Open Monday Afternoon

[Astra]

Winter 84, 125

Bells rang in the distance marking that the time had just turned noon. Bell after bell… they annoyed Astra, who was working hard on writing a song. She'd graduated her program a year ago and yet she still found herself very involved with the Academy.

She was sitting on a bench, dressed in thin desert robes that were fitting for a desert climate. She hummed a song while tapping her pencil to some sheet music while filling in notes as she saw fit. She was due to perform in one of the classes as a demonstration but she'd procrastinated a lot. Not having to worry about her grades had not been great for her work ethic. Still, she didn't want to do badly. Showing off just how amazing her voice could be was more than enough of a reward.

Students filtered through the courtyard to head to their next classes, again breaking Astra's concentration. She looked up to see that people were looking at her as they always did. She gave a few of them smiles and chuckled. It was great being this pretty. Annoying at times, but most knew not to bother her for no reason. She glanced at the time to find that she still had time to work. She wasn't due to perform for another few hours or so.

 

[Tom Trite]

That human, there.

What human, where?

That human, in the courtyard.

She was many things, & and fair.

Iris a-mist, & hair like stars,

Glowing gaze & glossy skin,

Melodically penning & measured in movement,

She smelled of roses, & she smelled of honey.

Crested & mysterious,

& so many &'s to count & ampersand away.

Inexcusably attractive in the conventional sense, Astra's name had traded between sharp tongues well before her graduation, stories told and as of yet untold lurking like whisper. Khepri made it a point to know the more potent students, especially those mortals with lives that could come and go in the blink of an eye.

Khepri hovered, invisibly over her shoulder. Was she Ensorcelling some great theory? No? How daft. Boring.

Boring.

No, no, no. This would not stand. He slipped inside of her, a vapor of Aether pooling through an inhaled breath. All that he was suffused her. Down to her fingers, he slipped to become one, taking over just her arm.

It begin to move, lockstep stroke and quivering nib, a Conjuration neatly woven in Rakkish script:

㉾㈝
㈞
㉧

It was Enactment of the Fifth Order, that of Crest. Normally a being could not Takeover another and force their Metaphor into a frenzy to such heights; save an Eisvoleus, of course. Yet Khepri knew terrible loopholes beneath the logic of reality.

Not that Astra knew what she had written. To her, it must have seemed as doodles on the page, thoughts run awry; nay, a formula for new musical notation! Assuredly, she must sing that feeling, and impart upon it the Aeris within.

They were her thoughts. Was there any way to tell they were not? Intrusive, yet seamless. Compulsive, and ironclad in their meaning. Her gaze was drawn to the symbols, as if fixated while Khepri surrendered her limbs.

I want to sing, now! I will give to these symbols my Aeris. I want to sing, I will perform here in the courtyard, all around me will watch and see!

I want to give my heart upon these symbols, and sing how they make me feel! Who cares for the consequences? It is my time to shine!​

They will know my greatness!

2x Expert Aether Reserves: Takeover (Expert) & Suggestion (Expert)
Khepri has 3 Master, 1 Expert Reserve remaining.
If Astra casts the Conjuration, she will cast Enactment at Master.

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[Astra]

Astra liked to think that she had grown out of showy impromptu performances. The attention was always welcome, but did she really care about impressing the same people over and over again? The answer to that question was… yes!

She had no idea what was going on with these symbols, but they just made so much sense. She got to her feet and cleared her throat. "I just wanted to say… that these symbols on this page… are incredible!" She projected her voice as if she was giving a live performance. She then began to sing. They were words at first, just notes from what she'd written down earlier. At times she would transition to words to describe how joyous the music was, and how happy she was to sing these notes.

Many people stopped to watch and listen, especially the newer students who might not have seen a performance before. A couple of annoyed looking students at the back pushed through the crowd, but they found that if they wanted to keep moving along they would have to twirl and dance.

"They love me," Astra thought to herself as she moved onto the ending part of her song. She hadn't written that part yet, but she improvised and ended with a heavenly vibrato. The question was, did she keep going and let these kids get back to class? Or would she find motivation to do something else?

