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Post by Cendra on Nov 28, 2015 18:39:07 GMT -5
Thyra stepped up on stage again to announce the next student.
“Next we have Jesse Chase. Thank you.” A few seconds of silence passed. Jesse made no move to get up and in fact appeared bored, like she hadn't heard her named being called at all.
“Jesse Chase.” Thyra said more pointedly at the light brown haired girl. Jesse jumped at the second announcement.
“Oh! Chase! Right. Sorry, sorry. I forgot my last name there for a second!” She laughed, sprinted to the front and took the stage.
“Hello there fellow students! It's wonderful seeing you all here again. Let me introduce myself. I am Jesse Chase, Interdimentional Telepath. Now, I know what you're thinking,” Jesse gave a quick wink at her joke (That may or may not have been in Garth's direction.) then continued on with a distressed hand held to her forehead.
“'Oh no! I have to be careful about what I think around her.', 'How will I keep all my secrets and the stash of sweets I smuggled into school away from her?!' Well, don't worry ladies and gentleman, I am here to allay your concerns. I can only read my own mind! Quite a shock, I know. The sweet stashes, however, may still be in danger.” She looked at everyone seriously, hands on her hips. She heard a cough from the otherwise silent audience.
“Wow... Tough crowd. That went over so much better in JB4...” She mumbled to herself.
“Well, I might not be so flashy as our last two lovely performances, but I can calculate the future 98% better than any rum fortune teller. Let us test the theory, shall we? My demonstration will play out during the course of our time here!” She put a finger to her lips.
“Hmm, I don't want to spoil too much for you all. I'll just drop a few hints then.” Jesse grinned out at the familiar faces in front and behind her.
“Garth!” She pointed to the pale blonde. “Awesome astronomy man!” her eyes flickered to Silumas then back to Garth, “And good luck!” she gave Garth two thumbs-up. Next she turned to her classmate.
“Harue, you should duck later... I mean, you don't have to, but you might want to.” Jesse gave a shrug as Harue fixed her with a withered look.
“Almudena, amiga! Just please don't use my chair. I know it's only the first day of school, but I've grown quite attached already.” The twins were snickering in their own seats by now.
“Ah! Finally! But you stay out of trouble the both of ya!” She winked at them. Then there was the girl with her nose berried in a book.
“Talia, look to the future and you'll do just fine.” She smiled encouragingly at her, then squinted her eyes as she thought, “That sounded more like a fortune cookie... I did say 98%.” Jesse quoted her disclaimer.
“But that's not all folks! Grab your flying monkeys and eat that popcorn, because Deandre has somethings super super awesome coming up, but I promised I wouldn't tell. Though I very very much want to! That will be all.” She turned to walk off the stage then turned quickly back. “Umm...It'll all make sense later. You're up, Deandre!!” She grinned and scampered off stage and back to her loved chair.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Nov 29, 2015 19:04:46 GMT -5
Talia had payed very little attention to Evelyn even after she reached the stage until the lights suddenly dimmed and then lots of shapes, colors, animals, flowers and assorted other things, that barely seemed to finish forming before they faded away again, flashed around the room. She had to admit that the display was impressive and almost theatrical. Talia also noticed that the molecular vibrations of Evelyn’s nervous system seemed to increase dramatically during her light show, but those of the mirror curiously remained the same.
Seems like that took a lot out of her she thought to herself as watched her seeming to struggle slightly at the end with just a hint of sweat forming on her brow.
Next up was the student with the altered body and bizarre molecular vibrations that appeared to be in his twenties. She watched as he stumbled over himself as if he wasn’t used to his own body and even face planted once he reached the stage. She sighed lightly and actually felt a bit sorry for him. Titus, she had heard was his name and he’s only fourteen? Really? What happened to this poor kid? She thought as she waited for him to begin, but he seemed nervous as if he wasn’t sure what do exactly.
Vector manipulation huh? His power immediately interested her because it sounded sciencey like hers. Talia smiled a bit as the yellow flower petals he’d thrown into the air suddenly began to swirl around him and continued for several minutes before exploding across the room and showering everyone close to the stage. The display seemed very fluid and natural as if he was really in his element.
The next student called up was Jesse Chase, the young woman who Talia believed had a very bizarre case of multiple personality disorder. She forgot her name? More likely a different personality was at the forefront of her mind at the time of the first announcement of her name. Then the girl said something about being an interdimensional telepath and predicting the future, which sounded like something straight of a science fiction novel, as if those had ever really been fiction. Once the girl made her way up to the stage and began to speak Talia was baffled by how rapidly her molecular brain vibrations pinged between different patterns. It was as if a data stream were flowing through her mind as she spoke, recalling odd memories and handing out vague hints to students.
Suddenly the girl said her name and looked right at her and Talia blinked and met her gaze over the top edge of the book. “Talia, look to the future and you’ll do just fine.” The girl offered happily. She was uncertain how to respond and so she just gave a weak smile over the top of the book before hiding her face in the pages again as the girl continued on, saying something about a person named Deandre.
Look to the future and you’ll do just fine. She repeated in her mind, but she wasn’t certain what to make of it. How was she to look to the future when she was not the one who could see it? It was not something that she could simply shrug off, but it was something that she couldn’t wrap her head around and so she pushed it to the back of her mind.
Look to the future? I don’t even know with any certainty that I have a future…
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Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 30, 2015 17:06:49 GMT -5
Thyra's dialogue written by Lee. Unrelated: I never noticed how reflexive it is that characters know the spellings of each others' names once they hear them. Just an extension of third-party omniscience, I guess. Deandre's compulsive note-taking threw that into relief and made it seem silly, so he only takes the best guess he can. That means he might misspell your character's name. Sorry. nothin personnel kid EVELYN BERTRAM LIGHT MANIP - MIRROR - INCRED LIGHT SHOW - COLORS/SHAPES - BEAUT POSITIVE. ENVIABLE. "Ah! Finally! But you stay out of trouble, the both of ya!" TITUS BOLTEN(-ON?) - TY SHY. N/SURPRISED. D/WANT TO BE UP THERE? SAME VECTOR MANIP?? OH, CONTROLS TRAJECTORIES. - FLOWER PETALS "Talia, look to the future and you'll do just fine. That sounded more like a fortune cookie... I did say 98%." "JESSIE CHASE, INTERDIMENSIONAL TELEPATH" - WHAT V/CONFIDENT FORTUNE-TELLER? D/SEE HOW RELATES. PREDICTIONS F/STUDENTS "But that's not all, folks! Grab your flying monkeys and eat that popcorn, because Deandre has something super super awesome coming up, but I promised I wouldn't tell. Though I very very much want to! That will be all." Deandre looked up. "Umm... It'll all make sense later. You're up, Deandre!" He stared at the girl now scurrying offstage, feeling his breath stop up briefly. What did this Jessie think he was about to do? Did she know his power, or was it some kind of weird bluff? And why would she—? He had to take this down. He nearly dropped his pen in hastening to write "JESSIE CHASE, INTERDIMENSIONAL TELEPATH" - WHAT V/CONFIDENT FORTUNE-TELLER? D/SEE HOW RELATES. PREDICTIONS F/STUDENTS - PROMISED "AWESOME" FROM ME - ??? Miss Russell's voice gently but emphatically called his attention back. "Yes, Deandre Clarks is next. Deandre?" Then it was time. He tucked the pen into his pocket, stood up, and made his way down the bleachers to the front of the auditorium, pressing his notebook to his side under one arm. Though Deandre was looking forward less and less to the view from the stage with each step, he couldn't see a polite way to hang back. He had no choice but to step up on stage. All eyes were on him. Feeling very small inside his puffy blue hoodie, Deandre now regretted that he hadn't spoken to any of the other students yet: None of them (except for maybe the possibly-clairvoyant Jessie, and what game she was playing he couldn't tell) was already in a position to expect what he was going to say. "My name is Deandre," he allowed, "I'm from the US, and..." His fingers tightened around the notebook's spine. There was nothing else now. He addressed the superintendent in something closer to a mumble. "Miss Russell, I'd really rather not give a demonstration, if that's all right." The superintendent's gaze flicked out towards the gathered students, barely visible beneath her sunglasses. Her lips worked quietly for a second, as if searching for what to say. "Ah, Deandre, that... Yes, that would be acceptable." Thyra turned toward the rest of the students. "We're demonstrating our powers here today in order to normalize the concept of being a Power. The vast majority of you have grown up without ever even seeing another one of our kind, and so showing what we all have in common here is a massive step forward for each of you. However, some powers..." Thyra paused for a scant moment that seemed much longer to Deandre. "...Can foster mistrust, through the nature of their existence." Deandre's gaze was fixed on the floor of the stage. He now felt very cold. "This isn't an indictment of their wielder, mind you, but I do believe it'd be best to actually get to know the person who possesses said powers before you make any judgments about them. As such, I am waiving the requirement for Deandre to demonstrate his abilities for us today." With a feeling that was in one part gratitude and in another part not, Deandre said, "Thank you, ma'am," and then, "I'm sorry," and then he walked offstage. Scattered whispers and murmurs sounded him off, and he forced himself to look up at the others in the auditorium as he made his way back. Most, if they were looking back at him, wore expressions somewhere between puzzlement and concern. Emily Schwartzwald had nothing but a huge, sincere grin to send his way; well, she wasn't worried by him, but seeing as how she seemed a little off even for these surroundings, it wasn't the greatest comfort. He glanced at Jessie, now seated again among her group, to find her frowning at him, yet it seemed like less an accusing glare than something of... disappointed confusion? But if she hadn't been expecting him to welsh like this, then what had she expected, when Deandre had known from the moment Miss Russell announced the demonstrations that any display of his power would be as pointlessly non-theatrical as it was frightening? Oh Deandre wished Miss Russell had just sent him offstage without the commentary, the reassurance, which did nothing but announce to his classmates that there was something here worth shunning. Yet he couldn't face the hike up the bleachers back to his original seat. Wanting to shrink out of sight as quickly as possible, he took an open desk not far from the weedy blond boy and the Catholic schoolgirl, pulled the pen from his pocket, and, no longer looking at anyone, began to write.
