"Havel is on a tour of the school at the moment, but we were interrupted by the fuss in the cafeteria. And since I am in a unique position to help in this situation, it seemed a shame not to intervene," she said, pulling up a menu on the computer and beginning a program that would provide plenty of room to work with. "If you would all please follow me into the SIM room now, this program should do very well. Havel, the SIM creates a holographic environment that feels real even though it is only a simulation. If you are injured inside a SIM, you will feel the pain, but it won't result in actual injuries, making it a perfect place to practice potentially dangerous things without risk."
Ryleh walked into the room and kept walking, making sure that she had plenty of distance from the others, waiting until they are inside the simulation of a large sweeping plain before shifting into her dragon form, going from tiny human looking woman to very large dark purple dragon.
::Now, Marcell, I think it will be easier to show you how to move your wings and tail than it is to describe it.::
Havel nods, following into the sim room.
"Seems Sabrina was right."
the mutters, watching Ryleh somewhat intently.
marcell nods, watching Ryleh quietly. Badly hiding how much he's shivering.
"Primarily pranks and rumors. Not good-natured pranks, though. Bullying pranks. Leaving something unpleasant on your chair, 'accidentally' spilling something on someone in an embarrassing way, that sort of thing. Very petty and nearly impossible to actually prove malice. At least in this setting. They'd last about five minutes at Avalon before a teacher got hold of them. It's mostly of concern because in this situation an incident that might be laughed off elsewhere could be used as an excuse for someone to take offense and cause trouble. Just keep your eyes open and don't trust what they tell you if it conflicts with what you already know," Tyrrin said.
"Alright. Sounds like a plan."
Zix projects to havel :and who might Sabrina be?::
To Marcell he projects a wordless expression of the concept of calmness anf peace.
"Sabrina is one of my closer followers."
marcell nods, watching Ryleh quietly. Badly hiding how much he's shivering.
::You have nothing to fear from me, Marcell. I'm sure you've heard stories, but the reality is never that simple. What I can promise you is that I do not harm children. Not ever. You are safe here.::
::Now,:: she said, moving her wings up and out, ::try spreading your wings up and out like this. You need to get used to moving these muscles. I believe Professor Zix said you had taken the form of a pseudodragon before. This works on the same general principle as what you experienced then. It's just that because you are larger you have less room for error without knocking people over.::
marcell nods, watching Ryleh quietly. Badly hiding how much he's shivering.::You have nothing to fear from me, Marcell. I'm sure you've heard stories, but the reality is never that simple. What I can promise you is that I do not harm children. Not ever. You are safe here.::
::Now,:: she said, moving her wings up and out, ::try spreading your wings up and out like this. You need to get used to moving these muscles. I believe Professor Zix said you had taken the form of a pseudodragon before. This works on the same general principle as what you experienced then. It's just that because you are larger you have less room for error without knocking people over.::
Marcell quietly mimics the movement. He gets a hold of it rather quickly, his motions becoming a lot more fluid the less he overthinks it. He's still shaking, but slowly calming down.
"Primarily pranks and rumors. Not good-natured pranks, though. Bullying pranks. Leaving something unpleasant on your chair, 'accidentally' spilling something on someone in an embarrassing way, that sort of thing. Very petty and nearly impossible to actually prove malice. At least in this setting. They'd last about five minutes at Avalon before a teacher got hold of them. It's mostly of concern because in this situation an incident that might be laughed off elsewhere could be used as an excuse for someone to take offense and cause trouble. Just keep your eyes open and don't trust what they tell you if it conflicts with what you already know," Tyrrin said.
Fei's hands come up to his chin, almost as if in a gesture of prayer but probably just in thought. Recalling the incident with Elektra last night that he failed to correct, he decides to quickly speak his mind before they leave the pavilion.
"Ghalen, Casilkasheyith...if something were to happen to your clothing, both of you have magical ways of cleaning or repairing them almost immediately, correct?"
Ace chuckles "Pretty sure I can take care of any wardrobe malfunctions, Fei."
nods...
"My clothing is glammered, but I also can cast prestidigitation to clean my clothes, or anyone else's, if necessary."
She nodded. "Yes, because it takes a lot of energy to change from solid to not. I have to eat a lot of food. And if I use up too much energy they have to put food right into my veins....except not in food form obviously. It's liquid then. It's not much fun. And then I still have to eat. That's just to get things stable. And yeah, if you think you can help me learn how to control it, that would be great! It would be a really useful talent to have if I could do it when I wanted...and not just keep falling though the floor. It really startles the music students when you fall into their practice space, let me tell you!"
