[Library] The bad day (Tock)

[Fiera]

38 Summer 512 Somewhere in the vicinity of the docks, sometime after sunset, Fiera strode down a well-kept lane. It was obvious she was very upset about something. An elderly couple she passed seemed to think that she had every reason to be upset and cast her a sympathetic look. Fiera caught the look, sharpened it to a very fine point, and hurled it right back at the couple, who didn’t send her any more looks after that. She was not having a very good day. A group of young sailors passed her, snickering. Fiera fantasised about watching them suffocate. It was not every day that she had such murderous thoughts, but at that moment, Fiera found nothing amusing about the fact that she was drenched in salty water, shaking with cold and also very late for work. Augusta was going to break a rib laughing. Work. Fiera cringed. Augusta. Fiera retched. These were the last two things she wanted to face right now. She stood in front of the library, ringing out her wet hair and clothes. When the girl finally decided that the benefit of having a fireplace far outweighed facing her superior and teetered into the library, Augusta stared at her,“Why? Why are you dripping wet?” Fiera ignored her and moved to one of the libraries numerous fireplaces. Augusta repeated her question, this time adding smugly, “you are also late. I’m going to have to tell Miss Lisaelis” Fiera didn’t care, and continued ignoring the senior librarian. She couldn’t get the sinking feeling from her chest. Her breaths became shorter and more ragged. The drunken sailors closed in on her, leering in a very unpleasant manner. The wind howled. Underneath the pier, dark water swirled and – Fiera shook her head to rid her mind of the memory. She was in the library, drying herself by the fireplace, not on the docks. One thing about living in Zeltiva that Fiera had yet to come to terms with was the large population of sailors. In her opinion, they were all raving, horrible, drunken sadists. It didn’t cross her mind that they were the heart and soul of the city. The fire warmed her shaking hands and blue lips, calming Fiera a little. Augusta gave her an appraising look, she sneered, “Did you come here to warm yourself or to work? I’ve been working all day, can’t you see I’m tired? Come here and help me sort these books. Now.” Fiera stood up and crossed the distance between them, voice shaking in indignation, “Do you ever, ever, think about anyone other than yourself?” She snatched up a stack of books on magic theory (the section of the library furthest away from Augusta) that needed replacing onto the shelves and strode away. OOCSorry you had to meet Fiera when she’s angry, I hope it will make for an interesting thread

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

OOCSorry? Have you READ Tock’s posts lol? Angry is her default state. It’s only recently that she’s starting to calm down a bit, though by Summer’s end she is transitioning out of anger and into a dark desperation... Also? “Fiera caught the look, sharpened it to a very fine point, and hurled it right back at the couple, who didn’t send her any more looks after that. “ This line is BRILLIANT! Another OOCWe can assume we exchanged names, etc after the meeting in the other thread even if we haven’t gotten to that part yet. But FYI, Tock only ever ever ever introduces herself as “Tock” so you won’t know her real name until you seriously earn her trust Tock was studying. Tock hated studying. She didn’t get it. Didn’t see the point of it. Despite all the times she’d had to do homework, she just couldn’t get used to the idea of sitting at a table, learning magic from a book. She was a more hands-on kind of girl, and preferred to learn things by doing them, not by reading about them. Unfortunately, she’d been given an assignment. She had to write a stupid stinking report. She looked over her notes once more, recalling what the professor had assigned the class to do: Independently study a living creature of your choice. Write a report detailing the attributes of the creature’s aura (color, size, shape, texture, and so forth), as well as what information you learn from the creature while studying that aura. Include a discussion essay on why you believe certain attributes are associated with certain information (for example, Why would a carnivore have a red aura and an herbivore have a green aura?). Include citations for all research sources. “Huh?” Tock muttered, staring at the words again. She knew how to read, well enough. But books weren’t really her thing. And this... This assignment just didn’t make sense to her, beyond the ‘study an aura’ part. Oh well. She shrugged, stalking through the library and picking out a few books on Auristics. She grabbed a couple on Glyphing as well, figuring that might help. She only knew a tiny number of Glyphs, and needed to expand her understanding of them. She set herself up at a table in the back, propping open a few books. The assignment said she needed to study ‘a creature,’ so she pulled Handy off her belt. He was alive, so he counted as a creature. The little wooden hand started to automatically wrap his leather tail around her wrist, thinking she wanted him to perform a task. “No,” she told him, and he paused, the little glass eyes on the back of his hand staring at her. She set him down on the table, and he immediately moved over to one of the books and started flipping through the pages. Tock sighed, giving him a patient smile. “Baby, stop,” she commanded, and he froze in place, having no choice but to obey. “Stand 'ere,” she said, tapping a spot on the table. He flipped over onto his fingertips and crawled to the indicated spot, standing still and waving his tail slowly back and forth. She sat, and skimmed one of the books, refreshing herself on the mental practices and disciplines that were supposed to help her find auras. She took a deep breath, then stared at Handy, trying to open her mind to the Djed flows that would expand her awareness and sense the Automaton’s aura.

