Litus Academy: The Secret of Murex Hall [IC]

[Blitz]

((OOC thread here.))

((Time; morning, 9:00am. Day; Friday. Classes begin Monday. More info on homerooms will come later.))

A black SUV zoomed down the coastal highway. The California morning sun had risen a good way over the Eastern mountains but still shone with its usual morning intensity. Seagulls squawked and soared overhead, turning, veering, and diving over the ocean and nearby beach looking for some breakfast. The air was cool, fresh, and smelled lightly of salt as it whipped in through the car's open windows. Inside sat three people: one adult and two teens.

Blaze sat in the back staring awkwardly at the empty passenger seat in front of him. It felt weird, but Ashley had insisted that he sit in the back with her. The girl was looking excitedly out the window, as if she had never even seen the beach before. "Thanks for the ride again, Mrs. Reyes," she said, brushing some blonde hair out of her face. The woman sitting in the front smiled in the mirror.

"You're very welcome, Ashley," the woman responded with a slight accent surfacing in her speech. Her skin was white and her hair, her hair was a light brown, and her eyes were a bright blue, but she was pure Argentine.

Ashley nodded and turned to Blaze. "I can't believe we're going to the same school again!" she chattered. Blaze shut his eyes, smirking.

"I probably won't even see you," he said. "I don't even get why you're a grade ahead; you're as old as me!"

"I guess I'm smarter then," she shot back.

Blaze locked eyes with her for a moment and sighed with a light chuckle. "Yeah," he said. "That's it." Ashley giggled and looked back out the window, taking a deep breath through her nose. "Are we almost there yet, Mom?" he called up front. Mrs. Reyes had a look on her face that made Blaze fear that they were lost, but she finally answered.

"Actually, yes, I think we are," she said, gesturing forward with her free hand. Ashley turned her head from the window and Blaze craned his head over the chair in front of him. There was a huge wall in the distance, jutting out to the left and the right. In the middle was a rather ornate-looking gate which stood proudly behind a preceding parking lot. In front of the parking lot was a sign that read Welcome to Litus Academy, Home of the Lions! in big, Roman letters.

"Oh God..." said Ash in awe. "The school has gates? Fan-cy!"

Mrs. Reyes pulled into an open parking spot in front of the wall and cut the engine. "I had read that you all need to check in at the 'Main Bulding,'" she recalled, looking back at the two excited teenagers. Blaze nodded. He opened his door and headed back to the trunk with Ashley right behind him. He pulled it open and pulled out Ashley's and his rolling luggage, Ashley's of which, was much bigger as it was filled with clothes, makeup, and God-knows what else. Blaze reached up and slammed the trunk shut.

Mrs. Reyes opened her door. "Do you want me to take you insi—"

"We're good, Mom," cut in Blaze quickly with a nervous grin. Mrs. Reyes let out a hearty laugh and came up to her adopted son, giving him a strong hug. "Cuidáte," she said as she pulled away. Blaze nodded.

"I will," he answered, ignoring Ashley's usual quizzical expression when his mom speaks Spanish.

She then turned and hugged Ashley, to whom she was also close. After a few more good-byes, the two retracted the handles from their luggage and began to head toward the open gates.

"No se pierdan!" Mrs. Reyes called after them. Blaze acknowledged her with a quick wave of his hand.

"What?" asked Ashley.

"She said 'don't get lost.'"

As the two entered the gates, Ashley replied, with awe in her voice, "I think that may be hard."

The campus did seem rather big, considering the only thing on both sides of the paved path were trees. Blaze looked ahead and pointed. "No, I see a big building up ahead," he assured her. "That must be the Main Building."

As the two headed up the sidewalk, they talked about their lives, what they thought the school would be like, and other things filled with anticipation. Their spotted a few other students heading to the same destination, some in front of them, and some behind. On their way, they passed what looked like dorm buildings on their right. Once they got inside the Main Building, they found themselves in a big, open area. A sign reading 'Student Registration' was set up, directing them toward an office off to the left.

