[Closed] A Case of Arachnophobia

[Pleasance Hedgethorne]

37th of Vortas 2718

It had to be stated; cunning traps were not the girl's forte. Yet this one had all the makings of the most sublime of plots. Inspiration shone on Pleasance in the form of wicked intent and malice toward her spoiled brat of a brother. It came in the form of that cross-eyed chubby boy who she often caught, giving her eyes. Pleasance had a sense that her fellow Eighth Form student had a crush on her, ever since they'd attended the same dance hall. Pickings were slim then! What could she say of her choice to let him dance with her? She wasn't going to be the only one caught without a partner, stuck on the wall like an ugly little gadfly.

Ever since then, she'd find him crossing her route to lecture halls and classes. She'd share the same lunch period. Although he never sat near her group, she could spot him scoping her out from a distance. It was apparent what was on the young man's mind.

At first, she saw this as an annoyance. She had no interest in the balloon of a boy. She had half a mind to pull a prank or make a scene to drive him away. She was about to do just that when he crossed her. They bumped into each other, as Pleasance was on her way to independent study. It was almost subconscious; she was caught up in her head, thinking about her slow improvement academic, and worrying over it. He, on the other hand, was just plowing forward through the hallway, without stepping out of her way. They collided there, in a burst of book and study materials that went flying everywhere.

"Oh... Sorry." The boy said slowly. "Uhm... I-I-I'm... W-W-Will. C-Can I help you p-pick up the b-b-b-books?"

She glared at him and went about gathering up her things from the floor without even deigning to answer. Pleasance thought that ought to be it; the boy would be too mortified to pursue her attention anymore. Yet he persisted!

"Hey, uh, I saw you at lunch..."

Pleasance slapped one tome on top of another, pulling it toward her. Her face contorted in an irritable expression, lines creasing her brow, "So?"

She swiftly packed her satchel with study materials, heedless of whether they belonged to him or her. Then, she stopped as her hand fell on one of the pages of his sketches. It was a moving spider on a paper. She shrieked at the sight of it, recoiling backward.

"Oh no, no, no! It's okay, Pleasance!" Will said, "Just an illusion I've been working on! I'm sorry you had to see that... Oh man..."

Pleasance sat on her backside for a moment, gathering her nerves slowly. She let her heart rate lower just a touch before speaking to him, "You did that?"

"Yeah! I'm so sorry, ugh, you probably think I'm a creep..."

Pleasance said nothing of the sort, although his perspective was fairly accurate. But even creeps could be useful. Pleasance wasn't the only one who was squeamish when it came to arachnids. She happened to know that her brother had a deathly fear of the eight-legged things. As this dawned on her, a secret smile crept across her lips, and she instantly changed her tune toward Will.

"No, not at all! That was..." Disgusting, revolting, creepy, and given your fascination, I don't want to know what you're thinking of doing to me while spending the lunch period staring at me. But she said none of those things. "That was amazing! You're must be so smart."

Will blushed deep red at that, and couldn't look her in the eye. She gathered up her things and stood up. After he'd gathered what he could of his study materials, he rose to stand in front of her. "Could you do the same illusion to anything, even a bedsheet, maybe?"

Will snorted, "Of course! It's a simple matter of replicating the flipped field and added elasticity of the material. It's almost easier than paper, even!"

Pleasance took a step toward him and grinned happily. "You know Arthur Hedgethorne? He's a couple of forms below you."

"Yeah, I think I've met him... why-"

"I need you to put those spiders on his bedsheets. Sneak into his dorm."

"Uhhh... I-I don't know about that, Pleasance"

She didn't know which was more annoying. That he knew her name without being properly introduced or his reluctance. "I'll make it worth it, trust me!"

Will put on a steely face for a moment, his pillowy face trying its best to tense up, but all it did was add another chin. "One date in the Stacks! In a fortnight."

"Done!" Pleasance blurted out. "You'll do it then?" She reached out to shake his hand. After a moment, he extended his own and shook.

"Yeah, I'll do it, but uh... We won't get in trouble, will we?"

"Oh don't worry about it. Arthur's my brother. He'll think it's hilarious." She smiled with confidence at him. He reluctantly returned the smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~yada, yada, yada ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around a week later, after the plan had been executed to perfection, Arthur ended up in the infirmary, getting treated for a panic attack. According to what Pleasance heard, he'd been hyperventilating when they found him shivering on the bed, the illusory spiders crawling over his face as he repeatedly slapped himself.

That almost made it worth being in the office of the Internal Affairs lady. Except Pleasance was there in the company of Will, who'd also been summoned. Pleasance pointedly looked away from him, crossing her arms.

The damned blimp of a boy had ratted her out. There'd be no date!

[Vivian Rush]

Vivian Rush always relished the opportunity to be placed on assignments related to magical trauma. There was a distinct satisfaction to seeing the creative outlet to magical instruction, to hearing of the effect that the very much amoral force that the mona could inflict upon any mind. For Vivian, her subjects of magical experimentation were often the inferior races of Vita, but there was no denying that in her heyday of student life she'd cast spells on other galdor.

Never did Vivian Rush have the proclivity for dueling. While a fine sport and a constructive outlet, it wasn't in the interest of her particular field of study for her to directly confront the subject of her sorcerous ministrations. It was with a distinct sense of satisfaction, then, that Vivian Rush perused the case file given to her and a greater sense of control in that she was given the opportunity to handle the situation as she saw fit.

Of course they'd want to rely on my talents. That child... Arthur? He'll be stuck in the infirmary for days. They barely managed to get it out of him, what happened, aside from those poor ramblings of spiders all over his body.

