• Solo • First trial of school

[Sintih]

7th of Ymiden, 720th Arc
Just before the start of the morning lectures
The Prime Atheneum

Sintih walked through the large doors of the Academy and into the slightly more bearable temperature inside. At this hour, the main hall was an ant's nest of students trying to reach their classrooms in time. A sea of softly purple colored people with black hair moved constantly and the hall was filled with a constant murmur of people talking excitedly with their colleagues. Much fewer in number were the non-Eidisi that attended the Academy, one of whom was Sin, at least in his current form. Tucked away in his fur coat, Sin made his way through the crowd of people towards the Prime Atheneum, Idalos' largest hoard of knowledge in a single building. Also, for some reason, the only way to reach the third floor of the Caesious Wing next door. Someone suddenly shifted backwards from a group or a conversation, into Sin's path, and the Yludih bumped into the person with his shoulder, almost getting knocked off balance in the process. He became vaguely aware of people speaking to him but he ignored them and continued on his way.

The noise of the entry hall died away as soon as the doors of the Atheneum closed behind him. In here, the building was covered wall to ceiling with books over three different floors. In the middle was a large open space with rows and rows of tables and chairs for people to sit and read at. A few people were sitting alone at these tables while a few others had formed small groups and were discussing things in hushed tones together. Sin turned to face the counter near the entrance and produced his his pass for the third floor. As a student of the Institute of Arcana, he was allowed up to the third floor because that's were all the books on magic were and also the only doors leading to Griseous Wing. Having shown his pass, Sin quickly, and rather sloppily, signed at the Eidisi behind the desk. "Third floor" which got him promptly pointed in the direction of the nearest set of stairs leading upwards.

Sin turned in the direction the finger was pointing at and took a few steps. He became aware of the backpack on his back, filled with all the things he might require during a trial of studying at the academy. The right strap had slid down his arm and was being a general annoyance, probably from the collision with the Eidisi before. As he adjusted it back into its proper place, his eyes wandered from the staircase he'd been pointed at up towards the second and then third floor, following the path he would take to reach the right institute. His eyes stopped on one of the many little balconies along the second and third floors, overlooking the open study space in the middle of the building. He focused on it, a little chime could be heard around him, audible enough that a nearby student looked up from his books, and then Sin stepped forward onto the third floor balcony as reality closed itself up again behind him. From the balcony, Sin walked through one of the, seemingly infinite, aisles of books towards the wider middle path that ran through the entire third floor. A set of efficiently placed arrows pointed him to a set of double doors leading into the Griseous Wing.

[Sintih]

Once he got into the wing, Sintih noted how every part of this building seemed to cut the amount of people present down by about nine out of every ten people. First the large gathering in the main entrance hall, then a handful of people in the library and now a nearly empty hallway. There were a few people waiting or walking around but nobody was really talking. The hallway had several doors leading into the classrooms of the Institute of Arcana. Sin walked down the hallway, seeing if any of the doors were open. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the fact that there was an entirely different institute just below his feet, completely cut off from this part, kept popping up. Only one of the doors was open and it led into an empty classroom, the other were all closed. Sin walked up to the wall next to one of the close doors and focused. A soft chime and the brick faded away to give way to the inside of classroom behind it. Empty. He repeated the same process three more times, each coming up with a vision of an empty classroom. They all seemed to be designed the same way so there were no clues he could use there either.

In passing one of the students in the hallway, he became aware of the fact that people were observing him. He finished the other two rooms with the same results and decided that, as it was the first class of the Cycle, that the professors were all on their way still and he was early. He found himself an empty wall to lean against somewhere near the middle of the hallway and waited. Over the course of the next fifteen or so bits, a few more students came in, some alone, like Sin, others in group but Sin paid them no mind. At some point a professor entered and disappeared into one of the classrooms, followed by a group of students who were all busy chatting with each other. He had no idea what the custom was so he waited outside for someone to come and get the Letter students but nobody came so Sin continued to wait.

Another ten bits later, another professor entered and stopped in the middle of large doorways. "Letter students?" The remaining students all focused on him. Sin just listened. "Ah. Follow me then." He walked up to the classroom nearest the entrance and went inside, followed by a group of quiet, nervous looking Eidisi, most of whom were here on their own, like Sin. They got comfortable in the room, with the professor setting up at the front. The room was large and furnished enough to accommodate at least three times the amount of students that were currently present. Sin sat himself away from any of the other students without sitting too far from the door either. "I am professor Avan and I'll be guiding you on your first steps towards an expanded knowledge on the subject of Rupturing." He paused there for a moment to finish writing his name and the subject of the class on the blackboard behind him. "Just as a repeat, as I'm sure everyone is aware of this already, the Academy does not teach practical classes. The topic of my lessons is only ever on the theory of Rupturing." The professor scanned the students, lingering on them one by one.