: math

2-1 master enactment cast = 1

 

[Tom Trite]

Whilst Khepri's puppet piped aloud such magnificent sonor- and ruck- he turned his attention deeper still towards the girl's vanity, much like any sadistic sorority sister's curious thirst for drama— at first there were a great many thoughts pouring into him for what she was at a mere surface level, but as he pried deeper within her mind, he discovered flashing sights of strange, blurry images for which he held no knowledge to explain; Fathom? No, perhaps if the work was sloppy.

—how utterly bizarre—

Moreover, the woman's force of will was intense; he she even noticed, he was not sure he could resist this feeling and stay upon her like glue. That he had gotten this far must have been a play at how engrossed she was, unaware to his tamperings yet so vain that it had not been unusual to her.

Knowing this, the Rakshasa fell quiet within her mind, peering through her memories like a book. He kicked open boxes, threw the memories about, and ransacked her mind for clues while his presence remained in the back of her head. A sense of something wrong.

Khepri saw many unusual things in those few moments, each igniting more questions in his mind. Illumination to the existence of this . . . strange Arcana he couldn't personally squeeze from Astra's memories. Then he stood at the edge of it all, a dark nothing quietly, strangely obscured.

At the edge of it all was a being of authority Astra respected, but he could not make sense of it. Khepri's own knowing made him wonder for more of whatever this was, and how the Committee could keep something like this a secret for so long—surely they knew—but for why was he not told? To what aim w—

His grip at her mind was slipping. Just as he had learned how the Unyielding Will of Rusalka could be wielded against his influence.

Peeled from her veins and into Astra's lungs, Khepri bled from her like a cool mist, wafting down over the page and rising naturally like a cool breath. He coalesced invisibly behind her, and laid upon the floor beneath her feet a gathering of will.

Astra fell through the floor, mid-finale. The crowd cheered. Jin'Norai and students alike clapped and laughed at her abduction.

Khepri followed and shut the portal behind him as gravity spun the other direction and she was lain heels-over-head upon the floor thusly. Feeling raggedy at wasting so much of his power upon her yet incensed with glee at the possibility of it, Khepri wasted no time in appearing before her, mind steeled to everything he thought she could possibly do.

Even Crest could not escape a Nexus.

At the center of the torch-lit, stone brick room styled in architecture mimicking the Mirage Kingdoms of old was a raised platform with cushions where he now sat, inhaling the nozzle of a Hookah Lamp as he relaxed and blew from his feline lips a waft of sweet, herbal smoke. He said nothing, though the invitation was clear: have a seat with the Rakshasa.

The small cat was clearly Rakshasa; there was no doubt. He wore tattoos of gold upon his eyes, raised and pointed ears with a gilded choker of gold about his neck and a rather menacing claw-like bronze finger-blade upon the end of his tail.

Even if this toy is the plaything of another, I will wield her to my content. How curious I am to her vixen sway; it will have no pull upon a mind as mine, but many must have fallen under her finger with such Ridhinne? An enigma, another world of mystery. What a thrill!

Used 6x Expert Reserves (Diffuse-Casted Nexus Portals)
Use 1x Journeyman Reserves (Apparation Corporeality @30 Seconds)
1 Master, 2 Journeyman casts remain.

 

[Astra]

Astra was surprisingly unaware of what was going on in the back of her mind. Her focus was on the crowd, the men and women who were fawning over her… clearly jealous of her looks and talent. She'd seen some powerful mages over the last several years, but had any of them been able to do something like this?

People cheered her on and clapped, some even danced even without needing to be forced to. It was only when she got to the very end of her song that she started to feel like something was off. Why had she sung this song and spent all those reserves? Something was fishy here, especially those symbols. They were obviously some kind of glyphics, but she realized that she didn't even know how to use those beyond a very elementary level. Was this ome sort of prank?

She found herself cutting the flow of aeris to the crowd, freeing them of their 'prison' and letting them move about naturally. But no sooner had she done that did she fall right through the floor. She shrieked as one usually did when in free fall, though her screams were drowned out by the applause. Oh how terrible it was to suffer from success.

"Oof!" she shouted as she landed roughly onto the ground. Even when disheveled and in pain she couldn't help but radiate with a cute, naïve innocence.

She got to her feet, wondering what in the world had happened. She could still hear the applause up above, but as soon as she looked up she saw a portal snap shut. So that's what had happened… but where the hell was she?

