Liam stood at the front of the ECAY. The Summer Break had really not been long enough; although it was not like his family had been thrilled to see him. Most of his time had been spent roaming as freely as he could given the ECAY handler who had been sent with him. Officially he had been given a pass to use his powers in a limited fashion under observation. No vesseling, no exorcisms, just talking to spirits and trying to figure out what they wanted without letting them inside. It had been a drag to say the least. The only upside was that he could finally shed the stupid anklet they’d put on him to alert his handler if he used his other abilities. It was ridiculous really.

Walking past the front gates he headed straight for the front doors. As much as Liam would have liked to go for a walk around the grounds it was hot enough to drive him inside and the anklet really needed to come off. There were lots of new faces in the lobby. Check in was a bitch when the new school year started. At Least that was his understanding; when he’d finally made it here it had been after the winter break. From what he understood the academy was getting ready to make a switch to a different semester system since the students breaks were never more than a few weeks. It would be more Efficient government was such a bitch and now that he was part of the system it was a real drag.

The vets were already moving through their check in stations. It was certainly better than the new students check in. It was question after question, physical exam, follow up psych evaluation, and then on to being assigned rooms for the semester, picking out schedules, and general orientation. Walking up to one of the check in personnel for the returning students Liam but his foot up on the table and the staff member removed the anklet for him. Moving to the next station he dropped his backpack on the table. Since the students didn’t move out until after they were twenty-one they basically lived in their dorms. There was really very little that was banned in the dorms and they rarely did searches but in the chaos of the start of a new semester they figured it was best to search what the students were bringing back, just in case.

Standing patiently Liam watched as the ECAY Taskforce member checked his bag: Clothes (Hardly suspicious), Laptop (Maybe it was a bomb? Doubtful.), Notebook (A.K.A Liam’s diary of crazy occult crap), assorted school supplies (hardly dangerous), assorted non perishables (delicious but nothing to be worried about). The man passed the backpack across the table to Liam and he scooped it up. The next segment was just a physical and scheduling a session with his “Councilor” basically just a glorified government shrink who he was required to meet with twice a month to make sure that he wasn’t exhibiting any symptoms from prior to his enrollment. So of the students had to see them, some didn't, some chose to, some were forced to. It was just a fact of living at the academy.

Slinging the backpack over his shoulder again he looked down at his schedule. Nothing of particular note this semester. Some of the classes on the list fell into a category known as metahuman studies and they were by far the most interesting but at the end of the day it was just more homework.

Digging in his pocket Liam found his keys and flipped open his note book. Climbing the stairs past the girls dorms he hopped the last two steps and started down the hall. There were a few empty rooms around him so no doubt he would have some new neighbors with the new group of students. Officially they were required to attend the evening's “Social” for the students. Luckily the student populace was not Massive so the gym was never crowded but it was one more social event that he didn’t really feel like attending.

I think you need more friends Liam.

“Sup Arty.” Liam tossed his bag on the bed and turned to face the door with a roll of his jaw and a tweak in the way he viewed the world he focused his ghost sight. Arthur was standing in the doorway. Arthur was a math nerd from the 90’s who a bunch of jocks had beat the shit out of and stuffed into a crawl space above a janitor's closet that was rarely used. It was the end of the school year and no one ever found Arty. The poor kid had died of a brain hemorrhage a few hours after he’d been shoved up there. He’d decomposed over the course of Bloomsburg high’s summer and no one ever found him. That was until Arty showed up three weeks into the start of the new semester and started annoying the shit out of Liam. It ended up that Arty actually managed to help Liam pass his midterm in his stats class; after that it had been a matter of taking a weekend to break into Bloomsburg high and finding the body. Arty had hung around after his burial apparently dead set on knowing who had done it to him. After more than a few angry arguments Liam had finally made it clear to Arthur that if he wanted to know who had done it, it could take years.

The cliche nerd pushed his glasses up his forehead. After they had buried Arty all of his death wounds had disappeared which seemed to indicated Arty could pass on at any time but the guy stuck around. Perhaps it was out of pity for Liam given that he’d cost Liam one of the few dates he’d had. Ever.

The usual, I’m rather discouraged with progress on the three remaining “perps”

Arty actually used the air quotes.

“I know we haven’t made progress but you know I had to go home for a few weeks and the others have needed attention too. Noah stopped pushing people into Hendrick’s pond right? I told him I just needed a little more time and we’d know which of his brothers drugged him and drowned him.”

