[Percival's Lair] There Came a Soft Rustling

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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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[Percival's Lair] There Came a Soft Rustling

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~One month after Hawaii

There came a soft rustling in the laboratory. Percival paused, and turned. That had not been the sound of Jakku or Zippo bumbling around. His eyes scanned the room for anything amiss, but everything was where it ought to be. The large exosuit continued to dominate the center of the room. His workbench was neatly arrayed- or as neatly as it could be in the midst of his current operation. Jakku was in containment and fueling his elements. Seeing the look on his face as he lifted his goggles, Zippo floated over. "Is something wrong?"

Professor Caxton surveyed the room again, but couldn't seem to pinpoint the source of his unease. His tools were in use or stowed properly; his assistants were present and accounted for; his private quarters beyond the ajar door were dark and undisturbed; the Lucky Tanuki in the corner sat and waved quietly as it ought. But the feeling lingered.
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Kokuten
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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Professor Caxton operated with a very loose restriction on what he could have within his workshop on campus. There were papers and policies that he had drafted and reviewed with the headmaster to delineate some very loose limits. In short, Ruarc trusted Percy not to let anything get out of hand or dangerous, which was partially why the Alchemist only ever did his experiments later in the evening. Another aspect of that agreement was that the hazardous mystek that Percival kept stayed within the workshop when not in use. If something got out, it was on him.

"Sokka. Snowball."

From the rafters came a small, golden sprite. Like the other two of Caxton's assistants, she was small; her angular, spiked wings crackled with energy. Without a word, the sprite lit up and arced in electrical bolt into the wall, and reappeared grabbing onto a circuit that was labeled 'CONTAINMENT'.

The skylights, a new addition to the lab in recent weeks was closed with shutters. The door to his living quarters slapped shut and an extra lock slatted down over it. A running shutter slid by under the grilled floor below him, separating the upper section of the workshop from the recently expanded garage below him that contained a large looking, half-finished water hull. Several more lock noises carried out through the walls, before the lights finally died away into a sullen, red glow from the emergency lanterns.

Percival, from the stool he was working, rested his cheek into his fist as he stared at the tanuki statue he had not remembered acquiring.

"Now would be a good time to show yourself."
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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Tanuki Issei continued waving, but her placid, happy expression rapidly grew nervous.

Now would be a good time to show yourself.

When she finally broke her form and ceased waving one arm like a metronome, it was as if she had ended an glamour. She appeared a little larger than the gleeful idol she had imitated, though the girl wasn't very large to begin. Her outfit-- which was really just a set of tanuki pajamas complete with ears on the hood and a bushy tail on the bum-- no longer looked brassy and hard. But Tanuki didn't know any glamours; in fact, when Lady had explained the girl's situation to the rest of the staff, she had indicated that Tanuki had no knowledge of magic at all.

Now, six months later, the girl's zealous curiosity had her gobbling up information about magic at a startling and ravenous pace. It was that same zealous curiosity that had led her to break into most fortified room on campus. It's probably a test! she had told herself, thinking back on the various practical exercises the school had thrown her into.

And now she was face-to-face with the grumpiest, most mysterious teacher she'd ever seen, and she was locked in. She wasn't accustomed to being caught, let alone caged, and the tension in her body was plain. But Tanuki was almost as quick of mind as she was of foot.

"Did I pass!?" There were equal parts anxiety and exuberance in her tone.
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Kokuten
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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"Interesting."

Percival Caxton cut a narrow silhouette in the red, hazy light, but his eyes flashed with a mystical energy. The Alchemist had a dissecting stare, in the most unintentional of ways, but it was a habit brought forth from isolation and academia. His fairies began to flutter up to his shoulders, Sokka, Zippo and even Jakku as she emerged from the catalyzer. They hovered over him and watched her with mixed emotions of disgust, curiosity and excitement, respectively.

His gloved finger tapped his chin, and he repeated her words.

"Did you pass…?"

Of course not, you got caught. Was what he would have said to someone in any other situation. It was acerbic and biting, which was the tone he was too used to, but moreover, she looked the type to try again if encouraged. There were too many dangerous things in the workshop to have an unattended guest at any point.

"... no. The correct answer was to knock on the door," droned Mr. Caxton, still resting his cheek into his fist. "Students who knock are welcomed in, listened to, taught a new skill, perhaps they even leave with a trinket. Those who fail the test … they…"

At that, the instructor arched his brow, staring off into the shadows.

"... why… I don't know. I've never had a student fail it before now."
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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Tanuki bit her lip at the Professor's puzzled reaction. Not good. So she was completely blindsided when he told her she was wrong. "W-w-w-..." she spluttered, flabbergasted. Wrong? WRONG!? "No, that's not... It can't be wrong! I got in! Not every test has one answer! Master Flynn said so! There's no way I'm the first failure!" She crossed her arms, miffed. The concepts of etiquette and decorum seemed as foreign to her as the idea that she could lose- or fail. It wasn't something that happened to her. Ever. Never ever.
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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"Headmaster Flynn certainly encourages critical thinking," mused Professor Caxton, stepping off his stool and walking over to the pajama-clad intruder. She was silly, and deep down the man had to resist a smile at her candor and energy, "but I'm a bit old fashioned. Bangor through and through.”

