Avalon Academy (Side Scenes)

[Dodgeson]

A place for those little bits and pieces that might otherwise break the flow of the IC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?578136-Avalon-Academy-IC)

[zzzzzzzz414]

[Waiting Area; After the Entrance Exam]

Claire took another sip of the neon-colored sugary liquid (the cask was labeled "orange", but Claire still wasn't sure if it was referring to the color or the fruit this weird-tasting stuff was supposedly made of) and looked around at the other five in the room. Claire...still wasn't sure about this. Marcus's arguments were reasonable enough, they guessed. They didn't really KNOW what Georgie's actual situation was, but her being in immediate danger and the group happening to go back down there at the right time to stop that danger seemed pretty unlikely, probably. And the staff would probably have better ideas on how to deal with Ms. Lethe. And Marcus was smarter than Claire was, they were probably wrong and this whole situation was probably going to be fine. But the entire thing still left them...uneasy.

Still, there was nothing to be done now, the choice was made and they were all here. And...thinking about Ms. Lethe reminded them of something else they still wanted to find out.

Juice cup still in hand, Claire strode over to Marcus. "Hello Marcus! Um, there was something I wanted to ask you actually if that would be alright?" After he gave his answer, they continued: "So, um, how does learning how to do magic, uhm...work?" Hesitating temporarily, they set their juice down on a nearby table and clasped their hands. "Like, um, can anyone do it? Or do you need some sort of uh, magic-doing gene? Or, like, have a relative who is a fairy or be visited by a fairy or have a fairy give you a magic staff or something like that? How does learning new spells work? How does making new spells work, how long does it take to get good at magic, do you need like um a lot of special magic tools to do it? Uh haha I am sorry to just ask you all of this so suddenly, it is just that after seeing what Ms. Lethe could do i thought that maybe-"

Claire hesitated for a split-second. "-that, um, magic was something I would very much like to know more about!"

[Thokk_Smash]

Marcus had downed several cups of orange juice in a span of about five seconds. Hey, taking several lightning bolts to the chest and then fighting an eldritch creature (he almost thought terror, but it wasn't really that scary ~snrk~) takes a lot out of you. He'd poured himself another glass, then loaded a plate with sandwiches and tore voraciously into them. Hey, fighting for your life builds up an appetite.

Plus, eating let him put aside the thoughts of what had happened in the goblin market. I mean, yeah, he doesn't want the pixie to be suffering. And sure, contributing to Miss Lethe's business was inadvertently supporting the continued terror of people Miss Lethe preys on. But he had thought he was doing something worthwhile! He had thought Claire needed--

Apparently, Claire needs to talk to him. And him with a mouth full of sandwich, with one more sandwich in each hand. He nods his head an affirmative for her to go ahead. He desperately swallows the sandwich in his mouth while Claire asks her question, and he washes the food down with more orange juice.

"Ah, well," Marcus begins, rubbing his hands together in a nervous tic. "The long and short of it is that my magic is a mite odd. It first showed up when I was roundabout ten, no fairy deals. But actually focusing it, channeling it, is hard without special foci. At least, I need to use specially made foci to best use my powers. Spells I work without them take a lot more energy, and are a lot less precise.

"As for new spells," he continues, and his face is bright and eager in a way the others wouldn't have really seen much of. "That's the fun bit. The way I handle it, magic is using the ebb and flow of the energies of life to make happen what you want to happen. It's a lot of trial and error, research and checking what's already been done. Some stuff comes more easily than others to me, and the greater the effect desired, the more prep work needs doing. Took me bloody months to fully enchant my duster, here, and I'll probably need to refresh it every few years, although I've been thinking of how I could more efficiently channel the wind energy, and the gaia power probably has potential I haven't unlocked..."

Marcus pulls himself back from what could be a long, self-muttering stream-of-consciousness rambling with a sheepish laugh. "Basically, though, for what I do I think you'd need some kind of natural ability. Even a spark would do, I think, to learn the basics. And the profs at Avalon can for sure give you more info on the various fields of magic. Although I feel like mixing magic in with your super-strength is just, bloody unfair," he says with a self-deprecating chuckle.

A thought comes to him, and his expression sobers to one of curiosity mixed with a smoldering discontentment. "I'd like to ask you a question, as well," he says, and manages to have the grace to give her the chance to say no.

