[Prime Atheneum] In Which A Lizard Learns to Sit Still

[Cuauhtemoc]

90th of Vhalar

Maybe it wasn't the smartest time to come to Viden for a reptile, but Cuau had decided that it was time to further his education. If he ever wanted to be productive in the things he wanted to do with engineering there was no way sitting around staring at things was going to further his knowledge of it in the way he wanted. So he'd decided to travel to Viden by boat, spending almost half the season alternating between cities and bouncing from water to land. He had a goal in mind, however. He wanted to work with fire. Ideally, with mechanisms and fire. Some marriage between the two. It would require a lot of research to see if such a thing was possible, but the largest library in Idalos was here. There had to be something. He also needed to research his own magic. Something had happened to him there with the mage slated for execution, and now he had a spirit following him around. While they were getting used to one another he had to find out what it was. A curse, a blessing. What Immortal had he pissed off? Not that he cared. They could all go to hell.

Either way, the best place to find knowledge was in the Viden Academy, so to the Academy he'd come. Directly to the library.

Gods, what a library! He'd never seen so many books in his life. Silently, he thanked his mother for teaching him how to read and insisting on it. If he wanted to gain any knowledge he'd need to essentially live here in order to make any progress. It would be hard to sit still. Cuau had always been a physical person. He liked climbing, he liked running around. He could never sit still even as a hatchling, so the prospect of sitting down and reading would need to be balanced out with something. He could experiment? He'd always liked the idea of making his own machines or improving upon the designs of others. Maybe if he could find a space to start? He frowned and rubbed his chin, looking up at the several floors of books. His tail swung back and forth, the long whiplike length whispering across the floor. Everything was here. Everything he needed to defend himself and stay alive in this world. He would be safe as long as he stayed here and read. Of course, he'd need to find a laboratory to sneak into.

It would be hard, because he was an Ithecal and hadn't seen many around. Mammals were everywhere but his kind seemed to be in short supply. He wasn't surprised; his people weren't known for their love of cold. His toeclaws clicked on the floor as he walked forward. Well, he had a lot of work to do this season.

Time to get started.

He headed toward the Alchemy section of the library. Alchemy had always interested him as much as engineering. Alchemists could do some incredible things with natural materials found around the world. Maybe he could use it in conjunction with siege weaponry...another subject he enjoyed. He picked up the first book that looked interesting and thumbed through it. Basic chemistry. He frowned, tilting his head. Alright, well, he had to start somewhere. He put the book in his arms and thumbed through more of them. Gods, the little hallways of books were narrow! He had to keep his tail up off the ground to stop it from banging into books. Twisting his head around was even stranger. The library was made for men with blunt faces and no nose to speak of, so whenever he flipped his head to try and look at the other side of the aisle, there was half a chance he'd misjudge the distance and whack himself on the nose.

"Gods damn flat-faced mammals!" he snarled under his breath, tucking a book on unstable compounds under his arm and rubbing his nose. A lot of the books he was picking were basic books that had been thumbed over a thousand times by thousands of students. The subjects were scattered. Chemistry. Basic Alchemy. Simple structures and machines for engineering. Cuau had a vague direction, but he was essentially plucking out anything that looked interesting. He managed to shimmy over to a table with a stack of books in hand, setting them down with the loud clap of book cover on wood that echoed painfully.

He winced. That had been loud.

"Speech"

[Doran]

The son of Ziell had risen at dawn as he usually did because he disliked wasting more time than absolutely necessary by sleeping and made his way to the Prime Atheneum that had quickly become one of his favourite places in the city. The streets were still largely empty at this time of the trial. Only a few people hurried past him, through the snow that had fallen during the night, but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed the silence, the solitude and the cold. In fact, he preferred the constant chill to the warm summers in Etzos where he had lived for close to an arc and been worshipped as something of a hero.

Soon, he stood in front of the biggest library in existence, stomped his feet to remove the snow from his boots and pulled the hood of his warm, fur-lined cloak back before he walked inside. “Professor”, the blue-skinned Eidisi, who usually guarded the library greeted him. They had had something of a rough start – when he had arrived in Viden, the man had refused to let him enter the third floor, despite his previous involvement with the Academy – but now they get along, as much as two men from such vastly different backgrounds could.

“Hadrian”, he spoke and inclined his head before he moved towards the medicine section. His current research involved finding a cure for various illnesses that were usually fatal as well as antidotes for certain poisons with the help of alchemy. Soon, he carried a stack of about half a dozen books in his arms and moved to find a table where he would be able to spend the following couple of breaks studying. He had just sat down, draped his cloak across the back of his chair and opened the first book when a loud and angry voice pierced the silence. He looked up – only to find himself looking right at an oversized lizard.

