Fantasy The Owl House - Statice and Oak

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey noticed his hand and stopped, listening to his agreement that they should see all of the clubs, but they should take it slow. Thomas was right, Audrey tended to rush, a characteristic that her own mentor also noticed. Liberi had taught her to temper her eagerness, and while in a fight, she adhered to her teachings well, this was just school. A fair about clubs in a school, so why not cut loose a little? But in this case, the both of them were right. It was better to go slow, so they could be more thorough, certainly less spontaneous, but there were so many clubs that she had never even heard of, and she wanted to see them all for herself.

Audrey nodded, "You're right. Slow and steady." she said, "Lets go to the right row first!" She started running down the stairs. And it wasn't long until a stall caught her eye, it was the second club she spotted in the right side row. The Board Games Club. Three club members, and four new students were playing a board game, as the club sign advertised. But this board game was massive, Audrey had never seen anything like it before. The board displayed the whole of the boiling isles, as well as a few errant islands surrounding the isles, and each player had a colored miniature. They were playing as Coven Heads, and their goal was to work together to bring peace and unity to the isles. She looked at the board, noticing that miniatures of wild and dangerous demons were placed on the board, as well as bands of wild witches. In this particular case, a Selkidomus was threatening a small fishing village on the coast, and the seven players were discussing on how to deal with the Selkidomus, along with the multitude of other tasks they had to do, like gathering resources, dealing with other threats, and exploring. It seemed interesting, but also the set looked prohibitively expensive, granted that it had so many miniatures and decks of cards. And it looked very detailed.

Audrey looked down the row, noting that they really were just at the very start. The cooking and gardening club were in the middle of the row, and she noticed that the situation had calmed down greatly since she last looked at them just moments ago. At the very least, no witch was screaming or shouting. And beyond that, the grudgby club had their booth. She looked over to Thomas, moving over to his side, and leaning over to whisper to him while still looking at the board game clubs ongoing game. "Looks interesting, but also they've been talking about what they should all do for the past two minutes." She said. Selkidomus's were peaceful creatures she thought, only becoming agitated when something threatened their young, so why was this fictional one threatening this fictional town? She looked around the board, spotting a smaller Selkidomus model, with a Wild Witch model next to it on a nearby island from the fishing village. Did the game have rules accurate to Selkidomus behavior? "You know I've actually seen a Selkidomus before. They're bigger than you'd expect." She commented.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

He nodded, looking at her as she acknowledged his words- "Slow and steady." The pair decided to make their way to the right row of stalls first. Thomas nodded in agreement as he followed Audrea, letting her lead the way, as was typical. Thomas was certainly more of the follower type, not a leader. As they went down the row, Thomas looked, a slightly confused look on his face as he saw many clubs he had never even heard of or seen before. But Audrea seemed to be intrigued by almost all of them, her eagerness abounding. But the young witch girl beside him seemed to be interested in a certain club in that very moment, the board game club. The members of that club seemed to be in the middle of a game right now involving different types of creatures, Coven Head Witches, and Wild Witches. But Thom wasn't fully paying attention to that.

Just beyond the board game club booth was the stall for the coveted grudgby team. Thomas didn't realize it, but as Audrea had been watching the board game booth and saying something to him about the seal-like creature, the Selkidomus, and nerding out about it, Thom's attention was occupied by the grudgby team booth. Audrea's voice was just background noise to him at this point, unintentionally, as he was in a day-dream-like trance staring over at the grudgby team stall. His mouth opened slightly, looking almost hypnotized by the booth. His eyebrows raised and his eyes were wide, almost glistening with a hope, a certainly dream- a tiny flame inside and a desire to play the sport, as he looked on. There were a few confident looking young witches, many of them proudly puffing their chest out with a certainly boastful air to them as they pridefully represented the Hexside grudgby team at the booth. Damn, Thom thought, he'd never have a chance here. These young witches were far more talented than he was, and much more athletic. As Audrea went on talking about the Selkidomus, Thomas just slowly nodded, pretending to listen as he let himself be captured by the grudgby booth, his mouth slightly open and his eyes glimmering with hope and desire.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey was about to ask Thomas if he had a guess as to how much longer the board games club would take to make their decisions, but when she looked at him, she noticed that he was looking elsewhere. She tried to figure out what he was looking at, looking down the row of stands, and she looked back and forth to try and narrow what he was looking at. Was he looking at witches? There were quite a few sporty types in this part of the fair, since the grudgby team had their booth down the row, and at the end of the row, the swim team and the flyer derby team had stands as well. She looked at him, and he seemed to be stunned with starry eyed awe. She thought of herself as sporty, but she never really showed it here at Hexside. If she rolled up her sleeves more, would she have more of a sporty look? She thought to herself, sometimes she did that whenever she had to get her hands dirty with something, but she didn't really do that sort of thing here at Hexside for the week since starting at Hexside. Did he spot a club he wanted to look at? She looked down the row, there were so many clubs even just down this part of the fair that she couldn't possibly begin to guess as to what he was looking at, even if she narrowed it down by half. She narrowed her eyes in thought, then came up with a plan.

She stepped around Thomas and stood behind him, leaning in close to him. She put her hand on his shoulder, "Whatcha lookin' at?" She asked playfully, "A girl? Or a boy?"
He might not have been looking at any witches, and personally, Audrey didn't think so. But the wild and most embarrassing guess could make him reveal what he was truly looking at in an effort to correct her.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas has been so infatuated with the grudgby booth that he hadn't noticed Audrea looking at him, wondering what his attention was caught on with starry-eyed wonder. All he could think about was grudgby now, and playing the sport. No wonder why his parents made him stop watching it or made his father shoo him out of the room when he was watching it on the crystal ball when Thom was younger. But alas, Thomas was a bit of a short and skinny kid. He wasn't scrawny, but he was a bit of a light-weight- someone who might easily get pushed around. But that didn't stop the boy from having his day dream fantasies right then and there.

