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 Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2015 1:11 pm
Wandering about under the guise of Scholomance was starting to look like a terrible idea. Ever since Juno tackled him to the ground and attacked him in a frenzy, Isaiah found the sudden need to explain away his misfortune as a particularly violent bed partner to Enrique, and just about everyone else working for him. It called into question his ability to manage his own life, let alone the business - for who would want to work for someone who couldn't separate personal life and work life?
In retrospect, he couldn't think of a better way to go about the explanation. Certainly no one in the shop would buy it if he explained that he was a magical page known as Scholomance by night, and even suggesting it posed certain threats to his person (evidently - he still doubted Ida's warnings).
But now that he had his first taste of violence and sabotage, Scholomance found himself even less inclined to take this form. Already he found little point in it, and if it jeopardized his already rocky life, then why bother? The page needed answers - some closure, some finality to this life, some inkling of a clue as to why he should carry on like this. He expected that none of these answers could come from another, and for now, the simple pleasures of doing what he wanted offered some motivation to take the form. Meeting Methone and Aegir and other particularly attractive persons provided a second outlet for carnal adventures. The sudden ability to crown buildings opened up the venue of urban exploration, and gave him access to places otherwise barred to him after hours.
So he stooped from where he stood, careful to avoid bumping his badly bruised nose against the plexiglass, and stared down the sleeping lion in his midst. "I suppose we're all caged for show, aren't we?" His voice sounded graveled and strained from prior abuse. "Maybe we like putting on these shows. All eyes are on us when we light up the skies with these stupid charades." Though I'm starting to wonder if I'm the one with the blinders on.
Scholomance straightened from where he stood among the pseudo-cave, and looked back toward the entrance beyond the enclosures for rodents and other woodland creatures. The view of the sleeping lions in their den gave no hint of a powered presence over their broad grasslands, but the prickling he felt did not stem from that direction. Yet someone approached, and in lieu of Juno's introduction, Scholomance debated retreat through the tunnels and out of the zoo entirely.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:41 pm
Glitnir didn't particularly like going to places that he wasn't supposed to be at night. Sure, he could access these places outside of their normal hours, but why bother? It'd make a stink, someone would find out someone was there, he might be tracked down and arrested for trespassing... more trouble than it was worth. However, today there was an aura in an unusual place: the zoo. It wouldn't be hard for a powered person to just hop over the fortifications, or get there by jumping from the roof of some other building, but in his experience powered people tended to prefer places that were a bit more accessible. Glitnir decided to investigate the source of the aura through a little building-hopping, which eventually deposited him by some of the animal habitats. The aura was stronger here, and after some navigation, there was the Page. "What are you doing here?" Glitnir asked. His tone was friendly, not accusatory; he thought it was an innocent enough question.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:22 am
Initially he only saw the silhouette against the doors. As the man approached, his visage resolved into reds and golds with cool black hair to lay as contrast against the uniform. Grey eyes looked back at him, absent the malice that he expected of anyone like the green-haired Amazonian woman. He looked more curious than anything; had he felt Scholomance nearby and investigated?
Probably - he never found anyone else wandering about here while he loitered.
Scholomance grunted, and a bony hand retreated to his face to massage the mottled bruising that spread across his nose and cheek. "What am I doing here? Breaking the law. Trespassing and all that great fun." Even in the dismal emergency lighting, the bruises looked apparent against pale skin. He made no particular show of it. "Or just not getting my a** kicked. Someone from the White Moon thought it was a grand idea to beat me around a little for sport. Miserable 'ally' she was." Which reminds me - what are you. Don't feel like a scout to me.
"Besides," he segued, turning toward the small plexiglass window into the lion's den. "Who wouldn't want to show up after hours to look at the animals? All the fun of the zoo without the screaming kids to ruin it for you. Or admission fees. And really, what're they going to do about it? Not like they could recognize me from this getup." The lions still slept in their respective piles, offering little more than the careful rise and fall of flank to signify their presence. It proved a point of calm - of naked honesty. And had his hand not received liberal damage from the fall, he would've taken a sketchbook for his own purposes.
