Whatever Lyra said, it faded away. Drowning in the screaming of a memory he hoped to never see again. He could almost hear them again. The screams and crying. The explosions and destruction. The blood and the fear in people's eyes. People he once called friends. He had turned into a monster. A blood thirsty beast out to kill them all. The very same feeling coursed through his veins again. The sense of pure power. Ready at Alex's command. It felt like electricity ran through his entire body. Somehow he snapped out of the painful memory and heard Lyra complaining. Nagging about needs and duties. Slowly Alex stood up. Still looking down at the table. Once he was completely upright, he lifted his arm.

Then, a feat he hadn't be able to redo since the unfortunate accident 3 weeks ago just happened. As if it was nothing. As if he didn’t train for days to do it again. An orb, much like a plasma globe appeared in his hand. The outside looked glassy and transparent. The deep core however, was bright purple. With red tendrils hitting the glassy sides of the orb everywhere. He held it up for a second, as to show everyone around what he was holding. Then with a quick sweep he threw the orb into the table. A bit further from him and Lyra. The glassy sides rapidly expanded. But the core expanded faster. As soon as the bright purple hit the glassy edges, the complete orb collapsed on itself. The destabilized Arcana quickly compressed itself into that the size of a marble. Which quickly turned force outwards again. The end of the table, where luckily nobody was, was shattered in hundreds of pieces as a result of the explosion.

But Alex wasn't done. No, far from it. He had enough of this spoiled brad. Talking about duty and needs. She had to be taught a lesson. A harsh one. A terrible one. One he had learned three weeks ago. She had to feel pain. In Alex's other hand he summoned a new orb and quickly threw it at Lyra. The orb was far smaller than the first one. As the first one had more time to absorb his Arcana. The maximum expanded size of the orb would be about a foot large in diameter. As the first one was well over a meter.

Silas didn't seem to be very comfortable at Rebecca's approach. He sort of frowned at her, eliciting an awkward smile from Rebecca. He looked about ready to speak when the white-haired boy approached them. Great, she thought, wonder what he wants. To her surprise, though, he actually apologized for looking like a show-off. Looking, not being, but hey, it was a start. All newbies did seem to go through their own little superiority complex phase. Maybe that was the case with him. He explained he'd been runnning calculations, and Rebecca couldn't help but think that was a little bit... Pompous? Was that the right word? Nonetheless, the boy did seem to have been taken down a peg. He introduced himself as James, first to Silas, then Rebecca, asking her name. "Rebecca." she said, a tad colder than usual. "Interesting meeting you too."

A third boy sauntered over, placing himself next to James. He gave both Rebecca and Silas a once-over, something which sent a slight chill down Rebecca's spine. It reminded her of when she'd arrived to the Home, being examined like she was some sort of lab rat. She shot the stranger a dirty look. Silas, who only seemed to be getting more uneasy by the minute, excused himself. Rebecca looked over to see the duo from the corner of the mall had arrived as well. It was getting somewhat packed in here.

Suddenly, things took a turn for the worse. Rebecca heard James faintly muttering something, turning in time to see him slump to the ground at her feet. Shocked, she took a step or two back. James spouted a stream of what sounded like complete gibberish to Rebecca, looking like someone having a seizure. She attempted to reach for him to get a closer look and make sure he was okay - which he didn't seem to be - but before she got the chance, the gym erupted in chaos, ground shaking, equipment acting up, and Rebecca falling backwards. She felt gravity shift as glass shattered all around. James was still gibbering, even faster now. At last, James collapsed to his side, ending the chaos. The 'normal' girl of the mall duo hurried over, then yelled at impressive volume, lips stretching to act as an amplifier.

The stranger swooped in before Rebecca could react, whisking James off at frankly dangerous speeds. The animated girl had come over too, now, offering to help. Silas approached as well. "I'll be glad to help. Anyone hurt? I can help clean up if everyone's okay." she offered, looking around at the mess all around. Think I'll do the heavy lifting... she thought, not keen on sweeping up shards of glass.

Roberta accepts the hand up, though this mostly stretches her arm until she can regain her composure. In the aftermath of the incident, abandoned machines spin from momentum, lingering shards of glass fall from overhead, and a crushed drinking fountain begins making a puddle on the floor.

"That was a bad one... hopefully he can get that under control, because I do not want to be cleaning this place up every week..."

Luckily, it seems like no-one was too badly hurt. A few bruises and cuts from the broken machinery and altered gravity, but nothing a couple of sticking plasters won't solve.