If she gives the go-ahead, he continues, "What was the deal back with Miss Lethe?" He tries, but he can't keep a flash of hurt from his face. "I made that deal, gave her that info, because you looked so, so desperate, and it seemed like you needed more information from her. But after all that, all you asked her was for something we could've gotten somewhere else, something totally unrelated to her magic. If I'm being honest, I felt like you left me holding the bag, like you were just using me or...I mean..."

He stops and starts talking for a few moments, then shrugs with a look of frustration. He knows that he's possibly overreacting; but he just has to get it out in the open. "I mean, I didn't give her the crown jewels or anything. But...yeah," he finishes lamely.

[zzzzzzzz414]

[Waiting Area; After the Entrance Exam]

Claire paid rapt attention throughout Marcus's explanation, nodding occasionally. Magic was so amazing! Although it sounded as though replicating magic as complicated as what Ms. Lethe was doing would probably take a while...not to mention they had no idea if they had that "spark" Marcus mentioned, or any idea how to test it. Did their psychic power count as a type of "magic"? Hm. Still, they had some time to figure it out, didn't they? Along with a magic friend and some magic teachers and maybe a magic library of some kind. And it wasn't like they had a better path forward right now.

Claire replied "Oh, yes, sure!" to Marcus's request, but the smile on their face quickly melted into a frown as Marcus continued. They clasped their hands over their slightly-open mouth and stared down at the ground. They...they knew he had been upset about something after they left the goblin market, but they had no idea he had noticed their desperation, or felt that way about it afterward...

"O-Oh, oh no, I-I'm sosososo sorry! I, I didn't know, I had just thought that...I'm very very very sorry, that was not how I meant it to be at all!! Oh, uh, um, oh jeez-" Claire took a moment to collect themselves. "Um. Ok um, so firstly I really very much appreciated that you did that and I meant to thank you before but we got the pixie memory and then we were fighting the Eldeff and um I really should have said 'thank you' earlier but I did not and that was incredibly rude of me and I am very sorry and I am saying it now! And then, um, I suppose the reason I just asked about a way down was-" There was a split-second of hesitation. Their gut clenched with guilt. "-well, I suppose it seemed like the most important thing to ask at the time, and I guess I did not think she would...tell me any more about her magic than she already had. I-I suppose I should have thought harder about it, I am sorry. I was not expecting you to help me so suddenly, and I was caught off-guard. Uhm, not that you did not seem like a very helpful person! I just-"

Claire paused, toying with one of the curls in their hair. "Um, I was not expecting to find many people who would help me here, especially not a person I had just met, and with a very suspicious fairy woman that I should not have involved myself with in the first place, haha. You have been very nice and helpful to me, and I very much appreciate that, and, um, I will try to repay that so that you do not have to feel as though you have been left holding any kind of bag!"

Claire clasped their hands together again, their expression looking more determined. "Um! When we go back to the goblin market to confront Ms. Lethe about Ms. Georgie, I will try to have some valuable information prepared so that you do not have to give up any kind of secret about your staff! And, um, there are also other things that I can be helpful with in the mean time! Uhm...you are a wizard, so you probably own many magical tomes that need carrying around? And, um, you have two staffs, so I could possibly carry one of them, if you need. And, um, laundry, maybe? I am somewhat good at using a laundry machine. I will try to be helpful towards you, so that way we will be, um, 'square', and you will maybe feel less hurt or used!"

Deception roll to Bluff Marcus about the true reason they only asked Ms. Lethe about a path down: [roll0], opposed by Insight or Deception if he's going to oppose it.

[zzzzzzzz414]

[Girls' Dorm Room; After the Entrance Exam]

Claire was quite delighted to find Kelly's name next to theirs on one of the dorm room notices. As exciting as meeting a bunch of new people was going to be, it was nice to have at least one person they already knew (and that they already knew was definitely incredibly very cool!) with them.

