RP:Fish and Familiars

Joan and Ernest have a chat regarding guild politics and skeleton familiars.

The Black Spire

Ernest was lounging around in one of the various classrooms, chair tipped back, feet on the desk, a book in his hand. On first glance, everything seemed normal. Desiccated skin, sunken eyes, longcoat, hat. Should someone happen to step closer, however, they might notice some strange differences. Old, faded injuries were in different places than they had been, fingers that had weathered to the bone had a bit of flesh left on them, etc. Small things that nobody who hadn't spent an extended amount of time with Ernest would notice. Orbiting him was a trio of crystalline-scaled fish--at least, they seemed to be fish at first glance, but they swam through the air, had infinitesimal points of fire in their eye sockets, and underneath their scales they were nothing but skeletons. He'd chosen this classroom deliberately--it was close to Joan's dormitory room. The coin he'd hidden inside of a brick in her wall should still be going off unless she removed it, and he was interested to see whether she'd uncovered it yet.

Joan had spent little time outside of the spire since her last rank test with Khitt, the healer/necromancer vampire was spending most of her free time now split between the libraries here, on duty at the Chapel of Rest/Unrest in Cenril, or clinic time up at the House Of Ara in Larket, yet all this time she’d still hear that ghostly call of her name every so often almost like clockwork. It was slightly irritating but, she put it off for the time being as her studies took most of her mental space. As she moved down the corridor towards her private room, a perk for making Thanadule. She was just finishing up the move out of the dorm with this final trip when she happen to notice what looked to be Ernest in the empty classroom, pausing the amethyst colored haired vampire would call out a greeting, her arms loaded with books, “Is that you Ernest?! If so come help me please!”

Ernest had a noticeable delay in answering the question--in responding at all, really--and when he did it was to snap the book closed and look up with a grin. "With what?" he asked, and casually, unhurriedly dropped his feet to the ground. He stood, tossing the book over his shoulder. It went behind his back, but mysteriously never actually hit the ground. "Looks like yer carryin' it jes' fine ta me." That being said, maybe there was something in her collection he could borrow at some point, so no reason not to amble over and provide a bit of assistance, regardless of what he said. The undead fish trailed after him, silently swimming through the air. "What'cha think? I ain't figured out a name fer 'em yet but they're surprisingly easy ta make, an' you wouldn't believe how many fish bones the average restaurant has lyin' around."

Joan leans back slightly as the taller man approaches, her head tilts as her glowing lilac orbs sweep over his figure. She nods her approval at his slight improvements before looking over the floating fishy. “Snazzy there, I’m waiting on my skeleton familiar I’m suppose to get with my new guild rank, whenever Khitt gets free.” She jerks her chin at the top heavy tomes on her pile. “Those, I’m finishing up cleaning out my old dorm room and moving into one of the more private senior quarters.” She remarks, most of her tomes are on advance necromancy, as she has learned the right to browse them and check them out from the guilds libraries and the Black Library itself.

Ernest raised an eyebrow at the idea that progressing in rank would lead to getting a skeleton familiar. Then he squinted, taking a couple of the books from the top of her pile and tucking them under one arm, head tilted to one side. "Ain't," he said, pausing as if looking for words or for dramatic effect, "th' whole point," he gestured to one of his fish, which drifted past his cheek and then rested on his hand, "of learnin' necromancy in th' first place," he gestured with his head and eyes towards the little skeletal creature, "makin' yer own skeleton familiars?" He dropped the creature, and instead of hitting the ground it caught the air and pulled up, swimming back into place. "What's so special about this'un that you cain't put it together yer own self?" It was clear he still hadn't done a lot of research regarding guild policies. To be fair, he's been a bit busy of late.

Joan wrinkles up her nose as she begins to lead the way to her new quarters, “The point, is that it is a permanent summons granted to you from the guild for all your hard work, study, and effort. Yes, you can summon your own, but as a lower level necromancer the skeleton familiar only last as long as your own personal power/mana can power it, and everyone burns out every once and awhile, then poof! There goes your summons! With a permanent one from the guild, it last for as long as the guild last. As long as our dark god grants is that power, which should last beyond death of us, yeah!” She nods there before stopping next to a partly open chamber door down the senior corridor section, “This is me here now!” She proudly claims before shouldering the chamber door open the rest of the way leading into a better designed and laid out room with heavy dark furniture. As Joan made her way to the large dark wood bookcase with her armload of tomes, her stitched horror Reese would move about putting Joan’s clothing away in the armoire. “Ernest, have you met Reese?! He was part of my rank test for Sceleratus.” He was rather easy to put together. Well…at least I think he was.” Here she paused and wrinkled her nose again as she hears that ghostly call for her but it was fainter now the further away from the coin she was. “Damn, I wish whatever that faint call for me would stop!” She exclaimed.