She scanned the room which looked like something she'd seen in books about the mirage kingdom. If this was a prank, it certainly was elaborate. It was hard to assume that there was true malice involved when she'd never been anywhere safer than Bastion.

"Hello?" she called out, but then she saw the Rakshasa before her. Her face turned pale and her heart skipped a beat. Not much could make her nervous… but these creatures were basically gods of Arcanis. She did fear them because of what being called to one implied. She must have done something wrong.

She'd never been pulled aside like this before, and she couldn't help but suspect that it had something to do with her Blight. Had she gotten caught? She tended to be very careful about who she fed off of… hell, her regulars were a couple of students who literally could not tell on her…

No, this was no time to think about all that. She nervously took a seat and looked at the Rakshasa. "Hello," she started as she tried to force some formality into her voice, "nice to meet you. I'm Astra Pendragon… did you need something from me?"

She found herself subconciously Emanating an aura of Calm around herself, not knowing that it was probably a fruitless endeavor.

: math

1 - 0.04 apprentice Emanate = 0.96

 

[Tom Trite]

Translucent Tendrils akin to glass held firm the pipe to Khepri's lips. He held his eyes in a squint, pensive to her bright Crest-bewitched gaze he knew to carry no permanent mirror by which he could have spied upon her.

No, no. The offense she gave him was overt. His nostrils flared, breathing in that strange scent seeking to pine upon his feelings. He could smell the Aeris upon it, but in all his supreme knowledge of the Planes he could easily conclude the spell wafting over him now was not Crest which could never extend to emotion. Perhaps a far-flung Variant of Shimmer or Fathom? No. Maybe? No.

Savoring thoughts of candied deduction, Khepri did not give her his name. "Nascent candle-wick of my eye," he spoke warmly, like a friend. "In you I found the truth; you are greater than you let on, aren't you? Tell me all about strange Arcana you wield which I know not to be Crest. Just now, that aura of calm? Ho-ho, there are fish in the sea who hunt with lanterns, but none have I ever know as yours; such memories. You could stroke my ears with skin so electric, and my being would not bend to yours."

Khepri inhaled, then breathed, alluding to the blurs and shapes in her mind he had seen. He fished with baited claws, hoping she would nibble on with more sweet treats as that strange spell. Perhaps it was the wrong call to drag the young woman who could fuel a Fifth Order Conjuration then carry on beguiling with powers unknown without so much as a flick of consequence he could see.

"Pendragon, flower of pearls, what of your family? Do you think of them so ominous? Spill all, and confide. Maybe I will lay here your roots and see to it that you wither with neglect should I sense that you have lied—do not believe I will merely forego stones thrown by such a young girl as mere infectious charm; believe me when I say: you cannot keep secrets from gods as I."

 

[Astra]

Astra was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, this stubborn feline insisted she spill the beans. On the other, her Tie to her father prevented her from divulging any information regarding the cult or her secret arcana. Perhaps she could be forced to break her silence if she were taken over? But even that might not yield the results that the cat wanted.

Astra smiled innocently and said, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. Aura of calm?" She was only decent at three things - looking good, sounding good... and thankfully acting. She could be the innocent virgin or a dominating succubus on a whim.

She tapped her chin with her finger and continued, "are you sure I'm using an arcana other than Crest? That's the only one I have and I think I'd know if there was another one... I think you might be a little overwhelmed by my beauty. Most seem to get riled up in a lustful stupor when they see me, but a important Rakshasa like yourself is probably above such temptations. Maybe that's why you feel calm?"

She felt a bead of nervous sweat forming at her temple. It was one thing to gaslight a human, but this cat could probably just leave her here for a year without a second thought. Could she handle that? Probably not.

 

[Tom Trite]

The Rakshasa smirked, lips mum to her answer. His angled eyes blinked slowly, and he simply turned over beside the pillow and dug his claws into a symbol chiseled there upon the flagstone. Dark paw slipping down, he produced a pen and inks, a roll of parchment floating invisibly upon a clutching tendril.

Barbed tongue slaking out to slick the edge of the brush, he uncorked the ink and began to draw there without further words, letting her bask in this failure to answer.

