#yomiel's robes are as red as his suit

[siverwrites]

A Not Quite Magical Mystery

And the other piece born of @alia-mael ‘s prompt for a Discworld/Ghost Trick crossover.

Major spoiler for Ghost Trick.

Other piece here: Patrol

These were both so much fun even though Discworld makes me nervous to touch. And now I’ve gone and tackled Stibbons who I’ve never even considered writing for before.

Taking prompts

Each of Ponder’s days in the High Energy Magic building started – start time variable – with a thorough checkup of Hex. This particular day happened to begin in the early morning in an unusual and rare occurrence. Everything looked well, until he found a sheet left out and he had to stop in puzzlement at what he saw.

+++ Yy +++

And below that in wobbly lettering that brought to mind a young child there was:

Yy

+++ Correct. Oo +++

Oo.

+++ Correct. Mm +++

Mm

And so it continued down to and including Ll.

‘Yomiel’. Strange. Ponder knew Yomiel’s writing now and while it left something to be desired in neatness, it was also a sight better than that of some of his colleagues who seemed to think that being indecipherable added to the magic, or perhaps it was only a self-defence mechanism against students.

A vague memory nudged at him. Chalkboards and a harried woman. A sense of boredom, mind wandering to more complicated and interesting things. Yes, that’s what this was. It had all the appearances of Hex teaching someone his letters – very specific letters.

It was yet another oddity in the growing list surrounding Yomiel and his cat, Sissel. To his growing concern and against all logic he found himself watching the cat more and more often. It was a well-known fact that the HEM building had odd effects on animals, but the pair hadn’t been here for very long yet. It was possible, he supposed, that Brazeneck College had had a similar effect, yet for all his attempts to quietly get a thaumic reading he saw no sign of magic from the cat.

It all added up to that wonderful mix of excitement, uncertainty and worry – the latter fueled by what he would say to the Archchancellor.

It had been a challenge to get Ridcully to accept Yomiel into their ranks. He was one of Them. He had been in quite a huff until Ponder gently steered him into the idea that Brazeneck took the Dean and Adrian Turnipseed and so it was only fair that they took, or poached, Yomiel into their ranks.

He turned out to be a welcome asset. He previously worked with Pex, which Ponder knew first hand was inferior to their Hex, so he had expected some difficulties in readjusting. Instead Yomiel took to Hex immediately and even suggested some improvements that Ponder could find no fault in.

It was all very refreshing and beneficial. Ponder only wished he could explain the little things that started happening since they arrived and why was Yomiel so insistent on Sissel’s presence?

What purpose did the little black cat have in being here even if the students seemed to have taken a liking to him? Why were objects he was certain were in one place found in another? What of the last magical mishap – an event, after all there was still something to be learned from explosions – that didn’t happen and left them all hiding behind various hopefully sturdy pieces of furniture while a lot of nothing didn’t go up in smoke? What did this sheet left in Hex mean?

And why, Ponder thought as he stared up at Hex, was Sissel sitting on it staring down at him with the most knowing look he had ever seen on a cat?

Ponder wasn’t one to be unnerved. You didn’t last long in the Unseen University let alone the High Energy Magic building if you were easily unnerved (unless your name happened to be Rincewind who was another matter entirely) and any ability to feel so had long been knocked out and trodden on by Ridcully. The cat’s stare brought him close to the borders of that territory.

“Shoo,” he tried futilely. “You shouldn’t be up there.”

Sissel gave him a look that couldn’t be more unimpressed if he tried and jumped down. Ponder reached out. “Good cat… now just back away from the very complicated machine…”

Another flat stare and Sissel abruptly jumped away, knocked a lever and sauntered off. There was a click of a button and Ponder could only watch in dismay as the sheet was sucked into a tube, deposited into a bin and promptly torn to shreds.

He sighed and made a mental note to add some form of check to the whole process. Maybe another bin for things that might be reused.

“He doesn’t like to be touched.”

Ponder turned to see Yomiel had entered the room. He stood, his hands stuffed in the deep pockets of his robes and stared past Ponder at either Hex or Sissel, Ponder couldn’t be sure.

“He was sitting on Hex,” Ponder said stiffly. “You know there are many delicate workings that shouldn’t be disturbed.”

“He won’t hurt anything,” Yomiel replied calmly.

“He already caused a document to be shredded!”

Yomiel raised an eyebrow. “Was it important?”

“Well, no I suppose not, but nevertheless!”

Yomiel’s stare was as impassive as Sissel’s. They belonged to each other all right. Ponder calmed himself. He was getting silly. Everything was fine and Yomiel was right. Sissel hadn’t caused any harm yet.

“I did want to speak to you about the document in question.”

“STIBBONS!”

Ponder and Yomiel both winced at the loud tones of Archchancellor Ridcully’s approach.

“Later,” Ponder sighed.

“I wanted to check on the hive,” Yomiel said.

