Electric Boogaloo

[tiredcharmer]

Who: Tyzias and YOU!
Where: All around Anastara and Diatu
When: Late October
What: Tyzias arrives at Diatu and is thoroughly unimpressed.
Warnings: Curmudgeonliness abounds, lots of swearing.



attention, attention everyone
Anastara, being built around a Magicademy full of mischievous and/or incompetent students, is no stranger to ridiculous happenings. Especially in recent months with the arrival of the Sundered. As such, residents have a high tolerance for magical shenanigans and associated weirdness. But it is extremely difficult to simply ignore a round boulder being pulled at high speeds down the street by a pair of extremely large trolls.

Said trolls have at least a passing knowledge of traffic laws, so thankfully nobody is hurt. But an entrance like that draws attention—which is exactly what Tyzias doesn't want. When her chaffeurs crack the rock open at the academy, Tyzias tumbles out of her luxury transportation (really, it's quite posh inside, the Troll Lord of Okanes isn't a barbarian) and lands flat on her back before the gates of Diatu, staring at the sky.

After a twenty-three second sustained groan, Tyzias grumbles, "Sweet fucking Sufferer, Grumbrig, I know you wanted to give me the 'royal treatment' but that's a little overboard." She laboriously tries to pull herself to her feet. And fails. "Fuuuuuuuck dust got all in my shirt fuck fuck fuck HEY YOU CAN YOU HELP ME UP HERE"

see through bloodshot eyes
Now that she's finally someplace that might be able to get her on track to find some answers, there's no way in... whatever this world's punitive afterlife is that Tyzias is going to waste it on something as trivial as sleep. So it is that it's three AM in the morning and she's still poring through dozens of books by flashlight in the common room, mumbling to herself in a haze as she flips through page after page. Her choice of reading material is eclectic: basic textbooks for beginning mages, advanced theses on Intimation, a few tomes about Sundering, swathes of world history, Osmarius grammar, prayer books, and more. Tyzias is practically buried in a blanket of notes.

Then she sweeps her arm across the table to diagram a High Osmarius phrase, accidentally hits a stack of books, and it all comes tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down. While she doesn't go down with the ship, all of Tyzias's study material crash to the floor. The thud that echoes through the hallways is deafening.

Tyzias muffles her scream by planting her face on the table, then sighs, hauls herself to her feet after much effort, and begins slowly putting everything back in order as she braces herself for the inevitable mob of furious students who were just aroused by the chaos. Hopefully whoever finds her first isn't too angry...

wwwwhen you held the knife
Tyzias looks at the supply list in her hand, then at the rack of wands, then at the list again, then she groans. "You know what would've been fantastic? If Teach actually told me what I needed for class. Outlined a clear, concise list of Factors that I need to make the magic shit happen. But no. 'Discovery foci.' What am I supposed to get? Bat guano? I mean, okay, I know that all I need is a book and a wand, I'm not that dumb, but what wand? The one that magically calls out to me or some shit?" Tyzias throws up her hands in frustration.

"You. You have any idea how I'm supposed to pick one of these things? I know this place's reputation, there's no way I'm just gonna snag one off of the shelf there and call it a day."

Comments

That's not a knoife mate

[mithrarin]

"You really might," Dust said with a mild shrug. "I started out with a wand, there was nothing special about it. It was just something to... wave and point, you know? After a while, I learned a different way."

He dropped his hands down to the hilts of his two swords, to indicate just what that way was.

she says as she furiously attempts to figure out how to intimate without praying

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias's eyebrow arches. Using blades in place of wands was a possibility that she had considered, but Tyzias doesn't want to whip out Caledfwlch and Dragon's Spine yet. Not when she still has some plausible deniability about her degree of competency. Also Tyzias had figured that most wizards were too wimpy to have any reputable sources on it, especially in a setting like this one, and she isn't so arrogant as to try and invent a whole new form of spellcasting on her own in her first days at Diatu.

But maybe... "Care to share with the class, Dust?" she asks, shrugging and pulling a few wands off of the rack. "There should be a testing room in here if you want to show off those radical moves." While Tyzias's biting sarcasm is still there, it's clear that she's genuinely curious about Dust's technique.

[mithrarin]

Testing room. Feh. Dust drew the Blade of Ahrah -- the one with the blue runes on it -- and in the same motion traced an Osmarian sigil in midair with the tip. A loaf of bread popped out of nothingness, which he smoothly caught in his other hand.