There was an investigation to be had before the students responsible were confronted. For the practitioners of Living conversation that clung to the halls of the infirmary, it was more difficult to breach into the mind and gain access to the secrets within. Both mother and sister to the Perspective conversation, those who studied the yield of Living mona were more versed in the ailments that affected the mind and not the direct, root cause of what transpired within.

Then, there were those souls who dabbled in Perceptive mona as Vivian did, and most, in her professional and clearly very objective analysis, did so with very little deference to the power that was influence and control over the sentient mind. No, they sought merely to glean and decipher, to ascertain the problems that lurked beneath the surface thoughts of the student body. What Vivian Rush sought after and was capable of understanding was an entirely different beast altogether.

Vivian preferred to draw close to her subjects, to pull them into her gaze and allow the gentle crawl of her voice in her ear to center them to the Monite she spoke. The Monite drawn from her lips was invariably a song, beseeching and formal to the mona itself, but what she hoped was soothing or even entrancing to the corporeal subject of the spell-craft itself. Vivian did this to the boy Arthur after introducing herself, fully intent upon conveying exactly what it was she sought to do to him. Then, she began, intent upon coaxing out of his mad reverie and towards subservience to her will.

As Vivian sang her sweet conveyances, she felt her grasp upon reality wither, her efforts to draw herself in successful, even if the time she languished within the mind was uncomfortable to both her subject and herself. She felt her jaw relax with certain syllables, but nevertheless, she felt the access to the boy's mind grow sharper as the vision of spiders crawling against his (and by proxy her own) skin. The sensation she felt brought her skin to a crawl, and Vivian Rush felt the child tremble deeply against her fingertips as he relived the horror that caused his mind to go awry to begin with. Then, Vivian sought to push a sense of calm in the child's thoughts.

Forget, forgive. Let yourself unhinge from the trauma and pour yourself instead into the calm I can offer you.

However, instead of offering calm, Vivian Rush misspoke her conveyances. Perhaps the sorceress was still shaken from the sensation on her skin. Or, perhaps the sing-song metre of her voice dropped a pitch and turned her Monite dark and ugly. However, it mattered very little why it happened. Her efforts turned dark, ice coursing throughout the boy's mind and calm turning to terror as he relived again and again the horrors. Vivian broke off her spell-craft immediately, feeling the ache within her own skull, and her eyes, the gaze of which clung invariably to the boy, faltered and her vision blurred. Her fingertips tightened, and surely the boy would find pain flare across his senses, but Vivian made no effort to stop.

To stop now would only make things worse. I need to end this immediately.

The somber melody slowed further and further, the Monite drawing up a pitch as she willed the boy towards the desire to sleep. She touched within his brain and forced within a surge of melatonin to flood his nervous system. His weight pushed forward and he slumped against Vivian, who tucked the boy to bed before she rose. Her vision grew worse and worse, and a 'tch' escaped her lips as a rampant thirst drew within her. She'd summon the children responsible to her office, but she'd first take a few hours to rest and satiate the needs of the body before diverting her full attention to the disciplinary meeting.

~~Time passes by as Vivian Rush recovers. The liaison lets herself feast in the cafeteria, making no effort to be sociable, contrary to her usual dynamic with the staff. When asked about her silence, Vivian changed the subject, citing confidentiality and the need for privacy in order to be objective in her assessments for an impending hearing.~~

Vivian felt her headache wither into nothingness in the hours since her encounter with Arthur Hedgethorne and now she had both the boy's older sister and the boy who'd instigated the perceptive attack upon a fellow student to begin with. In considerably better spirits now that she'd finished her meal and changed herself into an outfit appropriate for a meeting with students, Vivian Rush was glad that the echo of her heels through the hallway was the only sound to be heard up until the door to her office opened and she situated herself at her desk. Of course, the liaison did not acknowledge the children immediately. Rather, she placed the case file on the desk and opened it to the relevant page. She let her gaze flicker over the sheet, as if she hadn't perused it a dozen times in the past few hours...

But, it was a blur. She lamented the weakening of her eyesight, a product of her nearly 12 year foray into the artistry that was Perceptive conversation. Rather than attempt to make eye contact with the children, she shifted to her desk, allowing her silence to loom a greater sense of foreboding between the two galdori students as she pilfered into her drawer and plucked from it a set of spectacles. She parted the temples and set the tips over each of her ears, pushing them by the bridge to fit her face before at last her magnified amber pools settled on the children in front of her. First, she found Pleasance, reported by the boy next to her, Will. Just as those eyes met Pleasance's, Vivian's lips parted in weak murmurs to the mona.

Vivian's field extended outward, drawing not merely around the two children but throughout the room itself. She encircled them with the monic presence that was her expertise before triangulating her 'Reading' spell with the intent of learning more about the two children and their state of beings. It was obvious that the girl whose gaze Vivian met was sour, possibly even infuriated by the notion of being outed as the mastermind of this prank gone wrong. Vivian, in truth, wished she could be objectively mad at the girl for what she'd instigated, but the perceptive magic was very much a fine work of the discipline and she was quite pleased with Will's progress in Vivian's conversation of choice. She could, in truth, be mad at neither of them, especially as she willed herself deeper into intention and felt the cloud of regret that mustered up from Will and soured his field.

"The both of you are very quiet today, aren't you? I'll have you know, Pleasance, that your brother will be fine. He is fast asleep and the healers are using the opportunity to continue to treat his self-inflicted injuries. He'll be quite bitter, I imagine, and it's my hope that you find some way to apologize to him," she offered to break the silence. Vivian held her spell in upkeep. Compared to her earlier efforts with Arthur, this was simple and lacked any of the taxing that had nearly been her undoing. Perhaps it was the fact that these spells were easier, but she felt sharper and relished in the omnipresence that was the capacity to glean from others what they might seek to keep reserved.