Arty nodded at the question. That was a good sign; Noah hadn’t actually killed anyone yet as far as Liam could tell but it he’d been coming closer and closer with each person he’d dragged into the pond. “Okay. Do me a favor? Set up the cork board again. I’ll leave the map and the yearbook and we’ll go over the possibilities again when I get back from the social?” Arty nodded again before sniffing and pushing his glasses up his nose.
You should find some friends. They might be able to help

Liam chuckled as he walked out of his room and headed down stairs towards the gym. Arty was a good spirit which was rather unusual since most of the spirits were quite angry by the time Liam found them. Opening his note book again he continued down the stairs towards the gym. It was an hour and change before the official start but people should start filtering in pretty quick. Perhaps he could find a good table to camp out in and keep working. There were only three opportunities to run field trips this semester and he had to make them count so the research started now.

Ashleigh hadn't left the academy. She had spent the break essentially closed up in her dorm room, doing very little. She hadn't wanted to go home, and her mother hadn't pressured hertoo. Even now, with Paulina's bracelet, Ashleigh still had difficulty with others emotions. While it wasn't overwhelming, she prefered to keep her own company. Being out there...she wasn't ready to face it. She still had nightmares , of that night. If her healing ability hadn't kicked in, Ashleigh would be dead. During those nightmares, Ashleigh had initially caused terror, until the bracelet had been made for her.

She looked at it, a simple piece of bling that wouldn't attract attention, the runes on it somehow prevent the complete use of her empathy. Thereby dulling her healing effect. Ashleigh still wore gloves, despite the effectiveness of the bracelet. She wore black gloves, which flowed easily to the long sleeved black shirt she often wore, leaving the only bare skin she showed as her face. Giving a soft sigh, she rolled over on her bed. Students would be checking in, old ones zooming through the process and new ones going through the deary process of first admission. She already had her schedule, getting there early to retreive it, and had retreated back to her dorm once she had.

Glancing about her, ashleigh took out a small bag, with three white pills in it. She hadn't touched the drugs for a few months, but they stil held a lure to AShleigh. She even felt some effect with them, now that she had the bracelet. But was it even worth it, now? Giving a heavy sigh, she put the pills back in their hiding place again, knowing one day she would succumb and take them, that she wasn't strong enough to get rid of them, strong enough to resist them.

She supposed she should get up, and go to the gym. She didn't want to be dragged there. Rubbing her eyes, Ashleigh grumbled to herself, rising and changing clothes. She pulled her hair back, and grabbed the book she had been reading. They can't say I didn't go, but they can't make me talk with anyone She thought to herself, tucking the book under her arm, she started out to the gym, deliberately getting there early to find somewhere she could sit by herself, she sat in a corner, and opened her book, immersing herself in it.

It took Jason 10 minutes to find the office. When he finally got there A map was hastily shoved into his hands and he was shooed out. He scanned his Map looking for the gym where the social would take place. Finding the gym was a more difficult task than he anticipated. The school was massive, and intimidating, which surprised him. The special schools he had always attended were usually fairly small. He managed to squeeze through the gym does quietly and quickly. He scanned the room observing every individual. Within seconds he had observed everyone in the room. However the only one to catch his eye was a girl who seemed to isolating from everyone else, her hair hanging down and covering her face as she was bent over reading a book. He started to approach her, but then thought better of it.clearly she just wants to be left alone, I understand that feeling painfully well. he thought.

.

Vedika stood on the roof of the building, overlooking the nearby scenery. As the wind brushed through her hair, an inspirational quote popped into her head: "Look Simba, everything the light touches is our kingdom."

Hmm. Maybe not the most awe-inspiring quote, still, she had to keep herself occupied somehow over the break, which she did through climbing. Everything. She wasn't allowed t ogo back to her family, as far as the 'normal world' was concerned, she was serving time in prison for manslaughter. She'd only gotten to see her family a few times in the past five years when they'd pressed for visitation rights, in which case an elaborate ruse was set up where Vedika was carted off to the prison nearest her home and told to pretend to be a prisoner. As funny as that might sound, it was one of the few times where the reality of her situation actually got her down; she couldn't stand to lie to her parents and siblings like that, and the thought of it had made the tears come, tears that all the more convinced her family that she was a prisoner and hating prison life. Technically, she was a prisoner, but if she didn't think too hard about it (and she rarely thought hard about anything), life at the Academy wasn't half-bad. She was in her senior year, and looking forward to the future. Perhaps one day, if she does as she's told, she'll redeem herself, and return home a hero of sorts. Yeah, maybe she'll become one of the world's first superheroes, that's what people with unusual powers were supposed to do, right?

A clatter brought Vedika out of her reverie as the roof access door unlocked and opened noisily. "Hey! How'd you get up here?" called the voice of some janitor or roof technician.

