"Mom, I've got to catch the bus-" Xodus sputtered as his mother tried to arrange his hair so that it wasn't a tousled mess. She was a doting woman by nature, very kind with her blonde hair usually wound into a messy bun and her blue eyes even bluer in shade than his own. She seemed to constantly want the best for him and that was well and good but he worried that she exalted too much energy on him sometimes and it made him feel vaguely apologetic. She had taken him in, just a street kid with no name or family or any memories of having either, he'd been so confused that the doctors who checked him over had thought he might have hit his head on something hard enough that he had a sort of amnesia. He'd get used to people asking him why he didn't know anything about his past and he'd get used to his mother asking about nightmares that shook him awake some nights.

He'd had a very strange accent when he'd met his mother, it had stuck around for ages before being replaced by something more Manhattan oriented. The only thing that hadn't been replaced were the nightmares, they were strange things full of screaming and creatures with high crested white wings fighting things with claws and dark figures that reminded him of the bogey man. He had nightmares of a screaming young girl and wings that seemed to be growing darker by the day. He had nightmares all the time but he had long since brushed them off as the product of his wayward mind and he tried to forget the trauma they caused him most times.

It worked, mostly. He got through school pretty easily and he rarely had many problems, kids got along with him and he got along with kids. His only problem was a constant edge of yearning for something that he couldn't quite put his finger on though he thought it might have something to do with his fevered dreams. His twin sisters had often told him that he had bees in the brain if he took dreams too seriously and he couldn't help but agreeing with them, they were just nightmares and he was no more special than the next person. He needed to get over this, it was self centered and terrible, there was no reason for it.

"Mom, stop." he whined, giving her a light nudge and arching his eyebrows. "That's enough. I look good."

"Your hair is a mess, Xodus!" she complained. "You were supposed to get it cut last week!"

"I know, but the bus!"

Practically bolting out the door, the boy took off towards the brilliant yellow bus and he climbed aboard. He spent most of the trip in a haphazard silence, trying to figure out what seat to bounce to and he chose at least three before settling down in finality near the back where he held a half hearted conversation with a young lady he recognized as Mandy. He held conversation with her on his way into the building and only lost her when he made his way towards his first class. School was fast for him, sometimes too fast and sometimes not as fast as he would like but it was usually fast. He just had to keep a warm air about it.

The first class was an art elective, the only class he really cared about and tried his hardest in, entering it was easy and he chose his seat near the front.

Ariana Lane

Sighing softly and pausing just before reaching the edge of the forest that acted as a shortcut, Ariana crouched down and gently ran her pale fingers trough black-white fur. cerulean-blue eyes met warm gray before a rou rough tongue gently swiped along her left cheek.

"I know girl, now on home you go. Ariana stated softly, rising to her feet and gesturing with her left hand towards the now well-worn path they traveled. A whine of protest escaped into the slightly frigid air, Ariana reached forward and gently wrapped her fingers around the warm snout. She shook it gently before letting go, another lick was placed on her wrist before her dog turned and began to trot home, tail high in the air. Shaking her head in amusement, Ariana turned and glance both ways before crossing the street that separated the forest from the school before it, her black boots softly thudding on the concrete as she nears the building that was as much a place of education as it was hell.

Tucking her hands into the front pockets of her leather jacket, Ariana dodged around a group of cheerleaders and continued on her way, her gray eyes scanning the halls as she absently allows her whirling mind to shuffle through the blurry images of the nightmare that woke her up last night. She could make out white wings and light so bright it seemed to rival the sun's brightness, the feel of something gritty clinging to skin as screams and snarls fill the air around the blurry image of a girl in white, a boy standing before her as it to protect her. Ariana blinked trice and shook the images away, her feet automatically guiding her to the first class of the day, her heavy eyes blinking once more as she passes through the door and pauses long enough to scan the room and spot a seat near the window.