Claire wasted no time when their other two roommates showed up; they'd all be living together for...well, until "Claire" left, so they needed to get to know each other as soon as possible! Claire immediately bounced up just a bit too close to the newcomers for comfort and started talking. "Um, hello! Ah um I do not really have a preference about the beds but um I do not know about anyone else so I guess I will just take whichever one you two and Kelly end up not wanting. Oh uhm this is my friend Kelly by the way-" they say, gesturing over to Kelly "-and um my name is Claire. It is very nice to meet both of you! Um what are your names by the way? Oh and your powers too if you do not mind my asking? Um," they turn slightly to directly face the green-haired girl, "you mentioned, um, 'arm wrestling', do you have some sort of super-strength? Or some sort of arm-related power? Oh uh um not to imply that you were trying to set up a contest that is unfair or something like that! It just seemed like wrestling would be a good way to demonstrate a power like that if that is what you wanted to do? Oh I really like your hair by the way, it looks very cool! Um oh also! How far down the dungeon did you two go and did you see anything very cool while you were down there? Um we saw some very amazing things but we just got here and you probably want to unpack I think so now is probably not the best time to tell long stories about that but um later if you wanted to we could uh oh no I'm rambling again aren't I, I'm very sorry!" Claire backs up a bit, only now realizing how close they'd been leaning towards the pair, and looks down at the ground a bit sheepishly.

[Dodgeson]

Meet the Roomies

"Woah." The girl with green hair exclaimed, holding her hands out and taking a little step back as Claire pushed in to their personal space, but the other girl didn't seem to mind (after all she was still in the 'Omigosh I have superpowers!' stage herself) and she seemed friendly enough.

"I'm Tansy." She introduced herself with a smile "It's great to meet you too, I thought it was going to be scary moving away from home but everyone's been so nice."

"Thanks, it's Alex" The green haired girl added with a nod, happy to let Tansy just keep talking when the subject of powers and their exam came up.

"Check this out!" She said, resting her hands on her hips in what she thought was a very heroic pose and floated in to the air "I've got the whole package, I'm strong, I can fly, I haven't found anything that can hurt me anymore and I can shoot..." She made a flicking gesture in front of her eyes whilst she tried to think of the right word "...stuff out of my eyes! I could show you but I don't want to break anything, I was totally going to be Incredigirl but someone in the paper already took it, I don't want anyone thinking I'm a copycat"

Touching down on solid ground again she just kept going "I don't really know how far I got, it's super weird down there and the next thing I knew I was in a forest, I didn't even know owls could get that big!"

"Looks like there's two of them." Alex smirked, leaning over to Kelly.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Hey hey!" Kelly greeted Claire with a big smile and a fist extended to bump when she arrived. This was going to be super-fun.

When their other two roommates got there, she said, "Hiya!" Claire burst into introductions in her usual idiom, which Kelly observed with an amused grin. When Alex made her aside comment...she couldn't help it, she burst into laughter. There were actually three extremely-enthusiastic chatterboxes in this room, it was just that Claire had covered the basics well enough that she hadn't needed to indulge.

...Alex may have been in for a long year.

(Well unless she meant two paragons, she supposed.)

"One bed seems as good as any other to me," Kelly said with a shrug. She wasn't really in a hurry to unpack. Kelly may have been impulsive and oftentimes impatient, but she was rarely in a rush. When Tansy commented on the owls, Kelly chimed in, "Oh man or the spiders! Anthony and I found this freaking giant purple spider with like, like, hypnosis or something! Which, you know, you'd think would be more of a snake power. Although I guess it could have had snake DNA, maybe? Buy why purple...? Yeah, that was nuts though. Oh, and there was also like some sort of rock giant dude, but he was cool. We played riddles."

[zzzzzzzz414]

[Girls' Dorm Room; After the Entrance Exam]

Claire returned the fist bump and matched Kelly's grin with one of her own. "Hello! I guess it is lucky that we already met in the dungeon, haha. This is very awesome!"

--

"Oh wow, that is so cool!" Claire said as Tansy explained her powers. "Oh oh oh what sort of, um, 'stuff' is it? Like um is it lasers or like some sort of energy orbs or fire or ice beams? Can you-" Claire processed Tansy's last sentence, the one mentioning "Incredigirl", and stopped, letting out a little gasp of realization and surprise as they did. "Wait, you said, um, 'Incredigirl'? Oh, um, oh wow, oh jeez, this is really-" Claire actually started to chuckle a bit. "-I mean how does a coincidence like that even happen! Ok, uh, uhm, I guess I should, explain, that person in the paper was, um, me! Uh probably I think anyway, I do not know of anyone else who has taken that, uhm, hero name? The whole incident happened a few months ago and I guess it sort of, went 'viral'? And um wow we even have very similar powers! I have flight, super-strength, increased durability and some enhanced senses like hearing. Although I do not have any kind of eye laser."

