PREP Highschool

[Rebonack]

[Mad Science Building]

"Heck, um, okay there's usually one around somewhere," Khannie says, her eyes darting around trying to find SOMEWHERE to put her armful of really sensitive equipment. She doesn't wanna be running around with an armful of lenses! That's just a disaster waiting to happen. Thankfully there's one of those little double-decker push-cart/table things nearby and Khannie (carefully) unloads her collection of lenses onto it. Once her arms are free of she runs!

This is one of the upsides to the partial illusion. She just kinda hunkers down a bit and absolutely books it, her tail held behind her for extra balance. Thankfully she's managed to come up with some tricks to prevent her hooves from slipping everywhere on otherwise slick school flooring otherwise this would lead to even more slapstick hilarity.

Hopefully there's a janitor nearby...

As for Skye?

She finds that there's absolute blackness all over the floor in the Stellar Portents of Doom lab. Apparently Jack distilled too much darkness from between the stars into a single flask and it blew up. Now it's spread all over one of the counters and the floor, looking for all the world like a portal to absolute nothingness filled with distant and malevolent stars.

It isn't growing tentacles yet.

"I know you said a one in one hundred dilution but I was SURE I could make it more concentrated!" Jack laments. Behind him is the occult occulator that was used to extract the essence of night from the heavens. THAT has tentacles growing from the eye-piece situated above the distillation equipment.

[Morty]

[Mad Science Building]

Khannie does in fact find a janitor quickly enough. It's the same green-haired woman who helped her by opening a door when she was looking for a witch. And then did nothing else, of course. After all, she's just a janitor, not equipped to fighting eldritch monsters.

"Did something happen in the lab again?" she asks.

[Rebonack]

[Mad Science Building]

Oh sweet it's-!

Uh...

What was her name again?

Oh right it's there on her uniform.

"Mai, thank goodness, hey yeah it sounds like a bottle of night-goop blew up," Khannie reports after skidding to a halt, laving a pair of long shadow marks where her hooves scraped across the floor. "Have you got stuff for cleaning essence of night?"

Whatever that is.

Khannie is pretty sure Mai should have just the thing. The janitors at PREP are well equipped for dealing with the messes created by protagonists of varying degrees of insanity. "C'mon, it's back this way."

And off Khannie goes again!

Not at full speed, though. She isn't sure if a Totally Normal Janitor would be able to keep up with her unicorn legs.

[Morty]

[Mad Science Building]

"I've got something that should clean up all kinds of essence. Gods know you kids spill it all over the lab every other week."

"Mai" follows Khannie at a leisurely pace that nonetheless seems to have no trouble keeping pace with her.

[Halae]

[Mad Science Building]

Skye's first instinct is to punch the darkness.

This isn't as ridiculous an action as you'd believe initially; the darkness between the stars has form and substance, Skye is an exalt, and as she does a linear charging strike with her outstretched fist, it's wreathed in a golden glow to illuminate and banish.

And then she punches it again. And again. All with that same golden glow. As she does so, she berates the extremely dumb smart person she's sharing the lab with.

"Jack, you absolute poltroon! I told you to follow the recipe!"

[[brackets lover]]

Hallways

"I do have somewhere to stay, it's just... not technically legal," clarifies Darko, "I've been living in the Theatre, which is abandoned except for the Wizards. And even though they want me to stay, I guess it's not... the nicest place to live." He likes the Theatre, but he has to admit that the PREP dorms are significantly better. There's a distinct lack of cockroaches, dust, and black mold here.

He nods gratefully at Asami. Is this the first time he's been able to talk her down from one of her moods? That's progress! "I can work out," he says bravely, "I'm just really bad at sports compared to other boys. And in general." He has no idea what weapon he'd learn, or even what he would be allowed to have. Some kids here seem to just carry around swords which is pretty cool.

"And I really appreciate you both wanting to help with my magic, but like I've said, the Wizards are helping. In a few years, they'll have drained it all, and then I'll just be a normal kid. So it's fine." But at this point, even Darko's confidence in this area is eroding a little.