[tiredcharmer]

"Fancy. And you have kitchen knives on hand to cut it too," Tyzias drawls, smirking. "But can you do butter?" Tyzias takes one of the wands she grabbed—where did she put those again?—mumbles something, and a fist-sized globe of white light appears at the tip. "Not that I have any room to criticize, tbh. This is the only thing I've really figured out how to do."

Affecting a deep, rolling timbre, Tyzias proclaims, "Behold, my mastery of the ancient arcane art of summoning a fucking flashlight. Tremble before its glory."

[mithrarin]

"Better faster than I could do for a bit." Dust hadn't exactly come into this whole thing with the best attitude, after all. It had taken a little effort for him to figure out how magic and he could get along. "So you'll probably do butter faster too."

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias just stands there for a moment, processing Dust's words. Then she lets out a seven second-long groan. "You know, you could get culled on my planet for making a joke like that."

Unlike Dust, Tyzias has learned to roll with the punches. Even when the punches knock you straight into next week. Occasionally literally. Or into another world. Shit, she's getting into the weeds here. Her point is that it's better to just learn about whatever nonsense keeps the world running than complain about it. Or at least complain while you're getting work done.

[mithrarin]

Dust's smile held a flicker of wickedness as the joke hit home, even as he whirled Ahrah into a backhand grip, then slid the blade back home at his waist. These days he finally didn't feel uncomfortable naked and alone without a blade in his hand. Not entirely sure he liked the change, but it was necessary. "In any case, yeah, just grab something. They say you can use almost anything, so use something you think is most magic-y."

A...TTENTION...

[noasark]

Noa, not that he'd likely have been much help, is not actually present at the precise moment that Tyzias is arriving. Instead, there appear to be about three penguins who were running errands. An emperor penguin and two king penguins, actually.

Nice.

All three gape, extremely unhelpfully.

"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaAAAUUUH!" Thanks fellows.

Well. Maybe actually thanks, since the middle one is waddling over and offering a flipper.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias graciously takes the flipper, and although she's far heavier than anybody her size should be (what is she made out of, stone?), Tyzias pulls herself to her feet with the help of the penguin. "Thanks," she mumbles, stares into the distance, reaches into a pocket of nowhere, and kneels down to hand the penguin a cookie. She has to admire the bird's gumption. That non-aviating avian is going places.

i swear the boye will appear....soon...

[noasark]

"AaaAAAAauuuh." It's no trouble at all- though they do shake a flipper along with their head, at the face of the cookie. No, no, please- they don't take tips at work, even if it's not part of work.

Beyond that, as the other two penguins approach, they give small small honks and look toward the academy. A new arrival are you? Just come in? Where to??

i find it Highly Amusing that tyzias is far less of a jackass to animals

[tiredcharmer]

"If you insist." Tyzias scarfs the cookie down like a complete slob. Crumbs go everywhere. It's a travesty. She really needs to take an etiquette class, apparently.

Tyzias surveys the penguins, hands on her hips. So these are the magicademy's... valets? Eh, sure. She can vibe with this. "Well, since you three seem to know your way around here," she bows, gesturing towards the gate, "why don't yiou lead the way to where I can get settled in?"

Eyyyy

[noasark]

The penguins seem not to mind. Ultimately they instead glance at each other and slowly give a headshake no. At least they understand language. But! Despite shaking their head, they do start waddling toward the gates. Alright troll, they were heading there anyway, so follow them!

[tiredcharmer]

"Hope y'all don't mind if I follow," you say, trailing behind the penguins. Eh, what the hell. It's not like you have anything else to follow anyways. Might as well just trust in zany magic logic that these l'il flightless avians will lead the way.

Homegirl needs some eyedrops

[princepallidus]

The sound doesn't so much wake him, as Pallidus has been stalking the halls at night to ward off excess energy that never seems to be available during typical waking hours. An upside of this was he could gain his bearings of the campus grounds with little to no interruption, but it did make for a lonely existence. He couldn't keep this up indefinitely but until his brain decided it was willing to align itself with this world's schedule (or his body spontaneously decided it was okay to be in the sunlight) it was going to be a struggle keeping up with everyone else here in the academy.

One night he decided to find himself some light reading, and had been informed by one of his professors that Eiather Tower was practically bursting with tomes of all types. Intrigued, he made his way up and was perusing the various shelves when he heard it--a crash, and then a muffled scream.