The young lycan laughs a bit at the mental image of Asha falling through the floor, and landing among the music students "Yea, I could see how that would be bad. Alright, take a seat beside me, and we'll try a little simple meditation."
Assuming she does, he offers the following "Ok, close your eyes, and breathe deliberate, slow breaths. Try to completely clear your mind, or at least quiet it."
Ace chuckles "Pretty sure I can take care of any wardrobe malfunctions, Fei."
nods...
"My clothing is glammered, but I also can cast prestidigitation to clean my clothes, or anyone else's, if necessary."
"Good," the young monk says as he opens his hands and sends a small group of nanites from his suit over to Jaiye. "Now Jaiye will have a...similar protection. If you accept it, of course," he quickly adds before they start bonding with her dress.
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"Now Jaiye will have a...similar protection. If you accept it, of course," he quickly adds before they start bonding with her dress.
Ace chuckles "Pretty sure I can take care of any wardrobe malfunctions, Fei.""Good," the young monk says as he opens his hands and sends a small group of nanites from his suit over to Jaiye. "Now Jaiye will have a...similar protection. If you accept it, of course," he quickly adds before they start bonding with her dress.nods...
"My clothing is glammered, but I also can cast prestidigitation to clean my clothes, or anyone else's, if necessary."
Jaiye looks surprised and then grins. "Yeah, thanks Fei. That's really good thinking. I definitely can't do any of the magic stuff so that really helps. Now I don't have to be quite as paranoid. Not saying I'm gonna let up on the constant vigilance or anything, but nice to know that I won't have to spend the evening looking like an idiot."
She nodded. "Yes, because it takes a lot of energy to change from solid to not. I have to eat a lot of food. And if I use up too much energy they have to put food right into my veins....except not in food form obviously. It's liquid then. It's not much fun. And then I still have to eat. That's just to get things stable. And yeah, if you think you can help me learn how to control it, that would be great! It would be a really useful talent to have if I could do it when I wanted...and not just keep falling though the floor. It really startles the music students when you fall into their practice space, let me tell you!"The young lycan laughs a bit at the mental image of Asha falling through the floor, and landing among the music students "Yea, I could see how that would be bad. Alright, take a seat beside me, and we'll try a little simple meditation."
Assuming she does, he offers the following "Ok, close your eyes, and breathe deliberate, slow breaths. Try to completely clear your mind, or at least quiet it."
Asha pops down into lotus position next to him. She has no trouble slowing her breathing. There isn't even any sign of fidgeting. But after a few seconds she asked uncertainly, "Uh, how? I mean, controlling my body is easy. But how am I supposed to make my mind quiet? My mind likes to wander. Since it was the only part of me that could for a long time. So I don't really understand the instruction."
Marcell quietly mimics the movement. He gets a hold of it rather quickly, his motions becoming a lot more fluid the less he overthinks it. He's still shaking, but slowly calming down.marcell nods, watching Ryleh quietly. Badly hiding how much he's shivering.::You have nothing to fear from me, Marcell. I'm sure you've heard stories, but the reality is never that simple. What I can promise you is that I do not harm children. Not ever. You are safe here.::
::Now,:: she said, moving her wings up and out, ::try spreading your wings up and out like this. You need to get used to moving these muscles. I believe Professor Zix said you had taken the form of a pseudodragon before. This works on the same general principle as what you experienced then. It's just that because you are larger you have less room for error without knocking people over.::
::Very good, Marcell. Now try moving your wings independently of each other.::
Once he had the hang of that, she started instructing him on how to manage his tail without tripping.
::You're doing well. You should be able to manage tolerably well moving around the school without causing major incidents at this rate. The only other thing I can show you is how to fly. Unless you would rather not. Not every dragon enjoys the skies. My uncle Praetix'alliend was infamously afraid of heights. He rarely even came up to the surface, an easy feat since my species of dragon can swim through stone. I am not familiar with the species of dragon you are currently so I am not sure what special abilities that you might have. I'm afraid you'll have to determine that through trial and error.::
"I'm a sapphire dragon."
he says bluntly.
"... Don't ask how I knew that, I don't know. And I started learning to fly when I was a pseudodragon. It was the best thing about the form."
"I'm a sapphire dragon."
he says bluntly.
"... Don't ask how I knew that, I don't know. And I started learning to fly when I was a pseudodragon. It was the best thing about the form."
