everything was made for you and me

[ronstadt]

Who: Ronstadt and ... you, maybe?
What: Getting his bearings
Where: Valhudor Tower / Dining Hall / Kedrigan Hall, with a TL comment for those who want to continue TDM threads!
When: The first few days
Warnings: None yet! I'll add any in comment headers if they come up.

Valhudor Tower
He didn't arrive with more than the clothes on his back, so it doesn't take Ronstadt long to set up in Room 911... though he's amused that the tower's dorm numbering is a bit haphazard. He makes the hike up to the common room at the top of the tower, and proceeds to be absolutely awed by the ceiling, flopping down in one of the comfortable chairs. Once he's daydreamed long enough, he heads back down to explore, stopping in the entrance hall to look over the memorabilia and get vaguely distracted by the Bala-Inlota trophies and case. Mostly because he doesn't know what the heck any of it means.

Dining Hall
It had been a while since his last meal - a whole world, even - so Ronstadt's stomach led him to the Dining hall, where he was pleased and amazed to find that there was already plenty of food to choose from, and he didn't have to order anything or try to figure out what things were on a menu. As he filled a plate with what were hopefully homefries, a few sausage patties, and ... well, they looked like scrambled eggs, even if the color was a little odd ... he glanced over at whoever was closest by.

"You don't suppose the chefs here can manage anything resembling a chalupa?"

Kedrigan Hall
Stomach full, properly hydrated with some sort of iced tea, Ronstadt decided to try and figure out where his classes were. It had been a long time since he'd been to anything even vaguely resembling school, and even those memories were... Let's just say he wasn't sure he could rely on them well. Learning magic had been high on his list before he'd even arrived, so he was determined to not screw this up. And he had enough memories of being abysmally late for classes because he couldn't remember where he was supposed to be, or had gotten lost, or what have you. Armed with the map he'd been issued, he crossed the grounds to Kedrigan hall, checking his watch to see how long it would take him to get from point A to point B.

Unfortunately, the sheer amount of magic in the place tripped his Craydar before he was even ten yards from the front door, and he wrapped an arm around his stomach, gritting his teeth with a groan as the presence of so much magic hit him. Every blood cell in his veins felt like it was tingling, and he lowered his head, closing his eyes. The last time he'd felt something even a fraction of this strength, his eyes had lit up like tractor trailer high-beams, and he didn't want anyone coming up on him just to be freaked out by the new guy with the mop of blond hair in the red-and-orange robes.

Comments

This TL specifically for continuing TDM shenanigans!

[ronstadt]

[[you know. if you want to.]]

cont from tdm; yes i'm gucci w/this all as canon ^^

[wagerofloki]

(ooc - from here)

"Yeah, see? Sell it to them'n make a couple eddies, spend that on somethin' that does whatcha want." She shrugged her shoulders. "Easy."

:D

[ronstadt]

"Eddies?" He blinked, clearly unfamiliar with the term. "Is that what they call money, here?"

[wagerofloki]

"Dunno 'bout here, eddies's what we called money back home. Short for eurodollars. Sometimes also called eurobucks, but that's more'n old term from, like, 2020." A pause. "Don't know what they call'em here."

For Harry - slight podcast spoilers

[ronstadt]

((From here.))

"Latin, huh? That's pretty impressive. I think I took a semester of Spanish? Once? ... Honestly, my memory of high school isn't that reliable."

[phoenixwiz]

“Yeah, that’s what a lot of the spells are written in,” Harry replies candidly, “So I guess there is some similarities between them, I might need to look into it someday. Is Spanish spoken in LA as well?”

Trying to find the prankster

[whose_son_am_i]

[Continued from here]

Dining Hall

[scotch_egg]

"I wouldn't trust them with a sandwich." He pushes his meal around with a fork, sitting on the end of the bench and looking a bit pale. There is a rhythmic tapping sound underneath the table which he is doing his best to ignore.

"Not that I'd eat that even if they could make it. Why doesn't anyone do decent food anymore?"

[ronstadt]

"I dunno, some of this looks pretty good to me." Ronstadt speared a home fry and popped it in his mouth. It needed a little ketchup, but not bad.

"What sort of stuff are you usually into?" The Scottish accent was a bit of a tip, and he made an educated guess. "Fried stuff? I mean, there are sausages over there..." He gestured with his fork.

[scotch_egg]

"I can't eat that. I don't even know what's in it for one. I'm not even sure what's in this. How do we even know we can trust this food or it's compatible." It definitely wasn't compatible to him. "Anyway sausages give me heartburn and for Christ's sake stop chewing on my shoe!" This to the creature under the table and the rhythmic tapping stopped followed by a soft whine.

Kedrigan Hall

[protectiveink]

"Oh, mother o' mercy, it's happenin' again, ain't it? Dinnae answer that. Where were ye headed?" The accent and voice is familiar, at least. "An' dinnae look at me, 'less yer scannin' only goes off once!"

Hell, it's not like Roisin knew how any of this stuff worked. She was definitely from the wrong side of the tracks, so far as this style of magic worked. But her hands are gentle enough as she grasps his elbow and stops until Ronstadt can get his bearing. If he can. She hopes he can.

[ronstadt]

The sound of a familiar voice, even when it sounded like it was far away and underwater, helped.

"R-Rosh...?"

He grunted it out, fighting to level out his breathing, to power through it the way that novice athletes had to breathe through a Charlie horse they got by not stretching before heavy exercise.

"Ya shoulda seen dis one comin' a mile away, mon," HeadVox chastizes him: a voice that Roisin would not be able to hear, herself. "It's da buildin'. It ain't gwine ta hurt ya."

