Scribe of Thoth

Of Blood and Magic

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Max waited until he was sure Eris had left and wasn't coming back before opening the door to let the damn dog in. He didn't know why the vampire was punching walls all of a sudden but he wasn't exactly keen on finding out either. Today was a fucking mess.

"You know you're fucking annoying, right?" Max grumbled as the dog scurried past him and took up a comfortable spot at the foot of his bed.

Maxie said nothing in her defense. Typical.

And then there was the note on the ground. Max hadn't opened it yet; he wasn't sure if he was going to open it at all. If Eris couldn't say something to his face, Max had no reason to listen. Though, if the note was something stupid like 'I hope you know how to patch drywall because there's a fat hole behind the sofa', it'd be better to go around collecting all the things he was going to throw at Eris before he got home and saw what the mage was preparing. He eventually caved and bent down to pick it up.

Pointless things that didn't need to be said and-- He was sorry?

What the fuck. Since when did vampires apologize?

The leech was probably just too embarrassed to say it aloud, but holy shit, he just produced written proof that he, Maxwell Alderman, had Eris Samael's balls locked firmly in a vicegrip. Max could show this letter off to anyone he wanted. He could post it online. He could frame it, hang it on his wall, and laugh at it everytime Eris walked past.

A chime from his phone shook the mage from his petty revenge fantasies. What the hell did Eris want now? Max walked over to where his phone was discarded on his bed as he crumpled the note up in his fist. Retriever. Arguably worse. Especially if it was about today.

> Hey, did something happen? I just ran into Eris and he was all doom and gloom about the two of you not getting along. What did you do?

What the fuck.

Since when is 'I can't control my mage' a common topic of vampiric bragging? Especially in front of Cinnamon's number one informant. Was his plan to make Varis think he's pathetic and thus not a threat? That or he actually was bothered, which was creepy in its own way. Maybe Max was meaner than he thought. Still, why tell Aaron of all people? Max couldn't tell if Eris was three moves ahead of him or five moves behind.

How was he even supposed to respond to that? What did he do? He listened to a bunch of bullshit and threw Eris' accusation back on him. Apparently leeches don't have that happen to them much. Plus there was the issue of not knowing exactly what Eris said, which meant any response could potentially be digging both of them into a deeper hole.

> Yeah he’s having a meltdown or something idk

Deflect the question. Easy. It wasn't like he was lying either, Max genuinely had no explanation for the way the vampire was acting aside from that exam unsettling him. A little too much, now that he thought about it. Who gets emotionally effected by some illusion talking in word salad? Not knowing what the hell Cinnamon was talking about might've been irritating but hardly anxiety-inducing. Eris was hiding something.

Which was fair, all things considered - nobody liked spilling all their weird inner feelings - but hardly anything to be worked up over. It wasn't like the real Varis knew anything the clone spontaneously knew about him. Max was the only one that had interacted with the clone Eris, and it hadn't been very forthcoming with secrets anyway. Not to mention, if the leech was that worried, wouldn't he have just asked Max what the hell he heard in there?

The more he thought about this, the more he was certain Eris was over at the Sinnenodel dorms making a big mistake. His phone dinged again. Aaron must've recovered from the heart attack he had after hearing Max dare to say a vampire was being a drama queen.

> Well yeah, but what actually happened? Whatever you did, he seemed pretty upset about it.
> Or, as upset as Eris can be, I guess.

Ugh, he wasn't gonna leave this alone, was he? 'Upset as Eris can be' was comforting, at least. It meant he at least pretended to be composed and wasn't crying on Varis' lap while wailing "He doesn't lo~oooove me!" for the whole street to hear. Or maybe he was, if even Aaron picked up on it.

> I pointed out the flaws in his logic cuz he assumed I was a fucking moron, apparently he crumples when you raise your voice

No surprise there; the vampire is a creature of deceit, Eris was evidently just as baffled by bluntness as his double was. No, that wasn't enough to stop this line of questioning. Max needed to change the conversation's direction or he'd be getting pestered all night.

> Why do you even care

That was valid. What the fuck was he concerned for? It wasn't his vampire or his business.