[Hallways]

Khannie bites her tongue to avoid shooting back that Asami is illiterate and question how exactly she would look into it. After all, she's been studying magic for a while and it honestly sounds like what Darko's magic source is might not be that dissimilar from what Khannie does. Namely, drawing on primordial chaos as a power source. Raw potentiality. Darko's totally random magic sounds an awful lot like the sorta stuff Khannie's mother can do. Except Fortuna uses it with intent.

...maybe she could ask mother for help on this one?

Ugh.

Now there's an idea Khannie hates.

"You can probably just let the faculty over in the administration building know you wanna room at the dorms and they'll take care of it," Khannie advises. "So that shouldn't be a big deal."

And getting a good workout routine has never hurt anyone. Well, except for workout injuries but YOU KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS.

At the mention of magic draining Khannie definitely gets a somewhat concerned look. She's operating mostly on hunches right now but usually her intuitions aren't bad. "How do you know they'll be able to drain it all? Just 'cuz of what they've told you?" she asks.

Asami nervously chuckles, scratching the back of her head. "True, but a few years is still a long time for you. You won't even be a kid by then! Unless the Wizards are planning on doing some Ocarina Of Time type shit. Are you just embarrassed to accept more help?" Asami smiles cheerfully, tilting her head towards Khannie and gesticulating with her right hand. "Sounds right to me. Sometimes you just gotta take things at face value. Besides, that's the least suspicious thing Darko has said about them."

Outside Class- Hunters

Agate screams as the fire dome appears, dropping to the floor and staring up as the imp screams in pain. Its tentacles are not fire-proof, and it's quickly trying to recoil back into the ceiling. There's a flash and a musical note and Agate's in her magical girl form, holding her pistol up. Agate shoots the imp, which screeches again as it backs off.

[Outside Class - Hunters]

Asami giggles at Agate's reaction before holding her hand up and dispersing the flames. "Yeesh, you're such a-" Asami begins to remark mockingly before covering her mouth with one hand, cutting herself off. "Not the time, sorry," says Asami apologetically as she pulls her staff out, eyeing down the Imp while standing guardingly in front of Agate. From this position, Asami adopts a stance in preparation to fend off an attacker, acting as a stalwart wall to strike back hard and fast to anything that comes near her.

[Rebonack]

[The Mad Science Building]

"But with a more concentrated distillation we could increase the quintessence yield a thousandfold" Jack objects. Clearly bending the recipe by an order of magnitude is fine! It isn't as if there are ever consequences for rampant hubris.

Khannie and Mai will arrive just in time to see Skye punching the heck out of a hole in reality. The hole doesn't seem to like this very much and reacts by growing tentacles that are ALSO holes in reality and begins flailing at Skye. The limbs are both deathly cold and corrosive so getting thwacked isn't suggested.

Those punches definitely did SOMETHING. The depth of field in the astral darkness is somehow... less deep?

"Oh heck those friggin tentacles again," Khannie says, touching two fingers to the tip of her horn and then pointing her hand at a tentacle menacing Skye. A beam of shadow lances through the limb, the points of starlight in it winking out as it melts back into the reality rift.

To those at all sensitive to magic the darkness from the rift and the darkness Khannie is wielding are almost diametrically opposed. The tentacles are nothingness, hungry and empty. The shadow is raw potentially, the primordial chaos that COULD be anything if only it were shaped.

[quillpleasant]

Hallways

Asami's words give Darko pause. It is true that he might not even be a kid by the time the Wizards finish, and fixing it sooner would be better. But-

"I'm not embarrassed about asking for help, I'm just... it's hard to use my magic without thinking of my parents. It makes me feel really guilty. So it's easier to just ignore it, but clearly that's not working." Since his magic is still messing with stuff and putting people in danger, whether he's actively using it or not.

