Izaneus tiredly followed Louise through the hallways of the academy he somewhat explored the night prior, wondering what Ozmond wanted to speak with him about, and realized it was about the deal they'd made before they'd been contracted to tackle Fouquet! How forgetful could he be? Especially when it was something so important? He felt so ignorant.
With a pained sigh, he continued, following behind Louise as she led their way through the now bustling hallways, schoolgirls giggling as they gossiped about something likely idiotic, and the opposite schoolboys making brave lies about how they single-handedly deflected one of Fouquet's attacks, and would have gone on to defeat her, had that lowly familiar not beaten them to the punch
Izaneus sighed as they continued, knowing in his heart that if any of them had tried to fight Fouquet, they'd have surely met their end, and through his internal observations, assumed they knew this as well, it was just to show off, or poke fun at his accomplishment. Rather annoying, but nonetheless, they were still- well, Iza couldn't very well say that, he was also very much a child in the eyes of the world and himself.
He sighed once more, today was proving more tiring and exhausting with just this brief interaction with the students, he feared greatly the idea of meeting with the headmaster in his current state. He wondered what answers the elderly man would give him.
He hoped it would answer the mystery about the runes, they were becoming more of an annoyance in their dormant state, if only for the simple fact that he'd rather explore their power than lie next to it, unable to grasp its knowledge. It was frustrating being so close to something so absolutely tantalizing.
Izaneus looked to Louise next, who'd been through a lot these past few days, what with Fouquet and that…. Ordeal, at first, Izaneus thought she was a spoiled brat, who cared for nothing but her own personal gain, her actions during and after the battle had shown this to not be the case, she at the very least cared for his well-being which Izaneus appreciated. More than he likely should.
Izaneus couldn't place his willingness to accept her conditions, or orders. He was aware he had a difficult time of saying "no", his home-life more than proved this. Yet, he felt a particular need to do whatever she asked. It was…peculiar. His first thought was magic, but she knew no spells of enchantment. None that he'd seen her practice at the very least.
So many thoughts were swirling around his mind, this occurred the previous night as well, but at least then he could occupy himself with his exploration of the arcane.
It wasn't exactly…safe to do so now. There were a couple things he could do though.
With a faint smug smirk, Izaneus swished his hand around quickly, using the gestures to conjure just enough power to sustain a small tune, which he gently played from next to his ears, and his ears alone.
As somber as it was sweet, it calmed the mage, and allowed him to collect himself as they finally neared Ozpin's office. He kept the simple melody playing, but allowed its volume to die off just a touch, so he could hear what the elderly man had to say.
Standing outside the office of Headmaster Osmond, Louise knocked carefully,
As if to answer, the door opened gently allowing sight of the headmaster, Who sat in waiting for the pair. " Oh! Please! Come in! Take a seat! I've been waiting patiently for you both to regain consciousness" He played, making light on the fact that Izaneus was out for a few days, and Louise fell asleep as he awoke.
Louise nodded respectfully, and began to enter, before Izaneus stopped her, "...If you don't mind, I'd rather talk to him alone first." He asked as politely as possible, hinting that the answers he hoped to receive weren't meant for her ears. The pinkette pouted slightly, looking him in the eye as if to tell him he could stick it, and she was curious in any case.
Louise nodded woefully, and stepped back a tad, and Izaneus nodded back before entering, Using magic to quietly and quickly shut the door behind him. " You promised me answers as to how you came across that staff?" Izaneus asked, getting straight to the point as he moved away from the door.
Osmond chuckled a tad, nodding himself, " Of course! But if you would tolerate a question of my own, what drives you to seek the answer?" He questioned, his eyes focused on the mage before him. To which Izaneus stood silent for a moment before sighing, Deciding Osmond, despite his secrets, appeared fairly trustworthy at least.
" That staff comes from my world, Infreya. If I can discover the nature of how you came to it's possession I can reconfigure a way back to my home." He began, stating the truth. Before quickly adding. " Not that your world isn't pleasant! But… I would like to return home all the same."
Osmond sat silent for a moment, and then two, and then a minute, doing nothing but staring at Izaneus. Mentally debating if this was his true intention.
" Very well. I received the staff from a fallen Wizard I'd met when I was much younger, I'm afraid to say I've no clue how he came to be here, it is far beyond my realm of expertise. But with him, and now you, it is to be certain there is something connecting us." He explained his tale, well, a very small portion of it, but his tale nonetheless.
" I'm sorry to say I've nothing else for you in regards to information. You're welcome to inspect the staff, but I must ask you to have supervision when doing so. After Fouquet, I'm afraid to say I cannot afford any more crisis on campus."