[Fiera]

OOCThank you Fiera stopped so quickly, the stack of books nearly tumbled out of her arms. On the table next to a vaguely familiar girl, was a seemingly detached human hand. It was crawling. From her distance, Fiera could not see the cogs and bolts that made the whole contraption work, and so she wondered what branch of magic could possibly sever a whole hand from an arm and make it move. Leaving the books on a nearby shelf, Fiera stalked closer. Looking over the shoulder of the student, she stammered, “What IS that thing?” Now that she was nearer, Fiera could hear the faint ticking sound that the hand made every time a joint moved. She’d seen something like that before; an axe on legs. Tick, tick, tick. It must have been made by the same person. Tick, tick, tick. What person was that? Tick, tick, tick. Ah, this was the red head that rescued Wren’s purse from the sailors. What was her name? Tick? Tock? “Tick. What are you doing here?” she said, finally deciding on a name for the redhead and frowning. Fiera was under the impression that Tick was a builder of some sort. Leaning closer, she frowned once again. What use was Auristics to builders?

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Aaaaand, her concentration was broken. Tock scowled, turning to whoever it was, getting ready to give them a piece of her mind. For the first moment, she didn't even recognize the girl, and just shouted, "Oy, whazzer big idea, bludger? Can'tcha done see's what 'ow I's workin' 'ere!?" From the other side of a tall bookshelf, another student went, "Shhhh!" Tock waved a hand at the shelf and said, "See? Ya done been makin' so much noise, ain't what nobody can study! An' what is what thing?" she asked, looking around wondering just what could be so unusual as to make the woman stare. There was just Tock, wearing her tool belt in the library, with Grippy the extendable arm automaton holstered on her right hip, Handy sitting on the table behaving himself, and this girl behind her dripping water everywhere. It didn't sink in for the first moment that the girl had called her 'Tick' by mistake. Of course, Tock was equally bad with names, and when she glanced back up (after seeing that there was nothing at all unusual going on, thank you very much), she started to realize she knew this girl. Of course, their one and only encounter had been a full two weeks ago, so it took her a minute to remember. She decided to try and remember by focusing on the girl's aura. The books said a talented Aurist could identify people by their auras alone. So she stared at the girl, focusing, trying to clear her mind. It helped that the library was so quiet. She stared deep at her, almost looking through her, letting her mind open and trying to let the power go through her. She slowly started to get... something... some vague impression of the woman before her, going beyond her own senses. The girl's aura felt... "Wet..." Tock muttered, not realizing she'd spoken aloud. She frowned, looking the girl up and down. "Oy, well of course you's wet!" she said loudly, disgusted with herself. "Dangnab doggone useless piece o' shyke..." She grabbed her book, flipping through it, grumbling the whole time. "Whazza goddamn point o' sensey-stuff magic what if'n she's jus' gonna tells me what I can done tells what wit' my own eyes! OY! Like I can't tell what 'ow the sodding mouse is wet what when I see's 'er..." She continued mumbling, ignoring the further protests for silence that came from across the way. Of course, had she been paying more attention, Tock might have realized that her brief moment of sensing the girl's aura had made her feel wet, instead of just seeing it. It had been as if the water were touching her own skin, sensed across the space between them, even without contact. But she didn't realize it, and thought her Aura-reading ability was just broken. She grabbed the Glyphing book, muttering to herself, wondering if there was a good 'fix her broken aura reading crud' Glyph in there somewhere.