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Post by Yoshimitsu on Dec 7, 2015 11:49:59 GMT -5
This is definitely the weakest thing I've written in this thread so far, but I couldn't figure out a way to make it not-terrible "What's that?" Tallis snapped out of his daze at Ethan's voice. The guy who looked way too old to be a student was on the stage and who would want to work at a cat rescue he suppressed a shudder at his words, but his attention was brought back to his friends. Claire had something in her hands, a scroll that looked like it had been taken straight from a movie set, and Ethan and Mel were both looking at it suspiciously. "Where'd that come from?" He asked, reaching over to take it from Claire. There was a seal holding it in its curled shape, an honest-to-God wax seal with an emblem and everything, and he turned it over in his hands a few times to try to figure out what the thing was made of this isn't paper, it's like someone robbed from the scrap bin from a clothes store. The emblem was ridiculously intricate. He recognized the general look of a pentagram, he was pretty sure he'd seen the elements being portrayed on the points before, but the sheer level of detail in each of those symbols there's no way this was done with a stamp were a sure sign magic was involved somehow. "I don't know, it was just on the seat next to me," Claire answered, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. Tallis glanced back at the stage and saw the twenty-something year old throwing something yellow over his head, but he flicked his attention back to the scroll as he handed it to Mel. "It wasn't there when we sat down." "It feels like magic," Mel added, running her index finger over the seal. "There's traces in the seal, all over really but it's stronger in the seal." "So what does it say?" Ethan asked impatiently, grabbing for it. Mel hit the back of his hand with the scroll and he withdrew it quickly, not quite pouting but Tallis knew he wasn't that far away. She cracked the seal and uncurled the sheet but lost her grip on the end and it promptly curled up again. Scowling, she uncurled it again and held both ends firmly scowling isn't gonna make that thing obey you, apparently choosing to ignore Tallis grinning. He looked at the writing on the page that's a big sheet of paper for not a lot of writing but as soon as he started reading, he could hear a voice that definitely wasn't his own booming in his skull. His eyes instantly flickered to the girl who still had her face in a book. It could be her, he was pretty sure she was the one who'd been trying to taunt Claire's make-up. No, that was different that was still something we could hear. The voice wasn't coming from outside, it was in his head and he felt the blood leave his face. It had a terrifying quality, the voice was confident but it was the kind of confidence that could be backed up, not empty threats or boasting but matter-of-fact. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Claire sink into her seat when she was directly addressed and at that point, he knew his friends could hear the same thing he could. "It's gotta be that teacher," Ethan said as soon as the voice stopped talking. "Mister Doom'n'Gloom Robes. He definitely gives off some psycho vibes." "I think we get the idea, Ethan," Tallis replied, smacking him lightly on the shoulder to try and detract from the waver in his voice. That was fucking terrifying the fact that the voice was sounding in his head, not coming from outside, was what was scaring him the most. If someone could get their voice in his head, what else could they do? Could they put images in there? Or could they see something? Could they go rummaging around his memories and look at anything? "He's singled you out," Mel said slowly, looking at the words on the page. "It's like he's recruiting. He might dish these out to anyone who shows a lot of power." "So, what, you impress Mister Psycho up there and get invited to join his psycho club for psychos?" Ethan asked skeptically. "It's not exactly a great recruitment strategy," Tallis agreed. "Throw someone across the room then send vaguely threatening notes to people. I can see people lining up now." "Melanie Europa is next. Melanie, would you please take the stage?" The superintendent's voice cut through their conversation and Tallis looked at Mel, catching the tail-end of her eye-roll. "Hard pass. No," Mel replied. "Mel," Claire said sternly, frowning at her. "Ugh, fine." Mel was confident, like Claire, but it was a different type of confidence. Claire had the grace and posture of a model on the catwalk, showing off but making it look effortless and every movement was controlled and precise. Mel, on the other hand, was walking with a kind of confidence that Tallis had seen in Powers on television; she was ready to get into a fight at any moment there hasn't actually been a fight yet, that's impressive and she thought she'd be able to hold her own, maybe even win. Tallis sat up a bit straighter, watching his friend ascend the stage. He'd caught Claire when she'd been practising but he had no idea what Mel was planning. "I'm Mel, I'm seventeen and I'm from Celadon," she said, mimicking Claire and flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Claire designed everything I'm wearing today too, and I once managed to see a Helen Mercury show for free." She was holding the spotlight better than Claire had, Tallis had suspected she would even though she looked like the entire thing was a waste of time. He didn't know if she actually thought that or if she was putting it on. There was a lot that he didn't know about Mel, she kept a lot to herself and only really shared when she wanted to, not when she was asked Claire probably gets it all in their dorms, girl talk, I dunno. "I can use magic," she continued, and she opened her mouth like she was about to say something else but instead pursed her lips, debating her word choice. "Well, why don't I just show you instead of going on about it." This, Tallis was looking forward to. When he'd interrupted Claire's practising, the dark-haired girl hadn't accidentally shown anything nearly as big or vibrant as the light show, he hadn't expected the display to be so grand. Mel, though, Mel was still keeping a lot to herself. He knew already that she needed to say a rhyme, sort of like an incantation, and then magic happened, but she'd deliberately not explained that. She started to twirl and she should consider an career as ventriloquist if this stage-magic thing doesn't work out her lips were moving but only barely, hidden by her spinning. As she gained momentum, sparkles started forming and flowing around her clothes, growing in number and brightness as she spun faster. Her clothes started changing, not like the way the psycho-teacher's had melted, more like they were warping into something different. The black leather of her jacket and slipping down and blending with the deep purple of her tank top, her jeans were shifting and melding into a skirt and the entire thing was lightening. Each turn brought some volume to her clothes as they changed, now a dress with a v-neck but a high collar and cinched at the waist. The skirt had layers and layers of fabric that accentuated her hips and fell at irregular intervals that should have made Tallis hate it that should be a sign of bad designing, where's she pulled this skirt from? It actually works but didn't. He glanced at Claire to gauge her reaction, ignoring Ethan's gawking. Her lips were pursed, she'd probably already seen something she didn't like but Tallis knew that they weren't completely synced up with their tastes. As Mel's twirling slowly came to a halt, cocky grin plastered on her face, Tallis lead the applause. Sure, it wasn't the big, showy display that Claire had done but it was so Mel. Just enough to show off a small scope of what she could do but not big enough to give away any particular weakness or limitation. When he caught her eye, he shot her a grin and a wave, and then she was spinning back the other way now and it was like someone had hit a re-wind button, the skirt pulling back up and thinning out, the top splitting out and re-forming into the tank-top and jacket combination. As soon as her clothes had been completely restored, she gave a small curtsy how the hell did she manage to make a curtsy sarcastic and jumped off the stage. "I didn't like the neckline," Claire said as soon as Mel sat back down with them. "Whatever, Claire," Mel retorted with a shrug.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 7, 2015 13:59:30 GMT -5
"Hey," Almudena whispered loudly as Deandre slinked back to his seat. He feigned not noticing her, so she proceeded to pull a pencil from her pocket, and chucked it at the side of his head.
"Hey, Andre, what's up?" Not giving him a chance to answer, she kept talking, "You don't have to tell us, but me and Furball were trying to figure out what your power is, and we were hoping you could tell us if either one of us was correcto, por favor."
Garth blushed, and averted his eyes.
"Actually, I was just venturing a guess... I wasn't hoping to pressure you into actually telling us or anything," He hissed, shooting a smoldering glare at Almudena.
"Hey, you're curious too, can't hide that," Alma retorted. She put her elbow on her desk, and leaned in towards Deandre, "I guessed you had X-ray vision. That's why you keep looking over at me, si?"
"And I told her that he keeps looking over at you because you keep making a scene," Garth fiddled with the multicolored folders stacked on his desk.
"To be honest, from what I know of Thyra, I guessed she was alluding to what your power actually was," The blonde shrugged, "So I'm guessing your power is making people doubt or disbelieve what other people are saying. After all, it'd be useless to demonstrate that, wouldn't it? You'd be like 'my power is making people not believe me, watch', and then we'd be like 'we don't believe you'."
“Garth Firbolg,” Thyra called out, waving a hand towards him. Garth smiled serenely, shucked off his fleece pullover, and draped it over the back of his seat.
"Well guys, it looks like I'm up," He casually ambled to the stage, running his fingers through his hair.
“Thank you, Thyra,” Garth lost his composure, immediately appearing flustered, “I mean, Miss Russell.”
Thyra allowed herself a slight smirk, “It’s okay Garth.”
“So, anyways, I’m Garth Firbolg. I’m eighteen years old, a senior, and I come from Brightmeadow-“
The country girl who had arrived late let out a celebratory whoop, sloshing her jug of apple cider.
“Okayyy, well, anyways, my parents work at a feed store warehouse thing, providing grain for the cattle-“
The girl gave another echoing holler, obviously pleased to hear this.
“Is- Is she okay?” Garth glanced over to Thyra, who nodded stoically.
“Just energetic, and extra excited since she’s not the only person from her hometown.”
“Oh, that’s cool,” Garth gulped, and faced back towards his peers, “Anyways, back in Brightmeadow High, I was in our jazz band and marching band, playing the trumpet in both. Other than that, I’m-“
He could see Almudena rolling her hand at the wrist, gesturing for him to hurry up.
“Oh, right, I’m a Power. I… I probably should demonstrate that for you guys.”
Garth took two steps, and hopped down off the stage, keeping a hand on the edge to steady himself. He raised his forearm, fist clenched. Inhaling deeply, he unclenched his hand. A sphere of golden flames erupted out of his palm, casting the room in saffron hues. He took hold of his wrist with his free hand, steadying it.
The youth began slowly, deliberately walking a curved path with measured steps, the globe still hovering directly above his palm. As he moved, an inferno trailed behind it, forming a blazing arc where he had been. The conflagration slowly shifted in color, first into a sunset orange, and then shading into a brilliant apple red. Garth completed the first half of his circle, and began heading back to where he’d first ignited. The semicircle shifted in color again, becoming a neon violet. Garth came around to the end of his flametrail, and gently pushed the sphere into it, connecting the circle. As it closed, it became a brilliant cornflower blue.
Garth stood still, idly balancing the merry-go-round sized ring of fire on the palm of his hand.
“So, you can control fire? Never seen that before!” One of the students catcalled from the back of them room.
“What’s next, are you going to fly?”
“Oh, he did that already!”
Garth cleared his throat loudly. When that failed to quiet his naysayers, he flicked the edge of the inferno. Instantly, a roiling wave of coruscating sparks exploded from the bottom of the ring. The iridescent embers blew towards the ceiling, dappling the entire room with rainbow motes.
“I’ve got a lot more where that came from. Brace yourselves,” Garth took hold of the hoop, his seemingly delicate hand completely unmarred by the roaring inferno. With a grunt of effort, he pulled down on the edge, and set the entire circle spinning in midair, as if it were a coin flipped by a giant.
Garth caught it on its edge, the towering inferno almost high enough to reach the support struts in the gym roof. He let his eyes drift shut, digging his fingers into the strobing flame. In the center of the ring, a pane of inky blackness flecked in white appeared.
“So, you know how Thyra mentioned that comet the size of Kentucky?” Garth gestured towards the starscape that he held, “I figured I’d give all of you a closer look.”
In the center of the vast starscape, a blue-grey dot faintly appeared. It began growing in size, the grayish portion resolving itself as a lopsided sphere surrounded by a corona of cerulean vapors roiling off of it. Garth opened his eyes and smiled proudly, even as the onrushing comet began to loom menacingly large.
“Now, mind you, this is a portal, so if I don’t do this right, this thing will come through and we’ll all be obliterated, along with about three quarters of the Asian continent. Oh, and a planetary nuclear winter,” Garth grinned slyly, “I hate when those happen.”
Within his circle of verdant flames, the immense expanse of the comet filled the entire field of vision. What seemed like small bumps and divots were soon revealed to be titanic mountains and crevasses. The nearest peak jutted forth, as if it was aimed directly towards the class.
“And so…” Garth planted his feet, and shoved the ring. It flipped in a semicircle, flashing back to a shade of goldenrod as he pointed the onrushing apocalypse towards the faculty. Thyra jumped to her feet, Silumas arched an eyebrow, and Belwyn dove for cover. Emily, who had just re-entered the room carrying the supplies for Talia, gave a cheerful whoop. She bounded onto the stage, caught Thyra by the shoulder, and pulled her close. Producing a camera from one of her myriad pockets, she beamed and snapped a selfie with the end of the world looming over them.
Garth seized the edge of the gilded inferno, and with all his might, gave it a shove, spinning it like a wheel. As it spun, it grew smaller and smaller, irising in on itself, and brighter and brighter. Flashing a vibrant orange, the ring collapsed on itself. It left behind only a disproportionately small puff of pumpkin colored smoke and a few wafting sparks.
TINK! A chunk of ice from the very tip comet, the size of a man’s thumb, hit the rim of Thyra’s glass on the podium. It bounced into the water with a plop.
The pyromancer turned back towards his peers. He flourished with his right hand, trailing a nimbus of crimson flames as he moved. Sweeping his arm low, he gave a deep bow.
“And that is my power.”
