Names and Beginnings
Lexica
Persevere
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan TNE
-[X] Tutoring with the TA
--[X] Dimensional Science
-[X] Talk to Henry
-[X] Dimensional Science TA's Class
-[X] Tutoring with the TA
--[X] Dimensional Science
-[X] Class on the elements
-[X] Dimensional Science Practical Class (Mandatory)
-[X] The Library
--[X] Ask Sammy about something (Her coolest past battles)
[X] Plan TNE MAGIC
-[X] Get Planar Control 1, Planar Teleport 1 and Novice Elemental Control.
At this point you think you're just going to accept that you're getting up at dawn every morning, given you seem physically incapable of remembering to do something about that window. You guess you might as well go see the TA for some tutoring then. She did tell you this was a good time for her.
20 minutes later after a quick shower you're knocking on her door. Once again she opens it wearing pink pajamas. This is really harming your mental image of her as cool. Regardless, you spend the next hour going over your form on planar control and planar teleport. The teleport especially she was quick to correct and nitpick; apparently it's a very important foundation for a lot of similar spells, and if you can't do it right, you've got no hope for the others. At the end of the hour, you ask the TA a question before you leave.
"So, uh, I'm kind of embarrassed to be asking this now, but I figure it just gets worse the longer I wait. What exactly is your name? I'm sorry if I've forgotten, but I don't think you've ever told me."
The TA is looking down at her calendar and makes several marks on it before acknowledging your question.
"I haven't said."
"Oh, good, I was worried I had forgotten it somehow." You wait for her to fill in the obvious blank here, but things just fade to a somewhat uncomfortable silence.
"So..."
"I feel like names are more important than most people give them credit for. Not magically, but," The TA's hands make a sort of grasping motion as if to express an idea just out of her reach. "They are important. I have always thought so. I decided a long time ago that until I figured out why I wouldn't use mine. You should never use something you do not understand completely."
Kind of a strange idea, but you don't really want to offend her by commenting so you just nod like that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do and step out. There was something else you wanted to do this morning.
That Henry guy was interesting and you wanted to talk to him again. Luckily he shouldn't be too hard to find, he was probably in the dining hall shaking everyone's hand. And indeed, that's where he is. You wave to Ruby as you pass her on the way to intercept him as he goes from one person to another, skipping over people he has presumably introduced himself to already.
"Henry!" You call over to him.
He looks behind him to you and smiles broadly.
"A fine morning to you Saphira. I have made much progress in my goal of introducing myself to everyone in the college. Indeed, I believe word of my goal has spread beyond the people I have already introduced myself to. Clear proof that I am becoming quite famous, don't you agree?"
"That certainly sounds like fame to me." Possibly infamy, given you had earlier overheard someone mentioning that he ambushed them in the showers after they had deliberately avoided him in the dining hall.
"Now, what brings you to speak to me? Do you perhaps have need of me to perform some great and heroic deed for you?" He sounds eager at the prospect.
"Ah, no. I just wanted to get a chance to talk to you more. You seem like a very interesting person." He nods at this, looking slightly disappointed.
"Well, what is it you wish to speak of? I have time for a short conversation, as I believe I am slightly ahead of schedule on my introductions."
"Mostly I just wanted to know where you got the idea to do what you're doing right now. It seems like a strange idea, but then it does certainly seem to be working."
"Nowhere in particular if you must know. I was raised to always take the most direct and simplest route to your destination. So if I wish everyone to know my name, then the obvious solution is to introduce myself to everyone, and if I wish to become famous for great deeds then the obvious solution is to ask everyone I introduce myself to to tell me if they require aid. This makes sense, yes? No need to over-complicate such simple desires."
"It does," is your reply.
He nods at you respectfully. "I thank you for your interest. Now once more I must apologize for ending our conversation so abruptly, but I really must stay on schedule with my introductions. May every road lead to your destination."
With that he continues on. You get the feeling he's not one for long conversations, at least when he's got a goal he's working towards.
-[X] Tutoring with the TA
--[X] Dimensional Science
-[X] Talk to Henry
-[X] Dimensional Science TA's Class
-[X] Tutoring with the TA
--[X] Dimensional Science
-[X] Class on the elements
-[X] Dimensional Science Practical Class (Mandatory)
-[X] The Library
--[X] Ask Sammy about something (Her coolest past battles)
[X] Plan TNE MAGIC
-[X] Get Planar Control 1, Planar Teleport 1 and Novice Elemental Control.
