• Solo • A light blue panther

[Sintih]

79th of Ymiden, 720th Arc
Early evening
Student Accommodation Building

As she kissed him and pushed him down on the bed, Sintih's mind took a moment to wonder how he'd gotten to this point from "I work at the infirmary."

79th of Ymiden, 720th Arc
Early afternoon
Student Accommodation Building

Sintih focused on the door of his room for a moment before it disappeared, allowing him an open view into the adjoining living room. There was no movement within. With everyone else out for their classes, Sin came out of his own room and headed for the kitchen. He put together a simple lunch for himself, consisting of bread, cheese and some reheated left over soup that someone else had made. Since someone had left the pot out, he'd figured it'd be ok to have some for himself. Balancing his bowl to not spill anything, he set everything down on the dining room table. It had taken some time for him to figure out everyone's schedule as they all had different classes and lives but he'd managed to find a few trials were everyone was out at the same time. His books and scrolls would thank him for not spilling crumbs all over them again. Before he could sit down, however, there was a loud knocking at the door. Sin's first reaction was to ignore it but the knocking just continued. With a shake of his head, Sin checked that everything was safe on the table before walking over to the door.

As soon as he opened the door and saw who was there, he tried to close it again but she'd already put her foot forward to prevent him from doing that. "Hello Ronan." She said with a smile. Lilea was his partner for his Graft classes. He would have preferred to do it on his own but professor Fahe had designed her class and the curriculum to be filled with theoretical what-if scenarios that had to be discussed or solved per desk, meaning Sin had had to do a lot of writing in conversation with this particular Eidisi. At least she'd picked up a few signs since they'd met. He tried to push a little harder against the door in an attempt to close it and get back to the peace and quiet he'd had a few trills before but the Eidisi woman was stronger than she looked. "You're not going to let me in?" She asked, still smiling. He didn't try to hide it as his illusion drew in a deep breath and let out a loud sigh. Then he stepped back and opened the door fully for her. She darted past him and, for some reason, immediately laid eyes on the food on the table. She made a straight line for it.

Lilea dropped her bag on the table as she started dipping some of the bread into the bowl of soup. So much for lunch. Instead of checking in on her, Sin walked back into the kitchen and prepared himself a second helping of the lunch he'd just lost. Once more balancing his bowl of soup over to the table, he glanced over Lilea who was busy inhaling the food he'd prepared for himself. The Eidisi woman was tall and athletically built. Her skin was some of the darkest pale blue he'd seen in Viden and was cut through with the recognizable scar marks that crawled out of her collar and up to her jawline where they suddenly stopped. From observation, Sin had determined that her athletic build was a "beauty" thing rather than a survival or military thing. She'd mentioned once that it was more a successful look than others she'd had, which had puzzled Sin for a moment before he'd discarded the thought.

She'd decided to hang her dripping coat over one of the chairs and was sitting in a casual outfit at the table. At least, as casual as post-tornado weather in the frozen north allowed. "Oh, sorry, am I eating your lunch?" She didn't seem to be sorry at all as she took a large bite out of the cheese wedge. Sin set his second bowl down on the table and pointed at the coat hanging over the chair and then pointed over his shoulder with his thumb towards the coat hangers by the door. When she seemed to ignore him, he hit the table with a flat hand, which drew her attention, and then repeated his instructions. She attempted some sort of pout or sad looking face that Sin assumed was supposed to look cute but he stared her down until she got up, grabbed her coat and hung it up where it was supposed to go. On her way back she stole some of Sin's second helping of bread before he could stop her.

[Sintih]

If he could've mustered up any interest for it, it would have been quite a little project to observe this woman's ability to cope with Sin's current state. While he said quietly at the table, soaking his bread in the soup and biting bits of the cheese to go with it, she just talked all by herself. In between bites she regaled him with stories from her day, the people in it and a bunch of gossip she'd picked up from them. She'd adjusted quickly to Sin's intent to keep her as far away from him as possible and just, somehow, managed to entertain herself by talking to a human sized wall. At first she'd been really annoying but he'd quickly adapted to her as well and let her waterfall of words just run right off his back. It was like the crackling of a fire in the background. Except not as calming.

