Raine and Marcus's day together.
Written by April Williams and Paul Frische-Mouri
One day, after Raine has finished the final touches on the head pin painting, she seeks out Marcus to show him and leave it again in his possession.
“Oh, why thank you Raine.” Marcus seems more calm than usual around Raine. He’s begun to notice that his anxiety around the whole rest of the group has begun to dissipate. Most likely from the boost in confidence in his abilities after the fight with the black dragon. He knows he will still be hesitant and nervous around newcomers, but this group has started to soften him up a bit. “Why this is absolutely magnificent Raine, thank you so much,” Marcus exclaims as he notices the impressive detail of the black dragon’s pinned corpse. “I’d say this may even be better than your, what do you call it, “snapshot” spell.”
“There was something else…” She says as she kind of looks off into the distance. “Your fletching set!”
Marcus continues to look at the masterful painting as he speaks to her. Raine continues to speak the same time Marcus does.
“Since we are in town, I can take you to the library, and I'm sure I can identify all of those when we get there!" She exclaims as she takes his hand.
“Oh, yes, my fletching kit,” I also wanted to do some research on the mark I saw on you’re…” but Marcus is cut off as he is suddenly yanked along behind Raine.
Raine pulls him along to Blue Crater Academy. A receptionist stares at Marcus as they walk in, but Raine doesn’t stop. Marcus gives the receptionist a short wave. “H-hi, I’m Marc…”
“He’s with me,” she says as they hustle by. She finally lets go of his hand as they find themselves needing to weave in and out of the students coming from class. Being her size, and also used to moving through this particular crowd, she moves through easily. With Marcus’ reflexes, he also has no problem navigating the crowd, dodging and weaving through making sure not to bump into anyone.
“S-sorry… excuse me… whoa, s-sorry.”
When they walk into the library, all Marcus can see is a person at a desk and a long single wall of books, but when they step in further, he notices that the wall is actually a single shelf of which you can barely see the ends of. Raine takes him around the left side, and when they reach the side of the shelf, he can finally see the dozens of rows of books. Marcus can’t believe the sheer number of books. He had a whole bookshelf full of books about archery, bowmaking, battle strategy… but that wasn’t even a fraction of all these.
“It’s a bit larger than the library I had at home,” she says as she pauses for a moment before walking with him to a large seating area tucked in the far corner. “This should be a good place to study,” she finally looks straight at him for the first time since she took his hand. “With all the arrows I saw in the case, there is a chance we will be here a good part of the day.” She smiles as if to say there isn’t much she’d rather do than sit in a library all day. It’s obvious that it is something that makes her quite content.
As they sit,Marcus can tell that Raine is excited to start their research. Why she is so excited, he does not know. Studying is the best way to advance knowledge, but with such an overwhelming amount of information around them Marcus is almost exhausted already from the thought of it.
Marcus speaks in almost a whisper, not wanting to disturb anyone in the library. "W-well I've already organized the feathers in my kit from some that seem to be the most basic to the most exotic. There a couple of the lower end ones that I already know about, such as the giant eagle feathers, but there are some I've never even seen before. Plus they seem to have some quite amazing properties. For instance this one," as Marcus pulls out a feather from the kit, "when I was going through the kit earlier gave me a bit of a shock as I ran my fingers along its barbs. I think that might give some clue to what it can do for an arrow its attached to."
As Marcus mentions the slight shock, Raine chimes in. "Oh, yes that would be the Arrowhawk feather I mentioned the first time we looked at it." Marcus turns the kit around so Raine can examine it closer.
"But like I tried to mention earlier," Marcus leans in to make sure Raine hears him, "I think we should try and figure out what that symbol was I saw on your face." Marcus pulls out a piece of parchment and draws the symbol on the paper. "It was also on young Splintershiled's face. Do you know of anyone here has expertise in magical symbols or ancient texts?" A thought suddenly occurs to Marcus, "Actually we don't even know if it is magic at all. If you cast detect magic and look at yourself in a mirror could you tell if it was, or would you need to be able to see invisibility as well?"