"You, Will. You're looking green just sitting here. Neither of you are going to be expelled. Magical experimentation is the purpose of Brunnhold to begin with, and your spell-craft, for a boy of your age, was nothing short of remarkable. I'll have you know, William," she added, using the boy's full name and at last letting a smile cast upon her features, "That Perceptive conversation is the study that I've taken closer than anything else to my heart. I saw what you did to that boy. For a boy of your age to enact not one, but two sensory manipulations while also conveying it against uneven surfaces is, truly, something to be admired. However, there is always the risk of mental scarring with such indulgences.

However, that leads me on to Pleasance. William, you may leave. You'll report to detention for the next three weeks and write a letter of apology to Arthur. If your letter is deemed sincere, we can leave the punishment at that. Run along," she encouraged, dismissing him with not another word. Once the chubby boy ran along, Vivian was quite glad to be rid of him. Her efforts were intent on being delivered instead on the instigator of the prank, the victim's sister.

"You, however, I need to have a more intricate chat with. First and foremost, why did you have William do this to your brother?" she asked, figuring that beginning at the top would be ideal in considering the form of punishment to give this girl.

Weak murmurs to the mona carried after she spoke. Vivian tapped at her desk, allowing her field to draw closer to the both of them. She kept the reading spell in effect, but she was inclined to turn the girl in front of her towards the truth. It'd worm slowly at first, the inclination Vivian sought to weave. There was, after all, no reason for the liason to assume this girl would tell the truth and truth was exactly what she needed from her. The mona, so hesitant to obey her earlier, seemed at her beck and call, and she felt a tremble move throughout her body at the unbridled joy of spell-casting that brought a smile across her lips as her amber eyes remained trained upon the 8th form student in front of her.

Perceptive Spell-craft

SidekickBOTToday at 12:10 AM
@Mythic: 3d6 = (2+1+6) = 9 (Memory, Calm, Sleep)
MythicToday at 12:22 AM
/r 2d6
SidekickBOTToday at 12:22 AM
@Mythic: 2d6 = (5+6) = 11 (Reading, Suggestion)

[Pleasance Hedgethorne]

Time Stamp

The silence was palpable between Pleasance and Will, as they waited alone in the office of Internal Affairs. It persisted for many minutes, until Will was the one to break it, "Listen, Pleasance..."

Pleasance sighed audibly, her face reddening either in rage or shame; she couldn't tell which. She didn't like that she might be forced to say to the Liaison how she'd convinced Will to perform the prank on her brother. She didn't like it any more than she liked the idea of punishment in itself. Yet, through all of that, she couldn't blame Will for it.

"I'm sorry, but I had to tell them what happened. I tried to leave your name out, but they used some sort of monic manipulation to draw your name out of me." His chubby cheeks blushed as he confessed to her, a few tears were running down his face as he thought about what he'd done, "Can we still be friends?"

"Hmph." Pleasance crossed her arms even harder, looking away from the boy. Even as she tried to steel herself against his apology, she felt herself softening a bit. Finally, she sighed, "Maybe." The girl allowed, "You did good, Will, it's not your fault we were caught. If we come out of this with our minds intact, I'll let you tutor me."

"R-really? Oh, I'd have so much to teach you! Where to begi..." But then, Vivian Rush entered the room. Pleasance should have heard her heels clicking from far down the hall, but was too distracted by Will.

Now there was no ignoring the galdori woman whose authority was palpable on the air. Pleasance's eyes trained on her warily, as she made her way around her desk and then took a seat, flipping through what the girl presumed was their case file.

Pleasance made no protest as Vivian praised Will's spellwork, and all but excused him from the meeting. The young Hedgethorne couldn't help but feel a little unfairly treated, as it wasn't even her spell that had done the damage! Yet her glare toward Will fell blindly on his back as he retreated from the office.

So now it was just Pleasance, the woman, and the mona and fields stretching between them.

"You, however, I need to have a more intricate chat with. First and foremost, why did you have William do this to your brother?"

Pleasance could feel the power and the monite field radiating from this woman, threatening to engulf her. As she began the incantation, it became clear that Vivian was casting a spell, the younger woman braced herself. Even so, she attempted as best she could to feel out just what kind of spell the other woman was using.

"I..." For once in her life, Pleasance was tongue-tied. She tried to repeat the words she'd rehearsed, ever since it came to her that they were investigating the cause of her brother's affliction. "I... don't."

Yet, even as she tried to grasp for a reason, it eluded her. Then, she was brought around to her intent. Why had she done it? Was it just a matter of petty revenge? Envy for his greater allowance? Was Pleasance really that petty and bored, that a bit of money could drive a wedge between herself and a sibling of her blood?

Once she concluded that, yes, she had done it for such a puerile and underlying motivation, she felt a deep abiding shame that surpassed the prank's pettiness itself.

"I'm jealous of his allowance." She said, shamefully. "My parents have given him preferential treatment ever since his initiation, and his testing two points above me, and have threatened to disinherit me if I don't push myself academically." Her mouth twisted with the bitterness of the truth. There it was. Her motivations, as small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, were laid bare.

She said nothing further but waited for Ms. Rush to tell her what her punishment would entail, or to probe with further questions.

