A Magician Never Reveals Her Secrets (Quaggan!)

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"Umm..." Arthur looked up at the girl, who was now studying Ria with mild interest. "Y-yeah, I guess she's a friend..." The boy had never really thought about it before- is the friend of your brother a friend of yours as well? He supposed so, but it felt odd to say.

"Of course we're friends. Don't be so apprehensive." the tiefling said. She turned her head, now smiling at Ria. "Hey dude, could I see that book you're holding? It looks familiar..."

[quaggan]

 "Oh? Sure" Ria handed her the book without a second thought. Was she the owner? That would sure be useful - then he and Arthur didn't have to go all the way to the office. Or he could do the juvenile thing and just run away, leaving her with the responsibility of delivering the book. But even if he was tempted by it - and he totally wasn't! - Arthur's legs were shorter, and unless he was hiding an athletic talent, the girl could probably catch up or even risk throwing the book at the assumed owner.

While she examined the book, he glanced back at the boy. "Shall we go visit Susie after we deliver it, or does she have a class now?"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Obedience took the journal, hastily flipping through it. Sure enough, it was one of hers- she had misplaced it a few years back. "Yikes. I was sloppy back then." she thought, grimacing. "Those pentagrams are aligned horribly!"

She smiled. "Lucky~!" she said in a sing-song voice. "This is my journal- you can just leave it with me!"

Arthur sighed in relief, then looked at Ria. "Well, that worked out!" he said, a small smile on his lips. "I think Susie has a study hall with that Professor Zinc guy right now- maybe we could help her sneak out?"

As the boy spoke, the tiefling's eyes narrowed. "Help Susie..." The image of a crying redhead popped into her mind, and Obedience's lips curved upwards. "No. That's no good at all..."

[quaggan]

 "Excellent! Now we don't have to go all the way to the lost and found!" Ria' exclaimed, pleased. Granted, it wasn't such a great chore, but he liked to enjoy the small conveniences of life. Perhaps it was Kia's attempt to make up for the glitter googaloo.

"Oooh, I didn't attend any of Professor Zinc's classes yet" he observed. "Is he super boring?" But then again, it was study hall, so it was probably okay to get someone out of it. He was ready to go, completely oblivious to villainous mastermind plotting something right next to him.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"All of his classes are study halls!" Arthur exclaimed as he began down the hall,giving Obediencea backhanded wave as he left. "I think he has a subject, but he doesn't bother teaching it. He'll let you sleep in class if you want!" The pillowheaded boy beamed. "He's amazing!"

He paused. "Um... so we're on the first floor, and his class is on the sixth..." He hung his head in disappointment. "Man, I don't wanna climb that many stairs! What a drag..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tiefling watched the two boys depart, clutching her journal tightly to her chest. After a moment she began to walk away in the opposite direction, a glint of cold determination in her eyes. "You won't get far." she thought, a smirk growing on her face. "Susie will succumb to her dispair. I'll make sure of it."

[quaggan]

 Ria's opinion of the professor swung violently from one extreme to another. "Now this is a teacher with a good approach to his subject!" he proclaimed. Every smart person knew that shoving something they loved down the throat of unconsenting minors would only make them hate it just as passionately. If only all the professors at Wyrdwood knew this kernel of wisdom...

"We should get someone to enchant you a mattress to fly on" he decided. It would fit the pillow hat well, and Arthur could use it to sit on as well - a great asset in those classrooms that didn't have enough seats for all the students. "Well, I don't know any other shortcuts... Do you have any timekeepers on you?" Miniaturised orrery, captured spirit of time, anything would to. If it was past three already, that meant Plutonius' broom practice was over and he could go bother him about stairs.

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur's mind wandered at the thought of a flying mattress. It sounded like an awesome idea- that way he'd be able to sleep on the go! He'd need to conjure up an autopilot enchantment though, maybe he could get Percy to do that bit?

Ria's question shook him from his brainstorming. "Um, yeah, hang on..." Rummaging through his pockets, Arthur managed to dig out a circular device, almost like a pocketwatch. Multiple small hourglasses took the place of the numbers- the twelve and the one had already depleted, and the two was almost empty. Once it was, the three would begin it's countdown.

"It's 2:56." the boy said. "Susie's class should end at 3:30. That doesn't give us much time..."