Ernest didn't see the point. He didn't have any use for gods, dark or otherwise, and if he was dead he wasn't going to need a familiar anymore. But by the time she'd finished describing the skeleton familiar, they'd arrived at a new door. The undead had not met Reese, and didn't bother saying hello once he was acquainted. As far as he was concerned it was a tool, like his Helpin' Hands. "Huh. I didn't really have a test. Khitti jes' decided I was ready fer it. You, by the by, did me no favors whatsoever when it comes ta that." Ernest deliberately put the books on the shelf backwards and upside-down. "There's no prank contest, you deliberately made me look foolish, an' I'm still sore about it." Now that his arms were free, they were crossed. "An' nobody's callin' fer you. I think yer hearin' things."

Joan placed her pale icy hands down on either side of her pants covered hips as she gives Ernest a really good ‘huh, What’chu on about’ look, “I would never! You asked me if it was a contest, and it is in a way, it’s not my fault if you didn’t read our entrance level book front to back and seek out the availability of the teachers.” A shrug is offered, “You mislead yourself, I personally believe you should be leveled higher then myself right now in the guild, all that natural talent. I mean look at that fishy! And those phantom helping hands.” She huffs out a breath as she stares up at the mummy. “Forgive me, I may have mislead you verbally, but you know you earned your rank and just needed a kick in the bum to get with Khitti for the decision.” At this point Joan would lift one hand off her hip to tug at her earlobe her thumb and index finger aglow with magical aura as she tries to dispelled the enchantment.

Ernest snarled a little at that, but at least she sort of apologized. Was he worthy of a higher rank? Maybe. Did he feel like assuming more responsibility and/or paperwork for what he essentially viewed as a hobby? Not particularly. Besides, he had several fairly advanced books to play around with himself, now. "I ain't in this fer th' titles. What in blazes even is a scaly rot mess anyhow? Or a novus moron-er? Or a thanadrool? Made-up words ta make folks feel important, that's what, an' I find that unnecessary. So if it -is- a contest, it ain't one I'm innerested in participatin' in." He glanced to her tugging at her ear with a bit of magic, and his annoyance at her meddling turned to a grin. "That ain't gonna help."

Joan frowns at Ernest as he does notice that her use of a bit of magic towards her ear wasn’t working. “And why not?! I am also a healer, I should be able to dispel what ever the heck is bothering me.” She gives him a narrow eyed look now, “Yes those are all titles, is there more work that comes with the earned positions, yes.” A pause as she sighs, “It all shows your hard work in the learning and skills. But…I don’t know, one can do as they please, no one has come to me and said I need to do duties or take on any more responsibility then what I’m doing now.” Reese had by now finish with the cloth hanging and putting away before moving to arrange Joan’s few personal items. Snickers her field mouse skeleton familiar she first summon up before Bradyn was sitting upon a Joan’s personal spell book, the kraken flesh bound tome.

Ernest gestured again to the fish. "I reckon th' work I put into it'll show itself." He snapped his fingers and all three fish swam over the space between his hands, and then he whistled a single note. The fish flew apart into an orb of their separate components--crystalline scales floating alongside tiny ribs and jaws, with those little points of fire that made the eyes floating in the center. A second, higher-pitched note started the orb spinning rapidly, the bones assembling themselves again--but this time into a single creature. The skulls of the fish aligned themselves in a line at the front, along with the lower jaws underneath, and then the whole thing was covered in the scales and fins. What had once been three ordinary fish was now a single fairly large fish, shaped like a pike or barracuda, with six eyes. It rattled its scales against each other, a tinkling, windchime-like sound, and started swimming around Ernest in a lazy circle. The mummy flashed her a grin. "Stickin' a fancy title on yer name jes' means you got somethin' ta prove on top of that." Rather unhelpfully, he didn't address the matter of her hearing voices at all.

Joan drop her hand from her earlobe, the phantom calling problem forgotten for now as she watched Ernest’s fish disassembled then reassemble before her gaze, the vampiric healer keeping close watch and track, assuring that ‘yes’ the three fish skeleton come together correctly, this has Joan side eyeing her box of disassemble elven skeleton bone resting at the foot of her bed, now walking towards the said box. “Okay, but I’m not going around boasting of my new title, I’ve only told you and some new recruit so far. So for me, I’m not trying to prove anything.” Grabbing up the box Joan moves towards the small table in the center of her chamber, placing the box onto of the sturdy wooden table top Joan looks back at the floating fish familiar to give it once more glance. “Hmm…just let the energy flow from myself and into the bones, allow it to follow the bones and form into it’s natural pattern of a skeleton.” That said Joan would step back a pace or two as she held one hand up and out directed at the box of bones, freeing up her mind to only focus on an elf’s natural skeleton structure, letting her magic flow out from her freely, the purple aura flowing out, her necromancy connecting with the bones, slowly lifting each up out of the box to assemble the elven skeleton, her magic keeping it afloat above the box and table.