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@Obscene Symphony

Of Blood and Magic

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Max arched a brow as Eris finally put everything out there. They were doing this now, huh? Okay, he'd bite. It at least meant Eris had his head on straight if he was throwing insults around again. Prodding the leech to make sure wouldn't hurt, and he wasn't going to let something like that slide without commentary. Seriously, he thought Max would go run off and tattle on him? To who? Now who thought who was incompetent?

"Riddle me this, jackass, who am I gonna tell? What am I gaining? I don't like you, but I'm not stupid." Actually, fuck this guy. Max just spent half the night - during his test - worrying about Eris' plans and Eris' politicking and Eris' moodiness and Eris, Eris, Eris. Hell, he even bothered to debrief to figure out what the fuck was going on before anyone made any stupid decisions and the issue here was a lack of trust?! Eris didn't even have to trust him, he just had to trust that the mage wasn't a fucking idiot.

"I can't tattle to Ryner, she set up the whole thing and it was probably her idea. I can't tell Cinnamon, he'd probably take me out just for knowing about it, if it was really that important. The only other vampires I even know here are that douchebag that tried to hit on me once and the Astorio brute whose brain would probably short-circuit halfway through the convoluted explanation." Max listed off people as he grew more and more exasperated. "And even if I did, what're they gonna do? Reassign me after I stab you in the back? Oh boy, somebody else gets to tug on my leash, fun!"

Max threw his arms up in the air before deflating and returning to his usual monotone. "Whatever, have fun on your weird date. At the end of the day, you don't have to trust me. But I evidently have to trust you, because you ultimately have your fucking foot on my neck." He turned and sauntered off toward his room, discarded vambraces skidding along the ground behind him like obedient puppies, "I'll be in my room sharpening that stake for you. Excuse me for giving a fuck." The door slammed behind him as every metallic object in the dorm rattled in agitated synchronicity for a brief moment, then fell silent.

---

@Hero

Persona ~ The Beholder

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Alarm number five. Great, he was out of time. Though if he shortened his shower a little, he might be able to- no, he couldn't be late on the second week. That was just giving up. Besides, that creepy nose goblin was liable to show up again if he went back to sleep. Usually waking him up would dispel any remnants of a dream he was having, but that thing just picked back up where it left off everytime he went back to bed; it didn't even skip a beat in its monologuing. If only he could remember what the hell the long-nosed thing was saying.

Leo Gremminger sat up in bed and tapped at his phone. Somebody with a decent sized following must've retweeted the painting he posted last week, more notifications than usual. He'd have to finish another piece while he had a spotlight. Maybe the river? He debated the riveting facets of social media management in his head as, bleary-eyed and hardly lucid, the boy fumbled his way toward the bathroom, a tune on his lips that he knew he'd picked up recently but couldn't for the life of him remember where.

The trip to campus from his apartment wasn't too bad; the quickest route to the bus stop was through a quaint little park, and a short bus ride was the perfect opportunity to catch up on anything he'd missed overnight and get his online presence in order. Leo found that if he didn't, he'd just spend the majority of his first class on his phone anyway. Once he got off the bus, Leo was basically on autopilot. He kept his nose in his phone, scrutinizing the schedule he had screenshotted as he carelessly merged into the crowd funneling toward campus. The campus grounds had lost their wonder after his first semester, and had been reduced to simple buildings in his mind. Paying attention to them at that point was a waste. He even tried painting some of the more impressive landscaping once, only to get whacked in the back of his head with a frisbee for his trouble. Plus the lighting always sucked.

Leo finally took in his surroundings as he heard someone nearby being chided for bumping into someone else. "Sorry," He instinctively muttered, only to register a second too late that he wasn't the one being spoken to. Walking into people on accident was all too common for the inattentive boy at this point; it was a bit jarring to not be the one at fault for a change. The blonde girl was the one that spoke, so the redheaded... middle schooler? - she was wrangling had to be the culprit. Wait, blonde looked familiar, did she have a class with him? Keeping track of all these faces was hard. Better to play it off on the off-chance she tries to talk to him again.

"Uh. I mean," He swiveled his gaze blankly between the duo as he floundered for words, eventually settling on an innocent grin, "I have no idea why I said that. I'm just used to being clumsy, I guess." Smooth. Maybe he should've just walked away, not like it would've bothered him a couple minutes from now anyway.

