Turning the shower off, I wait and stare at the nearest tiles. Much like them, the water is finally starting to roll away without anything else to back it up. No barely heated plumbing will keep me moist, but lingering in the air is not the best way to dry. The curtain zips back with a scraping series of bumps and I mind the leg-rising step.
A sigh escapes quietly through my nostrils and I survey the room I've not used all that much recently. Nothing's really changed, it's still a bathroom designed to accommodate a fair few people. The girly majority who live here have little problem with it, but, as the sole man, I am entitled to privacy more than them. Not that my behaviour hasn't already guaranteed that as of late.
Finger first on the cold metal bar, I slip my prints along the condensation and snatch up my towel. Applying it first to the face, I scrub it down and slick back my mess of hair. Water-welded clumps out of the way of my vision, I get to drying the rest of my body. The towel falls and I hold out my dominant hand in a clawish form.
An orb of magic comes into being and it couldn't be more fitting with its rust-inspired colours. Though, the metal in here certainly would like to make the argument that I am wrong. But who cares what some coated metal or aluminium has to say? Who even has the lack of sanity to think metal can talk?
Me, apparently.
"I have everything gathered. Now, I just need to sort myself out." I mutter, clapping my hands together quietly as I look upon my naked visage. The magic within the mirror keeps it clear as always and I stare back at the wreck of a man. I can certainly play the part of the crazy hermit if I want to. I might have to if I fail to present my case to all the bigshots currently on site.
Putting a hand through my hair, I frown in contemplation at what to do with it. I've never had it this long before and I don't trust my abilities to self-hairdress. A comb glows in my imagination and I reach out for the dull reality of simple wood and bone. One of the girls who lives here, it's theirs, but I don't have much mind to ask right now for permission.
Getting to it, I slick and shape the aggressively scrubbed mop on my head and give it some finer form. However, for the mess on my face, I opt for something that actually belongs to me. I ignore the usual process and glide the razorblade across my entire jaw-lawn. Some more water splashes and I clean away the little dark lines of debris.
Taking one more look at the mirror, I nod slowly and almost smile. This is a face far more presentable and one much more deserving of a friend I once had called Ioike. I make a quick mental reiteration of my post-mortem promise to her and gather my things. Without a care in the world, my naked body grasps the door handle and I push.
Yet, despite the willingness to streak, I still make the effort to get out of sight quickly. My bedroom door shuts with a puff of air, the open window catching it on a draft. Dumping my things, I get to putting my display of clothes on. Only the basics manage to slip onto my body without issue and I stop to look at my more important choices.
Will people take me more seriously if I have more power to back my presence up? Liadanann is not here to complain if I do, and with the fate of the land at stake, her feelings are moot. Even so, I cannot find it within me to put myself through such pain again. It's not like I'd be able to overpower anyone even if I did. I've not been looking after myself.
"Even with a shower and a shave to freshen up, I still look like someone who's been for a mountainside roll." I scoff, staring at the better looking man in the mirror. I assume the glass, if it had a memory, much prefers what it can now see. Nodding my attention away from it, I start to fiddle with the tablet pile. I'm pretty sure this is everything I could need.
Anything and everything that describes Segaansallis and makes it clear what my point is. It's all here, every last bit of eroded dust of it. I just need to present this information to all those soldiers and make the solution clear. No one's come looking for Ioike's work so I know this is not a thought that has crossed their minds.
They're probably only considering ineffective bombs, anyway...
I sit on the edge of my bed and put my face into my hands so I can sigh. Is this even going to work? I've spent all this time trying to find a hint or clue as to defeat Atarifuge and I finally have it. But, I have no idea if I have a mind capable of thinking up the solutions and plans needed.
What I have here is not exactly sorted out to be easily legible to someone in a meeting or an abrupt interruption. It's all ramblings of a truly incoherent sort with a lot of experience needed to even begin to grasp it. Even then, I've known Ioike, I've put up with her for some time. Even then, I still struggled to reach this point...
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"Gods above... Please, make this work. Please..." I mutter, signing off to the first god that comes to mind with a quick gesture. I don't even know what god I prayed to. It came out so out-of-thought that it might as well be Apahthein. Either way, I best get going and put on my final few bits.
I do so and with an exerting huff; I load up on the tablets. My new weight bears down on the floorboards louder and I get going. Hands adjust the feel of my bag and I jump my shoulders a little to free up any cloth-y snags. Voices call out to me and eyes watch. All of them are ignored and the bottom of the stairs comes within reach.