"Alright, let's see... this place needs cleaning up, but we can probably leave most of it for an electrician or mechanic... we can't exactly use it until the floor is fixed up. Let's... let's just get everyone out of here and make sure the tennis courts are set up. People who want to exercise can do it outdoors for now. Uhhh... do you guys know how a fire drill works? Get everyone who isn't injured to gather outside, make sure we haven't lost track of an invisible guy or something. I'll go turn off the power and water to this place."

With that, Roberta picks her way over the mess to a locked door marked 'Staff'. Rather than open it, she flattens herself against the ground and slides her upper body under, flicking trip switches and turning cutoff valves inside the closet.

At first, Robyn was nervous to work with a group of people and thought she'd follow Roberta into the staff-marked door and... Well, help out there or something. It became obvious she couldn't follow however, when Roberta just slid under the door... Easier said than done. Robyn was stuck with a bunch of strangers and she was all too shy to say anything. "M-might as well start cleaning, right?" she says at last and conjured a mop. Seeing as her conjures have a paper-y texture soaking up the water that was leaking from the drinking fountain was an ideal task for her... Although she hated water. She made sure - maybe too sure - not to get too close to the water with her body. This became evident when her mop grew a bit in length so she could keep a comfortable distance while mopping up. Once the paper-mop was too soaked to be of any use, she merely put it in a big bucket (or rather an improvised bucket made out of a trash-can without the plastic bag in it) and destroyed it. The mop vanished from existance, and the water was left in the bucket. She kept going.

After this I probably have to get to work... she thought to herself as she got lost in thought. She had forgotten about Roberta asking if she had a job yet, but she did remember yesterday when she was assigned the job of art class instructor. Art class! She wasn't sure if it was some kind of joke or if it was just some sort of logical conclusion drawn by Miss Dawson or whoever made that decision. Either way, she wasn't sure if she was comfortable with it or not. She loved drawing, and was good at it, but she knew next to nothing of modern art and she wasn't good with people. Or crowds. Hopefully art class wouldn't be popular.
She kept staying lost in thought as she mopped up the water carefully, going out of her way not to get a single drop on her body. Except her conjured clothes, which was alright, but still.

Natalia could see Leo dive into the hot spring, smirking as she started swimming away from where she was before, just to throw him off a bit and make it more difficult than she usually did. She herself had plenty of time to swim thanks to being cooped up in this place for so long, so she knew this hot spring like the back of her hand. She quickly got to the other side and had to resurface giggling as she wondered if he had noticed that she had moved to the other side or not.

"Ah, over here!" Nat called to him, though she wondered where in the hot spring he actually was. If only she had checked the tablet she brought, she'd see what was going on in the mall and be able to put a stop to it. But alas, she did not, so she'd stay oblivious to the scene for at least a little while.

---

"Hmmmm? Pancakes? Yeah, I'd love to grab some-" Artemis said before Jace got up, watching him walk away before she could say anything. Did Jace not like Toby for some reason? And what could that reason possibly be? They didn't seem to interact a lot, so what could have Toby done to make Jace leave so quickly? Artemis pushed those thoughts aside as she looked back to Toby, deciding to continue what she was going to say before.

"I love pancakes, so yes, I'll grab some with you." Artemis said gleefully but that glee didn't last very long as Artemis was in the range of Lyra's Sorrow ability, her eyes clouding as she started to relive her time in the experimental creatures army base, finding herself back in the chair that she had stayed in for so many months, only to be let out to go to the bathroom on the rare occasion she had to.

Artemis held her head and crouched down as the memory continued, Artemis watching Dr. James come closer to her with the tracking implant and the tattoo machine. "No.... No.... No!" She screamed as tears streamed down her face, screaming in utter agony as she could feel the young doctor cutting a flap of skin in her arm and placing the small tracking device inside, feeling him stitching the flap back on before he started up the machine.

Her screams as she felt her tattoo being placed on the back of her neck all over again, sounded like that of an animal being tortured to death. Artemis was in agonizing pain just like that day, screaming, and crying though this time she just stayed in her crouched position and did so instead of being strapped in that chair like the aactual day it happened. Her vision began to blur just like that day, the pain too much for her body to bare so she passed out on the floor, laying there unconscious and looking so vulnerable.

---

Jasmina looked at Emmett who was making small talk with her, wondering if he had always been so nice to her before. Had her judgement if every guy she met blind her from this fact. No, that was impossible! There was no way of that happening! It just wasn't possible, not one bit! Before Jasmina could answer Emmett though they were interrupted by a fight breaking out across the mall cafeteria, the poor cat girl having to cover her ears the screaming from Artemis was so loud.