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Post by Beelzebibble on Dec 7, 2015 17:39:19 GMT -5
Feeling slightly hot in the face, Deandre allowed, "He's closer," and gestured toward Garth as the thin white boy got up to move toward the front; then Deandre had enough time to wonder why he had blurted this out. He'd stepped right into playing the game they'd made up, and, well, why not, though? Would he have said it if he didn't want to play that game? The dark-haired girl's smile had caught him off-guard. He glanced sidelong at her, briefly torn between hoping she was going to press the topic further and hoping she was giving it up – but there, obviously, her attention was on Garth as he stepped onstage, and really that was what Deandre preferred. He flipped back a couple of pages to the entry he had started on Garth before learning the boy's name. And then Garth showed the room a miracle like Deandre had never seen. WEEDY BOY - GARTH FURBOLG THIN FIRE CONTROL - DIFF COLORS - FIRE RING: WINDOW? SPACE - COMET!! MS RUSSELL WAS N/JOKING CLOSE PORTAL - CHUNK OF COMET!
He would need to write up a full recounting and mark it with a star later. In the meantime he had to put down his pen and book to applaud with the rest of them after Garth finished his performance. Watching the white boy take a deep bow amid cheers on either side, Deandre could sense the familiar feeling of regret creeping up behind his own amazement. Wasn't there a chance they would have clapped a little for his power? Hadn't he been stupid to—? But there was no point rehashing it. An opportunity wasted, that was all. The girl gave an exuberant whoop. Deandre could smile at him, too. That much he could do. But his smile faded when the robed teacher with the snake-haired insignia, younger but no less stern-looking than the bald man, strode up and spoke a clearly admonitory word into Garth's ear, accompanied by a tight shoulder squeeze. This was apparently too much for the thin boy, who reeled under the pressure, his hair falling into his eyes. Another student, the boy in blue and gold who had helped Garth up earlier, broke from the desks and ran onstage to support him again. Deandre was stunned. The covetable spectacle of Garth's demonstration had put all thoughts of his earlier mishap with the bald teacher from Deandre's mind, but the truth was plain now: Garth's power had nothing to do with resilience or endurance. As a matter of fact he was exactly as frail as he looked. Why had two teachers now used excessive physical discipline on a boy who made twiggy Deandre look like a football player? The same question was obviously on the Catholic schoolgirl's mind; she'd clapped a hand to her mouth. "How's that allowed...?" he asked her. "They keep going at him, I don't get it. Anyone tell you they'd be throwing students around? Not that they'd try that with you, I guess... I mean, because you'd floor them. But the rest of us..." He was talking strangely fast. This wasn't like a boy from Georgia. Well, it was vaguely awkward to acknowledge that he'd watched her punching that doughnut into a cloud of sugar earlier: Deandre didn't know her name. He'd been distracted and hadn't been keeping track when Miss Schwartzwald had been passing out the cupcakes to this area, of course. Stupid.
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Post by AngelicTragedy on Dec 7, 2015 18:38:13 GMT -5
Time passed by in a flash for Ty as the students behind him took their turns on stage. He vaguely remembered an explosion of applause as he sat down but that was the last clear memory he had. Chunks of action assaulted Ty's mind in rapid fire; vague predictions of the future, major disappointment in the assembly, sparkles spinning on stage, and finally a moving circular inferno. As his wits slowly returned to a more normal level a chill exploded into the gym so potent that it took Ty's breath away. The jagged, frosted tip of space rock centered in his vision just as the gate shut and Thyra was struck by the frigid finger of the earthbound titan. The chill hung heavy deep in Ty's chest and made him flex his fingers in a fruitless attempt to warm them. That was impressive. I've got to remember not to cross that one. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Though only the most trained eyes would notice it, Marius was primed to duck or dodge as the situation dictated. This was the first demonstration that had stirred Marius' blood, truth be told Garth had frightened the battle hardened general. Marius loosened his tensed muscles, dusted himself off from the frosty spray that accompanied the comet, and rose to his full height. A pair of sure strides brought Marius up to Thyra's left shoulder and he grasped her shoulder briefly with a calloused hand. Marius strode forward towards the edge of stage towards Garth. Marius turned Garth back towards the staff and placed his mouth near his ear. "Mr. Firbolg, while I understand that the demonstration is a part of the orientation today, I would like to remind you that we are not here to do harm to either the students or staff. As such, I have to ask you to never do that indoors again unless the proper safety measures are taken. Please remember that, Mr. Firbolg." Marius grabbed Garth by the shoulder and put firm pressure on the joint to drive the point home before beginning back the podium. Marius gave Thyra a brief knod and glided back to his seat. Marius resigned himself to his thoughts as he sat. Garth's powers reminded him of the use of silver magics in Drakengrad. Perhaps Garth was at least part Aldra-Sa. It wasn't unheard of for a few Aldra-Sa to leave their ancestral homes to marry and reproduce. Marius closed his eyes and made a mental note to delve into Garth's file when he was able to get to his office. ~*~*~*~*~*~ The doors to the auditorium crashed open just as Marius left Garth center stage and a young woman clammered into the room before coming to a sudden halt just inside. Though she entered in a mad rush not a single strand of hair or piece of clothing was mussed or out of place. Her sudden halt of movement sent her emerald colored tunic to swishing over coal black leggings. Three long golden necklaces with miniature bells sang around her neck and a pair of tiny golden bells tinkles with each movement of her feet as the dangled from her weathered brown leather boots. Her every movement was a cacophony of jingling yet the sound wasn't as annoying as one would think, the sound was more like snatchs of song than irritating. With a sure hand she pushed her hair away from her face with a black satin glove. "Sorry I'm late everyone, my boat was late in docking. I hope that didn't miss anythin' major!" Her voice was lyrical with a Scottish accent, her smile infectious, her mane of wavy red hair seemed to move in an unseen breeze. There was an air of absolute optimism about her as she slipped into a desk directly next to the grouping of younger girls, humming to herself. The young woman leaned forward towards Deandre and Almudena. "Anythin' I need filled in on?" she asked with a smile that spread from ear to ear.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Dec 10, 2015 16:46:51 GMT -5
After Jesse’s display and her words to Talia, she had become deeply absorbed in her own thoughts, almost withdrawing into her own mind. She barely even took note of Thyra’s announcement that Deandre was not being required to demonstrate his powers and something about fostering mistrust.
Look to the future and you’ll do just fine. What did it mean?
She withdrew deeper, scanning her past within her own mind and tracking the evolution of her powers ever since their manifestation. There was only one clear vector that she could find, they had just kept growing more and more powerful while her ability to control them seemed to remain at the same level. She had little memory of the time when they first manifested, it was like a blank space or a black hole in her memory, but the progress of things from that point forward seemed clear enough.
Look to the future and you’ll do just fine.
It began to grate on her, she could not comprehend what meaning there was to this suggestion when everything else thus far suggested...she sighed suddenly what future could I possibly have? Someone whose powers will eventually either be the end of them or everyone else around them.
She felt a tinge of anger in her chest and closed her eyes, breathing deeply to try and ward it off before it festered and posed a threat. The clique on the bleachers seemed to be quietly riled up about something, but Talia thought nothing of it while she was focused on calming herself.
As her mood returned to normal, and she pushed all of her thoughts and worries to the back of her mind, she caught the tail end of the magical fashion shift of the purple haired girl from the bleacher clique. The morphing of her outfit back to what she had originally been wearing earlier was interesting, but she felt Evelyn’s light show had been more impressive.
“Garth Firbolg.” She heard Thyra call out as she waved for him to come on stage. Talia had noticed the two of them speaking earlier on and it seemed as if they knew each other from before the academy. She also recognized him as the boy that had been sent flying across the room by the evil looking man on stage.
As he spoke one of the girls near where he’d been sitting kept hollering for some reason after he mentioned Brightmeadow. She wasn’t sure where that was, but apparently they were both from there, but had somehow never met big place maybe? She thought.
Talia smiled a bit as Garth created his ring of colorful flames, it was a beautiful display after all, but she noticed that during his demonstration the molecular vibrations of his entire body seemed...strained. It was as if whatever allowed him this power was also taking a severe toll on his body, perhaps something they had in common, both their powers posed a threat to them personally in some way.
Suddenly the demonstration took a rather...unexpected…turn. The center of the massive ring of flames suddenly became what looked like a starry abyss. Talia knew right away that this was no illusion even before Garth mentioned the comet Thyra had spoken of in her speech. While the molecular vibrations of the air around the edges of the roaring ring of flames were what she normally expected from a fire, what she felt once the starscape appeared was somehow distressing.
The air directly in front of and behind the starscape in the ring felt normal, but her senses passed through the ring as well and into the starscape beyond, but there was nothing. The vacuum of space had no molecular vibrations at all and suddenly Talia’s heart began to pound in her chest. A panic swept over her like she had only ever felt when she was forced to wear clothing that blocked or muffled her vibratory senses and she began to tremble, eyes wide.
Surprisingly as the comet loomed closer and closer to the ‘portal’, as Garth had called it, her vibratory senses began picking up on it and while everyone else seemed to begin panicking, Talia began to calm as the comet gave her senses something to latch onto beyond the portal. The closer it got the less of the void her senses picked up on and the calmer she became. After a few more minutes, and while Talia was catching her breath, Garth closed the portal just in the nick of time. She wasn’t certain if the fact that the comet actually calmed her panic attack rather than worsened it was reason for concern or not, but then again, the prospect of her own death rarely if ever rattled her.
Several minutes later Talia observed one of the faculty members holding Garth’s shoulder rather tightly and scolding him.
"Mr. Firbolg, while I understand that the demonstration is a part of the orientation today, I would like to remind you that we are not here to do harm to either the students or staff. As such, I have to ask you to never do that indoors again unless the proper safety measures are taken. Please remember that, Mr. Firbolg." The man had said into Garth’s ear.
Talia frowned a bit as she began to wonder if her demonstrating her powers was even a good idea at all. While they were perfectly safe if she remained in control, if that control slipped, even a little, her demo had the potential to quickly escalate into a lethal disaster. She gazed at Thyra over the top of her book, wondering if she had any idea of her issues. What Garth had done, while dangerous, was done deliberately and he was clearly in full control of the situation. For Talia, however, that was not always the case and she had no real way of knowing if her control would slip, it was something that just happened whenever.
Talia narrowed her focus on the ambient sound in the auditorium and focused it into a generic whisper in Garth’s ears as she had done earlier and also prayed he would not flip out and get himself thrown across the room again. “Beautiful display”, the whisper began, “I enjoyed the colors and you demonstrated control very well with the portal to space. Genius taking us all on a field trip without us actually having to leave.” The whisper paused for several minutes.
“Your power…” the whisper resumed, “...it’s killing you...isn’t it?” The whisper sounded rather somber on that last note and then it faded and was gone. Talia kept her face hidden in her book the entire time, not yet ready for him to know who was whispering to him. She had watched people die before in the past and she wasn’t thrilled about potentially watching it again, but something about Garth intrigued her none the less.
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Shoni
Joyeuse Insurgency
Posts: 191
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Post by Shoni on Dec 11, 2015 18:42:46 GMT -5
“Flint.” Thyra called looking down at the list.
Looking up from his cupcake Flint glanced around the room until his eyes settled on the teacher. The room was still filled with the after effects of Garth’s demonstration. Small embers drifted to the floor in a vast array of colors. Each shade glimmered in contrast to his ice blue eyes. The rainbow luminescence reminded Flint of the lights in the sky back home. They would shift overhead like the flow of water as he sat in the snow and stared at the mirror like water that bordered his home to the west. Boats would sail through the peaceful stillness as their captains warned of the events that such lights foretold. It was a shame that those old fogies still believed in such legends. But they told good stories when they brought in their hauls of fish, and who was he to doubt things that people considered long dead or nonexistent.
“Flint!” Thyra called louder.
Snapping back to the present Flint stood up and stuffed the rest of the cupcake into his mouth. This bite seemed different than the others; it was like something foreign had found its way into the god given pastry. Reaching into his mouth, Flint extracted a small piece of paper that had been hidden underneath the tantalizing treat. The notes red ink was slightly smeared but still readable.