"Scholomance," he offered over shoulder. "You are?"Sami-Fire forgot to make this a battle if training is gonna go down whoops
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 5:53 pm
"At least you're being honest," Glitnir said with a small smile and a shrug. "It's kind of funny. After a while, you forget that you're technically not supposed to be in some of the places you go when you patrol. Like rooftops." His brow wrinkled with concern when Scholomance mentioned that a White Moon person had attacked him. "Someone on our side beat you up? Why...? Did you get any explanation, or did she just hit and run?" One possible conclusion was that there was a rogue senshi or Knight running around getting ready to corrupt. The point of looking at the animals without the distractions elicited a nod from him. "That makes sense. Kind of a good idea, actually. I wonder what other places are more interesting at night?" He held a hand out for a handshake. "I'm Glitnir, Squire of Mars. How long have you been a Page?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:40 pm
"She said I look like a Negaverse officer." Scholomance rubbed at the bruising beneath his eyes. "Then seemed to pin it on me that I look the way I do. Like she expected that I designed my outfit or something just as ridiculous. So much for this 'aura sense' eh?" He snorted, which he immediately regretted - pain flared up in the bridge of his nose again.
"Scholomance," the page returned in seizing Glitnir's hand. A firm shake was executed, politely short. "I've been a page for at least a few weeks now, more or less. Didn't power up at first. Extenuating circumstances." Scholomance started toward the exit doors that Glitnir came from at a slow clip. The brunt of the diurnal animals never noticed him; only a few cubs stirred to watch their moving shadows. "I should ask the same of you. How long have you been a squire, and how much do you know of it? It seems that discovery of anything related to knighthood is difficult to come by - I've no explanations for my induction as a page or what I should be doing. It's... Odd, and therefore only useful for occasions like this where I want to break into somewhere without staining my spotless arrest record."
Scholomance tossed an easy smile over shoulder. Boots found the uneven flooring easy to tread, to ascend toward the plastic-laden doors. He pressed against them and initially they refused to move, but extra pressure encouraged the automatic doors to allow passage. It reminded him of the many detriments to his size.
"As for places to go at night, you might want to try amusement parks. I can't say it's safe, but I don't see anyone besides you getting hurt if you decided to climb to the top of the tallest roller coaster. Might get quite the view of the city, too. Abandoned buildings are also rather fun if you bring the right lighting."
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 12:33 pm
Glitnir arched an eyebrow. "That's ridiculous. Negaverse officers don't have planet symbols on them, not complete ones anyway in the case of the corrupted. It sounds like she wasn't using her head at all. How dumb or hot-headed or just out of it do you have to be to just up and attack someone who's definitely on your side and isn't hostile?" If he ever met this mystery senshi, he would give her a stern-talking to. As Scholomance padded towards the exit, Glitnir followed at his own slow pace. These were good questions the Page was asking. "I've been a Squire since... January, I think? Maybe February. But I've been a Knight in general for coming up on a year now. Wow." There was a beat before he continued. "I think I've got a fair grasp on what Knights do, though some bits and pieces escape me from time to time. I was lucky; when I awakened, an experienced Knight was around and he taught me a lot. What I'd say to do in the beginning is get used to walking around the city, then go to your Wonder and see what's up there." He cocked his head and gave Scholomance a quick looking-over, because something was either missing or not terribly obvious. "What's your Knight weapon? It's the thing you touched that gave you this form in the first place. Answer that first and then I'll get to the rest."
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:28 pm
"I... Didn't know that." Not that he'd been examining many Negaverse officers. He met but one, and that one found more study in face and organic features than manner of dress. "But she wasn't exactly apologetic about it, either. Seemed more interested in snubbing me for my uniform than admitting to her mistakes. Because, of course, we design these ourselves." He tugged at his coat to prove his point. "Her name was Juno. Green hair, tan skin, taller than me. Giant tits, too - if you get the chance to stare at them." The punch didn't offer much of a feel.
"So you've been at this a while. Have you met many knights?" Passing through the doors and into the night breeze helped somewhat, but the stench of animal permeated the air. He expected certain cages received no cleaning when the zoo closed for the night. "I haven't seen much of them. A couple senshi gave me some idea of what to do - apparently I need to go find something called a 'Signet Ring' so I can twitter my besties." He huffed. What good is a ring capable of sending messages if you have no idea of the recipient? My contacts list is empty as it is, so such a thing would be superfluous right now - or preparation for something that may not ever happen. What's to say there are more knights in the world than the ones I've met? Or that any knights happened across would find reason to correspond with me?
Visiting his wonder held promise in that it was a world unexplored, but his experiences on ida gave him pause toward the matter. He would need to consider it at a later date.
