---

((Pre-Timeskip))
It was an oddity, to find a girl he knew, snuggling up to the cold and sooty floors. Luke hadn't noticed but there appeared to be some light illuminating her, some orbs of blue emitting a soft light. It was the reason Luke was able to find her in the darkness. They were peculiarly entrancing to say the least, his eyes were glued to them, slowly hovering upwards. He snapped out of the trance after Emi grunted softly, he looked downwards at the sleeping girl once more.

"Ehh... What am I suppose to do, she seems dead asleep." Luke pondered outloud, "Curfew's getting close... but if I bring her to my dorm won't I be marked as some sort of fiend?!"

Sighing a low sigh, Luke scratched the back of his head and hoisted her upwards. He hoped that no one would spot him carrying a girl back to his dorm. Surely no misunderstandings will occur if I do this altruistic act, right? he gulped at the thought, letting her lean on his back, placing her arms around his neck and holding up her legs.

"Alright... One. Two." Luke jumped upwards, "Oof. Jeez." As for the papers, Luke tried to gather as much as he could beforehand, placed it on the rucksack she had handy and carried it with his teeth. Luke looked like a pack mule. Walking back was eventless, as Luke hoped, a few stragglers here and there but they kept to their own business. The academy at night felt pretty bizarre and surreal, almost fairy-tail like as he trudged through the mostly empty halls. Luke would smile, but he had the strap of Emi's bag in his mouth.

Arriving at the door of his dorm, he let her right leg dangle freely as he fished in his pockets for his keys. Finally he turned the key and the door creaked open. He walked to the left room and opened another door and laid her down, pulling up the blanket. After unhinging his now stinging jaw, he placed the bag on the table next to her.

"Ow, that bag was heavier than expected." Luke said massaging his jaw before a yawn took over, "Well, I guess the couch in the living room does look pretty comfy."

For a while he wondered if the academy would punish him for this, but because of his sleepiness and nonchalant attitude he sweeped it aside to deal with for another day. With that he jumped on the couch and flicked something on the television, watched for a while before falling asleep, the television still blaring softly with whatever it was left on.

Madison

When she felt Vlad's hand gripping her shoulder, Madison couldn't help but tense up. But then he turned her around, the serious expression on his face lasting for a moment before he ate a chip off of her head. Madison's poker face was undecipherable, but then she bursted with uncontrollable laughter.

"Okay, okay, you got me," Madison said as soon as she was able to breathe again, wiping a tear off of her eye in the process. She reached into her bag to pull out a nut and vanilla granola bar, which she then offered to Vlad. "My way of apologizing to you for yesterday. Want company on the way to class?"

He may or may not accept her invitation to walk to Mr. Kessinger's, but if Madison could make a friend out of an enemy, then her time here would be that much more pleasant.

@KuramaaaZ

Her body was being moved. She could feel it. He was taking her somewhere, she felt kind of happy for him doing such a thing for her helplessness. Hopefully he would be taking all her stuff too. Well knowing it was a not so much used room and inside the building the stuff would probably still be there after the night. She didn't need tp worry as much as she did. She had gathered a fair amount of pages. Not every page contained much important info so it was fine, truly. She was raisen upon Luke his back. Her chest lightly pressed against his back as her body kept trying to slip away from him. Stupid gravity was making it harder for the boy. Her head was resting on her own arm, he mouth was fairly close to his ear making the breathing rather audible. She hoped he didn't have any problems with her being so slacky as this.

As they left the room her eyes opened a little. The light of the hallway was enough for her to get back to conscious again. He sight was blurry and her headhurt a lot but she was able to know a little where she was. She straightened her head a little but wasn't able to help Luke by shifting her gravity point to the right place so it was easier for him to carry. She could barely move her body in this state. From her face alone you could tell she looked tired. Her mouth slowly opened up a little.



