Mikhail Suburov-Tachibana

Mikhail blinked, his first thoughts being:

So, I pass up the opportunity to be with a very pretty girl, but fate gives me said opportunity again? He didn't know how to feel about that, nor about Alice now.

She's interested in Nico! his jealous side thought, we must - Mikhail's more sensible self tried to stop that train of thought by pushing back with hammer-like force. He might have continued on in this vein...until Valechka began acting racist towards him. His subsequent thoughts as regards Val were:

If I had my power activated now, your stink would be intense. To think I'd be subjected to racism almost immidiately after coming back to school. Mikhail faced a choice. Bear with it, or start a fight and perhaps a feud, or do show your barbs, but don't do anything beyond that. He would then say to Valcheska as she went to the corner of the group:

"Yes. I'm of 'impure' stock," Mikhail added a sarcastic tone to the word impure. "If you want a brawl over that, give a time and place. People who care about what bloodline a person has instead of what they do are people who don't know other beings as well as they should." His words could have been stronger, but he decided not to be overly brash. He would then sight Donovan, aka the bullying redhead, close by to two friendlier-looking people.

"Now, if you would excuse me," he proclaimed publicly, "I have more people to set boundaries with." He then looked at Nico one final time, and then walked over to Donovan, his gait and expression slow and stormy.

Once he reached the bullying redhead, Mikhail would then say, after having activated Aura of the Cornerstone, which allowed him to resist whatever magic Donovan had to hurl:

"Hey, you promised to break Nico's nose if he messes with you; you should know that I'll break yours if you mess with him." Mikhail was capable of carrying out this threat, being Donovan's physical equal.

@January@KOgaming@Ayemdar@Nanashi Ninanai@Scio@banjoanjo

DONOVAN HORSKA

Before he could even get a response from Hippy Smoke Guy, the Running Fist Guy stormed up to him.

"Hey, you promised to break Nico's nose if he messes with you; you should know that I'll break yours if you mess with him."

Donovan raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, what?”

…was he fucking serious? He really couldn’t wait ten more minutes to do this? Donovan was kinda in the middle of something here! Fuck, this was NOT his day at all. His chances of getting together a team, hell, of maybe even making a friend (“Friend” might be too strong. Ally? Acquaintance?) were going to be dramatically reduced. Who did this prick think he is?! Moreover, who the fuck was Nico? If this fucker in front of him really thought that Donovan kept track of every single threat he’d made he was sorely mistaken, with extra emphasis on the “sorely” part, depending on how this conversation went.

His mind went back a bit. He remembered seeing Running Fist hanging around in that little group of nerds earlier. Glasses was there too. Ohh, right. Well fuck, this was really coming back to bite him in the arse.

Donovan thought through his situation. He needed to wreck this little shit in front of him, but he couldn’t look bad in front of Formal Smoke and Hippy Smoke. He could always use his aura to defuse the argument. But nope, his powers seemed to be out of commission once again. Fan-FUCKING-TASTIC.

Suddenly, he started to pull a weird face. To anyone outside of his consciousness, it would be an inscrutably expression, something resembling a bizarre mixture of fear, confusion, sadness and happiness. Only Donovan knew the reason behind the face. He was actually suppressing a giant grin of disbelief. Hah! If this guy wanted a fight, he’d get one. But not the kind he was expecting. No, rather than a battle of fists, he’d get a battle of wits. Donovan had talked himself into numerous dire situations before. But he had also talked himself out of just as many. But first, he was going to mess with this prick a little.

He let out a nervous sounding laugh, carefully feigned. Then came the kicker. He was counting on this guy’s attachment to Glasses for this to work.

“Um, who’s this Nico person?” he offered a polite smile of supposed confusedness, “The only Nico I know is the geezer who owns the fish and chip store down the road from school. And I’d never want to break his nose, his calamari rings are awesome!”

@Letter Bee

Alex Kaplan

Just in case you didn't know, jet lag sucks. The trip from America to Japan was less than savory and quite a bore to one individual at Four Winds. He had entered the campus quietly, smoking a cigarette in an attempt to ward off his tiredness. He had arrived just late enough to miss the initial greetings, but not late enough to miss anything significant. Despite not outwardly showing it, Alex was seriously excited. He was finally going to be somewhere that he belonged, with other misfits like himself. He could finally have real friends, that he could confide in and trust. His pessimistic side, the cynical, logical, one butted in though. He had to be vigilant, this was an academy after all. This wasn't just fun and games he was here to learn and become stronger. This meant that the best idea at the moment would be to stay silent and observe. And by God, the people before him did not disappoint.

He noted every face and filed it into his near photographic memory. He also made sure to note any odd features, such as a tail that was a part of one girl, who seemed to be bustling with energy around a calmer looking guy. Alex couldn't quite read that guy with the sunglasses, nor deduce was his ability was. There were obvious displays of powers though that he made sure to analyze. Like the shapeshifting girl and the boy who could "fuck with powers" as the tasteful guy who had slammed said boy into the ground not seconds earlier. Kaplan noticed a girl who looked like she was part bear? Wow, there really were no limitations on magic around here was there? One of the more peculiar displays of abilities he saw was the fog surrounded girl that donned a gas mask. Alex was sure to stay away from her, originally thinking that the fog was detrimental to the lungs. He was proved wrong when two other guys got close enough to the fog to be in contact with it. Why the gas mask then? He wondered...

