- Pronouns
- Reader
This is a shop task, not a simple spell.
-[ ] A book on enchanting objects to prevent degradation from time or use
Is a safer bet.
Remedial Survival: A Scholomance Quest
- Thread starter Alchemist767676
- Start date
-
- Tags
- magic school quest open voting
-[ ] A book on enchanting objects to prevent degradation from time or use
Is a safer bet.
ZubScore
Unfathomable
- Pronouns
- Male
Is this supposed to be +35?
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
I think that this means that we'll get 6 doses of Food Poisoning Cure, not that we'll have to meet the goal number 6 times. Still, getting a project off our plate so we can focus on other, more difficult projects in our free time is a good idea. If we're lucky and finish in advance, we may be able to get a head start on work on the next project.
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
I think that this means that we'll get 6 doses of Food Poisoning Cure, not that we'll have to meet the goal number 6 times. Still, getting a project off our plate so we can focus on other, more difficult projects in our free time is a good idea. If we're lucky and finish in advance, we may be able to get a head start on work on the next project.
- Pronouns
- Reader
Hmm. @Alchemist767676 based on the novel,
where El uses none physical but difficult or concentration intensive tasks to build mana, wouldn't Aine build some mana just for the difficulty of concentrating in spite of the faulty equipment?
- Location
- California
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
I could be misremembering but wasn't it implied that the school was siphoning off the mana generated from classes (as well as from kids getting killed by mals) to help keep the place running?
I think you're right that stuff like this should generate mana, but I don't remember El ever gaining mana during class, just outside of it.
I think you're right that stuff like this should generate mana, but I don't remember El ever gaining mana during class, just outside of it.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
Ouch. Well, let's hope that Leah will help us get rid of this trait.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
- Pronouns
- They/Them
You know, everytime I read "A Deadly Education" and then think of this Quest, I'm reminded of what a fucking freak El is.
"I can only learn nine or ten useful spells (or hundreds of destructive spells) a day" says Galadriel, meanwhile, in the land of 'actual mortal beings' like Aine...
"I can only learn nine or ten useful spells (or hundreds of destructive spells) a day" says Galadriel, meanwhile, in the land of 'actual mortal beings' like Aine...
- Pronouns
- Reader
Yeah. Girls clearly got edic memory. Took a triple helping of malificar aura for a ton of useful traits on top of just bringing a single bag of crystals and taking a double helping of abrasive.
Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
Hello, I must say I didn't knew about this setting at all, so it has become quite facinating seeing how things play out.
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
I would like to mention something if possible. I know that the most important thing Áine needs is to learn more spells, but I have grown curious about the book mentioned the last time she read An Introduction to Contracts, Peacemaking, and Diplomacy.
Or maybe I am just rambling on.
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
I would like to mention something if possible. I know that the most important thing Áine needs is to learn more spells, but I have grown curious about the book mentioned the last time she read An Introduction to Contracts, Peacemaking, and Diplomacy.
I want to think the school has it; and if it was important enough to be mentioned, it may give Áine some sort of bonus involving her affinity. Just something to think about for later.
Or maybe I am just rambling on.
- Location
- Bloomington, IN
No, the 400/400 will have an effect, but it will be smaller and lead to gaining another progress bar representing further mastery of the subject, rather than being completely done on the spot.
It sort of means both. Every time you fill the 0/50 progress bar, you get one dose of the potion and you need to produce six doses for the school to accept your alchemy project as complete to its satisfaction.
I'm going to err on the side of it not generating mana, both for the diegetic reasons mentioned here, as well as for balancing reasons.
In other news, I'm finally ready to get started on the next update, and the winning option is Lab by a large margin.
A Good Talk and a Bad Talk
- Location
- Bloomington, IN
[X] Work on a Lab Project
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
-[X] Alchemy Project: Food Poisoning Cure (21/50 x 6)
When he notices that you're slowing down, he gets a stricken look on his face and starts to speed up a bit. Not a lot, but enough that you're confident you can focus on getting to the cafeteria without having to worry about whether or not he'll be there when you arrive. His mood never seems to lighten, though.
Still, despite Oliver's attempts to be a bit less inconvenient, you do arrive at the cafeteria a bit late, which just makes Oliver's nervous frown deepen. You consider asking him if he wants to find a table while you get the food, but you think that that might make him think that you're trying to get rid of him. You have no doubt that he'll happily oblige if he gets that idea in his head, so you decide to keep your mouth shut and just get in line.
You look at Oliver from the side of your eye and frown. He definitely wasn't like this at the start of class and you can't think of why he would be upset now. You continue to try and think through whatever his problem might be as you look over the deeply unpleasant, but mercifully danger-free offerings.
