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In Paraasilan, Esmaar, a pair of roommates are about to break a rule that, compared to the one about running in the corridors or even the one about unlicensed teleportation, is there for a good reason.
In unison, they complete their shared spell.
Hall in Elcenia
or-the-broken
A man appears in the circle, midstride, head turned back to look behind him. He stops almost immediately and reorients to face the girls, frowning in confusion. Whatever he says to them is intoned like a statement, not a question, but he regards them as though expecting an answer.
The girls seem excited and uncomprehending! They chatter in gibberish to each other. One of them picks up a book and starts flipping through it.
or-the-broken
Pity he can't translate. He glances around the room, observing the furniture and decorations and cataloguing potential entrances and exits.
There's a window on one end of the room, a door on the other with the teenage girls between him and it.
The blonde one finds the page she's looking for and makes a gesture, speaking more gibberish in the process.
"Did it work?" asks the dark one.
The blonde one finds the page she's looking for and makes a gesture, speaking more gibberish in the process.
"Did it work?" asks the dark one.
or-the-broken
"If 'it' was something intended to make us mutually intelligible, yes it did," he says. "Where am I and why?"
"You're in our dorm room, we just need you for a couple degrees to show Nemaar is all," the darker one assures him.
"He's my classmate and he was making fun of me but now we can prove I can do complicated old spells," says the darker girl.
"He'll be out of class soon and then we can send you right back," the blonde girl with the long pointy ears says.
"He'll be out of class soon and then we can send you right back," the blonde girl with the long pointy ears says.
or-the-broken
"Of all the stupid—" He breaks off, shakes his head, and continues with the frustration almost completely erased from his voice. "I work as a trauma surgeon. I am a very good trauma surgeon. People depend on me being very good. Accidents that need my level of skill thankfully don't happen that often, but when they happen, I need to be reachable immediately. You can send me right back? Do it right now. Showing off to your friend is not worth putting ten seconds' delay between me and my job."
"You're a what now?" asks the browner one.
"He's the kind of person who would help a hurt light," Korulen guesses, frowning, not sounding sure of her interpretation. "Well, okay, I guess we can just do it again if it's that important, we'll just -"
The younger girl already has her hand up. "Korulen?"
"Oh no."
"He's the kind of person who would help a hurt light," Korulen guesses, frowning, not sounding sure of her interpretation. "Well, okay, I guess we can just do it again if it's that important, we'll just -"
The younger girl already has her hand up. "Korulen?"
"Oh no."
"You can't co-cast a reversal, oh no, oh no -"
"...I'm going to get expelled," whimpers her roommate.
"...I'm going to get expelled," whimpers her roommate.
or-the-broken
"What - are you saying you can't send me back at all?" he says, slightly incredulously.
"No - nononono, I'll be able to do it," says Korulen hastily. "It'll just, it'll take a while."
"I'm going to be expelllllled," whines the other.
"Shhh, Saasnil, no you won't, you're backup in case I don't squeak over the CC when I get my familiar, okay? You're not going to be expelled."
"I'm going to be expelllllled," whines the other.
"Shhh, Saasnil, no you won't, you're backup in case I don't squeak over the CC when I get my familiar, okay? You're not going to be expelled."
"Um, to do it safely, probably a couple of - months. But, but it's okay, I can tell my mom and she can make sure it's safe to let you out, and -"
"Don't tell your mom, what if we think of something else to do - can't we just send him -"
"We can't send anybody who's not native," says Korulen. "But we could send somebody else with messages - or a witch or a light maybe if it's that important to have your job covered - or whatever - my mom will make sure it's as okay as can be I'm sorry -"
"Don't tell her please -"
"Don't tell your mom, what if we think of something else to do - can't we just send him -"
"We can't send anybody who's not native," says Korulen. "But we could send somebody else with messages - or a witch or a light maybe if it's that important to have your job covered - or whatever - my mom will make sure it's as okay as can be I'm sorry -"
"Don't tell her please -"
or-the-broken
He homes in on the important information here. "Safe to let me out? Of...?"