[Vivian Rush]

For all of the faults that the Rush family could lay claim to, the mistreatment of their heiress was not one of them. Perhaps it was the fact that the Rush children were twins, or that from a very early age, the girl had shown an exceptional capacity for spell-craft, but she'd never felt shunted. Always, there was the fact that Lucian had been the rightful heir, but never had Vivian doubted her capacity for independent success, nor had she doubted for a moment that Lucian would leave her without the comforts she was accustomed to. Nevertheless, Vivian knew the lamentations of social pressure, placed upon strict parents who in the wake of Lucian's grievous injuries, relied solely upon Vivian as their heir and the sole means of the posterity for their lineage. It wasn't meant to be, of course, but she hardly had the cause to muse about her own familial situation while an anxous student spilled her guts to Vivian.

While Pleasance shared, she had the liaison's rapt attention. Carefully, she maintained the 'Reading' spell, pulling her field closer still to them so that the mona in their vicinity whirled in circles about them. She could nearly taste the bitterness in Pleasance's voice, and just as surely, the festering resentment that boded ill. It wounded the liaison to see a student driven to such feelings, particularly a young woman with the world ahead of her. While it was clear to Vivian in the information given to her about Pleasance in the case file that she was not an exceptionally gifted practitioner of magic, but what she did was nearly as important. First, there was a distinct beauty that draped itself upon the student's features. She held chocolate curls that framed her features.

More than that, however, it did not escape Vivian's notice that the boy in the room held affections. Was Pleasance Hedgethorne a manipulator in the making? It was always a shame, when students found it difficult to assess their inclinations, and the talent for the same Perceptive magic that landed William and Pleasance in this very room was, perhaps, living deep within the girl. But, it was not Vivian's place to counsel students on their life's ambitions. It was her duty to the school to assess situations brought out of hand, then course-correct before catastrophe and discord laid waste to potential greatness.

"I'll have you know, before we delve any further into this, Pleasance, that I won't be informing your parents of this... incident. Whether your brother writes to them about it is his prerogative, but surely you can make amends and stop him from doing that," she began. A smile caught again upon Vivian's features, one hand rising to frame along her own jawline before she pushed the bridge of her glasses back so that the spectacles settled neatly on her features.

"Would you like some water?" she asked, but did not wait for a response. With a jab of her fingernail and a swipe along the center, a tangerine was sliced in twain. One by one she peeled the wedges, four slices dropped to the base of each glass before over the fruit she poured chilled water.

"A tangerine, perhaps? Or biscuits?"

Once she had an answer, Vivian brought along the student's choice along with an unpeeled tangerine for her own consumption. Bit by bit she peeled the tangerine she brought for herself, leaving it on her desk atop a coaster before passing one to Pleasance and the other for her own glass. She placed the glasses on their rightful place before sitting down. Amber pools found the student once again, the smile gone from her expression and yet still the warmth of it could be found in her expression. With a proper answer to her initial question, Vivian felt no obligation to be severe with the girl. Instead, she posed another question after taking one long sip of water.

"Your parents' hearts are in the right place, at least. Your education is of the utmost importance. Your future, with or without any sort of inheritance, is contingent on it. So, they have a fair point, but they aren't showing any sort of positive reinforcement? Is that a fair assessment? It's a travesty, given that you're doing rather well in your classes? I'd say you're pushing yourself just fine," she mused aloud. It was Vivian's prerogative to uplift the students of Brunnhold. The potential within some of the faces she saw was palpable, and having herself in the good graces of every galdori that paved the future was her ideal. Vivian, while young in her own right, preferred to play her cards close to her chest. She'd fallen in love with Brunnhold, shown it from a very young age by her mother, the professor Coraline Rush.

Vivian need not rely on the mona to push the student any more. She dissipated her reading spell and had her fingertips dance along the rim of her glass before she asked,"Would you promise me that you won't allow money to bridge a gap between you and your brother?" she asked, letting her finger fall from the glass as both hands folded their digits nearly into one another. Her gaze showed the simple question held a deeper meaning to it, but otherwise, Vivian Rush was an unknown, her features unreadable and her field drawn in as close to her own body as it would without upsetting the monic particles that it was composed of.

[Pleasance Hedgethorne]

Time Stamp

Pleasance despised her parents, it couldn't be denied. And she'd turned that hate on her brother readily when it became obvious that he was favored to be their heir. She'd always seen him as a target. It never occurred to her that he might be a potential ally. But hearing Ms. Rush's speech about making amends struck a chord deep in Pleasance's mind. This coupled with the promise Rush made not to let the incident be known by her parents was a strange feeling to pair with the nostalgia running through it. She would almost certainly be punished by them in some way, if it got back to them. The fact that Rush had given her a way to fix the situation in her own way, was a relief. "Thank you... But, I don't know if I can convince him."

The girl thought the distance and growing irrelevance between herself and Arthur, as they grew closer to adulthood. Their coming of age alone would've sealed their relationship to her mind, and so thought perhaps it wasn't worth salvaging. That wasn't to say there weren't good times, before Brunnhold and the divide that their disparate scores had set them on. They'd played games and shared adventures like any siblings before getting sent off to this school. But any attempt to bring them up would be futile if it was closely followed by a swift attempt to manipulate him into not sending word back to their parents. Arthur may be socially naive, but he was not stupid.

"Yes, please, and tangerines, no biscuit. Thank you." Pleasance said, her mouth curved downward as she struggled to strategize at a way to salvage her relationship to her brother. Of course, she'd have to do that herself. If he didn't send word back to their parents, it'd have to be his own idea.

She watched carefully as Rush prepared the refreshment, thinking on her own studies as she did so. Pleasance had only just taken her first steps to manipulate the worldly forces. Her first exposure to Perceptive magic, strangely enough, had been her encounter with Will. The idea of making people think things, or reading thoughts even, was such a great prospect. She would want to learn from him, failing a late shift in her education.