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@Crimson Flame@Ryteb Pymeroce

Of Blood and Magic

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Max gave Eris a lidded stare and shifted his hand to rub at his neck as the vampire started eyeing him like a piece of meat. Was this why he was moody? He was hungry? The mage listened to the rest of the explanation with dwindling interest. Eris really wasn't giving him much to go on, most of it was speculation, and his plan sounded more like a bad excuse than a solid lead.

The ole' fuck them for information trick just didn't sound viable here. Cinnamon didn't seem like the type to spill his whole plan just because he got his dick wet. At least Eris seemed to have his head on straight now, so Max wasn't too concerned with him saying too much and ending up on some noble's hit list. Then again, all those overdramatic movies he's acted in could've taken a toll on his perception of reality, and he might expect some big dramatic reveal that he knew Varis' secret to be met with a love confession or something equally asinine.

And he was in charge of this issue now, great. What was he supposed to do? Look up magic moon tattoos online? Five hundred quirky goth girl blogs later and he still wouldn't have anything to go on.

"Oh you know me Eric, I'm such a gossip. With all my friends. Who I love talking to. Regularly," The mage groaned flatly with a roll of his eyes, "If Cinnamon really isn't who he says he is and this is some weird Sinnenodel plot, it's probably not in your best interest to let him know you know. Don't think you should let him see that mark."

He didn't think showing up at all was a good idea, honestly, but he'd probably have better luck arguing with the wall. Assuming that symbol actually meant something and Varis recognized it, he'd be asking way more questions than Eris had answers too, or worse.

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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Max listened politely as Eris recounted the situation, taking Eris' stripping as an excuse to do the same - if way less racy. He dropped his disassembled vambraces on the floor unceremoniously and threw the hoodie he'd been wearing down on top of them shortly after. In retrospect, it probably looked like he wasn't listening at all, and the leech looked a bit distraught at that. Part of him believed Eris was blatantly misinterpreting everything he saw, but even so the situation sounded outside the norm of what he and Aaron had apparently seen during that test.

"Alright, let's dissect this." Max raised a finger as he spoke to accentuate his point. "Are you sure it was magic-magic? Your clone did some magical shit too - the area we were standing in was basically an extension of his consciousness. According to Aaron, mine probably was too, he just didn't bother using the environment." Probably some baggage in there about an internal versus external locus of control and lack of environmental help, but this was Eris' psychoanalysis and not his.

"Anyway, Clone-Eris had full control over it, I think. Like, we were on a stage; you were ordering extras around left and right, and they could look like whoever you wanted them to. That mage you saw him supposedly using magic on could've just been part of his 'stage'." That would explain the abilities, anyway; the tirade about history still didn't make sense. That didn't sound like a way of getting Eris to crack. Or... maybe it was, considering the vampire was currently having a meltdown in the middle of his dorm. The others seemed to focus on personal attacks though, but Eris didn't mention any of those.

"The weird part is, it sounds like Varis only wanted to talk about him, where the other clones seemed intent on avoiding that so they could talk about us. Which defeats the purpose of the test if he was just going to wax poetic about a paragraph he read in a history book and then hand over the coin. Or the weird bruise, for that matter. You think it was a clue for another optional test we just didn't bother with?"

Still, why leave it there after the test? Were they overthinking this and it would just heal on its own? Ryner was laughing at them somewhere, he could tell.

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@Hero

Of Blood and Magic

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Max rolled his eyes as Eris started talking. Did that moron really think Max of all people was keen to start having a shifty conversation - especially one that could potentially end up with feelings involved - in the middle of a crowd of Noila sycophants? Didn't help that Eris started stripping either. The leech really must've been losing it.

"I didn't say talk there, dumbass," He mumbled as Eris continued. He couldn't tell if the vampire was getting to the point or just finally having his breakdown.

The phone going off elicited a displeased grumbled from the mage, evidently as displeased as Eris was that he was being interrupted. Especially after he actually answered. Was this his excuse to duck the conversation? Max had seen him ignore calls even in a good mood, let alone now. He was pretty terse, but the content sounded like he was instructing an underling. Huh, maybe his text actually paid off.

