[OPEN]

[alreadyhuman]

Who: Vivi and you!
When: Throughout the later half of November
Where: Around campus
What: Vivi practices his magic, confronts his own uneasy feelings about his lost memories, and cooks.
Warnings: None but I'll change if there's anything.


A. staff training (mythril cage, anvil)
[ Vivi is a common sight in the Cage by now, studiously coming to practice with his magic every day or so. Usually, he's practicing on the shooting range, trying to get used to a gun. More and more often, though, he can be seen swinging a metal bat around, using it to direct his magic towards targets; fireballs and lightning are his most common choices.

At other points, he's up to his own devices in the workshop, supervised by a concerned staff member. At these times, he has books full of bookmarks occupying any space it's safe to put a book without it getting potentially damaged or interfering with equipment, and he's working hard on what seems to be...some kind of staff? It's hard to tell.

He has several different designs littered around, each covered with scribbled notes.

The wood that will serve him as the base for such a thing remains untouched. It seems like he's having some trouble deciding what he wants. ]

B. self-reflection

[ Sometimes, Vivi can be found staring at his reflection, usually at the edge of the large, cross-shaped pond that decorates the campus. Lost in his own thoughts, for once he's not attentive to whatever's going around him - you could probably push him in and he wouldn't notice until it was too late.

Occasionally, he reaches up, tugging at something under the darkness of his hat in apparent nervousness. Usually, he winces and leaves it alone, but sometimes he manages to yank free what looks like some kind of black feather; something that quickly crumbles in his fingers, leaving no trace.

At such times, he looks like he doesn't know how to feel about it. ]

C. library
[ It's rare to find Vivi not reading, if he has any free time. But he's prone to falling asleep over books, even with his adherence to going to bed early, so it's not an uncommon sight to find him slouched over a book with no actual indication of whether he's absorbed or just asleep.

The books he surrounds himself with are cookery books, mostly, with a few history books mixed in. It's likely that he's researching for cooking club again. ]

D. wildcard
[ Anything else - you can find Vivi around campus all the time! I'll roll with it. I will match your format! ]

Comments

B

[hawkwardness]

[One of those times, a hawk is circling above, watching, seeing everything. The feather-plucking is... disturbing. There are only so many times he can see that and let it go.

He stoops and lands several feet away on the edge of the pond, a rusty-feathered raptor with a pretty red tail.]

< Hi. >

[alreadyhuman]

[ He doesn't even blink at a talking bird. That's the nice thing about living in the Outlands; you get to see a lot more than people normally would.

The voice coming from basically inside his head doesn't really bother him that much either. ]

Oh, um. Hello..!

[ He's trying to be cheerful, but Vivi can hide his emotions about as well as any nine year old child can, which is to say: not really.

...He looks at the bird, tilting his head a bit. ]

That's you, right?

[hawkwardness]

[Vivi gets points for trying. He tilts his head, mimicking the shadowy kid, a birdy question mark. Whatever takes the edge off his permanent hawk glare...]

< That's me. I'm the hawk. And I was just wondering if you're okay...? >

[alreadyhuman]

[ Is he okay? That's...not a hard question, really.

He visibly droops. ]

...It's really obvious, right...? But...I didn't want to worry anyone.

[ He's not even sure if he should be talking about it, frankly. This person seems nice, but it's kind of bad to dump all your problems on strangers... ]

A

[schmott_guy]

[Normally Gil was content to focus on his own projects. Every once in a while, unfortunately, he noticed someone else working, and started getting ideas.

For now he just blinked at Vivi's incomplete staff for a moment, then kind of wandered over to peer over the little mage's shoulder. He was careful not to stand in Vivi's light or anything, he was just curious what was getting built here.]

Huh.

[alreadyhuman]

Oh! [ His head jerks up; he was clearly concentrating hard. He appears to be reading, with some difficulty, a book about different types of magical wood. He looks over at Gil. ] Um, I didn't drop anything, right? I know it's all messy and stuff...Sorry.

[schmott_guy]

It's an interesting way to design a staff. I think I see what you're going for but the way you have it now, it's going to explode.

[He pointed to the design.]

See? Right here, you've got forces canceling each other out and all that energy has to go somewhere.

C

[lifeforced]

[Though Becky's also in cooking club, her visits to the library are usually for different reasons. This doesn't stop her from coming over to see what Vivi's up to—it's the recognition that gets her to make the decision in the first place—but the closer she gets, the clearer it is that he's feeling pretty tired.

Once she's right there, she sticks a hand onto one shoulder and gives it a little shake.] Hey.

[alreadyhuman]

Wah-! [ He snaps out of whatever dream he was having, wider-eyed than usual and clearly startled.

It probably wasn't a great dream. ]

Oh! Hi, Becky! Are you researching too...? [ He blinks, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up a bit. ]

[lifeforced]

[She pulls her hand back fast when he startles; she probably should have expected a reaction somewhere along those lines, but evidently she didn't.]

Studying, mostly. Some stuff relating to my classes, some stuff relating to work, the usual, pretty much.

[She glances over what he has there, wondering for a moment if he's looking for ideas for stuff to try making, or if he has some other goals here. She turns her attention right back to him after that one moment, though.]

You sure you should be doing this right now? You were kinda asleep just now and all. [If Vivi's falling asleep here he probably shouldn't be pushing himself, she thinks; the books will probably still be here tomorrow, so if he needs the rest he should go and take it.]