When at last Rush was done preparing the refreshments, Pleasance gratefully accepted them. She drank the water, only then realizing how dry her throat had become.

Then the liaison went on to venture an opinion on the circumstances that Pleasance related. She nodded fervently at the idea that it was unfair. It was! And yet, she had a point that her future was important. Yet she would not forgive them for discarding her so readily and so easily. Her brow darkened slightly at the idea of giving up on an inheritance of any kind, and thus always being subservient to the mercy of her brother. Yet she would not always be powerless. She might find her own fortunes if her education buoyed her to a successful life.

"I..." Pleasance began to speak, but her words caught in her throat. Not because of any monic manipulation by Ms. Rush, but because the shame and guilt caught up to her as described by Rush. "Why..." She had trouble putting her thoughts into words just then, another anomalous fit of being tongue-tied. Finally, she sighed, "It's already there. We're past the gulf and it's insurmountable. Unless you have a way of turning back time?"

The last part of bitterness caught in her throat, but she let it out even so. It'd probably sound petulant to the older woman's ears, but she didn't mind telling her how she really felt. Something about Ms. Rush made her believe that she really cared about what went on after this. She didn't want to give the automatic false promise, that Pleasance was so accustomed to giving.

"What do you think I should do?"

[Vivian Rush]

Always, Vivian held a great deal of hatred in her heart. There was hatred for the passive wretch that had reported her to the school after her... encounters with Vivian. There were even two galdori on staff, Cicely Rogers and the foolish Headmistress, both of them progressive fools who lived under the shadow of their own opinions. It was a difficult thing, to be a progressive, Vivian assumed. To be so utterly wrong and compassionate for those wretches who did nothing to deserve it. But nevertheless, while Vivian certainly could feel pity for the galdori who were afflicted with the mental illness that was compassion for the inferior races, she felt nothing for contempt when they acquired power. Hatred was a difficult thing, after all, for so it muddled the mind of a galdor. It weakened their magic, it filled their thoughts with outside influence and slackened their jaw with every effort to speak Monite.

Instead, Vivian Rush preferred to channel her contempt into more constructive things. There were the passive playthings she took to in her private time, a means through which to explore the aspects of Perceptive conversation she dare not inflict upon a galdor and a means of physical satisfaction. She preferred to throw herself into her studies, her efforts slow in the wake of her tasks as a liaison, but even the work she did was part of the package deal. Vivian Rush wasn't supposed to fall into an advisory role in the school and yet... the closer she drew to the future of Anaxas, the more she enjoyed the change. Was it possible that she'd stay in Brunnhold after she attained her final degree? She'd never thought it to be the case and yet, as she listened to Pleasance, felt without magic the difficulty of expression that was hers...

This might just be my home.

Vivian was not and could not be a professor. It was the prerogative of Coraline Rush, her mother, to educate the student body and prepare them for life beyond the walls of Brunnhold. But, what Vivian could do was share her wealth of experience, her knowledge she'd worked so arduously to possess. What Vivian knew was the nature of the sentient mind, the complexities of emotion, of impulse, the psychology of inadequacy would come in handy in the moment and she had every intention of making full use of her professional expertise to help Pleasance in any way that she could. It was the student like Pleasance, who did well in her academic pursuits, thrived in social situations, but was put down by extraneous factors that called to the heiress' heart the most. Her heart bled out for Pleasance, and she allowed it to show in her field as she brought it back out and whirled it about the other galdor.

When Vivian arrived back at the table, she gave Pleasance two unpeeled tangerines as well, not acknowledging Pleasance's first doubtful words until she was back and able to properly take a gander at the student herself. Vivian offered a wide smile towards Pleasance before tapping at her desk slowly. She took one sip of her water, relishing in the cool liquid as it coated her throat and made it easier to speak. There was one thing the mona did, and that was swell her throat. So much did Vivian enjoy spell-craft that she could ignore the discomfort, but there was no ignoring it once the physical taxation of it was apparent. Over the course of the day it grew, and she sought to mitigate it by abstaining from magic altogether. For now, anyway.

"It's very strange to see a young woman," Not a girl, she specified, fully intent upon showing Pleasance a greater than due respect in an effort to bolster her into action. "Such as yourself so unsure of herself. It will be more difficult, certainly, than twisting that William boy to your intentions... But, he's your brother, Pleasance. Even in the midst of animosity, there is always a deep love between siblings that is impossible to break." Vivian spoke from experience, from the efforts on her parents' parts to make Lucian less important in the young woman's eyes. They'd disinherited him, relegated him to the hidden away alcoves of their home. But, Vivian could never feel anything but unconditional love for Lucian Rush. It was a feeling that she hoped to convey as possible to Pleasance as she mused aloud, "I believe in you, Pleasance."

Then, they moved forward. There was no changing of the topic because this one thing was exactly why she was there. However, one topic could bubble forth, again and again, shifting in focus but not in the objective of the conversation itself. Vivian shook her head as she placed a piece of tangerine in her mouth. Teeth pushed together, the juice seeping onto her tongue. A gentle groan escaped her lips, but a simple rumble against her teeth as the taste coursed through her mouth. She relished in the simple indulgence before she said,

"I don't, but you do. You have memories, I'm sure, of a time before the relationship with your brother was sullied by inheritance. There is always a subtle manipulation in the attempt to sway yourself back into people's good graces. But, this is the fault of your parents, not entirely your own. That's why I've asked you to stay and talk. William was but a pawn, and the slap on the wrist given to him is enough for him to reconsider being a pawn to such pranks again. But, you? You're both instigator and victim, and I want you, Pleasance, to have every opportunity for reconciliation.

