"Alright, noted, I'll talk to you later." I tell my friend, leaving him to get back to work on his project so I can head back the way Liadanann should be. Picking up a piece of shaving, I let my magic do its work and break it down from a steely curl into rust Waving my hand clean of anything that might be stuck on it, I arrive back at the office.
I glance towards Head of Mechanical House Muholdt and quickly figure out what his lingering, crossed-arm body means. Moving up next to him, I lean on the exposed iron skeleton from where I sneak peeks at the closest door. Armour plating bangs about from within the office and I wobble my staff back and forth. Eventually, the doors start to wiggle and we step away as they open.
An armoured woman steps out into the open, her fingers fiddling with straps and the like.
"You ready to go?" I ask my arbitrarily more imposing friend as she continues to undercut the intimidation such armour can give her. Gold spikes and blades, the unfamiliar glow of the magic of her talisman coursing through it in bright, green lines. Her tail quite especially has my mind wandering given how agile I know she is with it. An appendage that is already fairly thick in muscle to begin with and now it has the added bulk of magic-rich steel.
"I think I need to sort some things out..." Liadanann lets out, her uncertainty is as clear as her lack of finesse in moving in the suit.
"You'll figure it out, come on." I go, turning to leave and hearing no movement following me. Looking back, I focus on the Head of Mechanical House as he strokes his chin.
"Come with me, Cakesmith Liadanann, I'll help you sort out the problems. We'll use one of the open bays as they'll have room and my tools will not be far." he tells her and I relax with a raised brow, not sure what I am meant to be doing now.
"Uh, Baltanthan, can you go and find Seigunfrei if you can? I'll find a way to meet back up with you two!" Liadanann explains and I shrug, twisting about on my heels and waving back to her on my way out. Leaving the workshop behind, I go to a quiet part of the path and I look one more time up at the faraway research station. Maybe, if such machines exist aboard it, I can ask someone to spare me a piece of metal refined up there.
Such density in magic would no doubt prove to be a challenge for me to let loose my magic upon. I'm already getting what help I can from the Errakurds of Oddity House to help my magic take on a heated aspect. It's much the same with the Eusorochii but I can't help but feel like I am missing something. It can't just be my anxiety regarding my attempts to join Exceptional House.
I can do it, I believe in that, I refuse to remain some simple Ravineer who apparently only got into Traditional House through pure luck. I got into Suhurlodst Academy of Arcane Learning and Understanding through my own efforts, I even did so well as to help Nin through. He had the whole faculty against him because of his quite literal osibindahish nature and my shared exam results pulled him through. I clearly have the capacity to be greater than what so many have told me I am destined to always be.
Exceptional Student Baltanthan...
"I'll make it mean more than just a title, I will really put the proper meaning of exceptional next to student." I grumble with a stern gaze before I start my walk towards my future site of residence. Finding a quiet backway with plenty of slag for me to work with, I put my magic to work and fit in some more practice. The primal, wind nature of my arcane might swirls a rusty blizzard about me and I stop it. Bending slightly into the force I have been building up and moving my hand some more, I shape the metal into something solid.
Taking a breath, my spell falls apart back into the debris it once was and I leave it in that mess. Repeating the process and causing more problems for whoever might be cleaning this stuff up at some point in the future. The magic comes apart again and I stop by the small, aqueduct-like trail dripping with impure waste. Focusing my magic around it, I extract the heat and apply it to the bits of metal I bring to my side.
A crude blade of orange-white refuse starts to form and I stab it into an innocent barrel of water. With a roar of steam, a quick crack of quenched muck tings into my ear. Grabbing my mockery of good craftsmanship, I frown at its bad shape and toss it away. My magic comes to an end as I arrive back in the open.
"With how much I heard of Nin's struggles, I have to wonder, how is it he's become so much better than I am?" I ask myself as I step out into the open space of the Academy once again. Catching sight of some flying students who are no doubt byproducts of Exceptional House's greatness, I lose track of my task. Seigunfrei was always one of their better students and these past seven or so years he's known Nin have only propelled him higher.
He's by no means the best Exceptional House has ever had, but, how do you even compete with a Valkinvar somehow enrolling and royalty of the Seven-Peaks Union?
"Even in my wildest dreams I have the modesty to think myself beneath such things." I mutter, looking to the ground in shame. People are fickle, you can put all the work in you can, every possible bit of it and because you don't meet their randomly made standard... You're not good enough, I'm not good enough. I'll show them all!
I was the one who held the crowning achievement of my first Inter-House Talent Display, not those who detracted from me. Certainly not those who continue to do so. I may have not reached such heights of ego-endowment again so far, but that means nothing. As Oddity House likes to make a habit of showing, Exceptional House is for the Jhermonikra best only.
There is plenty I can learn from the likes of my friends, developments in my magic that Traditionals and Exceptionals simply cannot teach. I just need to train more, become more powerful and I can leave my heritage as a Ravineer behind fully. Yet, I can't help but feel perplexed by it. I hate being a Ravineer and still, the man who founded my home town is the one who inspired me to try and develop my magic.
