Gravedigger Quest

[X] Get a room with *sigh* that other Changeling. She already knows what you are and seems ok with it.

--------------------------

As Lirra was looking around in a mild panic, a red clad figure cut through the crowd, followed by the diminutive form of Chloe and Melkorka, who was even shorter but in her massive armor.

"Ah, Lirra, I finally caught you," Lucilia said as she arrived next to her. "Will you be alright? Can you find a room or do you want me to help? And what about you Chloe?"

"It… should be alright," the changeling answered as the mage simply shook her head at her side.

"Ok..." Lucilia said, sounding almost disappointed. "Well, you ask me if you need anything, ok? And if you can't find anyone nice, I'll manage to get us a room somewhat close to all sections. And-"

"So I don't get the same treatment?" interrupted Melkorka from the side. "Since you want to snatch only the two cute innocent looking girls, I almost feel like I should worry for them if they don't find a room of their own..."

At that, Lucilia calmed down and looked at the Svartalf with a snide grin.

"Eh, I don't know, maybe if you were a little less snarky," she commented, before her smile widened. "But you know, you don't have to get all sulky when you want more attention. Just ask if you want a hug!"

And with that, before Melkorka could do anything besides shouting a short interrupted "Don't you dare-", Lucilia was on her, decided on giving her the most awkward and annoying hug possible.

The scene was starting to attract some attention, until one person in the crowd simply commented "eh, cloaks" and shrugged. The rest of the crowd quickly followed their example and also went back to what they were doing.

Lirra and Chloe were also beginning to edge away when Lucilia decided she apparently had done enough - that, or the elbow to the gut she took courtesy of Melkorka hurt more than she expected - and she got back up. From her side, Melkorka grumbled something and shot her a dark glare before putting her helmet on, turning her head to the side and crossing her arms.

"Well, now that it's done, I guess I'll look for a room too. Are you sure you'll be ok?" she asked one last time, to which she got the same answer as before. "See you later, then, and good luck!"

And with that, she left, waving her hand until she disappeared in the crowd.

"Aye, I'll leave too. Don't manage to die before we can work together again," Melkorka said gruffly before she walked away too. The last thing Lirra saw before she also lost her in the crowd was the Svartalf readjusting the strap of her bag of weapons.

Only Chloe and Lirra were left now, and they shared a silent look, as neither were prone to talking much. After around a minute like that, Chloe nodded to herself and took a step forward, before gently pinching a corner of Lirra's cape.

"Thank you for saving me in the forest," she said after having brought her mouth close to Lirra's ear. "Stay safe."

And with that, she turned around and left, quickly getting lost in the crowd as the other two had. Finally, Lirra was left alone. She stood there for a moment, wondering if she made the right decision in not accepting Lucilia's offer of a shared room, but she had to move forward and meet new people.

By then, the crowd had thinned, as members of the other classes had moved nearer where they would be, and so there were only about twenty people rather than the hundred of before. Lirra walked around a bit, searching for a particular person. While it was true that she wanted to meet new people, the other reason for her declining Lucilia's offer was that she didn't feel ready to share her secret, and it just so happened that there was one person who knew and accepted it.

It was just too bad that Lirra didn't really like her.

Looking around, she passed by a few of her future classmates. A giant of a man whose body seemed to have been in great parts replaced by the strange sandstone that made Endercross' golem limbs, a stern Svartalf who was standing to the side, looking impassive at the proceedings, the sun-decorated knight she had seen before the test and, waiting to the side, back to a wall, an Elf of the Frozen Forest. Of course, there were more people than that, but Lirra's examination ended then, as she saw the other Changeling also waiting leaning on the wall.

She took a deep breath and started walking in her direction. Maybe the other girl simply was stressed the other day and that explained her callousness. Actually, that made a lot of sense; she just lost her teammates, so trying to distance herself from any sort of empathy was understandable. After all, they wouldn't have made it out of the forest if she'd been an emotional wreck. Yes, that was probably it. After all, she was in the legendary Academy of Merek'Norr, where heroes were made. A bad person wouldn't have come here.

"Ah, hi friend!" as Lirra got closer, the other girl spotted her and waved her arm, a smile on her lips. "I missed you last night! You just left me to drink alone. It was terrible! It was so boring I almost regretted letting my party die back in the forest…" She let out a sigh before continuing. "So, what can I do for you on this fine day?"

And with that, Lirra's hopes fell to pieces. Bear with it, she told herself. At least she doesn't hate Keepers of Gray. Maybe she was still is shocked or something.

Apparently, as long as they weren't actually speaking, fairies could lie. At least, they could lie to themselves.

"I… was thinking about us rooming together, since… well… you know..." Lirra said, awkwardly pointing at her hair under her hood at the end. "Though if you don't want to, it would absolutely be fine with me."

At the proposal, the other girl's smile widened, revealing some very sharp teeth. She nodded energetically, and stepped away from the wall.

"Sure! It's not like I care about anyone else's company. Let's go grab a room before the nice ones get taken."

And just like that, she started walking away towards one of the hallways where the recommended rooms for aspiring Swords were. They passed by a boy and a girl who were loudly arguing in the entrance of a room, and continued quite a bit to be sure not to stay next to two potentially noisy neighbours until the other Changeling finally found a door that apparently took her fancy and entered the room. Lirra followed her closely before closing the door behind her.