The two of them were good friends, despite their differences on the subject of men, eating fish, and other things, but other than that they had a lot in common. Jasmina was trying desperately to stand up, but the pain from her screams just were causing her too much pain since her hearing was amplified much more than the other super powered humans here. She wanted to do something but couldn't, and she hated feeling helpless, but what was she going to do? She gritted her teeth as she waited for the girls screaming to stop, opening her eyes just to watch her good friend faint.

She stood up and tried to stumble over to her, but her balance was off and so she tripped over her heels and started to fall towards the floor, Jasmina closing her eyes as she knew it was hurt quite a bit tomorrow since she'd most likely have a very big bruise on it the next day.

---

Persephone smiled, titling her head to the side in a care free way. "Hehe, you haven't done any shadows for longer than 4 minutes, so I would've been fine! Nothing to worry about!" She said happily, her cheeks going red as she wondered if his question was about what she thought it was. No, it certainly didn't mean that! He wasn't into her, so why was she thinking this way? But even though she was sure he thought of her as a little sister, she couldn't help but fantasize about the two of them going out on a date.

"Hmmm....? Oh, right, about your question! I guess I'll do whatever you want me to do!" Persephone said as she rubbed the back of her neck, completely embarrassed that she had been caught blushing while having a dreamy look on her face. Persephone turned to face Kenny as he arrived, smiling and waving as she got up and walked over to him. "The garden's going great, thanks for asking! Do you want an apple or two to take to work? I'm sure we can spare a few!" Persephone said, the embarrassment on her face from before completely gone and she seemed to be back to her old self again.

Jack was pleased to see Monica able to loosen up what with her normally avoiding conversation but he didn't dwell on it much because of getting something out of her even if it was incredibly simple. Though now he actually had to come up with something to say about his own morning that was at least not a shit reply. "Besides the good weather and company its hard to complain, though the trumpets could use some work but I'd rather not have her bring out air raid sirens instead." He said with bit of a chuckle of the thought even if he wouldn't put it past Dawson to actually do it. When he heard her reply it definitely brought a few questions and an interesting topic to think about later but for now he would rather not drill her for info at the moment. "Suppose you have a point there. I just look at everyone as weird but I find all the quirks interesting rather than strange because its less boring that way." He said sort of musing on the subject from his different perspective and sharing a bit of it. He never doubted for a second he was looked at differently and it was funny to know even normals looked at each other the same way noting the look towards the younger girl who he had been ignoring out of mild annoyance and not wanting to deal with the fuss though the sudden fogginess in his mind caught him by surprise.

Jack felt a quick resurgence in the blind anger leading up to crushing guilt and then mixing in a growing margin of self hate. Honestly he had never truly stopped thinking about murdering his mother refusing to put the blame on anyone but himself for being stupid, impulsive, and not to mention overly confident because of his powers. Though he hadn't had this bad of a recollection in years nor so suddenly that even in his current state something felt horribly wrong with his own mind. His hands clamped onto the edge of the table tight which started to turn his knuckles white causing some pain as well as a sense of something outside of his own thoughts which were jerked to the surface. For him the sensation sort of kept just a small bit of him grounded to reality and in flashes he was sure this wasn't just happening to him but one thing he did know was that he wanted it to stop. He also did his best to fight it more down to a survival instinct than anything else though his will would probably only get him so far but just having that small grip kept his from utterly losing it which for now he refused to do.

Kenny's face screwed up in dislike at the sound of his job. Herding bulls wasn't what he'd call glamorous, the only reason he even had it was because the last person was gored. They'd said at least this time, the handler wouldn't die because of it. That wasn't a comfort to the young man, not one bit. Zaniel had seemed uncharacteristically civil and Kenny looked knowingly between he and Persephone. "Heyheey, alright man, I get it. Hands off the chica." Kenny silently promised, before speaking aloud. "That's great man. I always used to love working in a garden, count yourself lucky our jobs aren't reversed."

His eyes lit up at the sound of apples though. A good red Macintosh was his weakness! "Yea, I'd love some apples! I'm just gonna come around so you don't have to throw them at me." Kenny walked around the fencing to the entrance, coming abreast of the pair, but keeping a respectable distance from Persephone. No need to make some goodwill turn into anger from Zaniel. Kenny pulled a back pack off his shoulders, unzipping the front pouch. "Do you happen to have any oranges too? I've been dying for one!"