All there is available are three large trays, each filled with a different colored mush that you tentatively identify as meat, some sort of vegetable, and what you could generously call "cheese." But still, there are no hidden razor-blades, no lurking monsters, and nothing seems to be obviously harmful to ingest. It's not going to be a pleasant meal, but you haven't had a pleasant meal since you arrived at the Scholomance, so you'll settle for a safe one.
You and Oliver both scoop piles of mush onto your trays; Oliver mixes his piles together and the resulting concoction makes you feel a bit nauseous just to look at it, but you opt not to comment on it. No need to risk making Oliver feel any worse before you figure out what's even wrong with him in the first place.
As you leave the queue, you take a look over the cafeteria and frown as you see that most of the tables that you've learned to identify as "good" have already been taken by your fellow students who actually managed to get here in a reasonable time. Your eyes drift over towards one table in particular that remains unclaimed despite it seeming to be a fairly good option. You realize the issue almost immediately, namely, there's a large bloodstain covering the floor on one side of it where that boy got attacked by a Bleeder at breakfast this morning. You remember that horrifying sight of the Bleeder tearing and burrowing into the boy's leg with its disturbingly human-like teeth as it, if Leah's brief explanation was any indication, tried to drain him of all his blood. You can't say you were paying too much attention to the immediate aftermath of that attack, but you suppose that it only makes sense that a lot of blood would be spilled when the horrible worm finally got ripped away from the poor boy. Still, you trace the trail of blood and notice that it seems to disappear surprisingly quickly. Whether that's a property of Bleeder bites, something that the boy that got attacked did, or something else entirely, you wouldn't even know how to begin to figure out.
What you do know is that, despite the table being in a pretty good spot, nobody has taken it yet, even though a decent amount of people have taken the seats that you know enough to pretty definitively label as "bad." You do find it oddly comforting that, even though every student in this cafeteria besides you has already dealt with at least some of the horrors that the Scholomance has to offer, the idea of sitting in the same spot somebody got horribly attacked is still off-putting to them… Or they've already checked it and something else decided to set up camp in the Bleeder's old spot. You suppose that there's only one way to find out.
"Oliver? Can you do me a favor and hold my tray for a moment, please?" You ask, handing it over to him.
"Sorry," He says reflexively before seeming to absorb what you actually said. You really do wonder what's wrong. Did he do something wrong that you were supposed to notice and just plain didn't? Either way, he takes your tray, saying, "I mean, sure. Yes… Why, though?
You crouch down and look at the table's underside with a squint. After staring into the shadowy space for a few moments, you find yourself being fairly certain that there isn't anything still lurking there. But still… You think back to the boy's screams of pain as he managed to rip the disgusting worm out of his bleeding leg and decide that it's better to be safe than sorry.
You answer Oliver's question, "This table's still empty and seems like a better spot than anywhere else in here."
"Isn't… Isn't that where someone nearly lost their leg this morning?" Oliver asks, his despondent and nervous tone seeming to retreat in favor of a sort of creeping fear.
You answer, "Assuming my friend is right, his leg probably isn't in danger. But yes, it is that table. But the Bleeder crawled down a drain after it got ripped out, so it shouldn't be there anymore. It should be safe by now, right?"
"I… I guess so…" Oliver responds, clearly still unsure about casually sitting at the site of the second maleficaria attack of the year, especially with the evidence still very much visible. "Isn't the school supposed to clean… Stuff like that up?"
You have no idea, but you opt to shrug and say, "Probably," attempting to disguise your ignorance as jadedness.
You reach out your hand and mutter, "Echo, echo, echo," while opening and closing your hand in time with the words. The image of the table's underside, as well as a decent amount of the surrounding floor, fills your mind in an instant. It's still somewhat disorienting, but less so than the first time you used the spell. The table's completely empty, no oversized worm with human teeth, nor any other horrors to be seen. You feel a bit silly wasting the mana just to check and find nothing, but you tell yourself that you were just displaying an appropriate amount of caution for the circumstances that you find yourself in.
You're just about to stand up when you notice that there actually is something a bit off from how it's supposed to be. Standing in the blood stain, thin and small enough that you almost didn't notice it even with your spell running, is the round shape of a coin raised slightly higher than the brick floor. You almost grab it right then and there before realizing that that is both unsanitary and runs the risk of getting your one and only blouse covered in blood. Again.
"Any chance you have a napkin or tissue I can use?" You ask Oliver as the vision starts to fade. You're not actually expecting him to, but it certainly can't hurt to ask. In the meantime, you scan the blood stain, looking for the coin. You have to squint before you can make it out. It's almost invisible, a tiny spot in a lake of dried blood.
To your surprise, Oliver answers your question with a "Sure," and digs through the bag he's carrying, and pulls out a sheet of tissue paper. He shoots you a questioning look as you take it from his hands.
You answer that look with, "I saw something in the blood stain."
