The week started off fine.
Tutoring with Edward was difficult, though. It wasn't that he was stupid, or having too much trouble following along.
"Ulos. Pay attention."
It wasn't that he wasn't paying attention, well, not completely. It was that he was having trouble copying down the relevant notes for Henrietta and focusing on what Edward was saying. Edward looked down on him, somewhat frustrated.
(Magical Theory Tutoring Rolls: (4+1-1)+(1+1-1)+(1+1-1)+(1+1-1) = 7 * 4 = 28. Gained +1 Magical Theory. Current +18 Lore: Magical
Theory (7/25 next level))
"Ulos!"
Ulos looked up from his hastily-copied notes.
"What?"
"You're not focused. What are you doing?"
"I-"
"Water. We're on water again. I want you to give me a notion of how water spells use power as they expand in vertical size, as well as a notion of spell complexity."
"Um, well.."
His voice trailed off, and Edward looked down at him.
"Tch. Figure out what's going on in your head and come back to me, Ulos. I'm not interested in people who can't even pay attention."
The rest of the day was not much better, however. Edward looked at him with barely-disguised contempt, though that didn't seem much different from usual. He sent Ulos back to get his own lunch, a difference from last week. At the end of the day, Edward looked him up and down and spoke.
"Do better next week."
Ulos could only nod miserably.
At the end of the day, though, he walked with Madavian to a room downstairs and knocked.
Henrietta had her own private room, different from theirs. Larger, too, which made him feel jealous, what with Abraham crashing on their floor.
"Henry..."
Madavian's voice trailed off.
She looked up, and Ulos noticed the faintest rings of red around her eyes.
"Don't even talk to me, Madavian. Not right now."
Ulos spoke up.
"Henrietta. We didn't know you'd be a target. We do now. Here's the notes from both Madavian's class and my private tutoring for Theory. We'll bring you everything we can throughout the week."
She looked up.
"Thanks, but if you think this means I'm taking on your enemies..."
Madavian shook his head.
"Henry, you're a Junotrin ally. That means you get protected against enemies like these. Right now, we're going to mitigate these effects. I think I'll find a way to communicate how disappointed Family Junotrin is in this outcome, and how bad it might be for the Preparatory's future donations and grants if it were to continue. Then we'll hit back. You're not required to help."
She hiccuped.
"Thanks. I... thanks. Leave me alone now, anyway. I need to study."
Souls and Spirits was just as bad. Copying useful notes and ideas down for Henrietta had left him with little time to study properly
(Training Roll is (1-1) * 4 = 0. No gains)
Magical History and Spellweaving didn't fare much better. He barely learnt anything all week, constantly ferrying notes and ideas back to Henrietta. Still, she seemed happy, and was pretty intent on studying in her room in order to catch up to where she would've otherwise been.
(Training Roll: ((2-1*4) = 4. +11 Lore: History (1/20 next level)
(Training Roll: ((2-1*2) = 2. +5 Spellweaving (1/5 next level))
Next on the list was appraising the Artifact he had. Still nothing. Finding someone to do this discreetly was tough, and he had spent the week running around after Henrietta and desperately trying to keep up with his classes. He just had too much on his plate at the moment to do this effectively.
(Roll: 23 + 10 (CHA) vs DC 50. Failure.)
It was at the end of the week that they decided to hold their usual study group. Ulos figured he'd run it past the other two, and see if they could do pure magical theory. Better than history at the moment, what with Abraham being behind. Sunette might mind, but she might not, and to be honest, she didn't figure into Ulos's calculus at the moment.
He walked down the corridor to deliver a few notes from Magical Theory he'd copied across to Henrietta. He knocked on the door. Once, no answer. Twice more, no answer. He was almost ready to leave when the door creaked open, revealing a rather frazzled Henrietta. He had only seen her with perfect hair and skin, but her hair was unbrushed and her face oily, her glasses sitting askew on her face.
"Hi. More notes?"
"Uh, sure. I wanted to ask, did you want to come to our study group? Maybe get an advance on next week's Theory?"
She looked down at herself, and shook her head.
"Not that I don't want to, even like this. But I'm banned from the Library. Unless you want to study somewhere else?"
"Your room is pretty big, right? I could bring Abraham and Sunette if you want, study together?"
