[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pG8LVDV.png[/img]
[sub][@stone][/sub][/center]
But as Safia raised her head once more, eyes no longer shut, what greeted her wasn’t the sunset-bathed room of a secluded section of the library, away from prying eyes and romantically lit by an orange glow. No, as the door closed behind her, she found herself in room sealed by blackout curtains and lit up by a sterile, fluorescent brilliance. Upon every available section of the wall were pieces of printer paper stained almost black by the amount of writing upon them, while upon the central table of the room laid a motley collection of tools both for magical study as well as scientific study. One of the chairs had been repurposed as a makeshift shelf for books to be stacked upon, and if Safia took even a slight glimpse, she’d realize with horror that half of the books were about theology, and the other half was about atheists pissing on theology.

But there was a reason why the fusion of piety and blasphemy only warranted an ‘if’.

For, standing in the center of a magic circle drawn from some dark red substance, was a bell that shone with a light most sanctimonious. And, standing behind, dressed in his usual outfit of homespun attire, Otis stood, long shadows turning his face into that of a menace, a madman.

Safia could not have known, not with her packed daily schedule.

Every day since his return to Silver Gate Academy, Otis had reserved this particular room in the library from morning to dusk, slowing creating his own laboratory for arcane-divine experimentation. And with her own entrance into this room, the Strigidae smiled a smile that did not reach his eyes.

[color=f7941d][b]“Good. We are friends. Safia, show me your holy magic. Teach me how to summon one of your angels.”[/b][/color]

He was now well past the stage of observation. And if he wanted to move onto experimentation, well…

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo6uGIGwrOw]Otis needed disposable test subjects.[/url]