Before he could even start introducing himself, he was interrupted by a loud noise coming from the building. He was instantly on alert as grey clouds or some sort of smoke billowed out from an open window. Alex took a defensive stance, wondering what was going to happen. His questions were answered when magic doves manifested from the clouds. They flew gracefully until they struck or came close to a student. Alex registered this fairly quickly and prepared to dodge the one flying right at his head. He side stepped out of the way right as it flew by. Unfortunately, it was more versatile than he expected, because it exploded before he had time to react and he fell into the same hypnotic state as everyone else.

Alex was concerned at first to say the least, but he calmed down when the head of the academy's voice rang through his head. It was basically an introduction, but damn why did he have to fuck with his head in order to get the message across? With the physic hold no longer on his brain, Kaplan noticed a new teacher had entered the fray. He did not look friendly nor happy. The teacher boasted something of a test and that they were all to follow him.

Alex cursed himself for arriving late, all around him people were beginning to group up, and now he was alone once again. If this test was a group activity then he would surely lose. He told himself to stay calm, he could make this work he'd just have to take it slow and make a plan...

You know, for once I think I'm going to try my best to ignore all that. Clive thought.

He was keenly aware of the same guys doing the same stuff, now with an added party. He was extremely curious to see who'd latched onto the unlucky guy but he'd see everyone eventually, no need to rush.

"We're just following the red guy," He said to Kyou, turning his back to the other group. "I don't really know what's going on specifically but it seems like it'll be an entrance exam of some sort? Oh wait actually."

Varus didn't look like the kind of guy who wanted to be kept waiting. Even if no one else could actually see emotion, he was sure they could tell he was a no-nonsense guy.

"Yooo slowpokes!" He called out, turning around. "I don't know what you're doing but you're going to get left behind!"

As a bonus, he got to see the other group's magic. There was a new boy, who had a white shield emblazoned with balancing scales floating in front of him as well as a pair of eyes revolving around his person; a pretty girl who had an orb of water over her shoulder, a blonde haired girl with glasses who had a windowed door over hers, and a girl with bear ears which had a very realistic roaring bear as her symbol.

"If you show up late the instructor might just blow you sky high!~" He said, a mischievous smile on his face.

---

@Masaki Haruna@Banjoanjo@Nanashi Ninanai@Letter Bee@January@Ayemdar@KOgaming
(That's a lot of mentions o_0)

Mikhail Suburov-Tachibana

Mikhail was tempted to yell Don't play dumb with me! or You know who Nico is, the person with the glasses, the one you tried to bully. He was tempted to let off his inner aggression on Donovan, but he didn't. Although he wanted to strangle the other boy, he can only imagine the consequences for him, Nico, and their nascent team. Glaring at the bullying redhead, still angry, Mikhail decided to analyze his opponent's response, trying, through his rage, to measure what he can do. Remembering what was spoken to him:

“Um, who’s this Nico person?” he offered a polite smile of supposed confusedness, “The only Nico I know is the geezer who owns the fish and chip store down the road from school. And I’d never want to break his nose, his calamari rings are awesome!”

Obvious responses involve aggression, aggression Mikhail wanted to unleash. He could also take his turn playing dumb and pretend Donovan wasn't talking about his old school, which was probably in a multicultural place like America. But what if he did that and lost the battle of wits his foe wanted? He can also leave, but that would not work as well. So, he'll have to fight on his opponent's terms, then.

"Glad to see you still have fond memories of your old school, then. Nevermind, must have made a mistake." A moment's pause.

"So...since you're not the guy I was looking for, maybe you won't mind meeting with the guy I mentioned before, my Nico?" A smile and grin from Mikhail. "He's a bit shy but also swell guy; we're getting a good team going. After all, getting as many allies before we face the first trial doesn't sound like a bad idea, right?"

There, it'd sound as though Mikhail was trying to set up the other kid, which in turn would elicit a response, perhaps a refusal, which in turn would allow Mikhail to sound - oh, he got it.

Leaning ever so-slightly towards the smoking eighteen-year old, as well as the smoking hot carribean man, the Half-Russian would then say:

"Actually, you three want to join our group?" The tone was casual, but there was a slight inflection in the tone that emphasized that Mikhail was only interested in two of the three he was requesting to join, aka the ones that aren't the bullying redhead. In his mind, Mikhail was now trying to see what he can offer the smoker and the smoking hot carribean man, and how he can try and persuade them to swelling the ranks of his party.

At Clive's interruption, he would see that yes, they might be running late. He'll just have to quicken things, then.

@January@KOgaming@Ayemdar@Nanashi Ninanai@Scio@banjoanjo@King Tai@hagroden@RoflsMazoy

@King Tai@banjoanjo

---

---

As the young man of western Descent approached him, a subtly quizzical smile played out onto his face. Taking one hand from his pocket, he removed the cigarette from his lips and exhaled slowly, the smoke falling in thin wisps from his nose as he turned his head to look at him. Taking another slow pull from the cigarette, he let out a soft chuckle after hearing the man's question, shaking his head 'No' a few times before exhaling the smoke in his lungs and responding.