B

[medaling]

[He's been curious to see if anyone would take the bait and push the poor kid in, and whether or not that was indeed something he was trying to con someone into doing for some reason. Loathe as he is to move from his high perch, when Vivi pulls out the feather, his attention is more than idle entertainment-seeking. As it crumples to dust, Ankh hops down and strides over on his long legs, stonefaced.]

What is that.

[alreadyhuman]

[ He blinks up at this sudden appearance. Lost in his own thoughts, he hadn't even noticed Ankh approach. ]

It's part of me. [ He looks at the feather, but it's already crumbled away. ] It's not real, though. Not like a bird's or anything.

[medaling]

[There's a pause, then Ankh is holding out a bright red feather, curled at the tips. It, thankfully, is solid and will remain that way.]

Something that isn't real, even though it's a part of you? Are you sure?

A

[bolderfell]

[Therion's own magic practice at the Cage is far less regular, and he almost always ducks out if anyone else turns up. When he comes in and finds the one already there is Vivi with his bat, though, he doesn't ghost away. He watches for a bit, curious and impressed by Vivi's control, and then announces himself.]

Hey, kid.

[He pads quietly over, hands in his hoodie pockets.]

Wouldn't have figured metal bats worked for this kind of thing.

[alreadyhuman]

Oh! Hi! [ This is the face of someone who's realised he definitely never got Therion's name and also feels like it would be rude to ask at this point.

He swings the bat around a little, careful not to hit Therion or anything else with it. Mostly it's to cool it off; the metal still glows a dull red with all the heat it's been channeling. ]

I didn't think so either! But I tried a bunch of different things, and this worked the best, so I asked the people here to help make me a better one for now.

Are you training here too? [ Not everyone who comes to the Cage is there to practice, after all. Some are content to watch, or just support their friends from the sidelines....that sort of thing. (He's spent a lot of time watching people, himself, but he doesn't need to be in the Cage to do that.) ]

[bolderfell]

Sort of. Maybe.

[But he shakes his head as he shrugs.]

But I can wait. What I'm working on is... unpredictable, so I don't really want to let it loose around other people too much.

[It's all fun and games until someone gets zapped to the Astral Plane. ...Though, actually. Maybe Vivi can help.]

When you use magic... do you do different things to cast different spells, or whatever?

A. training time

[nevernoaction]

[Ren is also a fan of lots of training, whether with his powers or with his modified twin weapons.

He gives Vivi a bit of a wave, seeing the boy there today.]

Hello. What's with the bat?

[alreadyhuman]

[ He waves back enthusiastically, running up to Ren to greet him properly. He's seen the older boy training, given he goes to the Cage more often lately, and it's always something he's impressed by. ]

I'm using it to control my magic! Metal can stand up to lots of temperature changes, so it's helping me make smaller attacks that go where I want them to instead of blowing everything up a lot.

And miss Jailbreak says it's good to have a weapon if magic doesn't work. [ He was pretty sure that's what she said, anyway. And she had a hammer, so she'd know better than anyone, right? ] It's...marti..al skills? I think that's how you say it.

[nevernoaction]

Martial skills. Yes, those are useful to have if your magic runs out.

Have you tried practicing your magic against live targets.

C

[soft_focus]

[Ah yes. Vivi in his natural habitat.

Likewise, Reira is also now in her natural habitat, slowly creeping up near the table to stare.

Reira glances at one stack of books. She glances at the next stack of books. Both stacks of books are for cooking.

...]

...what are you reading about?

[she's nailed it she's got it she's ! on point!]

[alreadyhuman]

[ Vivi is just absorbed in his book this time, and takes a little while to answer. But once he does, he practically pops out of his chair, mostly because he was ignoring someone?? That's rude!! ]

Oh! It's a book about cakes! [ He obligingly shifts himself to prop the book up on the arm of the chair, so Reira can see. ] There's lots and lots of different cakes that I didn't know about until now! It's pretty amazing.

[soft_focus]

A cake book?

[That...that sounds like a Pretty Great Book, if she's honest. Reira's eyes slowly widen as she moves closer so that it's less awkward to hold the book, staring at the page.]

...More than just chocolate and cheese..?

[Cheesecake is apparently cheesecake because of cream cheese, she's discovered, which makes more sense now because she never really thought it tasted...cheesey.]

B

[preppedandloaded]

[Hazel had been trying to keep a low profile at the Academy. She hasn't been rude or dismissive of anyone she meets, but she has kept to herself as she researched as much as she could. When she sees the person by the pond, there is something different about them. She could tell that even without seeing that black feather.

Should she announce herself? He did not seem to notice her yet, and she could use that to her advantage. She took out a piece of paper and folded it with some very basic runes inscribed that wouldn't do much beyond keep it afloat.

Then she threw the newly made paper airplane...right at the boy's head.]

Look out!

[alreadyhuman]

Wah--!!

[ Startled out of his reverie, he jumps

and trips, and goes STRAIGHT into the pond with a splash.

Oops. ]

[preppedandloaded]

[Hazel rushes forward, the look on her face one of surprise and shame.]

Oh my god, I am sorry! I was just practicing a rune and the wind blew it right at you. Let me help you.

[She reaches out a hand to help them out of the pond, wondering if she'll be able to gain any sense of them.]