He responds with a, "Wait, what do-" and then slams his mouth shut when you walk over to the puddle of blood and wipe some of it off the floor. You look back at him and see that he's looking a little green, but he doesn't say anything. You hate to say it, but you kind of consider it an improvement over the abject misery from before.
You lift up the coin and stare at the clean side. It bears the face of a woman and her baby, neither of which you recognize, and has the word "LIBERTY" emblazoned at the top. If you had to guess, you'd say it was an American coin, but you couldn't say what kind. You also notice a few things that definitely weren't part of the coin originally, namely, a large X carved on the face with four small runes also carved on the inside of each of the triangles formed by the X's legs. You feel a slight tingle and immediately realize that, whatever this coin is, it's magical. It was probably in the boy who sat here previously's pocket, and it fell out when the Bleeder ripped through his pant leg on the way to his actual leg.
"What… What did you find?" Oliver asks, clearly more than a little unnerved by watching you calmly take something from the puddle. You blush a little at the realization that that's both not a thing people are normally comfortable with and potentially disrespectful to the boy who got his leg torn open. You give an awkward smile as you turn the coin around for him to see.
"I noticed it because of that spell I used, and I was curious about what it was," You explain, realizing that your explanation, while accurate, is a bit lacking when it comes to logical reasoning.
"So, you just decided to dig around in the blood stain?" Oliver asks, discomfort and amusement warring on his face.
You shrug and try to play off what you just did casually. "I've never scared easily. Was actually a bit of a problem growing up.
"It just seems a bit… Unsanitary, you know?" Oliver says, his expression rather anxious and unnerved. Still better than the weird despair.
"Which is why I asked for the tissue. Thank you for that, by the way." You flash him a smile that you've been told by your manager is "charming." You rather hope that his assessment is accurate, and ideally that it's accurate enough that you don't leave Oliver thinking of you as some kind of freak.
"Oh, well, you're welcome," Oliver says, smiling back. He honestly seems cheerful for the first time you've seen him; a bit of an excessive reaction for a simple thank you, but not an unwelcome one.
Unfortunately, his frown returns shortly afterward and he mutters, "Just consider that payment if my notes aren't very good."
That's when something clicks in your mind. You ask, "Wait, is that why you've been all depressed since class ended?"
Oliver flinches and hesitantly replies, "Despite my parents' best wishes, I've never been the most academically inclined member of my family.
You give him another smile and reply, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I haven't attended a real school since I was six, so you probably have a leg up on me."
Oliver lets out a nervous chuckle and, somewhat surprisingly, hearing that your own work probably isn't that spectacular either gets a small smile out of him. He even proves comfortable enough that he takes a seat at the table, even if he does tense up a bit before actually sitting down.
Personally, you're just glad that he seems to have forgotten the topic of you being a weirdo that digs around pools of dried blood; probably not the kind of reputation you should be developing. You look around the cafeteria and don't notice anybody staring at you. You feel relieved and decide to take that as an indication that either nobody noticed, or they did notice and simply didn't care.
Though speaking of you digging around in the scene of the maleficaria attack, there is the question of what, precisely, you should do with the coin you found?:
[] Leave it: It could be cursed for all you know and it's not like you have any idea what it does even if it's not.
[] Keep it: You hate to say it, but finders keepers seems like the kind of principle that would hold sway in a place like this, and you need all the help you can get.
[] Return it: Not now, obviously, but you know that the Scholomance is kind of a meat grinder for the students here. The idea of the boy who lost this coin getting killed because you took it sits uneasily with you.
Satisfied with your decision, you turn back to your tray of mush. You stare at it for a few moments and think to yourself that you've already had worse-looking things than this in your time here… But still, this does look pretty unpleasant.
You turn to Oliver and ask, "Hey, how about we swap notes now. It's not like this stuff is going to get cold if we leave it too long." You're going to eat it anyway, you understand the importance of not starving here, but you don't exactly feel guilty about delaying it for a bit.
"Oh, um, alright," Oliver says, his anxious expression returning to his face as he fishes out his notebook and you do the same.
He hands you his first and you make a point of saying, "Oh, Oliver, these notes are great," as you pour over what he's written.
"Really?" Oliver perks up, seeming far too happy to receive even that modest bit of praise.
Truthfully, you couldn't say whether they're good or not. You don't have enough experience with formal education to know what "good" notes look like and you don't have enough experience with magical society to know if what he's written is useful or accurate. But he has no way of knowing that, so you don't see any harm in giving him a bit of encouragement.
"Yes, really," You say, giving him a well-rehearsed smile. "Honestly, I'm feeling bad about my own notes right now." Not a lie at all, though it's less because you're comparing them to his and more just because you're almost certain that you must have messed them up somewhere.
"Oh, well, I'm sure they're fine. Just tell me when you're done and we can swap," Oliver replies with a smile on his face.