She muttered softly as she displayed a small smile on her face before going back to sleep again. She was placed in his bed and curled up under the sheets in a small ball emitting the light bubbles again. Her body pulled the sheets towards her, covering her body as close as possible as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

---

Emi yawned as she stretched her body in the bed. She pushed the sheets aside with her feet and still looked a little rather tired. She scratched the side of her head for a bit clearly trying to wake up as she sat stil on the bed. After a few moment she pushed herself off the bed and opened the curtains. A small rose again in the distance shining bright on Emi her face. Her expression rapidly changed to a more woken up and happy girl. She looked around the room and wondered how she ended up in her dorm room after having fallen in the dark room. That was right, Luke had brought her over... She had to thank him. But before that it was time for a morning ritual. He had left her sleeping in her old clothes, what a reasonable thing to do was. But they smelled a little off now from the ground and her own smells from in the bed. It wasn't enjoyable.

She pulled off her clothes and stepped in the shower. Not untill she had stood under the shower for about 2 minutes she had noticed that her shampoos weren't anywhere in sight. Instead there were much simpler shampoos instead of them. They smelled boy like. Oh crap, she was in Lukes room wasn't she... Her face turned bright red as she turned off the shower and left. She quickly dried herself off in the shower and made sure it was clean. Her clothes were still out on the floor in front of the bathroom door. She wrapped herself up and wrapped her hair up too in another towel. Emi made sure no one was in the room before entering and quickly put on her clothes again. With a bright red face she left Luke his sleeping room entering the main room. If he was still there he would recieve a soft pardon from the girl with a bright red face or else she would leave. Either way she had taken one of the towels hostage to keep her hair drying.

---

It was a rude awakening for Luke, and it wasn't a comfortable night either, the pads for the couch weren't fluffy at all. They were rock-like in texture, did the Academy skimp out on his dorm's couch? He grumbled to himself like an old man, until he felt and heard water flowing. He sat upwards, his hair unkempt and messy, four strands standing upright against gravity. He patted the table inbetween him and the tv for his glasses, after finally finding it he put his glasses on,

"... Does she now know this was my dorm?" Luke uttered silently, slight embarrassment and awkwardness laced in his tone. Then the flow of water seemed to stop abruptly, and rushed shuffling could be easily heard from the main room, she came out red as a beet.

"Good Morn'." Luke greeted her, it was still kinda weird that a girl had slept in his room and used his shower but he subconsciously chose to shrug it off. His back ached slightly though, probably from the rather stone-hard couches he had, "... I'm gonna have to write a very angry worded letter about this painful couch." he joked, standing up and stretching whilst yawning a really long yawn, a tear almost coming out of his left eye.

"I hope that it was fine I brought you to this dorm, I tried asking where yours was but you were fast asleep." Luke exclaimed, scratching his head, "Ah! Don't forget your bag, I left it on the table next to your bed, seemed like they were important to you seeing as you fell asleep collecting them. I didn't manage to collect all but I think I got most of it."

"Ehm... If you're hungry I can make something." Luke continued, remembering his Uncle's words to be welcoming and greet people with hospitality.

---

---

She finally awakened. The air smelled clean, disinfected - or, perhaps more accurately, it smelled like nothing at all, which was rather unusual, and it was quite chilly. There was a sense of warm weight over her body, and she felt that whatever she was on was both soft and firm at once. A bed, perhaps, with a relatively thick blanket. Wherever she was, she couldn't see a thing, and couldn't move. The sleep paralysis hadn't quite gone away yet, preventing her from doing so much as opening her eyes. It was a very familiar sensation, lying there, only half-awake in an unknown place. It was like that every morning for her, but this one was ever so slightly different. It felt like the very first time she regained consciousness after the farm accident, though she couldn't remember it. Perhaps a sense of having very narrowly escaped death.

Everything on and in her had the ghost of an ache, but she couldn't tell if that was just from her body, or if it was simply her mind playing tricks on her. Curiosity took her when she heard the sound of voices outside, and she allowed her senses to wander toward the source of the faint vibrations in the air. Younger students were walking somewhere or other - maybe five or six of them.