'Acceptable terms', Izaneus thought, "And generous beyond belief" the wizard couldn't fathom the amount of families that must've demanded their heirs be sent back home after an attack from someone as infamous as Fouquet.
" Thank you Headmaster, honestly. Maybe there's a trace of whatever was used to send it and it's owner here. If there is, I'll find it…as safely as possible of course." Izaneus felt obliged to add the last part, after all, since he'd arrived, it felt as though he'd been nothing but a nuisance, causing Louise to go haywire, littering the campus with craters….that he still needed to fill in…
The Wizard wanted to sigh again, but refrained to be as polite as possible, he owed it to the Headmaster at least, for being allowed to study and inspect the Staff. It was a stroke of luck that he wouldn't waste. " I believe that's all headmaster, thank you for your time, I'll send Louise now."
As Izaneus turned around, and opened the door, Louise stood, Tabitha beside her, who, as soon as the door opened, turned to him, and gave Izaneus a serious glare, before turning to the headmaster. Walking up to him, Seemingly Ignoring Izaneus's presence entirely.
The wizard turned to Louise, Iza then raised his arms slightly as if to ask what that was about, she seemed friendly enough during the fight. Louise could only sigh, and shrug, as she moved past Izaneus. Ready to hear what the headmaster had for her and Tabitha. The door closed quickly behind them, and Izaneus found himself alone, again. A surge of lethargy consumed him almost instantly
As much as he hated finding himself within one of Louise's lectures…For some reason, he hated being alone that much more, he couldn't quite describe it, so he tried to dismiss it. Instead focusing on moving his feet forward through the halls, ignoring any stares he received, as well as the whispers that followed.
"There goes that familiar, what was his name?"
"I heard he took Fouquet down super easy! I can't guess how strong he is!"" Isn't it kinda embarrassing to have a familiar who's better at magic than you are though?"Slowly, Izaneus was beginning to share Louise's disdain for the other students. Gossiping amongst themselves. Making a mockery of the trial he and his compatriots endured. Doing his best to retain his poker face, Izaneus continued through the halls. Making as much ground toward the library as possible. With recent information, he couldn't simply sit around.
At first, he believed the connection would simply show itself. Hence his laziness… No, that wasn't quite right.. But he couldn't quite come up with a description for the other reason he felt was relevant, shaking his head of the excess thoughts roaming his mind, he slowly tried to reel himself back into the present. Reminding himself he had more important tasks.
The first of which was to scour the library for mention of any other strange artifacts this world had potentially accumulated. For if both he and the staff arrived from his world, there were likely other such artifacts that found their way here. If they were, he would find them, and do his best to discern whether or not their transportation had left any trace. If it had, he was in luck! If they hadn't, well, he was kinda fucked in that eventuality.
At least if he could find a way to reverse the connection from this world to his, he would have a direct route. He could still likely figure out way home without it… but it would take a lot more time, and testing to make sure he wouldn't teleport himself somewhere entirely random-
Then there was the issue of power… sure Izaneus was fairly skilled within the arcane as well, but he held doubt he could, as he was now, conjure enough power to support his transportation home.
Once more, the wizard caught himself internally monologuing, wasting time and energy on thoughts that would only cause him suffering, he struggled to move himself away from them. But managed to do so with the self-promise everything would be okay.
The first step was all he needed to focus on as it stood. Find information on any other potential artifacts from his world. So that was what he would do.
Entering the library, it astounded him that he'd also seemingly been too preoccupied to step in here. He thought he was far more bookish than that. Shrugging his laziness aside once more, Izaneus entered, and began pouring through the different shelves, slowly searching for anything that might hint at his goals.
" Introduction to Tristanian history… Curious phenomena… artifacts of old.." He listed, grabbing book after book both with his hands and with his magic, slowly carrying them all over to a desk, and preparing for one of the most tedious study sessions of his days. The thought kinda excited him in a way. So as he prepared his study materials, and conjured a piece of parchment and a quill, he was too invested in his goals to notice a pair of Amber eyes staring at him from across the library.
Hey everybody! It's been just a touch hasn't it? But I promised the chapter would come out! Once more I'm super sorry for the delay, and I'm super appreciative of everyone's patience with me. It's been a rough couple weeks lol. But I hope you've all had a couple of good ones! I'm glad you're able to enjoy my work. I hope everyone here is able to push on.
Anywho! I'd say that's enough for now. I struggled a little, but it's out! And I'm onto the next one! Until next time everybody!