Arcana Twilight: When The Star Falls (retelling)

3- Distractions?

Gloria starts to feel very unsettled when this guy starts to lean close to her. The invasion of her personal space was getting on her nerves, plus making her more anxious. She leans back a bit to try and move away.

"Now, who's gonna fill me in on this top-secret affair?"

Alpheratz spoke to the guy, "Jeez.... Stop talking like an uninvited creep, Sirius..."

Spica soon spoke up, "I don't know if you've checked your Stella Tab, but.... I've made the schedule quite clear. You're late." Pollux sighed, "I told him to come here. He's the one who didn't listen."

The man spoke, "Oh, boring old bunch. You sorcerers really need to learn how to take a joke."

Gloria blinks. His eyes.... They change color!

"Ah," the guy turned to Gloria and spoke to her, "My apologies. I was too preoccupied with my colleagues." The guy soon bows towards her, "The name's Sirius, First Sorcerer of Canis Major. Greetings, Summoner from a foreign land." Gloria soon blinks, "Summoner?" Sirius soon nods, "Yeah, you. Summoner from Mid Eartheim. Don't tell me you didn't know that."

"Sirius," Arcturus spoke up, "Why do you keep calling Gloria.... a summoner?"

Sirius chuckles a little, "I heard everything on the way about our guest here using magic to summon Arcturus." He soon turned to Gloria, "You're not a sorcerer because you aren't a Constellation Choice, but you've got too much magical talent to not be called something at the very least."

Gloria stands up from her seat and walks up to Sirius, everyone else wasn't expecting this considering how she seemed to still have been recovering from her panic attack. Sirius's eyes widened when he realized that she was a few inches shorter than him; he had thought she would have been small based on the way she was curled up in the chair. She looked into Sirius's eyes and spoke in an unamused voice, "Really...? Summoner? That's all I am now to you all...?"

"What's the matter?" Sirius wasn't expecting this reaction from her, "Are you sad we're not calling you a sorcerer?" She shakes her head, "You know what... forget it...."

Alpheratz's gaze fell on Spica, "Why do you look so excited? You never make that face..."

Spica blinks, "Oh, because Sirius might have just addressed one of our biggest problems...!" Spica soon addresses everyone in the room, "You see, one must be a sorcerer to attend Contell. They won't look favorably upon a non-magical individual on campus. But it seems like we have a solution now." Alpheratz seemed to sigh from this.

Pollux blinks, "So.... we're just gonna give Gloria a fancy label?"

Arcturus soon laughs, "But it does sound cool. Summoner Gloria. I like it!"

Gloria gives everyone an unamused look as she slouches in her chair. "Ummm.... Arc....Arcurus...?" Noticing she was struggling to say his name, Arcturus nods at her, "Arcky is fine~!" She nods, "Do.... we have to...? Do I really have to use that title....?"

She didn't like the idea of the title. It felt like it'd put a lot of pressure on her shoulders, having to live up to it. She was now hoping that she was wrong about this.

Arcturus blinks, "Oh, I didn't expect you to be so embarrassed. Sorry...!" Gloria sighed. I didn't react that way cause of embarrassment....

Soon a light tap was on Gloria's shoulder. She wasn't expecting this at all. She looks up and sees Alpheratz, his hand on her. She blinks. His presence felt like trying to reassure her, yet his words didn't fully line up to his intentions, mainly because the words weren't for her. "Okay, that was enough cheese for one day. I'm outta here, don't stop me." His words were addressed to the guide members.

Sirius stops him from trying to leave, "Unfortunately for you, Alpheratz, I need to discuss something with everyone here."

Tilting his head, Spica addressed him, "So there's a reason you attended this meeting as opposed to most others. Let's hear it."

Sirius laughs, "It's a backup request. Let's see..... It's from a sorcerer who left Contell an hour ago. A few monsters went nuts and broke free. Seems like this sorcerer is trying to hold them off alone at the Tower of Babili." Gloria blinks, "Tower.... Of... Babbilly...?" Spica sighed, "The Tower of Babili is.... A grand magic designed to prevent disaster."

Gloria feels embarrassed and ashamed with how she said the word....

Spica continued, "Six towers were built across five regions, forming one colossal magic spell that traps riftborn monsters in a labyrinth...."

"The purpose of our field trip," Sirius soon added, "Would be to send them back before the labyrinth gets too crowded."

Taking it all in, Gloria was quiet.

".... That sounds.... Dangerous....!"

Sirius shrugs, "I wouldn't say it's the toughest job in the world. It's just one of the many things we do. Protecting the world and making it better. All that cook stuff"

Alpheratz sighed heavily, "It's cool when you can actually handle it. That idiot should've called it quits and come back ...."

Pollux chimed in, "Some of us actually like to get things done ourselves... unlike you." Alpheratz grumbles, he soon hits Pollux on the head. "Ow...!" Pollux starts rubbing his head, "Come on, you didn't have to hit me on the head for that. I was telling the truth....!" Gloria sighed, "Pollux... what you said still wasn't too nice...."

Pollux pouted. Gloria turns up to Alpheratz, "And the kids right, you didn't really have to hit him." Pollux soon gets offended, "Oh I don't want to hear you calling me that!!" Gloria blinks, "I'm taller than you AND I'm older than you by a few years...."

His eyes widened. Alpheratz tries to hide a snicker. Pollux blinks, "You look younger!!" Gloria sighed, "I just have my baby face...."

Sirius chuckles, "Alright, enough goofing around. We haven't got much time. What's your move, o'great Guide Sorcerers?" Arcturus gave a determined look, "We're gonna go help, obviously! That's what the Guide Committee does!" Sirius soon slowly looks at Gloria, "Of course, the ever-so-noble Arcturus.... I wonder what our Summoner thinks."

Gloria soon feels the pressure on her again as the attention is turned to her. She feels another light tap from Alpheratz. She looks up at him, he isn't looking at her, it's like he's trying to be very subtle about his help right now. She turns back to everyone, "We should go help!"

"Really?" Sirius smirks, "Looks like we've got ourselves another hero. Very impressive!"

Arcturus soon looks worried, "This is strange.... I don't think anyone's ever requested backup just because of a few monsters." Spica nods, "Perhaps it has something to do with an anomaly with the tower." Alpheratz sighs, "Hey guys.... Not all of us have to be there, right?" Was he drained from all this interaction? Pollux sighed heavily, "Seriously!? It's not like the rest of us get off on this kinda stuff. Some do, of course, but not me..."

Gloria soon cuts in, raising an eyebrow, "You suck at helping people or something?" Alpheratz looks at her and smirks, "Gloria~! No one has ever understood me better than you just did...!"

She blinks. Gloria soon starts to laugh, "Oh? You like making jokes?" Alpheratz nods, "Very much was a joke. I wish nothing but the best right now."

Arcturus chimed in, "Come on, guys. We're all in this together, aren't we? Besides, I really wanna show Gloria what this world is like, what magic is like!"

Alpheratz's eyes widened, "We're taking Gloria to the tower? Wouldn't that be incredibly unsafe?" Sirius soon added, "I actually agree with Arcturus on this one. What do you say to a field trip, Summoner?"

Gloria's eyes widened again. Why do they all always keep forcing me into situations where I make the choices?!? Gloria gulps. She feels Alpheratz's reassuring presence again.