"Of the circle. I think I have to tell my mom, we should not have done this, why did I let you talk me into this -"
"I'm sorry," wibbles Saasnil.
"I'm sorry," wibbles Saasnil.
or-the-broken
"The circle," he repeats. He looks down, tracing the arc of its circumference with his eyes. One hand lifts toward, but does not touch, the invisible barrier in the air over the chalk; he closes his hand and his eyes and drops his arm to his side all in the same moment.
"Assuming you mean I'm literally trapped in here," he says, "then for my health and safety and the health and safety of anyone else nearby, you need to let me out immediately."
"Assuming you mean I'm literally trapped in here," he says, "then for my health and safety and the health and safety of anyone else nearby, you need to let me out immediately."
"...are you saying you can do something to hurt us through the ward?" asks Korulen slowly.
or-the-broken
"I do not know one solitary fucking thing about your ward," he says through gritted teeth. "Please. Let. Me. Out."
"We can't we can't the ward is there for a reason we can't until Mom checks you -"
or-the-broken
He loses the battle against temptation, opens his eyes, and feels for a wall.
It's right there in front of him, he can feel the curvature when he slides his hand just a little—
With a choked-off scream, and inhuman force and speed, he lunges at the wall behind him. The fact that he bounces back onto the floor doesn't seem to deter him in the slightest. Nor does the fact that his second attempt breaks all the fingers on his right hand. After that, he's moving too fast too constantly for the extent of the damage to be visible, and the screaming hits maximum volume about half a second in and doesn't get much more informative from there.
It's right there in front of him, he can feel the curvature when he slides his hand just a little—
With a choked-off scream, and inhuman force and speed, he lunges at the wall behind him. The fact that he bounces back onto the floor doesn't seem to deter him in the slightest. Nor does the fact that his second attempt breaks all the fingers on his right hand. After that, he's moving too fast too constantly for the extent of the damage to be visible, and the screaming hits maximum volume about half a second in and doesn't get much more informative from there.
Saasnil screams at the top of her lungs.
Korulen gets ahold of her mother.
The door opens and he's promptly doused in industrial-grade calm the fuck down at the command of the green-haired woman on the other side of it.
Korulen gets ahold of her mother.
The door opens and he's promptly doused in industrial-grade calm the fuck down at the command of the green-haired woman on the other side of it.
or-the-broken
There is no immediately visible change in either the screaming or the throwing himself at the ward. There is an immediately perceptible spike in how completely and totally off the rails he is under the calm Keo is projecting, but he was already close to the practical limit on the amount of stress his body and mind are capable of experiencing, so it's not as massive a spike as it could have been.
If anyone watching had the visual processing speed necessary to see him clearly, they would notice his movements becoming less desperate and more mechanical over the course of the next few seconds. He stops rebounding all over the inside of the ward and begins concentrating on a single narrow arc facing away from everyone else in the room - then on a single spot within that arc, chest-height on him if he were standing still, if he were capable of standing still right now - and finally, at the end of four or five seconds from the moment Keo started working at him, he ceases screaming abruptly and drops to the floor like a marionette whose strings have just been vaporized.
Most of the bones in his hands, wrists, and forearms are broken at least once each. His feet have fared better only because he was wearing shoes.
If anyone watching had the visual processing speed necessary to see him clearly, they would notice his movements becoming less desperate and more mechanical over the course of the next few seconds. He stops rebounding all over the inside of the ward and begins concentrating on a single narrow arc facing away from everyone else in the room - then on a single spot within that arc, chest-height on him if he were standing still, if he were capable of standing still right now - and finally, at the end of four or five seconds from the moment Keo started working at him, he ceases screaming abruptly and drops to the floor like a marionette whose strings have just been vaporized.
Most of the bones in his hands, wrists, and forearms are broken at least once each. His feet have fared better only because he was wearing shoes.