"I'm Afraid not, I've always preferred swallowing my hallucinogenics to smoking them."

Just as the words fell from his mouth, he turned his head to meet the voice of another young man that was approaching them, raising an eyebrow softly as his eyes ran up and down this classically handsome newcomer.

"Could you think of a better timing? With this many hallucinations in one place, you could dose up anything you-"
He stopped abruptly as the small trio was infiltrated by a rather aggressive man of clear Eurasian decent, his eyebrows lifting slightly as he quietly watched the exchange between the two gentlemen, And although He wasn't particularly fond of this newcomer's apparent attention seeking, he reminded himself that everything had it's reasons, holding something against another would never be anything short of Futile.

If only magic didn't interfere with technology, being head master would have been incredibly easier. This was a an issue Jasper wanted to overcome, but given his hectic schedule, dealing with such a problem wasn't possible for now. Walking back to his desk, Jasper reluctantly sat down and stared at the pile of papers stacked in front of him. He sighed deeply before diving into his work.

It was a shame that he couldn't convince Varus to handle with this instead; he would have taken the task of dealing with the students over clerical responsibilities any day.

"This was going to be a long morning."

With a quill in his hand and a heavy heart, Jasper dove into his work.

---

---

The thought of immediately undergoing some sort of trial even before entering the confines of the facility was probably absurd for most of the students. Despite its reputation for being a highly renowned establishment, their methods were definitely unorthodox.

"I guess that's long enough." Varus said as he pulled out - what appeared to be an hourglass - from one of his jacket's pockets. Although appearing arrogant to an extent, he wasn't completely cruel. He knew that for children, these types of scenarios seldom occur. Feelings of anxiousness, fright, and genuine shock were absolutely normal. He assumed a minute or two was enough for them to regain their composure; any more would just be too much. They were fortunate that he was so generous.

"Listen up, these trials will be coming up more often than most of you would expect. They'll be unannounced, so always be prepared. It would be a shame if you got kicked out of the academy this early on." Varus couldn't help but snicker as he eyed every single student. Seeing them squirm was one of his guilty pleasures.

What he termed as tough love, was probably labeled as douchebaggery by most of those he had taught over the years.

"Aside from those privileged enough to live an okay life, I assume that most of you were forced to keep your magic hidden from those around you, right?" His smirk had vanished as the tone of his voice turned serious and strict.

"Some probably even turned to isolation and seclusion while a bunch of you were completely alienated from their families. The feeling is frustrating, I know. I've heard these stories far too many times. Don't worry though; that sort of shit has no place at Four Winds."

It was obvious that Varus had read the files of everyone and knew of their upbringing. Most thought of him as a an asshole and he embraced that fact, but he was still a mentor to the children of the school. Before tormenting them, he wanted to at least give them some sense of relief; they were finally in a place where they would be accepted, they just needed to be reminded of that.

"With that said, Let's see what you guys have to offer. The headmaster says that all of you have the potential to be great, but I've yet to be convinced. Show me that you belong here; there are no rules, I don't care how you do it. Remember, those who don't make the cut, are out of here."

Oh crap, this is not what I expected to happen!
As she was still trying to stick close to Nico, Alice realized that the situation started to be more and more uncontrollable as more people entered the group. To her comfort, Nico was still too flustered to act about the fact she's getting closer to him. Alice found that to be pretty cute. Still though, it was a pandemonium over here. First there were the Russian little bumpkin, seemingly trying to pick some fights with Mikhail, who seemingly was jealous or something about her being close to Nico now but who was distracted by the presence of another guy. Mikhail threatened him to break his nose if he dared to mess with Nico. Now Alice was starting to get worried about Mikhail, and for the sake of comfort she went closer towards Nico.

The guy Mikhail was talking with tried to dodge Mikhail's accusation seemingly, but whether it was really genuine or not was something Alice couldn't figure out.

"Yooo slowpokes!" He called out, turning around. "I don't know what you're doing but you're going to get left behind!"

More people, seriously? Alice didn't even get the time to take notes this time. Her plan had been completely derailed, and if she didn't act fast, the situation would end up worse and worse. But, what should she do? Those dating sims never had any awkward situations like this! She was at loss with words, and probably ended up having a similar expression to Nico when she went close to him earlier. No way in hell was she prepared about this. And now Mikhail tried to get them into their ever-growing group. Did he ever learn about the importance of five-man band? Aah, everything's ruined now! What was he thinking?

"I guess that's long enough."

Thankfully, the bell tolled for her at the nick of the time. With everyone's attention towards Varus, Alice could get a breath of relief as she tried to recompose herself. She listened to how the trials would come often, and while she attempted to look nervous about it, it was also something that she felt confident in facing. It was a privilege for someone like her, the one starring in this story, to be able to impress the lecturers with her skills. Ooh, perhaps she would incite some people to hate her out of envy. She could be bullied by those jerks, then later on a prince charming would come to her side and carry her to the safety of his protection, opening a wonderful new route!

Right right. First thing would be to actually do something to the instructor first.

