Heavy Artillery Heartthrob

The Proving Grounds, afternoon

The Proving Grounds. A facility something like a large stadium, not dissimilar from the Colosseum. But there are no racks of weapons here, no men and women wrestling or sparring. The earth is bare, dense-packed, only broken by scarred practice targets. For this is where wizards and sorcerers come to practice, to experiment, or sometimes just to let off a little steam.

That being said, magical pyrotechnics (when observed from a safe distance) are quite the entertaining spectacle, and when some magician of note reserves a time-block, there are always onlookers. Currently there are small groups of young people of several races watching with interest, though two groups of girls are shooting murderous glares at each other between watching the man walking out onto the practice ground. Dressed in loose fitting, comfortable garments in a sand-colored hue, Telamon's hair is quite visibile even from a distance, as he begins stretching a bit to limber up.

The Goblin seems awed by the size of the place, slowly making her way to the closest viewing point possible. She ends up between the two groups of girls, her pencil moving across her notebook, drawing various pieces of the facility's architecture. Her hair gives Telamon's a run for its money, at least in length.

"Tel, show them your curveball first!", Simony yells out, waving a hand.

The two groups of girls don't really take much notice of Simony. There's some distinct differences, though. While a couple in one group look familiar, the other group is holding small flags that depict... a crescent moon with a raven perched in it.

Clearly, not all of Tel's fan club buys into the rumors and allegations, and are standing firm not just behind Tel, but behind Lana too.

At the familiar voice, Telamon turns, his dark eyes flashing before they land on Simony, and he laughs suddenly. "Curveball? What, like this?" He turns to look at the practice targets, and speaks, "Ganzer, lipisbala gaz!" A sphere of glowing orange light appears in his hand, and he flings it -- sending it streaking downrange before it detonates with a BOOM and a fiery explosion. There are cheers, of course, and clapping. This is what people come to watch.

The Goblin cheers noisily at the loud bang and fiery bloom of explosion. "YAAAAAH! Again again again!"

The two groups are noted by Simony now, and she edges closer to the crescent moon and raven flags. "Or maybe some thunder, Tel, bring the thunder!" She bounces up and down excitedly. "What else do you have?!"

The girls look at Simony a bit curiously, and maybe a little bit of stubbornness, holding up their little flags in defiance. One scoots over and whispers to Simony, "Are you his friend?"

Meanwhile, Telamon is incanting some spell that makes the ground downrange explode in a forest of black tentacles. "Don't try that at home, kids," Telamon quips. The tentacles wave, grasping some of the practice targets and squeezing them a bit, before looking for actual live prey. "But it's -great- for crowd control."

Her ears twitch upward slightly at the whisper, and she looks up to regard the girl. "I'm am a friend of his, yes, and his wife also. I painted the fresco in their sitting room, too." There's a note of pride in her tone, and her eyes take in the little flags once more. "And I'm his number one fan, after his wife, of course. Why do you ask?"

The sea of black tentacles has the Goblin's eyebrows shooting up, and she steps closer to the spell barrier, squinting through her pince-nez. "What is that one?", she wonders. "Hrm, crowd control, eeewh, imagine being squished by a giant squid?!" She does look impressed though, despite the total lack of fiery explosion.

There's a tiny little tremble. "We've heard the rumors. And we don't believe them." The girl states this like a matter of faith. "Yes, we're all... well, nuts for him. But we also see him and his wife together and..." She pauses, then rushes on. "It's like a storybook tale. One we'd all want for ourselves. Happily ever after." She clenches her fists, flicking a glare over Simony's head at the other group of girls. "All -they- think about is how they could 'get' him. Like he's a gold coin on the road."

Down on the field, the tentacles have been dismissed, and a large stone is being magically levitated in. Conversationally, Telamon remarks, "The proctors hate when I summon illusory targets, so just pretend this is an ogre or something." He holds out his hand, bracing with his other arm. "Ilim sugzag, gu ubri sahar!" Blue arcs of energy build up around his hand, before it lashes out in a narrow beam that strikes the boulder -- and the solid stone crumbles into dust!

Simony pulls on her robes slightly, enough to bare the star tattoo momentarily, before covering it back up again. "I owe him my life, and I've been through a few rough spots with him. We've worked together to protect these lands and their people. The rumors are simply that, rumors. Nasty speculation. Used as a weapon by the jealous and deceitful. Put them from your mind."