_{"...and did you see how fast he was? That guy's a monster! I feel sorry for whoever's in his class."
"Yeah, he's fast, but he seems pretty nice. At least he's not like Headmaster Hargor. I heard a student almost exploded in his class yesterday."
"Woah, really? How the heck does that happen in a water class?"
"It wasn't water, idiot. It was one of the lightning kids."}

Words, words, and more words. While Brunhilde could understand them, she didn't entirely know what they were talking about. It was like some sort of bizarre dream, hearing them speak of monsters and lightning, but she knew better. Her own air magics meant to her that there were almost certainly other elements, and she continued listening, more out of boredom than any real interest in what they had to say. The conversation had moved on during the past few seconds of rumination.

_{"I really hope there's not another fight in the cafeteria today. I couldn't pay attention to my homework."
"You think you had it bad? I was standing in line when that tall fuck shoved me over and stole my voucher."
"I dunno, I almost wanna see another one. Hope it's better next time. Didn't even get to see anyone throw any fireballs or anything - just that flash."}

As the voices faded into the distance, Brunhilde found herself almost alone in the silence. Birdsong could be heard faintly, but it wasn't particularly beautiful, and she found herself trying to close her senses off from the grating, staccato squawking and clicking. More birds answered the calls with loud caws - the cries of ravens or crows of some sort, she thought. Or at least something that sounded like them. Those had always been some of her favorite avians - their regular use of tools was, in a word, captivating. Not many creatures could do that.

The darkness took her once more, and she drifted back to sleep. She had had a rather exhausting first day at the Academy, after all, and merely eight hours wouldn't make up for how draining it had been.

After class, Rinna grabbed a cheeseburger from the cafeteria and headed out into the school proper to explore, ponderously silent. Class had gone poorly, and just as she had told the headmaster, she had spent the entire period unable to show the slighest hint of control over her powers. Even worse, her teacher was the asshole she mouthed off to the day before, so she'd had to put up with him crowing about the fall of her family every time she couldn't manage the most simple of tasks.

But that wasn't what was weighing on her mind at the moment. Her thoughts were instead tuned to the cryptic explanation that the headmaster gave for the humming sensation she had felt ever since she had entered the valley the day before. He claimed that though they were long gone, her ancestors' power still dwelled here, and that their energies were resonating with her own. Rationally, it sounded utterly preposterous, but in a mere 24 hours, this place had proven to be anything but rational.

If she focused on the tingling sensation enough, she could detect slight variances within it. Her curiosity piqued, she began following the feeling, walking through the maze of corridors, looking all the world like she actually knew where she was going. She was hopelessly lost, but that didn't matter to her in the slightest. Every step she took made the humming stronger, like it was leading her somewhere, and she was compelled to follow.

Her journey led her to the west wing of the school, where large windows let in plenty of afternoon sun. The hallway was uncomfortably warm, making Rinna glad she had left her motorcycle jacket in the dorm. The humming led her to a door with a nameplate and a fire symbol on it, but she paid no mind to either as she opened the door and entered. There was a desk in front of a large window, but the humming was coming from the display case along the far wall. She crossed to it quickly, her jaw slack with shock as she recognized the chained longsword.

"I never thought I would find you." Her voice was an awed whisper, as one hand touched the empty sheath on the back of her belt, the other hovering a few centimeters from the bared blade, as if it were resting upon glass that was no longer there.

[After Lunch]
Elbritas was sitting in his office, cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth. He was halfway through reading an old musty book that he had been picking away at for a while now. His classes has just finished for the day so he was winding down, but it was too early to start drinking. He let out a low sigh as he pulled a water bottle out of his drawer and took a long sip of it, screwing the cap back on and placing it on his desk. He started when his office door was just opened unabashedly by a girl he had never seen before. "Um... hello?" He asked as she walked forward without saying a word, almost in a trance. He watched as she just kept going, all the way to behind his desk. "Can I... help you? Are you looking for a certain teacher?" He tried to get her attention again, and once more he got no response. He scowled as she reached for the sword that he was told was the first weapon left as part of the collection. He grabbed a dowel from the neared drawer, superheated the core of it until he saw it starting to splinter. He lobbed it lightly at the girl, watching it explode half a foot from her head but causing no damage. He cleared his throat loudly. "...AHEM. I said, CAN I HELP YOU?" He was getting agitated now, some little twerp had barged in for no reason and was trying to touch one of the heirlooms entrusted to him.