In my experience, scorned brothers respond well to emotional appeals. It is our nature in Anaxas to be both protective and dismissive of women, particularly those in our immediate family. You can utilize that inclination to keep your intentions hidden. Apologize to Arthur, appeal to his better nature. Let him think, if you feel it is necessary, that he's the better person for forgiving you. Mention nothing about your intentions to stop him from reporting to your parents. Better yet, Pleasance, once you leave, go visit him in the informary."

Vivian chuckled softly, draining the last of her drink before she tilted the glass and placed one of the moistened pieces of tangerine in her mouth. She swallowed it after three chews before she asked,

"Are you truly sorry?" A simple question, but one that was imperative for Vivian's decision-making.

[Pleasance Hedgethorne]

Time Stamp

Pleasance wasn't a spiteful or hateful person. There was less in the way of emotion about her. In her life, it was more of a marketplace than a theatre. People had their value and use to give, just as she had to offer her own value and use. The key was getting more out of a deal than the other person. That was the only way to win and feel good about how you'd come out of it. Better still to come out without having spent much at all. She'd yet to figure out a way to turn this to her advantage. Much of her early manipulations had left her stumbling and on the back foot, especially when confronted with more experienced social movers and slickers. Yet she was learning every day, and today she'd picked up quite a few lessons that she could carry forward.

I thought I was meant to get punished here...

Perhaps it was more of a course correction. After all, they were Galdor, alone at the top of society, atop a shaky foundation of lesser races that threatened to give way at the slightest misstep or show of weakness. They were only as useful as they remained pliant to pressures, whether those pressures came in the form of societal manipulation, financial squeezing, or arcane force raining on their heads.

Pleasance wasn't entirely sure if she'd stay on Brunnhold after her graduation. Much of what happened seemed to hinge on what became of her allowance, or so she had thought. Pleasance had believed that it was all stuffy professors and cloistered academics picking at bookworms. She hadn't yet met one like Vivian, who was so full of agency and didn't seem at all like the soft cowards hiding behind lecterns.

Pleasance put the tangerines in her mouth, taking small bites here or there. She'd been taught early on that it was unattractive for ladies to take the whole of something they were eating into their mouth, but to sample it first, then when at last there was barely anything left, to finish it off, and only if they were still hungry.

"I do too!" Pleasance said when Vivian extended the sympathy of her field to the young woman. The student felt a great amount of trust for this woman that she'd so suddenly met, that it almost gave her pause. Her field contracted somewhat but pulsed eventually outward to graze the borders of the liaison's field. It was laced with a measure of ambition, leavened with admiration for Vivian. Then she blushed, "Thank you."

It was rare enough for one of the people of Brunnhold to say they believed in her, who so often lied and cajoled and let others do the less important work that she found dull. Finally, Pleasance thought she'd found one who understood.

She nodded to Vivian, "Yes, you're right. I know what to do and say. Is he well enough to receive visitors then?" Her brow lifted cautiously, her mouth was flattened without emotion.

She took the advice from Vivian gratefully, and finally nodded, "I will, it's the best thing I can do."

Then came a question that caught her off guard. Was she sorry? Sorry meaning she wouldn't do anything like it again? She couldn't promise that. Sorry was such an uncertain state to find oneself in, people said sorry and later repeated offenses. It always struck Pleasance as pitiful to hear the word. She'd known a few students who were so liberal with the term, that it almost made him sick to her stomach.

Yet the truth of the matter wasn't what concerned her. Most of all, she wanted to know what Vivian wanted to hear. She wanted to know what would please her. Pleasance wanted to know what to do so that she might continue to enjoy the praise that had so uplifted her just then.

Did she want her to be sorry? Maybe she felt the same way about those weaklings who were so free to show off their sorrow. That's not to say that Pleasance hadn't shed her share of crocodile tears. She had, yet rarely had she ever said sorry to anyone. Her apologies are always couched in defense of her actions, deflection, subtle transference of guilt.

At last, Pleasance supposed she could bear Vivian's disregard if she told her the truth of what she felt or didn't feel rather. What Pleasance wouldn't abide, was trying to lie her way into her graces. Worse than that, to do it by appearing to be something she disdained. "I'm not sorry. This was going to happen sooner or later. Besides, this will only bring my brother and me closer together."

Pleasance needed allies, friends, and people who could be relied upon. Bonds of blood were the hardest to break, and so she would seek to correct course with Arthur at least, "I won't do it to him again, though. Unless I have to." It was time to stop acting a petulant child, she was eighteen years old already. That meant making the right decisions and choosing more appropriate targets.

[Vivian Rush]

Though punishment was part of the job description for the Liaison of Internal Affairs, Vivian truly didn't relish in enacting it. There was a need for demerits and detentions, of course. This wasn't to say that Vivian was afraid to dole out such punishments, but when given a case file and allowed to investigate it on detail from the top to bottom... Punishment truly had very little place in all of it. Vivian relished in enacting punishment on the lower races, pushing them further and further down until their inferiority was not just a thought, but their default state of being. The galdori, on the other hand... they were not meant to be made inferior. Of course, even the galdori were subject to punishment if they deserved it. The reason William received detention was that there was nothing to be redeemed in him. He was an accessory to the crime, the weapon unleashed upon Arthur and therefore, his punishment was merely a means to an end.

