Thankfully, Adam did stop. 

"Aoife...?" the robe-clad student peered at Aoife with what appeared to be hazy vision, his voice hoarse to the point that the investigator was sure talking was a painful ordeal, and his breath was coming in small heaves, “I could use the help.”

With Adam's acceptance, Aoife switched the hand with which she held her cup of coffee and braced her fellow senior to herself. In a way, she was more lifting him than bracing him, though the ailed Magestrava was still moving on his own power. When she was confident that she had him well supported, they began their walk to the Hall of Healers.

The morning sun shone down in a glare as the pair made it out from the outdoor hallway between the male and female dormitories, in the perfect position to greet them in the face.

“I've got a new record I think though, six spells at once, can’t wait for the rumor mill to get ahold of that,” Adam let out a humorless chuckle, calling to mind how this magic backlash would be received with a backlash of a [i]different[/i] kind.

"[I]Six Spells?[/i]" Aoife was visibly taken aback, her eyes rapidly opening and closing a succession of times in a combination of disbelief and a hint of anger, "Hadn't Mr. Arazm and I both told..."

She briefly stopped their gait toward the Hall of Healers, recollecting herself with a drawn out breath. Momentarily, her olive green eyes shone in a glare stronger than the sunlight. She continued sternly, "Rather... Admonished you to keep the envelope pushing to a controllable level?"

That would be the last hint of anger, though.

Magic was a mysterious, wonderful, and at times terrifying thing. Those that dealt in it saw the world differently than those that did not, often times feeling as if they abided by special rules separate from those that did not know what they knew and see what they saw.

In a sense, that was true. Magestravi did have special conditions—the world's laws bent to their will, but would sometimes the world would strike back if its laws were bent too quickly or without enough reverence. That was a spell backlash, and the harder a user tried to push at the world's laws, the harder the world could push back.

"I bet you forgot to do proper spell stretches first, too," this time Aoife gave Adam an understanding smile. It hadn't necessarily been that the red-haired Magestrava was in awe, nor was she in any mode of true anger—instead, she felt an odd combination where she felt concerned and at the same time, simply didn't.

Aoife was on an approximately even ground with the raven haired Adam when it came to efficacy in Spellcraft. If anyone had a right to hand out admonishments and expect to be taken seriously, it was her.

...Though ultimately, she hoped that she didn't sound and act too much like someone's mother. Of course, the investigator postulant was far from guiltless in the field of magical experimentation. After all, one of the principles of being a Magestrava was the urge to seek greater heights of knowledge; there was also that duality of Aoife wanting to be an investigator of magic. Curiosity [i]was[/i] one of her natural states.

But there was a certain limit that she imposed upon herself, a line etched into the ground that would stop her at a certain point of recklessness. Though perhaps it was because of her childhood accident that she showed such restraint and adherence to a process. The academy too, as well as Magestrava society as a whole, advised on restraint.

"There [i]is[/i] a process, you know," she thought aloud, having taken the time to more thoroughly examine Adam's state. Looking at the pattern of burns and their locations, as well as feeling how Adam stumbled, she could tell just what lengths and what kind of spells he used, long after the energies had left him and they had left the area. [I]Knowing you, you got more out of this than you lost. Learning by mistake isn't the best life philosophy, but I do admire your tenacity.[/i]

Aoife caught herself smiling wider and adjusted her hold on her fellow student, still pretty much lifting him and supporting his weight so that he didn't have to. They had not much longer to go, lucky too that the comparatively small-of-build Adam was considerably light for the athletic Magestrava that could wrestle with a 120 pound dog bred to be capable of hunting wolves.

Frankly, it almost felt as if Aoife were challenging fate to throw something at her.

"[I][b]Hey...![/b] What th- [b]Watch out![/b][/i]" came a frantic yelp just off to the side. It had been preceded by the sound of shuffling footsteps and the dull thud of flesh being struck bluntly.