Rinna turned as the dowel exploded near her head, her abnormally green eyes unfocused and wide open. It was clear she was in some kind of trance, tuned into to something only she recognized. Her hand fell away from the sword, and onto one of the tonfa at her hip. Close observation would reveal that they were vibrating slightly.

The girl cocked her head to one side,and though her eyes were unfocused, Elbritas could tell she was staring right at him. Or through him. Her face was blank, and it was like staring at a porcelain doll. Unsettling would be putting it lightly.

"Where did you get his sword?" Her voice, louder now than before, seemed as harsh as ice.

The teacher arched his eyebrow at the strange girl. Who did she think she was? "I didn't get this sword anywhere, it's original owner left it here and started the tradition of the fire teachers leaving their weapons here for display. Which is where it's going to stay." He turned away from the girl and back to his book. "Now, if there's anything else you'd like to ask, then do so. If not, please leave. I've no desire to entertain a rude guest who didn't even ask permission to enter my office." He stated firmly as he finished a page, slowly turning it to the next. He continued to quietly read, sipping his water now and again.

Maxim planned on simply going about his day with little care, though Kano had come up to him in the teacher lounge above the lunchroom, impressive given that Maxim had decided not to wander in there today, and told him that he was to teach an aether student. And just like that, he had a student, the scarcity of techmentals as well as aether elementals had made Eria his only student.

Regardless that he now had a student meant he needed to teach, as lunch was ending he made his was to his classroom, more of a techmental workshop that a regular classroom but it would serve it's purpose, and waited for his student. He did trust that Kano would make Eria aware of her transfer to him, otherwise things would just be awkward. While waiting he moved a few things around and sat down in a chair, glancing at the door occasionally.

---

---

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm fine.

The words kept bouncing around in her head, rattling about and wreaking havoc upon other, more peaceful dreams. I'm fine. Images of cats and crows and boats and water and people - people who all felt familiar, yet lacked faces - were all around her, and she recognized her own home town. I'm fine. An old man was casting a fishing rod from one of the empty piers, cursing his luck and mumbling about the stock market. I'm fine. Two children were running along the boardwalk, and Brunhilde realized that she was running alongside them, rather than merely watching. I'm fine. Crowds of nameless and faceless people wove shapeless words in and out of consciousness as they passed, and Brunhilde and the children turned a corner. I'm fine. She was suddenly on a fishing boat, far enough out at sea that all she could see in any direction was water, and a voice called out behind her. 'Lunch time. I packed some sandwiches for you guys. They're in the cooler over there,' the voice said, accompanied by the crack of an opening beer can. It was her father's voice. I'm fine.

Smoke, ash, sand, clay. Four scents and four colors. A fifth scent arose - that of iron, copper, blood. But red was not present. It felt like it came from within rather than from the outside world, and she smelled brine as well, and she heard people shouting. Two men and two women, one of whom was herself. A blackened tree stood in a sea of whites, greys, and browns, which was surrounded by yellowed and wilted grass. A faceless man stood under the tree, and a chain whip lashed out at her. The smell of blood worsened, and as the chain struck her in the chest, everything shattered.

---

She awoke in a strange place for the second time that day, and opened her eyes for the first time. It was a bedroom of a sort, and what she assumed to be her own bag was sitting on top of a desk. It had fallen over, and over a hundred pens of varying colors, ink types, and brands had scattered everywhere, indicating that whenever she had gotten here, she did not give a single, lonely fuck. The dream played over and over again in her head, growing less coherent with each pass, and she came to the conclusion that it wasn't one, but rather several dreams that had managed to get mashed up together, and it was not a fun one. She groggily flopped out of the bed and onto the floor, where her nose had a heart to heart chat with a red marker, two black ballpoint pens, and a green highlighter. Perhaps standing up would have been a good idea.

