"Sleeping huh? Well, I guess the library is a nice place to sleep," commented Henrietta, her cheek planted on the table. Looking up at Poppy, she could see the disappointment on her face and smiled. "Hey, no worries, bigger isn't always better! Some guys like them small, you know? Besides, it's all attitude, Poppy - no matter how good you look, if you can't back it up with words and actions then everyone will realize you're just a pretty face, and everyone knows _those_ don't last forever." Henrietta gave a bigger grin and gave her a thumbs up. Funnily enough, her head was still on the table. "Anyway, enough of that, we've had enough life lessons for now. Me and my friend here are supposed to do a study of the Crusades for our Social Studies journal." The blonde grinned and began talking quickly. "I've loved reading up on history, well, reading in general, since I _could_ read. I've committed information on the Crusades to heart, so my guys there are the only ones that actually need to go to the library. I came with them in case they needed help; hey, did you know that there were around eleven plus Crusades, but only four of them were relevant? The Fourth one was the one that proved that Crusades it weren't just about retaking the Holy Lands, but also against anyone the Church deemed an enemy?" The group behind her jumped and suddenly began taking notes, and she grinned teasingly, knowing that that would be their reaction Henrietta continued rambling, showing her obvious interest in the subject but also talking extremely fast. "Also, did you know that no matter what crime you committed, so long as you weren't excommunicated, by joining the Crusades you were granted immediate pardon? Plenty of people joined up, some genuinely remorseful, others simply wishing to escape their crimes - the latter usually did not last too long and were usually shot by arrows from opposing forces as they tried to run away." The golden haired girl took a peek at her group and saw them hastily writing down and comparing notes and laughed silently. She looked at Timothy and Poppy. She whispered, "As you can see, they're a bit too reliant on smarter people, so I like to play this kind of joke on them once in awhile. It keeps them on their toes."

"Well I haven't looked around for any shops in the school, but... maybe if I were to cut a deal with some local mechanics around here I might be able to get a workspace. Short of that, uh heh maybe smuggle some equipment into my dorm, might be hard to mask the sound but hey if push comes to shove I'll find the way to get something." Herold shifted his focus from his laptop, seemed he was looking at the playboy and his "companion" she must of slapped the guy, but Thisa wasn't able to see what happened, although yet again brave sir playboy was running away. Thisa did stop to think about if he really deserved whatever treatment he gets, don't know maybe the guy was just really bad at social settings and was not a sleazebag in reality. "Huh is that the guy from earlier? You know the one who wanted to lend a hand when I fell? Wonder what happened to those two, although I don't know if we should find out I don't like pushing into someone's business like this."

Saoji paused for a bit and sighed. He saw how apologetic Ione was and smiled at her. That slap in the face by Paige hurt pretty bad. No doubt that was one of their abilities. He saw the visibility of the ectoplasm once it touched his cheek, leaving a slight green tint which wasn't all that visible. Rubbing his cheek he just kinda shrugged it off. He actually felt a little guilty upsetting Paige like that. He wish he could see her physically so he could apologize to her. He slightly bowed to in front of them. **"Forgive me, Paige...I didn't mean to. I won't harm her, I promise. You have to believe me."** he said a bit desperately. He really wanted Paige to stop torturing him and see the potential in him. He looked up at Ione. **"I can tell she is really protective of you...I wish I had that in my life. It seems I am the only person who can protect me. Hey...you want to go to the library with me? After reading this book...I want to find more like it...I was actually thinking about checking out a movie or something there...if you care to join me?"** he said as he smiled. It was funny how quickly Saoji could forget something that happened. Then again, it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't as if he was slapped in the face by someone physically where everyone could see. Paige was a ghost so it was quite alright...he didn't feel as embarrassed. He can't even see her. But he had to prove to Paige that he wasn't a bad person at all. That everyone has him so misunderstood. **"Well? how about it?"** he grinned.