When Marcus mentions the mark, Raine nods. "I have looked into it this past week, and have not found anything about it. Looking again won't do any good, even if it is magical. Maybe I will get more information about it some day."
"But enough worry over that. This is your day. I want you to get the most out of this as you can." With that she begins taking out the feathers to look at them. "To be honest, when we looked at them that first, day, I stopped after there was one I could not figure out, and thought it might be better to inspect them when I have some resources." She takes out the very feather that had given her trouble and then walks off to get some books.
"This feather that had given me trouble is in fact a Couatl. They are good creatures that carry powerful poisons."
As she looks at a few others she is able to identify them on sight. "That is a Lamasu feather. They are powerful flying lion like creatures; they are also known to have some divine magical abilities... though I'm not really sure what quality it would carry. She looks at another; this is a Hippogriff feather, powerful horse like creatures that have piercing beaks. This one too doesn't leave me certain about it's potential effect.
As she picks up a reddish feather she retreats to find more books. She hands Marcus a few to read over, some containing pictures of the animals she is identifying. When she comes back once more, she tells him that it is a Pheora, known for it's great flames, and tells him a story about the rebirth process that they go through. (Pretty much a Pheonix, a new egg rising from ashes.)
It takes her about an hour and a half, and a small stack of books, but she is able to identify each one of them. During this time, she tells him what each is known for, and shows pictures of the creature. When she's done, she says "I think that's all of them. Shall we celebrate?" She looks at Marcus sitting at the desk behind the books she has accumulated.
Marcus's mind is drained. He can't believe the efficiency and knowledge this young girl held. He was always known as a smart young man in his village, but he was as dumb as a troll compared to her.
He puts down the book he was looking through and peers at her past the stack of books in front of him. "Celebrating sounds like a great idea. What did you have in mind?"
"Well, if you don't mind, this school has a music room. As far as I know there are no classes in it right now. Maybe can I play the next part of my piece for you. I've helped you with your fletching; now you can relax and enjoy, as well as give me feedback, on my music."
"I think a little music would be just the thing help me recover." Marcus stands as he says this. "I don't have much of an ear for music, but I'll try my best to give you my honest opinion."
Raine accompanies him to the music room. When they get there, she gets from her bag some worn looking papers that have many musical notes on them. It's obvious that she's looked over them several times while she's been writing it.
"Here, this is where I left off." She begins playing a few notes, and then stops. "Now, I'm thinking something like this might sound good next." She plays a little bit more. "Yes, I've got it now." With that, she hops up on the small upraised stage and just begins playing without music.
The result gives the feeling of a passionate battle, followed by an overdue resolution. The piece that she plays last about 10 minutes. Marcus is entranced the entire length of the performance. As soon as it ends he begins clapping loudly, his mouth hanging open in amazement.(Perform check result of 29). "What do you think?"
He stammers not because of his tentative nature, but just out of amazement. "H-how did you...where did you learn to play like that? That was amazing! There is no way Lord Vhalantru could be dissatisfied with that." Marcus stops and thinks about the performance that she just gave. "I mean your playing...and the paintings...how did you ever become so talented?"
Well to be honest, when I'm not hanging around the group, I spend a lot of time here just studying, practicing, painting. In fact, that little bit I just played took me around 8 hours to come up with."
"So really, I guess the answer is, just time to my self, time in my own head." She smiles, "I'm glad you were pleased."
She grabs her bag and comes to join him in a seat next to him. "Actually, for my music, I get a lot of inspiration from the group." She flips through some other pages of her work, and points to a certain section. "This right here, this represents when you died" She kind of bites her lip a bit, not to happy thinking back to that moment.
But after a few seconds, she brings the pipes up to her lips and begins playing the section. It begins with a heated feel, with a bit of anger to it, but then switches key to a dark and remorseful sound.
Marcus listens to her play. He can feel the notes dripping with emotion. They convey the feelings probably better than most words could. He remembers back to that time. It seemed so long ago. He had let his guard down for only a moment. The last thing he remembers is looking into the monsters gaping jaw, then suddenly he was lying on the ground with everyone standing around him. He thinks he remembers Raine hugging him as he sat up, but everything was so hazy right after his resurrection.
