She lost it. Completely ignoring the fact that with his bulging muscles he was pretty much twice her size, she stomped her foot–oh my gosh I can stomp my foot!–and, concealing a brief flash of unrestrained joy, dropped her hand and scoffed right back. “What, you think I wanted to come to this random world where I knew absolutely nothing and no one? Give me a break.” She casually flicked her hair, because hello, he was still the cutest non-married non-doctor she’d ever seen. “I was thrown into this situation and I’m just making the best of it. So you’re going to let me stay here until I’m officially accepted into the academy in two days.” When in doubt, act confident. How much could it hurt?
She was utterly insulted when that caused his facade to break, mostly because he was openly guffawing at her. “Really!? You think you’re going to pass the selection in two days?” He was howling so hard he was almost crying. Hot or not, she really wanted to punch him. The only thing stopping her was the thought that she would probably end up hurting herself more. Self-preservation was a thing, you know? Instead, she took a step closer and poked him in the arm. She would have done the chest, but there was that whole skin to skin thing explicitly stated in her ability, and if anyone deserved to be siphoned, it was the jerk laughing at her right now.
She was gratified to see the new blinking icon in the top corner of her vision, and she smirked at him as she asserted, “I guarantee I’m going to make you eat those words.”
Sadly, he kept roaring until he finally seemed to realize she was dead serious as she smirk-glared at him. Still in disbelief, he shook his head and seemed to spend an entire minute considering her. She just kept glaring, crossing her arms in front of her (nonexistent) chest to present a strong front. Finally, he glowered at Jessica and Kaylee. “Is she really a traveler?”
Jessica and Kaylee exchanged glances, holding another one of those silent conversations that seemed to go something like ‘you say something,’ and ‘no, you!’ It looked like Kaylee lost this round, because she sighed and then turned to look at Raphael. Yeah, I know your name, you big jerk, even if you didn’t tell me yourself! Quietly, she spoke. “As far as we can tell, yes. She just appeared in one of the rooms with a bunch of stuff and she seemed…” She glanced at Jade with uncertainty, and you could just tell she was about to say something rude, like one of those things southern people said before they ended with ‘bless their soul.’ “Pretty much incompetent and lost. What other explanation is there than that she’s a traveler? You can see she’s a terrible actor.” Hey, you didn’t have to add that last part! That’s over the line...maybe… Note to self: steal someone’s deception skills. Someone’s gotta have deception skills, right? That seems like something that would be a skill here...
While she was half glaring and half inner monologuing, she hadn’t realized that all three of them had turned to stare/appraise her again. When she finally came to, she snapped a little waspishly, “What!?”
Raphael–who still hadn’t introduced himself to me, that jerk–sighed and nodded. “I can see what you mean.” He glanced at the heavens as if appealing for help, and she had to stop herself from interjecting that it hadn’t seemed to be very useful in the many years she’d done so. But hey, everyone had to learn for themselves, right? So instead she kept trying to glare at his face so that she wouldn’t check him out really obviously, because he reminded her of an Abercrombie model, if you ignored the giant sword she now saw hanging from his waist. As if maybe he found what he was looking for, he glanced back down at her and held up three fingers. “I’ll give you three days. If you haven’t been accepted by then, you have to leave.”
Somewhat insulted that he felt the need to emphasize the number three with his fingers like she was a child, Jade nodded and responded primly. “Fine. That’s plenty long enough to prove you wrong.” Completely ignoring the man who still hadn’t introduced himself to her, she turned to the girls. What is with these people and not introducing themselves? “Where’s the way out?” Seemingly struck mute from shock, Jessica appeared only to have the presence of mind to point.
Turning in the appointed direction, Jade did her best impression of flouncing away, which in reality was filled with a multitude of unstable wobbles. I really need to figure out how to walk properly…is there a skill for walking? Can I steal that, please?
Down the hallway, she stopped for a moment, taken aback as she entered a common room filled with the soft hum of murmuring voices. Her eye twitched a little as she tried to figure out the fastest way to the door without embarrassing herself. She then tried to figure out an alternate route that still seemed like a straight shot, yet took her past the most people who had skin readily exposed.
Steeling her courage, she chose option 2. Her stilted walk gave her the excuse she needed, and she managed to casually brush against three people who had been sitting alone on her way out with only a murmured, “Sorry.” Making it to the door while ignoring the sweet scent of food, she took a deep breath and ignored the flashing dots demanding attention at the side of her vision before opening it and stepping shakily into the brilliant sunshine. What was with this place? She had felt like a skeleton walking through the set of a Calvin Klein commercial in there. Was this a gathering place for models or something?
Sound assaulted her ears the moment the door was open, and she took a moment to adjust as the door whumped closed behind her. I would kill for a pair of sunglasses right now… Her eyes strained to adjust as she stepped to the side, not wanting to get pegged in the back should anyone else decide to leave at that moment. Eyesight too. Is there a skill I can steal that makes the sun hurt less? Grumbling internally, she scanned for a safe haven where she could check her messages.
Spotting a shaded alleyway, she shambled her awkward way over to it and breathed a sigh of relief, just relaxing for a moment to calm her rapidly beating heart. I can do this. I can do hard things. She tried to mentally reassure herself for a moment before pulling up her notifications.
You have touched Raphael Millis, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...
Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.
Choose a skill to siphon: Athletics, Diplomacy, Sword, Intimidate, or Wind Magic.
Only five again? So his last name is Millis, is it? I’ll have to remember that… Oh my gosh, he has athletics! I need to...wind magic? Raph the unnamed has wind magic? I would never have guessed… Wait, magic is a thing here? Ugh… I have to choose one. So what are the odds that magic is a super common thing? I mean, if even Raph can get it… All right, let’s check the others first.
Glancing through the other three profiles, whom she figured were probably students of the so-called academy since Jess and Kay had told her that’s who stayed there… There were a few common themes. It seemed that she was right and most people had perception. All three of them had athletics as well, so at least she had other options. There were a bunch of combat options as well, but she figured she needed to at least learn to walk before she started throwing hypothetical punches and thus arbitrarily tossed out those options.