You smile back and quickly jot down everything that's written in Oliver's notebook. To you, they're mostly just words and most of their significance escapes you, but hopefully, you'll be able to put it all into context with a bit of studying. Or, at least, you'll be able to do some simple memorization.
Once you're done, you slide both notebooks over to Oliver and he looks up from his singular, mixed pile of mush before taking them from you.
As you look at the horrible pile on Oliver's plate, you can't help but ask, "Is it better like that?"
Oliver stares blankly for a moment before he realizes you're talking about his food, at which point he replies, "Oh, no, it's so much worse. But, if you can't stand to eat it all, at least you get nutrients from all of it instead of just one thing."
"Why do you know that?" You ask. You're quite certain that you haven't had this particular culinary disaster in the cafeteria before.
Oliver shrugs and replies, "My parents made a point of making sure that every meal we had growing up was based on stuff they remembered from their own time here. They said it would help us prepare.
"I suppose that explains why you're so skinny," You say, only half-jokingly. You do find yourself thinking that, if there's one upside of the horrible food here, it's that you won't have to count calories to maintain an appropriate weight. Honestly, between what the school serves and how small a lot of the portions are, you doubt that you're even hitting your daily limits anyway.
Oliver sighs and says, "Me and all of my siblings."
"Oh, are any of them at the school right now?" You ask with a raised eyebrow. You know he mentioned not having many friends and find yourself wondering if he's counting a brother or sister among the few he does have.
"One, but I'm not supposed to talk to her while we're here," Oliver says plainly, which you find rather odd. You feel like that's the kind of statement that you should hear some sense of bitterness or anger in, at least if how your mom talks about everyone on her side of the family is any indication. But instead, there's nothing, just a completely neutral statement.
"Why?" You ask, unable to help yourself.
"She's on the valedictorian track. We can't risk her getting distracted because she's stuck helping me. It's for the good of the whole family, really." Once again, there's no anger or sadness there, just a simple statement of fact. If you sense any real emotions coming from him, it's a small tinge of jealousy when he mentioned that his sister was on the valedictorian track, rather than anything at all when he mentioned that his family collectively decided that him not having any help at all was an acceptable price to play to make sure she could focus on her studies.
Not really knowing what the appropriate response would be, you eventually decide to settle on a diplomatic answer and assume that he's really as fine with it as he seems. You give him a smile and say, "Well, I wish her luck with that."
"Thanks," Oliver says as if you were wishing him luck instead. He seems a little bit sad, but nothing like the despondent gloom you got from him thinking his notes weren't worthy of you, or whatever the precise hangup was.
"Your notes were good by the way," Oliver suddenly says with a small smile. "You said you never went to a real school?"
"Well, I did for a bit. But I was still finger painting and learning to read by the time I got pulled out for homeschooling," You say, somewhat awkwardly.
"Well, these are pretty good despite that. My parents drilled some good note-taking strategies into me that could improve what you have already." Oliver hesitates for a moment before adding, "I could teach you if you wanted."
You hum to yourself before answering, "I'll think about it. I've got a lot on my plate though."
Oliver lets out a sigh before responding, "I think everyone does. But think about it, it can't hurt, right?"
You give a small smile in response before looking back down at your tray and shifting to a frown. You let out a sigh and scoop one spoonful of the non-descript meat mush into your mouth. It's about as foul as you expected, tasting both sour and greasy and having a deeply unpleasant slimy texture, but you manage to swallow it down nonetheless. You can see the appeal of Oliver's method; if you were a less determined person, you can absolutely see yourself deciding that it wasn't worth it.
However, you are a determined person, you put another spoonful into your mouth while wondering if there's some magical way to make this whole experience better. Probably not, if there was, your classmates would probably be using it. But still, you might as well ask Leah if your guess is correct, she's one of only two people you can ask stupid questions like that, after all.
As you continue to ponder that question, the other one of those two approaches your table.
Jingfei walks up with a smile on her face and stops a healthy distance from the bloodstain opposite where you're sitting. Despite the space between you making conversation a bit awkward, she says, "Ah, Áine, I thought that was you. I don't think we've talked since Shop, right?" There's no hint of awkwardness or nervousness in her tone that would indicate she thought much of anything about how that Shop class ended, as if, for all that you worried and fretted, it didn't register as anything significant for her.
A small part of you feels annoyed with her. That you got all caught up in your thoughts about this whole thing, whereas she just went on without a care in the world about it. You promptly decide that that small part of you is being silly and resolve to ignore it.
You return her smile and say, "Yeah, I guess we don't share many classes besides Shop." You pause for a moment before offering, "Would you like a seat?"
Jingfei looks at the stain on the floor and freezes for a moment, a flash of fear appearing on her face, but she quickly schools her features into a calm smile and responds, "Yes, of course."