He furrowed his brow as that was rather unexpected – Ithecal tended not to visit Viden very often. “I could say the same about long-nosed reptiles”, he remarked in a somewhat dry, but not entirely humorless tone before he gestured towards the Ithecal’s books that had caught his attention, he had to admit. “Are you studying alchemy? I haven’t seen you in one of my classes yet”, he spoke. A part of him dreaded the scaly creature trying to touch the sensitive tools with the oversized clawed appendages that he had instead of proper hands and breaking them in the process and hoped that such was not the case, but another part of him was quite curious about his intellectual capabilities.

[Cuauhtemoc]

Cuau blinked and looked at the mammal who had made a comment on his appearance. He rubbed his nose and shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, its not my fault you build everything so close together. You should really have these bookcases on tracks. That way larger races could push them back and forth out of the way. It would also mean you don't have to empty a shelf in order to move a section of books. You could just....push it to another part of the library." he hummed and glanced at the floor. "Really wouldn't be that hard I don't think." It would definitely make the library an easier place to study. The effort put into putting everything on wheels and tracks would pay off with the sheer convenience of moving entire sections at once. He pulled his head up to pay more attention to the conversation when the mammal mentioned alchemy.

Cuau glanced at his books. "I want to start studying. The classes are too expensive but the library is cheap. So I guess I just planned on working out everything by reading?" he shrugged his shoulders. He really did want to attend Alchemy classes. He'd have to sit on the floor because seats weren't designed for him, but he felt his skills would improve in leaps and bounds if he could just...bounce his ideas off an actual professor. "What, do you teach full time? Or are you just using the labs? I'd kill for access." He smirked over at the man. "A private room to mess around with whatever you want? Sounds like heaven."

[Doran]

“The Prime Atheneum contains more books than any other library in Idalos”, the Mortalborn pointed out in a cool tone as the lizard complained about the way the library was set up. “Modifying all the bookcases would cost a fortune. I’m afraid that it wouldn’t be profitable since the number of Ithecal students is negligible, and the other larger races, such as the Ellune, seem to manage just fine”, he remarked, briefly remembering Plia Yishnai Velenar, a young mixed-blood who had had a most inappropriate crush on him, before he turned to react to Cuau’s next words.

“As for the classes being too expensive, a hundred golden nels per season are not a lot, and there are discounts for those that are employed by the Academy as well as scholarships for those that excel in the academic field”, he spoke. He couldn’t understand the lizard’s attitude. If he were in his place, he’d rather starve and live in a miserable shack for the duration of his studies, because knowledge was more important than anything else, and there were some things that you just couldn’t learn by reading a book – or just get a job that paid well enough. Work wasn’t that hard to find.

“I teach alchemy, and sometimes chemistry”, he replied. He disapproved of the lizard’s attitude, but he quite enjoyed talking about his work. “As for killing for access to a lab - while certain professors of medicine would without a doubt appreciate a fresh corpse that they could dissect, I’d rather you didn’t make a mess in my part of the Academy. Blood can be rather hard to remove sometimes”, he spoke in an almost overly dry tone. “Access is limited to those that work or study here – or are of use to one of the professors.” He cast a meaningful glance at the Ithecal as he said that.

“Even so, the reagents that you will be able to use will be somewhat limited. There are certain substances that only my colleagues and me have access to due to their potency, so messing around with whatever you want will remain a dream, I’m afraid, and heaven is in fact non-existent. Ask the people over in Immortal Studies”, he said.

“You picked the wrong books, by the way”, he pointed out as he took a look at the stack of books the lizard had put on the table. “If you want to build a solid foundation in alchemy, I’d take a look at Professor Merriweather’s work. I use her books for my Letter classes. Unless you already have some experience?” he asked and raised an eyebrow.

[Cuauhtemoc]

"Yeah, I suppose you make a point. The Ellune are still flat-faced, though." he smirked a bit. "I guess I'll just have to get used to the nose bruises." He felt so cramped between the book shelves. Ithecal liked room. They used their tails to show mood, and when Cuau's was trapped behind him or accidentally flipping books off shelves it was almost as bad as not having enough room to turn his head around. He could understand why people in Desnind preferred the tree-farer's life. There was always room in a canopy. He tilted his head at the word scholarship. "I'm just not experienced in this whole thing. I'm willing to do work. I'm good at it. I'm just not sure where to find it. Going outside is a bit tough for me. I could always apply for a scholarship. I've had a gift for machines since I was a hatchling."