After waiting in line, the two entered together to see a receptionist sitting at a computer. She looked young and had her black hair tied into a bun. "Names?" she asked sweetly.

"Ashley Pierce," said Ashley.

"Blaise Hale," answered Blaze.

After a few keystrokes and clicking, the woman smiled. "Very good, Ms. Pierce and Mr. Hale," she said. "You both will be housed in Murex Hall. It's the first dorm building off to the left on the sidewalk you just came from. Ms. Pierce is in Room 102, and, oh! Mr. Hale, you are in room 103! How lucky!" She reached into her desk and handed them keys. "Don't lose these," she warned. The two nodded and then were dismissed.

[Hellbot711]

Alex relaxes on the plane as it flew to the airport near the Academy. Her parents have given her all the money she needed and promised a car will be there waiting for her when she arrived. Once the plane docked and moved her hair out of her face and smiled as she breathed in and smelt the ocean. "Its nice to be going to this academy" she thought to herself as she gathered her things at baggage claim. She then left the airport and saw a man there standing with a sign with her name on it. She waved him over. "Miss Tately I have your car waiting for you." She grinned and nodded to the man as she got into her car and turned it on. "I love having my license now.. I can drive where I want to now.." She began to drive out of the airport in her new car.


She then arrives at the front gate of the school and parks her school in the garage and gets out smiling widely. "This will be an awesome time.." She opens the trunk of her car and takes out her things as she walks in the front gate and heads to the main building. She walks up to the receptionist and smiled "Alexandria Tately here to sign in." The receptionist smiles and checks her name into the list. "Yep here you are. You are in Room 102. Good luck and enjoy your time here at our school. Oh and go to Murex Hall.. just follow the sign." Alex grins and takes her key before walking off to Murex Hall. She finds her dorm and opens the door with her key. She sees two beds and laughs a bit before thinking to herself "It seems I have a have another person with me here then." She then moves into the room and begins to pack her things away.

[boredbrain]

"Xane! You're going to be late!" A middle aged woman stands at a beach house, shouting to a boy who's out in the middle of a wave. He rides the wave down, standing on the crest, with a surfboard of course. The green paint on his surfboard glides upon the sand, pushing sand off the edge of it.

"Chill mah, it's just the first day." Xane says, sounding essentially like a stereotypical surfboarder. "I plan on bein' late, no biggie." His mom just smiles a tear rolling down her cheek.

"My little boy is growing up!" She grabs him and hugs him tightly, practically bawling. "You can just stay, education's not so important!" She laughs jokingly, she pushes his tanned body a little away. "You want a ride, or you walking?" Xane shrugs.

"I need the exercise, I'll go, no biggie." He smiles at her and motions for her to call him later, he picks up his surfboard and begins walking down the beach. A few hours later he arrives and heads to the main building, surf board in had. When he arrives the secretary stares at his surfboard.

"Name?"

Xane grins. "Xane Wester, and might I say, quite exciting to be here, dude." The secretary just grins.

"Room 103 Xane, come back and visit, I used to surf a long time ago, we'll talk about it." Xane winks at her, points a fingergun at her and heads to his new room. New keys in hand. He arrives at the door and opens it, heading inside.

~~Jason~~

Jason wakes up, he's in a car with a backpack. "Mom, where?" He says rubbing his eyes. She chuckles.

"Your new school!" She chuckles. Jason falls asleep again, when he wakes up he's out of the van. "Buh-bye." He grins and heads out. He sleepwalks to the main office. "My name's Jason Van Winkle." He says waking himself up.

The secretary nods, and hands him a key. "Room 106."

Jason nods and shuffles to his new room, he unlocks the door, walks in, and falls into the bed.