She lets out a long breath. "It is a fairytale that only he and his wife can share, for their lifespans exceed yours and mine by a significant factor. You'll find a gentleman to love, and make your own fairytale."

Her ears flick at the mention of the other girls. "I've run into them before. They've nothing but bitterness and hate, and they shall reap what they sow. It is... ill-advised to taunt the Starman's wife."

The girl's face relaxes a little, and she offers Simony a little fist-bump. "Good. They need friends. And yes... that's exactly it. We're not looking to steal him away... I guess we're just trying to imitate him and his wife." She blushes a little, but she smiles regardless.

The crowd is now ooh-ing and aah-ing at the boulder being disintegrated. But Tel's not done. He chants, "Atuku, sag zigara, emegar pagra!" The crumbled dust where the boulder was, still sifting down to the earth, reverses course and begins to float -upwards-, along with a couple of the practice targets, till they're hanging about twenty feet up. "Whoops. Might've spread that a little further than I wanted," Tel muses. "Reverse gravity," he explains to the crowd.

"Aww, what'd I miss?!", the Gobbo says with a pout, which is quickly gone as everything begins to float upwards. "Whoa! That is an impressive weight he's lifting." Her pencil begins to sketch anew, getting in a rough approximation of the scene, with Telamon drawn in more detail.

The fist bump interrupts the sketching only momentarily, with the Simony giggling. "Oh indeed, they have good people as friends. Life, they say, is about the journey, and not the destination. But it's also about the friends you make along the way. Meeting Telamon was a blessing."

Her grin is broad and bright, a wee hand reaching out to pat at the girl's forearm. "Imitation is the highest form of flattery. You would be hard pressed to find a better pair of people to emulate. And if you wish to find your fairytale? Don't be hard and bitter like that group behind me."

The Gobbo turns to face the arena again. "Yeah, Tel! Now more fire!" She bounces up and down enthusiastically.

Telamon hears that last bit, and looks at Simony again. "What is it with goblins and fire?" he asks rhetorically. It doesn't help that yes, there are a number of goblins in the stands aside from Simony. He gestures, letting things drop back to the hard packed earth. Then he backs up a few paces, and takes a deep breath. "Sometimes, you need more than fire. You need the fires of the stars themselves." He rises up, his flight spell taking effect, six wings of light spreading out and holding him steady. "Mulan ki-la," he chants. "Geshe namgilima, ganzer dib." As he speaks, four points of blazing light appear around him, circling. Growing, into four large spheres of starfire. Burning like tiny suns, as he suddenly points downrange. And then they are rocketing forth, a quartet of shooting stars that slam into targets at the far end. The explosions are tremendous, twice the size of a fireball, the detonations actually coming up against the antimagic wards before stopping as that far end of the field is for a moment enveloped in fiery explosions.

"Nothing like a big fire!", Simony yells, to agreement of a sizable portion of the crowd. She falls silent as the small balls bloom into gigantic explosions, her eyes wide.

"That's amazing! Again again again!" Her enthusiastic jumping and hopping returns, and she tears off towards the other end of the arena.

"Again again!" She seems intent on seeing these pyrotechnics up close.

Telamon actually looks a little aback at the massive explosions, and pauses to listen to something only he's hearing. He nods, and chuckles, before seeing Simony sprint along to get as close to the warding fence as she can to see it again. "You lot are just here for the explosions, huh?" he jibes with a grin. "I've got another spell nearly as dramatic but it doesn't -look- impressive."

"Still, I think I've got enough in me for one more, at least... plus a little extra." He seems to draw into himself, hovering, as magical energy begins building up again. Then he's chanting again, faster now, as he not only summons the four blazing orbs, but a fifth appears in his hand. "Here we go!" before releasing them. Now it's -five- explosions that wash across the far end, scorching the packed earth, shredding two of the practice targets into flaming splinters as blue and orange waves of flame wash up to the warding fence like liquid sloshing up against a wineglass. The heat rolls upward, even banishing a tiny bit of the chill of autumn.

