In Comforting Academia [OPEN]

[gifthasacold]

Since the podpop, Thom had kept to himself. The crew quarters were crowded and noisy, so he spent as little time there as possible, stealing back to his quarters when the ship seemed to be sleeping. So far, no one had either noticed or asked about the Gift-sickness he still bore.

The signs were all still there, of course. Most of the frequented areas on the ship were brightly lit enough that the glow from his skin wasn't visible, but the fever was omnipresent, and in dimly lit corridors it was always a possibility that it might be noticed.

Thom resolved to figure out how to cure the taint in his Gift as quickly as possible, so he could put the problem behind him. To that end, he was holed up in the media library. At his left elbow sat a prodigious stack of tablets he had yet to peruse. At his right elbow were two more piles - one, neat and tidy, were the tablets whose contents looked interesting enough to read in full. The other was a haphazard pile of discarded material.

He skimmed through the current tablet with his face set in a mask of fierce concentration.

Comments

[ladyofthread.livejournal.com]

Sandry had been busy seeing where different routes led her. While it was comforting, knowing that Daja was close enough to speak to mind to mind, she really did enjoy the solitude of exploring on her own. Especially since she and Daja weren't exactly from the same point in time, which made conversation a struggle. As she wandered, she found herself in what looked to be a library. Tris would like this, she thought to herself, before quickly putting it out of her mind. It was better to focus on what was in front of her, rather than people she couldn't see.

Although, the redheaded boy she came across definitely looked enough like Tris. The same fierce look, almost the same hair color...it was strange. Of course, they couldn't possibly be related; Tris had mentioned that her relatives couldn't care less for learning, unless it was worth something in the business. Habits were habits though, and Sandry couldn't help but interrupt.

"What are you reading?" She called, just loud enough to be heard. "It looks interesting."

[gifthasacold]

After long years in the City of the Gods studying, Thom had learned to keep an ear out while he was studying. Skimming the contents didn't take very much brain power, so while a truly engrossing text would have made him miss the voice entirely, Thom actually did hear that there was someone speaking to him and responded.

"Magical text," he said shortly. "The Gaze of the Eye of Nädära, some kind of theoretical composition on the Sight." Thom tossed it into the discard pile. Theory on something so basic wasn't going to help him.

[ladyofthread.livejournal.com]

Definitely a Tris, she noted. This didn't bother her; she was used to warding off angry looks and petulant remarks when disrupting someone's reading. She took a chair next to him, looking through the discard pile carefully. None of them looked particularly interesting to Sandry, though she was sure that someone would read them eventually.

"What's the Sight?" She continued browsing the book he had discarded.

[gifthasacold]

Thom grabbed another tablet off of the yet to be perused pile and began skimming its contents. So far, the discard pile was much larger than the pile of potentially useful texts, but that was to be expected. The wealth of worlds was here, and he fully expected that this was only scratching the surface of what was available.

Sandry's question made him pause mid-scroll. "What is the Sight-" he said it like he couldn't believe someone would ask that question. When he glanced at her, he scooted his chair away fractionally, unaware that she had gotten so close to him. "It is one of the three forms of mortal magic. Various applications include seeing magic in others, detecting lies, poison or godhood, knowing when you are being watched. There are others, but those are the most common abilities, and it's rare for the Sight to be found with any kind of strength."

The explanation was dry and academic as Thom resumed his scrolling.

[ladyofthread.livejournal.com]

Sandry watched the boy out of the corner of her eye. Something about him flashed, and she assumed that he had some sort of magic, though she couldn't tell what kind. That would explain the prosaic reading material, as well as the definition. He seemed like an academic mage. At the thought, Sandry wrinkled her nose. Generally, academic mages were people who thought themselves better than other mages, especially those who went to Lightsbridge. Still, she decided that the boy seemed nice enough.

"That's not how magic works at home-- well, how it works for me and my friends," she told him, finally putting the book down and looking him in the eye. "I don't think we've ever encountered anything like the Sight, though we can see magics."

[gifthasacold]

"Yes, I'm beginning to get something of a handle on how differently it operates across different worlds," Thom said. It was certainly something he could write volumes of work on, if he managed to get through the volumes of work that was already here.

He might even find something from the City of the Gods, or the University in Carthak. That would be a find indeed. Si-cham had to have dug this old spell up somewhere.

"It's rare that someone can see magic naturally. You were always able to do it? My nurse told me that I began seeing pictures in the fire when I was four, out of the corners of my eyes." He shrugged it away. His ability with vision magic had faded along with so much in the wake of Roger's... resurrection.

[ladyofthread.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't always able to do it. It's...a little bit complicated. But I never saw pictures in the fire or made objects float, or anything like that." While slightly disappointing at the time, Sandry had to admit that she was glad she never displayed any normal traits of magic. Lightsbridge seemed awfully dull compared to Winding Circle.

"What exactly are you looking for? Maybe I could help," she offered, more out of politeness than anything else. She had nothing to do anyway, and sitting around and making friends seemed more interesting than simply wandering all day.