He shrugs at Khannie. "The Wizards have told me what they're doing, but I can feel it too. The magic is definitely weaker than it was a couple years ago. I don't know for sure that they'll get rid of it entirely, I've just been, you know. Hoping?" Which sounds quite silly when it's said out loud. "So I probably should figure out some other short term ways to help with it. But that can wait until after I've talked to the faculty."

[Earl of Purple]

Outside Class- Hunters

The imp isn't adapting into a confrontational creature; it's so far managed to adopt the colours of the school's ceiling and developed the ability to walk on surfaces. It's becoming an ambush predator, and now it's failed a second time, it's going to seek easier prey. If Asami waits until it attacks before retaliating, she's not going to get her chance- it's retreating back into the ceiling space.

"Oh, I so hope you weren't about to call me a coward, Asami. I jumped because suddenly there was fire over my head, it startled me. I wasn't scared. I remember dying, Asami; not a lot is scarier than that." Agate's voice has steel to it that isn't always there; this time, it seems Asami's managed to press a nerve without meaning to. She's also slapped her pistol's harmonica one bullet along and fires again.

[Rebonack]

[Hallways]

Khannie doesn't know anything about what happened to Darko's parents, but given that he lives with a buncha old beardos in a run down theater she surmises that it wasn't anything good. Wild magic and guilt over what the magic did to your parents?

Yeah.

That isn't a great combination.

No wonder he wants to get rid of it.

But the not working part is important, too. Sitting on problems and just hoping they go away usually doesn't work out. ESPECIALLY for a protagonist.

"I dunno. It just sounds iffy. Have you guys taken your Narrative classes yet? A protagonist giving up power and responsibility to mysterious shady guys usually doesn't work out well. That sorta thing is usually the lead-up to the big reveal of some villainous plot. Maybe it's nothing, but it just sounds sketchy to me," Khannie admits. "Anyway, I'm gunna go get my books and stuff gathered up. Later, you two! Oh! And don't forget about the big Thanksmas party that's coming up! I'm gunna be bringing a buncha gifts to hang out, it'll be sweet."

And then she turns on her heels to fetch her books and make sure Maridia isn't getting into any trouble.


[Apologies]

There's a knock on Kol's door.

When he opens it he may be surprised to find Khannie standing there, looking somewhat awkward and holding a box?

[Keeper]

Apologies

The door creaks open and Human!Kol is revealed behind it. He must have been doing something that required dexterity.
”Oh hey Khannie. What’s up?” he asks, his posture getting more casual.

[Rebonack]

[Apologies]

Huh.

Khannie doesn't feel all flushed and embarrassed when Kol's human.

Ugh. This whole thing is so dumb.

"Hey, look, I wasn't kinda a jerk to you before and I've been avoiding you and I wanted to apologize," she admits, her gaze flicking to the floor. "Also I got you these salted caramel things."

She brandishes the box at him!

According to the side of the box they are from some kind of dragon bakery? They look fancy.

They're also objectively WAY less valuable than the coin she had left in his locker but this feels more personal to her.

[[brackets lover]]

[Outside Class - Hunters]

"I didn't mean to-" says Asami before she takes a glance at the imp. Waiting for it to fully disappear into the ceiling, she gets on her hands and knees, lowering her head. Facing Agate, Asami apologizes, "I'm really sorry." Strangely enough, Asami seemed intimidated by Agate now.

[Morty]

[Mad Science Building]

"Again? You mean to say this has happened before?"

"Mai" storms in, grabs the nearest tentacle and yanks it as hard as she can - which seems to be hard enough to uproot a small tree. As she does, she blinks at Skye. She knows this kid's style. She's seen Sidereals, gods and mortals practice it. But she's also clearly channeling Essence through it, so she can't be a mortal. Who is she?

[[brackets lover]]

[Hallways]

After Darko finishes talking, Asami gets a bit teary-eyed and swoops in on him for a bear hug.

Then Khannie leaves, prompting Asami to release Darko and talk to him secretively, "Vallarm-Senpai is so weird." A beat. "Anyways, I'm gonna go look for someone to bully." With that being said, she begins walking downs the halls, surveying for any wandering students.