She wondered briefly if she'd be able to doze off for a bit, the good thing about being awake before anyone else usually meant that she could easily dress and leave before anyone offered to drive her to school. She refused the bus idea when it was posed with a vehement shake of her head and and pointed look at her older brother, he'd only raised his hands and stated that Essa was to go with her. That was the deal, she could leave early if she chose but Essa was to follow and a note left on the fridge for her brother. Absently tugging her sketchbook out of her messenger bag, Ariana began to draw, her gray eyes focusing on the darkening sky above as the sounds and voices faded to nothing around her. @corrosive

The day was meant for purpose, the day was meant for new beginnings and for excitement, it was a good day for growing and it was unlike Xodus to embrace the day for what it was. Art was his favorite class and it always had been, there was something he'd always liked about expressing himself through pencil strokes and paint splatters, it was easier to see the world through every color except the natural ones. He enjoyed the outlet and found intrigue in drawing things he hadn't before, though lately he found them dwindling into creatures with high crested wings and beautiful features. He often found himself sketching the smooth features and the sharp eyes of angelic creatures. They were often the same ones from his dreams and he wondered where they had come from and why. He felt like there was some purpose there in their feathered wings and their beauty but he didn't know what it could be, sometimes he felt like there was something to do with him.

Something to do with ink stained feathers.

He skimmed through the filled pages until he found one he hadn't coated in feathers and castles and creatures with claws. He ran his hand along it to get a feeling for the empty page and he brandished his pencil with flourish, he didn't have many friends in this class and he tended not to think too much of it. This was the only class where he could focus his mind long enough to produce something that might be worth something some day. He felt in his zone with this class and he was pretty much dead to the world once a challenge was set but today something seemed off. He watched the teacher enter with a thick binder stuffed with papers and he arched his eyebrows into his hairline with curiosity.

The binder was placed lightly onto his desk and he seemed to draw in a breath. The teacher strolled to the front of the classroom, his brown eyes sweeping the students and the class seeming to quiet their idle chitchat in his presence. "Projects, we haven't had a project since the start of the school year and I believe it's about time for another one. Don't you?" he inquired though it didn't require an answer and he didn't wait for one. "You are going to be doing a heritage project of sorts, tracking down where your family came from and illustrating that for me in some very grand way. Whether that be an old family crest or a family tree done in some way that is stunningly artistic- I do not care but you need to do it in a way that includes both you and the partner I will assign you."

"And those partners will be working with you to track down all that you can." pulling a paper free of the binder, he started calling out partners until he reached Xodus's name and he perked up at the sound of it. "Xodus Bonwick and Ariana Lane, you two both come from some very interesting circumstances and I think you could do well in helping one another."

Xodus blinked and turned his head to the brunette, he'd never really noticed her much and now he was collecting his stuff and heading over to her somewhat awkwardly. "Hey there, you can call me Xo." a brilliant smile surfaced. "Most people do. My name sounds so funky out loud that some people can't seem to grasp it."

Ariana Lane

Ariana has been listening, of course she had, being bullied since a young age had born instincts that she knew well to follow. When the class quieted with the appearance of their teacher, she'd focused completely on the picture forming under her hands.

The pencil within her grasp moved fluidly across the sheet, her eyes absently scanning the edge but never fully focusing on it, a small shiver running down her spine as wings formed and spread, a castle forming in the background as large clawed hands seemed to reach from nowhere. The wings continued to form, a pair of white and a pair of ink-black, a faint smile tugging across her lips as her left hand moved with ease to erase extra shade or added tip to a building as the picture filled the page. She'd been drawing nearly the same thing since an early age, the feel of a gust of wind across her skin always seemed to calm her even on the brink on panicking.

At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Ariana's head jerked up as if she'd been shocked, her right hand slashing across the sheet and her eyes locking with the boys in front of her. She rolled her shoulders and forced her tense muscle to relax, offering a small half-smile to him before shifting her gaze to her drawing once more.

The feeling of an arm suddenly dropping against her shoulders had Ariana tensing completely, her breath stilling in her lungs as a familiar, painful spike went down her spine, her vision fading around the edges as the arm tightens before relaxing.

"Do forgive her, she wasn't taught manors." The familiar voice of Trevor Anderson filling her ears, Ariana forced herself to remain still, the heaviness that had settled in her stomach after she'd made her way out of her home, intensified as Trevor's arm tightened once more. The feeling nearly forced a choke from her lips, her now protesting lungs demanded release but she didn't do as they wanted. She shifted her suddenly heavy eyes to Trevor's face, his ice-blue eyes sending a shiver down her spine, the flare she saw in them had her vision swimming once more. This wasn't new, every time one of her bullies touched her, she'd always feel a pain so intense she barely managed to get away before she'd pass out. She'd be weak and pale for the rest of the day after that, which was why she avoided them as best she could.