Like a cat catches a mouse, Khepri caught Astra's nerves begin to rise. His tail coiled and flicked, scrawling a Conjuration for which she would be the key. After several minutes, he produced a Glyph that spanned the whole page, gilded in symbols of meaning and Conditional thought. Every possible little wiggle-and-got-you he could think of was accounted for.

The page swirled through the air as it swung towards Astra, falling upon her hands. It was a spell for Liberation's Grace, one that would annihilate any "magical bond" upon her; everything was in Rakkish, but the Alchemical symbol of Aeris was displayed prominantly between the labyrinth of circles and words.

"Gaze upon this Conjuration until you feel the draw of your Aeris upon it; should you end up Dysphoric and I am to blame, then I will pull favors with a Deep One to mend your lunacy."

Should Astra cast the spell, then she would find any magical bond upon herself to be immediately broken by her Liberation's Grace unless cast at an Ascended potency.

 

[Astra]

Astra's face paled when Khepri didn't answer her. Her mind raced, wondering what was wrong. It would have been quite clever indeed if the cat had caught her feeding and was merely playing the fool. That was her suspicion as the cat produced a conjuration. When she was ordered to cast the conjuration before her, she gulped and tried to make sense of it.

Had her life been a bad one, or if she felt any sort of resentment for her father she would have had no issues with escaping her bonds. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, her life hadn't sucked so she was being asked to both betray her family and reveal secrets that she had been taught would result in her death. Another rock, another hard place.

"Okay, I'll do it," she said nervously, focusing what would appear to be aeris into her mind and body. This was not liberation's grace, however, it was Unyielding Will. She knew she had to be strong enough to resist being somehow tempted to follow these demands.

Next, she did cast Liberation's Grace, but not from the contrivance that had been written. She felt incredibly hindered by this entire situation and wished for nothing other than to be free of it. She wished to be free of this room, to be free of this relationship between god and subject. Of course, she had absolutely no control over how that manifested or if it would even work.

While yearning for freedom she felt a certain realization hit her. If only she had been smarter, if only she had been more clever... Then maybe she wouldn't have had to resort to forcing herself to pass out. She felt a wave of nausea hit her as she contemplated her existence itself and what the meaning of it was if she died protecting the ones she loved.
h
Se felt something latch onto her mind. Some kind of otherworldly power that attempted to mark her as a Deep One. No, she didn't want to feel these feelings or think these thoughts. At the last possible moment before she passed out, she rejected the mental connection and retained her mental purity

: math

1 - 0.04 apprentice Emanate – 1 master unyielding will – 1 master liberation's grace = -1.04

 

[Tom Trite]

Khepri rationalized that Astra must have felt unnerved enough to suspect him of foul play, or that perhaps she was more intelligent of a mouse than she let on. By the way she simply casted of her own accord—and he could tell by the way his Conjuration did not fill with her Aeris—then she must have been bound by this strange oath. Daemons? Perhaps, but he could not sense the tell-tale threads of a pact about her.

Were he to waste upon her a Globe of Alkahest, Khepri might have been able to possess her unconscious body to Upcast a Fifth-Order Liberation's Grace with the possibility of undoing whatever bond this was, but that seemed like such a waste. Such a waste, indeed. He was painfully curious, but to spend such vast wealth upon a flight of fancy—well, that wasn't quite appropriate, was it?

No, he would watch her.

. . .

Astra emerged by her lonesome, unconscious upon a bench. Khepri had portaled her there, though his gaze lingered upon her, and he followed the girl to know every mirror and window on her path through Bastion and the streets beyond. Always, he kept his distance, an incorporeality that was never known. He would know soon.

 

[Astra]

Thread Title:

Thread Summary: Khepri and Astra meet. The former gets a glimpse into what the mind of a blighted looks like. Astra enters major mageburn and is followed by Khepri who probably discovers something about blights.

Expected Rewards: Astra: 15xp + depression
Khepri: 18 xp


Thread Link: https://antarok.net/threads/monday-afternoon.524/#post-2941
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[Shadow]

Canonized

Comments:
What a strange thread. If this sort of thing happens regularly I don't see how all of the spirit cats aren't part of the blight faction due to their curiosity and age.
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