Harold looked over to the retreating Playboy an the girl following him, and narrowed his eyes a little before pushing his glasses back up. "I would agree to that as well. The business and private matters of others rarely come to my attention, nor do they commonly find interest within me. For that, I tend to leave them to their owners." Harold went on again in his usual manner. He typed some stuff on the notepad he had openned up on his laptop but was obviously still focusing on Thisa. "And should you require assistance with finding work space as well as materials, I am confident that I can prove to be useful. A Programmer is not many steps away from a Hacker, should they wish to find their way to such a dispicable level. However, as this is a case of work as well as the advancement of science as well as robotics, it would be my pleasure to assist your endevour to create such an ambitious project!" Harold seemed to be filled with a firey passion at these words, obviously voicing his support in her plan to build and forge an "imperfect" robot. No matter what, Harold did seem to have a great dependability to having fun and being filled with joy and excitement when it came down to Robots and AI it seemed.

Mars gave a sigh of relief as her last class before lunch finally ended. Knowledge was good and all but sometimes class was just a bore. She eagerly left her class to grab a quick bite before the cafateria closed. She quickly wolfed down a good portion of meat and left to find someone or something inresting.

Herold seemed to be very excited, and even then only to say he was excited would have been an understatement. Whatever was running through his head, it had to be grand to fuel the passion that was almost pouring from him. Thisa had to admit she has never met someone who was so interested in her work, there have been plenty of others who gave encouragement but nothing more. Another thing to consider its not like she had anyway to give a robot "real" life, the best she would be able to do is pull up simple protocols from a database online, having someone like Harold to lend a hand would be very helpful. Thisa broke out into a broad smile and laughed, "Don't do any hacking quite yet, really the last thing we would need is for you to end up in prison. Tell you what if I can't find a legal way to some space and resources then we'll go down the dark road of black markets or theft." She held out her hand, "Also I can't make the best imperfect robot myself, so I'll be more then happy to accept you as my partner in creating a robotic masterpiece. I build the body and you build the mind, deal?"

As Henrietta babbled on about the Crusades, [Timothy](http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75166/posts/char#post-2323135) could not even feel his mouth slowly slackening from an impressed half-gape into a wry smile, so fixated was he on her. And as she talked energetically, it didn't seem like she lost any of her elegance. From the boy's point of view, each smile and lingering look of her eyes on the people around her was delivered majestically and expertly. Along with her natural good looks, her mannerisms made it impossible for her not to simply be endearing. Cadwal was right, Timothy thought; she really was a master temptress - no, not temptress, that is too harsh of a word; a master charmer, then. And this charm of hers, this God-given _Gift_, must allow her to maintain a position of power amongst the diverse student body. Hers is a smile that promises everything. Hers is a smile that is an effective tool of manipulation. But who was he to question her motives like this? Timothy cautioned himself against presumptuousness. It was not good to judge so readily. Therefore, he was continually cordial as he shared, talking rapidly: "A-and it was a Norman noble by the name of Robert Guiscard who took over Naples and Muslim Sicily, becoming the king of Southern Italy. His conquests would prove to be the amongst the most destabilizing forces in the eleventh century, for immediately after did the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I request for Western Aid against the Seljuks, who had conquered Asia Minor. Pope Urban II, while concerned at Guiscard's growing power, also saw the formation of a Christian Kingdom of Sicily as a good sign, and so went on with the First Crusade: not just a holy war in the name of God, but one to reaffirm Papal authority diminished from when, decades ago, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV sacked Rome in the climax of a political spat between him and the belligerent Pope Gregory VII, who excommunicated the Emperor _twice_." Mildly out of breath, and concerned at his outward dignity from his sudden burst of energy, he offered: "Henrietta, I am a big history buff regarding the Crusades. I would love it if I could help." _"She threw the dog a bone and the dog went for it,"_ Cadwal sighed. _"I'm just offering my help here,"_ Timothy defended himself. _"You are the fish, and you took the bait."_ _"I thought you were all for me helping others whenever I could?"_ _"And I thought you wanted nothing to do with Henrietta."_ _"I said I wanted nothing to do with joining her gang. It doesn't mean I can't talk to her."_ _"Boy, **this is** what she does to induct freshmen into her gang."_

Harold noted how Thisa seemed to take a moment to ponder something on her mind, before she tuned back in and showed him a beautiful smile and laughed. It twas then that Harold started to think over her offer. The body and the mind- The perfect team for building a robot. He wondered if she knew that he couldn't pass up such an offer. (Maybe she planned that out when she ask me that?). Needless to say, Harold felt any point or reason to ever refuse such an offer crumble within himself. There was no way he could pass this opportunity up! Nor these amazing girl who he'd be working with....it was always nice to work with girls who actually loved their crafts instead of just saying they did after all. Harold gave a teasing grin while he replied: "I *suppose* that we may procrastinate on shifting through the Black Market." He also grabbed her offered hand in his, and gave a decisive handshake, with a little exagurastion on the directions. "It would be my own honor and pleasure to assist in your endevour to bring such a masterpiece to life. My Computer is yours, Ms. Thisa." Harold had a much warmer and much happier smile on his face while he replied, his obvious acceptance going well for him.

