Fate - First Reply Past Curfew (College of Elbion)

[Uldyr]

It was an unfortunate but well known thing that magic, sleep deprivation, and alcohol (or drugs) did not mix well with permanent structures. Worse yet for mages with power and little control, training, or understanding. The College of Elbion was so overflowing with such 'talent' that Uldyr had once heard it described as 'The great powder keg of Arethil'. Through intelligence or experience the Maesters of Elbion understood this was potentially very bad, and had a variety of checks and balances to mitigate the chance of disaster.

One of those checks was a curfew for younger and less well trained students who hadn't yet proven themselves to have the knowledge or discipline to be trusted in wee hours of the night. Uldyr was employed as another check, and tonight was on shift to ensure that the curfew was upheld. Uldyr has made his way through the great west hall, the east hall. Now he strode through the dormitories, hoping for a peaceful evening absent of any mischievous freshies or drunk ne'erdowells.

After all, Uldyr's own motivations for wandering the halls of the College were not all professional.

 

[Nilamani]

It had been another restless night. At this point they had begun to dread evenings. Their last unintended night stroll had ended up outside the castle. Still they couldn't deny sleep forever.
Alas not soon after their eyes finally drifted closed than they had slipped into that trance like state. Their eyes open but glazed, not seeing the world around them.
Nilamani sat up and slithered out of bed. They stared unblinkingly out of the window for a moment then slipped out of the room. Carelessly leaving the door ajar for Thadd's loud snores to drift out into the dormatory hall.

They drifted along a vision of home, feeling sand beneath their tail instead of carpet. Starting as a half hearted hum, they began to sing a ghostly lament of yearning. Echoing old words of their mother's tongue which even they only half understood.

Nilamani's drifted down the hall with wild bed head and a night shirt hanging off one shoulder. Rather than sneaking about they would have been very difficult to miss. As they slithered around a corner they nearly collided with something. Why, wasn't that their child hood friend Erlik?
Their song stopped abruptly frightened at having their true form revealed.
Their hands coming up reflexively to hide their face.
"Oh!"

Uldyr

 

[Uldyr]

Uldyr went through the halls, before finishing a box on the wall with a small slit carved into the top. He took out a key and pushed into the boxes lock, and a protective ward visibly shimmered as he opened it. Empty. That meant no noise complaints in the last few days. He turned the lock to its sealed position and the visibility of the ward dissipated. Not the season for parties it seemed.

Taking the next hall Uldyr continued his patrol. The dimly lit hallways hid door after door into student quarters. He could make out general activity from time to time, but none loud enough to infer conversation topics. Until . . Was that humming?

The guardsman stopped a moment, focusing his ears. He changed paths, moving towards the new sounds echoes through the stone walls. The humming soon transitioned to song, though Uldyr did not recognize the words. There were many human tongues, but Uldyr was not sure he could replicate all of the sounds he heard. The voice grew louder and clearer as Uldyr went through the hall, eventually peaking as he neared a corner. Uldyr took a halfstep forward then back as a student nearly collided with him.

The creature looked vaguely human above the waist, though distinctly androgynous. It was betrayed first by it's eyes, a twinkling gold that shone like candles in the dimly lit hall. Beneath the waist showed a much more monstrous visage, with blue scales tracing a serpentine belly nearly five meters behind the creature's torso. Uldyr knew that Elbion housed many non-human students now, and had dealt with more than a few, but this student still piqued his curiosity. The uncanny valley of 'almost human yet definitely not' slowed his reaction.

"What are you?" Uldyr asked Nilamani , his curiosity overriding his professionalism before he realized what he had said.