[Fiera]

Jumping in surprise, Fiera returned the girls scowl. Why was she screaming so loudly for? Fiera combed her mind for any rules that she might have forgotten. There was one… something about students studying. To distract studying students? No, that couldn’t be right, that’s what she had just done and it caused so much upset. Right, now she could remember what Augusta had told her. You must be quiet as a mouse, she had said, when you are around studying students. Quiet as a cougar, Fiera quickly corrected her. Augusta had just rubbed her temples in frustration. Wading through the redhead’s numerous insults and thick Sunberthian accent, Fiera caught on to a question she understood. “That thing,” she said, waving her fingers in a crude imitation, “The hand” From the girls tone, she could tell her company was not wanted, but Fiera didn’t care, she was too curious. She really wanted to know more – how it was made and with what magic – but she was simply too overwhelmed to reply properly, especially now that Tick was staring at her – no, right through her. Wet? Wet? Did she just realise I’m wet? Again came the incessant flow of language that Fiera hardly understood, followed by multiple complaints from the studying students. Tick had made such a scene, that Augusta came rushing to see what the problem was. When she saw Fiera, the librarian seemed to swell up in anger, her face turning an almost impossible shade of red. Augusta started to apologise profusely to Tick, “So sorry about her! She’s not quite alright in the head; don’t know why she was hired. I’m meant to be looking after her, but she slipped past anyhow. Really, quite sorry!” At the moment, Augusta’s explanation seemed perfectly true, if one was judging by looks only. Fiera looked wild, to say the least, standing there in damp clothes with a harassed expression on her face. Augusta grasped Fiera’s wrist and tried to pull her away from the table, but she didn’t bulge (mostly just to annoy Augusta), “I am perfectly alright in the head” “Alright, alright, you are fine in the head, now can you come along and get back to sorting?” the fat librarian lowered she voice triumphantly so only her minion could hear, “And for this, I’ll make sure you get fired! So many rules broken! Insubordination, being a distraction, speaking rudely.” Fiera pulled her hand free, “Leave me alone. I wasn’t even distracting her. I just asked one question”

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock turned to look at where the girl was pointing, and realized she was talking about Handy. She then scowled at the girl and said, "'E ain't no 'thing'! 'E's a person an' 'e's my baby an' 'is name is 'Andy!" She reached out to pet the wooden hand lovingly. Knowing they were talking about him, the wooden hand rested back on his wrist and waved at the stranger, his wooden fingers and metal joints moving almost as smoothly as a real hand, though with a bit of an artificial mimicry. She then turned back to her book, flipping through until she found a rune that was supposed to focus Djed flows. That sounded like what she needed. Focused Djed flows should help her get the sensey-magic working better. She would figure out why she was only sensing wetness on this girl, no matter what it took! She dabbed her quill in the ink, and thought about how to do this. She was only used to Glyphing on her Animation circles, and didn't know how to do it for this sort of thing. The book said a lot of wizards drew Glyphs on their hands, but her hands didn't have anything to do with sensey-stuff. She needed to use her brains. She started etching the rune onto her forehead, belatedly realizing she needed a mirror or something to get it right. Then some annoying person came over and interrupted her. The rude old lady was not only yammering on about people not being right in the head (a subject which Tock tended to take personally), but she was also trying to take the girl (Fiona? Fire-ya? Fire-something, she was almost sure...) away. "Oy, 'ey, whazza big idea!" she shouted, staring the older woman down. "She's 'elpin' me wit' my 'omework, why ya done gotta been interruptin' us!" She shook her quill at the woman, getting a bit of ink everywhere. She used her sleeve to wipe the smudged ink from her own forehead and said, "Shoo! Leave off! Quit botherin' me what when I's workin'! Ain'tcha done knows what 'ow 'is's a library!?" There were shushes coming from all over the place. Tock didn't own a mirror, so she grabbed a decorative polished brass dish off a nearby pedestal and shoved it in the wet girl's hands. Then she handed her the Glyphing book. "'Old 'ese," she said, lifting the girl's arms to keep the polished dish and the book both at eye level, leaning forward and trying to trace the Glyph onto her forehead using the slightly blurred reflection in the dish. She traced a line of ink on her head, then glanced at the old lady librarian again and asked, "Oy, ya still 'ere!? Can'tcha done see we's busy!? SHOO!"