She keeps a wide distance from the stain as she circles around to your side of the table. Once she sits down next to you, she asks "Is there any chance you know where all that blood came from?"
"You didn't see it this morning?" You ask, shocked. It was pretty noticeable, to say the least.
Jingfei grimaces before answering, "I was a bit… Indisposed this morning; had to skip breakfast, much to my regret."
"Ah, well, the boy who got attacked was fine. Or at least alive." You pause before adding, "I've heard from someone experienced with that type of maleficaria that they aren't too dangerous when they're alone like that one was." No need to refer to Leah by name and risk reviving any frustration that may have cooled by now.
"Well, I suppose that's good," Jingfei replies, noticeably loosening up from her previously tense and anxious posture. She turns her head and adds, "In any case, who's your new friend here? I don't believe that I've seen him in any of my classes?" She gives him a studying, almost suspicious look.
Oliver looks up from the mostly finished pile of what you generously call food and stares at Jingfei like a deer in the headlights.
For some reason, Jingfei seems to tense up again at this reaction.
After a brief, awkward moment of silence, Oliver replies, "Um, Oliver." He waits a few more moments before continuing, "Wilkins, Oliver Wilkins… And you are?"
"Jingfei Tang," She says, her voice low and tense and her eyes casting a suspicious glare.
Oliver doesn't seem to react to the name, but does shrink in on himself in response to the look Jingfei's giving him before replying with a soft, "Oh."
For some reason, this seems to put Jingfei on guard even more and she responds, "Oh? That's an interesting reaction. Why are you so tense?" You notice a tinge of nervousness creeping into her voice, even if she is hiding it fairly well.
"I-I don't know," Oliver replies, looking vaguely panicked at Jingfei's bizarre reaction.
"I promise, I'm not a scary person," Jingfei replies, with an intense look on her face that rather seems to contradict that assessment.
"S-sorry! Jin… What was it again?" Oliver asks with a cringe.
For some reason, this question seems to settle Jingfei's nerves and the tension starts to bleed out of her. She offers her hand to Oliver, who takes it in surprised confusion. She answers, "Jingfei. And it's nice to meet you, Oliver Wilkins. I do hope that we can get along better than I do with some of Áine's other friends."
You cringe a bit at the confirmation that, even if she's not too bothered, she does still remember the fight on the whole.
Oliver, for his part, just answers, "Um, yes, sure," clearly confused and flustered by the entire experience.
Jingfei turns to her tray of food, gives it a glare, and mechanically puts it into her mouth. She visibly cringes as she tastes it, but she keeps going nonetheless.
Oliver leaves shortly afterward, his tray still bearing about half of the mixed-up pile of mush that he got for himself. Whether he felt uncomfortable after Jingei's oddly intense introduction, or if he just couldn't stand the taste enough to finish off his lunch, you couldn't say.
Either way, once Oliver is out of earshot, Jingfei looks up with a frown and asks, "Do you think I might have scared him a bit?"
You pause before diplomatically answering, "He seems to have pretty low self-esteem. I feel like scaring him away isn't too hard to do." You're slightly irritated with Jingfei for driving him away, but you're honestly mostly just confused.
Jingfei's frown deepens and she mutters, "Really not the kind of reputation I need to be cultivating right now."
"Is something the matter?" You ask. "If you don't mind me saying so, you're usually… Well, nicer to people. Everyone, really." You feel a slight pang of guilt thinking about how she stayed behind to help Liam after the mal attack in your first History class, while you just left them behind. You know that feeling that way is silly, you had and have no valuable skills to contribute to a situation like that, but it does nag at you nonetheless.
Jingfei lets out a sigh before answering, "Yes, yes there is." She hesitates before adding, "I may have overheard a discussion about me today, and I was worried it may have spread farther than I expected… I don't suppose that you've heard about certain things that happened shortly before induction, have you?" She looks at you with expectant nervousness.
You answer, "I can't say that I have. Though, I'm not exactly the gossipy type, and even if I were… Well, you know about the limitations I have."
"When it starts to spread, you're going to hear it," Jingfei says with absolute certainty in her voice. "But I don't think that Oliver knew either, so I suppose it hasn't spread too far… Yet."
You don't think that Oliver's social network is particularly robust either, but you see no need to point that out. You do find yourself asking, "Is there any reason that you can't just tell me now? You seem very convinced that whatever you're hiding is going to come out soon anyway."
Jingfei shakes her head and replies, "Plausible deniability and being able to say that I tricked you into associating with me will do you good in the near future. Honestly, I don't imagine that what you hear will mean much to you, but it will to a lot of other people."
So it must be some odd wizard cultural thing, you suppose.
You shrug and say, "Well, if there's anything I can do to help, feel free to let me know."