Suddenly, Thomas felt a soft touch on his shoulder coming from behind him as a playful voice asked him what he was looking at. He immediately snapped out of his little trance and turned around to face Audrea. His eyebrows shot up and his eyes went wide very quickly as the girl teased him, asking if he was looking at a girl, or a boy for that matter, although he didn't think he "swung that way." Thomas' face instantly flushed red, becoming extremely embarrassed from the question Audrea had just asked him, whether it was meant to tease him or it was legitimate, it still caused the boy to blush profusely, his face turning bright red in that moment as the blood rushed to his cheeks.

"Huh what?!" stumbled Thomas as he turned around, snapping out of his little day-dream-like trance and look of starry-eyed wonder over at the grudgby booth. Of course, by now, his face was bright red and Thomas was blushing profusely. "W- what?! No! I swear!" he said quickly, very defensively. "It's not a girl- I - I swear! O- or a boy!" he shouted, stuttering and quickly coming to his own defense. "I umm w- was just umm looking at one of that stalls! Yea! That's all!..." he told her, stuttering and cracking an awkward smile towards her to let Audrea know that was the reason for his staring. He was very careful in his choice of words not to mention which specific booth he had been eyeing.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey smiled, so it was a club stall after all, at least according to his confession. But he didn't say which one, and she caught him more off guard than she expected, he nearly stumbled over his words. That look he had reminded her of those looks characters give each other in those romantic drama shows on the crystal ball, whatever this club was, he was passionate about it. So why was he so cagey about it? When she asked him if he had a club he wanted to go to, he said he didn't have any, and just now he didn't say which club it was. She looked back down the row, then at him again.
"Let's go see that club then, you're clearly into it, I saw the look on your face." She said, "Or should I guess?"
Audrey went down the row to a club vaguely where he was looking at, ending up in front of a fishing club booth. The booth wasn't very interesting, at least to Audrey. There were fishing rods, some nets, some spears for spearfishing, mostly pictures of students with various fish. She looked back at Thomas expectedly. "We can go back to the clubs I want to look at later, let's look at yours first." She said to him.

She wondered what kind of clubs he would even be interested in. Reading, of course, he said that was one of his hobbies, but he didn't want to visit any of the book or reading clubs here. The genre he enjoyed was adventure, so maybe the hiking club? Or the rock climbing club? Those were plenty adventurous, but he didn't seem at all interested in her offers of adventure and airship. It was probably something out of left field, and that made her curious. She walked over to another booth, this time standing in front of a stargazing club, she kept her eyes on Thomas though, to gauge his reaction. Eventually she would find out which club he was looking at.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas looked nervously at Audrea as she smiled back at him, finally getting somewhat to the bottom of what he was staring at from afar. It certainly wasn't a particular witch. No one had quite caught Thomas' fancy here at Hexside- not that he was particularly looking for a romantic relationship or anything. His eyes widened as a worried look came across his face as Audrea suggested that they go look at the club he was eyeing. Luckily for him, as of now, she didn't seem to know or see which specific club Thomas was eyeing. He felt his stomach do a flip as she proposed they look at the club Thomas was looking at first before they went to the various different stalls and clubs that Audrea seemed to be interested in. Was he to tell her, tell her the truth and admit what club booth he was looking at and embarrass himself in front of her in that very moment?

The young blonde haired witch gulped nervously as he internally debated with himself inside of his head. He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, "N- no it's fine, w- we can go look at the clubs you wanna see," he said, pushing his own desires aside for now, "I- it's stupid anyways, I wasn't really looking to go to the stall...." he said softly, frowning and looking at the ground, shifting his weight around on each leg awkwardly as he stood there with her. He figured she'd laugh at him if he were to admit that he wanted to go check out the grudgby booth. He didn't need to be laughed at and made fun of by his new friend- his first friend here- his only friend at Hexside.... Thomas waved his arms, shoving aside Audrea's proposal of looking at the clubs that Thomas wanted to. "I- it's nothing, really..." he said quietly, frowning and looking at the ground, thinking his dreams and desires regarding grudgby were a bit stupid. He wasn't cut out for that sport, he was a timid and pretty skinny kid. Sure, he was slimly built and wasn't like a scrawny twig, but his demeanor certainly wasn't one of an athlete for such a physical sport, especially one that most of the athletes who played it exuded so much confidence.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey pouted and crossed her arms, there he went putting himself down. She watched him fidget in place, and she sensed his discomfort. And Audrey would have normally backed away from the topic, but... she felt for him, and guessed that he must have shared his passion before in the past, and was made fun of for it. Or put down because of it, and she remembered when that happened to her, her first week at Glandus, when she tried to share her books. And then she learned how to push back. But Thomas must have been still feeling the effects of that first time. She understood that it stuck with people, whenever that happened, since it stuck with her. And she also understood that the way to get past it was with courage, something that maybe she could give him, in this particular situation. Audrey walked over to Thomas's side.

"It's not stupid. It's something you like, that's not nothing, it's a something. And besides, we're not here for me." Audrey pointed a finger at herself, "We're here for us." She pointed at him then herself, back and forth. Words like that came easy to her, after all, she had been thinking about and saying what words would have helped her back then for years in her head. She took a step forward and spun on the balls of her feet to face Thomas. "Come on Thom, it's only fair we go and see the one club you want to see, when we're going to see the dozen I want to see. I promise I won't judge." She practically pleaded with her eyes.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas fidgeted with discomfort as he stood there, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He quickly glanced over at the grudgby team's stall as he noticed in the corner of his eye Audrea walking over to his side. The boy turned to face her as she began to speak. Her voice was calm yet determined, confident. His eyes widened as she began speaking to him, saying something about how she didn't think it was stupid that he was eyeing a particular booth. Maybe normally, he thought, but surely she'd think it was very silly once he told her the truth- if he did tell her what booth he was looking at.

He looked at her as she spoke, telling him that they weren't there just for her. Thom watched her finger as she quickly pointed at her, then back to him, and back and forth repeatedly for a little bit. But still, the boy couldn't help but feel embarrassed for a passion- no, a silly childhood dream of his. Sure, Audrea said it couldn't be that bad and that she wouldn't judge, but of course, that was because she didn't know yet what club Thomas was hoping to take a look at, he thought. Surely her opinion of this matter would change if he truly revealed it to her- and who could blame her if so? He continued watching the girl as she stepped in front of him, spinning on the balls of her feet to eventually face him, now seemingly pleading with him. He looked back at her, into her eyes as she practically pleaded with him. Staring back at him were begging eyes, almost like puppy-dog eyes. Admittedly, Thomas thought to himself in the way back of his mind, she looked a bit cute like that when she was pleading with him with those eyes of her. But this thought wasn't at the forefront of his mind right now.