Alice slipped between the crowd of people, and made sure that Varus was now within range of her ability. She then grabbed the knife she hid on her waist, and using her skirt as the surface for her Window, she inserted her hand and the knife into it. The ability required another solid inorganic object to be the exit, so of course she chose the exit to be Varus' jacket. Trying her best to not make her movements too obvious, she started to carve her initials as best as she could on his clothing. Or well, attempted to. She lost sight on whether she was even successful in carving on his back due to the crowd. It's kind of lame, in hindsight, but perhaps it was a nice way to start things up.

If it failed, she could just use someone's clothing as the Window and reappeared right from Varus' stomach. That would look pretty impressive, perhaps.

@Scio

It didn’t take long to wait for Varus to announce what was the trial he wanted the others to complete, only about two minutes after they had arrived at the designated spot. Akasha being one of the first students to have followed the instructor, she was mentally and physically preparing herself for the trial, minding her into the challenge that was to be, and stretching her muscles while doing so. Even if the challenge required the use of her magic, being at peak shape would only be the better. She was an amazon after all, she had to show the strength she had acquired in the wilderness.

While she was stretching (at this point, she seemed to have gone into a split maneuver), she had noticed many young people gathering around each other, mostly into two groups. She recognized the two young men she was playing with earlier, “Glasses” she believe he was called, and the handsome guy with the snake eyes. But the two of them seemed to belong in different groups. She wondered why everyone started teaming up together. Did they believe in strength of unity to accomplish the trial that was going to be? The young wild woman had difficulty to understand their reason. To prove one’s strength, one must show just how self-sufficient they can be. At least that’s what her tribe believed in, hence the trial she had to undergo when she had just reached her teenage years, also the fateful day she had acquired her powers.

When Varus’ spoke about the trial, Akasha eagerly listened. She was, however, a bit disappointed by the simplicity of their task. If everyone had to show him what they can do, it was just an easy matter of showing off their powers, wasn’t it? With that in mind, the young amazoness stepped out happily from the group and approached the instructor.

“Oh oh, me first!” Akasha said excitedly.

Closing her eyes, the savage girl focused on what she had to do. She could not perfectly control her powers, but unlike many others here, Akasha had one special someone in her life who guided her throughout her moments of confusion and solitude. Even though she never knew her parents, she had one parental figure, someone she held dear to her heart. Even when the tribe distance itself from her due to her “special nature”, the shaman, whom she called her aunt, was always there for her. And in her moments of need, Akasha would always remember her words:

“Close your eyes and focus, my dear. Grasp the symbol of your power into your hands and unleash the animal within yourself. Roar to the sky, if need be. Let yourself loose into this world, and let it know that a new predator has been set free upon this land.” Akasha recited, the exact same words her auntie told her the first time she had to willingly transform.

The sigil on Akasha’s left shoulder shone of the color of sunset as the young amazon grew in confidence. There was only one thing that needed to be done for her to reach the peak of her manifestation.

Akasha roared at the top of her lungs. At first, it sounded as if a girl was screaming her life away. But as seconds passed, the scream distorted into a more booming, echoing tone, effectively mimicking the roar of a leopard. During that time, Akasha’s skin turned jet-black, her entire features disappearing into an undiscerning darkness and her human silhouette seemed to be changing into that of a beast.

Standing in the amazon’s place, a menalistic leopard, more commonly known as a black panther, has replaced the alluring girl of the wild. The beast looked to be confused for a little while, one of the very rare times Akasha actually transformed willingly into her beast aspect. But she soon came back to her senses, and remembered the trial.

Turning around quickly to face the groups of students, the black panther had a glint of mischievousness in its eyes. If panthers could smile, they could bet on their life that it would be just as wide as Akasha’s playful grin.

Panther Akasha lost no time in finding the target of her playfulness. She was aiming for the same guy she previously bumped into when she had first arrived at Four Winds, the guy with the snake eyes! Using her superior jumping skills, Panthera crouched on all fours before springing into action, making an impressive leap towards the guy.

“Let’s play again, snakey-eyes~! Show me what you got!” the panther roared.

NICO LEHMANN

He drew a blank at Varus’s command.

“Show me that you belong here.”

Nico had never belonged anywhere. Was he supposed to belong here? How was he supposed to show what he wasn’t even sure of? How?!

The panic welling up from the darkest corners of his mind threatened to crush him.

No. No. I don't want to.

Show. Show what.

I have nothing to show! I've never had anything to show my entire life!

His heart was hammering so hard he was having trouble breathing, every beat as terrifying as a death knell.

I can't go home. I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't. I can't fail this. This is all I have.

He turned to Alice, a blank look in his eyes, trying to figure out how to wake his powers. If he could just get it to work on someone, it'll be okay, right? If he could just make those fucking rings appear on someone, anyone, it'll be okay, right?

Nothing happened. He felt nothing. Nothing appeared on his left hand. Nothing appeared on Alice's right hand. Seemingly with something in mind, Alice struck off on her own, leaving Nico to his own devices.

Nononononononono.

He was shaking. He could feel the trembling run down his back and towards his limbs as equal parts fear and panic tightened around him like a noose. Why wasn't it working?

His right hand crushed the vermilion thread into his palm, the loose ends dangling from his fingers like strands of blood frozen in the fall. Why why why.

"Don't worry, Nicobutt. If Four Winds doesn't work out, Lu and I will just get a million times more awesome for you. We'll always be your sunbros, so you'll never miss out on anything, I promise!"

