Closed Doing Her Rounds [Nivel]

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

Fall, 54, 515

Running water! In her apartment! Bakar was giddy. She had never had running water before, and the thought excited her. They were asking for people to assist in the construction. Bakar wasn't that strong, so hauling pipes and digging ditches wasn't really the best place for her. They did however, have people running supplies to the workers.

She was curious about how the new piping system would work, and so she wanted to see it's construction, before she missed out on her chance. She left for the town, seeing many more busy hands running to and fro carrying pipes, shovels, pickaxes, other things she didn't even know what they were! It was so exciting! Beaming happily, she arrived at a station set up for people to assist in supply runs.

They took her information, and she was sent off on her first run. They were digging ditches there, and Bakar was supposed to get them water and food. Carrying the bag of supplies, she left on the route she was given. Everyone was so busy, and when they saw Bakar, their eyes lit up. As she passed, however, they solemnly looked down. "I guess they're still expecting their supplies.." She spoke to herself quietly, but quickly brushed it off. The town was abuzz with volunteers, and she was one of them now! She was doing her part to make the town a better place for everyone!

She saw the trench from a ways away. Tired, sweaty people littered the area, resting around the area. When they saw the bag she was carrying, some stood, coming towards her.

"Lass, you're a lifesaver! There's a bit of a chill out, but working hard always makes a man sweat." He gave a laugh, before sighing and stretching. "But really, are you here for us? We've been working hard, I promise 'ye!"

She smiled at him, too happy to even be nervous. "Yes sir! I've got water, and a bit of food for people. Here!" She rummaged through the bag, and passed the man a bit of bread, and an amount of water. He looked a little disappointed in the amount, be he was thankful nonetheless.

"Thank you, I'm sure the rest of the workers would appreciate some as well!" And so Bakar went around, passing the workers their rations, until she ran out. As she did though, a second runner came around with rations for the rest of the workers. She took a moment to look into the ditches. They were fairly deep, and Bakar was excited to see them laying pipes into them. Running water! She laughed to herself and turned to leave, ready to start another run.

[Nivel]

There seemed to be a lot more changes going on this autumn than usual, and it made Nivel excited. The Pycon had already gone on an expedition into the bronze woods to scout for another outpost and on this day he was supervising the construction of some kind of underground tunnels. She was told that they were going to be used to carry water around town. Nivel didn’t understand the significance but all the tall folk of Syliras seemed to be excited so she decided to be excited too.

As any good member of the order, she took the job of Supervisor very seriously and surveyed the area like a hawk for anyone in distress. A very tired worker presented her first problem in need of a solution and she was confident could solve it.
“Excuse me Sir” Nivel said to a strong looking man who was talking far too much to a pretty looking female “There is a man over there that seems to be smuggling with his load, would you mind relieving him.” The pycon spoke with polite authority but the slacker didn’t seem to listen to her at all. With a touch of frustration she quickly walked into view of the women.
“Excuse me, there is-“ The women let out a squeel that interrupted Nivel’s delegating, she bent down to get closer to Nivel’s level and gushed over the pycon. “Oh well aren’t you precious” She said in a shrill voice.
“Thank you for the complement but I need some one to relieve that poor man over there who seems to be pushing himself far too hard.” Nivel had a lot of patience but it was growing thinner as she continued to converse with these two.
“Oh, charlie didn’t you say you would help Rynor out?” The women asked the man who pretended to be surprised by her question.
“Oh right…I’ll get on that right away” Charlie replied without a single ounce of enthusiasm and scowled at Nivel as he proceeded to where he probably should have been earlier. Nivel watched wearily as Charlie grabbed a few things from the over worked Rynor.

Nivel scurried down into the trench where Rynor was diligently working, to tell him to take a much needed rest. The usually cheerful pycon felt soured by Charlie’s attitude and didn’t trust him to truly give his fellow worker the rest he deserved.
“You’ve doing great work for the city but you need to take a rest or you’ll turn yourself to mush.” Nivel urged the worker, she wasn’t sure he even saw her with his tired eyes but he nodded and headed out of the trench and into one of the chairs set up on the perimeter.

