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"I doubt the current crisis is universe level, although it could potentially cause a regional or planetary level apocalypse," Djalos says drolly. "Do you believe you have the ability to contain an antimagical force technologically without tapping into magical energies?"
Hey, still waiting on a reply from Mel for the Djalos scene.
"Is this the dormitory of Melody Waverider?" Djalos asks stiffly, looking past Morrivan's shoulder. His thumb brushes the simple iron band around his wrist, and Morrivan almost feels like a light breeze flows through and past her into the room.
"I will seek this Melody Waverider," Djalos says simply, before vanishing into the shadows. It isn't a dramatic thing for him, apparently. It's actually a conscious effort to not always be in stealth-mode around people when he has the opportunity. Djalos communicates his intent to his bracelet, creating a series of vibrations that serve as arrows similar to the school's. He follows them presumably to Melody's room.
Djalos actually seems relieved that Adon is back, considering his small exhalation of breath. That's progress, at least. "I am glad you are well too, Adon. Sadie is right, we need to find some kind of technological solution to your problem, otherwise... well, most likely it will get even worse." He pauses. "Our efforts thus far have been... not very fruitful, other than the initial discovery of Emm. Perhaps we should split up to find some of the technological geniuses this school no doubt provides a home to. Although I would recommend that you remain with Adon, Sadie, in case his disruption field spikes in power and it starts eating away at the school."
"Your little brother is intelligent, then. It generally takes decades of hardship to learn that truth." Djalos pauses. "Shouldn't Adon be back by now?" Another pause. "The interior of Avalon is largely composed of magic, is it not?"
Djalos embeds himself in the books, but eventually pulls himself out. "It's..." he grasps for a correct analogy for Dara. "It is like that I was a wild animal, when they took me in." That was truer than Djalos would have liked to admit. "They trained me the wrong way, and because that is all I've ever known, it had never occurred to me that what they made me do was wrong. But when I came here, some nice people showed me what I did wrong, and taught me - and are teaching me - to do better. Like your sister."
"I... thank you." Djalos quickly buries himself in the books once again.
"Yes, you are a quite proficient teacher," Djalos says. He's part of the class, although it's apparent that Djalos doesn't really need the instruction, and is just filling up his schedule. "If you require assistance running the light blades course, I could provide it." To Sadie's comment about the SIM rooms, Djalos nods, once again a display that he's making a conscious effort to be more... socially presentable. "Indeed. The SIM rooms provide a rather interesting challenge. And the time dilation facilities allow for more time to complete assignments." Djalos pauses for a moment. "Sadie... do you like me? I know I am a burden, socially, and my... mannerisms are strange. My background isn't exactly conducive to friendship either."
After devouring his meal, Djalos makes a quick stop to his room before heading back to the library. He stays behind the curtain that separates him and his roommate's portions of the room for a few minutes, then comes out and immediately heads back to the library. Upon reaching Sadie, Djalos sits down and begins reading with her and Dara. He then abruptly asks, "So, what do you do for fun? I am rather curious, since I have no such activities or proclivities myself."
"Yes, I suppose." Djalos pauses. "If I am already going to this party, then I might as well tend to my bodily functions. Eat, and... other things." Giving a nod to Sadie - which is a conscious effort for him, as Sadie would know by now - he exits the library, and after a brief detour to the restroom, enters the cafeteria. He loads up his tray with foods chosen for nutrient and caloric value, nothing else, then sits down and begins to eat mechanically.
"I... see." Djalos pauses. "Apologies. My knowledge of romance is limited to how to exploit it to get an assassination target alone. It appears that I still have much to learn about socialization. If that wasn't already apparent enough." He drops his terrifying smile, returning to his normal completely neutral expression.
Djalos stays completely silent during Sadie's speech. "Addressing your points in descending order. First point, sneaking up on people is rude. Noted. Second point, I assumed that you were going to kill your target, so I believed that it was safe to relay information. Third point, if that's true, it would be optimal to use the time when something isn't currently rampaging, as you put it, to entirely prevent the rampaging part. If what you say is true, and I believe it is since I have spent a non-insignificant amount of time with you, perhaps I should take a break though. Miss Jones has repeatedly said to me that I need emotional development in order not to erupt into a burning point of infinite mass that could destroy a large portion of the school, so noted. I do have a query, however. If you were flirting with this girl, why didn't you just strike from," Djalos points to a variety of shadowed places in the library, "there, there, and there? And why bother at all? There is no large congregation of people that you need to get her away from in order to kill her. And that form of flirting was somewhat clumsy, even though I admit that I have never found necessity to use that particular extraction technique. Point four, I will acquiesce with your request, due to the conclusions I drew in point three and the fact that I believe you would literally drag me no matter my resistance to this party if I refused. And point five," Djalos pauses for a moment. "Hello, Dara." He twists his face upwards in a manner that could be considered a smile, but looks more like he's being tortured. It doesn't help that he isn't looking directly at Dara.