“Dear Flint, tell your friend Zagaroth thank you for the flowers. But also tell him he's not invited to school with you, and if he shows up, I've got a fun activity with toothpicks, lemon juice, ghost peppers, and a waffle iron planned for him! Your friend, EMILY <3 <3 <3.”
“I should start counting the reasons to kill this woman. Who ruins a cupcake with a note?” Flint thought to himself as he walked passed Almudena on his way to the stage. Each step created small frost rings that rapidly disappeared. Reaching the platform he turned toward the staff and bowed. Pulling the small book from his pocket Flint skimmed through the pages while glancing at the staff member who had arrived since the cupcake incident. Stuffing the book into his back pocket he turned to the students.
“My name is Flint. I would share my last name but it is difficult for you guys to write and say so I’m going to skip it for now. I am 16 years old and I am a junior this year. I come from a town in Greenland, kinda……. But I guess I should just demonstrate my power.”
Cupping both hands in front of his mouth Flint slowly breathed into his palms. A small snowflake began to form and slowly grew larger and larger, expanding into an intricate web of delicate hexagonal patterns. As the chrysalis structure grew it glided toward the center of the gym until it came to a rest over the student’s head. Bursting into tiny particles, the snowflake drifted toward the floor. Each particle floated around the students before settling on the furniture and floors. Jagged shards and pillars erupted from the ground filling the room with ice.
“This seems a little barbaric doesn’t it? I guess we can fix that.”
Jumping down from the stage, Flint landed lightly on the gym floor. A sudden transformation came over the ice as his foot touched the ground. The previously jagged ice became smooth and Flint began sliding around his makeshift ice skating rink. Each movement seemed smooth and graceful as he slid back and forth through the room. One of the many pillars loomed over Flint as he came to a stop near the bleachers.
“Still have to do something about those pillars though.”
Flint’s lips curled into a small smile as he brought his fists together. The room’s temperature began to drop as he uttered a word in the language of the Gelhaim. Frost began to form around each fist as he slowly spread them apart. A pole formed between his hands. Wrapping around the shaft, two serpents created spiral designs until they came together and bit each other on the neck creating a hollow ring that formed the base of the spears blade.
“I met a guy once that had this really cool spear so I model mine after his. I think his name was George and he said something about going to kill a dragon.”
Suddenly the spear became a blur and the pillar disappeared under a shower of ice chips. As the powder settled the pillar became visible once again. The crude ice pedestal had been transformed into a sculpture of Mel.
“That’s definitely an improvement. I think my blade work is rusty though.”
Tiny black veins began to spread into the spears handle near Flint’s hands causing the ice to seem darker.
“Not good, not good, not good. I should probably hurry the rest of this up.” He muttered under his breath. Skating back toward the stage Flint leaped onto the platform. As he stopped in front of Emily and Belwyn the spear burst into tiny shards that swarmed around his body.
“Could you two both put out a hand? If he gave you a flower it’s only right that I do to.”
Both teachers extended a hand and the floating shards of ice collected in their palms. At first it was hard to see what was being formed, but as the pieces accumulated the two women could see the beginnings of a rose. A few more seconds passed before all of the shards settled into their designated place.
“I guess that’s good enough for now.”
Skating back to his seat Flint sat down next to Almudena.
“Do you think I over did it?”
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Post by Cendra on Dec 14, 2015 16:36:39 GMT -5
Jesse hit her forehead with the palm of her hand and sank down in her seat after Dreandre took his own again. How could she have made such a massive mistake? She wouldn't blame him if he hated her right now. She definitely needed to find a way to make it up to him. The possibility that he was upset with what she did, didn't sit well with her. Closing her eyes, Jesse saw anything besides darkness behind her lids. A handful of voices and a barrage of colors met her mind's eye. This warranted some looking into.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harue glanced around the room. Duck later? Because that's not vague in a room full of powers. She leaned in closer to Jesse as she watched Mel take the stage.
“If you're going to tell me to duck you might as well be a little more specific.” She whispered to Jesse, expecting a response. After a length of silence she finally looked at the other girl. Her eyes were closed though you could see her eyes shifting underneath her lids and her lips moved slightly.
“And she's gone again...” Harue sighed. “Well, at least now I know she's not insane...mostly...”
Sparkling and movement caught Harue's attention in her peripheral. She looked back at the stage where Mel proceeded to dazzled her audience. What had she said? Something about using magic? Maybe she should have been taking notes on everyone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Aodhan and Eira stopped their plotting when they saw a fire user was on stage.
“Oooo!” Eira nudged her brother, “We definitely have to get him to teach you how he gets those colors with his flames.” Aodhan crossed his arms and grudgingly at the other fire user.
“I can do that,” he scoffed. Eira snorted at him.
“Uh huh, sure you can.”
A few taunts erupted from the crowd.
“So, you can control fire? Never seen that before!”
“What’s next, are you going to fly?”
“Oh, he did that already!”
The twins looked at each other.
“Suddenly I feel like we should rethink our plan...” Eira nodded in agreement.
“Wait. He flew? Did he jet pack in here or something?” Aodhan shrugged.
“We got here at the same time remem-”Garth's sparks erupted skyward, silencing the room.
“So, you know how Thyra mentioned that comet the size of Kentucky?” Garth gestured towards the starscape that he held, “I figured I’d give all of you a closer look.”
Both redhead's mouths hung open in awe.
“You can't do that.” Eira said matter a factly, wide eyes still staring at the portal.
“Nope. Definitely can't do that.” Aodhan shook his head as if to clear his vision.
“Now, mind you, this is a portal, so if I don’t do this right, this thing will come through and we’ll all be obliterated, along with about three quarters of the Asian continent. Oh, and a planetary nuclear winter,” Garth grinned slyly, “I hate when those happen.”
The twins grew increasingly nervous along with everyone else in the room as the comet drew closer. Well, almost everyone else in the room. All the commotion going on seemed to catch Jesse's attention, who was now clapping emphatically, cheering Garth on.
“I told you there would be some awesome astronomy! And to think I almost missed it!” She said excitedly. Looking down, two similar scared expressions greeted her. Jesse smiled kindly at the twins and pulled the twins into a tight hug.
“Don't worry kiddos, he has a handle on it.” Normally the brother and sister would have been squirming away from the awkward embrace of the still potentially nutty girl, but both decided it was oddly comforting given current circumstances.
TINK! A chunk of ice from the very tip comet, the size of a man’s thumb, hit the rim of Thyra’s glass on the podium. It bounced into the water with a plop.
The pyromancer turned back towards his peers. He flourished with his right hand, trailing a nimbus of crimson flames as he moved. Sweeping his arm low, he gave a deep bow.
“And that is my power.”
Jesse started another round of applause and the twins jumped away quickly seeing that the immediate danger was gone.
Harue peeked up from her panic position behind her chair at the sound of the newest arrival. The girl looked to be around the same age as her. Though, Harue herself always looked younger than her actual age, often being mistaken for being in early middle school. The weird white haired middle schooler. That was her.
"Anythin' I need filled in on?" She overheard the redhead ask, a smile was spread across her face.
Harue took her seat again, smiling back somewhat sheepishly as she smoothed down the invisible wrinkles in her black leggings. “Things escalated quickly you could say.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Belwyn tried to discreetly slide back up into her seat having taken cover under the table during the impending doom. Looking back on it, she wasn't sure exactly what she had hoped it would do to protect her against the comet. She looked around at her peers discreetly from the corner of her eye and slowly let out the breath she had been holding. At least no one seemed to notice. If she was really lucky she might have even escaped Emily's camera eye. Thyra seemed to regain her composure second only to said brunette who had retaken her seat next to the newly emerged Belwyn. Lightly scarred fingers played with the silky front strands of her black, wavy hair out of habit as the next student was announce.
“Flint.” Thyra's voice rang clear through the whispers of the students.
Belwyn smiled reassuringly at Flint as he walked up to the stage. He wasn't really one to show any stage fright, in fact, she wasn't even sure if he felt any stage fright, but he was her friend and she wanted to show him her support none the less. This wasn't the first time she had seen his powers in action, but it would be interesting to see what he liked to do with them given a non life threatening situation. He rarely ever just “played” around with them. Not in front of her anyway. She nudged Emily once Flint's back was turned.
“Hey, Emily, could I get copies of these pictures? I was hoping to get some from, you know, before too. I was thinking I might start my own album.” She whispered, watching the giant snowflake burst over head. A stray snowflake landed, tickling her nose as it melted.
“Achoo!” Belwyn squeaked out a sneeze from behind her hand. “Excuse me.” She said with a little sniff.
Some of the students jumped as the ice pillars erupted from the floor, but others had smiles on their faces. Eira's smile was stood out in particular with glee and perhaps a little admiration as well. The demonstration was quite enjoyable. Belwyn thought she even saw a little smirk find it's way onto Flint's face as he skated around. It was good he was able to have some fun.
An intricate spear appeared in the ice user's hand as a bit of show and tell, then suddenly became a blur of movement as it hacked away at the pillar. This time none of the ice chips traveled far enough to hit the young woman in the face, for which she was very thankful. If she was being completely honest she had had enough of being buried under snow for a long time to come.
As the powder settled the pillar became visible once again. The crude ice pedestal had been transformed into a sculpture of Mel.
“That’s definitely an improvement. I think my blade work is rusty though.” Belwyn frowned as she saw the ice of his blade turn a shade darker. Maybe that just happened when he got tired? She tried to reason it with herself. It had never happened before, though. After the incident in Greenland, she wagered it would be best to talk to him about it sooner rather than later.
Belwyn's concerned thoughts were interrupted as Flint hopped back on the stage, striding toward her and Emily. The spear in his hand burst into snowflakes and small ice shards that again threatened to send her into another sneezing fit. She hoped she wasn't coming down with something. She'd have to remember to do an essential oils treatment on herself before bed that night.
“Could you two both put out a hand? If he gave you a flower it’s only right that I do to.” Belwyn gave a light smile and extended her hand out to the white haired boy.
One by one the shards came together to create a delicate rose. The process sent gentle prickles of cold through her palm, but it was nothing painful. When it was finished, it rested lightly in her warm hand. It really was a lovely thing, icey white petals faded to clear in an intricate design throughout the bloom. Judging from the lack of pooling water on the table in front of her, this flower wouldn't melt any time soon, but she was definitely keeping it in the freezer when she got home just in case.
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Post by Yoshimitsu on Dec 14, 2015 18:37:53 GMT -5
Alistair noticed a lot since he walked into the room. He'd seen the group on the bleachers, all high-fashion and quiet conversation. He'd seen the loner students, the girl with her face in a book and the guy who was constantly writing. He'd even noticed the way the teachers were interacting, all of them looking hesitant around the one who had randomly, magically, changed into robes. Keeping track of the light show? That was harder. There was, what he thought was, a phoenix soaring above. A pegasus passing a palace. A group of fairies, each with iridescent wings that kept on changing colours. He stepped to the side, for a fleeting second he thought that the narwhal passing him was real, despite the logical (and mostly ignored) part of his brain telling him that it was just an illusion. Given that he'd seen other students actively ducking out of the way of other illusions, he wasn't embarrassed about his own reaction. "No hace nada fase de usted?" Almudena asked, looking at the illusions instead of him. "Leo mucho," Alistair replied. It wasn't an answer, not really, but it'd do. Ignoring her questioning look, he turned his attention back to the next student climbing the stage. It was the guy, he looked too old to be a student but too young to be a teacher and he had picked a seat not far from Garth and Almudena. There was a lack of grace to his movements, tripping over his feet as though he hadn't expected them to hit the ground in the way they had and his words were pretty much the same. He was playing with a flower, shredding the petals as he spoke, and it was like a light flickered on in his head. Mid-sentence, he threw the petals over his head and fell back into what had a passing resemblence to a Tai Chi position, not unlike the pose he'd sunk into when firing the cider. The petals swirled around him as though caught in a tornado (admittedly a small tornado, Alistair considered) but it didn't look like there was any danger of them getting away from Ty. His control really must have been well-practiced to be this precise, the flurry of yellow not hitting Ty but also not flowing out to the rest of the room. Alistair instinctively threw his hands in front of his face as the petals exploded across the room, catching a couple that would have hit him (and okay, maybe he was a bit concerned about the force they were moving but no one had to know that). Looking at the floor, he wasn't about to get a ruler to check but he guessed every individual fleck of yellow was spaced across the room equidistant from each other. He joined in the applause, nodding to Ty as he passed and flashing him a grin. As the next student, Jesse, bounded around the room, he did his best to hear what she was saying to people. He caught snippets and it wasn't until she was in front of them, talking to Garth, that he could properly hear a full sentence. What he'd been expecting, he didn't really know but it wasn't a pair of completely unrelated sentences to Garth and Almudena. He looked between the pair, trying to see a link between chairs, astrology and his new acquaintances, before it clicked in his head and he realised Jesse was (potentially) predicting the future.