When she'd finished, she put together her plate and bowl and brought it over to the kitchen, walking through the place as if she owned it. Sin followed her a little later once he finished his own lunch. "Anyway, as I was saying, Imina said..." The waterfall continued as Sin started washing everything. To his surprise, Lilea helped with the drying and putting away of things, although neither of those tasks stopped her from talking. He couldn't understand why she was satisfied with this one sided conversation. He dried his hands and then turned to her and she immediately stopped talking. She was quite good at that as well. "Come here you. Why?" He signed, slowly. She needed several more trills to convert the signs to words and then she nodded. "I didn't understand half of what professor Fahe talked about in class today so I asked myself 'Who do I know that is smart and takes good notes?' and here I am." She smiled as she walked over to her bag and started taking out her supplies and parchment.

Sin shook his head, mostly for his own benefit as Lilea wasn't looking at him. Why had he opened the door? His eyes went up to the sky but he caught himself and focused on Lilea instead. He would have preferred to have done his studying in his room, as usual, but there wasn't any room for another student at his own desk, so they settled into the living room, which was designed for four to six people studying at the same time. Sin grabbed an extra stack of parchment, most of which had notes and scribbles on the back of them. They were kept and shared between the four people living in the flat and were used for scribbling and as scrap paper. It was easier for Lilea to read his writing than it was for her to understand his signing. She'd been right about one thing, though, he did take good notes. But then again, he'd learned that from the best.

[Sintih]

Over the course of the next three to four breaks, it became quite clear to Sintih that Lilea was having a harder time with the class than he had thought. Her lack of understanding of the previous lesson was tied to missing or misunderstood knowledge from earlier lessons. In the end, Sin had gone through the whole thing with her, having to go back several times to repeat things for her. The stack of scrap paper dwindle quickly as they worked. But she'd gotten there in the end, all caught up with the last lesson. The last break they had been sitting in silence, each one studying on their own. Having had to explain everything to Lilea had given a clearer understanding of the content of the lessons so it hadn't all been wasted. He almost jumped up from his notes when Lilea suddenly let out a loud groan and leaned back in her chair. "This is sooo boring..." She looked at him expectantly but Sin focused back on his studies with a click of his tongue.

From the corner of his eye he could see her stare at him but he wouldn't give her the chance. She started talking about other things again but Sin pushed her to the back of his mind, trying to focus on his studies. After a few bits of that, she got up, her chair making a loud scraping noise on the wooden floor, and wandered off. The sudden quiet quickly became worrisome to Sintih as it meant Lilea was focusing on something else and whatever it was it was neither eating nor studying. He looked up to see what she was doing but found that Lilea had gone from his sight. He tried for another bit to focus on his studies and then decided that the quiet was more distracting than her word-waterfall. He got up and immediately spotted the open door to his room, which he was sure he'd closed earlier. Lilea.

He walked over and stepped into the room, about to ask her quite sternly to leave his room and simply froze in the opening. He stood face to face with Lilea, except Lilea had decided to take off all her clothes except for her underwear. "Took you long enough." She smiled at him, although Sin felt more like she was looking at him with a certain hunger. She was quick, athletic, and he was frozen in shock. Before he could react, she'd grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the room, swapping their positions. Somehow, the door seemed to close itself behind her. Somewhere in the back of his mind, instincts decided that now was a good time for flight but when he stepped back, his foot hit the side of his bed and she closed the little gap between them, lithe, dangerous, like a light blue panther. A hungry one.

As she kissed him and pushed him down on the bed, Sintih's mind took a moment to wonder how he'd gotten to this point from "I work at the infirmary."

[Doran]

Sintih:

Knowledge:
Discipline: Ignore distractions with focus.
Research: Sharing good notes.
Teaching: Using notes to review classes.
Teaching: Teaching foundation knowledge first, then building up.
Linguistics: Common Sign: Writing can replace signing if necessary.
Endurance: Training for survival... or beauty.

Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level. Sintih has 0 Teaching, but then again, they are just talking about they already heard in class, and teaching Lilea is a challenge.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: The thread title made me curious. I couldn’t help but wonder what a light blue panther was doing in Viden!

Well, now I know!

While Professor Fahe’s teaching methods have some potential in my opinion, Lilea’s definitely getting on my nerves as well. How dare she eat the food that Sintih made for himself! Their interaction was quite entertaining though!

And the ending! Oh my!

I couldn’t help but laugh when she suddenly stood there in nothing but her underwear.

I wonder if there’ll be a sequel ...

Enjoy your rewards!

P.S.: I would have added “Cooking” to the list of skills used as Sintih was making lunch, even if it was a very simple one.

P.P.S.: I renamed your "Common Sign: Writing can replace signing if necessary." knowledge to "Linguistics: Common Sign: Writing can replace signing if necessary.". I hope that's okay!