"Shit!" Vedika clambered over the chain link fence and let herself drop. As she plummeted towards the ground, she focused her mind and concentrated on her core strength. She struck the ground like a steel statue, stiffly bouncing once before stopping. Coming out of her defensive state, she noticed that she had left two nasty bumps in the soft earth. Looking up she could see the janitor looking down at her through the fence in annoyed awe.

With a silly, apologetic face, Vedika slinked away and headed for the gym where the social would take place. She would take it upon herself to make all shy newcomers feel welcome, and maybe even try to soften the barriers of some of the non-freshmen who she hadn't been able to close the distance with.

So this was the ECAY, huh? Elaine stood at the front of the building, observing it with a rather neutral expression as she chewed on a piece of beef jerky. She couldn't say she was all that impressed, if anything it looked like your normal academy or high school. Then again she wasn't easily impressed, and perhaps she was an ill judge. All she knew, is that she was going to be glad to get inside. It was a little warm out here for her liking, and the summer break hadn't entirely been kind to Elaine. Arguing with her parents, being under strict supervision by some ECAY handler and told to be careful with her abilities. What? Did they think she was going to just start eating people or something? Pathetic. She had a little more self control than that.

Slinging her bag over her shoulders, she headed inside. She didn't want to waste energy walking around, she'd get a tour soon enough...probably. If not, she'd explore later when she could be bothered. Likely at the time she could have minimal social interaction. People tended to be fairly tiring to deal with, and she didn't have much energy to spare. If the way the check-in looked in the lobby, this was going to be more tiring than she was used too. Eugh. Maybe she should try taking a nap after this, as futile as she knew it would be.

Silently, she walked up to one of the stations for new students and waited as an ECAY personnel checked her bag. A bunch of dried jerky and some other non-perishable food. Clothes, of which she only had a few changes of. Some various books about philosophy and psychology, and a laptop. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the amount of food stuffed in her bag. After that, was the standard routine for new students.

Question after blah blah more questions. She answered them promptly, though in a tired somewhat half-assed way that seemed to make the questioner a little annoyed, but she finished regardless. Next was the physical exam, and aside from a comment about how...underweight she looked, she was perfectly healthy. The Psych evaluation prove a bit less...kind, though. While it wasn't anything extreme, she was told to at least try and work on her general grumpiness and well, try to actually get some sleep. Nothing she hadn't been told before. getting a schedule followed, as well as a general orientation to the place.

By the end of it, she really felt like she was about to drop on the spot. Urgh, why did dealing with people have to be so tiring? She slung her bag over her shoulder, biting into another piece of jerky as she set off towards her dorm with a slow gait. With a yawn, she reached her assigned dorm and waltzed in without even looking at anyone else or seeing if any of the neighboring ones were empty. She tossed her bag on the bed, yawning again and stretching.

The dorm looked like...well, any dorm one might imagine. Desk to study at. Bed. Noting too impressive. She flopped down on the bed, yawning again and taking up the entire bed as she laid across it. Just a few minutes would be nice, really. She closed her eyes, feeling the warm embrace of the mattress on her back....

Seconds passed.

Minutes.

...and she opened her eyes again. Barely a few minutes passed. She yawned again, feeling somewhat defeated. Well, whatever. It wasn't like she was going to have to do anything else for the rest of the - right. The 'Social'. For the love of the great spirits...did they want her to die of exhaustion or something? Urgh, they better have a lot of food there in that case to at least to make this worthwhile, else she might get more than a little cranky. The entire check-in process had already sufficiently made sure to put her in a bad mood...this was liable to put her into an even worse one.

With a tired sigh, she sat up on the bed. She'd take some food with her just in case. As long as she ate, she'd be fine. She'd sort out her things later. For now, she wanted to get this little soiree over with, with as little interaction as possible. She stuffed some dried jerky in her pockets, left her dorm and headed to the gym.

Crown woke up like any other day. Alone and tired, but he expected such. Only 4 hours tonight. It happens almost every night when he is at his computer. Trying to escape this place in any way possible. He didn't actually want to escape, well he did but wasn't going to actively pursue this idea. He was already in a world of trouble for his case, hopefully the worst they could do is keep him here for the rest of his life. Maybe even let him take off his gloves whenever he wanted. Those damn gloves! Crown looked down at them with anger. The school's way of keeping his power's contained. For the most part. He had about five minutes to get them back on whenever they left him. He wasn't sure how, but they would know if he took them off for too long and if someone else had them. He learned that the hard way when he tried giving them to a freshmen.