Claire felt a little pang of...guilt? They had...basically sort of ripped off this girl's whole thing! Down to the supername she wanted, even! Well, like, not Tansy specifically or on purpose of course, but she was basically the actual superhero they were pretending to be.

"Um, I'm sorry I ended up taking the name that you wanted!" Claire said, wringing their hands. "Um...you can have it, if you would like! I mean um I don't think that someone's hero name is really, OFFICIAL, or anything like that? I don't remember writing it down on the application to come here or anything, but then again my parents were the ones who filled out most of the paperwork, hahaha. I um just sort of picked that name because it was the first good-sounding one I could think of I can definitely come up with another one if you want to be Incredigirl! I will just be, um, Ultralass? Amazigirl? The...Awesome, um...Captain...? I will think of something!"

--

After the conversation turned to the dungeon and Kelly and Tansy started talking about forests and spiders and forests and rock people, Claire started practically bouncing with excitement. "You saw giant purple spiders?!" they said, turning to Kelly. "That is so cool! I did not know that spiders came in that color! Or could have superpowers! Or that there were rock giants, or that they enjoyed riddles! And..." They turned back to Tansy. "There was a whole FOREST, underground?! That is incredible! Um, um! How big was the forest? Were just the owls big or were there other giant animals or plants as well? Do you think the forest was planted by the staff of the academy or did it just grow down there? What were the trees like? Um I mean usually trees need sunlight which would not usually be found in a cave I think so I wonder how they get food! Or maybe they just feed on, like, MAGIC or something of that sort!

We did not really see anything like that on our way down, um we did sort of explore something Adrien called a "Goblin Market", it was amazing, it was huge and there were hundreds of faeries and other people selling all sorts of very interesting things! Though some of them were..." she paused, cheery expression darkening for just a brief moment, "...um, not terribly nice. Oh and there was a magical library! Though we did not find as many magical secrets as I would have liked because the books and also the rest of the furniture tried to kill us."

Deception check to Bluff Alex and Tansy about Claire's powers: [roll0]

Opposed by Insight or Deception.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Thing of it is if you change your codename around it's liable to confuse people. That...probably goes double for swapping them. It's like, they aren't official but once they're out there they are kinda what people - and the media especially - know you by. So like even if you're totally cool with Tansy taking the name, people might not know that and then you have some people thinking she's you or you're her or that she's plagiarizing you or that she used to be your sidekick and you passed down the mantle because you're getting too old for this or...stuff like that. It gets complicated. Although maybe if you did some sort of official press briefing or something. Probably would take more than a press release, I don't know if anyone actually reads those..." Kelly chimed in with two cents from the peanut gallery that kinda trailed off into speculation. Growing up in her household had kinda been a crash course in Superheroic Public Relations whether she wanted it to be or not.

[Dodgeson]

As Claire started bombarding her with questions Tansy launched in to a series of gestures again, trying to think of the right words to explain how her powers work, eventually just giving up and snatching a pillow off one of the beds "I guess a little demonstration couldn't hurt..." She threw the pillow in to the air and her eyes glowed white for a split-second, the pillow exploding into stuffing.

"Okay so that one's her's." Alex spoke up, gesturing to the now pillowless bed.

Then Claire let slip with one little piece of information and Tansy's eyes lit up "You're Incredigirl!? Omigosh that's so cool! No way I couldn't take it off you, that'd be like stealing, heroes don't steal! But Amazigirl sounds awesome! Please say I can have it?" Thoughts of costumes and super cool team ups had already started through running through her head when the topic shifted again back to the dungeons.

"Maybe it was magic?" She ventured her own theory on how the forest sustained itself "But there was totally a sun, I flew up above the trees to try to get my bearings and I could see a sky and everything, that's when the owls spotted me. Don't worry about books, I bet the school has like a whole big library too, I mean it's so old how could it not?"

"Oh hey, you found giants too?" Alex asked Kelly "Mine wasn't so in to riddles...then everything got a little hazy, next thing I know it's time to head back up so I just grabbed what was left."