Ronstadt swallowed hard, nodding slowly: though whether it was in response to the voice in his head or the woman beside him was anyone's guess.

[protectiveink]

Well, at least he heard her, and recognized it was her. That's all to the good. "Aye, 'tis me. Ye goin' ta do this ta every kinda magickal thingie on campus an' beyond? Can't think it won't get old ta ye right quick if ye do."

Nope, she couldn't hear Vox. Question was if Haage could perceive the voice. Then again? If he could, the demon wasn't telling. He usually existed as a smug presence in the back of Rosh's mind on most days. Unless she was overwhelmed somehow--mentally, emotionally. Then it was bad, because he'd rush upwards like a swimmer from an underwater hole and try to take her over. Sometimes, she fought him off (and that looked like a frothing grand mal seizure, most days). Sometimes, he got her. And that was worse.

Kedrigan Hall (Hope this is okay)

[whose_son_am_i]

Ronstadt might be surprised to realize he suddenly was not alone. The arm not looped around his stomach was being pulled around a shoulder. A tall shoulder, and he was being bodily hauled back out the door. Away from the hall at first. "Don't say anything. Just breathe. Slow and steady." The voice was familiar, considering they'd spent a good amount of time together trying to catch the toilet-prankster.

Hopefully it occurred to Ronstadt to wonder why Loki was helping him.

Totally!

[ronstadt]

"Wh-"

Panicking, his eyes flew open: glowing a bright, blinding white. Loki would feel some unseen force scrabbling against him: almost like hands, trying to push the two of them apart. Thankfully, Anastara had dulled Ronstadt's unconscious magical defenses, and all they were was an annoyance. His voice came out in a pained croak.

"Loki?"

Clearly he was very bad at following instructions.

Re: Totally!

[whose_son_am_i]

"Yes. Now be quiet. Breathe." Ordered pretty much, tone sharp as he hauled Ronstadt further from the hall. Over to a shady spot off to the side, not far but hopefully far enough for the other to calm down. Setting the man down, reached out a palm to Ronstadt's forehead. The sensation of magic was similar to when he'd veiled the man before--concealed their presence.

He'd said touch made it easier, hadn't he? He was hiding them from others again. "Apparently you have more power than I suspected, Wizard." He sounded amused.

Dining Hall

[gobetween]

Ronstadt wasn't the only one who was working on finding food. Unfortunately Gobo didn't seem to be having quite as much luck finding palatable things. Especially since looking in the first place either required prowling at the edge of the table or going along the chairs. Though after a while he had a good enough method, which he was exploiting at the moment, even if he seemed to be sitting in place and waiting.

He heard the words and responded, "I'm not sure what a chalupa is, but maybe?" before he realized the voice was familiar, and looked up with a surprised blink then a smile. "Oh! Hello again!"

[ronstadt]

"Gobo, hey!" Ronstadt grinned at his tiny new friend, glad to see he was able to get around. "How's it going? You must feel like you gotta walk a billion miles to get down here."

[gobetween]

Gobo chuckled a little and nodded. "Kinda, yeah! This place wasn't built for someone as small as me." A half shrug, in good humor. "I'm making do, though!

"How about you? Settling in alright?"

Dining hall

[temptationaccomplished]

"If they can, I hope it's somewhat authentic and none of that detestable 'fast food' style you Americans prefer." He wrinkled his nose. During his time as a human, specifically, he had the unfortunate chance to sample American fast-food cuisine. Needless to say, he was not a fan.

Aziraphale, with his own plate of nibbles, settled across from the blond man and gave a sigh of longing, "Though now I'm afraid I have a craving for champurrado, and I suspect that will be difficult to find here as well."

[ronstadt]

"Nah, I live in a pretty Hispanic-heavy neighborhood, I go for the real deal." Ronstadt flashed Fell a smile. "... Maybe we could sneak into the kitchen some time and try and make our own stuff. Start a black market Mexican food truck. Cart. Whatever people use around here."

He paused to really think about the logistics of that, and hit a substantial roadblock.

"Mind you, the only thing on my repertoire right about now is a good quesadilla..."

[temptationaccomplished]

He missed the Americas and the variety of flavors they offered, at least when it was, as Ronstadt called it 'the real deal.' If he ever got home again to Earth, he would have to ask Crowley about taking a holiday to South America.

A food cart sounded fun! They could make food and serve it to the other students, but then he would have to actually cook, and show up each day to work to make the food, and kitchens could get so hot and crowded...

And he didn't actually know how to make much outside of a few random European dishes and pastries.

"Ah... admittedly I can't say I'm much better. Though, maybe there is a recipe book in the library? You know, this place is full of strange surprises."

Dining Hall

[textbookcase]

Harley laughed at the question, her pigtails bouncing as she did. It felt good to laugh without an edge. No fear to it... She smiled over at the man who'd spoken up.

"Man, a chalupa sounds like a pretty decent trade-off for the whole magical kidnapping, I gotta be honest. So, really, we owe it to ourselves to ask 'em, don'tcha think?"

[ronstadt]

"I think you're absolutely right." He grinned. She had a nice laugh, he thought. It was good to hear laughter, when you spent so many nights listening to people in panic.

"Don't think we've met yet," he continued, stretching a hand across the table. "Ronstadt."

[textbookcase]

She smiled as she shook his hand. "Harley. Nice to meetcha."

Should she have introduced herself as Harleen? Perhaps so. But the moniker of Harley Quinn, much like the accent she adapted all those years ago, were hard to shake. Maybe it was just about making those things her own, then. "And you know, I'm kinda serious about asking for those chalupas."