"Yeah, that was D-minor, it's a key that is often meant to represent death." She kind of looks down distraught for a brief moment, and then perks up a bit. "It certainly was not fun to see you die, but I'm very glad to have you back. It would have been very sad to loose a friend and such an impressive and powerful ally," she says as she puts her hand firmly on his shoulder. "I mean that. I think on average you outdo everyone of us."
Marcus is taken back by what Raine has just said to him. To be held with such regard from such a powerful and talented young woman shocks him. He attempts to compose himself. "W-well it certaintly was not fun d-dying either. A-and of course Ritand continues to make zombie jokes. But I can't tell you how much that means to me. All I've ever sought was recognition from my father, but I never really expected anyone else's to matter until now. But I can't take all the credit. Without the rest of the group, Ritand and Denur on the front lines, Jarvis's maneuvers, Syn's support to the group, as well as your own support and powerful attacks. I mean how many 16 year olds can knock down a giant?" Marcus grins at her and pats the hand on his shoulder as he says this.
"But don't worry, I don't plan dying again anytime soon. Like I said, it's not very fun. Though if it came to it I would gladly go through it again for any one of you." Marcus pauses for a moment thinking about what he just said. The only one he would have ever made this claim for before was his uncle. He's not even sure he would do it for his father considering everything that happened with him.
"B-but I'm sure th-that it would never come to that. W-we've come a long way since then. Short of a Tarrasque I don't think there's anything out there that could best the power of the mighty Light of Cauldron." Marcus's voice becomes deeper at presentation of the groups name in his best manly, hero tone.
"Yes, the mighty Light of Cauldron." She laughs in delight. "May the light never go out..." She says in thought. "Let us go grab some food at the cafeteria." She stands up. "It's kind of like rations," she says as she winks at him.
Marcus doesn't try and wipe the grimace off his face. He even sticks his tongue halfway out in dissatisfaction of the idea of more rations. "I'm sure it can't be THAT bad." Marcus lets out a chuckle at this...something he's not quite accustom to. This show of enjoyment is almost foreign to him. With all the training he has done throughout his life, his ungodly timid personality, and his father being his father...he's never really had people to enjoy laughter with.
As they walk Marcus is stunned by the building they are in. It seems quite magnificent, especially compared to his uncle's small house where he trained. Marcus speaks up as the move through the crowds. "How is it that you came to this school? I mean you mentioned before that you weren't from this city, but did you transfer from another institution?"
"Oh, no, I never went to school per say. I was trained by my... false mother." she stumbles on her words, not sure what to call her.
"She kept me in a big house, we had a nice court yard with a fountain, and two large libraries, and she taught me magic, and I taught myself a lot of other things by hanging around in the libraries and by painting in my room."
"I left when I found out with certainty that she was not my mother, and this city just happened to be one of the closest by. So I looked around, found a temple of Wee Jas to be around fellow mages, and I also found this school while exploring the city."
"Yeah, I had the sheer talent and they were happy to accept me, but I had no where near the money at the time. So I wondered off again to the Temple. When they asked me to run and get supplies, I ran into all of you. After a few adventures, I had my tuition, and so I decided to join take them up on there invite."
"It gives me access to a wonderful library, to knowledged professors, and a small bedroom in case I can't make other accommodations."
By the time she has finished her story, they arrive at the cafeteria. From left to right along the tall table towards the back is a pot of thick meaty stew, and large wooden bowls of fresh fruits, salad, and what appears to be some kind of chilled dessert.
"I guess it is a bit better than rations. And they do prepare things in the in the kitchen. But I should warn you, once the bring it out to the dining bar, they keep it a bit artificially fresh." She points to a student standing near the bar. "He's in charge prestidigitation. One of its many uses is to warm or chill food."
As they walk toward the line of food can smell it as they approach. He usually isn't terribly picky about his food, and this assortment is quite a bit above par for him.