Deandre took the stage next and from seat to stage, the boy was looking uncomfortable. Alistair watched and Deandre was starting... average, he looked nervous and Alistair couldn't honestly say he was surprised when the darker-skinned boy asked to leave without a presentation. He wasn't going to give it a second thought until the superintendent was talking about trust and that was interesting. Her words had a soothing tone, but Deandre was looking anything but soothed, and he saw the way the other boy faltered on his way back to his seat.
"Garth Firbolg."
Alistair was looking forward to this one. He'd already shown that his power was both flames and colourful, so where the smaller boy was gonna take them, he had no idea. He'd expected the flames, Garth hadn't seemed particularly bothered by using them for mundane utility, but the disc that was flipping through the air was interesting. It was... if he had to describe it, it was like a coin being flipped before gravity happened.
Oh holy fuck.
Alistair had never thought about what a comet would look like, up-close and personal, and what he could see was living up to his non-existant expectations. The were rises and falls, valleys and cliffs and, for some reason, he logically knew that this comet was a threat but he trusted that it wouldn't hurt him. He could see the curves of the valleys and the jagged edges of the ice and suddenly the rainbow was blinding his vision and he heard a tink and whatever Garth had done was gone.
There was applause and he clapped along, but it was taking him a moment to get his thoughts together again.
I just saw a comet and it could have killed us, was what kept on rolling around his head, but he snapped back when he saw one of the teachers, the uptight-looking one, clap his hand to Garth's shoulder. It wouldn't have bothered him, but he saw Garth's entire posture drop. The blond boy was shakinng and his eyes were glazed, he looked like he was about to pass out, and Alistair ran for the stage.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Tallis Hew, would you please take the stage?"
And he jumped up to his name, landing two rows down and then walking with a complete lack of urgency. The stage wasn't particularly interesting as far as he was concerned, he'd already clocked the devices that were probably set aside for him and besides, hacking servers was boring. No, he saw something a lot more interesting about half-way along one of the walls, he'd sort-of noticed them before but didn't really register what they were, but if they were what he thought they were a bit of technological fiddling never hurt anyone. Ignoring the whispering that was going around, probably because he was walking but it wasn't towards the stage, he approached the panel and set about figuring out how to access it.
"Tallis, we didn't know what you might be planning for your demonstration so we've supplied some things on the stage, we have a laptop, a smartphone, a... a..."
He ignored the superintendent and applied just a bit of pressure and the entire panel opened up. This was gonna be interesting, the entire interface was more than touch-screen, holographic and it wasn't like the average keyboard. He ran his hand through the lights and his mind exploded into numbers and images and letters and symbols, no, more than that, it was flashes of light and electricity and dead ends, it was a maze that needed navigating but he knew the route and followed it to its end, and the console lit up.
"Tallis? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, just messing around with your weird-ass set up in here," he shouted back over his shoulder, not really taking his eyes off the moniter but throwing out enough so the superintendent didn't feel neglected.
It wasn't human technology and he vaguely noted that fact while he was messing around, already knowing what he could prod and poke and what would end in system failure. He wasn't particularly interested in system failure since he could tell what would happen, and he had no interest in being the sole survivor in a group off charred corpses. Instead, he felt the way the way the floor was held together and just... tweaked it Ethan would get a kick out of this if he knew what it was.
"Hey, Ethan!" He shouted over his shoulder. "Get to the bottom step and take a step!"
He turned back to the access panel, moving his fingers this way and that and turned around. Ethan, for once in his life, was looking apprehensive. He shot a glare at Tallis and tentatively lowered his foot to the wood panelling of the gym floor. Tallis turned back to the monitor, trying to hide the grin that was forming, until he heard...
"Dude, I can't believe you trusted me on this," Tallis shouted as Ethan fell flat on his ass, and he couldn't help the grin that was on his face he's gonna kill me for this, but... worth it. He quickly turned around and flicked his hands to set the floor back to factory settings. Ethan looked tentative when he got back to his feet, and Tallis laughed when he jumped, just that little bit too quickly, back on to the bleachers.
"What did you do?"
Tallis turned to the voice, male for once, and saw the teacher on the stage looking at him. He was the one with the brown, spiky hair and he looked more curious than anything else I fucked around with your access panel and you know I do technology, seriously?
"I made the floor frictionless in a couple spots," Tallis replied with a shrug.
He saw the sudden concern in the superintendent's expression and the impressed look on shorts-and-vest teacher's face and didn't care either way you knew I could mess with this stuff and left it out in the open? as he turned and wandered back to his seat in the bleachers. Ethan looked annoyed, but he took his opportunity to grab the bigger boy's head and ruffle his hair before dropping back into his seat.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 17, 2015 16:46:13 GMT -5
"S- sorry," Garth mumbled in response, barely getting the words out before Marius let go of him. The boy took two shaky steps, and stumbled. He fell, landing hard on his knees. A deep, wracking cough exploded out of him, buckling his whole body. Before he could breath, he coughed again, wheezing from the lack of air in his lungs. Garth choked and spluttered, bringing his hands up over his mouth. He managed half a gasp before another hacking cough caught him. He fell to his hands and knees, his whole body shuddering violently.
Somewhere in the middle of his hacking, Garth realized Ben was at his side. He attempted a reassuring grin, snot and tears running down his face, and began wheezing violently again. ---- Thyra took one look at the scene before her, and spun on her heel.
“Marius,” She took three steps across the stage, and stood over the seated warrior, her shoulders tense.
“This is not the manner of learning environment that I wish to foster,” Thyra didn’t raise her voice in the least, but there was an icy edge to her tone.
“Just because none of us can prevent Silumas from manhandling our students does not mean that it’s acceptable behavior for the rest of our faculty,” Thyra put her hand on Marius’ shoulder, and turned towards Garth, who Ben was half-carrying back to his seat. Her voice lowered, her tone hushed.
“Do we really want to teach these children that the best way to get your way is brute physical force? That boy... Your lord, Valon, has actually told me he believes that some day, Garth’s power could even outstrip his own. Do we want to teach him how to merciful and respectful, or do we want to bring up one of the most dangerous Powers in the entire world to think the right approach to any conflict is throwing his weight around and bullying people?”
Thyra took her hand off his shoulder, and began walking back to her seat.
“That said, I’ll be having a word with him about showmanship and safety after class today. I’ll take care of things. Just remember, Marius... This isn’t the military any more. These are just kids, after all.”
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Post by Silumas on Dec 17, 2015 18:04:30 GMT -5
"Just because none of us can prevent Silumas from manhandling our students does not mean that it's acceptable behavior for the rest of the faculty..."
The words caught Silumas off-guard. He had been paying a lot of attention to the boy named Garth, the one he had thrown across the room because of his severe lack of respect. If Thyra were paying any attention, she would see something no one had seen in almost six thousand years: shame and regret on Silumas' face. He had intended to teach the boy respect for his superiors, both in hierarchy and ability, but looking at him now he seemed weak, fragile, and vulnerable. The boy was just that, a boy. Like Silumas had been so very long ago. And, just as had been done to him, he brutalized him in order to teach him. Silumas was turning into the creature that drove his hatred, his entire motivation for scouring the multiverse with a purposeful malice.
And, Silumas was ashamed for a moment.
He composed himself quite rapidly, however, and it lasted only a breath or two, before his face returned to the stern frown it had been before. Evelyn would make a powerful ally one day, and if he lived to see it so would Garth. So, as the young man returned to his seat Garth would find a scroll very much like Evelyn's from before awaiting him. The wax seal expertly crafted and applied, reflecting the six symbols of Elementalism.
"Garth Firbolg,
You demonstrate a level of ability uncommon to this world. For a mere Earthling, I must say that I am impressed. You still have much to learn, however," Silumas' voice could be heard to those reading the elaborate and near-perfect script.
"Most importantly, you need to learn respect. I believe my earlier lesson taught you respect for your superiors, and I doubt you will make me repeat it. You, however, must also learn respect for yourself. It is obvious your abilities are killing you, draining you of all that bring you Life. That is a dangerous fire to play with, but lucky for you I can teach you to overcome that limitation."
"Like the others here I expect great things from, do not disappoint me," his voice became supremely sinister towards the end, a strong hint of pain should such a let down occur.
The letter was signed Silumas, though no voice echoed the script.
Should Garth make eye contact with Silumas he would find the teacher glaring at him, though aside from the dark fire that roared within his gaze, Garth also so something of an apology, even encouragement from the Magus. Silumas intended to teach these children how to control themselves, and their abilities, so that they could do what he could not: save the one's they loved.
If and when Garth looked his way shortly after Silumas turned his attention to Marius, "I would ask you leave his discipline to me in the future, Head Boy. I suspect that after some time in my tutelage he will far outstrip your own abilities and require a..." Silumas gave the smallest of smiles, "more powerful discipline."
The Elementalist would then lean towards Emily and politely whispered, "And, my lady, I ask that should Ms. Bertram require instruction or discipline that you involve me. She will become a very..." he paused trying to think of the right words, "special individual to this planet. Someone upon whom everyone's very survival will depend. It is my duty to ensure she gets to the point that when we place all of our hopes upon her they are not dashed like a wave against a rock."
OOC: SO SORRY AT, I have nothing but the highest regards for you, your characters, and your writing, but someone had to become the brunt of Silumas's arrogance.... Please don't hate me.
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Post by Yoshimitsu on Dec 19, 2015 18:40:47 GMT -5
So that was what happened.
Kilik levelled his gaze at the grooves in the floor, the scorched marks that indicated a great deal of speed. They were the same size as the legs on the chair that Garth had been sat on before his demonstration, and Kilik put two and two together. The exact event that had thrown Garth from Silumas was still something he needed to put together, but he'd figured out enough. He pulled out his phone and started firing off a text.
"I think we'd be better off leaving that up to the kids, Silumas," Kilik interjected, looking at his phone rather than the mage but his tone was clear enough. Not confrontational, but still as authoritative as Thyra's.
Not everyone responds to that sort of teaching style, and the fact that you've mentioned disciplining the kids twice is making me feel like you shouldn't be left alone around any of them, he thought, and he would have said it if it wasn't for the prospective fight that would immediately follow. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and levelled his gaze on the other teacher, his expression hard for the first time.
"I'll speak to you after the demonstration is over, if you don't mind," he said, his voice clear and holding the same authority that Thyra had. "If you'll excuse me, one of our students needs attention."
Kilik jumped off the stage, headed for Garth.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alistair half-carried, half-dragged Garth back to the nearest seat, ignoring Garth's half-hearted attempt at reassuring him. Hell, if he didn't think Garth's ego would take a major hit, he would have either fireman- or bridal-lifted him back to a seat. Any seat, at this point. He knelt down in front of the blond boy, the boy who looked like he could pass out at any moment, and caught his chin before he could doze off. Garth's skin, hell, his jaw and skull and every bone felt delicate under Alistair's hand right now.