[Blitz]

Ashley and Blaze arrived at a dorm building with 'Murex Hall' painted in big, Roman letters above the door, the same that had been on the sign outside the gates. Farther off to the left were two more dorm buildings. The names 'Cassis' and 'Sidus' could be made out. "I wonder if our roommates have already arrived," said Blaze, pushing the door open, holding it for Ashley.

"It's possible," she speculated, walking past Blaze, acknowledging his chivalry with a playful tug of his hoodie string. Blaze rolled his eyes.

Inside was simply a hallway that spanned the length of the building, doors lining each side. Even numbers were on the right and odd numbers were on the left. Ashley approached her specified room. "Room 102," she repeated, staring at the door, feeling a tad nervous. She tried to foresee here future at this school: would it end up being the time of her life or would she have to end transferring again? She glanced over to Blaze and smiled at him. At least she wasn't alone this time. She knew she could always count on Blaze if she needed to. She watched him walk up to his door, taking a momentary pause as well.

"Looks like we're neighbors," said Blaze with a laugh. Ashley grinned.

"Maybe we'll see each other more often than we thought!" she exclaimed excitedly, liking the sound of that idea. Blaze nodded in agreement.

"You wanna meet up after we unpack?" he asked. Ashley shrugged.

"Maybe. I need to scope out the situation first. I'll text you?"

"Sounds good."

The two stood there, still feeling nervous. "You go in first," Ashley prodded him. Blaze sighed and pulled his key out and pushed it into the keyhole. Ashley lifted her key and did the same. He gave her a thumbs up before twisting the lock to the left and pushing the door open, taking the luggage in with him. Ashley watched him until he had shut the door behind him. With a sigh, she returned to her door and did the same, pushing it open, feeling a blast of cool air come out to meet her.

The inside wasn't too bad. There was even a kitchen! Ashley walked up to the beds and quickly noticed one had been taken. She looked and quickly spotted her roommate, whom she had overlooked in her excitement. "Oh, sorry!" she said, smiling. "Hey! I'm guessing your my roommate? I'm Ashley... You can call me Ash if you want. Are you from around here?" She asked the question as she plopped her luggage onto her bed and unzipped it, beginning to sort out her clothes on the bedspread.

---

Blaze shut the door behind him and turned around to see a kid holding a surfboard not too much father into the room than he. "Whoa," said Blaze, almost running into the board. "Looks like you just beat me here." He quickly walked around him and threw his luggage onto the bed nearest to the window. "Dibs," he said, sitting down on it to mark his territory.

[boredbrain]

Xane chuckles slightly, and flicks his head, pushing hair out of his blue eyes. "A'ight, that's cool, brah." He puts his surfboard against the wall and takes off brown flip-flops, he sits in a laying position, one knee arced up. He looks around realizing he forgot to pack a bag. "I know this is all a sudden, but my name's Xane, I live about an hour away and forgot my things, want to come get them with me?" He smiles friendly.

A relaxed filling feels the room, one that should make Blaze feel rather safe and calm. "You'll get to meet my mah, she always cooks somethin' for friends, you with me?"

[Hellbot711]

Alex looks over as another girl walks in and introduces herself. "Hey! Its nice to meet you! Isn't this place awesome! I am alex by the way." She continues to unpack and takes out her bikini and surfboard. "Im heading down to the beach then! I really want to go swimming. What do you say about that? We can go down together and get to know each other since we will most likely be living together for some time." She goes off into the bathroom after unpacking and comes back out in her bikini and carrying a surfboard. "Let me know if you want to go with me because I'd like to get going in abit." She brushes her auburn hair out of her face and grins.

