Dance Dance Reprobation

[magicademymods]

The Twilight Ball Arrival The Promenade has been transformed. Literally. With Modification. Ha ha. Cough. Crickets. Toad familiars eat the crickets. Circle of life. Animals bow before singing lions. You get the idea. Neither tree nor stone form the Promenade now. It is instead a long bridge over a shallow and brilliant pool, the gentle ripples of which catch the afternoon sun and scatter it into a million highlights that play over the Great Hall, the bridge, and those who walk down it. There is no formal receiving line, merely a gentle procession of people across the bridge at whatever speed feels comfortable, slowly making their way to the Great Hall. The Great Hall itself has been enchanted to be completely invisible while one is inside it, save for the outline of doors so people can actually find their way out through means other than smacking their noses into the invisible walls till they find a place with no resistance. Thus the twilight for which the ball is named will show all around the dancers, while they are protected from any errant breezes, faint hints of rain, or slime monsters that might otherwise threaten the festivity. Come in. Find your date and get comfortable. The fun is just beginning. Let the Revels Begin After Headmaster Birony welcomes everyone with a speech about she's going to get on her boat, go upriver, and kick that sonuvabitch Bison's ass so HORDT that the next Bison-wannabe is gonna feel it, the dance formally begins with a peppy number designed to get people out and moving. The orchestra here comprises some of the finest players available anywhere in the world, thanks to the whole Valhudor shtick and graduates of said house, and the music is infectious as it drifts through the slowly-darkening air. But as the dance progresses, they play something for everyone. Martial waltzes and slow dance ballroom numbers. Powerful tunes to lose yourself in, and gentle melodies that slip beneath conversation and encourage intimacy and closeness. Professors Trammel and King treat everyone to an exhibition of what an Earth resident might call 'swing dancing on amphetamines' and many students do call 'the closest I have ever come to death'. No pause for speeches, no announcements or interruptions -- just a steady stream of music, bringing dates and lovers together in dance, as the sun sets and casts the room into gentle and romantic twilight. Also a dolphin and a whale are swimming through the floor and they, too, are unmistakably dancing. If this is the weirdest thing you've seen all night, you need your eyes checked. "Food! One of the food tables has been discreetly slid against a wall, where it positively shudders under the weight of a massive buffet open to everyone. The food here tends towards the light, such as fish and vegetables, cucumber sandwiches and thin-sliced meats. Things that will give you energy without weighing you down, so you can keep dancing till the dawn comes. At one end of the table, an owl the size of a cupboard sits on a perch, serenely watching the varied drinks laid out for consumption. 'Spiking the punch' is so cliche that no one is going to pretend it won't happen or the students will behave on their honor, so here you get a chaperone. Even so, this whole area is a popular gathering spot for those between dances or partners, drawing steady attention throughout the night. Meanwhile, Elsewhere Shockingly, not everyone has found that loving feeling, asked out an attractive someone, and gone to the dance with romance on their minds. The rest of the campus, and of course Anastara itself, remain open as normal... and perhaps even less-minded than normal. The faculty, the familiars, the cleaning golems -- almost all attention is on the dance itself. If there's mischief to manage, now would be the perfect time... or just something else besides wallflowering and missing out. Wait, Wasn't There a Ghost Dragon and an Off-Brand Shoggoth? Professor King managed to find a way around the protoplasmic ooze's resistance to magic and splatted it (with no small amount of help from students and faculty!). The dragon disappeared into the caverns beneath the Magicademy. That certainly isn't ominous and won't inspire anyone to go down there, will it? Don't fall in the river down there. Please don't fall in the river.

Comments

[unswervingcompanion]

Hearing that someone thought everyone here was dead concerned the knight deeply. It bothered him to his very core that he would've failed in his duty if his charge had fallen. For the life of him, he wished he knew how to comfort the Luminary but thankfully Yotsuyu was already taking care of that. So when he heard the boy say that he couldn't do it, it felt like his own knightly heart broke into a thousand pieces. Someone here had shaken Eleven to his core and this made him growl softly and clench his hands into fists. Someone was going to pay for this, he just had to find out who was responsible.

Slowly he walked over to Yotsuyu and his charge and listened to when she spoke. He wasn't comfortable with being called a bully, he was merely trying to get the Luminary to be tougher and stronger, better able to take care of himself so that Hendrik could back off like the other wanted him to. To do so would never sit well with him, but if his presence caused more pain than it helped, he just wanted to make sure Eleven could stand on his own and take care of himself. The boy hadn't really shown that capability ranging from bullies to assassins.

Hendrik was cheered a little to hear of Yotsuyu's faith in him and he nodded to the painful and bitter cup comment. Moving over to the Luminary now, Hendrik kneeled though he didn't lower his head and did not attempt to touch his charge.