Crown kicked his rolling chair across the room just thinking about how caged he really was, but it didn't make him fell any better. With a sigh he grabbed his backpack and slung it across one of his shoulders, leaving his room for the first day of the new semester. Thank God he was able to check in alone and with a lot less scrutiny. He had on his usual getup, minus his leather jacket instead keeping just a plain white shirt. Too hot for all that and too bright to go without shades! Gym was where he seemed to be heading for the "Social". He had a total of seven minutes to get there. Needless to say, he booked it as fast as possible, moving anyone in his way. There had seem to be even more people then last semester. Maybe their accepting anything that could be considered "Special". Maybe someone who can juggle four balls instead of three.

Beating the bell by just two minutes, Crown stumbled into the Gym panting and already sweating a little. He caught his breath and picked up his head looking at the rest of the students there. "Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen!" Crown called out to all his peers. He sounded a little sarcastic, but anyone who knew him could never tell.

Liam pursed his lips as he surveyed the room. Apparently no one had anything better to do as there was already a girl he recognized camped out in the corner he’d been hoping to occupy. Ashlyn? Ashleigh?... The second name sounded right. Now what was it she could do? Liam stood staring stupidly for an overly lengthy time before he noted her gloves. OOOOOoooh Tactile Empathy that’s right closing his note book Liam walked over to the one of the tables set out for food and loaded up his plate. As he was doing so the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he looked up listening before he looked down the length of the table.

“I swear Annamarie if you throw that can of soda I’m going to stuff you in my couch again. Arty told you we will search your last house for your Teddy bear this weekend so please. Try not to isolate me socially anymore than you’ve managed to do.” The spirit in question looked like an eight year old little girl complete with pig tails and long socks. She put the soda can down and pouted.

I miss Sir Galahad. Hurry up, I’m so lonely

The corner of Liam’s mouth twitched up into almost a smile. “I know sweet heart. Arty and I will find him this weekend just hang on for a couple more days.” With that Liam collected his plate and his notebook. Turning around he looked up to locate a fringe table when he noted Vedika slinking into the gym. One of the few non socially awkward individuals the Academy had to offer but also a bit of a troublemaker if the spirits who hung around Liam were to be believed. She looked guilty currently so no doubt she’d been up to something. Chuckling Liam headed for a table relatively close to Ashleigh, she’d already taken the prime real estate but suburbia would do for now.

As Liam set his notebook down and then the plate of food his ears pricked up at a “Hello Ladies and Gentlemen” from behind him turning he quirked an eyebrow. The cool guy look picked him out as Crown, not a bad guy but another one of those people who’d ended up here because of some final shitshow showdown with their powers. Liam shuddered, he knew the feeling; most of what he knew about the other students had been part of an agreement with an older ghost who in life had been a paranoid ex con burglar. At the time of his death he’d been shot by a young mother whose home he’d broken into because he thought that everyone was gone for the evening. Suffice to say while he was going through their personal files the young woman had shot him four times in the back. This was from the days when people cared less about shooting unarmed people who broke into your home.

When Leonard had showed up looking for one final information heist Liam couldn’t say no. The old ghost was a master burglar and as a result had Liam’s body crawling through the academy air ducts and through maintenance tunnels Liam hadn’t even known existed. This had been at almost the start of the semester last year and it had netted him the basic personal files on about two dozen students. Suffice to say it was not nearly all of their information since Leonard hadn’t been able to break into the Principal's office but it had landed him things like: names since he was too much of an awkward child to ask people stuff like that, and abilities for a few people. Anyone new he was on his own for since it had only been stuff on part of the currently enrolled students. In the end it worked out as Leonard finally got his rest.

Blinking out of walk down memory lane he caught Marianne eyeing the sodas again and he pointed at her giving her the universal signal for “I’m watching you”. No doubt the gesture made Liam look absolutely batty since as far as he knew he was the only one who could see spirits at the academy. Liam had stopped caring about four weeks into the semester when he was inundated with a whole new batch of ghostly companions to deal with. As a result most people just thought he was a batshit telepath since on more than one occasion the spirits had gotten pissed off enough to do things like push people down stairs or make lights shatter on people who had given Liam shit for it. It was rare but Liam savored the look on people who were nasty to him whenever a spirit recognized that the offender was not Liam and was someone else.

The only time things had gone south was when Arty had actually stabbed a kid with a kitchen knife who had shoved Liam into the refrigerator in the common kitchen. Something about the bully had triggered something in Arty. As a result Arty had nicked the top of the kid’s kidney with a knife. Everyone blamed Liam but the staff hadn’t done a thing about it since the instructors were aware of Liam’s situation and after reviewing the information and taking Arthur’s testimony via a possession they had warned the spirit that it would be removed from the premise if such behavior continued and then freed Liam. It had all been rather surreal given that any other student who did such a thing would probably have been severely disciplined.

