"To think it would take this long for me to get what I paid for..." Baltanthan grumbles under his breath as I finish waving to the Traditionals greeting me in turn. Welcoming the shelter of his modest student dwellings, I use what I've learned in my cakesmithy to get around him and his staff. Not so much as a key on its hanger rattles as I take my final back step and the door locks at my friend's behest.

"On your kitchen table?" I ask and he nods, a little noise leaving me as I realise someone has appeared behind me. Stepping out of her way by going the way I need to, she walks up the stairs and somewhat swings back down. I come to a stop, keeping an eye on my friend in case I might need to apologise or something, I don't know.

"Oh, hello, Verstey." Baltanthan greets as he sets some of his things aside into a small segment of a shelf with what looks to be a name tag settled in.

"Hello, Balts, what's in the box?" Verstey asks as she turns her head my way and I do my best to wave when she beams a wide smile.

"Nothing for you, now, scram." Baltanthan goes, his magic lighting up near one of the girl's hair-placed pieces of metal.

"NO!" she screams, running off upstairs towards the sound of other giggling girls.

"I forgot you shared this place." I comment as he sets his staff down into a little corner, the grooves in the floor providing the stability it needs. But, just to be safe, he moves a chopping board into an overhang. He claps his hands clean and joins me in sitting down at the kitchen table.

"I'm more surprised none of them have gone anywhere in the past few years since I joined. All of your lot went and came, but, these girls, they've been here with me for some time..." Baltanthan explains, his tone quietening down as he turns towards the picture frame on the windowsill. A soft blast of magic happens and it almost puffs into his hands.

"I never took you for the sentimental type, you never talk about them much." I say, putting a hand on my soon-to-be lost and opened box. He passes the picture to me and I relinquish my delivery so I can secure the precious memory. A smile comes to my lips and my brow calms down. It looks like they were celebrating something when this picture was taken. Though, curiously, despite Baltanthan's seeming abhorrence, he's not the one escaping the group.

The table rattles, some of the staples I used to secure the box blowing away as specks of rust.

"There's an easy-to-access strip right here..." I almost groan, stabbing a nail through the thin part meant for even a block merely shaped like a blade. I try to open it the rest of the way but he smacks my hand away, carrying on with his crude way of doing it.

"I know, I know. But, it's my box, none of your beeswax." he mutters without a care and I huff my offence into humour. Tapping my thumb on the girl who is sneaking off in the picture, I put it on the table facing him.

"Who's this? She certainly does a good job of sticking out." I ask him and he stops what he's doing to glare and rant something off in the confines of his head.

"My bedroom partner, the eternal bane of a good night's sleep with her endless muttering and ceaseless work. Stinky thing." he fails to answer.

"Not a name." I go, giving him a little curl of my lips when he brings himself out of whatever mental thing he has going on.

"Oh, Ioike. She's part of the Archaeology Club to put it simply." Baltanthan answers right as he tears open the box, destroying it completely. I breathe a laugh through my nose, glad I use cheap, disposable boxes and not actual containers that need to be returned. They might not last as much as I want to, but, it's better than not getting the ones that I do back.

"She seems nice." I remark as I look at her once again. Even in this party where all the others are dressed and pampered in cute, colourful clothes, she's in something heavy. Though pale of skin, even in this dark-edged picture I can make out the signs of wear and tear and outdoors busy work.

"Yeah, she is," he goes as he pulls out one of the pastries I had made for him, "When she's buggered off and on one of her digs."

"Don't be so mean to her, passion for one's work is to be commended." I chirp and his head firmly shakes into an angled position.

"Even when said work borders on obsession?" he asks and I flinch at the memory that comes to mind. It's not his fault, but, well, I can't help but think of Nin in this case. There was a time I unfortunately had similar thoughts to this, I wanted him to stay close and not go out and yet at the same time I was almost relieved when he left some nights. I could pretend he wasn't in my life and I don't know what to think about that...

I shake my head and get back to the friend before me, "Are you not the one who's never allowed himself a lie-in for how many months now?"

"Years." Baltanthan corrects with a moanful bite, the sausage of the roll revealed, much to my delight. My smile grows and an arcane-wrapped thumb rises with a mess forming on the ground. One, two, three and his cheeks are stuffed to their limits with slow bites bringing it to order!

"Some actual sleep will do you good." I quip and he holds off on grabbing another one of his bites. He chews and chews and his head moves, neck bulging with far too much food. A glass of water quickly eases the dry pressure he so stupidly built up.

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"I go to bed at a reasonable time, I'm just up before everyone else. Well, with the exception of Ioike but she's always had sleeping issues as far as I can tell. She loves her discoveries and theories too much." he explains and I can't help but pity the girl. While what I have experience of... Workaholics... Is on the extreme end, I have experience with them.

"Have you tried giving her anything to help her sleep?" I ask and he grabs a biscuit to contradict the salty, still-juicy meat currently lingering on his teeth.

"I wish I could knock her over the head. Why'd you care anyway? She's my roommate." he goes and I shrug, putting my hands together. Guess I just want to keep my mind occupied, even with the time I had to myself earlier hasn't really done anything...

The sound of the clock starts to come through.

"Liadanann, hellooooo?" Baltanthan goes and I shake my head.