::Fascinating. I have never seen any of the other varieties of gem dragons. I am afraid the information about them was lost a long time ago, though there are rumors of possibilities that they might have survived on their own hidden world. I suppose there might be information about them in the library if one were to look hard enough. I am afraid that I am quite ignorant of the abilities of sapphire dragons. I am sorry that I cannot be of more help to you on this matter.::
::But I can give you flying lessons if you would like. Or I can let you figure things out on your own if you would prefer.::
"Flying lessons would be nice, honestly. This is already my second form with wings, and bumbling about isn't any fun."
Havel blinks a few times. Library? Hmm. Maybe he could find something on what he was.
"Flying lessons would be nice, honestly. This is already my second form with wings, and bumbling about isn't any fun."
::The second hardest part is taking off. The hardest part is landing. Almost everyone gets some bumps and bruises from their first attempts at landing. But once you're airborne it's actually pretty intuitive. To take off you have to move both of your wings together with as much force as you can. It helps to use your back legs to helps you get lift off the ground. It's not uncommon to need a running start when you're first learning how to do it...::
"Flying lessons would be nice, honestly. This is already my second form with wings, and bumbling about isn't any fun."::The second hardest part is taking off. The hardest part is landing. Almost everyone gets some bumps and bruises from their first attempts at landing. But once you're airborne it's actually pretty intuitive. To take off you have to move both of your wings together with as much force as you can. It helps to use your back legs to helps you get lift off the ground. It's not uncommon to need a running start when you're first learning how to do it...::
it takes a suprizingly short time. Once he starts getting confident, the whole thing becomes fluid. He's got the whole thing almost prefect by the end, and lands nearly perfectly. It seems all of how to work his body is in his head already, if he'd stop being so nervous.
::You've done very well, Marcell. I think you can handle things on your own from here. Professor Zix is waiting to speak to you. I understand he's still working on trying to understand why you change like this every day. Once you've answered his questions, you are free to make the best of the rest of your day. There are several programs here in the SIM rooms for flying if you want to use them. And you are free to send me a message if there are any other problems that I can help you with.::
Ryleh shifts back from her dragon form into her human form, primly folding her hands inside her sleeves.
"I apologize for the interruption to our tour, Havel. I am prepared to continue now if you like. And I can answer any questions you might have thought of while you were waiting. Professor Zix, thank you for your patience. Marcell can speak with you now. If there is anything else I can do to assist your efforts to understand his condition, please let me know."
Havel nods.
"I'd be glad to continue. Do you think the library may have any info on what kind of dragon I'm becoming? Of course, I understand searching for such would be a large interruption tour."
Havel nods.
"I'd be glad to continue. Do you think the library may have any info on what kind of dragon I'm becoming? Of course, I understand searching for such would be a large interruption tour."
"I can show you the library as the next stop on our tour, but I suspect that finding that information would take a great deal of time. The library is...special. You'll understand better once you see it. Once you enroll, you'll have plenty of time to search through it, though," she said, gesturing for him to follow her out of the SIM room.
"I can show you the library as the next stop on our tour, but I suspect that finding that information would take a great deal of time. The library is...special. You'll understand better once you see it. Once you enroll, you'll have plenty of time to search through it, though," she said, gesturing for him to follow her out of the SIM room.Havel nods.
"I'd be glad to continue. Do you think the library may have any info on what kind of dragon I'm becoming? Of course, I understand searching for such would be a large interruption tour."
Havel nods and follows after, pulling himself and his bad leg along. "I mean, turning into a type of dragon that ledgend lore seems to find inscrutable brings a sense of worry, and a sense of pride. Or perhaps we're just targeting the wrong thing with the spell to get answers."
Havel nods and follows after, pulling himself and his bad leg along. "I mean, turning into a type of dragon that ledgend lore seems to find inscrutable brings a sense of worry, and a sense of pride. Or perhaps we're just targeting the wrong thing with the spell to get answers.""I can show you the library as the next stop on our tour, but I suspect that finding that information would take a great deal of time. The library is...special. You'll understand better once you see it. Once you enroll, you'll have plenty of time to search through it, though," she said, gesturing for him to follow her out of the SIM room.Havel nods.
"I'd be glad to continue. Do you think the library may have any info on what kind of dragon I'm becoming? Of course, I understand searching for such would be a large interruption tour."
She nodded. "It's a tricky thing, divination. It's my personal specialty actually. I've studied it for centuries so I know very well all the ways that even the simplest divination can go off course over even the smallest error."