Situating himself at the table Liam opened his notebook and pulled out his phone. Arty was right they were losing time. Most of the five guys who had beaten him had grown up and moved. The problem was tracking them down and there were still three of them. Realistically he need to propose a field trip that could encompass all three of them since he only had two more for other spirits that he no doubt would have to make trips for. Noah could be handled over the course of a few weekends and Annemarie would be easy to take care of this coming weekend since they shouldn’t have much homework from the first week of classes.

As Liam scrolled through some old news articles his hairs suddenly stood on end again only this time it felt like the room had changed temperature drastically. Looking up from the notebook slowly almost as though he didn’t want to look he shifted to his spirit sight. The feeling was all too familiar…

There was an Outsider nearby

Liam gulped and looked up at the stairwell. What the hell was it.

After leaving her room, she realized it might be a good idea to take a book with her. She was mostly going to focus on eating, since she could definitely smell food coming from downstairs, but having something else to occupy herself with would be a good idea. A pleasant distraction. She went back to her dorm and grabbed one of her psychology books before heading down. Thankfully, the trip to the Gym wasn't a long one, and she didn't have to say hello to any of the other students on the way there. Descending the stairs, her stomach growled rather loudly as she opened the door to the gym behind some other student who was panting and sweating a little. Working out, was he? Or maybe he was just a delinquent trying to not be late.

"Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen!"

The sudden loud greeting from the student caused Elaine to visibly cringe, holding a hand to cover the ear closest to the boy.

"Annoying." Elaine grumbled quietly to herself as she walked away. Always some loud fool making a nuisance of themselves in events like this, and she had no desire to be in his vicinity. Of course, if he wanted to pursue her for that little comment if he had heard it that would be entirely on him. She was focused entirely on getting some delicious food and possibly getting rid of this troublesome urge a bit.

Elaine walked over to the table where the food was. The book would make it somewhat difficult to carry plates, but she could deal. Wasn't like lifting anything would be a problem. She'd just have to balance it well. She placed her book on the table, setting a plate on top of it, and began filling it...with some of everything. When it was full, she got a second plate and began filling it, followed by a third. Three plates full of food should do for now, she'd get more later if there was any left. Picking up the plate with the book on it in one hand, picking up the second and balancing it on her forearm, and the third in her left hand. She probably looked like some sort of professional waiter carrying this much without effort.

She just had to find an empty seat, and she'd be fine...but she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. was someone watching her? She wasn't shy and didn't have social anxiety of any sort...but she couldn't let the feeling go. As she looked across the room to find a relatively empty, quiet seat, she also scanned the people in the room, but quickly gave it up. It'd be annoying to deal with it so she might as well not try.

Instead, she moved to a seat at the end of a table with a few people, sat the plates and the book down, and started eating.

Adrian sat against the outside wall of the academy, legs crossed, head leaned back. He had also stayed for the summer, having no one to go to, there was no point to leave. Either way, the school would not risk him relapsing. Progress had been made with him, progress that was not easy. But his outbursts were farther between. Lifting his head, he glanced down at the belt around his waist. He took a deep breath, fiddling with the belt buckle. He left it alone however, he learned all too well that the belt also had a way of alerting the school. He could feel his anger increasing, and a deep shaky breath was drawn in. With shaking hands, he dug into his pocket, withdrawing a red box with black letters. Fumbling it open, he withdrew one of the thin cylinders. A cigarette, his choice of poison. Not that he cared. Placing it in his mouth, he focused on the end of the cylinder, lighting it.

A while later, and several cigarettes later, he raised himself off of the ground, tucking the rectangular box back into the pocket of his jeans. He walked inside through the gates, knowing it was time for him to check in. Glancing around, he stepped inside, moving around the large group of people, going to the line for returning students. Filtering through, he found the longest spot was the counselor. He hated the counselor, too much time was spent talking, and he was done with it. His nose flared, a shutter running down his spine, closing his eyes tightly. At that, the counselor understood enough was enough, and sent him on his way. Picking up his schedule, he walked quickly up his stairs, to his dorm. His dorm, that had seen better times. Burn marks on the wall were signs of bent up frustration that he had expelled by blasting fire out of his hands. Thankfully, most damage was no severe. Tossing the paper on his bed, he once against left. For the oh so important social.