On alert, Pallidus slid through the shadows with as much silence as he could, not wanting to draw attention if there was a scuffle taking place. Surprised to find the mess simply a product of clumsiness (or perhaps exhaustion) Pallidus drops his attempt at stealth and steps forward. Bending down, he begins to help Tyzias retrieve her books. "Please, allow me to assist."

you know it's funny because this is basically exactly how she met mspar

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias squints at the approaching silhouette asking to help in a silky-smooth voice, and sleep-deprived as she is, her thinkpan immediately jumps to a certain acquaintance of hers back on Alternia. Tyzias is an endurance insomniac—her record is one week, five nights, seven hours, and thirty-eight minutes without sleep—but the first night is always the hardest. After that, her body tends to give up on trying to KO her.

"Ffffuck off Sore-G... wait." Tyzias squints at Pallidus, then groans again. "Ugh. Sorry. You look a lot like this little weasel I knew back home. No offense. Yeah, I'd like some help with this fucking disaster." She staggers up from her sitting position and begins heaving the books onto the table, according to some incomprehensible organization system that's nearly impossible to discern.

oh lord, the worst first impression lol

[princepallidus]

Pallidus isn't usually one to express much, but he can't help his jaw dropping in absolute shock at the sheer... audacity. Fuck off? Fuck off??? His own brothers had never even said that to him during the worst of their pubescent years.

Thankfully he's too flabbergasted to be offended. And the almost immediate apology helps as well. But he's only to be compared to a weasel after. Wow. Just.

Wow.

"Um..." He should leave. He should probably leave. But she does need help, and her voice seems strained, so chivalry wins out and he returns to reaching for her books, albeit more stilted than before.

Awkward. Pallidus clears his throat and tries again to be friendly, hoping to deflect further ire. "... I do apologize if I startled you, miss."

[tiredcharmer]

If Pallidus is so shocked at just one little swear, he is going to have an fun time with Tyzias. (Or an absolutely awful time from his perspective. Tyzias just loves watching highbloods squirm at her vulgarity.) "C'mon, you just gonna stand there like an asshole or- thanks, there we go."

Tyzias kneels down, and with a grunt of exertion, shovels a pile of books into her arm, distributing them into the appropriate piles with a... well, not deft, or particularly efficient, but it gets the job done. The troll waves away his apology, shaking her head. "S'no problem. I can be pretty fucking startling, heh. I'm pretty sure I actually gave Tegiri a, uh... fuck, what's the word... heart, yeah, that's it, a heart attack back home when he stumbled across me when I was working an all-dayer. Don't w- nonononononono."

She staggers over to Pallidus's side, grabs his wrists, and directs his arms over to one of the larger piles. "Books relating to alternative Intimation methods go there, not with general history and political treatises."

[princepallidus]

The swearing isn't the problem. It's the being sworn at that causes the shock. There's certainly a difference in Pallidus' mind, even if others think otherwise.

He really did not like being called vulgar names, but he was committed to seeing through whatever he set his mind towards. Of course, that kind of thinking didn't always work out in the long run. Some things just didn't pay off, no matter how much hard work he put into them. But this wasn't the worst situation Pallidus had pushed through, and he was not the type to give up so easily. Forcing a smile, he got back to it only to be manhandled into "doing it right."

"Ah yes, wouldn't want to add more disorder, would we?" Pallidus said, unable to stop the small quirk of a smile to his lips. Genus and Gale didn't seem predisposed to having children, but he would think she would fit the bill if such a thing ever were to transpire.

Honestly, her brashness in grabbing his arm should have been more insulting than the words, but Pallius couldn't find it in himself to complain. He wondered why but thought it best not to put that into words. Instead, he said, "Quite the bookworm, aren't you? Isn't this too much to handle at once?"

i'm so sorry this is just what she's like

[tiredcharmer]

Pure, stubborn, bullheaded, and occasionally idiotic determination is a trait Tyzias and Pallidus share. Considering that Tyzias literally owes her life to not knowing when to give up, maybe it's not such a bad thing.

Unfortunately for him, Pallidus is uncannily similar to what used to be Tyzias's mortal nemesis. Before, you know, she got mortal nemeses that actually made good on their threats and killed her. "You know, if you keep giving off these absolutely rancid vibes, I might keep calling you Sore-Gor. You're kinning him pretty hard right now. What's your name, anyways?"

With great effort, Tyzias picks up a particularly hefty tome and carefully places it on top of a stack. "Eh, it was learn how to handle all of this," she gestures in the direction of the personal library that Tyzias has been collecting, "or get culled back on Alternia. And as satisfying as it would've been to stick it to the man and, fuck, IDK, rot my brain out on sopor and go to punk concerts instead, I value my life too highly for that."