"Why?" Jingfei asks, eyes narrowing.
"Well, if I'm going to keep associating with you after whatever you're hiding comes to light, there's no reason that that association can't be friendly," You answer, offering her a bright smile.
Jingfei laughs and says, "That's nice of you, but probably bad instincts. You'll probably be better off if you hate me."
You shrug and respond, "I have some people that I dislike, at this very school even, but I've never been a particularly hateful person."
Jingfei gives you a sad smile and replies, "Well, don't let me keep you too long. I've already driven away your friend, no need to humor me."
"I don't believe that I was humoring you," You reply before returning to your meal anyway. You get the impression that your conversation would have to end on that note and would resist being picked up again, regardless of your best wishes.
You and Jingfei finish your food in silence, your earlier arrival causing you to run out of the disgusting slop before Jingfei does. Without a further word, you get up and take your tray to the washing station at the back of the cafeteria. You put it as close to the flames as you can and think to yourself about how odd it is that you've already gotten used to something as bizarre as that.
As you leave the cafeteria, you look back at Jingfei one last time and she gives you a sad smile in return.
★★★
As you make your way down the winding stairs that lead to the alchemy lab, you idly wonder why the Scholomance doesn't make them overly long when you're going down, just when you're going up. They messed with Carmen by making the stairwell pitch-black when you went down together, yet it seems that it only toys with you when you're going up. If you had to guess, it would be because going up is more exhausting and unpleasant than going down, but surely a long trip down would still be intimidating.
Or would it? One thing that you've come to realize since you arrived at the Scholomance is that there really isn't a whole lot that scares you. People yelling at you and being angry with you, sure, but you got attacked by an actual monster and barely flinched, what exactly are some overly long stairs going to do to you?
This is the train of thought that you follow until you reach the bottom floor and with it, the alchemy lab. If anything, you feel like you got down here faster than usual. Maybe absent-mindedly thinking about something else gets you places quicker? An interesting idea, but probably not one you want to test, given the monster infestations that the school's supposed to be getting in the near future.
You take one step into the lab and immediately second-guess your decision to come here. Nearly one full half of the lab is taken up by a thick, yellow, cloud. You do spot the silhouettes of three figures in the cloud, but you also notice that they seem to be wearing beaked masks, as if they were medieval plague doctors, that you have to assume protect them from the cloud. Every other student in the lab seems to be giving it a wide berth, even opting to skip over the benches adjacent to it but technically not within its boundaries.
Looking away from the ominous cloud, you also have one workbench that seems to be outright on fire. Nobody's actually at the table or tending to the fire, so you have to assume that it's an accident that's gotten out of hand, but the very fact that a steel table of all things is on fire gives you the impression that you don't want to be anywhere near it.
Ignoring all the tables close enough to the fire that it would hurt just to be near them, just like everyone else in the lab is doing, you're only left with a scattering of four actually usable workbenches, three of which are packed with older students that you suspect wouldn't be amenable to any requests for table space.
The last available workbench is, of course, mostly abandoned for obvious reasons. It's located directly under an air vent and directly above a large drain. You've been at the Scholomance for all of three days and it's already been made clear to you that either one of those things basically singles you out as easy prey for any lurking maleficaria, much less both of them.
And yet one student is already there, dutifully measuring and pouring various liquids into a flask. You look closer and realize that you know her, you even sat with her during your actual lab period. Nora has an intense expression on her face and looks pale. You also notice that she has several cuts on her arms and that one of the liquids that she's been mixing is definitely blood.
You hesitate for a moment. You're not exactly on friendly terms with Nora, but you wouldn't say that your relationship is necessarily a bad one either; the worst thing that you can objectively say about her is that she seems a bit unnecessarily brusque, but that's hardly the greatest flaw to have. But still, you really do find her downright creepy and, even if you don't panic and run at the sight of creepy, that doesn't mean it's particularly pleasant to watch her pluck bones out of her skin. And do you really want to spend your entire work period next to somebody who's cutting themselves and bleeding all over their workstation?
You sigh after realizing that yes, yes you do. You need to finish these food poisoning cures somehow, preferably sooner than later if the cafeteria is your only option for food, and it seems like you don't have any other place to do that. As you walk to your project locker, you try to tell yourself that if Nora's been bleeding this whole time and no maleficaria have attacked her, then there probably aren't any around to do so, regardless of how risky the spot she's taken is.
You open your locker and, despite yourself, are surprised to see the still active Bunsen burner shooting its flame and the pitch black liquid flecked with gold shaving bubbling along, exactly as you left them. It seems like it's always the little things like this that catch you off guard about magic being real.