Poppy’s face became a shade of red, not quite as vibrant as before since she has begun to relax in these peoples’ company, when she was caught comparing herself. Her insecurity was always such an ugly trait and Poppy has to, many times, tell herself that looks don’t matter. With one glance at Timothy, however, Poppy knew that they did, in fact, matter. But they shouldn’t matter _to her_. Blinking slowly, the blonde inhaled and exhaled to calm her face before mentally rejoining the people before her. “The crusades?” she muttered under her breath, narrowing her eyes and thinking back to see if she had read anything about the religious affair. It took her a few moments to wrack her brain, but at the end of the day, Poppy knew squat about the crusades. She was much more interested in psychology and of the likes. While Poppy was good at understanding psychology, she was horrible at analyzing people. Nevertheless, she tried – and she used Henrietta. Henrietta was obviously a social butterfly and extroverted, but could she also be a master manipulator? The way she said things just to obviously get a reaction from her lackeys leaned more towards yes. _“I should be wary.”_ Poppy thought, switching the hand she leant her cheek on. Despite her suspicions, Poppy kept a straight face and even allowed a small quirk of her lips that wasn’t quite a smile.

Henrietta stared at Timothy for a moment as he gave his own piece of knowledge about the Crusades. The people behind her also stared, before realizing that they should probably write this down. Henrietta gave another peal of laughter. "Wow! I didn't think anyone else in this school actually read on that. I take it you've read about the Crusades then? No, of course you have. That's not particulary common information after all, especially the one about Pope Gregory VII - the man had King Henry excommunicated even until he died, and most of the Popes problems and detractors were against him just because he supported the Normans. " The girl sat up straight, no longer slouching and looking more animated. "Since you know a lot about the Crusades you can help us with the journal writing then. You'd be surprised how hard some higher years find Social Studies. It's mostly Europe once you're in third year, so the discussion ranges from the before the Crusades to the World Wars, and some people actually forget who Richard the Lionhearts rival was, I'm talking about Saladin of course, but you probably already knew tha-" Suddenly she clamped up. shot a hand to her mouth, and blushed a little. "Heh heh, I'm really sorry about that. I rarely get the chance to talk with people like this. I only ever get to talk to freshman like this, before they find out what my ability is and join other groups . . . who don't particularly like me." She looked at Timothy and Poppy with a smile. It was a little sad to look at. "I don't blame them of course; from facts alone, the ability I got is _pretty nasty_. I'm just lucky I have my own group to hang out with. That's one thing no one in this school can deny: the groups here give you a place to belong. I don't want to sound like I'm advertising, but it's true." She sighed. "And now I sound like I'm preaching. _Blegh_, sorry about that, I just got into the mood. A-anyway, do you guys have anything you wanna talk about? You're new here, so you have to have a lot of questions!"

Despite how awkward Poppy was and how she tried to avoid it, it was inevitable. And thus, she figured that being blunt with her questions would be the best case as it is. After all, what more could happen? It was best just to get everything out on the table. Or at least that was what she was trying to tell herself to excuse the curiosity that was getting the best of her. “What’s your power?” Poppy inquired hurriedly before she could back out. She folded her arms on the table and leaned on them, her butt lifting slightly from the chair. “I heard something about it being ‘social.’” Poppy had half a mind to ask if Henrietta was a master manipulator, but decided that was best left for later when she had more of a case to bring up other than suspicions. Besides, there was nothing that Henrietta could really get from manipulating Poppy, not really. Poppy had no intention of joining a side and she didn’t have an especially advantageous power. All she had was knowledge on her side, and while knowledge was powerful, in a battle against…what were the other leaders’ powers? “And what are the other leaders’ powers?”