Last social didn’t turn out the best, he had one of his outbursts at the end and his belt kicked in to prevent him from using his powers, but the table he was sitting at was still broken by the time he had finished. Needless to say, he had spent some time chilling out afterwards. At that point, he wasn’t considered stable enough to leave campus, and almost always someone had a close eye on him. He shook his head, that wasn’t to be thought of now. Walking into the room, he studying the people present, narrowing his eyes slightly, recognizing some old faces, pondering about the new. But alas, he knew it was best to leave them be. Walking over to the food table, he gathered himself a plate before finding an empty table against the wall. He didn’t want to risk an outburst, and he would rather not be surprised by anyone, or for that matter anything.

Liam’s jaw almost bounced off the table as he looked at the girl who had just entered the gym. There was no way. It had been years and he’d never encountered another Outsider. Annemarie winked out of existence as soon as the girl entered the gym. Interesting, the other spirits feel to. Steeling himself Liam continued to peer at the Outsider possessing the girl. There was no doubt she was new because Liam had made damn certain that there were no other Spirit Vessels or mediums enrolled at the academy. Apparently they were a pretty rare breed but still it had been odd that there were no others at the Academy.

Peeling back the veil further Liam did his best to get a grasp on what it was that was possessing the girl. It was clear that it was a nonhuman spirit; but what was it. The thing had physical characteristics he could only describe as hunger. It was strange staring at spirits sometimes because they usually had traits one could only describe as urges, passions or emotions. There was no other way to describe the physical characteristics no one thing could be pointed to, it was like they had some additional dimension to them that was like looking at emotions. Tracking her movements Liam watched as she loaded her plates. While it didn’t appear to have physical manifestations initially the way she loaded her plates made a lot of sense. So why does she look like she’s acting normal? That has to be a wicked power spirit… There was absolutely something else going on with this girl.

As she walked towards a table she seemed to scan the now more crowded gym. Interesting, I wonder if that’s just good intuition or if my sight has a physical effect. Slowly closing his book Liam watched until she sat down at the end of a table.

Make some new friends

“Oh Arty you are not going to be happy about this choice I have no doubt.[/i]

Standing up Liam moved slowly through the group of students who had currently gathered in the Gym. Being careful to be as unassuming as possible he walked over to where she was sitting at the end of the table. Putting his hand on the back of a chair next to her he pulled it out partially.

“Hello, do you mind if I sit here?”

Regardless of her response the range gave him a better look at the possessing spirit. It was decidedly not human. Additionally it appeared to be trapped in some manner which explained the lack of physical manifestations other than the fact that the girl seemed to be kind of thin. Being careful not to open himself up to the spirit realm besides his sight Liam did his best not to make his starring obvious. Was this really what he’d been looking for the last year? There was no way. Whatever had gotten ahold of him had been fully malevolent and delighted in fear and torment. This thing just felt…hungry

@Rune_Alchemist

Crown saw a girl's face seem to look hurt or annoyed by his greeting. While some of the others greeted him back and gave him various handshakes, the girl walked away to get food. He never met her before and she definitely caught his attention. So he followed he to where she was going to sit, in as least creepy way as possible. "I don't think she cares for anything, but food right now." Crown joked as he sat down in a empty seat near Liam and Elaine. He addressed her first.

"Sorry about earlier, It looked like I pissed you off, somehow. Well here, hopefully this will make up for it.". Crown tore out one of the basic sunflowers that are used all around the school for decoration. He crushed the flower and wrapped his other hand around the stem. With just a couple of quick turns, it had changed. He opened both hands and presented a Blue Rose to Elaine. "Watch the thorns. They got me a few times while making it. " Crown warned her with a genuine smile to his gift. He used to do that all the time back home with the ladies. They always liked that one.

Crown placed the Rose in front of her and looked to Liam. "What's up man, it looks like you've seen a ghost.."
@Rune_Alchemist
@Themerlinhawk

Ashleigh looked up, feeling someone's gaze on her, she tilted her head. I suppose it was only a matter of time, before someone noticed me She thought to herself, setting the book aside, she absently gave a way, closing the cover with a mere thought. It thumped shut with a soft sound. Her dark eyes studied the boy who had been about to approach her, and she decided to take sympathy on him. She rose smoothly, and ensuring that the bracelet was still on her wrist, clasped well, and that her gloves didn't let any strip of skin show, she walked over to him.

"Did you want something?" She asked, polite enough, but she di@Hitman5455dn't offer her hand in greeting, instead keeping it by her side. It was rare that Ashleigh would put herself out, yet she remembered what it was to be there, on the first day. She had come half-way through a semester, recovered from her beating, and intimidating by everyone, an deverything, spending days cowering under the weight of emotions, until the bracelet.

