[ A girl is sitting... mid air, legs crossed, as if seated amongst the stars. She's pretty devotedly shuffling a deck of cards, every which way she can. ]

I've decided I'm bored with chess. It has its elegance, certainly holds to the test of time, but I'm not above holding appreciation for newer games.

[ After all, she'll be playing it with more modern people. ]

You.

--Yes, you. Do I look like I'm speaking to anyone else?

Play a game with me, won't you? A simple game of drawing a card.

[ Mid air, she spins, holding the deck away, wrist downward, palm facing her. In a circle, around her, the cards float mid-air. The cards shuffle themselves in a circle around her-- no matter what you do, you can't see the face of the cards, just the backs. Illusion magic. ]

This is a game of luck. Draw a card jack or higher, and you win.

Draw lower, and you lose. The loss condition is that I ask a question and you answer.

[ By the way she talks about it, it feels more like a game of Russian roulette, deceptively safer-sounding. ]

And if you draw the joker, that's a loss upon loss. But the odds are against that, isn't it? I promise, magic aside, the odds are as fair as if they were laid out on a table.

Well? Will you play, and feed my boredom momentarily?

[The forest echoes with the sounds of metal on metal, the high-pitched dragging sound of a knife being sharpened.]

snnnk

snnnk

[Tear is sitting, dragging her knife along a small whetstone with a practiced ease. Her expression is focused even if it's not on what she's actually doing. A million thoughts are going through her mind all at once, keeping her hand white-knuckle tight on the knife, the movements sharp and precise as though wasting no extra energy.]

snnnk

snnnk

[After a moment she inspects the knife edge carefully, wiping the edge clean with her gloved hand, before turning the knife over to even out the edge.]

It's happening. It's actually happening. How could I have not seen this?
Even the others... Major Legretta... how far does this go? Who else is involved with this?
It doesn't matter. It's not going any further.

snnnnk

snnnnk

[It's not at all strange to find people in the library. In fact, it might be the most normal, mundane activity a character can do. Aster is one of the people who enjoys sitting and reading for hours on end, researching every little thing he can get his hands on.

So it's not at all strange to find piles of books, nearly resembling a fort, in an area he frequently reads in. Energy, uses of energy, books on physics and complicated large texts next to piles of papers writtten in his own handwriting. Some are notes, others are theories, some are even scribbles. Closer inspection will reveal that Aster is no where to be found. That is unless your character happens to look up when they hear a voice.

On top of the book shelf, Aster is stuck with another small pile of books that he pulled. How he got up there is anyone's guess. ]

I could try climbing down, but I couldn't bring these with me.

[He sits cross legged and shuts his eyes.]

No, that wouldn't work either.