Your potential is great, William, and I look forward to your progress. Use your detention to levy your feelings for Pleasance against the bulwark of logic, she mused. Vivian was not against love, or the idea of it, but she'd wager that the silly boy wouldn't change and if he didn't, then his punishment at least served the purpose of letting him do his homework. Pleasance, on the other hand, wouldn't bode as well in detention. There was little reason to put her in a place with William, writing lines or doing homework she'd get done one way or the other and the liaison was all too aware of the fact of it. Vivian turned her attention away from the the idea of punishment and instead allowed herself to direct fully upon Pleasance herself. Of course Pleasance knew what to do, and the flattery that was her field grazing against hers, the ambition she felt paired with admiration for the liaison herself...

Pleasance continued to endear herself to Vivian. She quite enjoyed it when she was allowed to pry into the lives of the students. Pleasance Hedgethorne was a clever girl, but more than that, she seemed to understand social cues and the twists and turns of conversation. She'd make an exquisite socialite and Vivian wanted to know more about the girl. Glad to hear that Pleasance was taking her advice to heart, she moved on quickly enough to see if the girl would tell the truth or lie. It was clear to Vivian Rush that this girl did not feel apologetic in the slightest. It was something abundantly clear to Vivian that Pleasance was angry, but the question was... who was she angry at? Her answer and how it would affect Vivian's assessment made was of tantamount important. Vivian performed her duties to the letter, and was required to submit a report about her findings.

Not that anyone read them. Vivian had dozens of case files turned into neatly written reports about how she'd dealt with the situation at hand, but there was truly nobody that looked into them unless further incidents were involved. It was a matter of personal pride that no significant incidents involving the galdori student body had evolved into underlying problems.

Your brother should be fine in an hour or so. I appreciate your candor, Pleasance. You're right, of course. Your parents placed you on a timer, a fuse bound to blow at some point. Seek amends, bond with your brother. It's not his fault that all of this has happened. Don't allow your resentment for them turn into hatred for him. Your sibling is the greatest ally you'll ever have." she encouraged gently. Vivian had an idea that crept into her brain, the perfect "punishment" that would bring the liaison and this girl together. Vivian felt that she had much to offer the young woman, and truly, Pleasance possessed qualities that Vivian could admire. While she'd been tongue-tied, an understandable quality given Vivian's field brandished without restraint and her magic giving the propensity for truth-telling, she did not fail to impress Vivian.

"Pleasance, it's my great displeasure to have to assign you a demerit. Just as William spends three weeks in detention, you'll also be assigned three weeks. However, instead of toiling in detention, I want you to come and visit me. I want updates on how you and Arthur are coming along and to advise you on how to deal with the relationship you have with him going forward. You can spend your time in counsel with Lucian and myself. But, there is work to be done. There's quite a lot of paperwork, Pleasance, that needs to be processed. Then, on top of all of everything else, you can satisfy some of your work-study requirements. Politics might suit you more than you think, and the time for you to choose your career is very close." she said, with a wink to follow it all. Truly, it amused Vivian how she could use her position to her advantage.

[Pleasance Hedgethorne]

Time Stamp

The fascination with Vivian Rush had driven most thoughts of William from her mind, but she found herself thinking about what she'd promised him. Tutoring sessions might go well, if she feigned helplessness for the dull parts of it, and then accelerated to the parts that concerned what she really wanted to learn from him. His grasp of perceptive conversation. It seemed a potent weapon, probably more painful than she had anticipated physics and static to be. Why throw fire when you could fool someone into thinking they were on fire?

Yet she found her thoughts drifting back toward the idea of punishment, from either Vivian or in the form of detention in a dank library cell with William, jotting down copies of grimoires or whatever it was they did in the copy rooms. Or whatever they did in detention. Pleasance herself was well behaved, as ever, and hadn't had occasion for detention. Even in cases where the fault did lie with her, she was often able to pawn off the blame on some willing minion.

Her field radiated with enthusiasm at the idea of living the rest of her life as she had her school life. Consequences would rarely touch her. Even now, she thought she held the Liaison around her little finger...

"I'll help him feel better!" She smiled, "I know just the thing...."

When Ms. Rush said that he'd be her greatest ally, Pleasance had to quirk a brow, "Better than an impossibly wealthy husband?" Preferably on death's door, or near enough as made no matter. Pleasance often daydreamed during classes, fantasies of being a happy widow, choosing any company she wished and throwing lavish parties with the spoils of a passed husband.

Of course, these dreams were often interrupted by more realistic thoughts of her elder husband having grown children who might challenge her claim. At that point, the fantasy would fractalize and fracture into possibilities, and ways to dispose of the parasites. From there, she had the fun of mentally planning all the ways she could deal with such pesky relations.

However, such daydreams were nothing to do with this right here, and now. She was about to burst in enthusiasm, on the verge of getting out of punishment, when...

Paperwork? Pleasance didn't hide the disappointment from her face. As the liaison said what else the demerit would entail, she nodded along reluctantly, until she finished. On balance, it wasn't a terrible punishment. She'd get to spend more time with this interesting lady, who she was fast coming to admire. Time that she could spend learning much more from her.

In the end, a bit of copying or scratching marks on a paper seemed a small price to pay for direct access to Vivian Rush's counsel. Plus some of it would contribute to her grades... thus ensuring a greater chance to secure an allowance when she left school. Pleasance sighed, and then gave Ms. Rush a small smile, "I would be pleased to assist you, Ms. Rush." She murmured, uncrossing her arms and folding her hands in her lap.

When Rush made a mention of a suggested field for study, Pleasance gave it serious thought, "Politics... I hadn't thought much about it, really." She popped the last of the tangerine in her mouth, and chewed for a few moments. Once she was done, she nodded, "I think next year there may be a course... but do you really think it'd suit me?"