[quaggan]

 Ria grinned proudly. "Oh, this will be enough. Plutonius is so fast, we'll be there faster than if we teleported!" Not that he could teleport - or, for that matter, would. Alain Moore tried it last week when he woke up almost late to class, but he miscalculated and ended up in the wall. They had to dissolve it with one of those stinky alchemical concoctions, and Ria would rather stay stuck than be subjected to such indignity!

"Well, we still need to go down" he commented. The crowd was still there, but perhaps if they timed it well, they wouldn't land on someone's head. Good thing Ria' was wearing his best underpants. "A flying mattress would be more useful in this situation, though."

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"Plutonious?" The image of the most popular student popped into Arthur's head, and the boy's eyes lit up. Would he really help them? Almost immediately afterwards, all of Plutonious's clingy friends also popped into Arthurs head. "Ugh. This is gonna suck, isn't it?"

Peering through the window, Arthur searched for a gap in the crowd. Finally spotting his chance, the pillowheaded boy lept out of the window, landing in between two upperclassmen. Both gave him dirty looks, as if he'd interrupted something. "Sorry..." he mumbled. Looking up, he waved to Ria. "C'mon! We gotta hurry before his friends totally surround him!"

[quaggan]

 Ria nodded. It wasn't surprising that Arthur knew who Plutonius is - his friend was quite an useful litmus test to tell apart real Wyrdwood staff and students from ill-trained spies. It was practically impossible to live here and not at least have heard about Plutonius.

He made a graceful leap down the building, legs primly held together. It was a habit from that one terrible time all his matching underpants were being laundered. Right now, he had nothing to be ashamed of, but it was  good to practice this skill in case Aahva had more stupid dye traps.

He landed, almost kicking someone in the head. Maybe they did need a special landing zone, at least until the spell wore off. He automatically smoothed off his robe, even though there was no wrinkles left. "Alright Arthur, let's go!"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur nodded, walking quickly in the direction of the Wyrdwood's playing field. He heart pounded with excitement, a large grin spreading across his face. Would he really get to spend time with Plutonious? Arthur had always felt he was too insignificant for the older boy to notice, much less talk too!

Soon the field was in sight, and Arthur stopped dead in his tracks. Plutonious was there all right- and so was his circle of rich friends. They crowded around the broomstick racer, nearly shielding him from view. "Um, excuse me?" Arthur said, taking a tenative step forward. "Could I please talk to-"

A green-haired student looked over his shoulder at the pillowheaded boy. "What? Ew!" he scoffed. "Get lost, twerp. Plutonious is our friend."

Arthur looked at Ria nervously. "Um...what do we do now?"

[quaggan]

 Ria puffed up with pride and indignity, striding to face the green-haired boy. "Move away, fool! And what in the name of all that's holy is wrong with your hair? It looks like it's been washed with puke!"

There were some muffled giggles, but most of the others reacted with excitement at the upcoming verbal smackdown. The offended party didn't just let it slide either. "You're one to talk, violet! You look like one of Aahva's victims!"

That meant war. "Do you need someone to take you to the nurse's office?" Ria asked, glancing at the other boy with concern. "Something must be wrong with your eyes - clearly, my hair is purple."

His opponent faltered for a second, but pressed on. "I can see it, dyejob! What is this purple even supposed to be?!"

"Obviously, it's to match the robe" Ria sighed, his expression conveying volumes of suffering. "What else was I supposed to do? It's bad enough that Wyrdwood forces those hopeless uniforms on us..."

"What the heck are you even talking about?!"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Arthur watched the confrontation, eyes wide. He couldn't wrap his head around it- how could a anybody, let alone two people care about clothes so much? The pillowheaded boy only ever wore what he thought looked comfortable to sleep in, although his father had made him wear dress robes a few times when politicians came over the house. Why anybody would sacrifice being comfy for looking good on a day to day basis was totally beyond him.

And then, just as it looked like the green-haired boy was about to draw his wand for some kind of hex, a voice spoke from the center of the crowd.

"What's going on guys?"

The other kids fell silents as Plutonious, the coolest person to have ever lived, stepped into the fray. All eyes that had been on the quabbling students were now on him. The boy's robe twinckled brilliantly, and a confused smile rested on his lips. "Man, you guys shouldn't be fighting! You both look good!" he said warmly, spreading his arms. "We're all friends here, right?"

This." Arthur realized. "This is why people put effort into their clothes."