The final step is almost daunting, and my mind is all too aware of the implications. If I go any further, I will have no choice but to head to this meeting and find a way in. And yet, I think like that so pointlessly. There is no choice. If I do not enlighten those in charge of our defence, we will perish.
Ioike did not save my life just so I can waste it and eventually join her in death...
"I wonder if Nin ever felt this way about me. I guess, though, this is what he thought about Larishazza." I mutter as random thought while I close the gap between me and the front door. Snatching up my staff, I ignore the voices calling out for me and get going down the quiet street. No one's out here but the mysteriously shadow-faced soldiers of the Seven-Peaks Union of Jherikra. No matter, they're not paying me any mind.
The unintended help they offer me, though, is most welcome. I'm not entirely sure where a massive meeting between people would happen on school grounds. However, the soldiers are a useable trail. Their density seems to be in proportion to the importance of events across the campus. Following this increase in weapons and armour should prove fruitful.
The central section of Suhurlodst Academy of Arcane Learning and Understanding makes the most sense. That's where the teachers and so on tend to be for their big meetings that involve all of Suhurlodst. I've only ever heard of meetings taking place on the grounds of the four houses if it's a house affair. Oddity House developments will never be discussed on Exceptional House grounds.
Only exception is probably going to be Mechanical House.
"Focus Baltanthan, focus. I know you're nervous, but this is what needs to be done." I tell myself as I put a hand on a dead lamp post. Lingering at the edge of the street, I pay attention to the sky as some airships fly over. And I thought one was an impressive enough sight as is, now there's so bloody many of them. All of this and Atarifuge is still not down. It really is hinging all on me, isn't it?
Again, this really should be Ioike doing this, not me. This is her work, her area of expertise and Atarifuge was the thing she was studying. Maybe I can find her club's whereabouts and have them present it as a case? I don't even know where to begin looking.
Shaking my head and expressing my growing anger, I slap myself twice with some firmness. My expression settles into place and I march onwards. There's no time for any more dawdling. I must be on my way with this information. I must put it into the hands of people who can make head or tails of it.
With cold feet, I keep clear of the main entrance of the main administrative building and walk around finding a side entrance. Unlike elsewhere, this place only seems to have a couple of guards posted at it, and I approach them. They pay me no mind and carry on with their lives as armed statues. I wave at the foreign troops in the hopes of catching their attention.
Nothing, they do nothing. Keeping an awkward grip on the air near my front, I try to reach for the door. An armoured hand snaps across it like a locking bar might and the other smacks their weapon's barrel. I flinch back and the pair revert to their prior state. I frown as my mouth opens up.
"Hello?"
The shadow-faced men do not reply, their little orange eyes remain immovable pricks.
"I have important information about Atarifuge, the giant currently heading this way." I explain, hoping they grasp the importance of it. Taking my bag off, I pull out a tablet to show. My fingers get to work putting it onto the relevant face of details.
A clear presentation before one of them does not do much, if anything at all.
"It's details about a weapon that can destroy it, an inactive machine called Segaansallis. You might have heard of it as the Sword-Faced Giant?" I try to elaborate only for them to carry on the usual nothing. Smacking my lips and rubbing the back of my neck, I put the tablet back. I show and display the full extent of my luggage all I can.
Surely they can grasp that I am not some wacko whose found one odd reference? I have an extensive supply of material to show to their superiors? Maybe they're just not allowed to talk? Can I try to go in aga-
My bag crashes onto the ground, I touch the harsh feel on my chest. I hear a mechanical pump and a glowing blade is too close. Locking up, my eyes widen at the pinkish coloured edge and the barrel right above. I can't get my ears to hear anything but the magic hissing into the catalyst chamber on the gun's rear.
Whistling, feet running.
"What's going on back here?" a man with his face showing demands to know and I turn to him with some joy. Finally, a person I can explain myself to without anything strange going on! Whatever magic makes the shadow-face a thing, it's only getting in my way.
"I have important information! I need to get inside!" I say, forcing myself up against the grass to get away from the bayonet. It follows me, not allowing any freedom of space.
The man puts a hand towards a helmet-bound device, "We have a student here trying to sneak in. Yes, sir, I will put him back on his way."
"No, wait, no I hav-!" I try to explain as the faced-man packs up my tablets and moves to get me going along. I need to fight back and explain my situation!