“Should I zap her, Mr. Caxton?” said the lightning sprite, staring wildly down at Tanuki.

“Sokka!” Zippo rebuked her.

“I ain’ zapped someone inna’ long time.”

Sokka flew off the man’s shoulder.

“Sokka.” Percival’s rebuke was terse, but quiet, and the fairy stopped suddenly. His eyes never left Tanuki, they hadn’t since he spotted her the first time. “To your room.”

The sprite threw her arms out in frustration, gnashing her teeth before looking back at Tanuki, “I wasn’ gunna’ do nothin’! Ugh! You got me in trouble.”

“Ms. Issei,” the professor continued as the lightning sprite retreated glumly to one of a set of three bowls in the back of the workshop, “the fact remains that knocking was the correct answer. You did not do this, so you failed the test; quite simple. The consequences of your actions are evident.”

Professor Caxton stared down at Tanuki, his one arm tucked behind his back. “Walk me through your process. What did you think? What did you do? Then I will explain where you went wrong.”
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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As Percival dismounted, he saw what both Lady and Ruarc had seen the night she first snuck in. Her body tensed, limbs bent and ready to spring at the first sign of danger. It was obviously a reflex, and one she struggled to overcome. But he also saw something they did not: a fierceness in her eyes. She had found territory she considered safe, and wasn't ready to give it up.

Those fiery, cunning eyes shot occasional glances at the lightning sprite, but the bulk of her attention fell on Professor Caxton. It was easy for her to ignore whiners; the streets were full of whiners. Oh, I just need a little more ramen. Ugh, if only people were nicer. Could you, ano, give me your share?

Some of the tension escaped as the professor turned it into a lecture, like an overinflated tire coming back to equilibrium. "Well, everything in this crazy school is a test! And it's a big, crazy door with a weird lock. Obviously it's supposed to get our attention." She stood a little straighter and crossed her arms, assuming a socially defensive posture. "And it had the shush, so I knew there was good stuff back here. And, well, if it quacks and it waddles it's a duck."

Her defiant stare dared him to tell her she was wrong.
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Kokuten
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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“It could also be a platypus.”

Caxton’s face was blank, as shrugged his shoulder, leaning to the side of his extant arm as he did so. If Tanuki paid attention, the man seemed to wobble and weave as he moved, favoring the side of his arm. The way he gesticulated, he appeared as if he constantly had the other arm hidden behind his back, but this was clearly not the case, as the sleeve was tied off.

“Nevertheless, I quite appreciate your rapid sense of deduction,” commented Mr. Caxton, tucking his fist under his chin. A growing smile spread on his face, as he began to recognize qualities in her that reminded him of Riley. “However, it sounds as though you’ve substituted a sense of awareness for that deduction. You break apart the entryway and walk straight through, assuming that the breaking was the goal. The breaking is fascinating to me, but not a part of the test.”

At that, he turned, and his faeries, unsure of where he was going with this, followed with unsure curiosity.

“Ms. Issei, did you ever consider knocking?” he asked, his gloved hand set a kettle on. It was much too late for tea, at least not for someone who needed to be in bed at a reasonable time, or at all. “Did you consider the status that comes with being a student? The privilege, if you would… The ability to be invisible in plain sight without any magic at all?”

The orange fae had not taken her eyes off Tanuki the whole time. She had an innocent look in her eyes, but an apparent dedication in keeping watch on the girl while Mr. Caxton did not. “If you had knocked, you would have entered as a student. You could have stayed as long as feasible. Gained a tour of the lab, seen all you wanted to see. Now, you’re here as an intruder, caught in the act of a gamble. Trapped. You must be watched. You cannot maintain access. Moreover, I will be prepared for the next time you try.”

A hissing sound of boiling water began to form in the kettle. “Do you understand, Ms. Issei? The importance of reading the entire question before submitting your answer?”
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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The look Tanuki gave him clearly said, are you stupid?? “A platypus doesn’t quack OR waddle.” Despite the outburst, she listened intently as Percival explained. Heat filled her face as anger and frustration cranked up the temperature.

“You never knock, that’s how you get caught.” in her experience, people didn’t like strangers at their door. Knocking was for friends and she wasn’t Professor Caxton’s friend. “Your door is a trick question!” And she hated trick questions.
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Re: There Came a Soft Rustling

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"A trick question that has never fooled anyone until now," stung Percival again, still trying to pin down how this type of talking worked its way into his regular manner of speech. He held up his hand, and Zippo dutifully tugged off his glove. "We keep coming back to this sense of perception. You saw the door for what you wanted it to be, and not for what it was. A challenge. A test."

The Professor turned a leaned against the table his tea was preparing on, "So now you've entered my workshop as an intruder. I must treat you like one now because you failed my test."

A small box of gears and articulating rods sat near by. Percival took a small metal pick lying near it, and gently placed it into a key-shaped slot on the box. He looked as though he were holding a quill, writing into the small space as it made various clicks.

"Ms. Issei, what would you do with someone you found where they didn't belong? Unwelcomed? In a private, personal place they most definitely should not be?"

Ca-click! The box slowly opened, before snapping shut. The gears on it began to spin, and its shape started to change, but the keyhole remained.
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