room at all. The most the space had going on were the various safety precautions set in place throughout the room, ready to be called upon within an instance. She supposed the sight of such extensive preparations made her feel better… until she realized she hadn’t actually been concerned previously.

Amaris’ eyes continued to scan the perimeter until they rested upon a familiar sight at the front of the teaching space. A small smirk tugged at her features as she tracked the vertical movements of a peculiarly spiked fruit, eyes shifting ever so slightly to the side to confirm her suspicions. Nasir ibn Tariq; the pineapple man. Well, if nothing else, my time here will be interesting. She thought to herself, now finally making her way further into the room. Approaching one of the prep stations, Amaris gently plucked a piece of paper up and turned it over to inspect it. Written on the one side was what appeared to be someone’s name, likely indicating an assigned space for each of the students in attendance. A quick glance around confirmed similar papers set at each of the stations, now all she had to do was find hers.

Making her way to the front of the room, Amaris glanced over one shoulder and then the other before spotting her name nearby. “Good to see you again, sir.” She spoke on the way to her designated area, carefully flipping the card name down.

It wasn’t long after she took up her spot that Nasir started the ball rolling with class. In his very usual fashion, the elder went off on a long-winded tangent concerning the concept of cooking and what it meant for one’s mage partner. Things were starting to seem far more complicated than Maddie made them seem back at the dorms. Amaris had expected the application of flame and heat, but she was not aware that such minor missteps could be so catastrophic. How were you supposed to know what was supposed to be set on fire and what shouldn’t be? Were mortals all born with this knowledge equipped for their survival from the very start? The countess would have to remember to ask her partner about it at meal time.

She snapped back to attention as she sensed a slight shift in the importance of the instructor’s words. Amaris was far from a fan of fire, preferring to give it as wide a berth as possible when possible. While she would have to get over some of that to get through the class, and to learn a skill she considered important to her continued partnership with Maddie, there was little doubt that she’d be one to follow Nasir’s instructions to the letter. With the safety instructions out of the way, there was a moment for questions before moving on to the topic of the day. She couldn’t recall any questions in particular about food, but all the talk of potentially harming her partner did have the countess concerned.

“I had heard a rumor that mortals sometimes have dangerously adverse reactions to certain foods even when they are prepared properly. Is this true?”

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_{Mentions: Benjamin @Bert Macklin and Victor @ReusableSword}

Amaris stared at the device expectantly, chuckling a bit to herself as it crackled to life once again; this time with Victor’s voice. He had advice, or instructions rather, to share with the Count Eve but there was something about it that sounded as if he was pulling some kind of practical joke. The first part was clear enough to her. It was a simple suggestion on how to hold the device when trying to speak, but it was the end that caught her a little off guard. He spoke words she understood and yet their context was clearly evading her. ‘How copy?’ Did he suddenly forget how sentences were structured? And what was this about copying? The professor never mentioned anything about such a feature. It was meant to be a simple device… right?

It didn’t seem like she was destined for an answer, however, as the Dame recalled the room’s attention to herself. Despite it only feeling like mere moments, the end of their class had already arrived. Amaris was prepared to return the mystical object but it seemed Dame Patel had other plans for her little chickadees. She instructed the students to keep them for the time being and had assigned them to practice contacting the receiving devices until their next meeting. The Countess shifted her eyes towards each of her group mates one by one. While she was able to contain any particular thought from reaching her face, it was still pretty easy to infer her hesitance.

It could be worse… At least Victor appears to have some kind of idea of what he’s doing. If we run into any issues I’m sure he could help us figure it out. She thought to herself as she carefully packed the item away. Now that they were dismissed, Amaris had a moment to herself to consider the rest of her night. The Countess knew none of her group’s schedules which meant figuring out a moment to practice with the walkie talkie might come down to sheer luck… but that was an issue for another time. For the time being, all Amaris had to do was figure out how to spend her break between classes. The allotted fifteen minutes was often used to check in on the progress of their mages, or further social ties, unfortunately for her neither activity was of interest to her at the moment. Instead she allowed herself the luxury of a leisurely walk toward her next lecture.