Now she could feel it, her gaze drifted away as she forced her hand to rise, the grip on her lungs lessening as she forces her wobbly feet to lift her up, Trevor's arm falling to the desk only to reach out and grab her wrist. The implication clear. She gestured to the boy to take the vacant seat in front of her, the pressure of Trevor's fingers sending aanother wave of pain, before he let go and sit back in his seat. She sat back down and swallowed the bile that threatened to rise in her throat.

She rolled her tense shoulders and though what she looked like right now, she blinked her heavy eyes and focused forward. @corrosive

Xodus Lionel Bonwick.

Bullying had never found it's way to Xodus and if it did then he had never let it get under his skin, they were all a bunch of kids when it got right down to it. Though he had a lot of sympathy to save for those who didn't let it pass them so easily and those who stressed because of it. He understood from a purely empathetic level that it could mess up everything a person had ever viewed of themselves. He had just always had too much confidence to spare and it had never bothered him, it was very rare when he even knew what was going on around him. That made him untouchable, it was hard to bully someone who never reacted and it was hard to bully someone who hadn't even heard what you said to him. He'd earned the nickname "Spacey" and he wore it like a badge, he didn't hear you and you rarely heard him unless he wanted to be heard.

When he wanted to be heard, everyone knew it. The boy was something of a Drill Sargent in group projects and he was known for making sure everything went just as he wanted it to and if it didn't then he was known for making a big deal out of of it. He was known for fighting off bullies and he was known for being a pacifist beyond that, most people were intimidated by his height and his generally silent unless provoked type nature. Now was one of those moments that he wished to be heard and he turned his gaze to Trevor with unbidden contempt, his blue eyes scanning the boy.

"Back off, Trevor." he warned, his eyebrows drawing together. "She's not bothering anybody."

Settling in the chair across from the girl that the teacher had identified as Ariana, he set his notebook down softly. He wasn't a fan of Trevor though he'd never quarreled with him personally, he didn't like the way he acted or the way he treated other people. There was something about him that got under Xodus's skin and he assumed it was because he had no respect for anybody. He had never noticed Ariana much, caught up in his own cloud of thoughts and the people who often trailed him and had assumed positions as his friends. He knew Ariana about as much as he knew them, not at all. It was strange thinking that anybody could have a similar history to him-enough that a teacher had pointed it out. It made him feel kind of discomforted.

"If you don't mind," the boy made a sharp shoo-ing motion at Trevor. "I'm sure you've got a partner who's missing you. Anyway, Ariana, can I call you Ari? Or is that too assuming? Like, we just met and all but I love nicknames."

He gave a laugh, half genuine and half self cautious. He'd never really been too great with meeting new people and he'd have to learn enough about her with the project. He decided that he might as well be pleasant about it "D'ya come from around here? We are supposed to be meeting our partners."

@Arista

Ariana Lane

Ariana blinked and offered a smile, her shoulders relaxing when Trevor huffed and rose from his chair, her eyes followed as he moved to a corner with a girl that offered a smirk and flattened her rather short skirt. She snorted softly and lowered her head until it rests against her folded hands, the pain subsiding as a strange warmth seemed to wash over her skin, it seemed to banish the heaviness that felt like it was weighting her down.

"Not at all, the only ones I allow to call me Ari are my family so I don't mind. You don't seem...bad. Yes, I live in a house right beside the local library." She offered with a shrug, her eyes shifting to the window as the storm clouds that had rolled in seemed to darken and thicken further, they focused on the sheet under her hands and frowned.

The line she'd slashed across the sheet seemed to have cut through the pair of ink-black wings, her head tilted as her left rose to ease it before pausing and lowering, for some reason it seemed to fit. Shaking her head and rising her chin from her hands, she flips the sheet over to a clean one and absently begins to twirl her pencil between her fingers, she glanced up at Xodus and offered a smile.

She felt...happy and it was strange, however she merely focused on her partner and allowed herself to bask it in. @corrosive