arkhelios-gameplay

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Something was wrong with them.

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More than anything, though, Remy was distracted by the fact that many of the students in the Hemisstica society looked... Odd.

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The Hemisstica students had an owl holding a key, because of course that society got it better than the rest of them. Remy was bothered by the injustice.

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The Merapedicus students got a weeping angel with mirror on their faces. Adam looked stupid in it, Remy thought.

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Every Supraprosona student had the same mark, a burning lion ouroboros. Not that it made it any easier for Remy to get used to the fact that it was on her face now.

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"It's a temporary mark," Elowen said in a bored voice. "Not a persecution or brand of infamy."

"I never consented to go to this wretched institution to begin with!"

"Mother was unequivocal," Elowen said with a shrug. "It was either this place or the penitentiary. So, here you are. Better to endure than be confined."

"To suffer these indignities?"

"I prefer it over whatever grotesque rite it was we walked in on at the last academy," Elowen said dryly.

"I believe you are referring to the awesome rite we walked in on," Remy said, her face somewhere in between a smirk and a pout.

Elowen shook her head. "Watcher, save me."

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"My face!" Remy exclaimed. "Ruined! Desecrated!"

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Leofric gazed into the man's eyes. He could swear they were red. The only people Leofric knew of who had red eyes were vampires. What would a vampire be doing on a cruise ship? Leofric couldn't wrap his head around the concept. Perhaps he really was just looking for friends, like he was. Still, for a vampire to go on a cruise, where people might spend quite a bit of tiem in the sunlight... It was odd, wasn't it?

"I'm... I'm going to check out the rest of the ship," Leofric mumbled.

"All right," Arty said with a small smile.

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"Where are you from?" Arty asked. "Here in Arkhelios?"

Leofric nodded. "Eos Island, specifically. You?"

"Ashahra," Arty said.

"Oh."

SIlence fell between them. Leofric cleared his throat. "So... What do you work with?"

"I'm a doctor," Arty said with a smirk, as if he was making a joke Leofric wasn't in on. "Emergency medicine. What about you?"

"I'm a record store clerk."

"Ah. I see."

The silence returned.

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Leofric tensed. Don't screw this up, he told himself.

"I felt a little overdressed," he said instead.

"I can see why," the man said, looking Leofric up and down. "I'm Artaxerxes, by the way. Artaxerxes Payne. Just call me Art or Arty."

"Oh. I'm Leofric."

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Then he immediately turned around and walked back inside.

"Sunburnt so quickly?" a man asked.

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Going up toward the top deck, Leofric found more men completely engrossed in their own conversations. He sighed. This was going to be a long journey for him.

Walk up, he tried to urge himself. Talk to them. He forced a smile.

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Watcher, I act as my conscience bids. I have exhausted every means within my grasp. A mother can only do so much. Their fate is now in your hands.

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"Markings...?" Remy asked.

Edana swallowed.

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Finally, the silence was interrupted by the sound of footsteps from the stairs.

"Mrs Darktide!" a cheerful voice greeted. He descended the stairs with impressive speed, then reached out and grabbed her hand before she could protest. Had it been anyone else, Edana might have pulled her hand away. With Remy's schooling at stake, however, Edana found herself resigned to the situation. "Thomuras Sepaidall," he introduced himself. "Teacher in Veilcraft and Oneirics."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr Sepaidall," Edana said, striving for a tone of careless ease, though she suspected he saw through her.

"As your children arrive so tardily into the year," he said, giving the three a glance. "The formal ceremonies cannot be held. But take heart, we've arranged for their markings to be administered without delay!"

"Wonderful."

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Once inside, they stood waiting in an eerily quiet hallway, time stretching into what felt as if it were an eternity.

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"I will not go!" Remy declared for what must have been the hundredth time that day, with the same brittle protest, the same sullen ritual, arms folded across her chest.

Elowen and Adam both rolled their eyes at once. Edana slammed the handle against the door, rattling all her children. "You will," she said icily. "It is the only institution sufficiently bereft of standards to extend its threshold to a girl whose record bears such stains as yours." It wasn't the truth. Thanks to Arya's intervention, any trace in Remy's records of her behavior had been brushed under the rug. But Edana couldn't have her daughter know it, or she'd lose the only leverage she had.

Remy had been pleased to know she'd be attending a magic boarding school. Less pleased to know she wouldn't get to choose her magic specialty herself. Other schools generally ran with the classic witch alignment theory - good, evil, neutral - so the students could decide what to follow. This one, however, had its own categories.

Her daughter had expected to study with the Hemisstica society, as it was closest to the magic Edana's side of the family family had been practicing for centuries. Dream-walking, necromancy-as-memory, forbidden languages. Given Remy's magic "experiments" however, Edana wanted her nowhere near anything Remy could label interesting. Which left the two others - Supraprosona and Merapedicus. Adam had chosen to study with the Merapedicus society - healing, plant magic, soulbinding, memory-alteration. It was far from the usual Darktide magic practices, and Edana still wasn't pleased that he had chosen 'good' magic to begin with. Arya had suggested several times that Remy try to practice it as well, but Edana objected - firstly because it was bad enough that Adam was going against his heritage, secondly because Remy would be even more vehemently against it.

Which left the Supraprosona society, Elowen's choice of study. Fire conjuring, emotion-channeling, oathbinding - the curriculum really wasn't that far away from what Remy had experimented with, in Edana's opinion. Blood oaths and binding contracts were a risk to allow Remy to touch, she felt, but if the choice was between that and matters of life and death, she'd allow Remy to do it. Besides, the headmaster had assured her that they taught classes on philosophy, morality, and were careful to ensure their students didn't play with magic lightly.

In Remy's opinion, it was Hemisstica or bust.

Edana had tried to explain to her that it was closer to Supraprosona or jail.

"I find the curriculum quite satisfactory," Elowen said. "It appears thoughtfully composed."

Adam nodded. "I'm eager to study magic without being constrained by the 'evil' and 'good' dichotomy," he said, shooting their mother a small smile.

Remy scoffed. "Naturally, the two of you would find such a place to your liking. As mother so aptly observed, this institution is lamentably devoid of proper standards."

"Remy," Edana said in a warning voice. "You will attend this school, whether you harbor a single ounce of liking for it or not. I will take from you all that is magical, and drag you, once again, into the mundane world, and consign you once more to a school devoid of magic. Do I make myself clear?"

Remy scowled. "Your narrow-mindedness-"

"I have heard your impassioned speeches before," Edana interrupted. "Remy, this is your final opportunity to demonstrate your worth, to prove that you can be entrusted with the power you so carelessly wield. The coven has stripped the magic of those who dared to tread too far into darkness, and they will not hesitate to repeat the act, regardless of your bloodline. Should you transgress once more, they will not hesitate to snap your wand in half and cast you into a prison cell to waste away. I will not stop them."

"Fine," Remy sneered. "I will go to this wretched school of theirs, this sanctuary of fools who spout nonsense about the absence of good or evil. And I will fail every lesson they teach me, for this 'education' is completely removed from the knowledge I have pursued my entire life. Does that satisfy you, mother? Is that your vision of compliance?*

"You will comply in attending the school, but whether you exert yourself in your studies or not is entirely your affair," Edana said coolly. "The choice is yours. Become as great as your ancestors or squander your education." Then she pulled the handle toward them.