"If my presence causes you more pain than anything, then I shall take my leave of your side. I am only trying to keep you safe, that is my sworn duty. But whoever has rattled you to your bones to have you question your own existence shall pay a heavy price. That I vow."

[bearshermark]

Yggdrasil above, he wanted nothing more than the strength to stand on his own and endure everything that troubled him. Instead, half-bent over Yotsuyu while she made every effort to comfort him, he struggled against the tears gathering in his eyes.

How was it that everyone else could have faith in him, but he couldn't manage to find any for himself? Why was it that he felt like a fraud each time he simply nodded and accepted their words? Would there ever be a time he wouldn't feel like he was about to collapse under the weight of everyone's expectations?

Hendrik's voice startled him into straightening, though his heart pounded to find the man knelt in front of him. Guilt swooped low in his stomach and twisted it. Eleven took a step back, eyes bright and flickering between them, conflicted. His jaw worked for several moments before he finally managed to speak.

"I think I- if I could.." He shook his head and let out a careful breath. "I just want.." He swallowed and grit his teeth. "I want to regain the power of the Luminary and learn how I'm supposed to restore Yggdrasil. I want to fix everything I did wrong. But I can't. I don't know how to be a hero, or how to save our world. I don't have any of your confidence, Hendrik. I don't know what to say when really I only feel like an imposter- like maybe I am the shadow cast over Erdrea, after all."

[darkenedmoon]

Yotsuyu gazed at Eleven, head tilted slightly. One black brow arched, and she gently lifted his chin with one hand.

"Do you honestly think anyone knows how to be a hero?" she asked him softly. "They do not teach these things in a school somewhere. There is no knowledge passed down, save that in tales about other heroes, mayhap." Hadn't Eleven himself mentioned tales of another hero, from his world? Some guidance that tome had given him.

And yet, should she not know heroes? She who was adversary to the greatest hero on her own world, if only briefly so? (It was not if Yotsuyu had given the Warrior of Light a great challenge, after all.)

"You are no shadow, Eleven!" Her tone there was perhaps a bit more sharp than she had been, but Yotsuyu was at least passing familiar with darkness. "You are young, uncertain, and dealing with so much you were not prepared for. But you are not giving up entirely." Though certainly it seemed like he wanted to. Yotsuyu could not blame him for that. It was not as if she hadn't been prepared to end it all, before her so-called parents angered her into lashing out at them.

"It is not magic or great power that makes a hero," she murmured, not so quiet that Eleven could not hear her. "It is feeling that swell of fear in your chest, wishing with all your might that you could run away and hide...and then turning around and facing it regardless."

Yes. She knew that. Especially since Yotsuyu had not done that, ever. Not even when the monsters had attacked. But she knew that she was no hero.

"Perhaps you are not a hero now, but you have it in you to be. You care for others and expect nothing in return. You do good simply to do good, not because you feel obligated. And here, if nothing else, you have been given time to learn to see what you are not able to see in yourself, yet. What confuses you so, when others see it in you."

[unswervingcompanion]

Hendrik shook his head. "That was what we had set out to find out for Mount Pang Lai. It was when King Carnelian gave me the shield of Heliodor." He knew by now that it was an odd thing to deal with the timing and it still hurt his head at times to try and figure it all out as to how he could know different things than his charge.

The knight sighed. "I was called a hero rescuing the survivors of the World Tree falling. I thought myself a fraud thinking I couldn't protect them but I did."

But once Yotsuyu began speaking again, he stood and let her have her say. And when she said the bit about tales it made him think of Jasper reading aloud any number of adventures. He nodded to most of what she was telling him, wishing he could somehow get the boy to believe in himself. If he himself couldn't do it, then maybe she could.

He didn't know if they could figure out how to save Erdrea from here, and the knight highly doubted it. One thing was for certain though, he would back off and even let the daily training go too if backing off would help.

[bearshermark]

Looking at Yotsuyu, his heart slowed, breaths steadying as her words rang true for everything he's never said.

He was all too familiar with that constant fear plaguing him, but forced to trudge on and bear it despite wishing for nothing more than a swift return to his old life. If that was what made a hero, he did not envy Erdwin in the least. It wasn't courage or bravery at all- only done because destiny marked him as other and forced his hand.

But it was his mother, the people of Cobblestone, and the Spirit of the Land that raised and guided him with kindness.

"..I understand, I think." His eyes lowered, searching. "I might have lost more than the power of the Luminary when Mordegon stole it from me."

It made more sense the more he thought about it. Mordegon had shown him his weakness, and every one of his misgivings had taken root since. They plagued his every step like lingering shadows he couldn't break free of.

Eleven's eyes turned on Hendrik, a touch relieved to find him standing properly.