As Nivel went back to vigilantly looking for anything of concern she spotted a familiar face handing out water and other provisions to the workers. It took short moment for Nivel to put the pieces together but then it came to her nexus like a bolt of lighting.
“Porcelain girl!”She proclaimed out loud to herself. This was her chance to set things right with the strange pale skinned women.
The pycon hurried over to the women bouncing from people to people and finally caught up to her.
“Don’t be alarmed, I just want to talk” Nivel quickly said as the porcelain girl caught sight of her “I feel like we got on the wrong foot…I didn’t mean to upset you with my question that night.”
Nivel painfully waited for the girl to answer, hoping she wouldn’t run away again.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

Just before she reached the ourskirts of the worksite, she was stopped by a small, strange creature. The same small strange creature that was in the bar! She immediately tensed up, and prepared to ignore it, continuing on her way. When she heard what it had said though, it made her hesitate. I was apologizing. It was just curious. And based on its reaction to tips, it was slightly naive. She stood and hung her head for a moment, before turning back to the creature.

"N-no harm done.. people just aren't my strong suit.. and I guess I don't handle questions well.." Defeated, she slumped forwards, defeated, and leaned down to the small thing. The voice was deeper than she had expected from such a small stature, and even more for a voice so feminine. It- she, was brown throughout but there was points of flashy green. Her face and basic structure looked human enough, but that was it. She had two tails, each with a claw. Some kind of wings growing out of where her ears should be. Braids ran down her head, but it was the same colour as the rest of her, revealing that it's just an extension of her body, not real hair. Same with the many 'leaves' upon her head. They were pretty though..

Bakar realized that she had been staring at the girl for a little too long without saying anything, and became embarrassed. "S-sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I was just.. curious. I haven't seen anyone like.. you before.. You're.. quite unique. I-in a good way!" She really didn't know how to deal with this creature. Spending more time with her, however, Bakar noticed something.. off about her. A feeling she wasn't used to, but somehow familiar. Last time she had felt this was after her initiation, when she could almost feel the power of her teacher. This.. thing. Could it use magic? Did it have the same feeling?

If anything went wrong, she was certain she could outrun the girl, so she decided to take a risk. Leaning closer to the being, she whispered quietly. "Do.. do you practice magic?" She leaned back then, and stood, waiting for the small being to reply. Her body poised to run, she decided that if this turned sour, she had done enough volunteer work for the day.

[Nivel]

Nivel let out a sigh of relief as Bakar seemed receptive to her plea and but the pycon would still felt the need to tread lightly.
“I like people but there is still a lot I don’t know about how things work. I’m much better than I used to be but this world holds so much oddities I imagine I’ll never be truly knowledgeable about everything.” She paused and flapped her wings gingerly “Though I still want to try”

Bakar stopped the conversation and simply stared at the pycon for a few ticks. It didn’t make Nivel uncomfortable, pycon would sometimes stare at each other to get a better understanding of each others live experiences. Their bodies were essentially canvases that showcased their life experience through visual metaphor that usually required some time to figure out.
“Why are you apologizing, curiosity is never something to be ashamed off” The porcelain girl confused Nivel a touch with her sensitivity but the pycon didn’t hold it against her. She just hoped this girl would relax and realize she didn’t mean her any harm.

“Yes I am a mage of the order” Nivel whispered back to the overly cautious tall folk. The pycon wondered if Bakar was just nervous because she was new to magic and was fearful of being misunderstood about this fact. “You are a mage as well I assume?”

