Blixxi felt like a child lost in a crowd as she followed along with the massive clod magelings.  She'd only been on the surface for two weeks, and she'd yet to adjust to the presence of these giant races towering over her: 'clods' in the parlance of her home-city.  Subterranean gnomes stereotyped them as oblivious, violent and clumsy.  The number of times she'd nearly been trod upon since leaving her underground habitat seemed to support this view.  The eagerness with which they rushed to clobber one another with spells added to the evidence.  Even now she had to dodge around robes and boots as the crowd moved in to get a closer look at the silly duel.  'Typical clods,' she thought to herself.  No wonder they'd yet to master the thaumaturgic combustion engine and still chucked fire from their hands like crude orc shamans.  

As the sounds of arcane combat resonated through the hall, the small gnome girl wound her way back to the library.  The parrot perched atop her shoulder, whose colored feathers appeared as an animate extension of her own rainbow garb, craned it's head backward apparently more interested in the sport than her owner.  The sound of spellfire dampened as the gnome penetrated deeper into the maze of book shelves.  An otter regarded her with suspicion as she passed, bright colors and chaotic pigtails at odds with the pristine, orderly library around her.  Her irises, one blue, one green, gleamed as she took in the amassed knowledge.  In Mechanus, a city dominated by caste systems, only members of the Enchanters Guild could gain access to such a wealth of knowledge.  To all others, magical knowledge was proscribed, aka illegal.

As she passed a row of particularly aged book spines she let her short, pudgy fingers brush along the bindings. [color=ec008c] [i][b]She felt a tingle, pleasant at first, turn to a shock, and before she knew it sparks flew between her hand and a specific tome.[/b][/i] [/color] The vulnerable cover ignited, and the parrot flapped in alarm.  "Idiot...idiot...idiot," he repeated. Blixxi, used to living with the curse of wild-magic, reacted quickly, patting out the fire before the spellbook received more than a mild singing.  After glancing about to make sure she'd not been observed by any otters, she continued deeper into the book-stuffed bowels of the library.  She had no idea how the surfacers would react to wild magic.  She'd seen no hint of its weirdness above-ground so maybe she could remain undiscovered.  'That is until I wind up in one of those stupid duels and turn some unlucky clod into a turnip,' she groaned to herself.