[quaggan]

 Ria shook his head in a practiced motion that expressed his frustration but did not ruin his hair. "Why do you hang out with those less fashionable than us, I cannot say."

Another of Plutonious' friends opened his mouth to retaliate, but the purple-haired adept refused to give him an opening, his brain finally reminding him what they were here for in the first place. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "But I did not come here to police fashion choices - for once."

"Thanks be to Kia for this small mercy" someone muttered.

"Arthur here and I need transport to Professor Zinc's study hall" he began explaining. "And there's no faster guy in Wyrdwood than you, whether by magic or by broom!"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Plutonius frowned a bit at Ria's comment- he wanted to be friends with everyone, even ugly people. Still, his eyes lit up at the boy's request. "You want me to fly you there! I can do that, totally!"

The green-haired boy scoffed. "Pluto, you're really going to waste your time with these plebians?" He pointed at Arthur, who shrunk back timidly. "Why, Clearwater doesn't even have good grades!"

Plutonius gave the boy an odd look. "That's fine." he said, walking over to the pillowheaded boy and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don't have good grades either, so we should get along fine!"

Plutonius would lead Arthur away from the crowd of posh student, beckoning for Ria to follow. "I'm really sorry!" he said once they were out of earshot. "I don't know what's gotten into them! They're always nice to me..."

[quaggan]

 Ria' bristled at the fashionless uglyster's daring. "You dare tell Pluto who not to hang out with? The gall!" The hypocrisy of the situation clearly didn't occur to him.

The other guy just stared at him and made the wise decision of not getting himself involved with the purple-haired weird any longer. As they walked away, Ria' muttered something unflattering about professors with no fashion sense having no right to judge his genius. But he couldn't stay upset for long, and so he quickly changed the subject to something more fun.

"Oh right! Pluto, isn't Arthur's hat really awesome? It truly contrasts well with his Verdan skin! And it's, what was it that Vesyll said... A safety precaution! He won't get hurt if Aahva knocks him on his head!"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

Pluto looked Arthur up and down, hand on his chin. "Hmmmmm..." The boy tilted his head slightly. "That hat is nice, yeah. Very chic. The rest of the outfit is missing something though...."

Arthur crossed his arms. Did they really need to talk about this now? "Guys, come on! We need to find Susie!"

"A cape!" Plutonius blurted out. "He needs a blanket cape to match the pillow hat!

[quaggan]

 Ria pumped his fist in the air victoriously. "Yeah! It would fit perfectly and keep him warm! I was trying to convince Arthur to get an enchanted floating mattress - this way he wouldn't have to worry about getting tired by walking, and it would suit the rest! We would have to find someone who can enchant stuff - Arthur can only enchant people and a mattress, as much as one might wish otherwise, is not a person." Maybe he should ask Vesyll if there was anything she could do about it.

Arthur appeared to be giving them a 'there is time for helping Susie and there is a time for fashion brainstorm' look. He wasn't exactly wrong, it so just happened that the best way to define 'time for a fashion brainstorm' would be 'always'. But the boy didn't look good with a pout on his face, and so, Ria was willing to wait for later.

"Oh, I still don't have a broomstick of my own" he quickly interjected. It was hard to find something that didn't look goofy. And unfortunately, he didn't have Plutonius' gift of looking cool on even the most pathetic pieces of wood. "You'd have to get us- well, maybe not us. Do you have anything flying, Arthur?"

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

"Umm..." Arthur shifted on his feet uncomfortably. Flight was an expensive power- enchanting an item with even the most basic of soaring charms could cost up to twenty gold suns. Most broomsticks these days were outfitted with the "improved levitation" charm, which was far more affordable. "Ah, no. Sorry..."

Plutonius grinned. "Pffft, you guys don't have to worry about that! I can carry you both with me!" The boy lifted his hand into the air, and with an odd buzzing noise Arthur was pulled towards him. "I have, uh, pulling magic!" he said, ignoring the pillowheaded boy's shock. "I don't know how it works, but it does!"

[quaggan]

 "I know" Ria puffed up proudly with confidence that bordered on obnoxiousness. "Your magic simply takes advantage of the natural desire of every sensible person to be in your awesome presence, and brings them closer! It's wish-granting magic at its finest!"

He let Plutonius pick him up. He wasn't worried about his robes getting wrinkles or dirtied - there was a protective enchantment on the fabric, and his friend was skilled enough not to ruin the awesome clothes. "Let's go!"