Class Change

[aspiringknight]

Who: Sophie and YOU
What: An accident-prone knight-in-training ends up in another Deeprealm and has to set aside the lance to study magic. It's going to be a disaster.
Where: Around campus
When: December, before the big event just to make things more difficult for Tyzias
Warnings: Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...none?


Starchime Library

*THUD*

*THUD*

*THUD*

The sound seems to be reverberating through Starchime library, most likely making it difficult for anyone else attempting to use the library for research or study purposes to get anything done. Sophie knows she's making things more difficult for the other students, and that's not helping her mood improve any either.

Hitting the books seemed like a good way to get started, right? Magic comes from books in her world, so when Sophie found out this school had a library that seemed like the best way to get a leg-up on learning how to be a mage. 'Cause that's what she has to do now, apparently! Her mom got sucked into another dimension and ended up in a world of fantastic technology and high adventure to take part in a quest to save all of reality. She's met a few of her mom's friends from that world, former "Heroes of Light" and they're a pretty cool bunch.

Sophie gets sucked into another universe, and it's to go to school. Okay, fine. She had tutors as a kid. She can do this. To the library! She even went to the liberty of taking her shoes and socks off, placing them on the floor next to her, socks carefully stuffed into the shoes, since for some reason being barefoot always seems to help her concentrate better. She can do this!

Her enthusiasm for her newfound studies lasted as long as it took to open her first text on magic and her eyes had glazed over before she'd even finished the first page. Even now, trying to read the (incredibly tiny why is it so tiny) text she's pretty sure all she's making it is line after line of

Womp womp womp womp womp womp womp. Womp womp womp? Womp! Womp womp, womp womp womp. Womp. &!!!Q!!!?*****Q????*&*&!Q!!

And she is certain there aren't actually as many q's in that passage. So, textbook (incredibly big text why is it so big if the text is so small) open in front of her forgotten for the time being, Sophie has settled for just banging her head against the table, slowly, and methodically. It seems about as useful a method of passing the time as any until she, er, explodes or melts into water or whatever.

Help?

Bad Decisions at 3AM; Promenade

Okay, so being a mage is good and all but it's never been Sophie's main goal; that's always to become a knight, like her father. No, not just a knight-a great knight. Well, not actually a Great Knight, she doesn't really like using axes, but definitely a Paladin-actually you know what, we're getting off-track here.

Sophie wants to be a knight, not a mage, and that's a whole different set of skills. And she doesn't even have Avel here with her, which makes the whole mounted combat aspect even harder than having Avel normally makes it. And classes still take up most of her day, but she can't afford to slack in her training. Something's got to give and Sophie is sensible enough to know what.

Sleep, obviously. She can use most of the night to keep up the parts of her knightly training that she can do, and right now that's keep up her swordsmanship and lance-work.

Or she could, if she had a sword or lance with her. But nothing to fear! She found some sticks, and after several hours of diligent work she...she broke them in half. But then she went out and found another set and broke those too but the third pair lasted and with some hard, and very, very, very careful work she managed to turn them into kind of a training sword and lance. Sort of. Close enough, probably.

It was two in the morning at that point and trying to do combat training in the common room would probably make her housemates mad at her, so she's relocated to the Promenade. Is it dark? Yes. Is it cold? Yes. Is Sophie actually very tired because it's three AM now? Yes.

But this is what she can do and it's what she's going to do.

Good decisions, Sophie makes them.

It might be a good idea for someone to check on her.

Wild Card
If there's another prompt you have an idea for, post it here and I'll run with it!

Comments

[aspiringknight]

Sophie breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. It's been hard enough here without the teachers thinking I'm hopeless too. I'm a student in, um, A-Aer et Calculum." Boy that's hard to say.

The stick actually seems to mimic the weight and feel of a sword quite well; Sophie's obviously someone who's spent enough time with them in her hand to know what they feel like. It's the same for the lance; they should serve quite well despite their rough appearance. She's positively beaming when Aziraphale confirms he'd like to spare with her, even clapping her hands together excitedly. "Yes! That'd be great, thank you so much. Come on, night's not getting any younger!"

They walk in silence towards the hall, but not for long; one might get the sense that silence is never long when Sophie's around. "Hey, were you a knight yourself?" She asks him curiously. "You said it'd been awhile, but you have had martial training, right? Being a knight's all I've ever wanted to be since I was a little girl, but this..." She gestures vaguely at the darkened academy all around them. "I don't think I'm cut out for this magic business." She sighs. "It's been a rough couple of days. I miss home." Now she knows how her mother felt when she got pulled into some weird Deeprealm; found a quiet place to herself and bawled her eyes out, is what she told Sophie. She knows the feeling.

[temptationaccomplished]

"You're not hopeless, and I doubt anyone thinks so. Everyone is new to it at some point."

It's obvious to him, despite years since actually using a weapon as intended (holding a flaming sword at the end of the world is hardly doing something with it), that she's got more than a little experience with the weapons she wants to learn. A squire, perhaps, or a blacksmith, or some other kind of knight-adjacent person.

He's swept away in her enthusiasm, following back towards the hall, pleased to at least be getting the determined young lady into a temperature more suited for existence. The unkind, chilly weather reminds him of his early days in Britain, as they followed the path of the Roman conquests and subsequent spread of Christianity into the reaches of Europe.

"I've been a knight before, yes. And a commanded a platoon," he adds with a slight unease. "My role has mostly been that of Guardian and less of a front-line swordsman, but I assure you, I've been trained adequately." Not that he much cares for war, or is at all in the right(? by Gabriel's standards, anyway, which suggests the opinion may not actually hold merit) shape for battle, but he knows his way around a sword. When he bothers to keep it.