---

---

Oscar sighed as he felt himself finally wobble, just slightly. He needed to rest and decided that maybe some actual physical training might be a good idea. Eyes still closed, he began walking along the surface. Slowly such fine control grew too hard and he instead floated himself above the water’s edge, finally alighting upon the grassy surface. He hadn’t noticed the dog or the man, whose hands showed quite a bit of abuse. A physical type, Oscar guessed. He dropped to the grass more heavily than anticipated, his knees slightly buckling. He fished out a bag of trail mix from one of his pockets, replacing some of the many calories he’d just burned through. The sun had fallen much lower than he’d anticipated while he’d been locked in his training. Oscar never made such oversights, it seemed today was an off one.

Taking a deep breath, he finally brought his mind around to the situation at hand. Not often did dogs stay close to him, so Oscar found this one’s bold personality refreshing. He crouched down in front of Luka, holding out a hand so that he could comfortably get acquainted. Oscar looked up to the man, allowing his mind to touch the dog’s and his master’s. He offered a small smile to put the guy at ease. “Hello, I’m Oscar. You are?” He already knew Azai’s name from the brief mental contact, but thought it polite and comforting to not come out with such information every time.

Azai was impressed by this guy, it was rare for him to see someone working hard on his abilities to improve them, rather than just flashing them and causing trouble. He appeared to be friendly, because Luka actually approached him and sniffed his hand without getting alerted. The guy seemed really tired from that training yet he didn't show it, it was a quality he appreciated and liked. 

"Hello, my name is Azai the lounge manager. I'm impressed by your hard work, so you use telekinetic ability? Or something else?" Azai replied with a calm voice. Luka moved from sniffing to rounding Oscar with circles sniffing him all around, until he found a butterfly that got his attention, so he followed it as forgot all about the two men standing. Butterflies were just something he always wanted to catch, their colors fascinated his simple mind.

'Well, there goes that chance.' Jace though, his mind currently on the wasted opportunity that he had been presented with. He'd been right next to Artemis for too long, biding his time for no good reason, and look where it got him. A backup date, basically...

'Wait, something's wrong...' He had felt the Sorrow reach across the room and hit him, and he barely held onto sanity long enough to avoid smashing a plate on the floor. The surgeon had placed the porcelain platter on a table before gripping it as the day of his first mimicry came back. His skin turning scaly, his canine teeth turning to thin, sharp fangs, and his pupils narrowing to slits, all in front of the woman that had given birth to him... and she had rejected this change, shutting him out and calling the police. He was briefly experimented on...

[Three Years Prior]

"Let's see here... Jace O'Shea, says here you can make rudimentary copies of anything and everything, and it's affected by your emotions." A tall, thin, and bearded doctor spoke, standing in front of the younger Jace.

Tradger was his name. A kind sadist, if one could exist. But a sadist nonetheless. Descended from a long line of German doctors, several of whom had served the Reich, the third one to be exact. He shared the opinions of these predecessors.

"Yeah, what of it?" Jace spat back, and received a cold back-hand. The Hippocratic Oath was a mere suggestion at this point.

"Manners, boy. Can you or can you not do this?"

"..." The Irishman looked down at the floor.

"Well?" He readied another hand to strike the boy with.

"...I can."

"Was that so hard? And look at me when you speak or are spoken to. It's impolite to break eye contact."

Tradger grinned.

Jace grimaced.

[Present Day]

Jace got up as the power dissipated and threw his coat off, having it land on the table, then withdrew his shillelagh from the back of it and took on a demon's apparition, horns growing from his forehead and fingers lengthening. After all, the Hippocratic Oath was a suggest-

'Dammit Tradger, I'm done with that brainwashing crap you tried on me. I'm not hurting anyone.' He thought, the horns receding. He would, however, attempt to scare the girl responsible into submission.

---

The Sorrow hit Zinnia as she was leaving, the memory of her brother calling mother and father as she practiced her ability. She was exiled from the family and told to leave as a van from Miss. Dawson's pulled up. She only had time to grab Teif, her weapons, and a bag's worth of clothes...

As the memory played, Zinnia had unconsciously drawn her punch-dagger, hidden on the back of her belt, and had it against a surprised Lyra. Instinct had driven her onto her table and to the source of the power, and now it demanded that the tip, which was poised less than a centimeter from the girl's heart, draw blood. "Choose your next words wisely, girl. You're in no position to make demands anymore."