“Excuse me” Nivel suddenly interjected as she noticed that just beyond Bakar, Charlie had began berating the second runner over the small portion of food he had received. Nivel ran over on her tiny legs to see if she could resolve the issue.
“What seems to be the problem” Nivel said sternly as she entered the scene, her tails straightened out like a threatened feline.
“I work hard here and All I bloody get is this joke they call rations” The ignorant buffoon spat out of his large mouth, his body was tense and there was a vain popping out of his unusually square head.
“I’ll have to ask you to leave Citizen, your presence here is disruptive and very rude.” Nivel said as calmly as she could but this man was irritating her to no end.
“I don’t need a bloody nik nak telling me what to do, go back to the mud pile you came from you little freak” He shouted in blind rage, it thankfully alerted more knights and squires to intervene before Nivel had to get into an altercation with the bully. His words hurt her but she was more concerned with how little sway her authority had over people. Nivel forced herself to hold her clay head high as she walked back to Bakar and Charlie was dragged kicking and yelling off the scene.

She let out a tiny sigh “What were we talking about?”

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

The little creature explained that it was learning how things worked in the world, meaning it must have come from a different societal view.. If things were foreign for the creature, that would explain it's bluntness and misunderstanding at the bar that night. The thing flapped her ear-wings, and the motion amazed Bakar. She was made out of some kind of earth, and though she clearly moves, she expected the wings to be purely decorative. This creature was certainly interesting..

She whispered back a reply to Bakar's question. She was a mage, of the order no less. A Knight. Bakar never would have guessed. She attempted to hide her expression of surprise, as she asked, just to ensure she was correct. "You.. you are a knight?" She didn't want to offend the small creature by being so surprised, but she was just used to seeing large, or at least average sized beings within the knights.

Before Bakar could answer her inquiry as to her own magical practice, the amazing thing excused herself, and ran to a pair of men who appeared to be having an argument. Rather, it seemed one man was just yelling at another. It wasn't until Bakar noticed the carrier bag that she realized it was another runner, and the man was likely none too pleased with the supplies.

Bakar slowly stood, as she watched the earthen being, with all the authority she could muster, tell the man to leave. This just seemed to irritate the man as he shouted what Bakar could only assume to be some kind of insult at the poor creature. Jaw dropped that a citizen would be so outright confrontational with a knight, she watched as more knights surrounded and dragged the man off, still screaming.

The creature returned with a sigh as Bakar shook her head at the scene. "Wow.. he's got a lot of nerve talking to a knight like that.. are.. are you alright?" Bakar asked concerned. Remembering the conversation before they got derailed, Bakar spoke quietly. "I.. wouldn't really call myself a mage.. my skills are very mediocre.. but I do occasionally practice a bit of magic.." Wondering how far she could go into depth, she debated telling her which school of magic. It wasn't often Bakar got the chance to talk to another mage, so she actually wanted to keep this going.

Bakar sat on the ground, crosslegged before the girl. "I.. am Bakar.. that's my name, I mean.." She wanted to make things clear for the being, to minimize confusion. She closed her eyes, gathering her courage before talking. "I practice Reimancy, and I dabble with glyphs. I was supposed to learn more, but.. my teacher passed away." She decided to leave out the part where she believed she was the cause of his death. Likely wouldn't go over too well.

"He taught me the basics of my magic, and initiated me, as well as showing me simple glyphs to learn from. I've always wanted to learn more, but there's not many places a non-knight.. a citizen could go to freely learn and practice. And I'm hesitant to join the knights, as I don't think I'd be fit for combat.." Once again, she omitted her feelings towards the knights, to avoid conflict. It wasn't lying.. it was just not telling her everything.

"The only element I know anything about is air.. it's an interesting one, and I've learned some interesting tricks with it, but it's far from the most useful combat magic.." Realizing he had spoken to some lengths about herself, Bakar turned to the beautiful being before her. "Wh-what about you?" Bakar asked, curious as to this creature's experience with the craft.

OOCWhew! Sorry for taking so long, schoolwork caught up to me, and I was a little busy!