"This will suit me just fine. It all looks quite good. I'm amazed at the accommodations that this school offers...maybe I should have studied magic instead." Marcus grins at this notion. He can't imagine life without his bow. "So prestidigitation won't have any ill side effects on the food will it. I mean this stew hasn't been out for days or anything like that has it?" Marcus motions for Raine to go ahead of him in the line.
"Oh, no, they just use it to keep each pot warm until it's devoured by the masses. Though, we are kind of at the end of meal time. We've got about 10 minutes to eat before they start cleaning up."
When she's filled a plate, she puts a few silver on the table at the end of the bar to cover the meal. As they dine, Raine delights in conversation with Marcus, talking about a few of her own interest, as well as anything he is willing to offer up the conversation.
During the conversation Marcus shares whit Raine some of his past. Things about his father, the great and famous axeman; how his uncle trained him in the art of the bow when he failed his father's own axe training; how he seeks recognition of his skills and his own fame. He also enjoys strategy games and games of skill to help sharpen his own. Most anything he seems to enjoy doing has some other benefit besides just plain enjoyment. Most likely something instilled in him by his uncle's zealous belief in the betterment of one's abilities.
When enough time passes, someone walks by the table with a mop, motioning them to get a move on, Marcus stands, quite content with the meal he had, along with the conversation and company. Before they return their dining wear, Marcus makes on more remark in finishing up the dinner conversation. "Don't be too quick to look down on luck. My father would always say, 'It's better to be lucky than good'. My uncle probably would have had me running drills for even quoting that."
As they are leaving the dining hall, Raine invites him to play darts with her. "I had a dart board at my house, every now and then I would hit the center, but that was just dumb luck, I'm sure you would hit it with skill."
Marcus begins to walk with her to where the dart board is at. "As I recall you bested both me and Jarvis at a similar game back at the Flood Festival. But it would be good to play a game I suppose. I've been thinking of picking up some weapon grade darts...just as a backup. So it would be good practice to see if I like them or not."
They place several rounds, Raine hits to target pretty consistently, but not dead center. "I think my game has improved a little bit since I was a child." After she says this, one swings off wildly hitting the somewhat holey wood wall behind the board. "Spoke to soon,” she lets out an embarrassed laugh.
Raine plays several rounds with Marcus, who hits the center several times, not surprising. Eventually, Raine manages to finally hit the center. "I think I should quit while I'm ahead."
He hasn't much noticed, but the better part of the day has past. When they wrap up the game, Raine turns to him. "Thank you for giving me a bit of a break from my usual studying. Every now and then, I go visit the orphanage with Ritand, or talk philosophy with Syn, or spend time with the group as a whole, but I've never gotten such a great chance spend time with someone one on one."
With this, Raine approaches him and gives him a big hug. Marcus is startled by her approach. He prepares for his body to tense as she embraces him, but instead he feels a sense of...comfort. Besides his own mother, Raine is the only one that he has ever felt this at ease around. As his body relaxes he returns the embrace.
"Sadly however, it's starting to get about that time where they don't really like having visitors wandering around here, and I've got a little bit of reading I'd like to do, so I should probably show you out," she says with a slight tone of regret in her voice.
"You're right, it's getting late. I should probably go home. But thank you Raine, you've done so much for me today (inner thought: 'more than you could possibly know'). Today was probably one of the best days I've ever had. I know the party has become close over the past couple months, but I think today was a pretty good day for us to get to know each other. And...I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds here…but I see you as my first true friend."
Marcus lowers his head slightly and blushes slightly out of embarrassment. He's always been a lonely person. He spent most of his childhood training either under his father or his uncle, and the rest of the time he was a social outcast. So the idea of friendship seems new and sacred to him. "But I hope we can still enjoy each other's company still like we did today. It was really fun."
Raine smiles, "don't be silly, you haven't overstepped them at all," she says playfully tapping his shoulder. "I really enjoyed today as well; getting to know you better, getting to help you figure out your feathers, and just getting to play games. I haven't had that much fun in a long time."
