Fantasy Arcana

[Noivian]

"May stars guide your feet and magic busy your hands."

The trip to the Observatory was not a difficult one to make. Its imposing brass dome and massive glass lenses towered over most of your home Flight's territory, dwarfing even the distant Crystalspine Reaches, its claw-like peaks jutting out of the Great Ocean. There was a ferry from the Starwood Strand, where your former clan made its home, and the Focal Point, the island on which the Observatory resided, so crossing the water wasn't an issue. Given the Observatory's importance and size, it was hard to get lost while in the Flight territory. Within those shimmering walls, you knew, your Flight's Deity resided. There, you would receive the job you'd carry out for the rest of your life.

Needless to say, you were nervous. Or perhaps that was your motion sickness from the ferry ride acting up.

A row of haphazardly created steps led from ledge to ledge along the island towards the Observatory, and you dutifully followed its path towards what might as well have been your certain doom. You've heard horror stories of Exalts like you being trained and sent to the front lines as warriors, only to die moments after arriving. Those who weren't fighters were either scholars, or if they didn't make the cut, test subjects for the former. Of those three options, only one sounded moderately desirable. At the very least, you'd be able to slack off and look productive as a scholar.

You.... (pick one)
> ...were more studious as a kid. Books were your friend, and if you couldn't read about it, it didn't matter.
> ...liked to play-fight with your clan mates as a kid. More often than not, one or both of you would wind up in the clan infirmary.
> ...spent time practicing something a little more practical as a kid. Hopefully no one will find all the stashes you deposited over the years.

Regardless of what you liked to do, you would have no further say in what you were going to do from here on out. Standing at the shiny brass doors, clad only in your white silken Exalt robes, you take in your expression mirrored back at you.

You're... (pick one)
> ...terrified but resolute.
> ...angry but subdued.
> ...cool and level-headed.

 

[official clown business]

It was a really, really good thing I read the interest check beforehand. I usually don't do that with quests.

You...
> ...spent time practicing something a little more practical as a kid. Hopefully no one will find all the stashes you deposited over the years.
I suppose we're not the sort to spend time in the library or knocking heads then? I'm always up for something more intriguing.

You're...
> ...terrified but resolute.
This seems like a fair emotion to go with. We're ready, but what is it exactly we're going to be ready for?

 

[Felis]

You...
> ...spent time practicing something a little more practical as a kid. Hopefully no one will find all the stashes you deposited over the years.
I'm not against the book option, but this seems more interesting.

You're...
> ...terrified but resolute.
Sounds about right.

 

[official clown business]

You...
> ...spent time practicing something a little more practical as a kid. Hopefully no one will find all the stashes you deposited over the years.
I'm not against the book option, but this seems more interesting.

Hmm... you know what? You're absolutely right. I'm going to change my choice right now.

 

[Noivian]

"Terror dominates your thoughts, but you cannot return home now..."

Placing your palms on the solid doors, you begin to heave, digging your feet into the stone path and pushing open the double doors very slowly. Your former clanmates and other inhabitants of the area probably wouldn't have much trouble opening these doors, but as a mere human, you struggled to garner a gap wide enough to squeeze in. Briefly, you wondered why there were no guards at the doors, or along the paths leading up to the Observatory, but once you managed to squeeze past the doors, that thought flew from your mind with the creaking of ancient hinges, their solid mass closing once again behind you.

The corridor you entered was dark, insanely darker than you thought it was going to be. Whispers of voices, the chattering of claws on metal and wood, the wooshing of fabric told you that you were not alone in the area. Your feet were growing cold from the floor, what you could only assume to be pure marble with some kind of metal marking the border between slabs. Despite the darkness, you could tell that there was shortly a wall before you, but whatever roof there might be was far, far above. This fact was made perfectly clear by the movement of air above you, as well as the space briefly being occupied by the voices, subdued and ghost-like.

Reaching a hand out to the wall, you took a few steps forwards to feel its smooth metal surface and follow along its gently curving path inwards. Your footsteps were slow, but your heartbeat hammered in your chest, pounding in your ears and nearly drowning out the sound of your breathing, which in and of itself you were pretty sure was the reason you felt so many eyes on your back. The further you walked, the brighter the room seemed to get, darkness permeated by a dim lavender light. At last you reached an open doorway, through which you could see the room beyond.