[zzzzzzzz414]

[Girls' Dorm Room; After the Entrance Exam]

Claire was a bit taken aback, but also quite glad that Tansy didn't seem to hold their accidental name theft against them. "Oh! Um, sure, yes!" Claire responded, smiling even wider. "Um, yes, I guess that would be very confusing for some people if a superhero suddenly changed names. But you may definitely have that one! So, um, we will have similar hero names and similar powers, does this mean that we could be some sort of, like, super-duo? Should we have matching-ish costumes? That is a thing super duos sometimes do right? Should there be a team name? Would it be a team thing, or should this be more of a, um, main superhero and side kick thing. Well um maybe it would not be fair for one person to be the side kick as we are both the same age and experience level but um I would be very alright with being the side kick if that is what you would prefer! Assuming you would want to be a super duo at all that is! I mean there are many other options for being a superhero I guess although I do think a super duo with matching powers would be very neat and-"

Claire continued in a similar vein until the topic switched to the dungeon.

--

"Wait, an entire SUN? UNDERGROUND? Or maybe it was not underground at all, and the dungeon can magically teleport people to, outside? Or some kind of magic dimension? Either way that is incredibly amazing, we will definitely have to try and see that the next time we go down! Um, if we do, go down again, that is." Claire looks down at the school handbook they're still holding, flipping to the rules section in the back. "Um...I have not gotten to read much yet, but um, it seems to say that we are not allowed to go back down without a member of the staff. And it seems like it might be, uhm, difficult to convince them...but-" they turn to look at Kelly, cheery expression falling slightly. "-um, permission or not, I think it is very important that we go back down there as soon as possible."

Claire shuts the book and turns back to Alex and Tansy. "Um, sorry. It is a long story, involving fairies."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kelly thought for a few moments, and then chimed in, "You know...it's weird. Like, just off the top of my head, total gut instinct, I feel like the alternate dimension explanation makes the most sense. Portal to some like...parallel plane of existence or whatever. But you know...the thing of it is, once you've accepted the possibility of entire magical worlds and realms existing beyond this one, then is making it look like outside inside really all that much less likely? Ooh! Maybe it was, like, an illusion! Like you're actually underground but the ceiling just looks like the sky! Although that still doesn't explain the market..."

...

*Blink*

...

"Magic is weird," Kelly decided firmly.

[Dodgeson]

"We should so do that!" Tansy had been about to make more or less the exact same suggestion so when Claire beat her to the punch it was safe to say that the squee that she emitted spooked some dogs in the next town over (okay, maybe it just made Alex flinch but that's still pretty impressive right?) "I bet they have like a costume class or something, a school like this has to right? We could take it together and make super cool costumes and then we could be an awesome crime fighting team like the Wild Cats! Or Steam and Shimmer!"

Alex just rolled her eyes and started to unpack, worldlessly claiming one of the beds.

Then the conversation turned back to the dungeon and to magic and to fairys and Tansy's eye lit up "You met fairys!?"

"You don't know the half of it." Alex agreed with Kelly.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"There was totally a fairy princess down there! ...Actually I think she might have been a student here? Or applying to be one, maybe? I don't know. But she was definitely a fairy princess! That was awesome!"

[zzzzzzzz414]

[Girls' Dorm Room; After the Entrance Exam]

"Oh, right, you did!" Claire exclaimed. "Though, um, I guess if she was applying to be a student here it is unlikely that she has anything to do with the pixies or Ms. Lethe. I would like to meet her though! Oh and um yes," they turned to Tansy, "We did meet some pixies although it's a little sad, it um involves this magic fae woman who sells memories..."

Claire proceeded to give a not-so brief summary of the encounters with the pixies and Ms. Lethe in the goblin market (leaving out the mind-reading, of course), though not without a few tangents about that one fellow who had been selling what looked like pickled eyes, a kids' cartoon about fairies that she had seen a few episodes of, what having wings might be like, and several apologies about going on tangents.

"...so, um. We did promise to go back to help, but then we got to the surface and it was sort of decided that it would be better to go back later, with more help from the school. Which is fine, it should be all fine, I mean it is not like Georgie is in any MORE danger from us not going down right away, well she might be but it is probably pretty unlikely, so there is probably still time and it is all fine and she is fine and everyone else is right and everything will be fine p-probably and wow I think I am talking too much again hahahahaha!"

Claire wrung their hands and looked at the ground, the nervous quaver in their voice more than giving them away.