Cuau understood not everything would happen by reading books. Books could tell you a thousand things before breakfast but real experience was learning them. If this man he'd stumbled across taught alchemy and chemistry...that was exactly where he wanted to be. He chuckled. This one really thought he'd kill someone for a lab space? Well, he might, actually. "Just a joke." he reassured the professor. "Despite what you may have read we're not all savages. Just the ones that look like a dragon fell in love with a brick shithouse. I've always liked to learn. I used to make traps growing up. I watched people using machines, figured out the process, and went from there. Taking little pieces and tying them together to make them all work in harmony. It's what I'm good at, and from what I've been reading the same principles apply to chemistry as well."

Apparently, he was reading the wrong stuff. He looked at the stack he'd picked up. "Professor Merriweather. Duly noted." he said with a nod. "No experience, but I've been reading about exothermic reactions. Explosions. I want to focus my studies there. And uh....take some spiritual classes. I think I'm haunted. Unless you think...you could take a look?"

Cuau wasn't sure what had happened to saddle him with Legba. He liked her. He just wanted more information about her. There was nothing in the religious section. A lot of words about curses by Immortals and the like, but Cuau couldn't think of a single one that had shown up to tell him of their displeasure in person. Just that strange mage. He rubbed the back of his head. "Tell you what. I'll do anything you ask. I'm a good assistant. I learn quickly. I may not be the most respectful thing in the world but I wasn't exactly raised with manners in mind. I'm sure I could be of use in your experiments. I'll show up for every class. I'll take notes better than any scribe. I just want to learn."

[Doran]

“I was joking as well. I found myself unable to resist due to your wording”, the Mortalborn pointed out in the same dry tone as before. The lizard might possess some sort of intelligence, he might even be intelligent enough to secure a scholarship, but the way that he talked left something to be desired in his opinion. Talking about murder and comparing people to shithouses, no matter which material they were made of, were not the markings of a cultured man. He rarely got the opportunity to talk to an Ithecal though, which was why he decided to question Cuau further, despite that inherent character flaw.

“And which kind of Ithecal might that be?” he wanted to know. “I cannot imagine that the offspring of a dragon and a …” He hesitated for a moment. “… brick shithouse is particularly aesthetically pleasing – or even compatible with life. As for your interest in machines, I take it that you are an engineer as well then?” he asked and raised an eyebrow questioningly. He was just about to pose another question when the Ithecal told him that he was haunted. He had dealt with a few mental ailments in his time as a doctor, but somebody that thought that he was haunted? That was new.

“Why do you think that you are being haunted?” he asked. “Can you hear voices in your head? What do they tell you, and what does that spirit look like?” he wanted to know. A thorough anamnesis was a crucial part of any diagnosis. Besides actual haunting, there were several kinds of ailments that could lead to the patient hearing voices or thinking that he did such – as well as curses and certain drugs that could affect their mental well-being. As he looked at the Ithecal, he could detect none of the usual signs of drug abuse though, such as dilated or constricted pupils, bloodshot eyes, lethargy or increased aggression. That was unusual and merited further examination …

“Visit me at the Academy this afternoon”, he told the Ithecal. “I’m afraid that a library is not the right place to examine someone. As for being an assistant, we’ll talk about it later, when we know why you are being haunted”, he decided. He had little interest in employing an oversized lizard that was probably wont to break something on accident, to be honest, not when he already had a perfectly human-sized assistant with perfectly normal, human hands, but there were members of the Academy that likely wouldn’t mind Cuau’s size that made him ill suited for certain tasks as much.

With that thought in mind, he bade the Ithecal farewell and opened the first of the books that were lying on the table in front of him. It was a rather interesting treatise on the nature of poisons and the fact that some actually had beneficial effects if the dose was right.

[Oberan]

Review Rewards

Lizard McLizardface

Points awarded: 15

Knowledge: None requested

Magic: No magic exp

Other: N/A


Xiur-stabber

Points awarded: 15

Knowledge:

Medicine: A thorough amamesis is a crucial part of any diagnosis
Medicine: Possible signs of drug abuse
Medicine: Reasons why someone might think they are haunted
Poisons: The dose makes the poison
Teaching: Recommending books

Magic: No magic exp

Other: N/A

Notes:
I do appreciate you took the time and effort to try and end the thread in a relatively natural way rather than just letting it sit incomplete and turning it in for grading. Bonus points for you!

I did like the interaction between the two of you. Not too sure what to think about Cuau, but it was nice to see his size giving him trouble in a place obviously not built for his kind. Doran's curiosity and analytical mindset was as enjoyable and entertaining as always, as was his dry wit. I'm kind of saddened that I won't be seeing the two of you do fun experiments together, but oh well.

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.