Though Paige knew Ione lied for the sake of it all, she was still hesitant of what Saoji was saying. Mainly, because this and that were two entirely different things. **"No, don't wanna. Ione is mine and only mine. I won't let you get in between us!"** Ione heard everything she had to say, and smiled at Paige. Though it wasn't a common smile, it was the smile of someone who was about to do something bad, and Paige kneww that smile all too well. **"W-Wait, Ione? What are you going to do?"** From a pocket of her dress, she took out a single piece of paper and put it in Paige's face. **"Noooo! Anything but the talismans!"** While she was doing so, she smiled at Saoji, a bit more normally. **"Don't worry about her, Saoji, she said she'll try to hold back, or face punishment instead."** Ione left the talisman on Paige and she suddenly lost all strength. **"You're so cruel..."** Paige said, with the last of her strength. Ione took her and put her on top of her hat, to carry her. **"It can be suffocating at times, to be honest with you. Paige patronizes me too much, but I'm sure someone is out there for you. I know I want to protect you, though. You are my friend, after all."** Ione smiled at Saoji, sure of what she had said. It had been a while since she had someone she could call a 'friend', so that much was enough for now. **"It'd be my pleasure to join you, Saoji. What movie do you want to watch? I know some very good horror movies."** She said, smiling more like a child and less like the cold persona she posed at.

A rather disgruntled Belle stumbled out of one of the classrooms, her hair in a mess and practically covered in various colors of paint. She had just woken up after taking a nap once her piece was finished. Muse was gone for now, probably sleeping as well. A piece of her black hair had somehow found it's way into her mouth as well and as she looked around the hallway, she pulled it out lazily. Lazy dark eyes, deep dark brown, stared down the different sides of the hallway, deciding where to go. However, her stomach made the first request, making a loud grumbling sound, hard enough to make the poor girl cringe a bit. With that settled, Belle made her way towards one of the cafeterias. It didn't matter to her which one, the closest one was fine. Zombified, the black haired artist shuffled her way to the East side cafeteria. Her only hope was that they had pizza and coffee today. She'd have her fill of pizza and then take a few shots of espresso to wake herself up a bit. **"Thank the Muse!"** Belle shouted, almost falling to her knees at the sight of glorious pizza. Her spirits lifted, she ran over to the counter and began piling pizza onto her plate, ignoring the looks it got her.

###**Library** After a brief exchange of words between Ione and Saoji, the two of them made their way to the library of the school. Along the way there, Saoji couldn't help but to glance at her a few times from the side. She was so beautiful and so cute, he almost lost himself a second time just looking at her. When they arrived at the front door, Saoji held the door open for her and then entered after her. Inside now, Saoji took a few steps forward before looking past a group of individuals close to the movie section. He looked at Ione and smiled. **"Well, are you ready?"** he asked with a wide grin. He motioned over towards the other group who were present with them. Past them was where the movies were, a few steps away from the tables in which they sat. He began browsing the selection until he overheard the word "power" and the "leader powers" coming from one of the girls. He blinked a few times as he continued to listen in on their conversation and turned to Ione. **"Hey, Ione, remember when I asked you about powers? Well...is she a leader? Will she tell me how to get them?"** he said, pointing over at the blonde haired girl. He wondered if she was a leader. She seemed a bit too powerful in her persona. Saoji was well concerned about this ability that the students are suppose to have. But he have shown no signs of displaying in sort of abnormal magic or anything. Other than what those men who chased yelled at him. If you can locate your family's presence through your dream ability, then you can tell us where they are now! they shouted. But just how could he do such a thing if he doesn't remember? Did his ability have a side effect? After he creates a dream...does it temporarily affect someone's memory? Saoji could only wish that he knew. He had to ask that blonde haired girl, she seems to know more about what he wanted to know. At the same time, he didn't want to blow off Ione like he did before and risk her getting upset. For now, he simply decided to let it all go and turned to Ione once more. **"You know what...nevermind. This is our time, right! I can find out some other time. So, you said you knew a bunch about great horror movies? Hehehe, I've never been a real of them...but...I'm sure it will be worth watching them with you."** he said as he greatly smiled.