The walk to the library seemed to get shorter as they went, the school compensating for Havel's difficulty walking by making the route shorter. "Here we are. Come inside. If the librarian were here we'd be shushed immediately, but he's been missing for some time. He went into the stacks and never came out. It can happen here." She led him through the library. It seemed pretty normal at first, but after the first couple of turns it just kept changing and it seemed to go on forever. "The library contains every book ever written. And it doesn't confine itself to one time period or plane or even one universe. Something about large amounts of books massed together warping the fabric of space and time. But the more obscure the subject you're looking for, the more you have to wander through all of this in order to find the right section. It's not as bad as it sounds. It's still part of the school so it will try to help you as much as it can. It really would be easier with a librarian though."
Jaiye looks surprised and then grins. "Yeah, thanks Fei. That's really good thinking. I definitely can't do any of the magic stuff so that really helps. Now I don't have to be quite as paranoid. Not saying I'm gonna let up on the constant vigilance or anything, but nice to know that I won't have to spend the evening looking like an idiot."
Fei smiles and nods as the nanites bond with her garment.
"It is done. Are we ready?"
Havel nods and follows after, pulling himself and his bad leg along. "I mean, turning into a type of dragon that ledgend lore seems to find inscrutable brings a sense of worry, and a sense of pride. Or perhaps we're just targeting the wrong thing with the spell to get answers.""I can show you the library as the next stop on our tour, but I suspect that finding that information would take a great deal of time. The library is...special. You'll understand better once you see it. Once you enroll, you'll have plenty of time to search through it, though," she said, gesturing for him to follow her out of the SIM room.Havel nods.
"I'd be glad to continue. Do you think the library may have any info on what kind of dragon I'm becoming? Of course, I understand searching for such would be a large interruption tour."She nodded. "It's a tricky thing, divination. It's my personal specialty actually. I've studied it for centuries so I know very well all the ways that even the simplest divination can go off course over even the smallest error."
The walk to the library seemed to get shorter as they went, the school compensating for Havel's difficulty walking by making the route shorter. "Here we are. Come inside. If the librarian were here we'd be shushed immediately, but he's been missing for some time. He went into the stacks and never came out. It can happen here." She led him through the library. It seemed pretty normal at first, but after the first couple of turns it just kept changing and it seemed to go on forever. "The library contains every book ever written. And it doesn't confine itself to one time period or plane or even one universe. Something about large amounts of books massed together warping the fabric of space and time. But the more obscure the subject you're looking for, the more you have to wander through all of this in order to find the right section....
"It also Probobly doesn't help that this armor is resistant to nearly anything. No one Tactic is ever guarenteed to work agaisnt it, due to it's ability to change it's attuned color." [i] Havel seems oddly calm, wandering through the halls. After a while of walking, he ends up leaning on a bookcase, breathing a bit heavily. "I... Apologize, but, I need a moment. Long periods of walking tend to aggravate whatever mess is left in my leg."
Jeran nods "Yes, absolutely. Always test to make sure things are working. The last thing you want is to find out they're not when you're in the middle of something important."
He starts turning things on to make sure that things are working, then turns them off again because there's a problem with the forcefield. He stops and adjusts some of the wiring and starts turning things on again. This time everything seems to be in order. "Heh. Case in point. That would have been inconvenient later on. Okay so here are the switches you need in order to turn the forcefield on and off. Just make sure it's off before you try to make repairs or you'll end up in the infirmary."
"And I think that's it. Looks like your tank is up and running and you shouldn't have any problems going forward with oozes breaking the filters."
He nods and watches with interest, waiting until he gives the all clear. In leiu of crafting up a full on ooze from scratch, he tosses one of his bottled oozes into it and has Jeran hit the forcefield before it hits bottom. The capsule dissolves quickly and a slate grey blob pours out, turning into a tall almost snake like creature that whips around the field at high speed, knocking on the semi invisible walls.