"You seem like the sort of person that was born fearless, Hendrik. I'm not sure I'll ever match up to that."

[darkenedmoon]

"No one is asking you to, either," Yotsuyu said. Perhaps she was being tart, there, but she was also feeling somewhat self-conscious. Giving pep talks to young heroes--before Castrum Fluminis, had someone told her that, she likely would have laughed herself silly. And yet, here she was.

Though if Eleven needed this from her, Yotsuyu would do it again. His words, however, made her think, a slight frown curving her lips.

"Why do you think he stole your power?" She was honestly confused, because there were precedents for that sort of thing on Hydaelyn--and a great number of them did not leave the one whose power was stolen still among the living. Even the power she had taken as Tsukuyomi had dispersed when she had died, and Yotsuyu was fairly certain--even if he was not--that Eleven was still quite alive.

"Forgive me for questioning you, but there are reasons I doubt--not you, Eleven, but I doubt the true absence of your power. As I said...quiescent, not absent." And she was not, as a rule, given to wishful thinking.

But his comment to Hendrik had her barking out a short laugh. "Fearless? I am not certain. He has a very, very good game face, however! As for me...if I am showing anger, well, I am not showing fear then, eh?"

Yotsuyu nudged Eleven then, gently, but gave him a quick wink. "I am no hero, nor, gods willing, will I ever be, but I do know a thing or two about them, at least."

She hesitated for a moment, uncertain how such a thing might be received, but then tossed caution to the winds and reached out to give Eleven a hug.

[unswervingcompanion]

Hendrik shook his head at Eleven. If there was any way that the Luminary could've seen him with Yotsuyu the night he'd danced with her, well he would know the difference. And that he couldn't do. "You will find your faith in time."

Here he was just echoing Yotsuyu but she was definitely good at giving advice. And when she mentioned him, he had to turn away because he couldn't let the Luminary see him smile. She had him figured out alright but he made a mental note about the anger. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two just from listening here as well.

He turned back around to see Yotsuyu hugging Eleven and he couldn't help but smile, not caring who saw him at this point. Maybe that's what the Luminary truly needed was more encouragement and hugs than harder training.

It was worth a try.

[bearshermark]

His breath caught, then slowly released as his worries seemed to immediately ease in Yotsuyu's arms. His shoulders fell, arms moving automatically to return the embrace. It felt a bit like hugging his own mother and he was pathetically grateful for it.

Eleven caught Hendrik's smile and returned it with a fragile one of his own, but a leaden weight in his stomach kept it from being entirely genuine. He closed his eyes and held on a little tighter.

"I.. it- it was.. Mordegon.. tore it out. He used it to deceive Yggdrasil's heart."

[darkenedmoon]

Yotsuyu patted Eleven's back, soothing still, though she made a thoughtful noise, lips thinning. She knew little of this Mordegon. Mostly a name, and that he was, of course, deceitful and in opposition to Eleven. She knew, of course, how she might have approached such a thing, but...

"Do you think stealing it for only that long, to deceive Yggdrasil, was enough? You do say it is a power of light, and if he is of the darkness, well, it should pain him to hold something so bright. Oh, if it managed his ends, certainly he would for a time, but for good? I cannot think he could keep it safely..."

But Yotsuyu was speculating, and she knew it, which made her frown. "I can only speak from my own knowledge and experience, but that is what I know, with the rules of magic I have learned from my own world, and this one."

As for Eleven's lack of confidence, she could only do what she had been doing, and be as supportive of him as she could be.

[unswervingcompanion]

At Yotsuyu's thoughts, Hendrik shook his head. "We could not be fully sure of all of the details." And looking at the boy lost in the woman's embrace, the knight thought of the boy's own mother who worried and had requested that he look after her boy. And he had, he had kept his word and the two had returned, only to end up leaving to go to the mountain to find out what to do next.

"Mordegon was the one controlling my friend Jasper and had been wearing the king as if a second skin, shed shortly before he felled the Tree. We lost track of the Luminary until he later showed up thankfully in one piece. I had spent that time collecting survivors to bring back to the Last Bastion before he did so."

He was simply trying to connect the timelines, but try as he might, he still had no idea what exactly had happened to the Luminary after the Tree fell. It was a mystery and the knight hadn't really thought to ask because the other turned up looking hale and whole.

[bearshermark]

Eleven frowned. "..He shattered it, once he'd taken the Sword of Light. Like my power was nothing to him, even before he consumed Yggdrasil's heart."

He breathed a sigh and met Hendrik's eyes. "I only remember falling, then awaking in Noa. I don't know how it was that I survived."

[darkenedmoon]

That had her furrowing her brow. Yotsuyu did not release Eleven--not unless he felt self-conscious and wanted to go, that, then, would be fine--but clearly things were still percolating through that clever and devious mind of hers.