[Nivel]

“Oh sorry, you are correct” Nivel quickly replied to the question, She was pretty used to others being surprised at her vocation by now and wasn’t the least bit insulted by the way Bakar asked. “I know that being as small as me might make being a knight seem impossible but pycon’s dream big and I’m not the only one. My mother was a knight and I have two pycon friends Ball and Archailist who are also with the order.” She paused for a minute as she tried to quell the residual sour feeling she had stewing in her nexus. Nivel let out a little sigh and her ears drooped a bit before she spoke again. “Not everyone thinks of me and the other pycons of the order as true knights or squires, I couldn’t comprehend this at first but now that I know I won’t let rocks like him get me down. I will prove to them that I’m as virtuous, just and mighty as any other knight!” The pycon declared as she threw her fist up in the air in determination, her previously drooping ears and gently swaying tails followed.

“Anyway..” Nivel tails swayed with more vigour as her curiosity grew and her ears fluttered gently to show that her mood was becoming more chipper. Nivel let herself forget about what had upset her only moments ago and was fully engaged in the new conversation. If there was a tried and true way to cheer up nivel it was to get her focused on one of the many subjects that interested her.
“I mostly practice Flux and Autistics but also know a bit of shielding..and I was recently initiated into Reimancy. and I also use Air magic!” She practically jumped in excitement when she mentioned their common element “…I’m hoping my next element is Earth so I can build a massive Pyve in the bronze woods.” The pycon merged her arms and ears together into castle pillars complete with subtle brick patterns along them. They quickly bounced back to their regular form since it was a complex shape to hold for too long.
“Although I suppose I could make it out of sticks or maybe sew it together..Or even Buttons!” Nivel cheered happily clapping her hands together as she plotted her dream project. “hrm…but were will I get all the buttons..”

“Oh sorry!” Nivel said as she realized she was getting to lost in thought. “A great pleasure to meet you Bakar, My name is Nivel. I’m glad I don’t have to keep calling you porcelain girl, It made me hungry every time I said it.” She rubbed her belly a bit as she thought of the delicate and crisp taste of the purest white clay she rarely got to indulge in.
“I’m sorry to hear that your mentor passed on” Nivel only assumed that her mentor had left for what ever reason.
“My Mount Patcha passed on too but i’m hoping she come back some day. She said she needed to venture out on her own to become stronger…I just wish she had brought me along..I miss her….” The pylon’s words trailed off and her limbs started to go limp again but quickly sprung back up.

“Have you ever been to the Inner Sanctum? It’s an abandoned laboratory were we could practice magic together.” Nivel inquired and waited for Bakar’s answer. Assuming that the fellow mage was available the pycon would ask for one of her fellow knights to cover for her as she led Bakar to the Inner sanctum. Given the altercation that Nivel had recently engaged in it wasn’t hard to convince the other knight to let her go.

Nivel didn’t bother asking for any kind of ride and briskly jogged in front of Bakar as she lead the tall folk to where the Hefty doors of the mysterious building stood. It luckily wasn’t too far from where the construction was going on, so it provided pretty good training for Nivel without tiring her out too much.

“In here” Nivel shouted behind her as she approached the less then welcoming entrance. Nivel condensed herself and pushed through the minuscule gap at the bottom of the door and into the dimly lit laboratory.
“So what do you think?” The pycon asked eagerly as her new friend entered the door after her. “It was the abandoned lab of some mage crafter but now resident mages use it to practice their craft in privacy” She clapped her tiny hands and jumped in barely contained excitement. “Isn’t it great!”

OocI kept you waiting a bit to don't worry about it

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Bakar]

There was more like her, pycons, she called them. What an interesting race, little people of earth. She seemed friendly enough, but being a member of the order made Bakar a little more nervous around her. Wait.. mother? This creature was born?

Nivel looked down, as she revealed that not all respect her and the other pycons as legitimate knights. Bakar could see why, but surely there was power hidden in that small form. They wouldn't let them into the order if they didn't think they had the power necessary to keep the peace, and she told Nivel so.