[Halae]

[Mad Science Building]

As Skye continues to channel her essence, she becomes limned in that same strange green-blue light of the aurora - an anima, as Mai very well knows, though she likely doesn't know what sort - which should continue to give Skye an edge against the tentacles. It's darkness, after all, and her light is brilliant and terrible.

"Jack, I swear, if you do this again you'll be what I'm punching. Follow the recipes! And if you're going to deviate, have someone check your work first!"

She's unrestrained with her attacks, which should give "Mai" a good opportunity to gauge Skye's capacity with this style. She's clearly a very good fighter, expertly trained, almost to mortal limits, but she's not very strong spiritually. That tracks with how she appears to be a teenager; usually it takes several years to unlock the greater secrets of essence, and she definitely has not.

[Rebonack]

[Mad Science Building]

Mai rips out a tentacle! It gets yanked out hole in the floor and thrashes about in her hands. The thing is deadly cold, but no doubt the definitely normal janitor will be just fine.

"Every time I've been in here there's been some kinda stupid thing happening," Khannie says as a another tentacle lashes at her. She dips under the swipe and jabs her fingers into it, the shadow dancing on her hands slicing through the limb cleanly.

Skye, likewise, punches the heck out of the tentacles! The aurora really doesn't seem to be something it likes very much either.

With the combined effort, the tentacles seep back into the floor and the rift closes up. A few seconds later the rift is gone and all that remains is some gross smelling black tar smeared all over the floor and tables. Actual substance, this time. Not negative substance.

"Sorry..." Jack mutters.

[quillpleasant]

Hallways

"A villainous plot?" Darko blinks confusedly at Khannie. Surely not! "No, there's no way. The Wizards aren't shady, just misunderstood." Her concern is touching though, even if it is certainly misplaced. "But yeah, Thanksmas party, I'll be there!"

He pats Asami's back awkwardly as she hugs him. He isn't used to this kind of affection, but nothing can really be predicted when it comes to Asami. "She is a little weird... but I think we all are," he responds thoughtfully.

Then he's alone. Well, aside from his books. Gathering them up, he turns to go... then as an afterthought, he grabs Twilight from the library cart before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

[Morty]

[Mad Science Building]

She's obviously Exalted. But what kind of Exalted? She's never seen or heard of this kind of anima. Maybe one of those Hell-spawned Exalts people have been whispering about? Hiep isn't sure if she fits the profile.

"Everybody still alive? Heads and limbs attached? I've got a lot of cleaning up to do but I'd rather it was dirt and not blood."

[Halae]

[Mad Science Building]

"I am unhurt. Jack will remain unhurt if he refrains from pursuing this path again, and I got here before anyone else was at risk," Skye explains. She stands straight for 'Mai' to inspect, as if she's supposed to treat the janitor as her superior. Fairly standard training for a lot of martial artists in Eastern Creation - if they're not part of an organization, they're meant to treat people who are as superior.

Of course, what's not so typical is those curves. Skye's only sixteen, but already significantly curvier than many divinities, barring things like fertility gods, and with how tight her uniform top is - not quite enough to replace it yet, but getting there - she's clearly still growing.

[Rebonack]

[Mad Science Building]

"Yeah I'm okay. I'm thinking those tentacle things are just weird wildlife or something," Khannie says, shaking her hand to cause the darkness clinging to it to disperse.

"The only thing I injured is my pride," Jack, who will totally do that again, admits.

"Oh hey I found an astronomy thing on one of my archeology trips hang on a sec," Khannie says, dashing back out into the hall before returning with the trio of lenses. Jack is immediately fascinated.

"These are irises of eternal night! They can be used to peer into the darkest depths of lightless space and call forth fragments of the untold horrors dead and dreaming beyond the reach of the stars! If we used these in the occult occulator imagine the fathomless power we could distill!"

He pauses, glancing over at Skye.

"Umm... decanted at a one in one hundred dilution, of course."

Of course.

[Keeper]

[Apologies]

Huh.

Khannie doesn't feel all flushed and embarrassed when Kol's human.