At this point you think you're just going to accept that you're getting up at dawn every morning, given you seem physically incapable of remembering to do something about that window. You guess you might as well go see the TA for some tutoring then. She did tell you this was a good time for her.
20 minutes later after a quick shower you're knocking on her door. Once again she opens it wearing pink pajamas. This is really harming your mental image of her as cool. Regardless, you spend the next hour going over your form on planar control and planar teleport. The teleport especially she was quick to correct and nitpick; apparently it's a very important foundation for a lot of similar spells, and if you can't do it right, you've got no hope for the others. At the end of the hour, you ask the TA a question before you leave.
"So, uh, I'm kind of embarrassed to be asking this now, but I figure it just gets worse the longer I wait. What exactly is your name? I'm sorry if I've forgotten, but I don't think you've ever told me."
The TA is looking down at her calendar and makes several marks on it before acknowledging your question.
"I haven't said."
"Oh, good, I was worried I had forgotten it somehow." You wait for her to fill in the obvious blank here, but things just fade to a somewhat uncomfortable silence.
"So..."
"I feel like names are more important than most people give them credit for. Not magically, but," The TA's hands make a sort of grasping motion as if to express an idea just out of her reach. "They are important. I have always thought so. I decided a long time ago that until I figured out why I wouldn't use mine. You should never use something you do not understand completely."
Kind of a strange idea, but you don't really want to offend her by commenting so you just nod like that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do and step out. There was something else you wanted to do this morning.
That Henry guy was interesting and you wanted to talk to him again. Luckily he shouldn't be too hard to find, he was probably in the dining hall shaking everyone's hand. And indeed, that's where he is. You wave to Ruby as you pass her on the way to intercept him as he goes from one person to another, skipping over people he has presumably introduced himself to already.
"Henry!" You call over to him.
He looks behind him to you and smiles broadly.
"A fine morning to you Saphira. I have made much progress in my goal of introducing myself to everyone in the college. Indeed, I believe word of my goal has spread beyond the people I have already introduced myself to. Clear proof that I am becoming quite famous, don't you agree?"
"That certainly sounds like fame to me." Possibly infamy, given you had earlier overheard someone mentioning that he ambushed them in the showers after they had deliberately avoided him in the dining hall.
"Now, what brings you to speak to me? Do you perhaps have need of me to perform some great and heroic deed for you?" He sounds eager at the prospect.
"Ah, no. I just wanted to get a chance to talk to you more. You seem like a very interesting person." He nods at this, looking slightly disappointed.
"Well, what is it you wish to speak of? I have time for a short conversation, as I believe I am slightly ahead of schedule on my introductions."
"Mostly I just wanted to know where you got the idea to do what you're doing right now. It seems like a strange idea, but then it does certainly seem to be working."
"Nowhere in particular if you must know. I was raised to always take the most direct and simplest route to your destination. So if I wish everyone to know my name, then the obvious solution is to introduce myself to everyone, and if I wish to become famous for great deeds then the obvious solution is to ask everyone I introduce myself to to tell me if they require aid. This makes sense, yes? No need to over-complicate such simple desires."
"It does," is your reply.
He nods at you respectfully. "I thank you for your interest. Now once more I must apologize for ending our conversation so abruptly, but I really must stay on schedule with my introductions. May every road lead to your destination."
With that he continues on. You get the feeling he's not one for long conversations, at least when he's got a goal he's working towards.
-----------------------------------------
You chat with Ruby amiably until it's time for your Dimensional Science class and the both of you head off for it. The TA gives a small announcement at the beginning of class that tonight's practical class will be focused on the basics of enchanting that would be required to have incorporated in the midterm group projects. From there, she jumps back to where she left off yesterday. You do notice she's speaking a bit faster than she usually does however, and she keeps the class sightly late. You wonder if having to teach enchanting during the practical class has messed with the rest of the schedule? Well, no problem for you given your private tutoring sessions, and Ruby wasn't here to learn Dimensional Science anyways, but the rest of the class would probably be effected.
You stay and ask the TA about it, waving Ruby on ahead to get lunch without you.