Ione was overjoyed with all that Saoji was doing. He really turned upside down the initial opinion he had on him, with his stunt of the roof and everything. She bowed in thanks like a true lady coming from the victorian era. Everything was fine and dandy, until she saw Henrietta talking to a pair of freshmen. Well, she was certainly bad news, but Ione didn't mind it. As long as they stayed out of her way, they'd be okay, her usual strategy when it came to Rulers. She just hoped that Saoji wouldn't notice her. **"H-Huh?"** She returned to reality after hearing Saoji. **"Oh, yes, I am. Let's see what we can get our hands on."** She also started searching for her own favorite horror movie, one about a ghost in a child hospital. It was really good, and it would also help her determine whether Saoji had a good stomach for them or not. Oh, but when it came to strong stomachs, then maybe Thirteen Ghosts was also a good option. It didn't receive good critics, but Ione liked it a lot, if only the ending had been better... She gasped as she came back to reality, again, by Saoji's hand, err, voice. **"L-Leader? Where?"** She had forgotten where she was, but when she saw Henrietta again, she recovered her cool. **"Oh, that's Henrietta. One of the Rulers. It is not a good idea to mess with any of them, but it is being stupid to go against her, so steer away from her."** She said, sounding a bit more serious than ever before. **"But you are right. This is no time for us to be concerning ourselves with the rulers. Since you haven't watched any, the I suggest we watch this one, Fragile, it's one of my favorites."** She said, taking the box of the movie in her hands. It was funny for a library to have such titles, but she knew it was there. She had donated it to the library, after all, or well, more like Paige hid it there so she could watch it anytime on campus.

Continually fixated on the Aryan goddess before him, [Timothy](http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75166/posts/char#post-2323135) did not even notice [Saoji](http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75166/posts/char#post-2325614) and [Ione](http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75166/posts/char#post-2319919) entering. _"She's nice,"_ was what he decided on Henrietta. _"Really nice. Happy, bubbly, charming, and all of it seems so genuine."_ Her hair was like precious gold that framed and crowned a beautiful face so seemingly as fragile and delicate as fine china. Her eyes were of a rich cerulean hue, and were as deep as the ocean blue. He then found his own eyes wandering, tracing the outline of her arms as he traced the more curvaceous parts of her body in his peripheral vision. Strangely, it was here when he actually noticed her breasts: large, soft-looking even through her clothes, and delectably round. A healthy girl for sure, he thought. A healthy girl for sure; he could not see past her stomach through the damnably obscuring table, but before she sat down, he had a pretty good look on her hips: wide and appreciatively accommodating. _"Well, at least we're getting hints of what her powers could be,"_ Cadwal conceded. _"Her charm is surely part of it."_ _"This is an awfully good first impression,"_ Timothy admitted. _"She's... really nice. Impossibly so. What a cute girl."_ _"Oh boy."_ _"I wouldn't mind if I became her friend."_ _"This all seems harmless enough,"_ Cadwal guessed, mentally scratching his ghostly, physically nonexistent head. _"I'll just interfere when you're getting hypnotized."_ And so when he heard [Poppy](http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75166/posts/char#post-2323885)'s questions, he looked at her straight in the eye and held up a hand in a cautionary gesture, "Poppy, that's something a bit too direct to ask to someone you just met."

Mars finally wandered into the libary and was greeted with a suprisingly large amount of poeple. Wierd, seemed like most poeple here actully liked learning more than excersising. Curious to hear what the group was disscusing she leaned against a stack of books and listened intently. If they were disccusing homework maybe she could hear some stuff about the Crusades, it sounded exciting but in reality it was drawl like most of her classes so she didn't remember much about it.