Sintih had been sort of vaguely paying attention to what was being said, enough to be aware that nothing that was being said was particularly interesting for now. He mostly stared down at the parchment he'd placed on the desk, waiting for any sort of useful or interesting pieces of information. The parchment darkened as a shadow loomed over it, causing Sin to pay attention. In front of his desk stood the professor, looking down on him and his parchment. Sin blinked, surprised he hadn't caught the man approaching. Professor Avan quickly moved his hand up to his face, tapping his ear with one finger and then pointing at Sin. "Hear, you?" He signed at the Yludih. Sin felt the corners of his mouth curl up slightly for a moment. "Hear, yes. Talk, no." He signed back, showing the last part as the sign for locking over his throat. "Alright then." Professor Avar said, loud enough for everyone to hear, as he walked back to the front of the class.

[Sintih]

At the end of the three break lesson, Sin had made a total of one note on his entire parchment which simply stated that professor Avan could sign a little bit and that he'd found it that Sin signed as well. The rest of the three hour lecture had been about Academy rules, etiquette towards professors, the path to gaining a licentiate, the value of having one, behavior in the hallways, library rules, homework rules, payment rules, attendance rules, rules, rules. He did, at some point during the lecture, check to see what the other people in the room thought about. From the looks on their faces they seemed to think along similar lines as Sin. But it was over now. Everyone was packing up and some people were talking among themselves. There were more little groups of people talking than when they'd entered.

Sin packed up and, unburdened by the need to socialize or the need to eat, left as one of the last students while he signed at the professor on his way out. "Thanks." He didn't check if the professor had seen it or if he signed anything back and disappeared out the door. The hallway was still quiet but soon every Arcana student would be out here, heading out for lunch. Sin walked through the double doors leading back into the library and headed quickly turned left towards the edge of the third floor overlooking the open space leading down to the first floor. He made his way past someone else and reached the balustrade with the balconies. He focused on a space near the entrance that he could see that wasn't in the middle of the path, so as to not rupture inside of another person, or in the way of another person at least. Bells chimed softly as he stepped towards the balustrade and two floors down, a little off the beaten library path.

He reached the doors in only a few steps and walked back out into the main room of the academy building. Sin ignored the other people and made his way out, or tried at least, as he almost bumped into someone else. He tried to sidestep them but they did the same and he only got closer to them. With a clicking "Tsk" noise from his tongue, Sin tried to look at whoever was in his way and found himself looking up somewhat in order to look in the face of a young Eidisi woman. She said something about fitness or something, holding out a parchment flyer for him. He didn't feel up to task of telling her she was being annoying and should get out of the way so instead he simply grabbed the parchment and shoved it the pocket of his coat. It seemed to please the Eidisi enough for her to get out of his way. Half a break later he was back in his flat and the flyer lay crumpled up in the bin.

Sin left his cloak near the door, where there was space for clothes with melting snow or dripping wet ones so they wouldn't leak all over the place. His backpack was dropped on the bed and a new log was put on the fire, which had gone down to a smoldering orange while he'd been away. The room felt acceptable, temperature wise. He closed the door and walked over to the solid wall leading to the outside. Soft humming filled the room as the wall gave way to a view of the city and the sky on the other side. Sintih stared out his window for a while as parts of this trial's lecture kept popping up in his mind. They came with shards and shreds of other memories tied to learning that he'd rather forget. He let his mind wander away from them and take him where it pleased.

[Oberan]

Review Rewards

Silent Signpost

Points awarded: 10

Knowledge:

Location: The Prime Atheneum
Location: Institute of Arcana / The Griseous Wing
Viden Academy: Rules and Regulations. All of them. Every. Single. One.
Professor Avan (NPC): Professor of Rupturing

Rupturing: Blinking as far as the eye can see
Rupturing: Phasing to check the contents of a closed room
Research: How not to take notes
Etiquette: Student-Professor relationships
Etiquette: Thank your professor for sharing knowledge

Magic: No magic exp

Other: N/A


Notes:
First things first: You've requested only 2 skill/magic knowledges. You can request up to six of those. Non-skill knowledge has no such limits, and does not count towards the total of the skill knowledge you can request. If you want, you can send me 4 additional skill knowledges to add to your review. Free of charge. Not mandatory, of course.

Right, moving on.

This was a nice little introductory thread to the Rupturing Theory classes Sin's taking. You really did a great job capturing Sin's mental state by implementing signs of it in his behavior and mannerisms, and how he deals with people. Without having to spell it out, or having to dive into Sin's thoughts. I'm rather excited to see some actual Magic Theory taught by Professor Avan in future threads, and perhaps some fitness as well! It would do a lot to help with his mental health, I think, though Sin probably thinks it's a waste of time.

Anyway, good work, glad to see you back on track, and I'm watching you --especially the interactions with young Eídisi women-- like a hawk. You have been warned.


Your review request is here.
Please include the following stamp to your review request:

Code: Select all

[center][img]/gallery/image/15001/medium[/img][/center]

If you have any questions, comments or concerns in regards to this review, feel free to PM.