At that, strange symbols lit up on the knob and a pair of keys appeared, floating in front of the two of them. Lirra hesitated an instant but, after the other girl grabbed the one in front of her without hesitation, did the same.

"So… Apparently it'll be home for the next year, huh? It's… a room. Don't know what to say," the Changeling commented somewhat lamely, her golden eyes looking around.

Lirra couldn't have said whether or not the room was large, as rooms were, given she spent her life on the road. Still, she guessed it was quite nice, from what little she had seen when she'd had to follow her mentor in ghost towns during the plague. Then again, the simple absence of misery and death could be the reason. The walls were made of stone with wooden beams reinforcing them here and there. Whether it was for decoration or an actual need was a question better left to, architects, but she actually liked them, used as she was to sleeping in forests. A desk stood along the far wall, under a large window that showed yet another courtyard. As the room was on ground level, it featured a sturdy lock and thick curtains. Finally, on each side of the room were two beds, next to which were night tables as well as sword and armor stands, symmetrically organised. All in all, the furniture looked sturdy and utilitarian, and Lirra wondered if the rooms aimed at other aspirants were the same. She amused herself for an instant, thinking on how Chloe would convert the stands in bookshelves one way or another if it weren't the case. Or how Melkorka would be annoyed at whatever would replace it if Staff rooms were different.

Maybe she should have gone with Lucilia in the end. In any case it was too late now.

"My name's Tanwen, by the way. I don't think I got yours?"

"Ah! Uh… I'm Li-" she cut herself before continuing. "Oh, it's not like you can get much more than a life debt anyway. I'm Lirra."

"Ah, stop being so dramatic. Just think of it as helping a friend. Just, well… later and for some unspecified thing. Well, then, Lirra, I'm hoping we'll be friends."

Tanwen thrust her hand forward with a smile and waited for Lirra to reciprocate.

"I… hope so too. But you're making it difficult. You're kind of mean. Unpleasant even," she answered honestly, shaking the hand anyway.

Tanwen winced as she heard that but didn't comment, the she went to her corner of the room and let herself fall on the bed. It creaked loudly as her body hit it and she stayed like that for a minute, looking up, before she turned her her back towards Lirra.

"But I… I was nice with you and I even helped you save that other girl," she said, her voice for once not full of energy and certainty. "I mean, sure, I didn't do it for free, but I didn't ask anything for the rest, right? I cleared the way after that, and she'd have died if I hadn't stopped you in the first place. No?"

Lirra didn't really know what to answer to that. Still, she tried to explain herself as best she could.

"Well… You… you act like people don't matter? You let your party die and would have been happy to let Chloe die too. Swords are supposed to protect people."

"But they don't? Matter, I mean. I don't know about Swords, but if you were right wouldn't they be called Shields or something?"

Lirra didn't know what to answer to that. She knew it was wrong. Obviously. Knights protected the innocents and slew evildoers, and that was what Swords were. The name was just that. A name. So it was unimportant, even though she hesitated to give her own just before in case Tanwen tried to use it against her. Well, alright, names were important, but she was still wrong.

"I… think you're wrong and I have no idea how to make you understand it, so I'll go to bed now," Lirra finally said after thinking for a while.

She walked to the windows and drew the curtains before finally lowering her hood, shaking her head once free. Motes of ashes fell to the ground as she did and she passed her hands through her hair, feeling refreshed. She was used to keeping her hood on at almost all time, but it didn't mean it didn't get stuffy after a while. Maybe she should try to find a pond or river around or even - although she didn't remember actually ever using one - a bath at some point to clean herself.

Still, it would be for later. Now, she'd go to sleep to get ready for tomorrow.

After all, classes were about to start.

--------------------------

(Pick one of these)

[] You feel…
- [] angry
- [] sad
- [] excited
- [] afraid
- [] write-in


(And one of those)

[] You managed to fall asleep and dreamt of
- [] the plague
- [] your mentor
- [] your first love (which ended terribly)
-- [] He was a farmboy in a village near which you camped some time with your mentor. You got along pretty well, until the day he saw your hair.
-- [] She was a older Rinagi girl in a caravan with which you traveled alongside your mentor. You will forever remember her beautiful voice as she sang and her screams as bandits attacked.
-- [] You saw a dashing knight protecting a family as you traveled. You don't know a single thing about them, but even so… Yes, even you are aware it's a silly crush and obviously you never saw them again.
-- [] He was a soldier in a long forgotten war. You spent three nights talking to him before his ghost accepted to be Pyred. His approval wasn't necessary, but you wanted an excuse to spend more time with him.
-- [] She was a playful fae who made your trip through the forest quite longer than it should have been. Then again, she also made it much more enjoyable. She simply disappeared one day.
-- [] Write-in (can be pretty much anyone. And if you're wondering, yes, monster girls are a thing, this is animu land (and tagged "self indulgent"))
- [] when you decided to come here
- [] your favorite story

[] You didn't sleep well. At all.
- [] so you sneaked out to take care of the bodies of those who didn't make it
- [] so you went out to find some place to wash yourself
- [] so you turned and turned and turned and one of your horns pierced your pillow god dammit!
- [] (write-in?)

(will be counted in block)

(EDIT: I meant plan. Which is the exact opposite. Oopsie?)

You can't believe how happy I am to finally have been able to give Tanwen's name. It was so annoying to write variations of "the other changeling".

And once again, thanks to Avalanche-kouhai for beta-ing.