She pursed her lips.
"All right. Give me an hour to tidy up."
"Sure thing!"
He walked away, and down to Sunette's room. He knocked, and she promptly answered.
"Hi, Sunette."
She looked at him. They hadn't really talked at all since the thing with Abraham, though she showed up to study each week. Where there had been a burgeoning friendship, now there was just a sort of habitual, occasional contact.
"Oh hi, Ulos. What is it?"
"Um, we're looking to change the study group location. Henrietta's room. She's had... some trouble, lately, so she can't go the Library. So we're thinking of relocating there today, but we'll be back to usual next week."
Sunette sighed.
"Look, Ulos..."
"Yeah?"
She shook her head.
"It's not that I dislike you, or Abraham. It's just... studying with you isn't a great idea for me right now. Making an enemy of the Aleivas boy means I'm a target, you know. I thought I'd be fine, but your friend Henrietta shows that maybe I won't be. Maybe I don't show up, ok? Nothing against you in the slightest, just..."
Ulos nodded. He hadn't really expected anything from Sunette since the incident with Thomas, so he didn't feel all that disappointed.
"I understand. Talk to you later."
He turned and left.
Later on that evening, Abraham and Ulos went to Henrietta's room. Abraham seemed largely ok with this - a little worried about the change of pace, but Ulos noted that the room was almost certainly more secure than the Library, and switching up their routine made them harder to target anyway.
(Abraham loses 1 Relationship step. 65 + 30 = 95 vs DC 80, Abraham regains Relationship step. No change in Relationship)
It was a good session. They learned a lot, Ulos feeling like for the first time he understood a great deal of what had happened in his tutoring that week. Teaching the other two about Magical Theory in relation to water spells didn't seem to impact Abraham that highly, but Henrietta was avidly interested, and he found her racing ahead of him, managing to decipher things in minutes that had taken him hours.
(Training Roll: (5+4)x4 = 36, Gained +1 Magical Theory. Current +19 Lore: Magical
Theory (18/25 next level))
It was at the end of the session, when they were about to pack up, that Ulos looked over at Henrietta. He smiled.
"Hey, um. This doesn't have to be a usual thing, if you don't want to get targeted. But we're happy to come here tomorrow while you're still banned from the Library, right Abraham?"
Abraham muttered something that sounded like a yes, and Henrietta unexpectedly burst into tears.
She sat there on the floor, crying for half a minute, both boys stunned before Ulos decided to do something.
He patted her on the shoulder awkwardly.
"Hey. Um, hey. Don't worry, right?
(Relationship Roll: 96 vs 50 DC. Critical success! Henrietta gains 2 Relationship steps, gains Relationship: Possible Friend (Helped Out))
She shook her head.
"It's just... first I studied so hard, and came second on the Magical Theory test, and someone else gets to go get private tutoring. Then someone manages to screw me out of a week of classes, and then... I didn't know what to do, you know? I just wanted to come, learn magic, and be good at magic, but it's not even a month and politics is following me here. I just hate it, you know?"
Ulos nodded, not quite knowing what to say.
She wiped her eyes, and drew a deep breath, and Abraham spoke.
"I get it, yeah. Same place for me. You feel like you're all alone. But um... you know, Ulos and Madavian? Cool guys. Good ones, too. Not ideal crashing on their floor, but better than rooming with the same guy who got you suspended, yeah?"
Henrietta nodded.
"So... yeah. If you don't want to hang round us, I understand. But even if you don't, just let us know if you need help. We'll help out."
Well, that had been more-or-less what Ulos had wanted to say, anyway. Henrietta gulped, and nodded. Suddenly despite her red eyes, her composure was back - the dispassionate girl he had met last week reformed, leaving only a mask that had been blurred by tears.
"Thank you, Abraham. Ulos, I'd be more than glad to study with you again if you decide to do so over the weekend. Now, if you might give me a little space, I believe I ought to clean my room up."
She looked down at the immaculate floor and perfectly-made bed.
"What a mess. You'll understand if it takes me a little time to put this in order, won't you?"
Ulos nodded, and the two boys walked out of the room.
Henrietta is now a member of the Study Group. Sunette is no longer a member of the Study Group.
Voting post up in a little bit.