"That's a whip jelly. They're among the fastest moving oozes, so if it can take that, it can take anything."A little after a minute, the shape starts fizzle out and break down, turning into a grey puddle that he sends out through the drainage pipe. "Bottled guys don't last long. Lot less clean up this way."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I must have explained it badly. No, there's only one magic building, and yes it's definitely sentient. It started out as a small cottage that's been in Uncle Ryo's family for ages. And it expanded as necessary to accommodate extra family. It likes to keep the core part of the house the same though. Almost like a control room really. No, the school is just an extension of the house. Ryo wanted to open a school so it sort of grew one. And it keeps expanding as necessary. Only family and people we bring in as guests are allowed to go into the house part. I think if it wanted to hide it could actually go back to looking like a cottage on the outside, but everything in the school would still be on the inside. But that would freak people out, so it lets the school part look somewhat close to as big as it is, sort of. It's a very unique sort of building," she said leading the way down a corridor that hadn't been there before to a door that sort of appeared in the wall as they got closer to it."Come on in," she said, gesturing for him to follow. Inside the door was a pretty normal looking house. There was a large sunny kitchen, a cozy living room filled with beat-up furniture, and a stairway leading up. "My room is upstairs. Grandma's lair is the basement. She's often in the kitchen there unless she's working with students."She led the way upstairs, still talking. "You make a good point about stuff, and it's my fault actually that Ephebe got most of my stuff. I basically stuck her here to take my place. In my defense I was dead, and had been through a lot of trauma, and it was totally messing with my sense of perspective. It never occurred to me that it doesn't work like that or that I would end up coming back. But that doesn't mean it isn't hard sometimes. Here's my room," she said, heading for the third door on the left. The room was a small bedroom. There was a twin bed with a colorful patchwork quilt on it, a mostly empty bookcase with one small holographic display on it that was cycling through images, a large wardrobe that was hanging open with not many clothes hanging inside, and a desk that was cluttered with various knickknacks in varying states of broken. There was one large window on the opposite side of the wall with ruffled white curtains tied back to each side of it, and a faded rug in a floral pattern on the floor. There wasn't a lot here that seemed to fit with Andromeda's personality.
Despite still working on the puzzle box as they walk and talk, he's attentive to the explanation, nodding and giving the occasional "yeah," or "uh huh." As they arrive, he ducks through the door, shrinking a bit to fit better in the room. "Oh, okay. That kinda makes sense. Like my room in the bottle. But that's kind of a slice of another plane sealed in a bottle."
He puts away his nearly solved puzzle box and conjures a cardboard one that he holds for her to put her affects in. "It may not be the same, but I can try to duplicate things for you, if you want."
"It also Probobly doesn't help that this armor is resistant to nearly anything. No one Tactic is ever guarenteed to work agaisnt it, due to it's ability to change it's attuned color." Havel seems oddly calm, wandering through the halls. After a while of walking, he ends up leaning on a bookcase, breathing a bit heavily. "I... Apologize, but, I need a moment. Long periods of walking tend to aggravate whatever mess is left in my leg."
Ryleh stops. "I apologize, Havel. I should have considered your difficulty sooner. Here, lean on me, there is a seating area just around that corner where you can rest," she said, helping him over to it. She is surprisingly strong for her apparent size. But not so surprising when you consider what she is. She leads him over to a grouping of overstuffed armchairs where he can sit and rest. "Perhaps our next stop should be the infirmary, once you are feeling a bit better."
He nods and watches with interest, waiting until he gives the all clear. In leiu of crafting up a full on ooze from scratch, he tosses one of his bottled oozes into it and has Jeran hit the forcefield before it hits bottom. The capsule dissolves quickly and a slate grey blob pours out, turning into a tall almost snake like creature that whips around the field at high speed, knocking on the semi invisible walls.
"That's a whip jelly. They're among the fastest moving oozes, so if it can take that, it can take anything."
A little after a minute, the shape starts fizzle out and break down, turning into a grey puddle that he sends out through the drainage pipe. "Bottled guys don't last long. Lot less clean up this way."
"Glad to see that it works," Jeran said with a smile. "I had no idea there were so many kinds of oozes before....well, I never really bothered to learn about them before either, so there's that."
"Is there anything else we need to do to clean up, or should we just drop Mr. Jigglypuff off at my room and go get some lunch?"
"It also Probobly doesn't help that this armor is resistant to nearly anything. No one Tactic is ever guarenteed to work agaisnt it, due to it's ability to change it's attuned color." Havel seems oddly calm, wandering through the halls. After a while of walking, he ends up leaning on a bookcase, breathing a bit heavily. "I... Apologize, but, I need a moment. Long periods of walking tend to aggravate whatever mess is left in my leg."Ryleh stops. "I apologize, Havel. I should have considered your difficulty sooner. Here, lean on me, there is a seating area just around that corner where you can rest," she said, helping him over to it. She is surprisingly strong for her apparent size. But not so surprising when you consider what she is. She leads him over to a grouping of overstuffed armchairs where he can sit and rest. "Perhaps our next stop should be the infirmary, once you are feeling a bit better."
Havel nods, and sits down, curling his tail in front of him as he does.
"That sounds like a good idea. Maybe they'll have something we haven't tried."Havel sighs, giving a bit of a half-hearted smile.