When Eris showed Max his wrist, the mage actively moved closer to inspect it. That wasn't right. Aaron came out completely unharmed, and there was no way in hell even a shitty clone of him could be locked in a room with that jackass and not so much as lay a hand on him. Not to mention the Retriever's story was way too complex for a simple on the spot lie. It didn't seem like some kind of key either. Nothing in the test had mentioned any kind of magic bruises, and if it was needed for one of the other tests that they'd simply skipped, it likely would've disappeared when they left the forest.

"What do you mean it wasn't a clone? I thought you ran into Varis in there? Stop talking in riddles and just tell me what happened." As much as he disliked untruncated explanations, the play-by-play would be very useful here. Or at least more context than 'it was weird'. Though, he was right, it did sound weird. Why would the test suddenly change parameters? Did the vampires have a different challenge than the mages? Why lead them on otherwise, then? What the hell was Ryner's game?

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@Hero

Persona ~ The Beholder

@Mistress Dizzy Chariot, Justice, and Devil (and maybe Hierophant?)

Of Blood and Magic

---

Oh, good, Aaron left. Max was in the clear for the rest of the night, pending Eris having a breakdown. The leech was keeping his composure well enough by now, at least as far as Max could tell from a quick glance over, but he was talking to Ryner, and there was no telling how he'd crack behind closed doors. So annoying. Max had to actually talk to him too, because trusting Eris' judgement alone on the matter seemed like a recipe for disaster. Best case scenario, Varis secretly thinks Eris is a mere eight out of ten and Eris was overreacting. Worst case, Cinnamon has some master plan to fuck Eris - and worse, Max by extension - over.

Once Ryner vacated the scene, Max calmly returned to Eris' side, announcing his arrival rather bluntly by disassembling the gauntlet still wrapped around the vampire's forearm and levitating it back to himself. He shifted his arm a bit to test the new weight once it clicked back into place. One of the bolts was off. Max flashed a quick scowl as he pressed it correctly into place with his thumb. He was slipping - maybe he was more tired than he thought.

"What's the plan? I think your hot date just took off," Max thumbed toward the departing car offhandedly as he spoke, "so I take it you're headed to the dorm with me. You gonna change into your nice red panties to chase after him and ignore the elephant in the room or are we gonna talk when we get there?" He leveled a solid gaze at Eris to get his point across; he didn't particularly want his - concern was too sentimental of a word, but it was what he had to work with at this point - to be blown off as apathetic commentary.

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@Hero

Persona ~ The Beholder

@Cojemo
Yeah, but Hanged Man's taken if that's what you meant. Hierophant, Chariot, Devil, and Tower are open.

Persona ~ The Beholder

Leo Gremminger - The Sun

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Name
Leo Gremminger

Gender
Male

Age
20 - May 24

Sexuality
Homogay

Nationality
Swiss

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Appearance
Leo is a narrow-shouldered and unimposing boy with a lithe frame and below-average musculature. His dirty blonde hair is tussled into a deliberate bedhead in all but the most formal of occasions and he usually has a blank, innocent look on his face, as if completely unbothered by his surroundings at all times. Trying to call his attention to something will typically elicit a futile squint on his part, and as such he typically adopts a pair of rectangular-framed glasses while in class or when painting, though they're strictly absent in most other contexts. He dresses in expensive, but simplistic clothing, preferring plain colors and quality fabrics to anything explicitly flashy. His attire isn't very formal outside the relevant occasions, favoring mundane long-sleeved T-shirts or even tracksuits despite him being far from athletically active.

Height
5'10"

Personality
Leo generally maintains a sunny and affable demeanor to those around him, with an infectious excitability about his hobby - namely painting - that he tries to spread to anyone who will listen; willing or otherwise. He has a particular fondness for painting sunsets, but he's constantly hoping for new muses to catch his attention, and he has no problem pestering people that he's formed even the bare minimum of a relationship with to help him seek them out. Ironically, he often misses these scenic vistas he'd otherwise enjoy painting by sheer lack of attention. He's sociable and friendly, though it's usually evident that he wants himself and his interests to be at the forefront of the discussion at all times, and extended conversation can quickly reveal traces of typical upper-class personality flaws and general obliviousness to how the world works. Likewise, this naiveté can make him come off as very inattentive or careless, especially when coupled with his tendency to be astoundingly unobservant of his surroundings. Unless he's actively focusing on or interested in something, it may as well not even exist to Leo; which is at least partially a consequence of him being fairly nearsighted yet rarely deigning to wear glasses.