She walks him out, and gives him one more big hug before he leaves. "Goodnight Marcus."
One day, after Raine has finished the final touches on the head pin painting, she seeks out Marcus to show him and leave it again in his possession.
“Oh, why thank you Raine.” Marcus seems more calm than usual around Raine. He’s begun to notice that his anxiety around the whole rest of the group has begun to dissipate. Most likely from the boost in confidence in his abilities after the fight with the black dragon. He knows he will still be hesitant and nervous around newcomers, but this group has started to soften him up a bit. “Why this is absolutely magnificent Raine, thank you so much,” Marcus exclaims as he notices the impressive detail of the black dragon’s pinned corpse. “I’d say this may even be better than your, what do you call it, “snapshot” spell.”
“There was something else…” She says as she kind of looks off into the distance. “Your fletching set!”
Marcus continues to look at the masterful painting as he speaks to her. Raine continues to speak the same time Marcus does.
“Since we are in town, I can take you to the library, and I'm sure I can identify all of those when we get there!" She exclaims as she takes his hand.
“Oh, yes, my fletching kit,” I also wanted to do some research on the mark I saw on you’re…” but Marcus is cut off as he is suddenly yanked along behind Raine.
Raine pulls him along to Blue Crater Academy. A receptionist stares at Marcus as they walk in, but Raine doesn’t stop. Marcus gives the receptionist a short wave. “H-hi, I’m Marc…”
“He’s with me,” she says as they hustle by. She finally lets go of his hand as they find themselves needing to weave in and out of the students coming from class. Being her size, and also used to moving through this particular crowd, she moves through easily. With Marcus’ reflexes, he also has no problem navigating the crowd, dodging and weaving through making sure not to bump into anyone.
“S-sorry… excuse me… whoa, s-sorry.”
When they walk into the library, all Marcus can see is a person at a desk and a long single wall of books, but when they step in further, he notices that the wall is actually a single shelf of which you can barely see the ends of. Raine takes him around the left side, and when they reach the side of the shelf, he can finally see the dozens of rows of books. Marcus can’t believe the sheer number of books. He had a whole bookshelf full of books about archery, bowmaking, battle strategy… but that wasn’t even a fraction of all these.
“It’s a bit larger than the library I had at home,” she says as she pauses for a moment before walking with him to a large seating area tucked in the far corner. “This should be a good place to study,” she finally looks straight at him for the first time since she took his hand. “With all the arrows I saw in the case, there is a chance we will be here a good part of the day.” She smiles as if to say there isn’t much she’d rather do than sit in a library all day. It’s obvious that it is something that makes her quite content.
As they sit,Marcus can tell that Raine is excited to start their research. Why she is so excited, he does not know. Studying is the best way to advance knowledge, but with such an overwhelming amount of information around them Marcus is almost exhausted already from the thought of it.
Marcus speaks in almost a whisper, not wanting to disturb anyone in the library. "W-well I've already organized the feathers in my kit from some that seem to be the most basic to the most exotic. There a couple of the lower end ones that I already know about, such as the giant eagle feathers, but there are some I've never even seen before. Plus they seem to have some quite amazing properties. For instance this one," as Marcus pulls out a feather from the kit, "when I was going through the kit earlier gave me a bit of a shock as I ran my fingers along its barbs. I think that might give some clue to what it can do for an arrow its attached to."
As Marcus mentions the slight shock, Raine chimes in. "Oh, yes that would be the Arrowhawk feather I mentioned the first time we looked at it." Marcus turns the kit around so Raine can examine it closer.
"But like I tried to mention earlier," Marcus leans in to make sure Raine hears him, "I think we should try and figure out what that symbol was I saw on your face." Marcus pulls out a piece of parchment and draws the symbol on the paper. "It was also on young Splintershiled's face. Do you know of anyone here has expertise in magical symbols or ancient texts?" A thought suddenly occurs to Marcus, "Actually we don't even know if it is magic at all. If you cast detect magic and look at yourself in a mirror could you tell if it was, or would you need to be able to see invisibility as well?"