[Fiera]

OOCCongrats on 1000 posts I really enjoyed Tock's coma dream, very haunting. “Andy. That’s right.” Fiera nodded, not wanting to invoke Ticks anger again. She obviously took these little machines of hers very personally. More reliable, with unwavering dedication, Fiera had to agree that they far surpassed most humans. Tick, tick, tick. That was the rotation of the gears in the hand – no, Andy – so faint, only Fiera could hear. Andy was waving at her. Delighted, for the first time that day, Fiera waved back. There was something comforting about his simplicity that she couldn’t understand. This might be just what she needed today. Dropping down on the seat opposite Tick, Fiera glanced at Augusta. The woman had the frightened expression of one who was surrounded by inmates from the Scholars Asylum. Fiera stared at her until she backed away and left .She fumbled as a book and a plate of burnished brass were pressed into her hands and gave Tick a questioning glance. The girl was too busy adjusting the height of the plate to notice. Glad that Tick had saved her – if only for the moment – from Augusta’s wrath, she complied. Keeping both items raised so that she rested on her elbows, Fiera studied Tick, who had just started drawing a glyph on her forehead using the reflection in the brass plate. “You studying at the university?” Fiera asked after Tick finished sketching the glyph onto her head. That would explain the wide assortment of books on magic theory scattered in front of her. And the automatons.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

OOCTee hee! Thanks! Tock ended up tracing three runes of her head. One focusing find right on her forehead, to guide the Died flow forward. Then barrier runes on the side of each temple. These, she figured, would block any Died flow from the sides. It would be like giving her tunnel vision. All her energy would be focused forward, and the two Glyphs on the side would be like the blinders put on a horse to keep it from being distracted. She wouldn't be able to sense anything to her sides, and that was good. It would help her focus without distraction on what was in front of her. Sitting there, painting magic runes on her face, she suddenly felt like a little girl trying on makeup with a friend. But that was silly. Tock had never done such things as a child; she had played with chisels and files, not make up and hair dressing. Plus she hadn't HAD any childhood friends. "'Course I's a student 'ere," she muttered irritably. "What gave 'er away? All the books, o' the 'omework, o' what?" She hated it when people asked questions to things that should have been obvious. Just like she didn't bother to ask the girl if she worked here; she hadn't paid much attention to the conversation the girl had with the librarian, but she'd heard the word 'fired.' If the girl could get fired, she obviously worked here, so no need to waste her breath asking if she did. Once her Glyphing was complete, she pushed the plate and book aside so she could lean forward and gaze into Fiera's eyes. She focused, and felt a slight twinge of pain on her temples, as if her head were stuck in a vice. She leaned close, figuring it would be easier to read the girl that way. Her brown eyes watched the girl's blue ones, and she started to get a tingling sensation passing through her mind. It brought a headache, but she ignored it for now. She started to get a sense for the girl, slowly. Wet came first again, the sensation of dampness touching Tock's own skin. Then she started to sense... curiosity? That should have been obvious, too, without the need for aura reading. She gazed deeper into the girl's eyes, searching for something she couldn't have just known with her normal five senses. There was... something there, but she couldn't deduce what it was...