But how could he say no to those eyes? To his friend, his only friend here at Hexside? The one who could have easily ditched the shy, meek, seemingly weak link of the whole school. What benefit did Audrea stand to gain from sticking with him? Nothing, that was what, Thom thought. Just her pure newfound friendship with him meant a whole lot, more than she probably even knew herself. He closed his eyes, looking away from her after their eyes were locked with each other for what seemed like minutes. Thom sighed, looking of to the side temporarily, "Ugh, fine...." he groaned, finally caving into his pleading friend in front of him. "I'll tell you," he said, turning his head to face Audrea now. He looked at her directly in her eyes, a very serious look on his face. "But you promise not to laugh, ok?" he said, his tone almost grave. He closed his eyes shut quickly as he winced, the following words seemingly hard to spit out. His eyes were squeezed shut tightly to avoid having to look at her facial expression when he admitted what club he was looking at to her as he tilted his head away from her for further "security" in his mind. "I was looking at the grudgby team's stall over there...." said the boy softly but quickly, finally admitting to his friend here the truth. He kept his eyes shut as he awaited a response from her, highly doubting she wouldn't laugh at such a silly thing. A boy of his stature, of his meek and shy personality, on a grudgby team? Ridiculous!

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

It took Thom a while to make his decision, and Audrey stood there patiently, until finally he sighed and said fine. She smiled wide and nodded eagerly when he asked her to promise not to laugh. He shut his eyes and finally revealed what he was looking at. Grudgby! Audrey paused and thought for a moment, and remembered that the teachers in Glandus told her that she should join their Grudgby club, that she would be good at it. And Audrey, being in her rebellious violent phase, vehemently refused to. Why would she? When she had rivals, bullies, and witches who held a grudge against her, showing off her techniques and moves was the last thing she wanted to do. Social reputation to her was a worthless currency, mysteriousness and safety was more worthwhile. And now, the details of what Grudgby was exactly escaped her, she remembered two teams, a ball, and... was that about it?

"Grudgby huh? Let's go and see them then!" She said, taking off towards the club booth. She nudged her way through the crowd of witches around that section of the fair, making a path for Thomas, directly to the front of the stand. She looked back at him and gestured for him to get over. The Grudgby team booth was occupied by two members of the team, neither of them were the Captain, but they had their jackets on, proud of being on the team. On the table were pamphlets, handbooks, various trophies, a Grudgby ball, photos of their wins, and a sheet for tryouts, as well as a few other things, but those caught Audrey's attention first. She picked up a handbook and flipped through it, inside were various spells and strategies used by Grudgby players, her eyebrows went up in surprise at it's contents. "Well, there's a lot more to Grudgby than I thought." She commented to Thomas.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas stood there, his eyes shut tightly closed as he looked as if he were cringing and wincing, as if Audrea had raised her hand to strike down upon the boy. But in reality, he was just waiting for the laughs from his friend or the judgement that he was sure was to come. But something was different than Thomas had expected it to go.... The boy slowly opened his eyes and ever so slightly returned from his wincing/defensive position to a more natural one as he heard Audrea's reaction. She seemed- ok with it?! Thomas was confused. He was expecting her to at least bat an eye or something, maybe chuckle slightly, scoff- at least something! But she did nothing of the sorts, she had held true to her word not to laugh. Truly, Thomas was beginning to believe more and more, Audrea was a genuinely good friend.

The boy raised a suspicious eyebrow, almost not being able to convince himself or believe that her reaction to his what he thought was a "silly interest" for someone of his stature was truly real. But it was- she hadn't laughed, nor had she cast any sort of doubt or judgement upon Thomas. He watched as Audrea made her way along to the grudgby booth, nodding his head briefly and quickening his pace to eventually catch up with her and walk alongside her to the stall. Behind Audrea, Thomas watched as the girl essentially weaved her way through the crowd of people, making a little path for Thomas to follow soon after her without having to bump into too many students, since admittedly the club fair was VERY crowded with all of the eager Hexside students.The boy felt his little heart beating out of his chest now as his stomach sank, Thomas getting an anxious feeling as he nervously approached the grudbgy team stall. What would they think of him, Thomas wondered. Would they laugh? Surely they wouldn't see him as a potential grudgby player.... He was too meek and shy to make the team.... too weak....

Thomas nervously darted his eyes back and forth from the two team members running the stall. They both wore a grudgby team letterman jacket, clearly proud to be displaying their merchandise and prideful about being on the school's grudgby team. But Thomas noticed that there was now big letter "C" on either of the two players' jacket, meaning that neither of those kids there was the captain of the team- the position that Thomas had foolishly once dreamed of being when he grew up, as a little child. Thomas' eyes widened as he looked on at the grudgby team's stand with awe, seeing all of the different trophies, balls, championship banners, and pamphlets that they had to offer. Thomas was particularly astounded by the rich history of the Hexside grudgby team. He foolishly had hoped as a kid that he would one day be one of many great Hexside grudgby players, like the ones he and his dad used to watch on the crystal ball when he was a little child. Thomas grabbed one of the pamphlets, intently reading it and flipping through it with awe and wide eyes of wonder. He skimmed and read a lot, everything from about the history of the Hexside team and their championships to their magical spells and strategies that were used in the game of grudgby. Once he had flipped through a good amount of the informative Hexside grudgby pamphlet, something had caught his attention out of the corner of his eyes..... the sign up sheet for try outs....