Djalos appears seemingly out of nowhere, stepping out of the shadows right next to Sadie. "We must continue our research. The threat of this outer being is quite real, and we may be working on a time limit. I have taken the liberty of organizing our study materials by a categorical system based on alphabet, date of publication, author, and sanity."
It was a step forward, at least. Miss Jones had told Djalos that he had to let out his emotions, otherwise psychic buildup would eventually incapacitate him. Unfortunately, despite his hundred years of experiences, nothing the Anonemuss had taught Djalos prepared him for having friends, or people close to that, anyways. There was a social paradox involved: in order to truly resolve emotional turmoil, friends were needed. Yet it struck Djalos with a paralyzing fear to even think of relating all of his guilt, his sadness, his anger, the truth of everything to Adon and Sadie. So he struck a compromise. A five-minute emotional breakdown and crying jag every six hours was better than nothing, at the very least. While Adon and Sadie discussed grave matters in the cafeteria, Djalos' internal alarm went off. Businesslike, he paused his work, turned into a reading room, then collapsed and began sobbing as he let his emotions overwhelm him.
Okay, yeah, sure. That makes sense.
I believe it might be an interesting arc for Sadie to literally force Djalos to go have fun. He is a Laerenite, although he has almost never actually interacted with his culture.
Djalos appears to pay no heed to Adon's sudden departure, continuing to pore through the books. He pauses for a moment. It is difficult to cross-reference using the current unorganized data set. An optimal use of my time would be to categorize the information for easy retrieval. The elf thus begins rapidly sorting the books, based on author, content, date of publication, insanity of author, potential of trauma for the reader, chance that the contents of the book is a delusion of the author's, and alphabet letter.
Djalos shakes Adon awake. "We need to get to work," he says shortly, before diving into the pile of books once again.
"It is approximately 7:14 AM," Djalos replies crisply. "Now. We need to get a head start on this research. Shall we?""Umm...yeah. But not before a bathroom break. And maybe a shower. And definitely some coffee. Probably food. You wanna take turns? Pretty sure we shouldn't leave Adon sleeping here all by himself. And I may have to bring my little brother along with me when I come back. He usually tags along with me as much as he can on the weekends." "This has priority. I've been trained to ignore those needs when necessary. I will keep watch and continue research while you tend to yours," Djalos says, voice neutral.
"It is approximately 7:14 AM," Djalos replies crisply. "Now. We need to get a head start on this research. Shall we?"
As the reading took its toll on Sadie, and Djalos too, his mind drifted towards familiar thoughts. His eyes wandered to his two... friends, he supposed. At least in some sense. He'd never thought of them that way before. Should he... no. They wouldn't. Nobody would. But Miss Jones?... No. Not now. Not when everything was... fine. When everything felt good, except for that. That was odd. Things felt good. He drifted off to sleep, and dreamed a familiar dream. *** Djalos awakens in starts, allowing himself to enjoy the sensation of a slow start to the day. He rolls over, and accidentally bumps into Sadie. "Good morning," he says, his voice crisp despite the early hour. "Shall we begin again?"
I think we can resolve the Adon scene by getting him contained somehow, and talking to Ryo about the situation offscreen.
"Some sort of construct that is, apparently, made out of a dying child's hatred for the world by an Other. It's rather unclear whether the construct itself is an Other, however. It's physically and metaphorically made up of static, and disrupts communications around it. It's a shapeshifter, nearly impossible to harm, often manifests itself as a traumatic event from the viewer's past, has great psionic power, or something near like it, and the only way to so much as harm it are curses that utterly prevent healing and spells that shut down shapeshifting abilities. Which, of course, conveniently ignores the paradox that the creature seems to be somewhat immune to magic, but I believe that the book implies that there's some sort of workaround. Emm has caused three planet-scale apocalypses, and although it can, technically, be killed, forming a contract with the Other that made it causes it to remanifest and presumably cause another apocalypse."
Djalos speaks up, for the first time in a while. "That's what I was there for. I was afraid he was about to do something incredibly stupid, so I tagged along. He let me, so I would classify him as your standard, run-of-the-mill idiot, not a complete imbecile."
"He had to impale himself through the intestines," Djalos says, rather matter-of-factly. "A creature called 'Emm,' which manifests as a ball of white static, has the ability to completely negate all kinds of magic. And this 'Emm' creature has been killed on multiple occasions. Apparently, it was created by an Other from pure hate from a dying child. Rather depressing stuff, really. But occasionally, the Other that created Emm comes into contact with a particularly megalomaniacal or desperate person, and shows them how to summon Emm, thereby resurrecting the horror and causing a planetary apocalypse. Considering the general Fae propensity for subtle trickery, it would not surprise if, in a long-minded gambit, the Other in question slipped information on how to make a pact with it into an otherwise 'normal'-for a given value of such when dealing with the binding of extraplanar entities-in a book about binding and summoning extraplanar entities, knowing that the book would arrive in Avalon's library, and knowing that it is far more likely for somebody with the required intelligence, and arrogance and/or desperation within the school's halls than without them. And disguising itself as a somewhat more innocuous being would lessen the qualms of actually calling upon the power of Emm."