Five minutes of unpacking her things passed, and everything seemed to be in order, except for herself. Her left arm would not. Stop. Fucking. Twitching. It was rather disconcerting, and the twitching in the left arm was accompanied by a dull ache deep inside her left quadriceps and calf. Perhaps her nerves had yet to calm from whatever had happened. The bathroom seemed to be quite nice, if a little cramped, and the shower was very, very tempting. The scent of nothingness from that morning hadn't gone away in the rest of the room, but she herself most certainly didn't smell of nothing. She sniffed her arm and was surprised to discover that she smelled like a bonfire. Smoke, ash, and charred dirt. A shower was definitely in order.

Thirty minutes further, and she wandered out the door, with most of her daily supplies at the ready. A somewhat small, cheapish notebook that had been tucked into her bag told her that she was at a boarding school, what her name was, and the like. Most of it was stuff she already knew. A chuckle escaped her lips as she saw a note that she had memory loss - No shit. Some other pages from a totally different book were stuffed into the notebook as well, folded so they would fit - and written in her own handwriting. Two people were listed - one Avy and one Emi, and Emi seemed to be a very important person, according to what she assumed to be her past self. The third page seemed to be a very detailed log of what had been happening that day, but it cut off at roughly 1:08 PM, after a description of having gone to the library to make copies. Emi, the pink-head, had apparently been helping her that day. Brunhilde wrote in the notebook that wasn't hers that whatever had happened, she'd have to thank this Emi person somehow. She seemed to be an airhead, according to the copied journal page, so perhaps she would need a study buddy or something.

When she looked up from the notebook, she found herself in a rather interesting living room, with another door on the other side. A dorm of some sort, and it looked like it had been lived in by another person as well. Female, judging by the residual scent of everything except for super-masculine deodorant that very faintly wafted in from the other door. No sounds of motion on the other side, though, so she figured that her roommate was already out, and that they had either met, or they had by some miracle completely missed eachother that night. More walking.

The instructions in the notebook led her to the location at which she was supposed to have had her first lesson, and she recognized the blackened tree and circle of ash and sand. The dream hadn't quite stopped running through her head yet, and although she had no idea what had happened in it anymore, the image of that tree and the smells of charcoal and blood hadn't been forgotten. She distinctly got the feeling that whatever had happened yesterday had happened here, and that she had gotten up and walked away after it all ended. I'm fine.

She looked around for her instructors and her fellow classmates, ignoring the dull headache that had cropped up. She would be very much distracted during this class period.

---

---

At the scheduled time listed in the notebook, she departed for the cafeteria, explaining to anyone who protested that if she didn't try to keep a solid schedule, she wouldn't be able to function at all. The directions to the cafeteria were kindly provided by the notebook. Upon arrival, she found herself in possession of one meal voucher, which she promptly turned in for the chance at something she hadn't ever had before. Borscht, it was called - a peasant's meal from Russia, made with beets and other vegetables and beef, topped with a dollop of sour cream. Other students were lining up for food, and although a few looked like trouble, she managed to avoid contact with anybody. Her left arm hadn't stopped with the muscle spasms yet, so she opted to carry her food with the right hand instead, lest she accidentally dump it all over the floor.

She searched for other students who seemed interesting, and didn't seem like massive assholes. Regardless of whether Emi was present in the cafeteria, she figured she would try to find someone else to meet - perhaps make another friend, gather information. She'd intercept Emi as soon as lunch ended, but before then, she would pretend to be completely oblivious, to keep her friend from thinking Brunhilde was avoiding her. If the Giant (@Zelosse) were in the cafeteria, she would very easily spot him and take her place next to him and whomever he was with with a 'short' (ha-ha) hello.

Sacqui Shikoba had arrived at the academy late...near enough a whole day late to be exact, she'd barely had time to take everything in before the night drew in. Which was why she was up and out at the crack of dawn, eager to explore what she could before lessons started.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, Feather was sat on a grassy bank beside the river with a tattered leather journal in her lap and a pencil tucked between her fingers. The river was alive with activity in the early morning sun, it's aquatic residents lazily drifted through its depths whilst insects of many shapes and sizes danced across it's surface, illuminated by the warming rays of the morning sun. Nothing was quite as colorful as the array of dragonflies -whose size alone demanded sovereignty over the smaller insects- as they zipped to and fro. These creatures were both cautious and curious of the girl by the edge of the water, who was content with observing them from afar. Her eyes flickered left, right and center as she watched the dragonflies dip and dive through the air, showing off their impressive aerial control.