"A knight is a knight, no matter how small. You were accepted for a reason, there is no reason for anyone to doubt that." She assured her. Nivel seemed a little happier now, but it was still nice to hear reassurance from people sometimes. Bakar smiled as the wings and tails went up with the small girl. She was kinda cute, but that was probably why some didn't respect her. Cute things can still be dangerous..

This small creature certainly knew more about magic than her, as she listed off multiple schools that Bakar was unfamiliar with. She tried to hide her confusion, thinking of what they could possibly do. Shielding seemed obvious, but the others.. she wasn't so sure.

Then came the Reimancy. And it was air too, coincidentally. Bakar instantly became more interested, and nearly forgot her nervousness. "Really? Air Reimancy as well?" Bakar said in disbelief. There was so much she wanted to talk to this new creature about, magic chief among them.

She mentioned that her next element she wanted to learn would be Earth, so she could build a.. Pyve? Bakar was unsure what it was, but before her lack of knowledge betrayed her, the small creature shifted. Her arms and ears became an intricate design of bricks, formed into pillars. She quickly reverted, but the small time gave Bakar a general idea. It was some kind of building. Nivel went on to talk about how she could sew it together, or make it out of sticks. Or.. buttons.. Interesting creature indeed..

Porcelain girl... reminded her of food? Did she.. eat earth? Bakar quickly pushed these thoughts out of her head. She was in no position to judge, she didn't eat at all. Nivel's lack of understanding showed once again, as she talked about her friend, or mentor, who had also "passed on". Bakar smiled sadly, but decided not to correct her. She seemed upset enough without Bakar bringing up her own past.

The Inner Sanctum interested Bakar greatly. A place to practice magic together.. that meant that Nivel anticipated they'd meet again, under controlled circumstances. It would be a nice change of pace than hiding away into her room. "No.. no I haven't." Bakar looked around, and waved a volunteer down, passing off her bag for them to bring back. "Would you mind showing me?"

They walked a short distance to a pretty imposing building. Well, she walked. Nivel jogged in front of her. Nivel just pushed through the opening at the bottom of the door, while Bakar walked up to it, giving it a testing push after trying the latch. It slowly swung open, as Nivel excitedly talked about it. It was dark, but not unpleasant. Very quiet. If people were practicing magic here, it wouldn't do well for it to be noisy. She smiled at Nivel again, unable to resist.

"It.. it is something else." Bakar said quietly, not wanting to disrupt anyone currently working. There was that feeling again. The feeling of power that she felt with Nivel. Only it was stronger here. Likely due to the concentration of magic users. It was a little overwhelming at first, and Bakar leaned on a desk to counteract the feeling. She found a stool, and took a seat.

Looking towards the small friend, she spoke softly. "Nivel.. what do you know of Air Reimancy? Maybe.. we can share some knowledge? I don't have much to offer, but.. I'm also very interested in talking about your other abilities, if you wouldn't mind..."

[Nivel]

“Thank you” Nivel said as she shifted her face into a smile. The pycon didn’t feel the two words fully portrayed the gratitude she felt at Bakar’s kind words but they would have to do. It was nice to know that there were still those that felt she was just as capable as her fellow knights and squires.

“I’m glad you like it” Nivel replied with a happy little clap in a hushed voice when she realized they weren’t alone. There was a few mages in the far corner, Nivel wasn’t sure what they were doing but it seemed to be occupying all of their focus. They all wore the same ceremonial hooded robes and were slowly moving their hands about slowly and silently.