Ugh. This whole thing is so dumb.

"Hey, look, I wasn't kinda a jerk to you before and I've been avoiding you and I wanted to apologize," she admits, her gaze flicking to the floor. "Also I got you these salted caramel things."

She brandishes the box at him!

According to the side of the box they are from some kind of dragon bakery? They look fancy.

They're also objectively WAY less valuable than the coin she had left in his locker but this feels more personal to her.

Apologies

"Oh, okay. Well, thanks." Kol says with a nod, taking the box. He is notably not saying anything along the lines of "it's ok you didn't do anything wrong."
He might have been stung a little bit by how often Khannie called him a dork to his face.
"Do you want to come in?" he offers.

[Rebonack]

[Apologies]

Perhaps unsurprisingly Khannie is one of those people who gets annoyed when people tell her that she didn't do anything wrong. If she hadn't done anything wrong she wouldn't be apologizing!

"Umm, I mean, sure? If that's okay?" Khannie replies.

She and Mary had been moved out of the dragon dorms after Mary had gotten the whole shape shifting in her sleep thing figured out, so if Kol's still in there it was a bit of a walk to come here. She's never seen his room before, either. What surprises might await?

"So... what classes are you gunna be taking next year?" she asks conversationally.

[Keeper]

Apologies

Inside Kol's room is not exactly sparse, but it's not lavishly decorated. Another dragon dorm cave room with plain walls and just enough room for a dragon to curl around. There's a very modest little layer of treasure given to him by FUDGY. The gold coin is on a shelf instead, though. There's a few things on his shelves: A ship in a bottle. An old notebook. A collection of fishhooks. And an old fishing rod leaning against the wall next to his spear by the writing desk. And of course, a large painting hung against the wall depicting a colorful city sprung up around a massive spire of stone. The tiny figures of people seem to move as you look at it.

"Um. I'm mostly keeping with what I was doing? The luck and fortune classes, and the economics class because I'm a dragon. They said that I should probably start taking the Divinity courses because of Mom. That's...a weird thing to jump to considering last year I started with just math and writing and stuff." Kol admits.

[Rebonack]

[Apologies]

Ah good ol' treasure on the floor.

That had to do that with Mary to keep her dragon side healthy. But for whatever reason Phelsie is fine? Maybe it's just because faewyld dragons are a little different from the more earthly sorts? Or is Dragon-Mary an infernal dragon? Honestly Khannie isn't one hundred percent sure. Either way, seeing her I'm sorry coin on the shelf brings a smile to her face.

"Have you taken your Narrative classes yet?" Khannie inquires. Every student is required to take at least two semesters of Narrative. The bard protagonists, of course, have higher requirements. "I just finished my first semester of Narrative this year. It was... I mean, pretty weird? But it seems like helpful stuff, too."

Knowing how to recognize narrative tropes can potentially save the lives of you and your friends!

"Did you actually, y'know, get any god powers from your mom?" Khannie asks as she moves over to the painting for a better look. The thing's really heckin' neat, that's for sure. She's gotten to be quite the art appreciator thanks to Mary. Mary's definitely got her own style but this one's neat, too. "I'm pretty sure my darkness magic came from my mother. But she's never really around to actually answer questions. Probably wouldn't answer 'em even if she WAS. Did you make this? It's really cool."

[Keeper]

Apologies

"Yeah, I took the first semester. I passed but I'm still not entirely sure if I got it."
The painting depicts an enormous stone spire, as mentioned earlier. As Khannie gets close she can identify an honestly staggering amount of detail, from the colorful ribbons tied around it to the stalls built up in the city that the spire serves as the heart of. And of course, the small reptilian people clearly moving around in the painting. They look somewhat like pterodactyls. Some walk little big-eyed invertebrates like dogs.
Kol moves immediately to the side of the painting as Khannie approaches it. Almost protectively.
"Um. Yeah. I made it. And all my water and earth stuff comes from Mom. And she made me Thamar of Fortune so that's where the luck stuff comes from but um." Kol seems to look over to the door to make sure Khannie closed it.
"Um. Yeah. We made this together. Mom kind of...paints worlds all willy-nilly. And she asked me to make a painting and it just kind of happened? So um. Please keep it a secret; I promised them that I would take better care of them than Mom did me and Arthfael's world. Even if they can't hear me."