The insects weren't the only thing that caught her eye, occasionally her pencil flickered across the page, creating scruffy outlines a few of the rivers residents as they dawdled by or capturing the gentle rustle of the reeds nestled by it's banks. "I'd draw one of you, if you'd stay still long enough" She murmured under her breath as a dragonfly flashed past her eyes, before turning back to hover beside her just long enough for her to take in his majestic appearance. She was able to appreciate the intricate coloring of his slender body, the ultramarine shade of his underbelly that seemed to reach up the side of his abdomen to mingle with the electric blue casing of his back. His ethereal wings appeared as little more than a blur of movement by his side, though she tried to spot the speck of color at the tip of his wings aware of his telescopic eyes studying her whilst she studied him.

Their encounter was short lived, for in a blink of an eye, the dragonfly moved on. Dropping altitude and sweeping across the surface of the river. She tried to follow his movements but he seemed to meld into the glistening water, fading from sight faster than she'd thought possible. "Good enough" She commented, committing his image to the page in front of her. "Gotcha'...my little master of illusion" A smile lifted the edges of her mouth as she studied the rough sketch of the curious insect. "Leela ampaytu keen washtay* " She told herself closing the journal and getting to her feet.

Slipping the journal into her satchel, Feather gingerly made her way along the river bank, enjoying the soft feel of the grass and the rhythm of the earth beneath her bare feet. She had a lot to think about as she wandered towards the main building, running her fingers through her hair, she exhaled a puff of air and took in her surroundings. With time ticking on, a new layer of energy seemed to spread throughout the academy, with its content citizens setting about their daily routines and students heading out to school. Feather was in no hurry to join them, there was still so much of the academy she hadn't seen yet "Where to next?" she mused, pulling her satchel higher on her shoulder.

Unfortunately, her procrastinating was brought to an abrupt end as the bell rung, warning students that they had lessons to get to(?). 'Decision made' Feather thought as she quickened her pace and headed into the school building.

(*Today is a good day)

He tottally brushed off the fact she had been using his shower! Also Emi had apparently awoken the beast from his slumber. He clearly needed a shower too but she accepted him as he was now since he probably didn't want to be rude by waking her to shower before her. She shifted her arms as she had both hands bundeld together in front of her lap. Her face was still beetle red as he spoke to her and her eyes were pointed firmly at the ground in front of her.



Emi relaxed a little and looked up at Luke who was now standing too. She swung her body around a little to do something while standing stil as the blush on her face almost disappeared.



She titled her upper body to the left slightly and awkwardly laughed. He said to not forget her bag that was still in Luke his room. She hastily grabbed the thing and walked towards the front door again.



She went of quickly towards her own room where she would make herself ready for the morning classes.

Madison

"Well, I'm glad you're finally giving me the credit I deserve," Madison added, catching up to walk next to Vlad, "although I may not be able to do much in class given the current state of my arm. Wonder if Mr. K will give me a free pass...what do you think?"

As she asked him the question, Madison noticed some of the other students were staring at her and Vlad with a look of utter and complete disapproval. Yeah, so they were mortal enemies yesterday, but that was behind them already, or so she'd like to think.

"Can I help you with something?" Madison suddenly stopped walking, facing one of the students that had been staring at her and Vlad. "Because otherwise, you can continue walking," she said to the girl.

@KuramaaaZ

---

”Solid read.” Zephyr mentally commented as he savored the bittersweet storyline Kaori Ozaki infused with his very being. The ending was the ribbon that perfectly wrapped up the present, leaving the reader’s imagination as the sole torch bearer to continue the protagonists’ story. There wasn’t a single doubt that the conclusion was contrived. Although he relished the thought of walking hand in hand with Rio and Natsuru through their future days, his mind was already preoccupied with what he would sink his teeth into next. Right now, the current contestants were Nelson DeMille's Plum Island and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. The student raised the closed book high while it lead his eyes along upon its ascent. The article of literature blocked out the slivers of light that managed to permeate the tree overhead. His gaze lingered for a few moments more before he deposited the manga into his satchel.