"Sorry to keep you so long, by the way. I'm sure you've got better things to be doing."
Despite still working on the puzzle box as they walk and talk, he's attentive to the explanation, nodding and giving the occasional "yeah," or "uh huh." As they arrive, he ducks through the door, shrinking a bit to fit better in the room. "Oh, okay. That kinda makes sense. Like my room in the bottle. But that's kind of a slice of another plane sealed in a bottle."
He puts away his nearly solved puzzle box and conjures a cardboard one that he holds for her to put her affects in. "It may not be the same, but I can try to duplicate things for you, if you want."
"I'm not really sure how the school actually works. Maybe it's its own demiplane or something. All I know is that it works," she said with a shrug, opening the closet and taking out the few clothes hanging inside, placing them in the offered box. She picks up the picture frame and sighs. "I swear this frame has a talent for picking the most embarrassing photos to show at any given time. Pretty sure that's why Ephebe left it. Here's a picture from the day Taron burned my half dragon Barbies. There's me crying, and Jiminy patting my head to try and make me feel better, and there's Taron looking bored while Mom scolds him....Master Quo loved to take pictures of awkward moments like this. He said we'd appreciate them someday. Still waiting on that," she said, rolling her eyes as she tossed the irritating holodisplay into the box.
"I appreciate the offer to duplicate things, but kinda the point is the memories that went along with them. It's not really about the stuff itself. At least I have the photos. They help when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't remember which memories are mine." She tossed her dance bag on top of the sparse contents of the box. "That's it. All packed. Told you it wouldn't take long," she said smiling. "Now to break the news to my parents."
Ryleh stops. "I apologize, Havel. I should have considered your difficulty sooner. Here, lean on me, there is a seating area just around that corner where you can rest," she said, helping him over to it. She is surprisingly strong for her apparent size. But not so surprising when you consider what she is. She leads him over to a grouping of overstuffed armchairs where he can sit and rest. "Perhaps our next stop should be the infirmary, once you are feeling a bit better."Havel nods, and sits down, curling his tail in front of him as he does.
"That sounds like a good idea. Maybe they'll have something we haven't tried."
Havel sighs, giving a bit of a half-hearted smile.
"Sorry to keep you so long, by the way. I'm sure you've got better things to be doing."
She smiled a little sadly. "No, actually I don't. My youngest grandchildren are spending time with their father today, my older grandchildren prefer not to be fussed over, my oldest great-grandchild is much the same, and my youngest great-grandchildren are not yet hatched so there is only so much time one can spend watching over them. Meanwhile my daughter is rather tired of being fussed over. So I am quite at loose ends today. So you don't have to feel at all bad about monopolizing my time. I have plenty of it at the moment."
She smiled a little sadly. "No, actually I don't. My youngest grandchildren are spending time with their father today, my older grandchildren prefer not to be fussed over, my oldest great-grandchild is much the same, and my youngest great-grandchildren are not yet hatched so there is only so much time one can spend watching over them. Meanwhile my daughter is rather tired of being fussed over. So I am quite at loose ends today. So you don't have to feel at all bad about monopolizing my time. I have plenty of it at the moment."
Ryleh stops. "I apologize, Havel. I should have considered your difficulty sooner. Here, lean on me, there is a seating area just around that corner where you can rest," she said, helping him over to it. She is surprisingly strong for her apparent size. But not so surprising when you consider what she is. She leads him over to a grouping of overstuffed armchairs where he can sit and rest. "Perhaps our next stop should be the infirmary, once you are feeling a bit better."Havel nods, and sits down, curling his tail in front of him as he does.
"That sounds like a good idea. Maybe they'll have something we haven't tried."
Havel sighs, giving a bit of a half-hearted smile.
"Sorry to keep you so long, by the way. I'm sure you've got better things to be doing."
She smiled a little sadly. "No, actually I don't. My youngest grandchildren are spending time with their father today, my older grandchildren prefer not to be fussed over, my oldest great-grandchild is much the same, and my youngest great-grandchildren are not yet hatched so there is only so much time one can spend watching over them. Meanwhile my daughter is rather tired of being fussed over. So I am quite at loose ends today. So you don't have to feel at all bad about monopolizing my time. I have plenty of it at the moment."
Ryleh stops. "I apologize, Havel. I should have considered your difficulty sooner. Here, lean on me, there is a seating area just around that corner where you can rest," she said, helping him over to it. She is surprisingly strong for her apparent size. But not so surprising when you consider what she is. She leads him over to a grouping of overstuffed armchairs where he can sit and rest. "Perhaps our next stop should be the infirmary, once you are feeling a bit better."Havel nods, and sits down, curling his tail in front of him as he does.