The memory of his last conversation with Elliot before he had left for Four Winds scorched his panic into shame and despair. His brothers had always done their best to make up for him because they knew he wanted to be more. With every failure that had upset him, they had only worked harder to keep him happy despite himself. No matter what, they wanted him to always be proud of them, especially when he couldn't find it in him to be proud of himself.

And he was sure they knew. He was sure they knew he didn't put his honest effort into anything. He was sure they knew how selfish he was. How afraid he was to chase after anything that could be hard work because...

I don't want to fail.

I'm afraid. I'm afraid of trying and failing.

But he couldn't write this off as just another failure. There would be nothing left if he failed this. His brothers could never make up for this. But they would try until it broke them. He knew. he knew this.

If only Varus had shown up earlier when...

No. NONONONONONONONONONONO.

A memory of a cat plush he had cut up with scissors as a child trickled into the forefront of his mind. It had been a gift from Elliot. And he had been so envious of his brother at the time; he had hated everything Elliot had and was going to have. And so he had cut up the toy, leaving only its vermilion collar intact. It had been a gift from Elliot. He knew. He knew this.

He knew this.

His body shaking now more than ever, Nico cast his eyes across the group, searching for the shock of orange rose hair. The only other person he had managed to use his powers on.

There.

He barely registered the people around Asswipe as he ran there. He had to show something. He had to show something.

DO SOMETHING.

The rings flashed on his left hand and they flashed on Asswipe's right hand, thrumming with a feverish pitch of energy.

Just then, a panther roared.

@banjoanjo

Junko Adevelt

Junko stopped just short of a few metres away from Walrus or whatever his name was, with only a slight narrowing of her eyes showing her annoyance.

A demonstration of their power to impress him? Why would they even need to do that? Wasn't this a school designed to help those who had these sorts of ability? So if someone failed to impress him, they'd just be sent back just to live as they were? Regardless of how disruptive their powers were?

Her opinion of this place was sinking lower and lower. Junko had a feeling people like her, with only the ability of fog following them their whole lives wasn't actually welcome in this place. Or maybe they would pretend to care and take in only the token amount needed to maintain that illusion. A lose lose situation for her, if that was true. It would mean that even if she got in, she wouldn't actually receive any actual serious lessons about her own ability.

"Tch."

If he wanted a demonstration of her ability, then by god he would get one.

Junko unfastened the gasmask, reveling in the fresh unfiltered air as she did so. The mist surrounding the area thickened and spread, growing slowly into a very thick fog instead. It was oddly exhilarating, making her own fog thicker consciously. Where once she could see some of the others starting to do their own tricks, she could now see only her fog. By now it was thick enough for anyone to consider unnatural. But still the fog spread through the area, covering more and more. She wasn't finished at all by any means, for she still had one final trick she can do with her fog.

Concentrating harder, she colored her fog jet black, bringing down darkness to everything inside.

Coloring her fog in one solid shade of color was simple enough. Simply turning it to black would cause no light to actually get through her fog, though it wasn't actually that practical, considering she herself needed light to see. As it was now, she was just as blind as everyone inside the fog. She could, in theory, make a sort of a realistic hologram inside her fog simply by arranging multiple shades of color together, but she was neither a skilled artist nor a master monk with zen like concentration.

Now lets see Varus do his stupid shows in the dark.

Valechka kept her front turned away from Mikhail, pretending as if she didn't hear him. "Right. Beat up little girl. That will definitely make others think you are big strong man" she mumbled, thinking she was still speaking her native tongue, not knowing that their language had somehow been changed. With that, she chuckled quietly with herself.

Growing up where she did, Valechka was used to things being quiet. In the summer, she harvested fruit and potatoes; late summer, she made kompot with grandmama; in the winter, she'd freeze and hope for the cold to end. It never got that much warmer, and it definitely was not as hot as Four Winds. Valechka didn't like very much. She listened quietly as the stranger introducing himself as one of their instructors began to speak. She was a little skeptical still, after all, witch craft had just been used on her. At least, so it seemed. Then, when he used the word "magic", Valechka had a feeling in her gut that she had made the wrong choice. Granted, she had the feeling since she had arrived on school grounds.

"Convinced?" she thought.

Mere minutes later, Valechka caught a glimpse of something on the corner of her eye. She turned around to see a girl changing into awild animal. She backed away. "Ah!" she screamed, stepping back into Annabelle. She turned around. "Am sorry!" she shouted, then ducked under her ruck sack. She took on a crouching position, potato in hand. She looked ready to attack something.

@Riffus Maximus@GreenGoat@Scio

---

---

His attention turned from the odd scenario before him to the Auburn-Haired man he had learned to be a 'Teacher' of the Academy. He listened intently, concentrating to hear him despite the distance, likely due to some strange whimsical magic, he was capable of hearing the man clearly regardless of the distance. His eyes twinkled gently as he watched the man, Varus, remove what seemed to be an hourglass from one of the pockets on his jacket. As his interest heightened, he payed even closer attention to the words falling from the Man's mouth, Varus seemed to be scanning over the students, each one flinching and squirming as eye-contact was forced.