Henrietta looked surprised at Poppy's forwardness, but didn't seem to mind. She giggled a bit and then leaned on her arm. "When it comes to the abilities of the other leaders, I really don't think I have the right to tell you: I don't like it when anyone but myself explains how my power works, so I'm not willing to do the same. You know, the Golden Rule: 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you' - well, so far it hasn't worked yet, but I'm willing to keep trying!" The girl closed her eyes and paused for a moment, thinking of the words to say next. "My ability . . . well, officially, it's listed as mass hypnotism, but everyone else agrees that that's an understatement of its true power. The name of my ability is 'Social Network' and as for how it works-" "Henrietta," the boy behind her interrupted, looking wary. The girl stared at him with a tightened lips before sighing. "Oh, Bill, you already know how it goes: if I don't explain my ability in a complete and honest way, then someone else will, and whoever that is definitely won't make me out to be anything but a complete manipulative witch," she stated. The boy for his part, still looked like he was against it, but decided to abide by her decision. Henrietta continued her explanation: "Anyway, 'Social Network' got its name because of how it works: It's a _network_. I can hypnotize and read the thoughts of a large amount of peope through any kind of social interaction. And when I say any kind, I mean, _every kind_. Talking, internet, writing - if you can communicate with it, I can hypnotize you with it. I can even control the _strength_ of the hypnotism. I can make it strong enough to make you into nothing but a mindless puppet, or - and this is the part that scares people . . ." Henrietta took a deep breath, preparing to drop the biggest bomb that came with her abilities: "I can make the hypnotism so subtle, you would never even know you're being hypnotized. Every action you take, you would think that it was under your power when all along I could've been playing you like a fiddle. I know the limits of my abilities: I could even get you to commit _suicide_ and think it was your own choice, and probably get you to _enjoy_ dying while I do. So far, the only person who can counter my ability is Little Louise: which is why she's so important to so many students. If to a lot of students I'm Satan herself, then Louise would be God's Angel of Death, preventing me from corrupting them with her presence. "Not only that, the hypnotism can spread from people to people like a virus: anyone I've hypnotized before that hasn't been 'cured' can cause the hypnotism to spread just by interacting with another person. Like a zombie virus." Henrietta gave a bitter smile, and the sparkle in her eyes seemed to dim a little. "Now you see why most of the student body won't even look at me except for the ones in my group? Everyone thinks that the only way I can make friends is by hypnotizing them. For a girl who's favorite hobby is socializing and making friends . . . well, you can see why it's particularly painful, right?"

Poppy felt her insides freeze. She could be manipulated so easily, so readily. She wouldn’t even notice it. This was her worst fear realized. The fear of not having control of herself…except, the whole time, she’ll think she has control of herself and that was somehow worse. To be miserable without knowing your miserable just sucks. Poppy looked down at her hands and tried to swallow down the fear creeping up her spine. She peeked up at Henrietta through her blonde bangs, analyzing her, inspecting her. But what was the point. She could have already gotten underneath Poppy’s skin, she could even know Poppy’s thoughts, she could be _planting _Poppy’s thoughts. “How do I know you’re not manipulating me?” Poppy blurted before she could help it, the fear itching at the back of her mind. “You say that people are scared of you because that’s what they’re afraid of. And, well, how do you get them to know that you aren’t manipulating them? ‘Playing them like a fiddle’?” And yet, despite the fear rushing through her body, there was something laying at the bottom of it, sifting like sand underneath water. An undeniable respect. The power Henrietta has, why, Poppy wish she could have it. Even if she had to be lonely, that would be such an amazing power to have. Poppy squeezed her fists together. Even though she was scary beyond hell, Poppy would have joined her if she had to join a side. Before she could think more on the amazement she had for this being, the fear rushed back with one thought: _what if this wasn’t her respect to give?_ What if she was being manipulated? It didn’t _feel_ like she was being manipulated.

At this revelation, [Timothy](http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75166/posts/char#post-2323135) felt utterly violated. Was she reading his thoughts right now? Hell, could she read even Cadwal's thoughts? He had called her a bitch _and_ a sow, too! Jaw slightly agape and brow mildly furrowed, she looked into those wondrous eyes and wondered if their sparkle was but an illusion, whether the blush on her cheeks was real, whether or not he was being _tricked_ by the beauty of that smile. Tim had always took solace in his thoughts, his own mind, believing them to be inviolable. But now here comes someone who could breach that sacred fortress; and the fact that she had compared herself to Satan wasn't doing her any favors for him. _"Wait, does that mean-"_ Timothy started, but Cadwal interjected. _"She can hear us right now?!"_ "So," Timothy began, after a lengthy beat, showing his palms as he asked for confirmation: "You can truly read my mind?" _"Can you read my thoughts, too?"_ Cadwal supplemented, not without alarm in his mind-voice.