When Marcus mentions the mark, Raine nods. "I have looked into it this past week, and have not found anything about it. Looking again won't do any good, even if it is magical. Maybe I will get more information about it some day."
"But enough worry over that. This is your day. I want you to get the most out of this as you can." With that she begins taking out the feathers to look at them. "To be honest, when we looked at them that first, day, I stopped after there was one I could not figure out, and thought it might be better to inspect them when I have some resources." She takes out the very feather that had given her trouble and then walks off to get some books.
"This feather that had given me trouble is in fact a Couatl. They are good creatures that carry powerful poisons."
As she looks at a few others she is able to identify them on sight. "That is a Lamasu feather. They are powerful flying lion like creatures; they are also known to have some divine magical abilities... though I'm not really sure what quality it would carry. She looks at another; this is a Hippogriff feather, powerful horse like creatures that have piercing beaks. This one too doesn't leave me certain about it's potential effect.
As she picks up a reddish feather she retreats to find more books. She hands Marcus a few to read over, some containing pictures of the animals she is identifying. When she comes back once more, she tells him that it is a Pheora, known for it's great flames, and tells him a story about the rebirth process that they go through. (Pretty much a Pheonix, a new egg rising from ashes.)
It takes her about an hour and a half, and a small stack of books, but she is able to identify each one of them. During this time, she tells him what each is known for, and shows pictures of the creature. When she's done, she says "I think that's all of them. Shall we celebrate?" She looks at Marcus sitting at the desk behind the books she has accumulated.
Marcus's mind is drained. He can't believe the efficiency and knowledge this young girl held. He was always known as a smart young man in his village, but he was as dumb as a troll compared to her.
He puts down the book he was looking through and peers at her past the stack of books in front of him. "Celebrating sounds like a great idea. What did you have in mind?"
"Well, if you don't mind, this school has a music room. As far as I know there are no classes in it right now. Maybe can I play the next part of my piece for you. I've helped you with your fletching; now you can relax and enjoy, as well as give me feedback, on my music."
"I think a little music would be just the thing help me recover." Marcus stands as he says this. "I don't have much of an ear for music, but I'll try my best to give you my honest opinion."
Raine accompanies him to the music room. When they get there, she gets from her bag some worn looking papers that have many musical notes on them. It's obvious that she's looked over them several times while she's been writing it.
"Here, this is where I left off." She begins playing a few notes, and then stops. "Now, I'm thinking something like this might sound good next." She plays a little bit more. "Yes, I've got it now." With that, she hops up on the small upraised stage and just begins playing without music.
The result gives the feeling of a passionate battle, followed by an overdue resolution. The piece that she plays last about 10 minutes. Marcus is entranced the entire length of the performance. As soon as it ends he begins clapping loudly, his mouth hanging open in amazement.(Perform check result of 29). "What do you think?"
He stammers not because of his tentative nature, but just out of amazement. "H-how did you...where did you learn to play like that? That was amazing! There is no way Lord Vhalantru could be dissatisfied with that." Marcus stops and thinks about the performance that she just gave. "I mean your playing...and the paintings...how did you ever become so talented?"
Well to be honest, when I'm not hanging around the group, I spend a lot of time here just studying, practicing, painting. In fact, that little bit I just played took me around 8 hours to come up with."
"So really, I guess the answer is, just time to my self, time in my own head." She smiles, "I'm glad you were pleased."
She grabs her bag and comes to join him in a seat next to him. "Actually, for my music, I get a lot of inspiration from the group." She flips through some other pages of her work, and points to a certain section. "This right here, this represents when you died" She kind of bites her lip a bit, not to happy thinking back to that moment.
But after a few seconds, she brings the pipes up to her lips and begins playing the section. It begins with a heated feel, with a bit of anger to it, but then switches key to a dark and remorseful sound.
Marcus listens to her play. He can feel the notes dripping with emotion. They convey the feelings probably better than most words could. He remembers back to that time. It seemed so long ago. He had let his guard down for only a moment. The last thing he remembers is looking into the monsters gaping jaw, then suddenly he was lying on the ground with everyone standing around him. He thinks he remembers Raine hugging him as he sat up, but everything was so hazy right after his resurrection.