[Rebonack]

[Apologies]

"Thamar of Fortune? So that's like... what? Your mantel or something? Is that what they call it? Or the portfolio. I think that's the word they used for it over at Inari's temple. That thing you're responsible for," Khannie sort of asks slash says.

It's notable that she doesn't think of mantels as what a god's POWERS are. Sure you can think of it that way but that's a dumb way to think about it, in her opinion. It's what your responsibilities are. Khannie doesn't have purification powers. She has purification responsibilities. Her historical studies lead her to a very important discovery. 'With great power comes great responsibility' isn't the oldest version of the quote. She had found another, even older one when she was studying the stuff she found in that Roman bunker place.

'To whom much has been given much will be required.'

Khannie was given all this. She didn't earn any of it. And so she's going to do everything she can to live up to the responsibility it requires.

"Wait, your mom just paints worlds?!" she asks, slightly flabbergasted by that.

C'mon, Khannie. That tracks. You already knew his mom was the creator goddess of his world. There are all sorts of crazy people in the Nexus this is nothing new. Also? Khannie totally closed the door.

"How do you take care of them? I mean... is this like... a sim-game except with actual people?" Khannie asks, more than a little concerned here. In most creation stories she's read the gods don't actually create the universe. It just sort of... happens. And they don't actually control everything, either. They've got, like, jobs. The idea of any one person trying to manage a whole WORLD full of people is pretty intimidating.

[Keeper]

Apologies

"It's my title and what I was made to do. Like how my brother Eos is Thamar of Dawn. He embodies the literal event but also like, hope in darkness and stuff."
Kol looks incredibly depressed.
"And right after I was made, Mom got distracted by Braeg and went to some swamp world for a vacation and forgot to come back. So the place crumbled. I never got to see my homeworld. And Arthfael's family doesn't have one to go back to. Because she forgot."
He shakes his head.
"My parents are friggin awful. And I'm bad luck, apparently."
And he's not even going to go into detail that Aiko exists because of a whim. He promised her he wouldn't blab about that.

"I take care of them by doing absolutely nothing. I just make sure the place continues to exist, and no one else messes with their free will. That's the best I can do. I'm sixteen. I can't be trusted to meddle with a whole world."

[Rebonack]

[Apologies]

Okay yeah. Totally a mantel.

The X of Y.

"...are you serious? She just forgot to come back? Like... like someone forgetting to take some cookies out of the oven or something?"

Which is a thing Khannie may have done before.

What. What.

The sheer injustice of that is just... incomprehensible to Khannie. That someone could make worlds and then just treat them like... like disposable things? The idea that all those lives were a passing, trivial source of amusement? It boils her blood. It sounds like something Fortuna would do.

"Did you TELL her what she did was horrible? Did she even care?" Khannie asks, doing her best to hold her anger in. Acting angry at Kol sure as heck isn't gunna help anything. This isn't his fault. "It just... It doesn't seem right to make a world for no reason. Like all those people exist just because your mom felt like it? It's so... arbitrary."

She gazes at the painting and feels sick to her stomach.

It is like a sim game except with real people.

The free will thing strikes Khannie as... weird.

"...so you stop 'em from killing each other? Or you mean people outside the painting trying to treat it like a sims game?"

[Earl of Purple]

Outside Class- Hunters

"It's... It's OK. I do not have a lot of patience for bullies; I'm adopted, and the orphanage I was in before turned a blind eye to everything short of murder." And even then, it'd likely be brushed under the rug if the murderer had potential for the orphanage's secret backers. "I made a wish that may well kill me in order to get out of there, and half the time? You're everything I loathed about that place. The other half the time we're in different classes."

The imp has disappeared, which may or may not be reassuring.