"I know you are not certain of any of this, Eleven, but...things that are magical in nature thusly...have a chance of repairing themselves, given time. Though I only became a mage of any sort once I came here, mind. So I could be wrong."

He was one of the few people here she refused to lie to. There were those who were on a very short list, but there it was.

It might be hubris--she had that in spades, Yotsuyu knew, but there was something telling her that Eleven's power was not as absent as he thought it might be.

[unswervingcompanion]

Hendrik's jaw clenched when he mentioned Yggdrasil and lowered his head. "I led Mordegon to the Tree so if this is anyone's fault, it is mine." He had no way of knowing the monster had been 'wearing' the king as skin so to speak and had no idea that Jasper was as bad as he was. But all had pretty much been revealed there at the Tree. Even Hendrik had taken a hit from Mordegon disguised as the king from behind.

His eyes looked over the Luminary as his hands clenched into fists. "I was foolish and I could not save you so I was indeed relieved to see you reappear at the Last Bastion." Even if he couldn't say these same words back home, at least they were spoken now.

[bearshermark]

Her words offered some solace, though it was difficult to feel certain of anything. Hendrik even, felt responsible for Yggdrasil's fall.

Eleven shivered and stepped back from Yotsuyu's hold. "..I hope that's true. I think it's the pressure of it that's troubling me- that I don't know what to do, or how to save anyone."

His eyes flickered to Hendrik, then away. He breathed a sigh, fists curling. "I know I need to save Erdrea, I know everyone is counting on me- I'm not ever going to forget- but I can't, right now. I'm not even the Luminary here, I'm just.. Eleven."

[darkenedmoon]

She patted Eleven's shoulder, eyes flickering to Hendrik, briefly. Eleven didn't know how to save anyone? He wasn't the only one, she was certain. She was at least vaguely aware of what the knight wished. Whether she truly deserved it, or not.

"You are not the only one who does not know how to save people. I know the notable hero where I am from? The Warrior of Light? He could only do the best he could. Sometimes, that was enough." And there were times where it wasn't, and Yotsuyu was certain that he mourned when that was the case, as well. He'd certainly mourned Tsuyu right alongside the original Gosetsu.

"We discussed this once, you and I, did we not? You are Eleven. Not just Eleven. He is a very thoughtful young man--and capable, when he puts his mind to it! I know you do not think you are enough--but simply do what you can here. I pray that by the time you return to Erdrea, you will be the hero they need."

Yotsuyu knew there was enough pressure on Eleven without telling him that she believed he was perfectly capable of being a hero.

[unswervingcompanion]

The knight didn't know what poor words of comfort he could offer in the face of such a fate. He knew there was pressure, he just hadn't realized how heavy it could weigh down on those thin shoulders.

"Then I shall still protect you and ease up on your training." It really was all he could think to do. He felt so helpless and dumb.

But Yotsuyu seemed to know how to talk to him and what to say, and Hendrik was so very grateful for her presence.

[bearshermark]

He nodded, slow and uncertain, gaze dropping. Eleven, the carefree boy from Cobblestone felt so distant from the person his journey and his failure had shaped him into that he wondered if it was at all possible to regain that part of himself.

His eyes snapped up, heart racing. "No, I.. I know I need to train." He bit his lip, hesitating. "But perhaps if you could use my name, instead of my title.."

[darkenedmoon]

Yotsuyu just glanced over at Hendrik and gave the man a nod. It was a start. She never had used Eleven's title--she tended to have little use for such things save when it was imperative, and it seemed even less important here. Not that she intended any offense to either of them.

"I was not even sure that was a title, until I came upon the pair of you--so I pray you forgive me if I continue as I have begun, and simply call you Eleven."

But then, her gaze dropped, and she sighed a little. "At some point, however, you and I should talk." Not that Hendrik didn't know secrets about her past--and the one she had let out--but Yotsuyu felt that there were things Eleven might need to know about it...

Not her proudest moments, but perhaps necessary.

[unswervingcompanion]

A nod. "Then I shall do so." It would be hard to be certain but he would definitely strive to do this thing.

Seeing the nod from Yotsuyu, she reinforced his will to do the right thing by this boy.

As she spoke to Eleven, Hendrik hung back, not wanting to intrude upon their conversation. And if the other would still train, then the knight just might have to go easier.

[bearshermark]

"Thank you." That would be a great weight off his shoulders, if he didn't need to be reminded in every way he failed whenever Hendrik spoke to him.

He offered Yotsuyu a smile- one that was quick to waver in the wake of her declaration.

"I.. all right," he agreed, nodding. "And it isn't a title I really enjoy, so you've been fine not using it. Anyway, I'm not this world's Luminary, so it only matters to myself and Hendrik, here."