---

Aaron barreled past a set of doctors as he ran through the infirmary, James still tossed haphazardly over his shoulder. The boy was soon dropped in a vacant bed, and the spark plug sat down in a nearby chair, out of breath. He dropped a hand on the pocket he normally kept his knife in, then panicked. 'Shit, did I leave it in the outlet..?' He ran a quick mental checklist of what had just happened... and yes, he had left his weapon in an electrical socket. That'd be a hard one to explain.

Lyra's eyes widened in shock as the boy she had been talking to suddenly flew into a cold rage, throwing a deadly orb to one end of the table and thereby smashing it into pieces. Fortunately, there were a lot of people around - Lyra's Insanity had far more energy available to it than usual. Within seconds, she had formed a translucent purple barrier around herself - and not a moment to soon. The boy's second attack quickly followed the first, and though it did not harm Lyra directly, it did shatter her chair and send her skidding across the floor, arms wrapped around herself defensively.

Once the world had stopped spinning, Lyra pushed herself upward and gasped in dismay. Her teapot.. it laid on the floor in pieces. How dare he? She'd been using that for so long... she had even in her earlier memories... and, now, it was gone, lying fragmented in a dark puddle. "S-stop!" she screamed, though she knew her pleas were useless. The energy surrounding her brightened. If he wanted to die, then fine!

Yet, before Lyra could even get to her feet, she found a dagger pointed at her chest. It was far, far too close... her Insanity would probably protect her enough to shield her from actually being stabbed, but the impact would still be really painful. And, more to the point, she couldn't deal with all of the onlookers at once... it was so easy to forget that not only she was special, that the others could defend themselves, too...

She allowed her Sorrow to fade, biting her lip as she realized the sign of surrender was proof that she had indeed been the source of the disturbance. "Don't," she said weakly, glancing up at the girl who was threatening her as she tried to push herself backward. Nearby, anoyher boy had grown horns, like a demon. This wasn't fair! "I had to defend myself, he attacked me...!" Why did they all blame her for this? She had been the victim here! Tears formed at the corners of her eyes; never before had she felt so helpless. Her Insanity remained at her disposal, but it wouldn't for long, not without Sorrow to support it. But... were they gonna kill her, even if she didn't fight back? She was way too young to die!!

Leo’s eyes adjusted quickly to being underwater, and he made out Nat’s figure moving through the water, attempting to escape him. He shook his head and continued swimming to her last known location. He wasn’t about to let her know that he was cheating. Not yet, at least. From under the water, he heard her coo at him, telling him where she was. He quickly surfaced, throwing his head back and slicking his hair back in the process. He flashed her a sly grin, and replied, “Got you now, Nat.” He sank under the water and, activating his power, raced toward her like a shark. It wasn’t flying, he mused to himself, but it was close… Before long, Leo was within feet of his target. He quickly surfaced again and flashed a cocky smile. “I’m very good at my job, Natalya Dawson.”

---

Toby’s joy at finally getting Artemis alone was halted abruptly when she fell to the floor, crying out in…what was it? Fear, pain, sorrow? All three? Toby knelt down, to try to comfort her when The Sorrow suddenly hit him.
Toby had lived a relatively normal life, and didn’t really possess any traumatic memories, but when the Sorrow hit him, the chemistry in his brain was altered. Normally, his emotions functioned like any other human’s and he had some amount of control over them. However, his body had never been completely ‘his’. There was something primal lurking within. Something terrifying, that Toby had always feared losing control over. The abrupt change to his brain’s chemistry seemed to activate this part of him. His ‘instinct.’ His Hunger.
His clothes absorbed into his body as his skin turned black as night. His features elongated until he was almost completely unrecognizable as the meek, mild-mannered Toby Kirtman. The thing let out a shriek from a mouth that contained dozens of razor sharp teeth. Tendrils lashed this way and that from its back, as its single, yellow eye searched for the source of its pain. What it found was Artemis, unconscious on the floor nearby. It stood over her and focused on her with its eye. It knew that this human girl was important to it for some reason, but it couldn’t remember why. All it wanted was to make the pain end. Whatever was causing it pain, may be causing the human pain as well; the human had cried out before falling unconscious after all. The thing roared once more, intent on killing whatever it was that harmed the human that was important to it.