His eyes widened as he gulped nervously, looking at the list. Surely it was stupid to even PUT his name down there on that sheet. It was nonsense, he told himself, nonsense that HE would ever think that he could play grudgby on the school team. Plus, what would his parents think? Surely they would disapprove! They had expressed to Thomas from a very young age once they had noticed the little boy taking an interest in the sport when his father would sit on the couch and watch it on the crystal ball. His father and mother would warn him of how dangerous and physical a game the sport of grudgby was and that he was to never play it. He was "far too previous to get hurt," his parents had told him out of love. The mere thought of their one and only little boy participating in and getting injured in such a violent sport was a horrifying thought for Andrew and Bella Vlasic. Thomas sighed as he just nodded his head slowly, agreeing with Audrea's statement about grudgby as he stared with wide eyes blankly at the sign-up sheet as he didn't even make direct eye contact with his friend beside him. "Yea.... th- there is a lot to it..." he replied softly, looking almost hypnotized by the sign-up sheet, the paper essentially CALLING his name out to him.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

She flipped to the end of the booklet and spotted a particular move performed with plant magic. The Thorn Vault? Audrey looked at it more closely, unsurprised that plant magic could do such a feat, her surprise came from the fact that it was so similar to the Abomored Charge move that Liberi had taught her. Where the Thorn Vault created a massive thorned vine at an angle, granting the caster height and speed over opponents, the Abomored Charge essentially did the same thing. Instead of a thorned vine, Liberi and Audrey would create a pillar of clay beneath their feet and it would launch them towards an opponent or location, usually at an opponent. The spells were so similar, she wondered where each came from. Liberi never told her where he learned how to do the Abomored Charge, and she never asked. She wondered what other spells there were in Grudgby, and she turned to Thomas to ask, since he seemed to be interested in the sport. But she saw him staring a hole into the sign up sheet. She tried waving a hand in his peripheral vision, but he didn't seem to respond.

So she turned to the Grudgby players.
"So tryouts, what does that entail exactly? And when is it?" Audrey asked,
"Oh. It's simple, take the ball from one end of the field to the other and throw it through the hoop. The field is reactive and has traps, so we want to see if you can even make it across without another team trying to stop you. Tryouts start next week after school too, and if you pass, there's another round the week after." The player informed.
"If we sign it do we have to do it?"
The player laughed, "Oh, no, you can just sit on the bleachers and watch if you want. The sign up sheet is just so we know how many balls to bring, and how long tryouts would take."
"Okay, thanks." Audrey said, and she took the pen and leaned over to the sign up sheet, writing in E.SANO. She turned to Thomas, "Are you coming too? Even if you don't want to run on the field, you could cheer me on." She said with a smile and a wink, "I'd do better if you were there."

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Almost seemingly hypnotized by the sign-ups sheet, Thomas didn't respond much to Audrea waving a hand up and down in his peripheral vision. Eventually though, he snapped out of his little trance as Audrea asked the player behind the stand a question and they began talking. Thomas looked at the player as they spoke, informing Audrea of what the grudgby team try outs had ensued. He gulped nervously as the player explained all the details. Surely, he thought to himself, he wasn't cut out for this. A concerned and worried look came across his face as he looked down and watched Audrey sign up for grudgby tryouts. He wasn't aware that she had any interest in this sort of thing, and was a bit surprised to see her write her name down on the sign-up sheet. Thomas slowly brought one of his hands up, hovering it above the pen near the sheet but tensing up and snapping it back down at his sides as Audrea spoke to him- as if he were caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing.

Thomas' eyes widened with surprise as Audrea offered for him to come and watch her, stating clearly that "she'd do better if he were there" to cheer her on. His eyes darted around, from Audrea to the player to the sign-ups sheet anxiously. "Oh I err uhh..." he stuttered, beginning to twiddle with his fingers nervously now, "Ermm..." he said as he looked back at the sign-up sheet and stared at it for a little while. Every fiber of his being wanted to pick up that pen and put his name on that list and attend tryouts next week, but what would Audrea say? How would the player behind the stall react? Surely they'd both laugh at him or at least undeniably internally think that the boy had no chance of making the team. His mother always repeated the following cliche to him: "Always follow your dreams," but should he really now? Surely he wasn't going to beat Audrea- she was much more stronger than him, seemingly her days at Glandus building her into a "tough and hardened" veteran of some sorts, certainly with much more athletic prowess than he. Thomas kept on staring at the sign-up sheets, a nervous and unsure look on his face as he was seemingly at a loss for words, holding his tongue and not uttering another sound for now. Was it even worth it to put his name on that list? To humiliate himself in front of the grudgby team and everyone trying out for it? Thomas internally debated with himself as to whether or not he should really do this- should he sign up for tryouts and make a fool out of himself, or just sit down like the little weak, coward, meek, shy boy that he was and watch his bigger stronger friend make the team?

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Thomas seemed to have second thoughts about signing up, and it seemed like something was stopping him from doing so. Not just being shy or nervous about sharing his passion. Audrey herself wasn't terribly interested in joining the team, she just wanted him to at least be at tryouts, either participating or watching, so he could be closer to the sport. She couldn't remember the last time she went to a library, after seeing her bullies hanging around the Latissa Library her first years at Glandus. She ended up giving up on her so many of her passions for so long, because there were things stopping her, and not enough encouraging her. She didn't want that for Thomas.
"You should go." Audrey said to him, leaning on the booth, "You like Grudgby don't you? Go for it, stand on the field, feel the ball with your hands, wear the gear, just so you can say to yourself that you did. You shouldn't let anything or anyone stop you." She said confidently.

Behind her, the two Grudgby players looked at each other, hearing what Audrey said, and how could they not, they were right next to her. But they smiled at each other and one nodded to the other, and gave Thomas thumbs ups.
"Yeah go for it! A bunch of our players just graduated so honestly we'll take anyone with a pulse who can run across a field!" One Grudgby player admitted to Thomas. Audrey blinked in shock and slowly turned to look at the Grudgby players. "Does your friend always say stuff like that? Our current Captain is such a jerk, he doesn't even show up to practices, and he just uses his rank to get dates!" She complained, "And it's not like we can kick him out because he has seniority an-" The other Grudgby player clamped her hand over the first players mouth, but she continued talking with muffled words.
"We'll be glad to have the both of you, ignore everything after her first sentence.” The second player said with panicked quickness. Audrey looked back at Thomas, suddenly more unsure, which was clearly shown on her face. It seemed like the Hexside Banshee's were having some trouble, but nevertheless, she wanted Thomas to at least experience some part of the sport he showed so much interest in. She gave him a shaky smile.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thom looked to Audrey as her voice snapped him out of staring blankly at the sign-ups sheet but taking no action. He nodded in response to her question. Yes he liked grudgby, but truthfully, he had never really played. All he saw was grudgby on the crystal ball when his dad would watch- but that was when Thomas was a little crawling toddler and a younger kid. Once he was old enough to really understand what was going on, Thomas' father Andrew had stopped watching the sport in hopes of stopping his son from taking an interest in it anymore. Yes, the dream died out quickly, but there was still that interest, that desire, that passion deep down to play the sport of grudgby one day within Thomas. Audrey's words were inspiring and encouraging, urging Thomas further to pick up that pen and write his name down on the sheet.