When it came to the culinary arts, Amaris was like an estranged relative that surely belonged yet still felt out of place. Sure, she could appreciate the many savory scents that wafted from the kitchens around meal times, but that was about as far as it went with her. The Countess knew how to brew a decent cup of tea, and had even worked to learn a couple of different methods of preparing the morning’s coffee. Beverages, however, were far from proper sustenance for a mortal, or at least that was what she had been told.

As she drew ever closer to her destination, Amaris’ thoughts had strayed into considerations for what oddities might be in store for her this time. At this point, she might have been relieved to find a pineapple awaiting her at the door. At least that would be semi-familiar.

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_{Interacting with: Benjamin @Bert Macklin and Victor @ReusableSword}

Victor was first to offer insight into the device, seemingly already familiar with its purpose. It was a rather textbook explanation, and paired with a personal experience to him that she couldn’t relate to, but it somehow lacked what she needed to fully grasp what the object was. He had added what sounded like a limitation of distance, which seemed like a rather important detail to know, but ‘interpersonal communication’ seemed so… redundant. It defined without explanation which, with how swift he was to follow up into his own off topic request. For a man training her to be patient and focused, he seemed to be lacking quite a bit for this particular subject.

The Dame took the inquiries in stride, addressing each concern individually until she had covered everything that she thought she needed to. Her detailed response had captivated an eager Countess, Amaris listening intently to every word describing the potential for the device. So it was something that was used primarily in groups instead of with an individual, although it didn’t rule that type of communication out entirely either. There was also the matter of physical distance playing a role in the device’s function. From the sound of things, it’s primary use was in coordinating group efforts, whatever those efforts may be, and to be as accessible a device as possible. Suited to vampires and all types of mortals? What a wondrous mechanism indeed.

Amaris gratefully accepted the walkie talkie into her hands and rose to her feet. She wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. With its brick-like shape she would have thought it to be a bit heavier, but it was surprisingly light to her. Perhaps a bit on the clunkier side, but one couldn’t always expect fashion with function. Count Eve had already received his device and had started making his way to another area of the classroom as instructed. She cast a quick glance at Victor before scanning the room for an optimal place for her to stand. Once satisfied with a destination, the Countess made her way to the wall and stared down at the device expectantly.

Despite having known what was supposed to happen, Amaris couldn’t help but to react as the object crackled to life and Benjamin’s voice filtered through. Her eyes widened with surprise before a small smile worked its way onto her face. She shifted the weight of the walkie talkie around in her hands, inspecting each of the knobs and buttons in turn before pressing her thumb down on the button slowly. She repeated the action of pressing down the button a couple of times before holding it down and raising the device closer to her face curiously.

“Ah! I hear you, Count. Is my voice coming through as well?” It took Amaris a moment to remember that she also had to remove her thumb from the button so that she could actually receive a response.

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_{Interacting with:}

Amaris could feel the inevitable shifting of eyes as Dame Patel greeted the three nobles she would be teaching for the semester. It seemed most of the major shock of their attendance had faded by now but that didn’t stop the curious glances from the students who had yet to experience the nobles up close and in person. Even she couldn’t help but cast subtle glances towards her classmates as if to verify for herself the names that had been said. There wasn’t much time for students to spend gawking anyway as Dame Patel shifted quickly into the subject at hand.

The class overview sounded simple enough, but an entire semester for only three devices? It might have been considered an introductory course but didn’t that seem a little… too easy? Or so was her thought before the instructor introduced the object referred to as a ‘walkie talkie’. It was a curious device, small enough to be held with one hand but much larger than the phone she possessed at current. As far as she could tell from where she was seated, there was nothing that looked remotely like a screen anywhere on it.

How is one supposed to direct their call? Did you speak a name to it and it connects to the device belonging to that person? There was also the matter of its name, a basic combination of words that led the Countess to believe that some walking would be involved in its use. However, as the demonstration was made… there was no name request and certainly no mobility from either as a test was conducted. Even after a short description of the device, Amaris was no closer to answering her own question about it. What she did learn, however, is that it was far from secure as a means to communicate. From the sound of it, anyone with a compatible device could just wander in on a private conversation. Was that, perhaps, a reason why she had never seen anyone use something like it?