You shrug and carefully remove your project from your locker before heading back to where Nora is seated. You set your Bunsen burner down directly across from the other girl and she doesn't respond or even seem to notice you, instead focusing intently on slowly swirling the mixture of blood and… You're actually not certain what the other liquids are. She has a couple bowls on her side of the bench, one containing a viscous fluid that smells almost as bad as the rotten meat that you're stuck working with and one opaque liquid with a shiny, pearlescent, sheen.
You're actually a bit struck by the realization that you don't recognize these liquids that she's working with, if only because you're quite certain that she didn't have them in the first class you had together. In fact, her concoction doesn't look anything like the dark liquid that she was working on in your first Lab class together.
You hum to yourself as you think. Even if you're not friends with Nora, and she already seems more than a little bit grouchy, you do find that people tend to like talking about their personal projects. You wouldn't call many of the other musicians that move in the same circles that you do friends, but if there's one thing you all have in common, it's that you all love to get a chance to talk about whatever you're working on at the moment.
"So," You start. "I noticed that that isn't what you were working on last period. Are you working on some kind of personal project?"
Nora looks up from her work, gives you a glare, and asks, "Do I know you?"
"We sat together in our first Lab class," You offer with a smile. Nora continues to glare at you, her eyes narrowing at your words. "And our first shop too," You add, your smile faltering a bit.
"Okay," Nora says with a mixture of suspicion and annoyance. "What exactly do you want with me?"
"Oh, nothing really," You assure her. "I was just curious about what you were working on. I'd think we'd all want to focus on our projects before moving on to our own things, so it must be something you really care about."
Nora noticeably tenses up and asks through gritted teeth, "Was that a threat?"
Your eyes widen and you reply, "No. I was honestly just curious about what you were doing. It looks inte-"
Nora slams her hands on the table, causing you to jump slightly. "Well, I'm not. And I don't see how it's any of your business what I'm doing in my free time."
"Well, I don't need to know anything. I just figured if it was something you cared about, you might be interested in sharing what it is," You say, placatingly.
Nora's glare deepens and she slams the table again. "Well, I'm not interested in sharing anything." She slams the table again. "Curiosity gets people killed." Another hit and you can't help but flinch backward. You really didn't expect this kind of reaction, and you have to tamp down on your urge to run. "And you should mind your own goddamn business." She hit the table one last time and you hear glass breaking.
You look down with wide, panicked eyes and see that Nora's slamming has knocked your project over. You're lucky that it didn't fall onto you and set your skirt or blouse on fire; or worse if the fact that the boiling liquid that was in the flask seems to be eating through the thick stone floor is any indication..
You look back at Nora who responds with another glare and a flat, "Oops," before immediately going back to her work.
You feel a panic attack coming on but take a few deep breaths and, slowly, feel the tightness in your chest drift away. Once you're sure you won't run or cry, you grimace and look at Nora, who has gone back to ignoring you.
You suppose that you've received that message loud and clear; Nora does not want to be friends and any attempts to change that will be met with pure, naked hostility.
You look down at the Bunsen burner, still shooting out its flame, mercifully not near anything flammable, as well as the remains of your project, which appears to have most evaporated, leaving a hole in the floor about the size of your fist.
You reach down and carefully turn off the fire before returning the Bunsen burner to the desk.
You take one deep breath, stand up, and promptly dash to the supply cabinet as fast as you can. All the work you've already done has gone down the drain, and you only have so much time to try and make up for that. You find a box of materials identical to the one you were given when you chose your project.
Finding a usable beaker proves a bit trickier, but you manage to do okay after a few minutes of searching. It's a different size than the one you used before, which means you'll have to redo all of your measurements, but it will, at least, function.
When you return to your workbench, Nora gives you a warning glare but otherwise ignores you. You take the hint and do the same, scrambling to get any work at all done on your potion.
For what it's worth, you do make some progress, despite all the time you wasted. Having gone through at least part of this process three times now, you have a good idea of what you're actually doing and manage to pack a lot of work into not a lot of time. Your first dose out of six still isn't finished, you'd say you're about halfway done, but it is further along than the one you lost to Nora. You can at least say that you didn't spend your free period losing progress on your assignment.
When the horrible sound of the bell sounds throughout the lab, it's almost a relief. In addition to being creepy, you've apparently managed to get on Nora's bad side just by showing an interest in her. You suppose you can add her to the small list of people at the Scholomance that you dislike and, if her glare is any indication, the feeling is mutual.
Once you've returned your project back to its locker, you run out of the lab, away from the hostile Nora, the burning workbench, and the ominous cloud of gas that still lingers even after the beak-masked upperclassmen left.
Once you reach the Finnish language lab, later than most, due to your climb up from the alchemy lab, you find yourself a bit shocked by just how small it is. There are only twenty or so booths scattered around the cramped and compact room. You suppose that Finnish is a less popular language to learn than Italian, but it's still striking just how much less so; especially compared to the sweeping hall that language class was in.