As she thought about it, her hand strayed to it, as if to reassure herself that it was there. She looked up at the greeting, and frowned slightly, looking about her. There was a strange collection of emotions. She looked towards Liam, shook her head, and back to the boy she was talking to, pushing the emotions to be back of her mind. It was easy to do, with the bracelet.

@Thecrash20
@Themerlinhawk

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As soon as she sat down, Elaine started eating. Normally at first. Using her silverware as normally as possible. Fork to...fork things, spoon to scoop things, knife to cut things. As much as she didn't like being here, free food like this was an easy way to get on her good side. Or at least, on her less-bad side anyways. Not to mention, it was surprisingly good, though she wasn't exactly an accurate judge of 'delicious' since she'd eat just about anything as long as it wasn't directly poisonous or toxic. As she ate though, she started going faster, almost forgetting she was eating in public.

She had just brought a handful of lettuce to her mouth, ready to hungrily devour it when Liam walked up. She heard him of course, and realized that she had likely been eating in a somewhat off-putting way, but didn't care. Instead, she held up a single finger, chewing the last bit of food in her mouth before speaking. Might as well be somewhat polite she didn't want to start anything. That'd be tiring, but at least she was feeling less like death after eating.

"Do what you want." Elaine said to Liam in rather strained, tired voice, eyes just briefly turning to him for only a few moments before returning to the table. She was just about to get back to eating when the loud one from earlier had taken a seat next to her as well. She narrowed her eyes at him somewhat suspiciously as he took a flower. He had followed her, it seemed. Either she was prettier than she thought, or these guys were up to something since they seemed to know each other. He placed a blue rose in front of her, seeming to at least appear friendly. Well, it wasn't food...or money. So she had very little use for it.

"Oh no, it's alright. You just almost broke my ear drums." She grumbled, wolfing down the last of the food on one of her plates and setting it to the side as she grabbed another. "And I have little use for trinkets." She barely even looked at the flower, before returning to her plate. She didn't particularly want an apology anyways.

People liked to call what Jason did judging, but to him it was never like that. He never made any kind of personal judgment when he was observing or trying to read someone. It was purely objective. He was always chastised by his past therapists "never judge a book by its cover" but more than often, he found he was right. Alright, time to quit being a creep and actually socialize.

"Did you want something?" The words cut through his daydream like state like a razor. Caught off guard he instinctively began to "hyper react" as he called it" As he turned to face her, time had already slowed for him. He quickly realized it was the girl he was observing earlier. Huh that's odd, How did did she notice me watching her? Her hair had been draped over her face like a curtain. Calm down, just talk to her.
"S-sorry I didn't mean to bother you." He stuttered still a little taken aback by the fact that she noticed him.
@caits

Adrian watched the interaction of people around him, picking up on two interactions relatively close by. One consisted of a girl with a pile of food, currently being bothered by two boys. From the looks of it, she was frustrated by the presence of the two who simply wanted to be alone with her food. One, had a keen focus, studying, trying to figure something out. The other, was more juvenile, using his abilities to create a flower. He quickly felt a bitterness growing inside of him. All fire did was destroy. Why couldn't he have gained a creative power. Why couldn't he have given his family flowers instead of destroyed them!

A shudder went through him, feeling a drastic change in temperature. He gasped briefly, before panic filled him. His hands shook, eyes closing tightly. He struggled to return his breathing to normal. He placed his hands flat on the table, before cursing as he felt the table heating under his hand. He snapped open his eyes, lifting his hands, grimacing at the burn marks on the table. He stood, grimacing. Such a small thing, so capable of setting him off. He quickly, and stiffly walked towards the doors, shoving by anyone who stepped into his way.

Once standing outside the doors, he took another shaky breath. Closing his eyes he leaned against the wall, leaning his head against it. His breathing was almost under control. The cold caused another shudder, his nostrils flaring briefly as he took a breath in. He knew he couldn't leave, due to attendance being mandatory, but he could at least step out of the gym to calm himself. He was sure they would understand.

The boy seemed to be confused, nervous. Puzzled. Ashleigh tilted her head, studying him. He seemed...not exactly agitated, but something like it. What did he fear? She wondered, feeling some sympathy for this boy. She wondered what she was going to get herself into. Perhaps she should have stayed with her book.

"No, it's okay. I'm never not bothered, all these...hormones in the air" she said with mild amusement, a little inside joke. Sometimes she was surprised there weren't any pregnancies in this school. Yet it was more emotions, flying about. Teenagers particularly were highly volatile, with their emotions. Another reason she had to be thankful for Paulina.