"That sounds like a good idea. Maybe they'll have something we haven't tried."
Havel sighs, giving a bit of a half-hearted smile.
"Sorry to keep you so long, by the way. I'm sure you've got better things to be doing."
"Well, I guess that's good. You're likely to get a lot of questions. Expecally from Sabrina. She's really interested in why our stone can give the form of a generally Psionic species, yet can only replicate Devine and arcane casting. Yet another reason I beilive the stone to be flawed. I'm... Still proud, of the thing, but elegy and I had to face facts that it doesn't work perfectly, and isn't without occasional side effects."
Havel shifts in his seat a bit, scales shimmering as the angle of light changes. His colors practically dance as he moves. He pauses, a moment."... Hm."
all of his scales shift to Violet, a rippling motion across his body.
"Funny, the violet scales kinda look like yours, don't they?"
he looks at his arm.
"... Maybe it's just me."
"Well, I guess that's good. You're likely to get a lot of questions. Expecally from Sabrina. She's really interested in why our stone can give the form of a generally Psionic species, yet can only replicate Devine and arcane casting. Yet another reason I beilive the stone to be flawed. I'm... Still proud, of the thing, but elegy and I had to face facts that it doesn't work perfectly, and isn't without occasional side effects."
Havel shifts in his seat a bit, scales shimmering as the angle of light changes. His colors practically dance as he moves. He pauses, a moment.
"... Hm."
all of his scales shift to Violet, a rippling motion across his body.
"Funny, the violet scales kinda look like yours, don't they?"
he looks at his arm.
"... Maybe it's just me."
"Yes, although that's not surprising. As far as I know amethysts are the only dragons with purple scales, although there might be some other obscure species of dragon that does that I am unaware of."
"I must admit that I am curious about this stone. If it is alright with you, I would like it if you would bring it with you when you return to Avalon. I might not be able to help you figure out what went wrong, but certainly there are other professors who might also be of assistance. And I am simply curious how the thing was constructed in the first place. One of my favorite things about living here at this school is the number of new things I come across on a regular basis. At my age, it's hard to find anything new to experience. It's almost like being a child again," she said with a slight smile.
As all of this was being said, a guardsman approached Lord Phoebus and whispered something urgently in his ear. "Are you sure?" he asked quietly, clearly shocked by what he'd heard. The guardsman nodded and whispered something else as well. Lord Phoebus stood straighter, frowning. "Excuse me, I need to attend to this," he said quietly before attempting to approach Lord Soleil.After what appeared to be several false starts at speaking with the man, Lord Soleil said loudly, "I don't know what you're about, but anything you have to say to me you can say in front of everyone."
Lord Phoebus sighed and looked pained as the attention of the group was drawn to this scene. "If you insist," he said gravely, "but I would like to remind you that I tried to do this discreetly first. I have just been delivered some information by my guardsmen who were investigating the matter involving Aithne and Aine del Sol. They were attempting to locate a number of victims of the brainwashing ritual that were listed in the journal. Most of the survivors are already in custody, but there were a few still at large. They just found them a little while ago. Dead. Along with two Soleil guardsmen, Embre Soleil, and Apolla Helios. All dead. At this point we do not know who or, by the description of the scene, more likely what killed them. I suspect that either Embre or Apolla, or possibly both, attempted to use what they learned from Lord Helios and it went horribly wrong, but at this point there is no proof and that is simply conjecture. I am very sorry for your loss."
Fieri felt disconnected from herself. This must be a dream. It couldn't be real. She could hear a swishing sound like the ocean in her ears, and then the world tilted.
Sorchan jumped forward and caught his oldest daughter before she hit the ground. He could hear Lady Soleil screaming in the background, but he wasn't really paying any attention to her right now. He was too concerned about Fieri.
"Well, I guess that's good. You're likely to get a lot of questions. Expecally from Sabrina. She's really interested in why our stone can give the form of a generally Psionic species, yet can only replicate Devine and arcane casting. Yet another reason I beilive the stone to be flawed. I'm... Still proud, of the thing, but elegy and I had to face facts that it doesn't work perfectly, and isn't without occasional side effects."
Havel shifts in his seat a bit, scales shimmering as the angle of light changes. His colors practically dance as he moves. He pauses, a moment.
"... Hm."
all of his scales shift to Violet, a rippling motion across his body.