"Hey, Garth, are you okay?"
And Alistair got a half-hearted grunt in response.
"Garth, come on, stay with me for a second," he persisted, moving Garth's head so that he was making eye contact. Kind of. Garth's eyes were glazed over and unfocused. "Hey, dude, you were great. Your comet thing, it was awesome, you got a standing ovation."
Alistair was trying to get Garth to focus back in on what was going on. He didn't know the ins-and-outs of what was going on, but his new friend was clearly suffering some kind of breakdown. If he wanted to do something about it, he needed to know what was going on, and that meant that he needed to bring Garth back to the present, which was... proving difficult.
"Alistair, I can help," a voice behind him said. He turned his head, and saw one of the teachers stood behind him. It was the tall one, the one who had come in with the messenger bag and his brain supplied the name. Kilik. Alistair nudged himself away and watched as Kilik took the same stance that Alistair had previously been in.
"Hey, Garth," Kilik said and there was something soothing in his voice, it was calm and level and in-control. "Can you see me?"
Garth's eyes were still out of focus, but Alistair could see a conscious effort to try to focus them. It was a twitch of a finger, one eyebrow moving, movement of the lips. Ignoring Kilik, he moved forward and grabbed Garth's hand, his thumb rubbing circles.
"Garth, Kilik's trying to help you," he said, and he kept the waver out of his voice. He still didn't really know what was going on, Garth had just gone into shut-down mode, but Kilik was nodding at him, so clearly he was doing something right. He threw a questioning look at Kilik, because what was he supposed to do at this point? "Garth, can you see me?"
Garth's eyes flickered open and Alistair felt the pills being pressed into his hand, though he couldn't figure out a way to give them to Garth. He gripped Garth's hand tightly and leaned in to his ear.
"Kilik's given me these pills, are you okay with taking them?"
Garth nodded and that was all the incentive Alistair needed. He grabbed the nearest cup of whatever and placed the pills in Garth's mouth, then raised the cup to his lips and let him drink what he needed to. As soon as the cup was taken away Garth coughed again, and it was an ugly cough, one that wracked his whole body but it stopped at one cough. He could see the strength return to Garth's limbs, the colour flush into his expression. Alistair figured he could, at least, try to make light of the situation.
"No offence, Garth, but you look like shit."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 20, 2015 0:07:15 GMT -5
"That's..." Garth coughed again, ragged and wet. He turned away from Ben, and retched up a huge gob of bloody phlegm. As discretely as possible, he spat it to the floor. The boy turned back towards Ben, deflated and meek, and croaked out the end of his sentence, "That's Ophiuchus for you."
Garth shakily sat up, leaning heavily on his arms. His knuckles stood out, pale white that looked like they were ready to jut through his skin.
"I'm sorry about all..." He looked away, a few more tears running his cheeks, "All of that. My power isn't..."
He tilted his head, but it made his vision swim. Garth shook himself to clarity, and pushed himself back up in his seat.
"It's not compatible with my soul, according to the experts I spoke with. If I push myself too hard-" Garth sighed, and used a sweep of his palms to indicate his mucus spattered shirt, "This happens."
"I knew I could do this whole thing... I've been practicing for weeks," Ever since I went to Greece Garth noted mentally. He wiped his hands on his already sullied shirt.
"I just-" Garth coughed, this one quiet and controlled, "I can choke down the consequences as long as I've got my focus... I would've been woozy and congested all day, but I wasn't expecting anybody to break my focus like that. It makes the backlash a lot worse, because it hits me all at once, then."
Garth's pullover slapped him across the face, and plopped into his lap. He tried his best to shoot an indignant glare at whoever had pelted him with it, and found Almudena waving to him warmly. Sheepishly, Garth began pushing his way into the garment, using it to cover up the mess he'd made of his outfit.
"Hey," Garth started saying, his head stuck in the neck-hole of the fleece. With a bit of a struggle, he pulled it the rest of the way on. He took a single wary glance around the room, and looked back to Ben, "Thanks. You really saved me up there. I... I honestly don't know what they would have done, if you hadn't stepped in."
The boy's smile was as faint as the rest of him, but his eyes gleamed.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 20, 2015 2:57:10 GMT -5
“Sooo, no X-rays then?” Almudena flashed a devilish smile at Deandre, “And here I was worrying about you gawking at me.”
She puffed out her chest, making it obvious what she’d been implying. Fortunately for Deandre, Garth’s light show kicked in at just the right moment to pull her focus off of him and let the flustered youth regroup... At least until the fragile Power collapsed in a horrible coughing fit.
“Amigo, soy de el peor neighborhood en el peor city en el peor country en mi half of the planet, eso que ni qué,” Almudena’s jovial tone remained, but she no longer made an attempt to meet Deandre’s gaze.
“El Archipiélago... It’s not that different, except that people have chingo dineros here. Back ‘home’ in the past year, I had dos matóns jump me with baseball bats for my lunch money, un tonto try to knife me and take my phone, and-” Almudena shrugged, “I went to a Catholic school, muy traditionale. Los pingüinos, they don’t dick around.”
She shrugged.
“I’ve had three solid-steel meter sticks busted over mi cabeza, just this spring."
"I'm not saying this desmadre is the way it should be, here. I'm just saying that some of us come from a lot worse than this."
It was then that Nessa joined them. Almudena paused at the newcomer's accent; she'd had quite a bit of experience with Americanos, but the new girl's lilting threw her off. She waited for Deandre to field the question for her for all of the half a second it took her to realize he'd do nothing of the sort.
"¿Que onda? Nada mayor," Almudena offered. She quickly pointed around the room, first to Garth, who Ben was tending to, "Furball". Then to Ben himself, "Fresa". Then, tracking Flint who was maniacally skating around the room, "Okay, I haven't nicknamed that güey."
She shifted in her seat, turning to face Nessa. Prodding at Deandre, she noted, "El Literato,", and put a palm on her own chest, "Alma."
Almudena heard a sigh of relief from the younger girls. Flashing her best impression of the iconic trollface, she jerked her thumb towards Dalisay, "Dallas."
The little girl in overalls impotently stomped her foot, and dashed her pencil to the floor.
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Post by Cendra on Dec 21, 2015 21:21:52 GMT -5
Another messy cough sounded in the auditorium from Garth drawing Belwyn's attention. She had seen a bit of what transpired after his demonstration once she came out of her hiding spot, but she had assumed the other teacher was handling it. Not wanting to give the young man more unwanted than attention than he already had, she kept her place and soon had been caught up on Flint's presentation. Looking over at Garth now, however, his condition hadn't seemed to improve very much. Her eyebrows drew together in growing concern as he coughed again, this time going even paler than his already paper white skin.
Scooting her chair away from the table as quietly as possible, Belwyn slipped out and down to the floor. Walking lightly next to the wall, as not to disturb the proceedings, she made her way to Garth as the next student was called. It looked like he was taking his time preparing something in the back, so maybe she could make it to her destination before -
Belwyn suddenly found herself sitting on the floor just feet from the students. The confusion was stronger than the pain and she just sat there for a moment with blinking eyes trying to figure what exactly had happened. She didn't have to wonder for long, however, when one of the teachings on stage had the very same question. In hindsight, she really wished she had looked at the staff files a bit more. She wasn't sure she could even remember half of people sitting in the front.
“What did you do?” The man with spiky brown hair asked curiously.
"I made the floor frictionless in a couple spots," The boy replied with a shrug. Aodhan gave the older boy an approving grin. She arched an eyebrow and shook her head at the exchange.
If the teacher hadn't said anything Belwyn probably would have just assume she had slipped on a stray piece of ice from Flint's demonstration. It wouldn't be the first time, unfortunately. Nor would it be even close to the last.
Sliding forward a few inches, she found purchase on more stable ground. There was little chance her fall went unnoticed this time. With a resigned sigh she brushed down her dress and finished her walk to the struggling Garth. One of the teachers was still there lending his assistance as he could. Belwyn gathered her courage and tapped him on the shoulder first.
“Hello,” she gave a small wave, “I'm sorry I've forgotten your name, Sir. I'm Belwyn Truid, the school's nurse. Perhaps I could be of help here.” She gave the man a friendly smile and then bent down so she could be eye level with Garth as he sat in his chair.
“Hello to you as well, Garth.” She said in a softer tone, smile still in place. The last thing anyone wanted when they were sick was loud noises. Something she knew about all too well.
“I'm Miss Truid or Miss Belwyn if you prefer.” She continued, “I'm going to see if I can't help you get a bit better. Is that alright with you?” She extended her hand to his and waited expectantly.
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SV
Friendliest Member of ALL TIME
The Friendliest Member Of ALL TIME
Posts: 2,250
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Post by SV on Dec 22, 2015 19:55:42 GMT -5
Seeing that the excitement had died down sufficiently, Thyra resumed her place at the fore of the stage to commence with the demonstrations. "Mica Howard," she called across the gymnasium.
The girl, still slightly on edge from what had just transpired, straightened in her seat with a startled "Oh." She slid out of the desk, grabbed her backpack, and headed toward the stage.
The contents of her bag clinked softly as she climbed the stairs to the stage. Mica crossed to the table where the gadgets provided for Carlos' demonstration still lay, untouched. She stacked them neatly together and placed them on a nearby chair, and then hefted her backpack from her shoulder.
It hit the table with a thud -- it was evidently heavier than it looked -- and more clinking. The girl began to unzip the bag but faltered a little, casting her eyes toward the superintendent. "This isn't going to be that flashy," she said quietly, her tone a little apologetic. But Thyra just gave a slight nod, to reassure her, and Mica turned her attention back to the contents of her backpack.
Fully unzipping it, she reached inside and drew forth a small collection of mason jars, each filled with different colors of what appeared to be sand. These she lined carefully on one side of the table. Pausing for a moment in consideration, she selected a jar full of brilliant leafy-green sand, unscrewed the lid, and dumped its contents out over the surface of the table. She repeated the process with each of the other jars until she was left with a sizeable, multicolored mound before her.
The young geomancer took a deep breath, furrowed her brow in concentration, and waved her hand deliberately over the heap.
And the sand began to move.
A ribbon of golden sand snaked its way up from the mound, thin at first, but growing in substance. After a moment, a second strand arose, this one a rich brown, followed by deep ochre and lavender, turquoise and finally the green. The rivulets of sand twined around one another as they rose lazily upward until, about a foot above the table, they started swirling together. Mica squinted her eyes together as the vortex gathered speed, a blur of indeterminate color that bowed outward into a sphere before collapsing into a disk.
The mass of spinning sand slowed, and then stopped.