She sighs at your question. "You are correct of course. Orders from Dishevel that the archmage would probably be upset about if he found out. 'Don't bother going slow enough for the simpletons who will fail anyways' he says. Honestly. The man doesn't even do anything in this class except grade projects, but apparently that's too painful for him unless every project in a first year class is some independently researched masterpiece that also includes enchanting."
"He's got high standards then?"
"That's one way of putting it. Regardless, I'll fill in the gaps in the lecture for you so you aren't missing anything."
She actually does quite a bit more than that- she goes all the way up to material she says is from several lectures ahead, all things she apparently has to cut from the class due to lack of time.
Eventually you have to leave for your elemental class, the TA recommending several more books from the library to you as you go. You meet up with Ruby at the entrance. You want to complain to her about the Dimensional Science lecture problem, but that's probably better saved for when you're alone and no one might overhear you. Regardless, you get back to experimenting with controlling the elements. You achieve results much more consistently after your practice last night. That's nothing compared to a few students up front however. They're throwing around some really impressive effects. You suspect they ended up making an elemental pledge. They must have been worried about losing in the archmage's 'tournament' to do something like that. You notice it's mostly them that Ruby is paying attention to this class. She's focusing pretty hard actually. Occasionally one of their spells just fizzles and stops working, but it lacks a lot of the consistency of Ruby's normal disruptions.
The class goes by quickly and you and Ruby get dinner. She's somewhat glum about her lack of success, but says that she thinks she'll have it down by the tournament. After dinner came what was supposedly the 'Dimensional Science Practical class' but what you really knew to basically be Enchanting 101. And indeed, that's what it seemed to be from the TA's opening words to the class.
"Enchanting is the practice of imbuing a spell into an object either to be cast continually or in response to certain stimuli. There are three important factors in any given enchantment. The first is the anchor for the spell- the object you choose. Precious metals and gems tend to most easily contain spells. The second is the trigger conditions. These must be set as the spell is cast over the object so that it is either cast continuously or in response to something. The third is the power source. This is especially important in enchantments where the spell is meant to be cast over and over without pause. An enchantment is powered by either a store of energy you yourself give it upon creation or it's environment. In this class we will mostly be exploring how the alternate physical states of different planes can be used to power enchantments..."
Really, it is very interesting stuff. And you suppose the fact that the lectures are being rushed so that all of this can be fit in isn't really your problem so you might as well just enjoy the new things you're learning. The rest of the class is more of the same. Lectures on the principles of enchanting and how they related to dimensional science. Next week you would actually be doing something practical.
After the class Ruby leaves you saying she wants to get some practice on higher level countermagic, and you head off to the library. You wanted to talk to Sammy again. Not only was she interesting, but you thought that you could learn a lot from her.
Once more, she appears before you when you enter and asks for your library card. She actually seems kind of surprised when you once again want to ask her about herself. Apparently most people stopped bothering after they satisfied their curiosity for the first time. She seems positively ecstatic about the idea of recounting her past battles.
"Coolest battles eh? Well, much as I'm sure you would love to hear about the epic duels between me and people like the council members I killed... If I have to pick one to start with then there's no question what it is. My first real battle, the first time I called and my Lady of War answered."
What follows is honestly not what you expected. But then, you supposed that even possibly the greatest conqueror the world had yet seen had to start somewhere. She had grown up in a city herself. 'Like Diadem, but less' apparently. There had been a lot of big gangs in that city, and to your surprise she hadn't been in any of them. She had grown up in that city feeling powerless, resent growing every day in her heart at the people who could trample over her in an instant if they wanted to. It didn't matter to her that they mostly didn't. If anything that made it worse. To be disregarded. Unimportant. The feeling burned inside her for years until one day it grew to be too much and she just snapped. She bashed a guard over the back of the head with a rock, took his sword and charged 'liked a lunatic' into the biggest gang meeting she knew about while yelling warcries that just popped into her head between one moment and the next. She didn't slow down until three days later when the haze faded and she had gone from assaulting a midlevel gang meeting to controlling half the city in a bloody revolution. From that point on she apparently never stopped.
The lesson, she says, is that sometimes if you want to get anywhere you have to do something crazy and stupid. She impressed the Goddess of Conquest that day, yes. She doubts she would have really gotten anywhere without her help. But that would never have happened if she hadn't had the strength inside her to act even knowing that logically there was no point. The world is not changed by 'reasonable' people doing 'reasonable' things.