Underneath all the layers of optimism he outwardly portrays, Leo is a deeply torn individual, caught between the expectations of his father that he doesn't find appealing and hobbies that he's been taught to consider frivolous as much as he does interesting. He's unwilling or unable to accomplish all that his father asks of him, and he selfishly refuses to compromise or deal with his issues, instead simply ignoring them in false hope they'll just go away in the end with no effort on his part.

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Persona

Sol

Arcana
The Sun

Skill
Fire

Equipment
Renaissance Era Saber - You know what they say, 'When in Rome...'
SIG Sauer P220 Pistol - Standard sidearm of the Swiss Army and a symbol of yet another obligation Leo is avoiding.

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Education
Second Year Finance Major

Biography
As the sole heir of a wealthy Swiss financier, Leo lived a fairly privileged childhood. He grew up in an upper class area in northern Switzerland, attending prestigious schools for almost the entirety of his educational career. Despite this, typical academic pursuits didn't interest him. His father owned a modest art collection, an eccentricity the man cultivated as a status symbol he could subtly boast about, and it had always captivated young Leo. When he was eight, his family took a vacation to Rome, which Leo found even more fascinating than the oil paintings hanging around his house. Every grand mural and impressive work of sculpture was a talent he hoped to match. He wanted to be a painter like all the famous Renaissance people and artists of antiquity. When he got home, it took little time before Leo was signed up for art classes and practicing regularly. His parents were about as supportive of the interest as any parent is in their child's passing fancy, though his father continued to dismiss Leo's hobby as a pointless diversion no matter how committed or interested he was in it.

It was made very clear he'd be expected to inherit the family fortune and that business schooling should be his primary concern, which initially didn't bother Leo in the slightest. After all, he could certainly maintain a mere hobby alongside cultivating his family's wealth. Though, as he grew older, he became less and less enchanted with the idea. Obligations of how to behave, who to associate with, what he needed to do with his life, not to mention a wife and kids; it was stifling, and yet Leo had no alternative. Art wasn't exactly a lucrative career path, and he could only skirt by on his inheritance for so long. After deliberating on what he really wanted for so long, it eventually grew to the point where he didn't want to do anything. Everything in his life thus far had been handed to him on a silver platter, and the notion of having to put genuine effort toward something he didn't want to do offended his spoiled sensibilities. Thus, he chose to selfishly cling to an illusion of always getting everything he wanted.

To that end, he simply chose to put as much distance between himself and his problems as he could in hopes he could ignore them forever. Outside the country, his parents wouldn't be as overbearing, no one would be hawkishly watching his decisions, and nobody would be trying to conscript him into the Swiss Army. Leo applied to foreign universities, knowing his father would fund it regardless as long as he was studying in a field he approved of, and was eventually accepted by Thames' Edge. In his first year, Leo came to embody the essence of 'ignorance is bliss'. He was never a very perceptive boy when he wasn't trying to paint something, and it was only a short leap from there to shutting out anything he didn't want to hear. Problems, people; he wanted nothing to do with anything that threatened his optimistic delusions. As far as Leo was concerned, he was perfectly content skating by as an average student and gaining cheap validation from Twitter comments about his posted art.

Affiliations
Berhtram Gremminger - Leo's father, a wealthy Swiss businessman from a line of old money. While he does have very strong ideas about how his son should conduct himself, he's not truly as uncompromising and cold as Leo might describe him as and merely wants the best for the boy. He sees steering Leo into a career in finance as the easiest and best life he could provide for his son, as he'd have a comfortable job at Berhtram's firm and be more than prepared to inherit the company.

Anna Gremminger - Leo's mother, an upper class woman from the canton of Schwyz, was more engaged in Leo's life than his busy and somewhat distant father, as Berhtram was easily rich enough to allow her to not work a day in her life after they married. As such, she spent her days at home watching little Leo's art projects and encouraging him as any good mother would do, though she still ultimately sides with his father on matters of Leo's prospective career path.

Relationships
TBA