[Fiera]

While she held the two items up, Fiera tried to read the books left on the table – a mission hindered by the fact that they were upside down. After some time of furious thinking and senseless head tilting, Fiera came to the conclusion that Tick had been studying Auristics before being distracted by her. Auristics! Fiera knew Auristics. Further inspection confirmed that it was an assignment. Nodding briefly for no reason but to pass time, Fiera let her attention drift back to Tick. She hadn’t expected her to react so badly to such a simple question. Frowning once again, Fiera thought a little. It sounded like something humans used as conversation starter. She had used the question as a conversation starter. Maybe Tick didn’t like small talk like most did. Or maybe she wasn’t human. She shook her head, “No, I was a little surprised, because I haven’t seen you there before, and it … well, I can’t see how it is possible to miss you.” Eyes flicking to the tool belt on Tick’s hip, then at her stained clothes and finally coming to rest on Andy, the animated hand, Fiera thought her comment would be self-explanatory. Soon as Tick had finished her painting, Fiera dropped the items back on the table and opened her mouth as if to speak. Startled, she said nothing, why was Tick gazing so fixedly at her? Putting two and two together – something she normally found of upmost difficulty – Fiera realised that her aura was being read. As far as she concerned, this was novelty. She fidgeted and cast her gaze around the library, at lost as to what to do. After a few minutes of this, Fiera decided to work on her Auristics as well. Deep breath. Table surface. Deep breath. Table surface. Her eyes cleared when she realised how ridiculous they must look. Disgruntled at being so easily distracted, Fiera repeated her algorithm, this time succeeding. The textured surface of the unpolished oak that the library used for all their tables always helped her fall into a trance-like state. From there, her consciousness became conscious of itself. That’s how Fiera explained it to herself. Merging with the djed pool sent a tiny shock through her, always surprising her with its raw power. In this state she could see the colour of the most concentrated part of the aura. Ticks was a silvery colour that shifted from one shade to the other much like water did. Aided by the proximity of the aura in question, Fiera quickly connected with her companion using a string of djed. Her most immediate impression was how distinctly human she was. She mostly studied humans – this being the most prevalent race in Zeltiva – and could tell their auras apart from other races fairly well. So Tick was just human. Severing the connection, Fiera gazed at her, impressed. For a human, she was pretty good.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

She focused, concentrating hard, pushing the Djed through her forehead. She could feel it pushing against her temples, being redirected, channeled forward. It gave her a headache, but it was helping. She started to get a feel for the girl in front of her. Confusion... curiosity... concentration... And a sense of something being reflected. She frowned, not sure what that was. Almost like there was a mirrored Djed being projected back at her. Unfamiliar with the sensation of being studied in return, she didn't recognize it as the feeling of simultaneous Aura reading. She delved deeper, starting to feel a little tired already, searching out something more. It didn't seem fair that all she was getting was obvious stuff. She felt a sensation of moisture against her skin, along with the slightest taste of salt in her mouth. Like she'd just been dunked in the sea. Maybe that was why the girl was all wet? She frowned deeper, still searching for more. She knew the girl was a Kelvic... she'd seen it on the docks (she'd seen everything about the girl on the docks!), but she couldn't get a sense of it. Maybe she was doing this wrong. She scooted closer, and said, "C'mere..." Maybe she needed to focus on a certain part of the girl. Her face, perhaps. There was a cat face under there somewhere... maybe she could sense it. She took the girl's face in her hands and tilted it towards her, studying her from mere inches away. She focused on concentrating her Djed flow onto the girl's face, trying to see if there was a sense of whiskers, or fur, or... anything. She SHOULD be able to sense the animal inside of her...