You personally feel the fact that a Goddess was helping her along was the rather more important bit, but you're not going to argue. You head to bed thinking on her story.
Thursday 1 Complete
+1 point to Elemental Magic
+3 point to Dimensional Magic
+1 point to Enchanting
+Social Link Upgrade- Sammy
+Social Link Upgrade- Henry
+Option Unlocked- Ask Henry for help with something
+Option Unlocked- Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
Friday 1 Schedule:
Morning (2 Choices)
[] Find a Club
-[] Writein topic
[] Talk to Ruby
-[] Learning countermagic
[] Talk to Henry
-[] Ask Henry for help with something
[] The Library
-[] Ask Sammy about something (writein)
-[] Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
-[] Books
[] Explore the College (Random Encounter)
[] Tutoring with the TA
-[] Dimensional Science
-[] Countermagic
[] You and Ruby look for the archmage's 'volunteer'
[] Practice (May spend accumulated points)
Afternoon (3 Choices)
[] Dimensional Science TA's Class
-[] Practice Counterspelling Students
[] Class on the elements
-[] Practice Counterspelling Students
[] Explore the College (Random Encounter)
[] Tutoring with the TA
-[] Dimensional Science
-[] Countermagic
[] The Library
-[] Ask Sammy about something (writein)
-[] Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
-[] Books
[] Find a Club
-[] Writein topic
[] Talk to Ruby
-[] Learning countermagic
[] Talk to Henry
-[] Ask Henry for help with something
[] You and Ruby look for the archmage's 'volunteer'
[] Practice (May spend accumulated points)
Night (2 Choices)
[] Explore the College (Random Encounter)
[] Tutoring with the TA
-[] Dimensional Science
-[] Countermagic
[] The Burning Earth's Arena
[] The Library
-[] Ask Sammy about something (writein)
-[] Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
-[] Books
[] Find a Club
-[] Writein topic
[] Talk to Ruby
-[] Learning countermagic
[] Talk to Henry
-[] Ask Henry for help with something
[] You and Ruby look for the archmage's 'volunteer'
[] Practice (May spend accumulated points)
You stay and ask the TA about it, waving Ruby on ahead to get lunch without you.
She sighs at your question. "You are correct of course. Orders from Dishevel that the archmage would probably be upset about if he found out. 'Don't bother going slow enough for the simpletons who will fail anyways' he says. Honestly. The man doesn't even do anything in this class except grade projects, but apparently that's too painful for him unless every project in a first year class is some independently researched masterpiece that also includes enchanting."
"He's got high standards then?"
"That's one way of putting it. Regardless, I'll fill in the gaps in the lecture for you so you aren't missing anything."
She actually does quite a bit more than that- she goes all the way up to material she says is from several lectures ahead, all things she apparently has to cut from the class due to lack of time.
Eventually you have to leave for your elemental class, the TA recommending several more books from the library to you as you go. You meet up with Ruby at the entrance. You want to complain to her about the Dimensional Science lecture problem, but that's probably better saved for when you're alone and no one might overhear you. Regardless, you get back to experimenting with controlling the elements. You achieve results much more consistently after your practice last night. That's nothing compared to a few students up front however. They're throwing around some really impressive effects. You suspect they ended up making an elemental pledge. They must have been worried about losing in the archmage's 'tournament' to do something like that. You notice it's mostly them that Ruby is paying attention to this class. She's focusing pretty hard actually. Occasionally one of their spells just fizzles and stops working, but it lacks a lot of the consistency of Ruby's normal disruptions.
The class goes by quickly and you and Ruby get dinner. She's somewhat glum about her lack of success, but says that she thinks she'll have it down by the tournament. After dinner came what was supposedly the 'Dimensional Science Practical class' but what you really knew to basically be Enchanting 101. And indeed, that's what it seemed to be from the TA's opening words to the class.
"Enchanting is the practice of imbuing a spell into an object either to be cast continually or in response to certain stimuli. There are three important factors in any given enchantment. The first is the anchor for the spell- the object you choose. Precious metals and gems tend to most easily contain spells. The second is the trigger conditions. These must be set as the spell is cast over the object so that it is either cast continuously or in response to something. The third is the power source. This is especially important in enchantments where the spell is meant to be cast over and over without pause. An enchantment is powered by either a store of energy you yourself give it upon creation or it's environment. In this class we will mostly be exploring how the alternate physical states of different planes can be used to power enchantments..."