Beat.

"Also books are cool."

since late night frantic note-taking is a thing they share...

[temptationaccomplished]

[[I don't know that they share any kind of common room given that they're different houses, but we'll pretend they're in a space they both can be.]]


Aziraphale looks up as a thunderous boom echoes through the halls.

He stops, gathering his library books and notes to his chest protectively (more for the books than himself) and waits. No loud cries of pain. No further movement. No giant eye monster--which he supposes is a good sign--but he does worry about the possibility of an intruder or an injured student. His hand strays to the sword hilt in his pocket.

Following the direction of the sound leads into a darkened common room. There's a table full up with books and notes in a scattered mess that reminds Aziraphale of his own work process. Somewhere in the midst of that he can make out some movement--another student, presumably--busy righting all the fallen books, head crowned with a short pair of bright horns. He bends down to address them, pale hair catching the light of their torch like a halo.

"Are you quite alright? What on Earth are you doing sitting in the dark?"

just realized tyzias doesn't actually need a light to read by rip

[tiredcharmer]

If there had been a monster, Tyzias would've dispatched it by now. Probably. Hopefully? It's hard to gauge how effective she is in this world; Tyzias doesn't have a proper sense of the Kingdoms' power scaling yet, or how much her physical abilities are worth a damn in a place where magic is this prominent. At least she has ridiculously overpowered gear to fall back on if all else fails.

Sleep-deprived rambling aside, Tyzias pries herself off the floor next a huge pile of books at Aziraphale's voice. She looks at him like he's a complete idiot, with a scowl that could probably curdle milk.

"Reading."

lol that's fine (I forget things like that all the time)

[temptationaccomplished]

Oh, those eyes. Aziraphale puts his hand over his heart and takes in a deep breath. They're not the right eyes, of course. And the face is entirely wrong, but the yellow is evident even in the dark.

The expression does nothing to dissuade him. He's seen far worse. His mouth flattens into a bit of a frown.

"Ah, yes, I see that. I'm going to assume darkvision or a spell of some kind, because otherwise I suspect you'll spoil your vision. Now, is there a reason you've chosen to read in the dark when it is perfectly acceptable to light a candle or something and not hole-up here like a little--" He has to pause because all the descriptives he is currently thinking of might be offensive to this horned-person who may actually be a goblin/gremlin/troll/hellion. "--delinquent with your secret plottings."

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias continues to squint incredulously at Aziraphale as she stumbles through the dark—not because she can't see, but because post-exhaustion mania hasn't set in yet and she relies on that boost to function like a normal troll at this stage.

"Because there aren't enough fucking hours in the day to learn what I need to learn, dumbass." She groans as another pile topples. Great. Just fantastic. This is giving her at least a half dozen discrete flashbacks to just as many timelines. "Now are you going to help me clean this up or just stand there like an idiot?"

[temptationaccomplished]

He gives a prim sniff.

"I think I'll stand here and watch, thank you," he says with a purse of his lips, shifting the book in his own hands. "It would serve you right for calling me names. Maybe this way will teach you a lesson."

Meanwhile Aziraphale looks over the books she has spilled out and the few still in piles, wrinkling his nose as his corporation's eyes struggle to make sense of the grey tones of everything in the dark.

"What is so important to go to such lengths to learn? Or is it just a general curiosity?"

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias gapes at Aziraphale for a few moments, mouth opening and closing as she struggles to process. He's taking offense at her swearing at him? What kind of world does he- oh, right. He's human-old. Okay, that scans. (But still, DAMN.)

She continues sorting, cursing under her breath as the chaos cascades and more piles fall into disarray. "Both. Learning is ffffff-" Tyzias holds that F for a few seconds, internally debating over whether she wants to get petty with this guy or not at this hour of morning. If he's going to be an ass she's going to fire back, "-fucking fun, and I'm not just saying that for your benefit."

A comically large tome falls on Tyzias's toe, and she swears in several different languages. Quietly. People are sleeping, and she isn't that rude. Eventually, she recovers and continues her Sisyphean task. "But, y'know. Practical applications are nice. For example, I definitely want to know the basics of ghost containment so I can help keep that humongo fucker of a dead lizard down in the basement. I don't want to disrupt what precious little sleep I get with nightmares about- well, shit. Nothing I can really do about the nightmares since this place doesn't have sopor, but still. Helping keep the other students safe is a definite fucking plus too."