Even the two grudgby player behind the stall began to speak, having something to say. His eyes widened as he felt a very small uncontrollable grin form across his face as the players spoke. They said that many of the players this year were graduating, so they'd need a lot more newcomers to fill their spots on the team. Essentially, "they'd take anyone with a pulse who could run across a field!" Thomas' face lit up. The boy was too caught up on the sentence: ".... we'll take anyone with a pulse who can run across a field," that he totally tuned out the rest of the players' blabbering about the captain and how he only used his rank as a social status thing and to snag dates. Everything but that sentence, that sentence of hope, was tuned out. Thomas thought that now, he truly had a chance of making this team! Maybe, just maybe, he could prove everyone wrong, and really stick it to his parents! Sure, maybe he'd get in trouble for coming home next week if he made the team saying "Mom, dad, I made the grudgby team," but it would at least be some cause for surprise that the little weak and timid boy had made the team which had such a rich history in such a rough and tough sport.

Eventually after thinking it over internally within his mind. Thomas looked from the two grudgby players behind the stall and back to Audrea. Now, a newfound look of confidence came across Thomas' face, probably a look that Audrea had never seen on the boy's face in her couple of weeks of knowing the kid. He furrowed his brow with determination and nodded once, "Alright, I'll do it!" he said, bringing his hand to grab the pen. He stuck his tongue out a bit and furrowed his brows as he quickly jotted town T. Vlasic underneath Audrea's name on the sign up sheet. He grinned, clearly pleased with himself as he placed the pen down and put his hands on his hips. "Alright," he said, panting ever so slightly, as if writing his name was a challenge that required a great deal of effort. "I did it, I'm going to try out for the team!" Thomas boldly declared.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey saw Thomas's face harden, he picked up the pen and focused. It reminded her of when he concentrated for the fire spell, but with more. He may have stumbled onto casting fire, but with this, there was no accidentally writing your name onto the paper. She could only imagine the determination needed to overcome whatever invisible barriers he was trying to overcome at that moment, but she was glad to have been a part of the catalyst to make him go. He set the pen tip down onto paper and wrote his name, and in a mere second, he had leapt over the hurdle. He smiled, and Audrey smiled with him, as he struck a confident pose.
"We'll go together then." She said, "In a week when tryouts starts." She reminded, looking over to the cooking and gardening booths, "In the meantime, let's grab a bite to munch on while we flip through this." Audrey said, bringing up the handbook again, and tapping it with a finger. "We can use the stuff inside this to our advantage."

Over by the gardening and cooking stalls, things had finally calmed down, thanks to some rope and a canine muzzle strapped to the chaotic plant. Witches began to visit the booths again, brought to the clubs by the aroma of a sweet, coconutty, herbal, green waffle, made by the a senior member of the cooking club. Audrey herself found herself curious at the scent, and caught herself staring for a few moments. She shook herself out of it and handed her copy of the handbook to Thomas, "Here, take this and find a nice spot of grass over there." She gestured in the general direction away from the school with a thumb, "I'll grab us some of those green waffles."

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas nodded, still grinning a beaming grin of confidence as he looked at Audrea who stated that they'd try out together. At least, he thought, when he did try out, he wouldn't be alone, and he'd have his one and only friend here at Hexside right alongside him, granted- she might be a bit better than him at it and ab it more strong and athletic than him. She seemed a whole lot tougher than most of the kids here at Hexside. He nodded, smiling as he picked up one of the grudgby hand books and took it with him. This he would read, in secret of course up in his room, out of view from his parents, for a week before the actual try outs started. That way, he'd be knowledgeable on all of the different sort of tricks and tactics the game had to offer. "Good idea, I'm taking one of these," said Thomas as he snagged on of the hand books.

And so, the pair left the grudgby booth, young Thomas surprising happy and pleased with himself that he had successfully mustered up the courage to sign up to try out for grudgby, in hopes of becoming a Hexside Banshee one day, in only his first year here! How cool would that be? Thomas wore a smile on his face now that didn't seem to falter as he followed Audrea along. It seemed that almost nothing could wipe that proud smile off of Thomas' face now. His confidence was seemingly beaming from that grin of his. He nodded as he sat down in a nice little spot of grass that Audrey had picked out for them as she stated that she was going to fetch some green waffles for them. Thomas raised an eyebrow, "Hmm green waffles?" he asked. His expression turned back to a happier one as he gave her a little thumbs up. "Sounds interesting! I'm totally down to try it!" he declared happily as he looked back at Audrea. Normally, Thomas might have protested or maybe been a bit hesitant to try the new food, but he seemed to have had a total change in demeanor, a new air of confidence about him, like he was ready to tackle the world head on. It seemed as if something as small as actually putting his name on the sign-ups sheet for grudgby had made him feel temporarily invincible.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

It didn't take long for her to return with the waffles, they were folded into paper cups, with no toppings, but given how many witches seemed happy with theirs, Audrey assumed it didn't need any. As she approached Thomas and sat next to him, she had her sight set on a particular spot next to a tree a few dozen feet away. She glanced around as she offered one waffle to Thomas, noting that no other witches were paying attention to where she was looking, and even Thomas himself seemed not to notice. It made her uneasy, but she ignored it for now.