Really, it is very interesting stuff. And you suppose the fact that the lectures are being rushed so that all of this can be fit in isn't really your problem so you might as well just enjoy the new things you're learning. The rest of the class is more of the same. Lectures on the principles of enchanting and how they related to dimensional science. Next week you would actually be doing something practical.
After the class Ruby leaves you saying she wants to get some practice on higher level countermagic, and you head off to the library. You wanted to talk to Sammy again. Not only was she interesting, but you thought that you could learn a lot from her.
Once more, she appears before you when you enter and asks for your library card. She actually seems kind of surprised when you once again want to ask her about herself. Apparently most people stopped bothering after they satisfied their curiosity for the first time. She seems positively ecstatic about the idea of recounting her past battles.
"Coolest battles eh? Well, much as I'm sure you would love to hear about the epic duels between me and people like the council members I killed... If I have to pick one to start with then there's no question what it is. My first real battle, the first time I called and my Lady of War answered."
What follows is honestly not what you expected. But then, you supposed that even possibly the greatest conqueror the world had yet seen had to start somewhere. She had grown up in a city herself. 'Like Diadem, but less' apparently. There had been a lot of big gangs in that city, and to your surprise she hadn't been in any of them. She had grown up in that city feeling powerless, resent growing every day in her heart at the people who could trample over her in an instant if they wanted to. It didn't matter to her that they mostly didn't. If anything that made it worse. To be disregarded. Unimportant. The feeling burned inside her for years until one day it grew to be too much and she just snapped. She bashed a guard over the back of the head with a rock, took his sword and charged 'liked a lunatic' into the biggest gang meeting she knew about while yelling warcries that just popped into her head between one moment and the next. She didn't slow down until three days later when the haze faded and she had gone from assaulting a midlevel gang meeting to controlling half the city in a bloody revolution. From that point on she apparently never stopped.
The lesson, she says, is that sometimes if you want to get anywhere you have to do something crazy and stupid. She impressed the Goddess of Conquest that day, yes. She doubts she would have really gotten anywhere without her help. But that would never have happened if she hadn't had the strength inside her to act even knowing that logically there was no point. The world is not changed by 'reasonable' people doing 'reasonable' things.
You personally feel the fact that a Goddess was helping her along was the rather more important bit, but you're not going to argue. You head to bed thinking on her story.
Thursday 1 Complete
+1 point to Elemental Magic
+3 point to Dimensional Magic
+1 point to Enchanting
+Social Link Upgrade- Sammy
+Social Link Upgrade- Henry
+Option Unlocked- Ask Henry for help with something
+Option Unlocked- Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
Friday 1 Schedule:
Morning (2 Choices)
[] Find a Club
-[] Writein topic
[] Talk to Ruby
-[] Learning countermagic
[] Talk to Henry
-[] Ask Henry for help with something
[] The Library
-[] Ask Sammy about something (writein)
-[] Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
-[] Books
[] Explore the College (Random Encounter)
[] Tutoring with the TA
-[] Dimensional Science
-[] Countermagic
[] You and Ruby look for the archmage's 'volunteer'
[] Practice (May spend accumulated points)
Afternoon (3 Choices)
[] Dimensional Science TA's Class
-[] Practice Counterspelling Students
[] Class on the elements
-[] Practice Counterspelling Students
[] Explore the College (Random Encounter)
[] Tutoring with the TA
-[] Dimensional Science
-[] Countermagic
[] The Library
-[] Ask Sammy about something (writein)
-[] Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
-[] Books
[] Find a Club
-[] Writein topic
[] Talk to Ruby
-[] Learning countermagic
[] Talk to Henry
-[] Ask Henry for help with something
[] You and Ruby look for the archmage's 'volunteer'
[] Practice (May spend accumulated points)
Night (2 Choices)
[] Explore the College (Random Encounter)
[] Tutoring with the TA
-[] Dimensional Science
-[] Countermagic
[] The Burning Earth's Arena
[] The Library
-[] Ask Sammy about something (writein)
-[] Ask Sammy about Gods and Goddesses
-[] Books
[] Find a Club
-[] Writein topic
[] Talk to Ruby
-[] Learning countermagic
[] Talk to Henry
-[] Ask Henry for help with something
[] You and Ruby look for the archmage's 'volunteer'
[] Practice (May spend accumulated points)