By the nature of my home, stories of him are what we heard so we would have faith he'd be able to keep us safe.
I never got as close to him as others I know have, but I saw him in action, I saw his magic and power. The life and adventure his face expressed while I was stuck tending the counter in that detestable other prick's shop. I will not become something as pitiable as that ever again. I can do this, I can amount to something great even among those with both natural and learned greatness.
Coming to a stop just before the edges of Exceptional House's dormitories, I try to put a smile on my face. I will be dwelling here soon, I'll have all the rewards of being an Exceptional and then more. If Skybomber Brewbrt can become a name that's echoed over the centuries he's been alive, then Baltanthan can too. Plague of Rust Baltanthan!
Ironshaper Baltanthan? Living Forge Baltanthan...?
"Bah, I'll think of something that works well later down the line." I grumble, focusing my mind and recalling the way to Seigunfrei's residence. I want to hold my head up as I go by the Exceptionals, but, I am too ashamed too. Somehow, it'll only take a word, misheard or otherwise for me to falter in the image I want to be true to. Not to worry, I'll be an Exceptional soon...
"STOP IT YOU MEANIE!" a woman screams as a man laughs and I look up, my posture settling straight. The one I am looking for has come to me through sheer luck it seems. Well, I can work with this just fine.
"Make me, Lorreabry!" Seigunfrei cackles as he sneaks his lips towards her neck, his hands tickling the blonde nonstop.
"Seigunfrei, a moment of your time?" I ask, grabbing the pair's attention though in the wrong way. Lorreabry tightly grasps my robes and starts to pull and I end up stepping closer. Suddenly a moor for her to pull herself ashore with.
"Noooo! You can't have her!" Seigunfrei laughs with forced evildoery and I roll my eyes, leaning back to counteract the pulling.
"Baltanthan!" his girlfriend whines as I break out, my stumbles shortlived.
"Yes, me, now, you, Seigunfrei, come." I demand impatiently which only makes him hold his girlfriend close with a pout on his lips. He lets out some kind of puppy-like whine and ends it with a laugh before he gently shoves Lorreabry off.
"If I am late for this it's your backside on the line!" she curses right in his face before popping off with the sound of an innocent peck still in the air.
Seigunfrei claps his hands and turns to me, "Liadanann."
"Yes, how'd you guess?" I ask, somewhat amused by how on point he was.
"I was practising my magic earlier and caught sight of a certain red-skinned lady." he explains with a smirk that does its best to hold back what laughs he still has regarding Lorreabry. The dashing blonde still in the barest of views.
"Well, yeah, it's about her. She's come to collect her armour and she's looking at getting more involved with Nin." I explain and he nods along.
"I get the bad days are gone now, but, even then, is he not going to be a little too much for her to handle? He's certainly learnt a lot these past few years." Seigunfrei goes and we start to aimlessly walk for the moment. I don't know why, he just started to move and I'm following him somewhere.
"It won't just be her and him, I'm hoping to tag along as well. There's also been something about someone called Inerish?"
"The Grandguard." my Exceptional friend clarifies and we share the view of the gnomon that indisputably dominates the Thrurstradtur skyline. Even the greatest skyscrapers in the city cannot come close to its grandeur. Though, I'm pretty sure it's the law preventing that, not a loss of architectural skill. Of all the places such losses can happen, it's certainly not in this country, let alone this part of it.
"Well, interesting." I go, not able to think of anything else to say.
"She certainly is, a strong woman bred from dark and fire magic." Seigunfrei huffs as if he doesn't already have a relationship ongoing. Not sure if I should feel proud he trusts me not to tattle or doesn't care enough to consider if I will. Maybe I won't, it'll give me a reason to laugh to myself when I see him with Lorreabry again.
"Hm, good to know." I note, paying more attention to the remark about fire magic than anything else. Darkness and shadows don't really interact with my more metal-inclined magic so I can't see much use there. Her fire, though, I can possibly get maybe even the slightest bit of training from her if she's open to the chance to spend time.
"So what's the specific thing Liadanann wants of us? Me?" he asks and I look towards the arena building.
"She wants to be trained to make sure she's up for it." I clarify as our legs make the necessary arrangements to get us on the right path.
"Oh, sure, should be easy enough to borrow some dirt to spit blood into." Seigunfrei remarks and I think about it as it seems a little more complicated than that.
"How, exactly?" I call out, his optimism not getting to me even with his smirk.
"Come on you dullard, you're trying to get into Exceptional House, remember? We'll tell the staff I am providing you with some tutoring." he reminds me with a gentle slap on the back of my head.
"Well, now you've certainly got a real fight!" I nearly bark, a gust of my magic barely avoiding his precious ornament of a belt buckle. He's been helping me for a while now and he has a point, working with him will give me more experience. Like moving onto heavier weights, he'll push me up to the expected heights of an Exceptional. Years of training with the Dark Crow or not!