When Mica opened her eyes, there was a simple mandala hanging in the air before her, its colors trembling a little under her exertion to hold the shape together, shedding granules of sand back onto the table top below. The geomancer cracked a toothy smile and let the mass collapse, different colors streaming back into their separate jars. She swept the remnants onto the ground and loaded her jars back into her bag, still beaming.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Dec 23, 2015 14:05:31 GMT -5
Slightly in a daze, Deandre did his best to follow along with the Catholic schoolgirl's rapid-fire Spanish. He'd taken a couple of years in middle school, but in conversation he'd never been as strong as in reading and writing. It was strange how readily the spoken word vanished out of memory... But he understood the gist of the harsh upbringing she was describing. He nodded in sympathy, curling his lip, but trying not to look at her too much. The girl had an intense penchant for eye contact. To hold her confident gaze and return it was beyond the realm of boys like him. Whatever bruises her troubles from " los pingüinos" had left on the girl, they'd also made her stronger than Deandre could hope to be. He might have been on the verge of telling her something that would've awkwardly approximated the shape of that thought, if the Scottish girl with the green tunic and startlingly red hair hadn't dropped in at that moment. As the Mexican girl pointed out various students by her own self-appointed nicknames (including one for Deandre with which he took no issue), he finally caught her naming herself. Alma? He hastily flipped back several pages to add this to her entry, while mumbling a distracted "Hello" at the newcomer. Then, thinking better of that, he added: "I'm Deandre. Nice to meet you... Everyone's just introducing themselves, up there." It occurred to him that with the Scottish girl's arrival, at least one student hadn't watched his own miserable appearance. That brightened his attitude at least a little bit as he pointed to the very young girl onstage who was now pouring sand out of jars onto a table. Then what the young girl did next - Mica, if he'd heard right - put all thoughts of self-reproach out of his mind. The girl wove her hands over the heap of sand, and one by one, each color wove its way back out of the heap, twisting and curling in the air, a kaleidoscope of russet and jade and periwinkle that knitted itself into a beautifully intricate Tibetan-like mandala. He'd seen one much like it before. That'd been in the same room where the monstrous chairs had hung. Deandre blinked, puzzled by this last thought. Then, as so often when such a thing crossed his mind, he questioned it no more, but laid pen to paper and let it speak. GALLERY WING. MONKS VISITED, DREW MANDALA THERE ONCE. SAME ROOM AS CHAIRS. HUNDRED? MORE? SKETCHES OF T/SAME CHAIR. PENCIL CHARCOAL CRAYON INK PAINT. OLD WOODEN ARMCHAIR. FALL'G APART IN BACK. FIRST SKETCHES WERE NORMAL. THEN CHANGES - HEAVY SHADOWS, OR STRANGE ANGLES, OR PRACTIC'Y NO LINES. CHAIR CHANGED IN SKETCHES. S-TIMES TWISTED, OR SAGGED, OR BULGED. S-TIMES AS COMPLEX AS MACHINE. S-TIMES AS ORGANIC AS ANIMAL. COILED & REARED UP & CROUCHED LIKE A RAVENOUS MONSTER. ALL BLACK & WHITE AND AS THEY WENT ON, RED, MORE & MORE & MORE RED, LINES THAT GREW INTO SPLOTCHES THAT GREW INTO SPILLS THAT TOOK OVER T/ENTIRE CANVAS It wasn't his, and yet he could see them as clearly as if they were here in this room, the chairs all along the walls melting and swelling into slavering beasts. He couldn't picture the mandala that the monks had spent several weeks meticulously tracing in the same gallery, but he knew it was the same place as surely as he knew anything. Though unable to send the gruesome chairs out of his mind's eye, he clapped along with the rest for Mica's lovely demonstration. There was so much beauty the other students were capable of creating... and then Deandre, who could put nothing creative into the world with his power. Though, neither could his power be destructive - it was the unyielding zero-sum - and wasn't that more than could be said of Alma and her detonating punches...? Alma didn't need to create beauty, el Literato thought rather defiantly, and turned the page. The series of armchair drawings is an actual work of art named "Armed Chair" by Bill Flynn. The exhibit spent some time at the gallery of my high school, as did a sand mandala project by some actual monks, so this is all straight from the heart. So, actually, was that anxiety over not tipping when I was a kid in Deandre's first post.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 27, 2015 16:51:34 GMT -5
"I guess I could probably use a bit more help," Garth said as the woman came skittering and stumbling to lend him a hand.
"Yeah, that'd be great," Garth shakily went to stand up, "Is the a nurse's office or something, or are you just going to treat me here?" ------ Dalisay burst into applause at her new friend's artistic display, even though her clapping was drowned out by Alma's thunderous applause. Mica had been pretty benign and pleasant to deal with, so she hadn't been expecting anything so showy and complex from the girl. Still, the rainbow skein she'd woven from floating sand was breathtaking.
The girl found herself idly wondering if Mica's favorite class would be art, and if they actually had an art teacher at the school.
Her eyes drifted to the side, and she saw Deandre hunched over in his seat as if he was huddling against the cold. Something about the set of his jaw looked familiar to Dalisay, a frustrated expression she'd seen in the mirror hundreds of times.
"Mister Deandre, can I ask you something?"
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Post by AngelicTragedy on Dec 27, 2015 21:13:06 GMT -5
OOC- This post is brought to you by Crown Royal.
BIC-
Marius sat in cold, stoic silence as Thyra verbally assaulted him for his action, even though he'd caused no physical harm to Garth. Though he knew that Thyra was under an immense amount of stress with the opening of the school, Marius couldn't help but feel like he was being made into a scapegoat. Being a military leader, Marius understood this with crystal clarity. Thyra had to exert her dominance over her staff or risk being eaten alive by them. Marius was built tough and he weathered Thyras tirade with the grace expected of a Drakengrad noble. His face was a mask of slight regret but didn't give any more of an impression than that. Remember what Lord Lorsha told you. Marius could remember clearly the day Valon asked him to accept the post at Terminer Academy. Valon had summoned Marius to his personal study deep with the palace and sat with him at a long oak table before a fire the size of most living spaces. Valon sat with the letter from Thyra before him and regarded Marius for a long moment before speaking. Marius hated when he did that, take long pauses for dramatic effect, it seemed like more of a trait you'd find in an actor instead of a king. "Marius, a very dear friend of mine has asked for you to take up a post at a new academy she's overseeing. It would seem that it will be a place for young powers to train in a safe environment in the hopes to put an end to the constant conflicts we seem to get tied into. Her cause is noble but flawed, though I can't fault her for trying. She's not a warrior like us, Marius, but she has a good heart and a level head. I'd like you to accept this post at the school and do whatever it is that she asks of you. You'll report to Lady Thyra Russell tomorrow as soon as you're ready. One thing that I will ask of you, Marius, is to prepare these children for what the world is really like. Thyras plan is sound, but if the children aren't made to know what the world is really like they will end up either dead or in the hands of something dark. I can't allow that to happen, and neither can you. Will you do that for me?" Yes master, I'll make them see the world for what it truly is. Marius closed his eyes for a moment and focused his mind a much as he could. What he was about to do would be quite hard, his pride would be wounded at the very least but I had to be done. Just as Marius was about to speak, Silumas piped up and began requesting special access to a pair of students. A white hot rage sprang to life deep with Marius' chest and a hand went deep into his sleeve to the hilt of a hidden dagger. Why would this being be demanding special access to the students if not for some nefarious plan. Biting back a quick reply, Marius allowed his ice-cold calm to settle back over him. It took through the entirety of the next two demonstrations but once it was in place he trusted himself to speak once again. "Lady Thyra, I apologize for my actions. They will never happen again, you have my word. Please allow this event to be left in the past," Marius stated just loud enough for the staff to hear before turning his attention to Silumas. Marius slipped into a long dead language that he and Valon would speak in to discuss matters when untrustworthy ears were near, a language he was sure that no one other than maybe Silumas would speak or at least understand. {You'll find that you'd do well to leave the punishment of the students to me, as is my job. I've dealt with your ilk before, and you don't frighten me. You should know that I'll be watching you from this point forward. One step out of line and I will bring your world crashing down around you. I promise you that.} ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Nessa listened as best she could to Alma, smiling all the time, and gave Deandre an even more winning smile. She turned her attention briefly to the girl that Alma had named Dallas and picked up her pencil before returning it to her with a gleaming grin. "Charmed you meet you, name's Nessa. I'm sorry, but I didn't follow much of what you said. I failed all the Spanish me mum made me take in school. I think we'll get along though, you seem like brilliant friends to have," Nessa lilted lyrically to the small group of students. It was then that Mica took the stage and began weaving an amazing design in the air from different hues of sand. Nessa rested her cheek in her right hand and watched with a bemused smile on her face. There was something about the swirling colored grains that was instantly calming and Nessa enjoyed every second of the display. Once Mica was done Nessa clapped nearly as loud as Alma and added a piercing, musical whistle to the mix. "Do you all have power like that?"
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Dec 28, 2015 20:02:44 GMT -5
With all the drama surrounding Garth after his demonstration and the sudden freezing of the floor and erupting ice pillars brought about by the boy who was skating around the room, Talia had almost completely missed what Carlos had done, other than noticing a change in the molecular vibrations of certain spots on the floor, as well as whatever Mica was doing on stage up until a massive column of colored sand rose into the air and formed a beautiful mandala in the air.
“Next up, Talia Kane.” Thyra announced.
Upon hearing her name Talia was slightly hesitant, taking a deep breath before sliding out of her desk and standing. She held her heavy, hardback book under her right arm and started walking swiftly towards the front of the auditorium. As she reached the center of the stage she slowed, noting that the empty drinking glass and small, red brick she had asked for were resting on the edge of the stage. She was very apprehensive about demonstrating her powers as it had been quite awhile since she had actually tried to use the greater portion of them on purpose and her control was often fickle at best.
Taking another deep breath she placed her book on the edge of the stage and then returned to the center and faced the student body. She was hesitant again and glanced back at the teachers, mainly Thyra, with an apprehensive expression suggesting she didn’t think this was a good idea. Upon receiving a slight nod from her, however, Talia took a deep breath and carried on.
“Talia Kane here”, she said with a slight nod to the student body. “My power is the sensation and manipulation of vibrations”, she deliberately left out the part pertaining to sound waves for fear that might ‘foster mistrust’ as Thyra had said earlier. “My interests are mostly science related and i’m pretty good with math.”
After saying her piece she took yet another deep breath as she began to clear her mind and she kicked her sandals off to one side, placing her bare feet upon the floor. She was now able to fully sense all of the vibrations in the floor of the stage, the floor of the auditorium and even the vibrations in the ground beneath the building down to a certain depth. It was sometimes too much to be able to sense everything going on beneath her feet and the sandals provided her with a good balance. She could sense enough to be aware of what was going on atop the ground around her, but not so much that she could tune into what was happening below ground. This was not to say that tuning into everything occurring below ground was overwhelming, but at times it was very distracting because she could easily become lost in it.
As she closed her eyes she began to focus on all of the vibrations emanating from objects and people in the auditorium. She focused on all of the empty desks in the auditorium and focused vibratory waves from the floor up through their metal legs. The desks began to shudder slightly and then vibrate audibly against the floor. Talia reached out her hands slightly, her elbows remaining at her sides and her palms faced the floor. One could almost swear that the air beneath her palms seemed to visibly shudder. The vibrating of the desks continued as Talia now began to focus other vibratory waves from the floor up into the bleachers, causing them to begin shuddering, giving the students there quite a stir. Talia smiled slightly as the vibrating of the desks and bleachers slowly became an audible roar that echoed through the auditorium. Not doing too badly she thought to herself.
But suddenly the entire building seemed to shudder audibly and Talia opened her eyes seeming surprised and looked around to see what the matter was. Talia gasped as the building gave another audible shudder and she watched in horror as cracks began to form along the walls, spreading slowly, many of the teachers and students quickly getting to their feet. But I...no no no, not again! Desperation suddenly filled her eyes as she began trying to rein her powers back in, only then realizing that her control had slipped. Why didn’t I feel it? I always feel it when it slips! She began pulling all of the vibratory force that was assaulting the building to her and focusing it on the air around her. Suddenly the very ground beneath the building rumbled and she could see terror filling the students in the auditorium and the lights flickered as circuits were interrupted by the shaking.