After patting off the blades of grass that were way too adamant about clinging to his pants, something finally surfaced in his conscious. ”Oh right, I have to see Mr… Harbor…? No, it was Haggard. Wait, wait… Hargor.” Students passed by as the boy stood there, in the midst of an internal debate over the teacher’s name. After he finally honed in on it, another obstruction laid in his path. ”Where’s his office?”

Any passerby would see a boy standing aimlessly under a tree, appearing to lack a brain or any form of sentience. But on the contrary, a hectic war of mayhem was being waged within the poor kid’s mind. He finally came to the decision that he would simply ask around. Surely somebody would be apt to dispense some good will unto him.

A few moments later…

”This is hopeless…” Zephyr cried monotone with half of his body over the window pane, almost as if he was about to leap headfirst to the ground stories below. The boy had entered the academy life with the comfort that he was outfitted with at least a meager measure of preparedness.

Oh, how crippling the costs of naivety were.

Already socially inept, he found the concept of intruding upon somebody’s conversation beyond the boundaries of possibility. Even as he aimlessly strolled through the hallways like a piteous puppy that had lost its owner, the boy had been relentlessly broadsided with one social happening after another. There were even people making out, how was that even possible?! It was only the second day! Zephyr knew the human brain could be persuaded by sudden… urges, but seriously, how could such feelings ripen and come into fruition so quickly? The boy raked his head and thoughts simultaneously as he attempted to find some clarity in this confounding situation. His spirit only held up for only a little while before relinquishing the campaign, ”I’m never going to find Mr. Hargor’s office...”

Suddenly, his ears focused on the sound of footsteps approaching him at the speed of light. His peripheral vision noticed a figure race towards him from behind and fly through the window. Yet again another event where he was but a mere bystander occurred right before him, during which the only power bestowed upon him was to let out his low, but ultimately unheard ”Oh.”

He quickly identified the student as a male in the split second upon his descent. The guy called out back to him, ”Just follow the underground access door in the main haaaaaaaaaaaaall!” His gradually faintening voice answered throughout his plummet. The grip around the window pain only tightened as Zephyr traced his shrinking shape. Even though on his exterior the boy appeared to be his emotionless self, his mind was currently inwardly shitting itself. But he had already anticipated how this would play out. At ground level, the student was met with a wave of applause as he bleated his speed with his control over the air and primly landed on both feet. He turned away from the crowd to meet Zephyr vacant gaze and gave the first year an affable wave.

The darkness user could finally breathe again when he released his grip. If that whole entire event had been depicted in a book, it would have been deemed generic and would have reflected the writer’s capacity for originality. But thankfully this was reality. In all honesty, sometimes one just needs a mundane experience to offset the vast amount of insanity lurking in this world.

At Kano Hargor’s Office

Zephyr gave a thorough knock on the door. As much as he tried to fix his posture, there was nothing he could do about his bland complexion.
@Zelosse

---

She appeared to be a bit embarassed for showering in his room. which was slightly odd but it was whatever. Luke brushed it off, as showering was a daily necessity after all. His offer was denied, and Luke just shrugged, he can't or rather doesn't want to force people to do anything. Another yawn taking over him, he waved her off as she scuttled to leave his dorm. He glanced at himself in the mirror, and yeah, he was pretty unkempt, probably why she rushed to leave.

Guess its time to shower, I look really messy Luke thought, another yawn befalling him. He stepped into the shower, and let the water rain down on his body. And after a while he stepped out, used his power to dry himself and dressed up quickly, a dark blue beanie with some non-descript jeans. And after placing his glasses on, he stepped out of his dorm to start the day.

Luke had made up his made to use this day to train by the mana-enriched pools, he figured that his control was lacking. His Uncle did mention that it's the part of his training that should be his entire focus. So, that he did. With a turn, the door clicked, locking itself. He then begun his strut towards the enriched pools, but then a thought popped up in his mind, "... I probably need to ask for permission from Headmaster Kano, don't I?"