---

Amira stood at the bar, bored as hell. Business was slow this day, so she busied herself with wiping the bar down until the lacquer started to peel. She never understood why Miss Dawson had assigned her to the bar; she would much rather have had a job in security… At least there, she could help restore order when it was needed.
Just then, a gentleman stepped up to the bar. Amira put on her best smile and chirped, “Can I help you, sir?” The gentleman nodded, then added, “Kids…always showing off.” Amira arched her eyebrow. “Showing off,” she asked, as she poured his drink.
“Yeah.” The guy took a sip, then added, “A bunch of kids are playing with their powers in the mess hall.”
Amira stifled a laugh. This was just the moment she was waiting for! “Thanks. I have to make a call.” She stepped away from the counter and went to the back room, where there was a black, nondescript phone hanging on the wall. She picked it up without dialing and waited for an answer. Maybe it was nothing, like the gentleman said…just some kids showing off their powers. But maybe it was something more…

Well... Maybe it would be best to evacuate, then? Rebecca thought. She looked around to see what everyone else was doing. The stretchy girl was, well, stretching under a locked door. She looked over to the trickling fountain, which soon stopped its flow. The animated girl was mopping, although she didn't seem all that comfortable in the situation. "I'll go look in the back to see if anyone's in there..." Rebecca muttered. She went off, stopping once in a while to pick up the odd weight that had fallen in the chaos, lowering its density and putting it back with ease. There were also a couple weights that hadn't fallen in the chaos, but had simply been left by people too lazy to clean up after themselves. She put those back, too.

She finished making her rounds, finding no one in the back. She walked back into the front room, which seemed to be the most roughed up. The round had barely taken 2 minutes, and not much had changed. "All right... Let's go, people!" she called cautiously. "Unless we really have missed an invisible guy, no one's in the back, and this mess can wait until we get everything else taken care of... So let's just get out of here." Rebecca said, looking around at the others and slowly making her way to the exit, deciding not to leave until everyone else had cleared out.

Emmett was actually starting to think that he was starting to get somewhere with Jasmina, other having his ass kicked or having it pointed out again just how much she hated him. Then the fighting and screaming broke out across the mall cafeteria. He didn't have anything special about his hearing but the way that Artemis's screaming echoed across the mall, even he had to hold his ears. He turned to look, his eye looking for what was making the redhead scream bloody murder. Noticing a few of the others reacting strange as well.

Their table seemed to be far enough away that the sorrow thing didn't reach the two of them. Once the screaming stopped he saw Jasmina was trying to stumple over to the girl. Though there really wasn't much use in trying to help the one girl that was passed out, compared to the others that were still going through whatever was still going on. He had been watching the others and almost missed the fact that Jasmina had tripped.

Seeing her out of the corner of his eye, his mind reacted faster than his body could, and the next time he knew he was behind her. Emmett's arm wrapped around Jasmina's waist, catching her and keeping her from falling and standing her back up on her heels. Simply smiling at her as his arm removed from her waist, before his attention turned to the fact that everyone was how attacking the younger girl that must have started causing people to go insane.

---

Zaniel noticed the red blush on Persephone's cheeks and he couldn't help but laugh slightly as he started digging. Though it was him that was a little speechless at her answer, and he stopped digging, looking up at her for a moment. Anything he wanted her to do? He could think of quite a few things she could do for him. Zaniel had almost worked up the nerve to ask her out on a date, despite the fact that she didn't have feelings for him. Then Kenny had to come over and ruin everything!

Zaniel gritted his teeth a little as Persephone headed over to greet him, he cursed under his breath as get up and started towards the fence. Count yourself lucky I don't have a pet bull. He thought to himself, as he simply nodded to Kenny's words. He looked at Persephone frowning as she offered the guy apples, knowing her well enough that he could tell she was flirting. If that bitch Dawson found out, she would get bar duty, but other than giving Kenny a dirty look, there was nothing he could really do.

"What the hell are you doing? You're going to get both of us in trouble Persephone." He said while Kenny was going around the fence, his tone jealous. Dawson would give her bar duty, which ment he would end up going to the bar and end up getting drunk and into a fight over someone grabbing her ass. Just like every other time. Though it wasn't that which bugged him, but that once again she was flirting with someone else in front of him, the shadows from the grown plants started to form around his feet as Kenny stopped in front of them.

---

Monica laughed softly at Jack's words about the raid sirens, though she really did hope that Dawson didn't do that, she got scratched up enough in the morning as it was. With raid sirens she would likely have to go to the infirmary. His response to her answer was interesting for sure, he basically said that he saw her as weird. Which no one had ever came right out and said, other then her neighbor at least. However, he thought of everyone weird, which was oddly refreshing, because she wasn't the only weird one. "I find you a little weird, but that's just because you are talkative and I find you intimating." She attempted looking down at her food. Suddenly her mind became foggy and the flash back she hadn't had in months started again

Screaming rang loud in her ears as she felt the flames from the building on her face again. Her brother was beside her screaming as well. "What are you doing Monica? Put it out!" Monica's eyes were on the house tears in her eyes as she tried with all of her might to put the fire out, but instead it just burned hotter and higher. "I'm trying!" She cried over the helpless normals screams whom were being burned inside. The fire sirens finally drowning out the screams inside but not of her brother at her. "You're aware you are killing them freak!" The fire only going higher at his words and her panic. The screaming stopping as the people finally lost their lives.