[Blitz]

Blaze looked at the surfer, raising an eyebrow at him. The boy seemed pretty cool, he must have been from around here. Blaze noticed just when the surfer did that the boy had forgotten some kind of luggage. Incidentally, he hadn't forgotten his surfboard. Blaze let out a small laugh. The boy had explained that he lived only an hour away, hopefully by walking, and that his name was Xane. Blaze nodded, then he had asked if he wanted to join him along on the trek back to retrieve his luggage. He furrowed his brows, thinking it was a rather odd request. Slowly, however, Blaze felt himself feeling a little calmer and less tense. He had sensed the change, but he figured maybe it was his caffeine crash from the coffee he had had earlier that morning. The boy, Xane, then added that he could meet his mom, and that she cooks.

Blaze's stomach grumbled an answer. "Yeah, sounds good," Blaze answered, standing up, leaving his bag still packed on the bed. "Where do you live?" he asked, heading out to the door and opening it. Suddenly, he remembered Ashley. He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and shot her a quick text saying he'd be gone for at least two hours, considering they made the walk in time. He shut the phone and pocketed it again, waiting for Xane to lead the way.

---

Ashley looked at the girl and watched her go into the bathroom and return dressed in her bikini, surfboard in hand. That was pretty cool. Despite having lived near the beach for her entire life, Ashley, nor Blaze for that matter, had even thought of learning to surf. She was about to respond when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and scanned the text from Blaze, saying he would be gone for a while. That was quick. She had no other choice. "I'd love to!" she said in a squeaky voice, pulling her bikini out as well and running into the bathroom. She quickly put on her bikini and put her shirt and short back on over top. She came back out and smiled. "Ready."

She walked over to the door and opened it. "So you surf?" she asked, wanting to make conversation. "That's cool. How long have you been doing it?"

[boredbrain]

Xane chuckles. "Cool, you seem pretty rad." He hops on his bed once before hopping to the side, the new covers being practically thrown to the side, exposing their soft white underbelly. Xane stands to his feet and grabs his surfboard. "Might as well take this, just in case." He winks at Blaze. He walks past Blaze and a little ways in the hall, so he can maneuver his long green monstrosity without smacking Blaze in the face. "I never got a name back there, got one?"

[Hellbot711]

Alex grins at her as she responds. She goes out by the door and waits for her to come out of the bathroom. She grins as she comes back out. "Yay lets get going. I can't wait to get down to the beach I really want to go swimming." She grins as they walk out the door and how she immediately begins to ask the questions "Yeah I've been surfing for a long time.. I lived down on the lower end of California for most of my life before moving out east." She continues on her way down to the beach as they soon arrive at the sand. "Well.. Are you ready to go swimming?!" She giggled and ran towards the water. She suddenly stops and remembers to put her towel out onto the beach. She then puts her surf board down next to her towel and runs out into the water.

[Lucious Veil]

Kaiden sat uncomfortably in the backseat of his aunt Helena's car. His uncle Michael was driving, focusing more on the road than their nephew. Helena looked back at Kaiden, smiling, "Don't worry, hon, you'll be fine." Her British accent flowing through thickly, "I was reading online, and it doesn't seem like they allow opposite genders to share a dorm. I promise." Kaiden nods, looking at her with his piercing grey eyes. He looked strikingly different than his aunt and uncle. Both of them had European heritage; his aunt was British, born and raised in London, and his uncle had family still living in France. His uncle had taken Helena and Kaiden there once before, when Kaiden was 10. He couldn't believe how different his father was than his aunt―who was indeed his sister―so Kaiden assumed that his grandfather was Latino of some form or another, or maybe his birth mother. When Kaiden was taken into custody by his aunt and uncle, without giving second thought, he adopted his uncle's last name of "Grant". His birth surname being "Vega", wanting to rid himself of all the memories of his childhood.

Aunt Helena was the only woman Kaiden trusted with... anything. He even refused to see female doctors when he had to go to the hospital. Even female psychologists were denied. He looked at her, still nervous, "Aunt Helena, what if... what if you misread, or something?" He shuddered, rubbing his arm, "Are you sure I have to go? I mean, it's just so far away! And Uncle Michael has neuropathy! What if.. what if something happened and I didn't know because I was clear over by Thousand Oaks?" She chuckled softly, patting his leg affectionately.