"Yeah, that was D-minor, it's a key that is often meant to represent death." She kind of looks down distraught for a brief moment, and then perks up a bit. "It certainly was not fun to see you die, but I'm very glad to have you back. It would have been very sad to loose a friend and such an impressive and powerful ally," she says as she puts her hand firmly on his shoulder. "I mean that. I think on average you outdo everyone of us."
Marcus is taken back by what Raine has just said to him. To be held with such regard from such a powerful and talented young woman shocks him. He attempts to compose himself. "W-well it certaintly was not fun d-dying either. A-and of course Ritand continues to make zombie jokes. But I can't tell you how much that means to me. All I've ever sought was recognition from my father, but I never really expected anyone else's to matter until now. But I can't take all the credit. Without the rest of the group, Ritand and Denur on the front lines, Jarvis's maneuvers, Syn's support to the group, as well as your own support and powerful attacks. I mean how many 16 year olds can knock down a giant?" Marcus grins at her and pats the hand on his shoulder as he says this.
"But don't worry, I don't plan dying again anytime soon. Like I said, it's not very fun. Though if it came to it I would gladly go through it again for any one of you." Marcus pauses for a moment thinking about what he just said. The only one he would have ever made this claim for before was his uncle. He's not even sure he would do it for his father considering everything that happened with him.
"B-but I'm sure th-that it would never come to that. W-we've come a long way since then. Short of a Tarrasque I don't think there's anything out there that could best the power of the mighty Light of Cauldron." Marcus's voice becomes deeper at presentation of the groups name in his best manly, hero tone.
"Yes, the mighty Light of Cauldron." She laughs in delight. "May the light never go out..." She says in thought. "Let us go grab some food at the cafeteria." She stands up. "It's kind of like rations," she says as she winks at him.
Marcus doesn't try and wipe the grimace off his face. He even sticks his tongue halfway out in dissatisfaction of the idea of more rations. "I'm sure it can't be THAT bad." Marcus lets out a chuckle at this...something he's not quite accustom to. This show of enjoyment is almost foreign to him. With all the training he has done throughout his life, his ungodly timid personality, and his father being his father...he's never really had people to enjoy laughter with.
As they walk Marcus is stunned by the building they are in. It seems quite magnificent, especially compared to his uncle's small house where he trained. Marcus speaks up as the move through the crowds. "How is it that you came to this school? I mean you mentioned before that you weren't from this city, but did you transfer from another institution?"
"Oh, no, I never went to school per say. I was trained by my... false mother." she stumbles on her words, not sure what to call her.
"She kept me in a big house, we had a nice court yard with a fountain, and two large libraries, and she taught me magic, and I taught myself a lot of other things by hanging around in the libraries and by painting in my room."
"I left when I found out with certainty that she was not my mother, and this city just happened to be one of the closest by. So I looked around, found a temple of Wee Jas to be around fellow mages, and I also found this school while exploring the city."
"Yeah, I had the sheer talent and they were happy to accept me, but I had no where near the money at the time. So I wondered off again to the Temple. When they asked me to run and get supplies, I ran into all of you. After a few adventures, I had my tuition, and so I decided to join take them up on there invite."
"It gives me access to a wonderful library, to knowledged professors, and a small bedroom in case I can't make other accommodations."
By the time she has finished her story, they arrive at the cafeteria. From left to right along the tall table towards the back is a pot of thick meaty stew, and large wooden bowls of fresh fruits, salad, and what appears to be some kind of chilled dessert.
"I guess it is a bit better than rations. And they do prepare things in the in the kitchen. But I should warn you, once the bring it out to the dining bar, they keep it a bit artificially fresh." She points to a student standing near the bar. "He's in charge prestidigitation. One of its many uses is to warm or chill food."
As they walk toward the line of food can smell it as they approach. He usually isn't terribly picky about his food, and this assortment is quite a bit above par for him.