The first thing to catch your eye was the sheer amount of candles floating about in the air. Their purple flame tinted the room a lavender color, but despite how many there were the room never got much brighter than if there were one candle lit at all times. The second thing you noticed was the sheer amount of books, books and scrolls and tomes filled bookshelves that extended up into darkness, starcharts and maps hung in the air, as if suspended on an invisible and intangible wall, note pages sprawled incoherently littered the floor. You could see in the dim light other shapes in robes like your own, other Exalts tasked with attempting to organize the notes which seemed to magically poof into existence as you watched. The sight reminded you of the story of the man in the underworld, pushing a boulder up a hill but forever unable to complete his task.

As you stepped into the room, a few more things occurred to you that you could not possibly comprehend from the other side of the door frame. You were nearly knocked off your feet at the room's atmosphere. Not the physical charge or the feel of the room, but the sheer amount of raw magic surging through this area nearly made you sick. You've been shown a leyline before by your clan magistrates, but standing on that was noting compared to the overwhelming potency of this singular room. And the feeling abruptly stopped at the end of the room, too. But then it made sense why such a volatile element would halt so suddenly at the edge of a room - the room itself was fluid with its dimensions. It didn't matter what you perceived the distance from one point to another to be while in the room, as that distance changed the very moment you could think it. It could theoretically take you two seconds to cross the room, or an hour to take what used to be two steps back into the hall you were in prior. Trying to comprehend the room was difficult and made your brain hurt, so you instead turned your focus onto the two most important things in the room instead.

A massive telescope dominated the center of the room, extending down out of the unseen darkness of the ceiling. It was made entirely of burnished brass, the end of the telescope where the lens was especially worn from constant usage. The thing using the telescope, you would have called a coiled serpent if it weren't for the four arms it bore, two on either side above its ribs where you'd expect arms to be on a human, and one immediately below either. The topmost hands busied themselves operating the telescope, long claws turning delicate dials and lifting the lens to its face, while the lower pair busied themselves rapidly producing notes, incoherent scribbles to the untrained eye, charting what could only be assumed as constellations and galaxies in deep space. The being's body was covered in pink scales, the underside a paler color, and it bore a large crest atop its head, mirrored spikes rounded at the tips ending about midway down its back. It also bore a massive pair of wings, and as the being shifted, a second tinier and more vestigial-looking set of wings made itself known just inside the larger set. The sheer size of the thing made it perfectly clear why this room was the way it was - had it not been for the fluid dimensions, you doubted this massive dragon would have even fit within the Observatory at all.

One of its long, pointed ears twitched, as if hearing you, and soon its was turning its massive head to look in your direction, eyes glowing bright pink with magic to the point there was no visible pupil or sclera. This, you realized, was the Arcanist. This was the deity you were to serve for the rest of your life. His lower hands stilled, and suddenly you realize you have his full attention. All the other Exalts in the room halt their progress, noting their deity's shift in focus, and look towards you expectantly.

You.... (pick one)
> ...humbly apologize for the intrusion. Get on your hands and knees, perhaps beg forgiveness.
> ...take a more confrontational approach. Who knows when you're gonna have this opportunity again? Demand your freedom!
> ...approach like you would a friend - casually and with as little regard for status as possible. He's a deity, so what? You wear the pants in this relationship.

Felis official clown business

 

[official clown business]

These choices all have a flair for the extreme...
> ...approach like you would a friend - casually and with as little regard for status as possible. He's a deity, so what? You wear the pants in this relationship.
I was fine with apologizing, not really down for grovelling. That's what a normal person would probably do in front of the Arcanist, as it's the safest way to stay on his good side.
But what happens if we do something completely different? Something... unexpected?

 

[NekoQueen49]

> ...approach like you would a friend - casually and with as little regard for status as possible. He's a deity, so what? You wear the pants in this relationship.

Yeah this seems like the most reasonable option. Besides, you might get bonus points for being friendly but assertive

 

[Felis]

You...
> ...approach like you would a friend - casually and with as little regard for status as possible. He's a deity, so what? You wear the pants in this relationship.
Apologizing for the intrusion is all well and good, but as we were supposed to come here, the option to go along with it seems a bit too much, god or no. And the confrontational approach seems pretty pointless here.