"Find anything interesting? I saw the Thorn Vault earlier and I can do something like that. So we at least have that." Audrey said, she tenderly poked the waffle, finding that it had cooled off enough. She pinched it, feeling the crunchy exterior crumble under her fingers, and she tore away a part of the waffle. Steam rose from it, filling the air with its herbal aroma. She tossed the waffle bit into her mouth and chewed, the sweetness, coupled with the coconut, and the flavor of herbal floralness, nuttiness, hints of vanilla, rose, almond and grass, made for an exotic treat. She smiled, and made a noise of approval as she tore off another piece and ate it. "I'm gonna have to find a way to get that recipe." Audrey said after her second bite, she then took out her Grudgeby handbook, flipping to the Abomination section to see what was there. She spotted some basic moves familiar to any Abomination witch who had experience in dueling, large hands from the ground to stop attacks or traps.

She then rose her eyebrows in surprise when she turned the next few pages. The Clay Conveyor, a move where the Abomination witch turns the floor into abomination goo, and uses it to skate across the field, generating speed. It was so familiar to the clay slide move she learned from Liberi. "I can do this too?" She wondered, pointing at the Clay Conveyor, she was more used to making only a few feet of floor goo, since her way was to start an attack out of distance as a feint to bait an opponents guard, and then slide into a different attack from a different angle. Clay Conveyor was just that, but with a longer strip of goo. She turned to Thomas, "I'm finding out that a lot of the techniques I learned from my mentor are really similar to the stuff in this book. Weird." She said.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas watched as Audrea came back to their little spot with some waffles. Thomas smiled and nodded once as he took one of the waffles that Audrey had offered to him. "Thanks," he replied softly as he took the waffle. As Audrea spoke, Thomas listened, chomping into one of the waffles. It tasted good- no toppings needed! "Dang this is good!" the boy said, his taste buds being hit with a large array of different tasty flavors. The taste of the waffle did nothing but further increase Thomas' newfound good mood. Thomas looked over at Audrea, tilting his head with curiosity as she browsed through the pamphlet and went over some of the different magical techniques used in grudgby by the Banshees.

"Clay Conveyer belt, huh?" he said as he read aloud the name of the tactic that Audrey had pointed out in the book. "Erm, I don't know if I can pull that off... I don't do abominations magic. I'm an illusions student," he tells her, stating the obvious as he bites his bottom lip, concerned that he might not be able to pull of that move during try outs or even in a real gurdgby match- if it ever came to that. "Plus, the emperor says it's not good to use two types of magic. I'll stick with illusions magic, ya think they've got any tactics for us illusionists in there?" Thomas asked her, taking another bite of his waffle. The boy raises an eyebrow, Hmm? Mentor?" he asks curiously through a full mouth. He wondered who this mentor figure of Audrey's was that she was referring to. The only "mentor" that Thomas had were his parents- if they could even be called that.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

"Uh... yeah." She said hesitantly, eyes staying on the handbook. "I met him when I was younger, and he offered to teach me Abomination magic. I took him up on his offer. Master Liberi is a... an adventuring Archeologist. He likes swords." She explained, keeping a neutral face on. She looked up at the grass in front of her and then back at the book, "You know I can actually do the Clay Conveyer for you." She said, "It's the same as..." Audrey drew a small spell circle in the air and in front of them a small strip of abomination clay appeared. She looked around her and tossed a pebble next to it, it landed in the grass as expected, she tossed a second pebble and it landed on the goo, where it slid and kept it's momentum, sliding to the very end of the belt of goo where it was stopped by stalks of grass. "I don't have to be on it, anyone or anything can." She explained, "Here, I'll make you a witch sized one so you can see what it's like being on one. Liberi said it was like sliding on ice, but a little less wild. I use this spell all the time." She drew another spell circle and the band of goo grew wide enough for witch feet, and about the length of three average height witches.

She looked back down to the book, flipping through the pages to find Illusion spells. Very quickly she found one called the Single Player Gambit. It's brief description had it sounding simple, a single Illusionary witch casts a spell to make a single illusion of themself, and then that illusion does something while the caster does something else. Then she looked at the illustration, noticing that there were four witches in total, all identical, but doing different things. A small text below the image read, 'which one is the player?'. And then Audrey suddenly felt like she understood her mentor a little more. Liberi, on the topic of duels, would constantly refer to Illusion witches as the hardest of the covens to duel, citing many examples from experience. "Here's an Illusion spell. The Single Player Gambit. Cast one or more illusions of yourself and have them do different things." She read out to Thomas. "I can definitely see how this spell could make things hard for your opponents."

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thom nodded. He'd never really had a REAL mentor, so it was interesting to hear that Audrea did, and a little about the guy, who she appeared to address as her master. It was an interesting way of calling her mentor, he thought to himself, but it wasn't his place to comment upon it. An "adventuring architect" quite frankly didn't sound like someone who would be a wise old mentor to Thomas, but what did he know. He watched as she explained that she would be making this Clay Conveyor belt and that apparently, she seemed to use this spell all the time. Again, Thomas thought it a bit odd, but then again, Thomas himself wasn't really allowed to go out and have too much fun as a kid, so maybe young witches under normal circumstances went out and learned to practice new spells, he thought to himself.

But the boy's ears perked up as his attention was caught even more by Audrey mentioning that there was an illusions spell in the handbook called "The Single Player Gambit." Thomas' eyes went wide with curiosity as he scooted in closer next to Audrea to try and get a better look at the handbook. The spell seemed easy enough, but crafty. It required the illusionist witch to make copies of themselves to fool and trick opponents- an illusion coven witch's special! Thomas possessed somewhat of a secret talent- growing up around two highly skilled illusionist parents, Thomas learned to make copies of himself from a young age from the two of his parents. While most illusions students starting out couldn't make copies of themselves yet (with even some needing to wait until their second or third year at Hexside) Thomas possessed a talent that few future illusionists his age had. It could be credited to his parents for teaching him.