Ernest decided not to follow up on this particular line of reasoning. Instead, he leaned against the doorframe and watched as she slowly reassembled her skeleton. "Is this th' one yer gonna give ta Vakmanobodycares ta make it permanent?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I guess if it's yer energy that's movin' it, that'd explain how these things aren't a total liability. Havin' somethin' what ain't mine watchin' me all th' time seems like a security risk."

Joan tilted her head as she spared a glance towards her fellow guild mate and friend, “Khitt didn’t say anything about me having to give my familiar over to Vakarash to keep it permeant. Only that I had to assemble it myself. My understanding was, so long as I stay with the guild the skeleton familiar was mine to control and command.” She explained while her dark purple magic energies fuse all two hundred and two bones together, the magic wrapping up around it, infusing it with her will as it suddenly sparked into unlife, shaking and rattling it’s bones towards it’s mistress, the jawbone clicks against the upper teeth as it turns it skull to ‘look’ to Joan, the vampiric healer let out a slow steady even breath as she magically moves the skeleton from above the table, lowering it to it’s boney feet on the stone floor. The empty eye sockets flare into life, lilac flames held there to show it was now sentient, giving a small nod of her head she begins to dispel the flow of magical power. Chewing at the corner of her lower lip Joan allows the familiar to move on it’s own now, the eleven skeleton makes a few limited moves as Joan’s necromancy leaves it, seemly powered now. She cast a glance back to Ernest to see if he approved. This was only her second attempt to ever make a skeleton familiar, Snickers raising up onto it’s boney back paws to cheer on it’s mistress as it was her very first skeleton familiar.

Ernest squinted at her explanation as the skeleton slowly finished assembling itself. "I thought you said somethin' about gettin' a blessing from some dark god ta power it." In his (admittedly limited) experience with gods, they weren't often the type of folks to just offer things in exchange for nothing. And any god with the audacity to call itself a "dark god" surely wasn't going to be the altruistic type. That being said, though, he couldn't argue with the results. Yet. The thing certainly -seemed- mobile of its own accord. "Neat!" Then, with that trademark swift motion, he suddenly had a crossbow in his hand, spinning on one finger. "I wanna test its durability." Then he shot it, aiming straight for its center of mass, the bolt enhanced by a touch of aeromancy such that on contact it wouldn't so much penetrate as release a concussive shockwave. As funny as it might have been to break it, he didn't want to commit outright vandalism (yet). Rather, this was as he said--a test of durability. Would this sudden application of force be enough to disassemble the bones? And if so, would they reassemble of their own accord?

Joan closed her open palm into a tight fist, drawing in her own magical energy/magic before letting loose her fingers to completely dispel the power as Ernest goes to try to break or dismantle her new familiar! Joan wrinkles up her nose as the arrow flies towards the mobile skeleton, the familiar breaks dances, moving it’s upper body to twist to one side as it’s boney hand slaps at the arrow, it jigs about as it’s hand catches the bolt, moving about it would dance towards the mummy to offer back the bolt as it grinned it it’s boney white manner.

Ernest made a "huh" noise at the incredible speed the familiar displayed. Granted, he had given Joan a bit of a warning--it wasn't like he'd just shot it without explaining himself--so getting the drop on it later might be in order. "Self-preservation, real darn quick reaction time. Not the test I was hopin' for, but not a shabby performance either." He flipped the crossbow bolt from the skeleton's hand to set it spinning in the air, then intercepted it with the equally-spinning crossbow to reload it and disappeared the weapon into his holster with a brief flourish. "Welp, seems like you've got all th' help you need," he said, standing up and rolling his shoulders in a stretch. Another mummy walked past the doorway, dressed in a longcoat and wide-brimmed hat, and tipped it amicably as it passed by. "Afternoon, Ernest," it said, in a very familiar drawl. Ernest looked over his shoulder and waved as it walked off. "You too, Ernest," he said, then turned a mysterious grin to Joan. "Seems I best be goin', looks like my shift is up. See ya 'round, Joan." And then, without elaborating, he turned to leave, letting the fish follow him, though he didn't leave -quickly-. A sight as potentially bewildering as that might inspire questions, and he wanted to revel in the confusion a bit longer. If she decided to follow him or his mysterious doppelganger, who was he to stop her?

Joan stared…at the other Ernest that passed by her open room door then at the departing Ernest, shaking her head in disbelief…tricky arse mummy! But Joan had other problems with that stupid phantom calling once more bothering her, frowning while she rest her hands in her hips the vampiric healer would send Reese back to her old room to search for anything she may have left behind, that small golden coin would be found by then. Ooh, she ever trace the energy back to a certain mummy then a filial one prank war would be started!