"Yes. I apologize for my indiscretion, although I believe that a potential apocalypse trumps secretly kept poor decisions."
"This does not bode well. Sadie, I need you to get some sort of technical genius for me, preferably someone who can, say, replicate the effects of highly potent abjuration spells without actually tapping into any magical energy. This could be bad."
Djalos suddenly pauses in the rhythmic tapping of one of the books, an ancient leather bound tome wherein the front page alternates between the ravings of a madman and repeated warnings not to open, before precisely opening the book to a page depicting... well, white fuzz, for lack of a better word. "This might fit the bill," he says calmly. "Adon, how certain are you that you actually summoned Sir Alonne? And how exactly did you summon this entity?"
Djalos nods and begins rapidly tapping one of the books, in the same manner that he "read" the first one.
Djalos nods and begins rapidly tapping one of the books, in the same manner that he "read" the first one.
Djalos, having nothing to say, says nothing. Something that Adon and Sadie have noticed in their time with him is that the concept of "small talk" has absolutely no meaning for him.
Djalos trails behind, again eerily silent.
Djalos silently hands the book to Adon.
Djalos stands stock still. "There appear to be two distinct possibilities. One: an Other is attempting to conceal its identity from you. Two: an Other who has tried extremely hard to conceal its very existence has contacted you." Djalos cocks his head. "I would suggest taking the books to the front and attempting to contact somebody with far more magical expertise. I am trained to withstand the cold, I can press onwards."
"...that seems on form with the Others. Do you know why it's 'contacting' you?"
Djalos stands stock-still for a moment. "I... see. And could you please describe what this being was like, and what mannerisms it had?"
"It depends on the specific specimen, but their powers always fit the general theme of making a horrible mockery of time, space, and the sophont psyche. One of them feeds on temporal energy by trapping you in the same three seconds for eternity. Another is the size of a star and eats chunks of reality for all of nine point thirty-seven Agarthan hours before unraveling itself. Three of them send abstractions of their unknowable being into various realities and consume them. A relatively benign species only steals your socks and housekeys, but considering how the previous dozen pages had been a rant against the atrocities of chicken pot pie, I believe that the author may have gone utterly and completely mad at that point. I honestly have no idea why this is in the fae section. This seems more of the, 'keep under lock and key lest any mentally unstable student get ahold of it,' sort. You know, like where they keep all of the more dangerous fiendish compilations."
"Fascinating. After reading this, I may have nightmares for the first time in my life. What a novel experience," Djalos says, and it is difficult to tell whether he is being droll or not. "Regardless, this book contains in-depth anatomical studies and dissertations on a variety of sanity-shredding horrors collectively known as the 'Others.' I find it difficult to believe that seeing a being that is, and I quote verbatim, 'a squamous Ouroboros of terrible size, its thirteen unblinking eyes seeing all universes and its countless scales shimmering with uncolors of the Nether,' could be observed in person without the witnesses' mind being twisted into horrific, unnatural shapes, but I digress. This book does not appear relevant."
Djalos nods, and takes the book, briskly walking over Adon's section. "Going blind," he declares, before he turns the book over in his hands and begins rapidly tapping the cover.
Djalos keeps completely silent as they explore the library. Literally. If Adon and Sadie didn't already know that he was there, he would be almost invisible. It seems that stealth is his natural state. When Sadie encounters the book, Djalos pipes up. "May I have a look at that? I have developed a technique for print books that allow me to read them rapidly." He furrows his brow. "It requires a great deal of concentration, so, while I'm reading it, I will be completely blind."
"It is just reminding me of my mindscape. Almost exactly, in fact. I have no doubt it is just coincidence, but still... It is unsettling. And I get a good impression of my surroundings through passive perception of sensations. When I need to see something specific, I create vibrations, by either snapping my fingers or tapping something nearby."
There is a slight shudder in Djalo' step. "Yes," he says simply, before continuing to move.
Djalos also continues forward, his head always affixed in the same direction.
Djalos swipes his fingers across his metal cufflink, then nods. "As the information about the fey sections is about how dangerous they are and how students should not approach them, with no indication of where they are, I say we follow Adon. He has experience here."
Djalos begins moving into the library.
"I... apologize." Despite his stilted tone, both can tell that the elf is genuinely sorry. "I wasn't aware that there were dangerous sections of the library. I will keep that in mind. Shall we go?"
"Ah." Djalos pauses for a moment. "I currently have two dozen daggers, half cold iron and half silver, three different poisons, two blade boots, a hand crossbow, two punching daggers, and pouches of inhaled poison or ground substances that are anathema to certain beings on my person, as well as my primary weapons and my armor concealed beneath an illusion." Another pause. "I would appreciate it if you didn't go near me. Your aura may disrupt some delicate enchantments."
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