Her voice is raised up as she calls for more fire and explosions. And despite the barriers, she crouches down and covers her ears, staring into the bright lights of five fiery bursts. She's there for a long while afterwards, simply peering into the scorched space. Simony's return to the groups of spectators takes longer than it did for her to get out there.

"It's like staring into the sun up close!", she breathes excitedly to the girl she'd been talking to previously. "Maybe you could marry, or become, a wizard. Maybe it doesn't work out, but it'd be exciting for a while, wouldn't it?"

Even the warding fence seems to crackle with dispersing energy, and Telamon frowns suddenly, hearing something again. He nods, and looks up at the tower where the proctor and range officials are, waving a hand. Two junior wizards come pelting out onto the field, and begin checking some of the fenceline.

A voice comes from the tower, "Live casting is paused, live casting is paused, we are inspecting the wards." Looks like Telamon really did overdo it a touch. He ambles over to where he can speak to Simony, pulling a flask from his haversack and sipping from it. "So, was that up to your standards, Temperance?" he teases.

Despite her official title, she shows little of such, as she runs to hug at his waist. "That was amazing! I want to be able to do that! WOOOOSH BOOOM YAAAAA! Telamon, I think you broke their wall a little bit. It made an interesting sound... like it was groaning." She blinks then, and Simony steps back. "I uh mean... Lord Lupecyll-Atlon."

She gestures him closer, her voice lowering to a whisper. "Ahem. The young ladies over there are the ones who tormented Cor'lana, so be wary of them. The other ladies with the little flags, they're polite fans of yours. Perhaps you can offer a kind word and a little razzle dazzle with your eyes, make their day!"

Getting hugged by Simony is nothing new, and Telamon chuckles, patting her shoulder. "I think I did too. That meteor-strike spell is a bit more than I'm used to, and gods, it goes -everywhere-." He heaves a sigh. "Ah well. At least the ward didn't fail. But they'll be checking it a bit. With the spectators that show up, nobody wants to be the one that gets people hurt."

At Simony's whispered words, Telamon murmurs a cantrip, and suddenly only she can hear his reply. "I see. Certain things have come to light, too. But I won't discuss them here." But he does turn his dark, starry gaze on the girls holding flags... one eyebrow rising at the crest on them. But he doesn't reprimand them, instead... only offering a smile, and a nod.

Which, of course, kicks off a wave of blushing and averted eyes among the girls. Such is life when you're a heartthrob.

Simony's notebook and pencil reappear, "Meteor strike. Most impressive. Can a cleric learn that one?" She giggles lightly. "Do you cause the groundskeepers here headaches on a regular basis?"

His revelation has her expression perking up. "Oh? Hopefully good things, at least? You can surely say that much." The Gobbo giggles again as he has the gaggle of fangirls blushing and whispering among themselves. She hugs at Telamon once more, and makes sure to look right at both groups of girls before she lets go.

"Ah, you poor poor stealer of hearts and sweeper of people off their feet."

There's two sets of stares getting leveled at Simony now. One set is nasty and jealous, the other actually warm and approving. After all, as one girl said, Telamon needs friends. Tel, of course, seems utterly oblivious to it -- or perhaps he's just pretending to be, as he guides Simony along the stands. "No idea. You might ask your god, he's the one with dominion over knowledge, after all." At the question about the groundskeepers, he looks faintly embarrassed. "Unfortunately, yes. Evocation tends to be hard on the wards. And such spells, well... they tend to do what they want when you let them go. Always be aware of your target."

He snorts at Simony's line about 'stealer of hearts'. "Now you're just messing with them, Simony. Still... the flags with my family crest are a new thing. At least they're being supportive." As the two walk further away, he mouths a message to Simony, magically carried to her and only her. "I think so. But as I noted, I can't discuss it here."

"I must maintain my position as your number one fan.", she says firmly. Simony glances up at the Half-Sil, and winks. "As for the magnificent spells of fiery destruction, I would probably have to spend many a year studying to be a wizard, for my blood does not ooze magic like yours does. It would be hard to explain my request to Navos, for he would surely want to know why one of his priestesses is requesting meteor strike instead of his holy powers of healing and knowledge. But, well, a girl can wish, can't she?"

She nods to his internal reply, her voice lowering once more. "Knowing that things are moving positively is enough to satiate my curiosity for now."