Location: Wizard Tower
Atkin appreciated the impromptu history lesson. He really did. It made things make a bit more sense as far as they went towards why things were the way they were, although he was still pissed that they just went along with the barbaric practice all the way up until now, but right then and there his anger and interest in the topic at hand had been pushed to the rear of his mind by the panic of not having nearly enough time to get ready for the pre-ceremonial preparations. It was frustrating, there was still more that he had to say, but he would just have to work out in his more articulated ways to say them while they were busy with the everything else they had to do that day.
"'Scuse me, gotta get changed." Atkin left the rest of the wizards where they were without so much as waiting for a reply, let alone any kind of permission to leave. He didn't have much time to get ready, so he decided the first empty room would do well enough for him to change quickly and make it back to Arya so that they'd be able to make it to the castle on time. But considering the circumstance, Rowland would probably tagging along as well, which Atkin wasn't too sure about. On one hand, he could probably learn a lot from the ex-ExtraOrdinary Wizard. But he didn't want to hang around an old geezer the whole day.
However, when the Apprentice entered the Tower, he was greeted with Chaos. Wizards, apprentices and sub-wizards running around everywhere, panicking, trying to figure out what they should do, crying and more. Did none of them know why the tower had been put on lock down? Was that just something Arya could do at a moment's notice. It was difficult for Atkin to hear himself think over the noise, but in the distance, he was pretty sure he heard something explode. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time, authority or know-how of how to settle the situation, hopefully when they returned later, Arya and Rowland would be able to calm everyone back down again.
So he slipped through the crowd, looking for somewhere, anywhere that would let him get dressed in peace. First he tried the bathrooms: no dice, people were in fetal positions, pissing/shitting themselves, vomiting, and so forth. He thought about checking the women's bathrooms, but decided the risk wasn't worth it. Maybe one of the labs? Nope. But he did find out what exploded. Needless to say, it'd take hours to clean everything up. With each room filled with panicking wizards, the more frustrated he got. It was like the Winter Solstice was conspiring to ruin everything for him today. First the Grula-Grula, then the Queste bullshit, and now he couldn't even get dressed.
Eventually, his list of places to try narrowed down to a simple broom closet. He flung the door open and found it almost entirely empty to his brief relief. And then he saw who was actually inside. It was like watching two toads trying to eat each other mouth first. There was an
elderly couple (a generous estimate would put them into their late 70s at best) who had decided that now was the perfect time to express their love for one another. Maybe there were decades of missing context that would have it make sense for why they'd hide away in the closet while doing this, but Atkin really didn't care. By the time they'd notice that he'd even seen them, he'd already slammed the door back in their face.
Fed up with the whole situation, Atkin gagged silently at the images he'd need to spend years completely scrubbing away from his mind as he marched over towards the Moving Staircase. He had wasted way more time looking for an alternate room than if he had just headed straight to his room and back. He shouldered through a few wizards to step onto the staircase and immediately commanded it to move to the 20th floor. Fuck everyone else and where they were going now, it was probably stupid and would end with their hair turning blue.
By the time Atkin had stepped into the main room, and began to unrobe he had devolved to the point of muttering to himself about how dumb everyone was, and what good wizards were if one thing going wrong was enough to make them collectively lose their shit. It was the same way with the bookstore, they were more helpless than toddlers. When some know-nothing outsider could handle their problems better than them, it really seemed like the whole apprentice selection progress was in dire need of rework.
Now dressed and slightly cooled, Atkin glanced towards the Pyramid Library. Arya did tell him to go get a Safe Charm, and now was a perfect time to try snagging one. A moment's consideration later, he decided not to. Doing as she said would be a tacit admission that he was afraid, which was the exact wrong thing to do when dealing with someone threatening you. Displaying fear said that you could be controlled, and wouldn't take the risks involved with fighting back. He wasn't afraid of this Queste, and he wasn't afraid of whoever was trying to get him. From an outside perspective, he was probably foolishly endangering himself, but he did that all the time, and he wasn't about to stop anytime soon.
One trip down the Moving Staircase later, he was almost running when he got back outside the Tower to rejoin his teacher and her teacher.
"AlrightI'mreadylet'sgetgoing."