He smiles softly. "I understand. I miss my home as well, but we are all here at varying stages of adjustment and there is plenty of support. As for magic, you'll get it with time and practice. It just doesn't come naturally to you. But I feel like some of the greatest things I've learned are those outside what I believed was my natural purpose."

[aspiringknight]

Sophie smiles-somewhat wearily, the late, or possibly early hour is starting to catch up with her-at the encouragement. "Thank you." She says gratefully, before attempting to rally her spirits. "I mean, it's not like I've never encountered magic, it exists back home, and most of my family's really good at it. I've just really never had much of a head for it." Boy howdy does she not. "It doesn't help that my mom got sucked into another Deeprealm a year back or so and she got to go on an epic quest to save reality from some big Calamity, or whatever. There was an evil dragon and everything." That's the sort of epic quest Sophie could be doing with; she'd rather tackle a dragon than crack open another magic textbook. "This isn't exactly what I had in mind if that sort of thing ever happened to me, y'know?"

Still, talking about knight-stuff while they walk seems to be lifting her spirits; this is stuff she knows, stuff she can do. "Oh wow, you're a commander too? You've got to teach me everything you know! Did you ride a horse or a wyvern? I prefer horses, I get nauseous at high altitudes." Almost puked over Aunt Camilla's wyvern when she took Sophie up for a ride once but she was able to turn her head and close her eyes and vomit over the side; never doing that again. "Avel's a good steed, m-mostly. In battle, at least." In battle, she and Avel were a well-oiled fighting machine, coordinated and, dare she say it, deadly. It was just once the battle was over he became a little on the...obstinate side. And surly.

Mr. Fell's encouragement really seems to be working; this man is a veteran knight commander with decades more experience than Sophie, and he learned magic. And Sophie has the blood of heroes in her veins! And dragons! She has hero-dragon blood! Indeed, she's positively beaming now; Sophie has always bounced back quickly from her screw-ups, which is probably good considering how often they happen. "I think you might be right! I'm gonna...gonna..." Sophie pauses to stifle a yawn. "...goodness, do my best!"

sorry this took so terribly long

[temptationaccomplished]

Certainly a magic school didn't sound like at all what one would hope for when there was the option of opposing an evil dragon. This is not the stuff of legend, like all those knights longed to do. Quests and whatnot (a great deal of fun, really, quests were...at least until it started to get out of hand and go all Crusadey and everything) "I can imagine not. Though I suppose there might be dragons here as well." He considers for a moment. "...Is that what they call this sort of thing, all this going to another world business? A 'Deep Realm'?" How this qualifies as any deeper a realm than Earth is, he isn't sure, but he has never fully understood human's naming systems. A pineapple, for instance...how ever was that like an apple?

"Ah, well," he says, unwilling to explain that angels were expected to go into battle using their own wings and that he had somewhat avoided riding into battle during the middle ages, if it could be at all avoided. He wasn't there to kill humans; he had been there to...foment peace. "I think I prefer horses. I'd rather like to remain closer to Earth." Not a lie, even if he did agree with Crowley on the matter of horses: rough on the backsides. "Though you really ought to be careful if yours is so difficult outside of battle. I've seen plenty of knights run into trouble with rebellious horses."

He doesn't miss the stifled-yawn and gives her a careful, kind smile, not unlike an old uncle who had very little experience with young people. "I know you will. Now, my dear, if you're tired, let's not overdo things. We can always resume training in the morning or another evening after you're better rested."

Not to worry, I apologize as well!

[aspiringknight]

Sophie nods. "Uh-huh. Well, that's what they call them back where I'm from anyway. There are lots of little portals tucked all over the place, but most of 'em aren't very big. Not full on worlds like here or that Vaikuntha place my mom went to." Truthfully she's not clear what makes a Deeprealm so "deep" either, but she doesn't really dwell on it. "I spent a lot of time in one growing up, 'cause of the war."

She beams. "I like horses too! Aren't they just the most majestic beasts you've ever seen? I absolutely adore them." Even Avel, as difficult as he could be. "Yeah, Avel can be kind of a handful, but my dad gave him to me because he thought I could handle him. And he's one of the best knights I know! I think I was actually making some real progress too. He's stopped chewing on my hair when I try to feed him, so I must be doing something right." After a moment of looking pleased with herself, Sophie frowns. "...I really hope he doesn't start to backslide while I'm here. I'd really hate to start over."

She nods at the suggestion. "Y-yeah, that's a good idea." She replies. "Maybe just a cup of hot cocoa in the Great Hall before I hit the hay. You still want to join me for that?" She asks, a bit hopefully. "Cocoa always tastes better with a friend."

[temptationaccomplished]

Vaikuntha, that is something like a Hindu Heaven, Aziraphale sort of recalls, though comparative religion isn't necessarily his strongest bit of knowledge. What sort of Calamity had it faced?

"Oh, my dear, I'm sorry. It must be terrible growing up somewhere so far from your home," says the angel who spent most of his existence on Earth quite happy to be there over the place he came from. Still, he's genuine in his sympathy and compassion about it.

He nods politely, not going to damper her joy over horses despite his own slight misgivings about them. "Once something is learned, I very much doubt it can be unlearned entirely. Perhaps he will slip towards some of his bad habits, but that will be remedied quickly enough. I sounds like you father made an excellent choice in horses for you--maybe he thought teaching Avel would also help you to learn patience with the horse and not take his compliance and assistance for granted."

His smile at the suggestion of cocoa brightens considerably until it is almost glowing. She's managed to hit upon one of his favorites quite by accident. "It does indeed. And it is the perfect treat to warm you right up. If you'll take a seat, I'll get us some; and see if we might get some with the little marshmallows as well--ah, if you like that sort of thing."