Helena smiled once again at Kaiden, "You'll be fine; trust me." Kaiden sighed, admitting defeat as he laid back in the seat, closing his eyes as they neared the Academy. He must've fallen asleep, because the next thing he heard was his aunt softly waking him up to go register. Kaiden stretched, yawned, and hopped out of the car, then headed to the trunk of the car to get his bags. Helena may have been a brain surgeon, but the amount of money she made definitely did not show on the things that Kaiden had. He slung his coat over his shoulder―it was a simple, age-worn coat that his aunt got him a year or two ago that had, surprisingly, maintained quite well despite its age―the coat still fit him perfectly.

Uncle Michael lifted Kaiden's rolling luggage bag out of the trunk, setting his messenger bag on top of it. Kaiden said his thanks, slung his bag over his shoulder, and grabbed the rolling one by it's handle. Kaiden began to walk towards the entrance, but was stopped abruptly as his aunt hugged him tightly, "Damn it, Michael! The school's too good to pass up, but..." She held him even tighter, then released, realizing that he must have felt awkward. She gripped his shoulders, "Right, so, you have your... phone, your iPod, your laptop's tucked in your bag, right? And... you have cash and the bank card I gave you yesterday?" Helena took a deep breath, letting go of her nephew's shoulders. Kaiden tried to live relatively simple. The only things showing that he might have had a good load of money to his name was his engraved iPod and high-tech gaming laptop. Even then, those weren't overly expensive items.

Kaiden nodded quickly, "Yes Aunt Helena." He said, and she hugged him tighter.

"Don't forget to write―or call―text! Whatever you kids do these days! Be safe: careful. Don't talk to strangers-" She began, quickly running words off her tongue like a water downfall.

Michael stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder, easing her away from Kaiden slightly, "Helena, I'm sure the boy understands how life works. Come on, mi amour. We need to get back home." Helena sighed, releasing Kaiden. She tried to force herself to keep a proud, straight, face, but as soon as the two got back into the car, she teared up again.

Kaiden, nervousness now washing over him, walked up the front steps, a little lost, Kaiden did what naturally came to mind first: Walk straight forward. Thanking the Mother Goddess that his choice was the right one as he read Student Registration walking towards the office it indicated, the black-haired secretary looked up from her computer and smiled at him, "Are you here to register?" she asked kindly, and Kaiden nodded quickly, trying to avert eye contact. "What's your name, young man?" She asked as sweet as the first time.

Kaiden shuffled his feet awkwardly, "Er. Kaiden Jacob Grant." He said quickly. He's had to repeat his name so many times that saying his full name became muscle memory. She made some quick keystrokes and turned back to him, handing Kaiden a key, "Here's your dorm key; you're in Room 106 of Murex Hall, and it seems as though your roommate has already arrived." Kaiden nodded, snatching the key quickly, "Oh!" She said, almost forgetting, "Murex Hall is to the left of the walkway you just came in from. Have a pleasant day, Mr. Grant."

Kaiden nodded once more, "Thank you, ma'am." He said, trying to get out of the office as quickly as he could without looking as if he was running from the Plague. He wheeled his bag up to the designated dorm room, unlocked it, and held his breath, praying to the Mother Goddess he wouldn't have to share with a girl. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw another boy―about his age―sleeping. Kaiden laughed softly as he began unpacking his things. He slipped his iPod into his pocket, and tucked his laptop, still in the messenger bag along with his cologne, face wash, and other necessities, under his bed to save for later. He quickly put his clothes into drawers in a dresser.

Kaiden sighed, thinking about texting Marley back home, but decided against it. Maybe later when I know for certain what I'm going to say, he thought. Nodding sleepily, he took his iPod out of his pocket, plugged his headphones in and put his iPod on shuffle, casually looking through his Photos Library as he laid on top of his bed.