As he watched Varus's eyes move to the people near him, he found that he instead was the one forcing Varus into eye-contact. He made no attempts to force intimidation, nor did he cower away to the man's powerful eyes. Instead, he merely gazed into the man's eyes with a look of contentment across his face, offer a friendly half-smile to the man. It had been many years since he had been affected by hostility, and that wasn't going to change now.

As the Instructor finished his statements, his eyes moved quickly to a girl who seemed to making an attempt at some sort of stealth attack, but rather than trying to harm Valrus, she seemed much more interested in damaging his Jacket. Albeit finding the act a bit odd, he remembered where he was, and that his definition of 'odd' was likely going to change drastically over the next few days.

Taking a slow pull from his cigarette, he exhaled slowly, attempting to discern the girl's motives before his attention was forcibly shifted to the source of a blood-curdling scream. He eyes found the screams source, an attractive young woman with deeply tanned skin, and while admittedly she was clad in clothing less than conservative, he found that it suited her quite well. As her scream changed his eyes narrowed a bit, watching as her body transformed into that of a panther before turning and looking past him.

He knew immediately that she was headed his direction based off the emotion her eyes revealed, and while he wasn't sure if he was the target or not, he knew that he could complete this trial nonetheless. As she began to move towards him, a tear fell from his eye due to the pain he was forcing himself to focus on, and as her paws left the ground, he scars opened to release the black, reflective metal his magic called forth.

The change was almost instantaneous, in less than a second the relaxed boy with scars had been replaced by a beast with claws of black, his demeanor reeking of protection, and as the panther's leap led her closer and closer, he began to move as well, leaping forward with strength a man his size could never possess, and his open palm was moving incredibly fast to meet the chest of the panther before him. While he had no attempt at lethality by using his claws, he was not afraid to hurt someone with intent to attack an ally.

As he came closer and closer to making contact with the Panther in the air before him, he closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate, and when he opened them, he saw nothing but black as a strange fog had completely enclosed his field of vision. He felt his palm make contact with the Panther's Chest, but due to utter loss of his vision, his entire body collided into her, causing them both to fall into a heap, the panther now atop of him.

@banjoanjo@hagroden@Letter Bee

Waiting for a moment before the well dressed male could answer Tav from his statement, the darky turned to look towards another voice he heard approaching them. Scanning this individual from head to toe, who seemed interesting in this little start of a conversation, Tav at first didn't feel like speaking to anyone else but awe...what the hell, there was no need to be a bitch about it. This guy seemed okay.

Smiling at the retorts from the other two, Tav was about to respond to both of them again until another showed up. Raising an eyebrow at this new guy who confronted one of the males quite aggressively. Aggressive attention is like flies attracted to shit. Can't help but be noticed. Watching quietly for the moment as the two exchanged words, Tav tilted his head from the offer of joining the group that looked to already have 5 members that he noticed earlier.

Averting his eyes at first acting as if he needed to contemplate it, Tav brought his eyes back to the one offering and noticed how he looked at him. He felt as if the offer was not to all three but to maybe one or two. Not realizing if it was directly aimed at him, Tav gave his answer calmly and in a sort of friendly tone "Eh....may need to hold off on such an offer. You may need to check if your clique is okay with that first. But it looks as if you already have a full roster...I don't wanna intrude..." he responded in the nicest way possible.

---------------

Hearing Varus speak up once again, Tav's attention went over to the instructor who wanted them to basically show what they could do. Shit sandwiches....Tav almost forgot about the trial as he noticed a few already getting started in showing off. Looking down for a moment, Tavani started thinking "Hmmm..so what if I- no...that's lame....oh oh...I could always-..nah...I was drunk accidentally and did that with the booty dancer....shit! Come on Tav! Think you can- WHAT THE FUCK!!!" Tav looked over with widened eyes as the panther that just showed up after the scream came about. He backed away as the panther lunged at someone and the guy he spoke to earlier started doing some strange shit as well, watching a change to his body. Tav backed up a little more.

"How the hell am I suppose to match that!" he said seeing the start of the show off party. If this wasn't enough, he noticed the girl with the mask, removing the contraption from her face as more fog came out from her, spreading around the area and causing it to get dark...too dark for everyone to see. Tav had a flashback of what Jasper did and he didn't want that shit again. "Fuck it, now or never...you're not making me see turtles on the roof this time!"

Tav calmed himself, even though, not being able to see in front of him, he was wondering how high the fog would go up above them. He crouched down and exhaled a little. "Remember....you're like a feather....a black...ass....feather...." he said in his mind as he reduced his weight to 1 kg, taking a leap straight up into the air, hopefully jumping pass and above the fog so he could get a better look. his plan was to stay above the madness for the time being long enough to find a new foothold, preferably a branch twig, on a nearby tree just to have some sort of visual if high enough for one.

@GreenGoat@Scio

Layla pouted as she took stock of her situation. She was alone in a foreign country where she could barely communicate and was functionally illiterate. She had no means of contacting the school, nor any contact information for the school itself. All of her money was in the wrong currencies, and she had no idea where to find a moneychanger, or if this town even had a moneychanger to start with. On top of that, wasn't the opening ceremony today? If she didn't move fast, she might miss registration!

As the great Warren Zevon once said, Layla needed lawyers, guns, and money. Barring that, she needed some form of transportation.

"Alright!", she said as she began to walk, "No games! I'm commandeering the first stray dog I see, and nothing and no-one will stop me!"