"Oh, sorry, I never actually spoke my answer, did I?" I sheepishly go, dropping the topic by standing up and heading out.

"Take care." Baltanthan waves and I smile, heading to the stairs instead.

"No, don't think I will." I grin and he groans on the get-up. Taking a step up, I hear his hand hit the newel and he crosses his arms when I turn.

"Get back down here, I'm already twisting the legislation by having you on Academy grounds anyway. And sure as all the gods it is coming back to me because how do you hide you?" he groans and moans as we go up the stairs. Reaching the top, I sigh, a little pleasure to my hot air because it is so comfortably warm up here. A light-dressed girl steps out of one door and I match her wave as she shuffles into her room. Baltanthan catches up just in time to catch some of the hijinks going on before the door closes.

"So, which one's yours?" I want to know and he gives it away with a look. Smiling, I head through the hall and step into his room. Keeping the smile up, he comes in with a modest moan of exasperation and immediately tidies a shelf his roommate must've left messy.

"Have your look and go back downstairs already." he says, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

"That is no way to talk to your friend." I chastise gently, quickly deducing what must be Ioike's work. I let out a long whistle, looking it all over with a mind that I can't help but have blank. None of this really makes sense to me so I just focus on some of the pictures and smile at their contents. Artefacts of all kinds and even simple vistas she's managed to observe in her time in this club.

"I like this one the most." Baltanthan tells me with a warm tone, his finger pointing out a picture in the upper left corner. Moving closer to it, I mind where my feet go and move my weight onto my toe-claw tips. Refraining from taking it down, I manage to get a close look at what it's meant to be. A valley with some kind of town or village nestled comfortably under a sky of patchy clouds?

"She happened to be near your home?" I ask and he shakes his head with a scoff.

"No, I don't want to be reminded of that place. It's a ravineer town with nothing going for it." he sneers and I frown as he finds his bed. Turning around, my eyes briefly widen at how big of a room this actually is. Even with how much of this place is dedicated to the roommate's love for history, Baltanthan still has plenty of room for his own little things.

Though I do not make a move for it, my friend still snatches up a small rusty item with a hiss-like noise.

"Keep your nose in Ioike's stuff." he tells me and I nod, putting his tone and behaviour aside. I'll ask about it later, maybe someone can elaborate on it or maybe I'll forget and nothing will be done. Either way, I do as told and return my focus to all the pictures and what she actually has on hand.

"Wait... I know what this is..." I mutter, spotting a small glass container.

"And I know what a fair bit of this is as well." Baltanthan clicks his tongue at and I frown.

"N-No, I know what this is specifically... It's a power gem for a ddrai'och war machine... Robot, whatever." I go, picking up and opening the glass container so I can pluck and hold it.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you, she polishes these things religiously and I'm going to be taking the fall either way..." he starts to contest before submitting to the fact he's not escaping whatever punishment she will likely inflict.

"Sorry." I shrug without the smile it should've had with it.

"So, how do you know what this is? Way I understand it, it's a piece of looted jewellery, not a magic item. You know, some thief probably jammed his knife into an old tiara or something." Baltanthan explains and I shake my head, memories of my time in the cold sleep coming to mind. I remember now, the machines looking after us, their magic circuits centred around devices like this. Our Lord's blessing filled these but it's long gone now. Too far gone removed from the faith that powers it.

"No... It's not, it's a power gem. See, my people didn't use wind magic or anything like that. We relied on what I guess you could call a form of faith-magic. Something very different to what is available to humans." I explain, somewhat.

"Which makes no sense." Baltanthan goes with a nod and my head shakes vigorously. No, that's not right!

"No, no-no-no-no! I understand all magic is divine and there are seven states of it. But, wind magic wasn't a thing when I was little, no, yes... I remember, back when I was taught about engineering and how to maintain the machines we have, the airship has. Had... Argh..." I rant and ramble and Baltanthan smiles at what must be immensely familiar behaviour to him.

"Hold on, take a breath, collect your thought and- Wait, wind magic wasn't a thing?" he starts to tell me, his experience allowing him to recite what he needs until his mind breaks at one detail.

"Yeah, my old ddrai'och teachers from before I was made a prisoner. They told me how our engines weren't working as well due to the magic differences in the air. It was damaging the ventilation systems a lot more than expected because they weren't built to handle it. We found a solution, but, we eventually discovered that all that magic was, is(?) coming from that big mountain in the distance." I explain and Baltanthan slowly nods and steps away.

I frown.

"Why're you...?" I ask, not sure what he's realising.

He takes a step closer, his hand twitching, "No wind magic when you were younger?"

"Y-Yes."

His fingers can't stop flexing, "The historical period we're in, I heard this from Ioike... She says it's called the Emerald Awakening, so called for what happened... Whatever, four thousand years ago."

"What're you saying...?" I blink, almost laughing at the absurdity of it.

"What I am saying, Liadanann, there's a little bit more to you than I think anyone could have expected. If what you say is true, without a shadow of a doubt then you are, at bare minimum..." he says, his eyes turning towards a calendar. I follow his eyes, the numbers taking on a new meaning.

"I'm... I'M HOW OLD!?" I scream, dropping the power gem and generating screams from elsewhere in the dorm.