Eventually, Dame Patel opened the floor to questions but Amaris found that she had too many. Was there a way to keep people out of the room you were speaking in? Would you even know if someone new had entered it? Was there a limit to how many people could fit into the same room at one time? But above all else… where did the ‘walkie’ come in to the ‘talkie’? Holding back a sigh of confusion, Amaris raised her hand into the air and asked the only question that wouldn’t result in a rambling train of her thoughts.

“It seems so open for a private communication device. What sort of occasion was it designed for?”

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_{Interacting with:}

The journey from the dorms to the academic hall was fairly relaxing for the countess. Gentle snowfall filtered out all of the extra day to day sounds, leaving a satisfying crunch beneath each footfall. Even the air itself felt refreshed. It was crisp and light and unburdened by humidity. If anyone asked her, Amaris might have agreed that it was a perfect evening. She did, however, regret that her partner clearly did not share her sentiment. Perhaps looking into warming up the dorm a bit more might be called for to keep her mage comfortable.

When it came time to part ways with Maddie, Amaris smiled and wished the girl good luck for her classes before continuing on her way to the first block of the evening. Based on her schedule, first up would be Introduction to Communication with Dame Patel. It was certainly a name she had heard before but hadn’t quite had the pleasure of a face to face introductions. If memory served, she had been one of the professors handling Human Psychology as well, however Amaris had been assigned to another classroom for that particular course. She was looking forward to seeing what manner of instructor the Dame would be.

Before she stepped into the classroom, Amaris took care to release persistent snowflakes from her hair and swipe the stragglers from her shoulders. The downside to nonexistent body temperatures was surely the need to manually remove snow at times, but she didn’t mind one bit as it gave her the moment she needed to ease her nerves. Once settled, Amaris entered the classroom and found her way to her seat. There were a few faces she recognized sprinkled among the many she did not, unfortunately, very few had names she could recall right out of the gate. Seeing as their schedules were more elective this semester, Amaris couldn’t help but wonder if she would be seeing any of the other nobles alongside her for the course; a feeling that was quickly chased by the dread of potentially starting her days around Varis. Not wanting to spoil her good mood, Amaris decided to focus on the graphics being displayed until her attention was demanded by the presence of Dame Patel.

The Dame’s voice rang loud and clear across the hall as she introduced herself to the class. She seemed nice so far, though anyone who earned a moniker such as ‘Wolfsbane’ was likely to be more than they appeared. This only served to heighten the countess’ intrigue as she set her full focus to her new instructor.

Of Blood and Magic

Amaris Marivaldi

_{Interacting with: Madalyn @Achronum}

Amaris chuckled again as she continued to observe her partner. She could understand the sentiment of hating a particular environment, though their preferences seemed to be complete opposites. While Maddie bundled up to avoid the cold of winter, Amaris shrunk away from the heat of warmer months. The countess did find herself feeling brief concern, however, as she realized it was probably unhealthy for her partner to have to bundle up quite so severely while still inside the dorm; something she would have to remember to look into later.

“I see. Well, so long as you’re comfortable and it poses no distractions, I suppose there’s no harm in morphing into a walking blanket.” She teased, taking another sip from her own morning meal. Her expression faltered somewhat when asked about her own break, though the break in relaxation was only momentary as Amaris considered how to best answer the question.

“It was… interesting. A bit more hectic than I was counting on, but I suppose it was just as good for the house as it was for me. The place gets too quiet if you let it.” Amaris shook her head gently as she smiled. “One of the perks to living in a vampire household, though, is that everyone is more or less tuned to your sleep schedule.” Lifting her glass in a mock cheer, the countess drained it of the rest of its contents and set to cleaning up after herself.

“Speaking of schedules…” A quick peek at a nearby clock confirmed her suspicions as it ticked ever closer to the start of the academic night. “We should consider leaving soon. It wouldn’t look very good if we were late to our first day of the new classes. We can catch up on the way, it will help take your mind off the weather.”