"Oh cool," said Thomas casually with a simple little smile, "Seems easy enough," he said, almost brushing it off and not passing it as a challenge. While sure, Thomas seemed to struggle in other areas of illusions magic, the one thing he had a pretty good handle on was this type of illusionary magic- making identical copies of himself. He still had much to learn of course, but he had the basics down and could totally make a convincing copy or more of himself through illusions spells. Thomas stood up next to Audrea and looked out towards a small open space in front of them. The boy closed his eyes and focused real hard, even sticking his tongue out a bit unconsciously as he did tend to do when he was focusing in on something. Thomas drew a medium sized pale blue spell circle and from it, instantly an identical copy of himself was made. Thomas opened his eyes and smiled upon viewing his handy work. "There we go!" he said triumphantly. Thomas' identical illusion waved back at him, and Thomas did the same, giggling a bit at the sight of himself waving back at the real Thomas.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey rose an eyebrow at Thomas, he said the Single Player Gambit was easy? She thought he was having trouble with Illusions, though evidently, he was skilled enough to get into Hexside in the first place. She didn't know why she was surprised, of course he knew how to do Illusion spells. Thomas got up onto his feet and focused, drawing out a spell circle to cast the illusion spell. And then with a puff of blue smoke, another Thomas appeared.
"There we go!" Thomas declared, and Audrey stared with her jaw dropped. Illusion witches, like healing witches, were extremely uncommon in Glandus when she was there, with students preferring the more straightforwardly strong covens like construction, abomination, or beast keeping. She had never actually interacted with Illusionists, aside from Thomas, before, only hearing stories about them. She got up and walked over to the illusion and real Thomas, and she put her hand into the illusion Thomas, her hand going right through his chest, causing a blue shimmer to appear around her fingers. She reflexively yanked her hand back and practically jumped back, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth, revealing her fangs.
"That's so weird." She said after a moment, she turned to the real Thomas and used her other hand to pat him cautiously on the chest, "I was just checking." she explained quickly. She looked back at the illusion and walked around it, examining it closely, but at a cautious distance away. "How does that even work?" She wondered aloud, "Is he... like you? Like a second Thom, or do you give him instructions and he follows it to the letter? Or can you change it and it can be either?" She eyed the illusion inquisitively, turned and looked behind her towards some trees, then looked back at the illusion. "Can you make things invisible with illusions magic?"

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Ironically from a first glance to an outsider, it would have seemed like Thomas had a pretty good handle on illusions and in fact- was much ahead of his class. But in reality, this trick of making an identical illusion copy of himself was practically his one single illusionary talent as of now. Everything else, he seemed to struggle with, like in his illusions classes today. But this trick he had learned from his parents, growing up around two master illusionists. It was something the boy had picked up on through watching and had even been guided to do and taught by both Andrew and Bella. To Thomas though, he didn't really see it as much of a talent and more of a party trick that was cool for about three seconds, easily able to impress the average non-illusionist witch.

Thomas puffed out his chest and grinned proudly as he showed Audrey his handy work. He watched as the young girl got up and walked between him and his illusion, putting a hand through the fake Thomas, checking to see which one was the authentic Thom, and which was the illusion Thom. He couldn't help but chuckle as the girl cautiously looked around at the two, examining both him and his illusion carefully. She seemed quite intrigued, impressed maybe. He giggled as the girl went up to him, the real Thomas, and patted him on his chest, making sure that he was indeed the real one. With a chuckle, the boy was happy to answer Audrea's burning questions about him and his illusion. "It's simple really," the boy said casually and humbly, certainly down playing his magical ability and achievement, "Basically, my illusion looks identical to me. He does everything I command him too and yes, to the letter," he says. He remembered his parents teaching him the spell to even get the illusion of himself in the first place. The hard part seemed to be focusing and getting the illusion to follow your instructions, the boy remembered from his parents. "The hard part is getting it to obey your command, but I learn from my parents, they taught me how, so I think I have a pretty good handle on it," the boy explained to her.

The young boy focused hard, commanding his illusion to sit down at the ground. The illusion Thomas eventually obliged, nodding its head and sitting down on the ground, causing Thomas to smile with delight. "See?" he asked, "I just made him sit right there," he said. Audrea's last question though caused Thomas to frown a bit, remembering his less than desirable magical ability when it came to illusions. For a little while there, performing the classic "make an illusion copy of yourself trick," Thomas felt good at illusions magic, proud of himself for actually doing something and performing a spell that most illusionists-to-be at his age couldn't pull of or perform. But Audrea's question snapped him back to reality, his temporary natural high seemingly going away in a bit of an instant as the boy sunk his shoulders. Thomas closed his eyes and sighed slowly, "Err, no...." he admitted to her softly, "I mean I can't but illusionists can make things invisible through a spell if they know how to perform it. My parents can make stuff invisible, but I can't," he said with a slight frown. Thomas sighed once more, "Truth is, this is really the only illusion magic I can perform as of now, this spell right here with the creating the illusion copy of myself," the boy admitted, shrugging a bit, "I'm a lousy illusionist at best, to be honest, but I really only know how to do this spell right here from my parents, who taught me when I was young. They're both illusionists," he told her, letting her know how he even was able to perform the spell in the first place, telling her his parents were both illusionists. "Plus, the spell I just did isn't even that hard..." he said softly with a frown an another shrug of the shoulders, "It's a simple spell at best... all I could even muster..." the boy said sadly, certainly unintentionally downplaying his spell there and magical ability in general. Truthfully, Thomas really didn't think it was anything too special. The truth was, it was really the only thing he knew when it came to illusions magic and it didn't help Thomas' self-esteem that he was quite struggling in his illusions classes in school.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey listened to Thomas's explanations, nodding and looking at both the real Thomas and his illusion. He called the illusion simple but when she looked closely at the illusion, it didn't seem simple at all. The clothes were realistic and moved like real clothes should, and the illusion even breathed, or imitated breathing. She wondered if the illusion was a mirror of Thomas himself, which was how it was able to emulate reality so well. He said he thought he had a pretty good handle on commanding his illusions, and to demonstrate, he had his illusion sit down. She watched the illusion sit down, and briefly wondered if the illusion had to follow the rules of reality like they did, surely not, right? As an illusion, the illusionist could make it do whatever it wanted, from flying to coming straight out of the ground.