Granted, it didn't have to be a dog. A cat was fine, too. Or even a pig. Her train of thought was interrupted by a high-pitched whine from a nearby alleyway. Lucky! Layla turned to look, eyes sparkling...

And found herself faced with a very peculiar-looking dog. The dog stared at Layla, and Layla at the dog. Expressionless, Layla clicked her heels, pivoted one hundred and eighty degrees, and took a deep breath.

"...Yessiree!", Layla said as she walked away, "The second stray dog I see! I am commandeering the second stray dog I see, and nobody will stop me!"

Did anyone really belong here? Did they even belong on this earth? Well Eran knew HE belonged here. A talent show was nothing too hard and if it was worth his future at Four Winds, then he would be sure to give everyone a full show.

Eran got some space, making sure not catch anyone inside his magic's field. He took in a deep breath and began to calm himself, silencing all background noise and distractions that may come to him. He closed his eye thinking hard about things that angered him. This was the easiest way to summon his apparition. In just a few seconds his fists began to tighten, slightly shaking as his anger began to consume his thoughts. Then it all came to a stop. A tear drop began to form and then slowly sliding down his cheek. Some others gave him odd looks, and he knew it. Further angering him.

The single tear made it down to his chin. Finally it dropped down, making a small drip noise as it hit the floor. No one could hear it due to the loud crashing noise that came after. Eran's hair jumped up and his eyes glew with red fire, his open mouth began to spit a hot flame that started to loop a few feet around his body forming some protective shield. Dust began to kick up and surround him. He quickly flung his hands open causing the surrounding winds to pick up harder. Now a large red translucent Spine with a ribcage surrounded Eran. A skeletal arm had just materialized from the left side of the formation. Eran raised it up high as if too squash what ever laid in front of him, but luckily the appendage and body began to flicker away. Eran now was on his knees, sweat dripping all down his face. In just a few seconds of hitting the ground his manifested skeleton faded slowly away.

Eran's messy hair covered his eyes, but his mouth could be seen. His smile could be seen by all.
That should be good enough...

Just as panther Akasha leaped towards her intended target, one of the guy with whom he was speaking with had the reflexes to use his power and throw himself in between the panther and her "prey". The new boy's arms turned jet black, a metallic tint to it with blue energy crackling. Whatever that was, it looked like a very convenient power, and it looked strong as well.

The first thought that occurred in Akasha's mind before the darkness came to be, was he just like her? Could he transform himself into a beast? If so, to what kind of dangerous animal these claws belonged? Her train of thought disrupted as the guy positionned himself in a readied stance to block the panther's jump. Was he really that confident to stop a large feline predator with pure might? Akasha's heart was beating faster, excited to be about to collide with that kind of person.

And then the darkness befell on the area. At first, it seemed like fog just quickly settled in, but then it turned all black, just as if night had fallen just as quickly as the mist thickened. It was no use, the panther was already in the air when this all happened, there was no way Akasha could move mid-air. Even if leopards are gifted with nocturnal vision, this was no natural darkness. Even in this case, she could not see anything even at arm's reach.

And so, Panthera collided with the demon-looking arms guy. When her chest first impacted,, she could sense a tremendous amount of force trying to hold her off, and that caught Akasha by surprise. By the gods above, could he actually manage to lift her off easily like that? But then, it seemed as if the darkness made the guy lose his balance, and despite a respectable effort to hold the panther off, they both fell on the ground, Akasha yet again on top.

Looks like it was her win again at this game of "King of the Hill", but this time Akasha felt as if she just barely managed to get out on top of this round. Such potential strength, the panther girl kind of wanted to see more of it.

Sitting on top of her newly defeated foe, the panther approached her face close to the man's face. She tried to see what he looked like more up-close, but it was no use with the thick black fog. At this moment, all she could do was to wait for the fog to clear up.

Then, the black leopard began licking the boy's face, as a sign of growing affection towards him.

"Hmm~, you're strong! Akasha likes you!" The panther purred.

Not staying for long in this state, considering she had already won, Akasha would've returned to her normal self by the time the fog would fade. When that time would come, everyone around would probably see the scene of a messy-looking young woman sitting on a guy's chest with her face merely inches away from his.

"Clive" Arkadian

"Stick close to me." Clive said to Kyou, grabbing her hand. @Masaki Haruna

Chaos had erupted, but it wasn't the reason he was holding onto Kyou. He could see emotions, and more than a few people were enraged at Varus. He'd been altogether far too flippant for Clive's liking, but he could ignore that if he really wanted to, but it seemed like Gas Mask girl couldn't. In Clive's vision she'd always had dense fog-like clouds around her, representing her magic. He guessed it'd been fog magic, but until he'd seen her take her gas mask off and the amount of magic in her breath that he realized how strong it would be.

She breathed out and the fog appeared. The magic was probably coming out of her lungs, but the fog appeared around her. He could tell because no one around her was looking at her, they were all looking around randomly.

Wait, that would be a good way to show off my power... He thought.

"I'm moving, don't let go." He said to Kyou, starting to push his way through the crowd.

He suspected the Gas Mask girl couldn't see very well in this fog either, despite the fact that she made it. Illusionists saw through their own illusions because they weren't actually there, but this fog was real fog. Unless someone had Clive's eyes, they wouldn't be able to see him coming, especially not from behind.