Ponder nodded and Yomiel made his escape into the next room in time for Ridcully to enter, large, furious and waving a letter.

“The nerve of that man! Would you believe HE has the audacity to accuse us of stealing his faculty?”

“Well, it’s not entirely a lie,” Ponder said.

“HE’s the one who left US!”

“Though Yomiel was very happy to transfer here…” Ponder trailed off. It was clear Ridcully wasn’t listening to a word he said.

“If that traitor hadn’t left he wouldn’t have this problem.” Ridcully huffed and stared about the room before finally focusing on Ponder.

Yes, sometimes Ponder felt as though the former Dean leaving was a sign he had lost all of his faculties. Other times, such as now, in the face of Ridcully’s rage, he thought perhaps it was an unexpected bout of clarity and good sense. 

“How is that Yomiel doing?” Ridcully barked. “Any use to you fellows?”

Ponder grappled with the enormous task of trying to fit the words into a size and shape suitable for the Archchancellor before giving it up as a lost cause. He fell back on the tried and true solution of the on-a-need-to-know basis. Ridcully did not need to know therefore the problem could remain squarely in Ponder’s camp.

“He’s been a great asset. He works well with Hex.”

A smug air descended around Ridcully. “Ha! So we got the better deal here, eh?”

“Yes, Archchancellor,” Ponder said simply. It was easier that way. He didn’t need to know about the attached odd things and as long as nothing worse happened it was all worth it, wasn’t it? Hex appeared to be in excellent hands and the possibility of further scientific discoveries sent a pleasant shiver down Ponder’s spine.

“Hmph. At least that college,” he sneered, “hasn’t let standards completely slip. Though he puts up a poor image of a wizard I must say.”

“Archchancellor?” Now what was the problem?

“His hat, man! What self-respecting wizard goes without his hat? And that hair is ridiculous.”

Ponder had a brief mental image of a hat trying to be fit over said hair before quickly shutting down the thought. “I suppose you could say it’s his hat in spirit,” Ponder tried weakly, regretting the words even as he spoke them. Thankfully, Ridcully already appeared to have switched paths back to the subject of the Dean’s ‘betrayal’.

“He thinks he can get the better of us. Ha. How the crossbow bolt has turned.”

And there was another mental image Ponder would have preferred to avoid.

Ridcully nodded with satisfaction to himself. “Make sure that man stays up to snuff.” He crumpled the letter and turned, stomping out of the room.

Ponder sighed. He needed to come up with some tactics to better handle Ridcully in the many and frequent towering tempers he sustained now.

In the meantime he still had a handful of mysteries here.

Ponder went back to his inspection of Hex. There were no further abnormalities and Sissel was nowhere to be found. The reason for that became apparent when Yomiel entered with the cat on his shoulder.

“One of the combs was clogged and causing a stall,” Yomiel said. “I’ve cleaned it out.”

Ponder nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a problem we need to find a solution for soon. I know it’s not common, but I’d rather it not happen at all.”

“I’ll let you know if I figure something out.”

“In the meantime.” Ponder turned to face Yomiel. “When I came in earlier I found a paper left in Hex with letters spelling out your name. Letters Hex wrote and letters someone else wrote, rather crudely I must say. Do you know anything about that?”

There was a long pause and he was sure Yomiel glanced at Sissel before shrugging. “…I don’t know anything.”

But there’s knowing and knowing, isn’t there?

Your cat is not giving off any magical readings and yet I still think there’s something abnormal about him and no, I can’t explain what, but it would be helpful if you provided some insight, but I know you won’t. So, I will keep investigating with or without your help and I will find out what is going on with you two.

The words all bubbled up quickly, but he remained silent. Yomiel hadn’t been of any help and seemed unlikely to be. There was no sense in putting Sissel on his guard… He let that thought trail off as well. He was worried about putting the cat on guard. Ridiculous. And yet…

“I’m going to take a look at the mouse. I had an idea,” Yomiel said.

“Very well. Go on.”

The HEM building existed for mysteries and now Ponder had one more furry puzzle to piece together.

[crossed--fates]

Starter for @lovedbypoptart​ since we’re in the mood for angst

When he’d heard about the Chanelling Technique, Yomiel felt desperate. He didn’t know if it was a good or a bad feeling, but one thing he was certain: it was his last chance to see Sissel again, one last time. A last chance to talk to her, to hold her in his arms, it was all he wanted right now. Maybe that could give him a bit of comfort for his soul.

So he traveled to Kurain village and was standing outside of the Fey Manor. It was a rainy day, a fitting weather for his depressed state and he didn’t seem to mind that the rain was drenching his impeccable red suit and ruining his peculiar banana hairstyle. He stood there until a girl showed up, dressed in robes. Even if the shades were hiding his eyes, it was possible to see by his body language and his slumped shoulders that he was really sad.

“Are you Maya Fey? I’d like to request a channeling session.”

By all the gods, he hoped what he heard about the Kurain mediums were true. He just wanted to see Sissel one final time.