She looked about at the wild panic, frowning again, watching a boy leaving the gym. Someone else to talk to, she supposed. She couldn't have that wild panic overwhelming her. Even with the bracelet, it might be bad. She looked back for eh boy she was talking with, "I'm Ashleigh" she said politely, "are you new here?" A valid question, given she rarely took in the other students unless something attracted her attention. Mainly their emotions.

Unlike most students of The Academy who were permitted to leave over the break, Paulina did not. In fact, she’d spent the majority of the break buried inside a stack of books in the library, occasionally taking a break to roam across the school and examine the enchantments that were tacked into its walls. The school’s faculty, and their government overseers, had been ecstatic when she had demonstrated just how versatile her enchantments were. A good example was the gymnasium: over the summer break they had completed a total renovation of the walls, in which she had overseen the carving of a special enchantment into the concrete that was designed to absorb the energy of kinetic impacts and convert it into electrical energy. That energy was then channeled through conduits buried inside the walls into storage batteries, effectively allowing the student’s rough-housing to help power the school.

As such, she was also required to inspect all of the enchantments that she had placed and ensure that they were still functioning, as a test of how long they could be sustained. The gymnasium was also a test to see if she could create a self-sustaining enchantment; one that could operate completely independent of her. Time would tell if her theory was correct, but she was reasonably confident in it, after all, it was simple physics.

Well, it was physics, at any rate.

The rest of her time was spent memorizing every single anatomy and biology textbook the library possessed, just as she was doing now. She was already working on another theory that she was hoping to test soon, one that, if she was right, would bring her a step closer to her goal. Of course, if she was wrong, then it wouldn't work at all and she'd be at another dead end. Not that that was at all new. Any branch of science, even one with such ill-defined rules as “magic”, was a matter of trial and error. The hard part would be convincing somebody to let her try it on a test subject.

An alarm on her phone startled her out of her research, and she groaned as she looked at the time. If she didn't get moving now she'd be late for the dumb social that she had to attend. She'd been rather firmly reminded of that after she'd missed last year because she'd been too wrapped up in her work. Well, I suppose I could use a break, she mused, stacking the large pile of books onto a nearby table. The librarians got very irate about wrongly shelved books.

Flipping her laptop into tablet mode, she clicked her shoes together to activate the enchantments melted into the soles and skated in the direction of the gym, reviewing her notes as she went. Along the way, she paused to check on the Chem Lab that had been sealed off since her sophomore year. One of the physics professors, being more skeptical about calling her enchantments “magic”, had argued that there were limits to what they were physically capable of, and had jokingly compared her to the ancient alchemists who tried to convert lead into gold. She had taken it as a challenge, and now there was approximately 50 grams of heavily irradiated gold sitting inside the lab. Despite her assurances that the enchantment circle was completely secure and that it was impossible for the radiation to leak out (technically that wasn’t true, but the discharge was controlled to the point that it was only little above the regular background radiation that people were exposed to all the time), the faculty decided that they weren’t going to allow classes to be held in that particular lab until she came up with a way to get rid of the radiation entirely.

Of course, when other students had heard about what had happened, she’d been pestered for nearly a month about a repeat performance, only with larger amounts of easier to acquire elements, like iron. Her reply had been that she would be happy to make the conversion, as long as they were okay with not being able to spend their newly-gained gold for about 700 years.

Satisfied that the enchantment circle was still holding, she continued on her way towards the gymnasium, gliding across the floor as effortlessly and gracefully as a figure skater, though with not nearly as much flair. At least until she rounded the corner to the gym, and ran smack into the boy leaning against the wall.

The disadvantage to having one’s feet float a few centimeters off the floor was that you had even less grip than actual roller skates. As a result, upon colliding with the boy she immediately lost her balance, sending her laptop flying out of her arms and her glasses skittering across the floor. ”Oww, crap, not again,” she mumbled to herself, one hand over her eyes as the other rubbed her now aching butt.

[@SomeoneSomewhere]

Jason mentally lowered his guard. His therapists were actually right for once, he had read her wrong. She was friendlier than he expected. It occurred to him him as he looked around momentarily that he's attempting to read these people in the same way that he reads "normal people" and like himself he knew they weren't normal. Time to cut the superior analytical bullshit, and act like a normal human being. He was painfully aware that It was a mentality he sometimes took as a defense mechanism.

He chuckled at her joke. "Yeah I'm new here, sorry for being kinda weird, this place is just a bit overwhelming. I'm Jason by the way." He smiled feeling at ease. It had been so long since he had been able to interact with other people his age like this. Without being called a freak. The thought of the word sent a wave of nausea rippling through his body, as the terrible memories momentarily surfaced. But he managed to keep a casual face.
@caits