Addermire Institute (Semi-Advanced) discussion
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Angus sighed. "Okay, whatever, I went into the city. Big deal. Grass gets itchy, tiles don't. And you clearly never learned that it's polite to look at people when they're talking to you." He flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes — then instantly regretted it. The nightmares that you get when you're half-awake at some ridiculously early time in the morning are always weird — but even worse when it's sent by the void. His dreams lately had been all twisting shadows and fire, and while he was sure there was some hidden significance to it, he had no idea what it was. Angus jolted back upright and groaned. "Guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight." He couldn't shake the image he'd seen — a dragon over a burning building, coiling darkness seeping in at the edges. And despite the fire reflecting off the dragon's scales, he somehow knew that they were the same shade as his own. It could be a depiction of him — but given his size in dragon form, he doubted it.
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"... You told me not to leave Addermire. I figured you'd be angry at me–" Angus let his hand drift to the quartz around his neck unconsciously, his breathing short and anxious. He waited for his breathing to slow, focusing on the rhythm of his heart. Oliver doesn't get angry, he reminded himself. He's not your parents. He's not them either. He's better than they could ever be.
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Angus took the bone thing cautiously, eyeing the markings. "What is this?" he asked, not willing to use it until he knew more about the thing. Oliver had all sorts of weird stuff, but he usually didn't let other people touch them. "It's from some long-dead creature or something, right? And then someone enchanted it or something?" He hoped that was all it was.
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Angus relaxed. That was... significantly less weird than he'd been expecting. He pushed it under his pillow and lay down, but didn't close his eyes. "Power's not energy, though. Power's energy over time. Ms Kane'd lecture them about that. Names've got energy. 'Cause they don't do anything if you don't know how to use them–" he yawned. "– 'n they can keep the energy for ages, but you can't store power for time. That wouldn't make sense." Angus was proud of himself for managing to find the words despite being half-asleep.
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"That's not power, then. That's, like... I don't even know. Ability." Angus yawned again, and shook his head. "The Mesopotamians can be as smart as they want to, but if they can't understand physics then they're hopeless. It's not even hard physics, it's literally just a matter of looking at the units." He closed his eyes, too tired to think about physics. Without prompting, one of the things Chaos had said to him earlier drifted into Angus' mind. If you’d just own up to who you truly are, then things would be easier. He sighed, and rolled over to stare at the wall. The whale bone could block his dreams, sure, but his thoughts? Not so much.
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time skip
Angus woke slowly, confused by the peace – until memories of the night before came flooding back. He'd slept for a whole seven hours – probably still not enough, but he could improve that later. The important thing was that he hadn't dreamed at all. Crossing the floor, he wrapped his arms around Oliver and buried his face in the other's shoulder, mumbling a quiet 'thank you'.
The door slowly opened, with a slight creak in the hinges. The fact that it was unlocked made me feel rather unnerved. I couldn’t remember if the two boys usually kept it unlocked or not, and now that I knew the information that the void had passed to me, it made me much more worried. Angus... Oliver needed to know. The door closed behind me. From what I could tell, Oliver wasn’t back yet. I saw him leaving earlier in the evening, off to do whatever it is he does this late at night. It had been a few hours. I wasn’t entirely surprised that he wasn’t back, I just hoped he would return soon. In the meantime I decided to read one of the many books Oliver had. Since the voices didn’t talk much anymore I needed something to occupy my mind. I had made the rune Oliver gave me into a makeshift long necklace. That way it would be close at all times, and I didn’t risk losing it easily. I grabbed a random book about time and history, simply opening it and sitting on the bed.
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It was near pitch black by the time Oliver had returned, stepping into the room and slowly closing it behind him, immediately sensing another presence, "... Kylias" he spoke, stepping forward, the candles along his bedroom side flaring, casting a dim purple glow that did well enough to light the place. He was a little disheveled, his hair out of place, buttons not completely done, not to mention dark marks along his neck. "I hadn't been expecting you at this hour" he spoke calmly.
I didn’t want to disturb Oliver’s personal space too much, so I simply move things carefully to nearby places so I could sit for a while. Although I couldn’t exactly read, I could sometimes get a sense of the words on the pages by feeling them. It heavily depended on the type of paper, and the ink used however. And the voice would occasionally speak something of what was written, be it lies or not. I had gotten so used to the voices that their silence was unfamiliar to me. Eventually I put the book back where I had found it and simply picked up one of the small glowing stones. There was a slight, calming warmth to it. After a long while I heard the door open again, echoing the same creak as it did before. The air around it shifted, and Oliver’s presence filled the space. He stopped for the briefest of moments before closing the door behind him. He most certainly wasn’t expecting me, to be certain. I couldn’t notice his disheveled form, possibly that his hair might’ve been different, but not much else.
“I apologize intrude this late at night, but there is something you need to know.” I spoke, standing as I spoke.
“Angus has been away the past few days, and though that is rather normal for those in our house...this isn’t.” I said, pausing to take a breath as I felt the anxiety slowly squeeze my chest.
“I had another flash, multiple of them, actually. Angus was kidnapped.”
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It wasn’t that I was surprised that he knew, angus and Oliver were roommates. Of course he would notice when something was off. But I was a bit angry that he hadn’t done anything. But I suppose I shouldn’t be quick to judge. He didn’t tell anyone about angus, so there might’ve been something he’d done to help that we also didn’t know about. I took another breath, and crossed my arms as I spoke again.“I saw...something else...” I suddenly found it hard to speak, and the anxiety in my chest got worse.
“The things they’ve done to him... it’s horrific, Oliver. And...and I know who took him.”
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He swallowed, nodding, "Oh?" he continued, gazing at her expectantly.
I could tell the information hurt Oliver too. Though I wasn’t sure if he had seen visions of Angus’ current state or not. It definitely seemed like he didn’t have any visions on the culprit, however. It felt strange, to know something he did not. “It...It was one of the teachers. One of my teachers. I...I don’t know why he took Angus, I thought I knew him. It was my choir teacher.” I explained, still quite shocked and hurt at the revelation. I believed I had known the man who I originally thought to be kind and caring, but whom turned out to be a monster. Perhaps if I had known sooner I...could’ve prevented it.
[ What would Sin’s cover name be for his position as a professor? ]