---

After a while of needless meandering and alot of dead ends, he managed to pull together his courage and ask a random student. Thankfully the random student didn't appear to know Luke's family history so that was a plus. After following the directions, he managed to get lost only twice, the Academy was a damnned maze if anything.

Approaching the door, he saw a student, (@Jedly). His facial feature appearing even more blank than Luke's, which was impressive in and of itself. "... Hello." Luke called, uncomfortable with talking with random people who might know his history, "Is this Headmaster Kano's office door?

---

---

The bowl of borscht was getting slightly cold. At this rate it'd actually be safe to try to eat by the time Brunhilde found a table to sit at. There wasn't anyone there that she recognized right off the bat, but then, she wasn't looking particularly hard. The biggest drawback of being 4'10" hit her in the back while she was looking about, and the borscht spilled a tiny bit on her right hand as a much taller student passed by. "Oh, er, sorry about that!", the student called. He was running like hell, like he was afraid or something. Was everyone there so bad tempered that they'd lash out for silly things like spilled borscht?

Brunhilde made herself a bit more noticeable by popping two feet into the air. The better view gave her an idea of what the cafeteria looked like to normally sized people, and she immediately saw an enormous mound of person shoveling food into his mouth. Fat guys were usually pretty nice, right? Maybe he'd be a good contact to keep track of. She dropped back to the ground, since her left side was too out of whack to stably hover, and approached him. He didn't seem to notice her at all at first, so she plopped down two seats away, since he was definitely big enough to take up the space of three chairs.

While Brunhilde cleaned the borscht off of her hand, the huge kid continued his feast. He didn't even appear to be chewing his food - more like inhaling it. In the space of under a minute, he had managed to consume what she could only surmise to be a quarter of her own mass in... Something edible, apparently. It made sense, though, given that he was something like seven or eight times her size - perhaps larger than even Andre the Giant had been. The small, temporary notebook flew open, and she offered her hand in greeting. "Hello. I hope you don't mind me taking this seat. I'm Brunhilde."

@Zelosse

"Maths...of all the subjects to start on" Feather lamented as she wound her way through the foreign halls of the school, courteously picking her way between the other students as she went. She stopped every now and then to ask for directions, careful not to disturb anyone playing with there powers. In return she was treated to a multitude of elemental displays; flames passed from one hand to the other, water slithering between fingers like a serpent and students levitating all manner of objects around their person....even themselves.

The majority of these tricks were small and executed perfectly but she did witness a fellow air student accidentally fling his shoe out of the window. 'I couldn't get my shoe through that window, unless I physically threw it' Then again she hadn't really tried out her power, unless making an eagle feather dance above her palm counted...it seemed pitiful compared to what the other students could do.

But hey, it was a start and the exact reason she was here! 'Someday I too, will be able to throw a shoe out of the window without touching it' She thought to herself with a grin. 'And if I'm lucky, I'll meet someone to talk to so I can stop talking to myself' It was a hard habit to kick, but at least she was talking in her mind and not out loud...with no animal in sight, it would have been a hard one to explain away.

With her mind running off on a tangent as she thought up 'good' excuses for talking to yourself, she ventured outside and over to the cafeteria. Once there, she wasted no time hopping into the line and securing herself something to eat. 'And now the age old problem of where to sit' Chances are it wouldn't have been such a problem if she'd of arrived on time...balancing her tray on one of her hands, she reached up to tuck her braid behind her ear, absently playing with one of the feathers as she scanned the cafeteria.

Her eyes were drawn to one table in particular and before indecision could seize her, she made a bee line towards it. Locking onto an empty seat across from the blonde giant and the small auburn haired girl, she rounded the table and slid her tray onto the table. "Hey, mind if I join you?" She asked, pulling her bag off of her shoulder and dropping down into the chair. "It's my first day here" She added, resting her bag on the floor beside her, she pushed her braid back behind her ear and gave them a smile. Aware that she may have interupted something, she was polite enough to pause for a brief moment before attempting to strike up or join the conversation "Have either of you been here long?" She questioned, glancing between the two of them and the tray in front of her, hopeful that her direct approach would pay off.

@Zelosse@Azereiah