"Hey there!" He said, tapping the gas mask girl on the shoulder. "This is some pretty good work if you wanted to piss him off, but just this wouldn't be enough for you, would it?"

He was sort of aware what he was planning might end up not working out, but this was going to be an easier way of backing up his statement when he told Varus what his power was. Had the fog stayed white, he would never have thought about doing it, but right now it was close to complete darkness.

"Why don't I lead you to him, so you can punch him in the face?" He said. @GreenGoat

@Banjoanjo @Nanashi Ninanai @Letter Bee @January @Ayemdar @KOgaming

"I don't care. I got a candy store of tricks since I am not a Fox." Kyou said with full conviction and confidence to Clive. All that's left is to impress Varus which is simple, knowing herself, she just have to show off.

But to break the trope of her choices, she might and might not show off. Still confused on the situation since it is a mass threshold of w.t.f. "Clive, are gonna fight this dude or attack the majority? It's confusing."

She yells at everyone in her mind of course. "Hey everyone, dunno what the heck is happening but I don't care nonetheless, is the guy ordering us to kill each other or attack him? If it's a fight, I'll definitely win and kick you all down to oblivion."
If it's about impressing people, Kyou herself is already in her fox form and that's just accessory, she couldn't care nonetheless.

Later, it's then Clive's grabbing her hand.

"Oh screw this." She broke free just as easily and run towards Varus, she displays fast paced movements. c.q.c

Whenever she attacks at right, it is feinted because she is going for the left, and whenever she's going left, she is going right. All the movements and jabs, kicks that Kyou is performing now is all nothing but contradictions, all that she's delivered is up but it is down and left which is right kicks/punches.

DONOVAN HORSKA

Donovan’s smile widened when he saw that his accusation dodging made the guy falter, though he made sure to retain the air of polite obliviousness. He knew that the other guy knew that he was playing dumb. It all served to make Running Fist more frustrated, something that always entertained Donovan. This bastard hadn’t even seen half of what Donovan had planned. So when he was offered to meet Nico, he called the guy’s bluff.

“Um, sure! It’ll be good to have people helping each other out for the first trial!” he beamed.

All according to plan. He doubted that being revealed to Glasses was going to throw a wrench in the works, considering his meekness from before. Besides, meeting Glasses in front of Running Fist was the plan. He couldn’t wait to see that little prick’s face fall when Donovan played his trump card. A cheeky voice, Sunnies’ it seemed, cut through the tension. It was a surprise, but a welcome one nonetheless.

“You heard the man.” Donovan’s smugness was now apparent on his face. He knew that this interruption and delay of Fist’s plan would piss him off slightly. “We should get going. Perhaps later?”

He walked a bit further off to get a better view of Varus as he delivered his speech. As soon as the instructor finished, chaos. Students sped around frantically, finding the best way to ensure that they avoided expulsion. Don stood stock still in the midst of it all, planning a course of action. The gathering a team strategy was out of the bag. In order to show his skills, he needed to create a threat then neutralise it with his powers. But he doubted that he’d find anyone in this frantic mob who would let him torment them for a few minutes. Then the unforgettable roar came. Oh fuck.

Donovan whipped his head around. The half naked girl was back in panther form, freaking out the people near her. It seemed to be looking around for something. Then the red flash came. Fuck, too much was happening at once. Donovan whirled around furiously, knowing exactly what just happened to him and who caused it. Sure enough, Glasses was standing a bit behind him, cowering like the little wimp he was. And sure enough, his hand had the red rings on it again, the same as what Donovan had currently too. Donovan stomped to the nerd, ready to throw a beatdown.

“Did you fucking forget what I said?! You-“

Wait, this was different. He was feeling weird. Scratch that, he was feeling great! He was absolutely surging with energy. His radius pretty much covered all the students and his aura was completely amped up to 11.

Donovan clapped a rough hand on Glasses’, no, Nico’s shoulder to indicate that he wouldn’t accept an objection. Donovan’s rune was almost blinding now, illuminating both their faces to display the steel and excitement in Donovan’s cocky grin. He wasn't sure why Nico chose to buff Donovan of all people, but he didn't care either.

“We stay together now. It’s our best chance to show that Varus prick what we can do.”

Beside him, Fancy Smoke got jumped by Panther Girl. He ignored them and walk past, expecting Nico to follow him. Thanks to his shining rune and the flaring lights of Nico’s sigils, he easily found his way through the dark fog. With this energy, he felt unstoppable. His aura touched pretty much everyone and he could feel its gradual effects already taking its hold on people.

“Everyone here is going to calm down and shut the fuck up!” he hollered rowdily, though he wondered if anyone would here him over the noises of panic.

Even if he could effectively subdue the entire crowd, it didn’t mean a thing if Varus didn’t see him do it. After coming across Sunnies and a girl holding a gas mask, he found the opportunity he was looking for. They would lead him straight to Varus. He jumped into the conversation.

“You guys are going after Varus, right?” he asked and proudly indicated at the light on his chest, “Can’t say that I’d be much help if you want me to do a sneak attack, but I’d gladly distract him long enough for you to kick his ass.”

@RoflsMazoy @GreenGoat @January