The flash back finally stopped and Monica was holding onto her ears, head down on the table quietly crying. Don't open your eyes, don't open your eyes. Monica reminded herself as she listened to the people around her, taking deep breaths trying to get it under control. Once her eyes opened she looking around to see almost everyone attacking the little spoiled girl who was crying she was attacked. Monica frowned making a ring from fire around the girl, though it was to get the others away from her. "Enough! If she felt like she was being attacked, its only fair for her to react! Clearly you would do the same." She yelled angrily sticking up for the poor girl.

Still sitting at the table as Zinnia began to walk away Iron contemplated how good the morning seemed to be going, these thoughts though were quickly interrupted by the entire dining hall going to hell. A table was smashed to bits by one person while another began to shift into a demon and in the time that it took Iron to take this in Zinnia had dashed the intervening space and now held a girl at knife point. Standing from the table he began to lower his gravity to make himself capable of moving faster across the open space to Zinnia and the girl. However before he could even move forward a ring of fire burst into existence around the girl who Iron realized he had, as of yet no name for. Still trying to decide on a course of action Iron began looking around. Whatever had caused everyone to temporarily lose their mind seemed to be receding and no one looked as if they had actually been injured. Still just looking around Iron knew that he would be doing some nights at the bar for this, after all it was his job to prevent stuff like this from getting out of hand... Which led to the question currently on his mind: was this still out of hand? It was hard to tell, the fighting itself, what little there had been, had died down and now fire separated Zinnia and her would be victim. Sitting back down in his seat Iron let out an audible sigh, not only had the day gone down hill ridiculously fast but the girl that he had just agreed to meet up with later had just threatened to kill someone.

Zinnia seemed to stare into Lyra's soul, pulling her personality apart on guesses, her royal heritage taking charge and making her seem commanding and imposing. Not unlike a dictator stepping from his palace to silence a rioting crowd with a mere glance. "He didn't lay a hand on you, girl." She had a feeling that this young lady respected rank and rank alone, based off her cries for a butler. But what was a Lady to a Princess?

"I'm something of a princess, you know. Last time I checked, I outrank you about fifteen times over. If I can get myself a piece of toast without causing a doctor to draw a weapon," She made a quick gesture to Jace, who was still brandishing the blunt, wooden weapon his homeland respected heavily, "Then so can you." The Ottoman descendant sheathed the dagger in her belt again, then offered a hand to Lyra.

"I spare you only because I believe in second chances. This is yours, I will not be as merciful next time." Zinnia stopped to think for a moment, refusing to break eye-contact with the much younger girl. "I'm Zinnia Afra, and I expect your name in return."

She hated having to do this, she genuinely did. She was more of the roguish-type, not the commanding imperial she had to pose as now. But if this is what was needed to calm a teenage tantrum, so be it... 'If this is what kids are like, I want none.'

Roberta, after a comment and a quick look around, issued directions to everyone before going to a locked door and simply, well, squeezes under it. A moment later water started to stop trickling from the fountain. One girl started mopping with a paper construct, while the other went through the building to search for anyone else inside. She got back and concluded that there was no one there before heading to the entrance.

Silas just stood there for a bit, feeling somewhat guilty at the back of his mind, like he was the one who set James off with how he acted. That may have been unreasonable, but he felt that way all the same. He looked around at the mess, glad he wouldn't really be able to help with it. Well, with his powers he co- No... Finally shaking himself out of it, he slowly made he was to stand right next to the exit, looking at the paper girl and wait for her and Roberta to get there before he left.

Roberta pulls herself back out from under the doorway, and starts gathering up exercise balls, sports equipment and other stuff that'll work outside.

"Alright, this should do for now... let's go." She gives the ones who stayed to help a nod, and half a smile, before heading to the outside areas.

On the outside, Roberta does a good job instructing people to set up the tennis nets, basketball hoops, or just skipping ropes and places to stretch. In fact, she does such a good job there's nothing left for her to do, other than sit down and supervise. Funny, that.