[I]Oh, that irony.[/i]

In response to sudden commotion in an otherwise peaceful stroll, the typical human reaction would have been to stiffen up and snap their head over to look at what happened then assess what to do from there—a slow reaction that could get that human hurt, or worse if it were something actually dangerous. On the other hand, someone more trained to be on their toes would react a tad more fluidly.

Especially when they had someone they were protecting from further harm.

[I]Especially when being bumped into had exacerbated the injured party's situation to begin with[/i].

From the 'h' in 'hey', Aoife's ears perked up as far as a human's ears were capable of motor function, signalling up a sense of urgency to her mind. 

Instinct took over and Aoife reactively moved to position herself an Adam away simultaneous to hearing the commotion. The investigator took a long sidestep and followed up with a backstep, gently sweeping the injured Magestrava away from the source of the noise. Beyond the reflexive reaction, she made a conscious effort to keep her movement as fluid as possible, avoiding jerking motions to mitigate the possibility of the raven-hair's migraine from deepening. Out of context, it almost looked like she were dancing with Adam.

Aoife took the opportunity from separating herself and Adam from the danger and visually engaged the incoming student as he tumbled over. She also caught a glimpse at a blonde child directly behind him.

She had managed to spare Adam from getting a student's head spearing him in the side; however, moving the robed senior out of the way only substituted the red-haired investigator in his place, only able move so far with what time she was given. It wasn't like Aoife would suddenly use magic or violence on what was [i]certainly[/i] someone that had tripped or, more plausibly when taking his yelp into account, had been tripped—there just wasn't that sort of culpability. 

So, tumble he did, shoulder first right into Aoife's stomach. As much as she braced herself for the collision, it didn't stop the dull impact's force from transferring from her trunk to her arm and right up to the coffee mug holding hand. 

There was a light crash from the earthenware mug shattering upon the ground, followed by the loudest sigh of the whole day so far.

Hand now free of the mug, Aoife righted the student for himself, grabbing him by the shoulder and gently pushing him until he stood straight. She then stiffened up and sounded out a small groan in an attempt to drive away the pain from having the broad student's shoulder drive into her solar plexus and bat away the screaming sensation from hot coffee that had made an uncomfortable home on her hand.

“Thanks… Could’ve taken a pretty big tumble there,” the student said. He began to talk further, though everything that came from his mouth after went as an unheard static. Investigator mode was back on, and Aoife completely discluded the younger Magestrava from her purview. Her eyes focused behind him, and it appears that he caught on that he was pretty much translucent at this point.

[I]Ah.... there really isn’t any time for this.[/i] Looking through past the student, Aoife cast a sobering glare over at the blonde that had likely caused this to begin with, all while opening and closing the fist of her mildly burnt hand. Part of her mused over whether she should take some measure to exact retribution—in a non-violent, legal fashion, of course.

"Not worth it," she muttered aloud, taking a deep breath and glancing over at Adam, she was just loud enough that the sixteen year old across from her was sure to have heard. Looking at the blonde closer, she mentally drew up a few ideas as to how this all happened, referencing what she knew. Drawing upon her banks of knowledge on the student body, she knew that she was looking at Lovedaia Marden, there was quite a story behind that child’s temperament.

Perhaps the boy, gone by this point. was the center of this, but... 

But that was all there was to it. The investigator was in the business of knowing things, finding things, and finding out things. Curiosity nagged, but there were priorities to uphold. Even more, this was pretty much just a random act of low-level violence, the least of the things that would ever pique Aoife’s interest.

Like the running students from earlier, Aoife would just have to address this later. She hadn’t a shadow of a doubt that the short-haired blonde was the culprit. There [i]was[/i] that deepset urge to correct this, but this wasn’t the time to engage in some wordy parlance. Aoife shrugged the shoulder supporting Adam and started off toward the Hall of Healers once more.

Seems the things Aoife would have to investigate or deal with were starting to pile up. The Opening Ceremony, scared running boys, Adam’s spell backlash, and an entirely spasmodic fit from Lovedaia Marden, what was next? Zombies?