And then Thomas got onto the topic of invisibility. He explained that while invisibility was a spell illusionists could preform, he couldn't do it himself. The revelation that illusionists could make themselves or other things invisible was interesting. She glanced to the trees, at the same spot. Why did it look like nobody else could see it? Was she going crazy? If it was a normal thing that everyone ignored, why was Thomas ignoring it? They were both new. She turned her attention back to Thomas, who was explaining how this was the only spell he knew, and that it was a simple spell. Audrey looked back at the illusion, how could that be simple? She thought about the progression of abomination spell that she learned, and even the progression of healing magic she learned.

"I think you're being too hard on yourself. You might only know a single spell, sure." She shrugged, "But it's not a simple one. It's a basic one. Not... basic like how you would insult someone. I mean really basic. A foundational basic." She said, "If you think about how the other covens learn magic, the foundational spells of each coven, it really is more complicated than you would expect. For healers, their basic spell is to well, heal wounds. But before that they should learn how the witch body works, a directed healing spell is way better than a generic one, and they have to learn how to make their aura of healing. For abominations, the basic spell is to make an abomination golem, but before that, we have to learn how to make goo by hand, following a recipe, then we have to learn how to construct and hold the golem and then how to command it." She explained, and to show it, she rolled up her right sleeve, showing her cuff bracelet. It was a strange, unique color amongst abomination clays, showing off vibrant amethyst and indigo purples. She drew a small spell circle and a small pillar of abomination goo appeared in front of her, but the goo was duller and greyer in color, showing the difference in quality between the two goos. "So when I look at your illusion, I don't see a copy of you, I'm seeing how you recreated the stitching on your uniform, how he moves naturally, and is even imitating breathing, even though I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any real lungs. And I'm seeing how the colors between you two match up perfectly." She explained, "I'm bad at commanding golems, so I lean more into what I'm good at. Making the clay, and holding the clay magically." Audrey then held out her arm, and with two fingers together drew a spell circle. The bangle shifted and moved, covering her entire forearm up to her elbow, and her hand and fingers. It shaped itself into an armored gauntlet, extremely detailed, and formed of many overlapping plates over the joints. She moved her wrist, hand and fingers, showing how the plates slid over each other.

"Sometimes to get better at spell casting, you have to look back at what you can already do and figure it out. Like, yeah, you can make him." Audrey gestured to his illusion, "But what are the parts that make him? By looking at what you can already do, you can get insight into what you're trying to learn, and you might even discover new spells that you weren't trying to learn. Everything comes from your foundations, right? It does for Abominations and swordswitchship" She said, remembering what Liberi had told her in her lessons. That many witches only did the barest minimum for their basic spells, and that the foundations went over their head, as the basic spell was the goal. Something that she personally found to be true, discovering that many rival Abomination witches only had the barest minimum control required for their golems, letting her disrupt their golems easily. As well as the quality of their abomination goo. She found that even when they tried, nothing could beat her bracelet. But then again, it wasn't just her when she made the batch. She was working alongside Master Liberi to make her bracelet, and he, she was certain, was not only a swordmaster, but also a master Abomination witch.

 

[Edric Blight]

Thomas Vlasic:​

Thomas tilted his head and perked his ears up a bit, listening to what Audrey had to say. His illusion seemed to watch on, looking at the both of them, Audrey though clearly intrigued and interested with, almost fascinated with the authenticity and attention to detail in the illusion Thomas that had resulted from his spell. Audrea sure had a lot to say, but her words were certainly interesting and of note to Thomas. He was being too hard on himself, she had said? Her words sounded a lot like the words of his mother. Sometimes, Bella would tell her young son that he was a little bit too hard on himself, which was true. It always seemed that Thomas strived for perfection and held himself to a higher standard than most at his age, even without the pressures from his parents. Maybe she was right- maybe he should at least be a little impressed that despite pulling off a "basic" illusions magic spell- it was still quite complicated.

He had gotten everything down near identical and practically perfect to real life with his illusion. Yes, from the realistic looking threads on the illusion Thomas' uniform, to the look of Thomas himself. It was perfect, and the boy had brushed it off as if it was not much of an accomplishment. The boy rubbed the back of his neck, a bit touched by the way Audrea had been complimenting the details on his illusions, describing what she had particularly noticed about it to him. Again, Audrey had surprised him with her vast knowledge and surprisingly very wise and scholarly words for him at such a young age. Clearly, Audrea had been through much more than him and experienced the world much more than he did.

"So you really think it's something, huh?" the boy said quietly with a soft smile, rubbing the back of his neck, "Th- thank you, Audrea," he adds softly. It did a little bit to lift up his spirits and give him the tiniest bit more confidence in his illusions ability. It wasn't much, but it was a start, and it was better than nothing- it was slight progress. "It still doesn't change the fact I'm sucking in all of my illusions classes currently," he said with a frown and a shrug, "But I guess it's something. Thanks," he said.

 

[Skyrte]

Etheldreda Sano​

Audrey smiled at him, "That's something you'll have to work at, it won't change overnight. You'll have to figure out what you're good at and what you're not, and that takes a lot of time." She said, "It took a long time for me anyway, and I haven't heard of anyone who figured it out any faster. Keep working at it, you'll get there." She encouraged. She looked over to the trees again, "Speaking of working at it..."
Would it be a good idea? She wondered to herself, she could just do what everyone else was doing and ignore it, but it bothered her, a surprising amount. She stared at it hard, with a serious face. It was a club booth, but nobody was there, no witch was even in the booth. It was a solitary construct of old, dirty cloth, and old rotting wood. It looked like it'd been made decades ago, whereas all the other club stands behind Audrey and Thomas were made just that morning, painted with bright colors, fresh wood and white cloth. The yellowed cloth banner had a hastily painted on name, ROGH, and she wondered what that even meant. On the table, was a single thick leatherbound book. It bothered her, and she decided that if she didn't find out more about this oddity, it would be on her mind for days.

"Do you see that?" She asked Thomas, pointing at an empty spot by the trees. "I see a club stand. But it's really old. And I don't think anyone else has noticed it. Could it be under an illusion spell? Why am I the only one bothering to look at it?"
Unbeknownst to them, the booth was under an illusion spell, one targeted at students who had attended Glandus.