Sometimes your own culture likes to shock you

Iliril of the Chant

One of the two Enelens seemed to have come to the same conclusion that Iliril had. It wasn't the one that he had wanted but he would settle for the High Mage because this was probably more up his alley anyways. Not by much but the man had to have earned the title some way.

The boy looked at the High Mage strangely when he made his comment. "Of c-course it w-was s-surp-prise," Iliril said, feeling a little lost. "W-what else d-do y-you t-think it c-could h-have b-been? W-with y-you h-here and h-him t-there -W-we onl-ly m-met l-last w-week!" It wasn't like there was an instruction manual for how to meet up with stray mages from the World of the Diamond, much less for meeting two different version of the same one.

The younger Enelen still had this confused expression on his face. In hindsight, he really hadn't started the introduction very well. Iliril sighed and pointed at the boy this time. "En-nel-len." Then he pointed at the older man. "H-high M-Mage En-nel-len." And then back at the younger, saying with particular emphasis, "Enel." The way that he pronounced this was without the usual stutter because he made sure that he placed all of the consonants at the back of the syllable. En-el instead of E-nel.

"N-name's t-too l-long," he said to the High Mage. "Y-you c-can j-just b-be Enelen, t-then. I g-guess." This was pronounced in that same way as Enel. He would still probably refer to them both as the High Mage and Enelen in his head but this was so much easier.

"S-so, um." He had no idea how the younger mage was handling this. "M-meet y-yours-self?"

Something occurred to him in the next moment, though, because he turned right back around to the man. "W-wait, y-you're h-hand-dling t-this w-well f-for s-someb-bod-dy w-who t-thinks I'm c-craz-zy f-for b-bel-liv-ving n-nonh-hum-mans ex-xist."

Iliril of the Chant

Iliril had strong feelings about alternate selves. "It's n-not t-that g-great," he was quick to assure Enelen. "I m-mean, t-there's an-not-ther one of m-me in t-this w-world, t-too. B-born h-here. H-he's s-some t-teenag-ger w-who c-can't s-see m-mag-gic at all." Which was an awful condition to have but it also really made Iliril feel an odd sense of kinship with Yuzuru. From the way that his cousin had spoken of him, everybody in the family seemed to think of him as mentally challenged.

Looking between Enelen and the High Mage, Iliril wasn't sure what else he was supposed to say. It seemed pretty straight forward to him. Yes, hi, Enelen, there are two of you know. Congratulations. He supposed that they should probably get along, though, but that seemed like common sense.

Oh wait. His mouth tightened into a straight line. That meant he had to get along with the High Mage, too, didn't it? Iliril couldn't find it in himself to look forward to trying that.

"W-what w-were y-you d-doing in t-the off-fice?" Iliril asked the High Mage, with a sudden sinking feeling. The man certainly was not there as a student and if he had been doing what Iliril thought he was doing, then he was fucked.

Iliril of the Chant

He blinked at Enelen. "Y-yes, d-didn't I s-say s-somet-thing l-like t-that w-when w-we m-meet?" Iliril knew that he had explained some part of it, at least. "I s-said t-that t-this m-mage h-had acc-cid-dentl-ly b-brought m-me t-through b-because t-the m-mag-gic c-conf-fus-sed f-for h-her c-cous-sin." Although, now that he thought about it, there were maybe a few too many leaps of logic to get from one to the other without prompting.

"I s-sup-pose w-we w-would l-look t-the s-same if our h-hairc-cuts m-matched." He had only seen pictures of Yuzuru before, not having actually met the boy. "W-we d-don't h-have t-the s-same n-name, and h-he's a f-few y-years y-young-ger t-than m-me. His s-sist-ter s-says t-that our s-souls m-match up." Which was strange and nonsensical to him but it apparently was a deeply studied subject in that family.

And wonderful, it looked like there was going to be a High Mage professor after all. There were a few classes that he had signed up for, mostly off of Enelen's suggestion, with no teacher yet listed. Just a few of the vaguest descriptions possible, more of word soup than anything else.

"Enel," Iliril sighed to the younger mage. "If y-you s-signed us up f-for y-your ot-ther s-self's c-class-ses-" He didn't think he really needed to complete that thought.

Iliril of the Chant

"Y-you'll h-have t-to ask t-the m-mage w-who d-did it," Iliril said, fidgeting a little. "I w-was k-kind of h-hung up on ot-ther t-things at t-the t-time." Things that the younger Enelen should have known about and which he really didn't want to go into right this moment. But then he remembered how easily and casually the High Mage had been teleporting to the dorms and had to wonder.

He and Enelen were still students. It was only to be expected that they could do absolutely nothing in the area of, of dimensional travel. That was insane. That exactly what he should be going to a high mage for, even one that he disliked. Iliril had a little time to think more clearly so while he was doubtful that the High Mage could have done anything on his own, he could still hope. And if there was one thing that Iliril had always been consistent in, it was being stubborn in holding onto the past.

"If-" He bit his lip for a moment, trying to think of proper words. "If t-there w-was a w-way t-to s-still s-send p-peop-ple b-bet-tween w-worlds," he said slowly to the man. "W-would y-you k-know h-how t-to d-do t-that?"

Iliril of the Chant

He latched on immediately onto the fact that the High Mage knew. But did it mean that the man knew how to perform the spell for it, or that the man simply knew it existed? It made no difference to Iliril, really. Just this single fact alone was oceans more than he had just a minute ago. Unwillingly, hope began spread throughout his chest as the boy frantically tried to beat it back down. He was used to being disappointed. It was normal.

It didn't help.

"N-no n-not ours, a d-diff-fer-rent one!" Iliril said quickly. "A f-few of t-the m-mages f-from S-Sard m-man-nag-ged t-to g-get t-to t-the s-same w-world b-but." He went pale just thinking of how to abridge it efficiently and ducked a little. "Um. It w-was b-bad, ok-kay. R-reall-ly b-bad." And he was kicking himself for making such a stupid understatement.

"B-but t-there w-were a f-few p-peop-ple s-still al-live w-when I l-left!" He continued pressingly. "T-the m-mage w-who b-brought m-me ov-ver p-prob-bab-bly k-knows w-which w-world it w-was!"