"Hmm?" Scholomance stirred from his thoughts to look toward the Squire. "Oh, it's this... How do I explain it? I actually bought this off of a man at my business." Scholomance extended his hand toward Glitnir, as if he were royalty expecting a kiss, and a ring composed of bone formed on his ring finger. It offered no special features or landmarks - no pits, no divots, no markings. Effectively it looked as though someone cut and hollowed a section of a diaphysis on a femur, but Scholomance wasn't keen on thinking about the origins of his weapon. "I wouldn't qualify it as a weapon though - more a trinket than anything. Terrible for use in a fight. I imagine it'd crumble into dust before it actually does any damage."
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 10:09 am
"That's the case. And... Juno. Got it. I'll keep an eye out for her." The mention of 'giant tits' kind of made Glitnir roll his eyes a bit. Why was it always about the tits? First Cornelius asking about Hvergelmir, now Scholomance. Maybe the two would get along well. "As for the Knights I've met... I don't know what qualifies as 'many,' but I know a good few. Babylon, Kairatos, and Camelot are the first ones to come to mind. Babylon is the Knight who was there when I first awakened, Camelot is a Royal Knight, and Kairatos used to be in the Negaverse, so he has a unique perspective. There's also a girl named Eden that I've been helping to train, though I don't know how much use she'd be to you. She's still figuring things out herself." Glitnir eyed Scholomance's ring critically, checking for any defining marks. "It's still a ring. It hurts to get punched with a ring, though maybe it'd be better if the ring had some sort of stone in it or something. Anyway, it's better to have the signet ring than not have it, and it's got to be somewhere on your Wonder. What you do to get to your Wonder is you focus on that ring, and you say a pledge to your Wonder. You might not think you've made a pledge, but if you dig around in your mind, it's there. Mine, for example, is 'I pledge my life and loyalty to Mars, and to Glitnir. I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.' It's simpler than it sounds, really, and getting back works the same way." Maybe the explanation was too simple. Well, that was what follow-up questions were for.
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Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 10:07 am
"There's three more faceless names to add to the pile..." Scholomance commented mostly to himself. No descriptors for any of these knights had surfaced in conversation. Hvergelmir, Babylon, Kairatos and Camelot all lacked any distinguishing features beyond the name - save for mild addendums of character to each. It felt frustrating for how he was supposed to track these abstract ideas down and somehow retrieve information from them, like some quest of yore. And perhaps it was, or it amounted to a test, but Scholomance quickly tired of such inane fetch-demands. And how was he supposed to find any of these knights amongst a city as sprawling as DC?
Scholomance was about to ask if he was required to focus on the signet ring or on his own ring, but past experiences taught him that his own ring was probably the answer to that. So I'm supposed to think about this useless piece of person, and then pledge my life away to a rock? I'm a little disturbed with this. He balked a little at the explanation, and faltered in his step as the pair traversed the long pathways of the zoo. "Are you sure about this? I have to pledge life and loyalty? I can't barter it or loan it or something? That's..." He sighed through his teeth.
"I didn't want to do that again. It's just a phrase, isn't it?" His gaze scraped the stars before it fell back to earth, lighting on the horizon and then drawing into the context of their setting. One of the exhibits housed movement, and he looked to it momentarily. Caribou slept on an artificial hill laden with grass, and a great set of stones arched overhead for a den. One stirred and looked toward the pair silently, as if evaluating them. Scholomance, somehow, felt cold. "Besides, what aid could a wonder give? I don't see anyone's fancy wonders out here fighting for them."
I hope it doesn't expect the same amount of devotion I would've shared. So much has changed. Was I awakened 'too late', then?
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Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 1:56 pm
Glitnir took a deep breath to steady himself. For every fresh face who was eager to investigate their new life, there would be just as many if not more frustrated skeptics who struggled with the ideas they were facing. "If it helps... Babylon is a Mercury Knight. He's got these circuit markings on his face... they're pretty distinctive. Camelot's got a huge aura that makes him pretty hard to miss, and I think he might also be one of Order's older members. Kairatos... a bit less distinctive, but he's a Mars Knight with blonde hair and green eyes. Oh, and there's one more, Hvergelmir. She's a Cosmos Knight, she's got golden eyes, white hair... she's a pretty lady, I'm sure she'll catch your eye quickly. Once you get your signet ring, you can just send a message to them by starting a letter with 'to' whichever one you want; all you need to know is their name and they'll get it. You should probably tell them you got their names from me so it doesn't seem like it's coming out of nowhere." "I don't think it's a 'have-to,'" Glitnir said after pursing his lips for a moment. He knew he couldn't expect everyone to just roll with it. "At this point, it really is just a phrase, but it's an important one. It marks you as a Knight of your planet and Wonder. For your purposes, you can just consider it the magic words to get you to your Wonder. And even if your Wonders don't directly fight for you, they're what gives you your power. That's their aid." He felt like a piece of the puzzle might have been missing from that answer; it was yet another more mystical piece of the Knight puzzle that he would have to inquire with a more experienced Knight about.