[gifthasacold]

He hesitated for a few moments - hopefully she would think he had just gotten absorbed in the text again. He didn't know who to trust here. Even though the woman seemed harmless, he wasn't willing to bet on it.

"I've been looking for texts about unusual interactions between magics," he said. "Either of the same or different type. I'm not sure how much help you'll be."

Thom didn't exactly mean it as an insult, but his tone was so flat it was hard to really tell.

[ladyofthread.livejournal.com]

Sandry brushed off the insult, as if it didn't phase her; she was used to being deemed unhelpful by an angry sister. Instead, she picked up one of the books and started leafing through it.

"Well, I can try. You're right, I'm probably not the best help."

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

It really wasn't his fault, you know. It'd taken him quite some time to get used to his crude prosthetic--in fact, he'd still been adjusting when he'd gotten taken by Stacy. Then there'd been the automail, which, while far more functional, had taken even more time to get used to.

During the mission, while in that fake life, he'd had an entirely different prosthetic yet again, not unlike his first (though lighter and better crafted) and his muscle memory was all messed up now that he was back to his automail. It wasn't that bad, but it still meant he was tripping a little more often (again), especially when distracted. Right now, he was reading a book he'd downloaded as he walked, and that counted as distracted.

Cue a spectacular trip, in which he slammed a flailing arm into Thom's pile of unread tablets and scattered them in...3...2...1... Action.

Trip! Flail! Scatter!

"Oooh. Whoops."

[gifthasacold]

In what must have seemed like the calm before the storm, for the first few seconds Thom neither moved nor spoke, frozen in the act of putting his latest tablet on his 'acceptable research' pile. Then he turned slowly, like if he turned slowly enough his eyes would not present him with the sight of his meticulously selected tablets spilled all over the floor in a haphazard pile, with a scruffy child picking himself up out of the middle of them.

Thom had already wasted enough time figuring out how the damn things worked, then scouring the library for titles that might be useful, then going through the contents, then skimming the pages-

"You - You - imbecile!" Thom roared, standing up out of his chair. He didn't precisely mean for his magic to blow the offending piece of furniture away like a twig on the breeze, but he had to admit that the halo of amethyst-and-blood-colored magic was both theatrical and intimidating. In his anger, he had no interest in controlling it. "Look at what you've done - it took me hours to gather all of these!"

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

Hiccup wasn't exactly sure if he'd been blasted backward by the--the whatever that was (magic maybe?), or just if he'd scooted backwards so fast on his butt automatically and unconsciously that it seemed like magic.

Probably a little of column A and a lot of column B.

Either way, he wound up his his back to the wall and his hands in front of his face (as if that would do any good).

"Would it help at all if I said I was sorry? Because I really am sorry. Really, really as sorry as you need me to be for you to not do that again."

[gifthasacold]

Hiccup was very lucky that at that moment, Thom was much more interested in restraining his magic, which had been more or less unleashed by his anger. Otherwise Hiccup might have ended up across the room with his head through a bookcase.

"Be quiet," Thom snapped, taking a deep breath through his nose. The riot of amethyst-and-blood was slowly sinking back under his skin as he struggled for control. He was not so stupid to suppose that no-one would care if he turned this child into a tree, clumsy and babbling as he was. "Do you realize how many hours of work you have set me behind in? I had everything organized by subject."

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"Why are you asking me questions if you want me to be quiet--wait never mind that, to answer your question, well, yes--yes, I did figure from the entirely disproportionate rage that it probably was more than just knocking a stack of books down--"

Sarcasm. Sarcasm was going to get him killed. Why was he using sarcasm? As far as defense mechanisms went, sarcasm was like covering yourself in bacon fat and doing a dance in front of a group of hungry dragons, I.E. really no defense at all, and in fact, something more of a provocation.

"--and I should stop talking. I really should stop talking," he babbled in terror, "but before I do, I would like to point out the parts where it was firstly, entirely an accident, and secondly, it was an accident I am very, very, very sorry for. Pleasedont'tcurseme."

Keywords make this tag even better?

[gifthasacold]

"It was rhetorical, you babbling nitwit," Thom said. "Is your mouth at all divorced from your brain or did the failsafe break at some point when you scattered my research all over the floor? Nevermind that," he said, lest the boy start trying to answer him again. Mithros' balls, the last thing he needed was more babbling. His brain might ooze out his ears in protest.

Thom stalked over to the chair, picking it up and dragging it back to the desk. A year ago he would have simply summoned it with a twitch of the fingers, but he wasn't so sure of his control anymore and didn't want to test it with his temper so close to the surface. He sat back down in the chair and folded his hands on the table. "You may pick up everything you knocked over now."

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

...Well he did knock it down, and he would've picked it up anyway, just to be polite, but now he really didn't want to, with this guy's attitude.

Still, it was his fault, right?