[Vivian Rush]

It was the responsibility for all students in Brunnhold to find their particular affinities for the sciences, the Monic conversations and the plethora of professional ventures in which one could direct themselves. For some, they understood the nature of physics and chemistry, and as such, utilized the conversations of Static and Physical mona. For others, like Vivian herself, while she could claim some knowledge of the former, she preferred the sciences of political study and psychological enterprise. The sentient mind was Vivian's plaything and specialty both, a thing to be perused and manipulated at the behest of Monic utterances and the various secular languages that the woman spoke. Short conveyances to the mona were spoken under Vivian's breath as she listened to Pleasance exclaimed aloud. The smile upon the young woman's face was a lively thing, and truly, she endeared herself to the sorceress.

However, Vivian was no pawn to be held to the mercy of young woman, men, or elder "superiors". Vivian Rush allowed the 'Reading' spell to whirl about them, and certainly, Pleasance would feel the mona as it acted upon the will of the woman around them. It was a curious thing, to listen to Pleasance talk about husbands of impossible wealth and status. The Rush heiress wondered to herself just how old the young student was willing to go and the realism behind her intentions of marrying and widowing herself to that sort of man. Vivian held no animosity over such intentions. They were merely curious. Wealth, in Vivian's opinion, was an arbitrary thing. The sheer amount of it was useless without a means with which to control and manipulate others into accepting it. Buying lavish things was a waste of the resource unless there was purpose to the investment.

Parties, however, were a shared weakness between the two. Vivian quite enjoyed it every year when she indulged in her birthday parties, where price was hardly an object. An heiress to not one, but two fortunes in the wake of her brother's injuries and disgrace, Vivian had and never would worry about wealth, particularly given that her own profession paid for all of her expenses and beyond. A property in the Stacks was hers, and it was funded by her father's generosity, even as Alcastor deposited funds along with Coraline into a fortune that was set to grow with interest. Vivian had no plans for such fortunes just yet, but it made Vivian wonder just what it was that Pleasance wanted out of her life. The idea swayed her monic influence, intent upon pouring her awareness into the girl's mind to see what she hid behind that pretty face of hers. Once she had the spell held in upkeep, the sorceress informed her charge of what she had done.

In order to properly assess your state of mind and authenticity, Pleasance, I am invoking a 'Reading' spell. Please be honest with me, as I have been with you."

It was no secret to her that there was disappointment in Pleasance's expression, but it was impossible for her to simply... get away with what she'd done. Vivian had to pretend to be impartial, even as her field waxed with what could be described as genuine affection for the girl in front of her. She believed that she understood Pleasance quite well, and had felt the admiration for the liaison in her monic presence. Both fields converged, with Vivian's encircling Pleasance's in offering. The sensation might be as an older sister brushing a younger's hair, the smile set upon Vivian's lips quite visible as the younger woman made it clear that she was 'pleased' to assist her. Perhaps pleased to hear her counsel and pick her brain, but to serve her? All galdori needed to learn the utility of service, and it was fine for Pleasance to learn it at Vivian's heel.

"I'm glad that your 'punishment' is to your tastes, Ms. Hedgethorne,"" the woman teased. With her words, there was a pulse in her field, as if the monic presence itself was chuckling at the words spoken. Vivian leaned forward, taking her glass of water as she entreated the mona to act on her behalf once again. A single syllable spoken aloud pulled at the window behind them. The particles thrust the glass into an open position, and Vivian cradled the glass to stop it from shattering upon impact. A creak could be heard, and it was left at that. A draft pulled into the room, and Vivian reached into the purse adjacent to her desk to withdraw a curved, wooden pipe. She packed tobacco into the bowl, and used a silver lighter to ignite it. She raised her fingers to her lips, winking at Pleasance before the tobacco-filled pipe raised to her lips and she took a pleasant draw.

Smoke pulled into her throat, left at the back of it before she released a plume of smoke that she sought to coax directly out of the window. She tipped her head back, taking a sip of water to follow the motion before she considered Pleasance anew.

"I think, Ms. Hedgethorne, that you'd have quite the knack for it. Several years ago, I was an assistant to one of the Chairs, a fresh-faced graduate out of Brunnhold with perhaps a bit too much pressure on her plate. There are all sorts of pressure, especially on younger women fresh out of school. The Anaxi government is becoming more and more welcoming to women participating, and it is my inclination to follow in the steps of our Headmistress and strike out from beneath the shadow of wealthy and influential parents."

Perhaps Pleasance had taken primary courses with Vivian's mother, Coraline. Perhaps not. But it was without question that the older woman was well-known throughout the school for being a long-standing faculty member and a strict, but understanding professor. Becoming formal faculty within Brunnhold had made Vivian apprehensive at first, but every week she was assured of her mother's pride in her, and it brought the young sorceress to preen and relish in her position ever since. More and more, she considered Brunnhold her home, and the thought both frightened and fascinated her. After all, more-so than Vienda, Brunnhold was the political heart of Anaxas. People just might not see it that way from an outside perspective.

"If you understand social cues, are interested in the current issues of our time, and are intrepid, then politics are for you, Pleasance. There are certain things that being a politician assists one with. Diplomatic immunity, for example,"" she mused, the words spoken almost dismissively, but nevertheless, it was one of the greatest benefits Vivian held close to her chest.

A good safety net is ideal.

Spells

MythicToday at 5:58 PM
/r 1d6
SidekickBOTToday at 5:58 PM
@Mythic: 1d6 = (2) = 2 (Reading)
MythicToday at 6:09 PM
/r 1d6
SidekickBOTToday at 6:09 PM
@Mythic: 1d6 = (2) = 2 (Upwards pull)