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Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:19 pm
The descriptions helped, but Scholomance was uncertain whether he could simply run into one of these knights or not. Certainly knowing their appearances helped when encountering knights idly, but insofar as specific searching went, he knew that no amount of descriptors could help without common locations that he could find any one of them. It sounded, then, like retrieving a signet ring proved highest priority if he intended to learn anything further about knighthood than what Glitnir had to offer. And at that he expected that such an attempt might be unnecessary, for the squire knew plenty.
Great, magic words. My wonder isn't expecting me to marry it. That's a relief, at least. Scholomance spared a second glance to the stars, although he found no particular blessing in it - the lot of the dim pinpricks only stared back at him dully. And ******** you too, he added as an addendum to the cosmos.
"So you'd advise going to Scholomance, getting the signet ring, and then... Making contacts? Should that be what I focus on for now?" It sounded like quite the list of tasks, and he knew that if arranging contacts proceeded smoothly with the amount of name-dropping that powered folk were apparently prone to, then he'd have quite the list of acquaintances by the time he considered his to-do list finished. Hvergelmir, Babylon, Camelot, and Kairatos constituted nearly a handful of names in his repertoire. And since his message system wasn't limited to knights, he could further contact Methone or Aegir without needing to track the pair down.
Conversely, he was uncertain how he intended to find these people again without using the signet ring. If he could write and send letters magically, without needing an interstellar post office, then arranging to meet someone at a particular address became relatively easy, if not identical to text messaging in practice. On the other hand, hoping to run into someone at the same location might yield abysmal results. A signet ring, therefore, sounded like a quality of life upgrade for the fledgling page, and he recognized it.
"I'll try to figure out this whole planet pledge and see if I can't drudge up a ring, then. If I do, can I keep contact with you? I can't imagine any of the knights you mention enjoying a sudden message from an unknown sender. Is there 'junk mail' routing for those?" He asked rhetorically. "Well, I imagine it's like getting those spam senders on instant messengers.
"Thank you, by the way."
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Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 8:17 pm
Glitnir gave Scholomance a nod. "That sounds like a good plan to me.The people I've mentioned have all been Knights for longer than I have, so they'll be able to fill you in on stuff that I don't know. Once you feel you've got a good handle on the concepts of being a Knight, you can pick other things to focus on." The request to stay in contact gave him a warm feeling; there was something flattering about a potential pupil actually wanting to keep in touch for future advice. "And of course you can keep in contact with me. I don't think there's any sort of filter or junk mail sorter for Knight rings, unfortunately, but even if there was, I'd keep my 'inbox' open, so to speak." A genuine-sounding thank you brought a quirk of a smile to his face. "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help you. Do you have any other questions?" He cast a quick glance over to one of the animal habitats and was quite sure he saw something stir in there. "If not, I think I might head out. If the actual alarm systems don't make trouble for us, the animals might. Hopefully no one will notice if the animals seem a bit sleepier than usual tomorrow, huh?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:06 am
Glitnir gave him a direction to pursue for now, though the intimation of pursuing 'other things' afterward was vague and unhelpful. What 'other things' were there? Combat tactics? Exploration? Preventative care? He couldn't begin to form an answer on that one, but he assumed that leaving the response vague was intentional on Glitnir's part. He did not pry, as he suspected the lack of specificity was purposeful.
"That should suffice for now. If I find this signet ring and encounter more questions, I'll have a way to contact you at least. Or any of those other knights." I should find other sources, too. Senshi maybe, or Dark Mirror or Negaverse. I don't think I have the whole story.
Scholomance continued walking in silence for a time, his gaze fixed far beyond the most distant point in the zoo. Fingers remained steepled together over his stomach during his pace. "Yes, well, I doubt they'll have much to say about us." Finally he snapped his attention back to Glitnir. "It was fortunate to meet you here." He grinned easily. "Have a safe night, then, Glitnir. I'll stay here a while longer before I head out. I have a few more things I need to look into."
It won't harm anything to follow the lions for now. These knights - Babylon, Camelot, Hvergelmir... They will be the best ones to contact initially.
But I should be careful, for following lions makes nothing but sheep.
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