"Funny, the violet scales kinda look like yours, don't they?"
he looks at his arm.
"... Maybe it's just me.""Yes, although that's not surprising. As far as I know amethysts are the only dragons with purple scales, although there might be some other obscure species of dragon that does that I am unaware of."
"I must admit that I am curious about this stone. If it is alright with you, I would like it if you would bring it with you when you return to Avalon. I might not be able to help you figure out what went wrong, but certainly there are other professors who might also be of assistance. And I am simply curious how the thing was constructed in the first place. One of my favorite things about living here at this school is the number of new things I come across on a regular basis. At my age, it's hard to find anything new to experience. It's almost like being a child again," she said with a slight smile.
"i'd be glad to show you. I think we even still have the notes, even if they're... Bordering incomprehensible. I can say, it relied on picking up residual energy from the lives of dragons. It shouldn't have been a suprize that it went wrong. It's got a huge blend of magical auras, of all schools. Woudln't suprize me if tiny shards of souls got caught up in it, as elegy says that sometimes souls fragment a bit when they die. So, I really should have seen this coming."
Tybalt smiles and checks Dave's wrist out a bit. "It looks good on you. Happy birthday, Shiny." As Dave turns to talk to the shop keep, Tybalt starts to walk the circle, bending to gather the unexpended parts of the ceremony, crystals, the wand, etc, as well as Dave's robe that he picks up and pats to make sure there's no dust on it.
"It was a pleasure, Son. Happy to have been able to help you boys out." He smiles warmly and shakes Dave's hand. "And Happy Birthday! Always a good time. And with that in mind, I'll give you the watch at building cost." He smiles wryly and chuckles. "Still gotta run a business, of course."
David smiles as he puts on the bracer "thanks man, you are the best" he hugs the cat, somewhat awkwardly, given all the stuff in his furry friend's arms.
when the shop owner speaks up he blinks and says "do you take gold?"
"i'd be glad to show you. I think we even still have the notes, even if they're... Bordering incomprehensible. I can say, it relied on picking up residual energy from the lives of dragons. It shouldn't have been a suprize that it went wrong. It's got a huge blend of magical auras, of all schools. Woudln't suprize me if tiny shards of souls got caught up in it, as elegy says that should fragment a bit when they die. So, I really should have seen this coming."
She looked honestly a bit appalled. "That...doesn't match my understanding of what happens to souls at all. Though I suppose we could consult with my granddaughter and her husband. They would know more certainly if that was in fact the case."
She looked honestly a bit appalled. "That...doesn't match my understanding of what happens to souls at all. Though I suppose we could consult with my granddaughter and her husband. They would know more certainly if that was in fact the case."
"i'd be glad to show you. I think we even still have the notes, even if they're... Bordering incomprehensible. I can say, it relied on picking up residual energy from the lives of dragons. It shouldn't have been a suprize that it went wrong. It's got a huge blend of magical auras, of all schools. Woudln't suprize me if tiny shards of souls got caught up in it, as elegy says that should fragment a bit when they die. So, I really should have seen this coming."
Havel shrugs. "to be fair, we aren't working on complete information. It's our current guess as to why we could find such Ling lingering magic. We know full well that souls are capable of healing from removed bits, thanks to one of our more... Fenstic worshippers using portions of his soul to power spells. For example, deamons can hack of tiny bits of a soul, but strong souls will regenerate that by the end of the day. and if that fails, restoration can be used. ... Perhaps what we found were remnants of soul draining spells used against them. Like energy drain, or vampire claws. Or perhaps it lingers so lone because the magic that was being used was stronger then I've encountered in my life. Feel free to look at it and see for yourself."
"Glad to see that it works," Jeran said with a smile. "I had no idea there were so many kinds of oozes before....well, I never really bothered to learn about them before either, so there's that."
"Is there anything else we need to do to clean up, or should we just drop Mr. Jigglypuff off at my room and go get some lunch?"
"Oh, yeah, there's tons. Natural ones, alchemically created ones, even deifically powerful ones. Most people just think about green jelly cubes with skeletons inside, but they're actually really interesting. At least, I think so."
He goes about switching things off and powering the vat down, making sure the forcefield was off so it wasn't wasting power.
"That's all I can think of. Do I need to like, dress up for this place? Clothes are kind complicated with the current body situation. Lab coat is magic and resizes to whatever current body needs are, but other stuff not so much. The new 'form shifting things instead of clothes' version of modesty was something I had to get used to pretty quick..."
He's actually wearing more clothes than the average dragon or ooze, which is to say, just his lab coat.