Talia took a deep breath, things weren’t completely out of her control yet, but they would be soon if she didn’t get a handle on her powers quickly. Shuddering streams of vibratory force seemed to pulse through the air between her and building as she pulled all of it to herself and away from the building. The very air around her seemed to shudder violently and began to pulse outward, growing in strength. She glanced at the brick and the empty drinking glass she had asked Thyra for and while they had been intended for another purpose they were ironically just what she needed to stop this from becoming a nightmare. She used some of the extreme vibratory force around her to literally levitate the two items into the air, vibratory forces shuddering beneath them. She drew the empty drinking glass in front of her at eye level so she could focus on it and pushed the small, red brick farther into the air out in front of her. The stage rumbled violently as she held all of the vibratory force she had accidently built up in a focused shell around herself that pulsed strongly now, enough to whip up bursts of wind that forced the faculty on stage to shield themselves. Because her control had slipped there was now far too much vibratory force built up under her control for her to simply absorb. Simply releasing it, however, was not an option either because the resulting blast, while not as catastrophic as if she had been angry, would still be extremely powerful. She had no choice, but to wait until the force balanced itself out to a refined state and then she could focus it into an object, causing a mild shock wave by comparison. But could she control it for long enough to achieve this, was her primary concern.
She continued to take slow deep breaths and focused her mind. Slowly the shuddering shell of vibrations around her began to stabilize until the stage stopped rumbling, she was in control of it, for the moment. Wasting no time she began to funnel the shell of vibratory force into the small, red brick that was still levitating high in the air out in front of her. The vibratory force holding the drinking glass in the air would be the last to go, sending it plummeting to the floor and so it would serve as a sort of trigger for her. As the air around the brick slowly stopped shuddering, tiny microfractures formed throughout its structure. Talia had her eyes shut tightly and seemed to be struggling, her face dripping with sweat as she tried to hold onto the sheer amount of force under her control. Her hands began to tremble and then finally the drinking glass dropped from the air and shattered upon the stage. At that she coalesced all of the force into a single point within the brick and held it for a split second and then let go. She fell to her knees and there was the tiniest of delays before the brick simply exploded into a cloud of fine, red dust. The resulting shockwave was nearly deafening as it rattled the building to its foundation, the lights flickering and the massive sea view window above shattering and raining glass down upon anyone unfortunate enough to be directly below.
All eyes were on her, some likely exhibiting sheer terror, and she watched as the cloud of red dust rained down before her. A slight gasp escaped her, her eyes growing wide with terror as the enraged scream of her fourteen year old self rattled through her mind. The cloud of red dust raining down upon the front of the auditorium had triggered a flashback of the deeply buried memory of her father’s death. She remembered in horror as her powers, out of control, unleashed a blast even more powerful than this and vaporized her father. The horror continued as the red mist that was once her father coated the walls of their living room and rained down on the furniture and floor, just as the red brick dust did before her in this moment.
The flashback raked over her mind and she choked back a sob. She was dangerous and she was a murderer and nothing had changed. As hard as she had tried to reign in her powers over the years she had only become more dangerous. Talia quickly got to her feet, burying her face in her hands as she fled from the front of the auditorium, sobbing uncontrollably, and ran out into the hallway towards the restrooms she had seen when she first arrived.
This was her nightmare. No matter where she went, she was still a danger to everyone around her and this incident was nothing compared to if she ever got angry. This time she had been able to avoid a complete overload, but with her powers still growing in strength and her control not leveling equally she was convinced it was only a matter of time before she lost any ability to control her powers at all.
Worse yet, never before had her control slipped without her immediately being aware of it in her mind. Something new had just gone horribly wrong.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Dec 29, 2015 11:01:12 GMT -5
Pictured: Talia. I'm probably just going to keep posting Wet Hot clips as a method of communication from now on, don't mind me.
More to the point, this post comes before Talia's demonstration. Sorry, I should've knocked it out sooner.
Deandre turned to see the tiny Asian girl he'd occasionally spotted earlier, now kneeling on her chair and leaning over the desk with a quizzical look. He'd missed this one's name when Alma had introduced her. She was young enough that he couldn't be sure the incoming question was going to be quite tactful, but Deandre knew quite well from his days in Georgia that there was only one polite answer to "Can I ask you something?". "Sure, miss...?" he replied. "I didn't catch your name, I'm sorry." Almost reflexively, however, he turned his eyes back down to his book as the Scottish girl, Nessa, asked her question. He'd left a vague and noncommittal smile on his face. It seemed like the kind of question better left to Alma.
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Post by Silumas on Dec 29, 2015 11:16:18 GMT -5
It appears I am rapidly making friends…
Silumas calmly waited for Marius to finish his tirade while markedly ignoring Killik altogether. The Magus didn’t tremble with anger or quiver in fear, he neither raised a hand to strike at the man or prepare to defend himself. Instead he held the visage of an adult being threatened by a prepubescent whelp, a gentle smile on his face and his deep eyes blinking lazily. When the young man had finished blathering on, Silumas responded in English so the rest of the faculty could hear, including Thyra.
“You are at least interesting,” said Silumas, “that is a language I have not heard, or at least I do not remember it. It must be insignificant and hold little real value.”
He took a measured step towards Marius, “Threats, you will find, hold little meaning to me. Just as a fly holds no real threatening value to you. I will give you this: you appear to be a well-trained warrior with years of experience. You know how to take the measure of an enemy to know when to fight, when to hold firm, and when to run. I am an enemy you cannot begin to measure. I could snuff you out with but a thought, and a couple more thoughts and I would have you wiped from existence as if you had never been. As Thyra warned you, none of you have the ability to stop me from being as I wish to be, from doing what it is I wish to do. Rely on your experience and your training to tell you what your mouth appears not to know: I am not to be trifled with. Unlike our colleague, Killik, I hold some amount of respect for what, at least relative to your world, amounts to an honorable, storied history.”
“For him,” Silumas gestured towards Killik, “I believe your world has a saying: those who cannot do, teach. And those who cannot teach, teach gym. Did I state that correctly?”
“It is also confusion to me how the rest of the faculty here seems to confuse discipline with punishment. Discipline is something that is taught to a person to better them, while punishment is something you do to someone for behavior you find inappropriate. One teaches...the other is just fun,” Silumas finished the sentence and it was truly difficult to tell whether he was being serious or not.
Towards the end of his monologue, Talia had been finishing her demonstration and he saw her begin to lose her control over the power she possessed. Subtly, he reinforced the infrastructure of the building with Earth and Death, bracing the steel and concrete and quickly repairing cracks as they formed. It may not have been necessary, but no need to risk lives this early in the semester. He did not make any overt gestures to calm or reassure anyone, including Talia, yet those that could sense Power could feel trickles of it flowing from the Magus and into the surrounding structure.
When she had finished regaining some amount of control over herself, the young Talia fled the auditorium and ran away. It took little effort for Silumas to track her movements. All life exhibit some amount of mana radiation, sentient beings even moreso. When she had arrived in the bathroom, Talia had turned on the sink and begun to wash the tears from her face.
The lights in the restroom were bright and warm, designed to provide a feeling of safety and comfort. Apparently, the architects and designers of the school expected something similar to this situation. It was comfortable enough, that it took Talia a couple of moments to realize her’s was not the only reflection in the mirror. The robed visage of Silumas appeared in the mirror, but a quick check over the shoulder would reveal he had not actually come into the room. His face was stern, but somehow gentle at the same time.
“Talia Kane, interesting display,” the Visage spoke softly, with hints of warmth and perhaps even compliment. “Your abilities are powerful, there is no doubt about that. You are also dangerous, there is just as little doubt about that. Here, however, you need have no doubt that you, and those around you, are safe. While you are powerful, I am dozens of orders of magnitude (you said you liked algebra) moreso. Anything you can do, I can protect and defend against, both for you and those you fear to harm. That is the reason this place even exists, young Talia. This school was designed with someone just like you in mind. You could hurt others until you learn control over yourself, over your powers. We, and the rest of the staff, will teach you that control. To even begin that process we needed a place where you can make mistakes without fear of destroying everything, and everyone, around you. This is that place, Talia. Here, you are safe. In this school you are safe. With me you are safe. Stay, learn, and discipline yourself, and all places will become safe for you and those you care about. When you have regained your composure, I hope you will rejoin the other students and watch the remaining demonstrations. I think you will find mine as interesting as I found yours.”
During his second monologue in as many minutes, Silumas had remained physically in the auditorium, responding to conversation and speaking as if part of his mind and power were not somewhere else. He had given Marius the slightest of nods to indicate he was done with their conversation.
A silent thought passed from himself to Killik, “As a true Professor at this school, I am sure you will understand that my schedule will be quite full…” There was a pause and despite this being a purely mental communication, there could still be heard the smirk in Silumas’ voice, “Coach. I will attempt to make some time for you, though.”
The Visage of Silumas slowly faded out of existence, and the mirror returned to showing the rest of the bathroom and Talia alone. When Talia would return to the auditorium, if she would, and might happen to glance in Silumas’ direction she would find the Elementalist sternly watching the current student or faculty displaying their abilities. Yet, he would glance her way for just the smallest moment and give the briefest of nods in encouragement, before returning his attention to the demonstration.
Making friends indeed...
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 29, 2015 11:36:12 GMT -5
"It's..." Dalisay shot a furtive glance over to Almudena, who was currently talking with the redheaded newcomer. She leaned in, her pigtails rustling, and spoke in the best whisper should could manage.
"My name's Dalisay. Dalisay Salazar," She steadied herself by placing her hands on the crossbar of the desk, and took a deep breath, her cheeks reddening.
"Mister Deandre," She croaked, keeping her voice low as possible, averting her eyes in shame, "Do you hate your powers, too?"
When Deandre didn't respond instantly, she kept going, keeping her voice low so that the other girls wouldn't hear her.
"I feel like everything around me gets ruined. I can't even have a favorite doll or put posters up in my room, because they all get smashed and torn apart," She hung her head, "I... don't think my mom and dad even want me. When they got the news that there was a boarding school for Powers, they wouldn't stop smiling. They didn't even ask me if I wanted to be sent away, they just told me that was the only choice. But I've heard some of the other students saying they can go home at night, and-" She went silent, biting her lip. The girl inhaled and exhaled choppily, trying to stifle her sniffling. She wiped her nose on her arm, and quickly rubbed away her tears with the palms of her hands. ---- "No, we've Powers todos los tipos, chica," Almudena offered with another one of her shining grins, "You missed Furball over there almost blowing up the earth with a giant cometa, and la zorra on the bleachers did a light-show. And that guey over there froze up the whole place..." She jerked her head towards Jesse, "Yo no se what she did. Maybe see the future? I don't think she even knows."
"So we're all over the place," Almudena shrugged, "Por supuesto, I've got the best one."
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Shoni
Joyeuse Insurgency
Posts: 191
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Post by Shoni on Dec 29, 2015 15:49:20 GMT -5
The quite girl who had spent most of the time so far with her nose in a book quietly took the stage, she looked nervous like she was afraid of something. Watching her close her eyes and concentrate, Flint felt small tremors in the earth below. As the vibrations grew in strength the building began to shake. Small cracks appeared in the walls but began to reseal shortly after they appeared. He could feel pulses emanating from the structure creating pressure on his skin. Tiny grey slivers began to spread through his eyes as the building began to shake more violently. The girl no longer looked nervous, now she seemed panicked. This was obviously not her intended presentation. Frost formed on Flint’s eye lashes as the temperature around his body began to plummet. As the temperature decreased the vibrations nearby began to slow until they no longer seemed to move at all.
Some of the younger students seemed frightened as Talia’s control slipped further. The grey slivers began to grow larger and Flint took deep breaths; her control wasn’t the only one that was slipping. Time passed slowly and the building began to settle. Her powers seemed more controlled now but her look of panic had only grown. Raising a hand Flint covered his right eyes as the last portion of blue gave way to gray, only the left eye still held traces of the original vibrant color. Powder covered the room as a brick exploded on the stage followed by Talia quickly exiting the room. Standing up, Flint quietly walked out of the room after her. He had seen that type of panicked look before. It wasn’t just the look of someone who feared losing control; it was the look of someone who had lost something due to that lack of control. Sitting in the hallway he took deep breaths and some of the grey began to recede.
“I will just have to wait for her to come back.”
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