"This will suit me just fine. It all looks quite good. I'm amazed at the accommodations that this school offers...maybe I should have studied magic instead." Marcus grins at this notion. He can't imagine life without his bow. "So prestidigitation won't have any ill side effects on the food will it. I mean this stew hasn't been out for days or anything like that has it?" Marcus motions for Raine to go ahead of him in the line.
"Oh, no, they just use it to keep each pot warm until it's devoured by the masses. Though, we are kind of at the end of meal time. We've got about 10 minutes to eat before they start cleaning up."
When she's filled a plate, she puts a few silver on the table at the end of the bar to cover the meal. As they dine, Raine delights in conversation with Marcus, talking about a few of her own interest, as well as anything he is willing to offer up the conversation.
During the conversation Marcus shares whit Raine some of his past. Things about his father, the great and famous axeman; how his uncle trained him in the art of the bow when he failed his father's own axe training; how he seeks recognition of his skills and his own fame. He also enjoys strategy games and games of skill to help sharpen his own. Most anything he seems to enjoy doing has some other benefit besides just plain enjoyment. Most likely something instilled in him by his uncle's zealous belief in the betterment of one's abilities.
When enough time passes, someone walks by the table with a mop, motioning them to get a move on, Marcus stands, quite content with the meal he had, along with the conversation and company. Before they return their dining wear, Marcus makes on more remark in finishing up the dinner conversation. "Don't be too quick to look down on luck. My father would always say, 'It's better to be lucky than good'. My uncle probably would have had me running drills for even quoting that."
As they are leaving the dining hall, Raine invites him to play darts with her. "I had a dart board at my house, every now and then I would hit the center, but that was just dumb luck, I'm sure you would hit it with skill."
Marcus begins to walk with her to where the dart board is at. "As I recall you bested both me and Jarvis at a similar game back at the Flood Festival. But it would be good to play a game I suppose. I've been thinking of picking up some weapon grade darts...just as a backup. So it would be good practice to see if I like them or not."
They place several rounds, Raine hits to target pretty consistently, but not dead center. "I think my game has improved a little bit since I was a child." After she says this, one swings off wildly hitting the somewhat holey wood wall behind the board. "Spoke to soon,” she lets out an embarrassed laugh.
Raine plays several rounds with Marcus, who hits the center several times, not surprising. Eventually, Raine manages to finally hit the center. "I think I should quit while I'm ahead."
He hasn't much noticed, but the better part of the day has past. When they wrap up the game, Raine turns to him. "Thank you for giving me a bit of a break from my usual studying. Every now and then, I go visit the orphanage with Ritand, or talk philosophy with Syn, or spend time with the group as a whole, but I've never gotten such a great chance spend time with someone one on one."
With this, Raine approaches him and gives him a big hug. Marcus is startled by her approach. He prepares for his body to tense as she embraces him, but instead he feels a sense of...comfort. Besides his own mother, Raine is the only one that he has ever felt this at ease around. As his body relaxes he returns the embrace.
"Sadly however, it's starting to get about that time where they don't really like having visitors wandering around here, and I've got a little bit of reading I'd like to do, so I should probably show you out," she says with a slight tone of regret in her voice.
"You're right, it's getting late. I should probably go home. But thank you Raine, you've done so much for me today (inner thought: 'more than you could possibly know'). Today was probably one of the best days I've ever had. I know the party has become close over the past couple months, but I think today was a pretty good day for us to get to know each other. And...I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds here…but I see you as my first true friend."
Marcus lowers his head slightly and blushes slightly out of embarrassment. He's always been a lonely person. He spent most of his childhood training either under his father or his uncle, and the rest of the time he was a social outcast. So the idea of friendship seems new and sacred to him. "But I hope we can still enjoy each other's company still like we did today. It was really fun."
Raine smiles, "don't be silly, you haven't overstepped them at all," she says playfully tapping his shoulder. "I really enjoyed today as well; getting to know you better, getting to help you figure out your feathers, and just getting to play games. I haven't had that much fun in a long time."
She walks him out, and gives him one more big hug before he leaves. "Goodnight Marcus."