Jack found himself slowly coming back to his senses after what felt a lot longer to him he realized several of the others near the younger girl, who was surrounded by fire, who he had previously been ignoring so go figure the trouble would start there. It was a moment he was taking stock of considering how many of them ended up effected by whatever they had been going through and apparently it made some of them extremely aggressive. Not exactly something he could relate with but nonetheless he had a feeling the girl had caused it not having been able to make out much while under her power's effect but given that she was under so much duress it left no room for doubt. Despite having more than a few unwelcome feelings and thoughts brought up it had done no permanent harm and it seemed not all unlike the side effect from his own power or the main facet of it at least. Sort of know how that works, using a power like that for defense doesn't work as well as you think though mine takes longer to do that.

Something occurred to Jack once he looked back down at his hands and the table edge he was gripping noticing another problem with the near full breakdown. Where his hands had been gripping the table looked like it had been eaten away at like acid further in making quite the mess out of it especially since it hadn't stopped though he imagined it slowed down quite a bit considering how much damage it had done so quickly. "Shit." He mumbled dissipating the corruption through the table even if the bulk of the damage was already done. It was not a favorable thing his power did when it ended up attacking objects or people but it was there and he sure as hell kept it out of spotlight whenever possible, better to have people thinking his power was more along the lines of persuasion than what it actually was. Beyond that he had heard Monica's last words before it went bad and he would address it later after things had settled down more from now. He got up and moved over to check what other damage had been done by the others as well as maybe try to talk to the girl afterwards, he was concerned which was probably written all over his face. Jack picked his way over to the edge of the ring of fire purposely between the rest of the effected besides the other trying to help and the girl to keep another barrier in the way incase of any nasty second thoughts. "Put away the weapons, its over. Just back away and collect yourselves for now." He said keeping a calm tone doing his best to appeal to reason and if they decided not to listen he wasn't going anywhere.

If Zinnia hadn’t acted as fast as she did, Lyra might have been the victim of another orb or two. Which Alex was holding ready in his hands. Zinnia’s intervention made him stagger a little. The split second bought Zinnia enough time to convince Lyra to cancel her power. Not a second too early, as Alex would have wanted nothing more than to just blast them both away now. But when Sorrow vanished, so did the control over his Arcana. The dangerous orbs shattered. The core vaporized immediately. While the ‘glass’ surrounding it was allowed to fall to the ground before they too vanished in thin air.

The event had put a strain on Alex. His memory had been awaken again. So vividly that he could still see it happen before him. The screams of a few weeks back. It had brought up memories he was burying. Zinnia was clearly talking things over with Lyra in some way. For a second Alex thought to go help. But then Monica appeared, defending the not so poor girl.

Angry at first, Alex marched at the girl he knew from seeing but never learned her name. But with every step he realized that these were extraordinary events. Which would bring forth unforeseeable consequences if not handled with special care. He didn’t like the idea though. If anything he felt abused. Pushed back into a mental hell for a few seconds by someone who was too spoiled to get her own food. Alex wanted nothing more than to berate the child. To scream and yell at her. He didn’t know exactly how she did it, but he knew the girl had invoked those memories. And quite possibly invoked the darker thoughts. But for the greater good, he couldn’t do that.

So once he reached Zinnia, Lyra and Monica he calmly said: “It seems a little misunderstanding took place.” He told Zinnia. “I think she and I both are at the blame of what just happened.” He said to Monica while pointing at Lyra. “And I apologize for my actions.” He then turned to Lyra on the ground. It was a gamble at best. If anything, all could go back to hell in a matter of seconds if Lyra chose to. He knew that. But under the best case scenario he defused the situation. So nobody would fight anymore. All for the greater good. He kept repeating in his head. All for the greater good of living together.

It seemed the man thought he was good enough people to start up a conversation, which Oscar was slightly grateful for. It had been a long time since those of the home had asked him anything except what was in their futures. It was hard to make any remember that he wasn't a personal horoscope. "Manager, huh?" Oscar asked in his perpetually bored voice. He stood up when the dog decided a butterfly was more interesting. Who could blame him?

He stretched, trying to get the tightness out of his limbs. His crossed arm in front of his chest did nothing to hide his interest in the man's curiosity. "Telekinesis, fine control on the bottom of my feet. Not my only gift however, Azai. I agree, most of the people here like showing off their powers instead of actually exploring and training them.. Telepathy as well, if you didn't get my drift. I've got a couple of other tricks up my sleeve, only time will tell if my powers are still developing. What about you Azai, what's your ability?" Oscar didn't trust most people out of hand, but this Azai seemed like a good person, or good enough to know to show respect to a stranger. The same couldn't have been said about his neighbors.