You scan the room, hoping to spot someone that you recognize, and fail miserably. The classroom is mostly full already and there isn't a single familiar face in the bunch. You're fairly certain that a few of the students who are already seated are older than you and you idly wonder if Finnish is sparsely attended enough that the tiny classroom takes on other subjects too.
Your pondering is interrupted by another ring from the shrill bell and you take your seat in a room full of strangers. Somehow, for all the dangers that you've already faced in the Scholomance, the fact that you're completely alone here manages to be the most disconcerting of all.
Social: Oliver:
DC: 60/80/100
Bonuses: +10 (Child Star) +10 (Pretty) +5 (Well-Mannered) + 10 (Good First Impression)
Roll: 1d100(88) + 35 = 123! Full Success!
Perimeter Check
DC: 60/120
Bonuses: +15 (Unflappable) +20 (Echo, Echo, Echo)
Roll: 1d100(89) + 35 = 124!Full Success!
Food Poisoning Cure:
Progress: 0/50 x 6
Bonuses:
Roll: 1d100(11) = 32/50!
Social: Nora
DC: 60/80/100
Bonuses: +10 (Pretty) +10 (Child Star) +5 (Well-Mannered) - 10 (Poor First Impression) - 5 (Disinterested)
Roll: 1d100(14) + 10 = 24!Critical Failure!
Social: Jingfei
DC: 40/60/80
Bonuses: +10 (Pretty) +10 (Child Star) +5 (Well-Mannered) +10 (Friendly) - 10 (Tension)
Roll: 1d100(90) + 20 = 110!Full Success!
Panic?
DC: 40/80/120
Bonuses: +15 (Unflappable) -10 (Child Star) = +5
Roll: 1d100(76) + 5 = 81!Success!
DC: 60/80/100
Bonuses: +10 (Child Star) +10 (Pretty) +5 (Well-Mannered) + 10 (Good First Impression)
Roll: 1d100(88) + 35 = 123! Full Success!
Perimeter Check
DC: 60/120
Bonuses: +15 (Unflappable) +20 (Echo, Echo, Echo)
Roll: 1d100(89) + 35 = 124!Full Success!
Food Poisoning Cure:
Progress: 0/50 x 6
Bonuses:
Roll: 1d100(11) = 32/50!
Social: Nora
DC: 60/80/100
Bonuses: +10 (Pretty) +10 (Child Star) +5 (Well-Mannered) - 10 (Poor First Impression) - 5 (Disinterested)
Roll: 1d100(14) + 10 = 24!Critical Failure!
Social: Jingfei
DC: 40/60/80
Bonuses: +10 (Pretty) +10 (Child Star) +5 (Well-Mannered) +10 (Friendly) - 10 (Tension)
Roll: 1d100(90) + 20 = 110!Full Success!
Panic?
DC: 40/80/120
Bonuses: +15 (Unflappable) -10 (Child Star) = +5
Roll: 1d100(76) + 5 = 81!Success!
- Pronouns
- Reader
[X] Return it: Not now, obviously, but you know that the Scholomance is kind of a meat grinder for the students here. The idea of the boy who lost this coin getting killed because you took it sits uneasily with you.
@Alchemist767676 I assume we'll go to Leah to ask for advice on what we should ask for in return.
What a bitch though. Hope we sit with Liam & Sofia for dinner. Nora is every bit as qualified to have her nose broken for being an asshole as Aiden is.
@Alchemist767676 I assume we'll go to Leah to ask for advice on what we should ask for in return.
Why is this a critical failure? The roll is over 10, the bonus raises it even higher.
What a bitch though. Hope we sit with Liam & Sofia for dinner. Nora is every bit as qualified to have her nose broken for being an asshole as Aiden is.
[X] Return it: Not now, obviously, but you know that the Scholomance is kind of a meat grinder for the students here. The idea of the boy who lost this coin getting killed because you took it sits uneasily with you.
Scholomance, friendship is magic
Scholomance, friendship is magic
[X] Return it: Not now, obviously, but you know that the Scholomance is kind of a meat grinder for the students here. The idea of the boy who lost this coin getting killed because you took it sits uneasily with you
- Location
- Canada
[X] Return it: Not now, obviously, but you know that the Scholomance is kind of a meat grinder for the students here. The idea of the boy who lost this coin getting killed because you took it sits uneasily with you.
As a contract mage, an excuse to meet a new person in a context of having done them a minor favour is probably more useful than anything we could possibly have scavenged. Anything more useful than that would've been radiating a magical aura obvious to mals, and so probably wouldn't have lasted between then and now.
As a contract mage, an excuse to meet a new person in a context of having done them a minor favour is probably more useful than anything we could possibly have scavenged. Anything more useful than that would've been radiating a magical aura obvious to mals, and so probably wouldn't have lasted between then and now.