Bending down to a crouch was fortunately much easier with the automail being back again, so he did just that, and started picking the tablets up.

[gifthasacold]

Unfortunately for Hiccup, Thom wasn't quite done making himself into a sorcerous menace. He watched the boy with a critical eye as he began picking up the texts - of course getting them miserably disorganized. "Give me that," Thom said, snatching the last tablet Hiccup had picked up right out of his hands. It had been at the top of the pile, the one he was reading next.

"If you have any sense at all you won't sort the Necromantic with the Elementalist texts," he said in an utter deadpan before fixing his attention back onto the tablet and completely ignoring Hiccup's existence again.

[curiousredsoul]

The media library was a location of great interest to a dragon with such curiosity and thirst for knowledge as Celena, often taking trips too and from her lair with stacks of borrowed tablets, read in her spare time then returned for another batch. Such as it was a the dragoness strode in, a few such tablets floating along beside her.

It did not take her long to slot the tablets back in their resting places even as she took a look around for those who had decided to make use of the library that day, her gaze brushing past a few before settling on a somewhat unfamiliar face. One of the new arrivals she would assume, her curiosity caught by the stacks of tablets and the pile of what looked discarded tablets.

Sliding the last of her tablets away, almost contemplating leaving the other to his reading as she walked closer. That is until the strong sense of magic emanating from his direction put the thought of leaving him be out of her mind, even as she approached the sense of magic felt almost sickly, tainted perhaps it was hard to say, very interesting indeed.

"Quite the bit of reading material I see,"

[gifthasacold]

"More than I possibly could have wished for," Thom said absently. He had not yet looked up from his tablet, which was the only reason why she hadn't gotten an extremely surprised reaction. "The knowledge of a thousand worlds."

It was the kind of thing he had dreamed of as a boy, making some vast discovery that would catapult his name into fame or infamy for all of time.

Was that why you raised Roger?

The thought was in his mind only briefly before he shoved it away. He had already forgotten that the other person was even there.

[curiousredsoul]

"Indeed, more than many could wish for," Celena replied with ease after a short moment, dipping her head as she padded to a comfortable distance, "Many a time I've spent sifting through the knowledge here, one could spend many months and still only take in but a small portion,"

She had no objections to his seeming forgetfulness of her presence taking that moment to take a better look at him, noticing when she looked in detail he had the faintest of glow's about his skin, what she could see of it.

"If I may, what manner of topics might you be currently delving into?"

[gifthasacold]

"Thamaturgical literature," Thom responded, slowly pulling his eyes away from the tablet as if reluctant to leave its subject matter. "Specifically on the subject of- Great Mother Goddess, you're a dragon!" Thom yelped, having finally looked over to see Celena craning her head over his shoulder. Thankfully, the instinctive jerk backward that followed didn't knock any of his tablets over.

[curiousredsoul]

Celena nodded at his reply as he began to turn around, wondering just what this ones reaction to her would be. She could only watch on with amusement at his rather startled reaction to the fact that yes, she was a dragon. Very observant Thom. Have said dragon watching you with some amusement.

"That I am indeed, Celena Vantari a pleasure to meet you," She gave a dip of her head giving him a moment to recover after the shock of a dragon standing not a few meters a way from him.

[gifthasacold]

Observant was not something Thom was very good at when his head was buried in some mystery of the magical universe.

But here was a mystery of the magical universe standing right in front of him. "By the Gods," he said, rising from his chair like someone who had seen a miracle. And by all accounts of his world, he was. "Locked away centuries ago and now here? It can't-"

Thom stopped mid-sentence, perhaps realizing that he was beginning to babble or perhaps realizing that 'it can't be' is a ridiculous statement when prove otherwise is standing right in front of you. Thom made a small bow, like one nobleman would make to another. "Lord Master Thom of Trebond, Celena. The pleasure is mine, I'm sure." If all else failed, at least his nobility never failed to kick in at the right time.

[curiousredsoul]

A fact that can be quite forgiven in Celena's mind after all, one can't be blamed with such vast wealth of knowledge at hand.

Celena couldn't help but give a curious look at his reaction, she gathered the clues of his reaction, she could only guess that his world had indeed had dragons, perhaps not the same as her but 'locked away' she couldn't guess how or to what reason however.

Celena held back her amusement for a friendly smile, dipping her head in imitation of a bow in turn to his own, Lord Master Thom of Trebond, quite the title indeed you have there Thom, "Quite the interesting topic you have chosen to study I see, my apologies if I interrupted you,"

[gifthasacold]

"Not at all," Thom said, a phrase that might have made certain Viking boys keel over from sheer shock. "I was merely compiling the very beginnings of my research - sorting the wheat from the chaff, as it were. So much of what is here is so basic, nowhere near the level of theory I require..." Even when having a relatively civil conversation, the arrogance was still there.

He was having a conversation with a dragon. He was having an intelligent conversation with a dragon. If he was less dignified, he might run around the room gibbering. "Forgive me for asking, but - you are not a mage's construct?"