“Well..” the pycon began to speak but paused for a minute to organize her thoughts. “I know how to produce Res and I know how to turn it into air but I haven’t really done many things with it.” It was a little embarrassing to have so little to share on the subject but Nivel had only been initiated recently.
“As for my other forms of magic” Nivel began her explanation “I practice Flux which allows you to channel the streams of djed going through your body and increase your strength and speed, Shielding which allows you to create protective barriers for various purposes and finnally Auristics which involves seeing the auras of things and learning about them..”
Nivel hesitated again since she felt like the next few things she was going to say would upset the fellow mage. The Pycon verbally tip toed through the next bit of the conversation by talking slowly and softly.
“When we first met I sensed something about your aura that intrigued me, It wasn’t bad it just caught my attention because of how unique it was…” She felt she had put her words together well but quickly added “But I wouldn’t have read it with your consent” Nivel had learned from past experiences that its not always best to look at someones aura without asking first. The pycon almost went blind when she tried to read Oriah’s radiant aura.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath

[Bakar]

Bakar smiled at the small creature. "I don't know a whole lot either.. but I could show you a few interesting things that I've learned! Like fire! If there's no air around a fire, it'll go out! So if you ever need to put one out, just get rid of all the air! Er.. that might be a little hard if the fire is too big though.." She realized that if there was ever a fire big enough that water couldn't handle, then it's probably too big for someone to put out with Reimancy.. At least at her level.

"W-well, and this is a pretty niche happening.. but if you're ever in the woods, and need a distraction, you could spread Res across the earth and lift it up, making a lot of leaves go with it!" She raised her arms as she explained her one experience with the situation, that she never even really got to test.

Realizing that she never really had a lot of experience with practical uses of Reimancy, she lowered her head. "Honestly, I mostly use the air to play a flute. It's impractical, and tiring, and kinda reckless, but I like it."

Bakar realized she had rambled on for quite a while in her excitement. She looked over to the group and noticed they were still off doing their own thing. She lowered her voice nonetheless, not wanting to disturb them. Flux didn't interest her very much. Her reactions were too sluggish to make use of it in a jiffy, and she didn't really see where she would use it otherwise. Shielding, though.. that sounded like a very practical magic. Auristics sounded like a fun way to pass the time, learning about things.

It was the next words from her new friend that worried her. There was a apparently a uniqueness to Bakar's aura. She could probably assume what would cause a variation, but she really didn't want to think such a thing. She stiffened and watched Nivel nervously. She noticed that it was unique, but didn't look too deeply into it. But Bakar was curious what this unique aura would be described as. "Wh-what.. what do you mean unique? What.. what is different about it?" She shifted, scared of what would happen if this small creature learned of her nature. She bit her lip and waited.

[Nivel]

The techniques that Bakar was listing off got the cogs in Nivel’s nexus grinding furiously. She enjoyed greatly enjoyed speculating and analyzing the possibilities of the magic even if it was a bit challenging.
“Oh!” Nivel piped up suddenly “If you use reimancy to play your flute, could you also use it to throw sound…for some kind of distraction or to throw your location off. Do you think that could be possible?” After she heard her own statement she became less sure of how possible it was and her voice faltered but it quickly rose from the ashes with each new idea. “Maybe you could use it to deflect projectiles? by sending a wind around you…although it would have to be timed just right…probably easier to just dodge” her ears tensed in frustration as she discredited each of her suggests as soon as she said them.

“It’s hard to think of techniques when we’re so inexperienced, maybe we should talk about how to make using reimancy easier.”
She paused again to recall what little methods she had learned.
“Meditation is a pretty obvious way of keeping your mind focused but that’s all I know on that subject.. I guess I also get plenty of rest before I know I’m going to preform magic. When it comes to recovering from over giving I’ve found that tolm root tea helps relieve pain and makes you sleep better.”

Bakar brought up her aura again and it made Nivel more and more curious as to what was causing the tall folk so much anxiety. “Well the uniqueness could have just been that you're a mage, magic is usually what I sense the most. The last person I got a noticeable reading from was blessed by a god and she didn’t even seem that strange until I took a look at her aura and nearly became blind...Were you blessed by a god too?”
OocI'm so sorry this is late, I meant to post this last sunday but I forgot to hit send and then I just go to busy to do it again.

Credit for Boxcode goes to Estrellir Konrath