Containing only a bed, desk, chair, and dresser, the room was small and the ceiling a tad low. An overlarge, pitch black curtain hanging securely across the only window ensured only the barest hint of light was admitted. This dim illumination revealed stone walls and a wooden floor -- though one could hardly see the floor due to the piles of clothes strewn across it.

A small lump lay upon the aforementioned bed, outlined by a thick comforter. Two soft, furry ears of a lavender color were all that peeked out above the top of the comforter. An ear twitched once, then twice more, followed by a soft sigh. With both arms, Moira threw back the covers with a dramatic flourish, briefly leaving her arms hanging in the air before they fell back to bump against the headboard, eliciting a clinking sound.

Still blinking the sleep from her eyes, the girl glanced up at the origin of the sound -- a pair of fuzzy handcuffs hanging from the headboard. She smirked, the events of the night before rushing back to her. Mustering her willpower, Moira rolled out of bed, twisting so that her feet found the floor first, followed by a graceful arch of her back as she slowly rose upright.

A head of dark violet hair swayed and settled, reaching down a bare back to hang just over the girl's similarly bare hips. Moira stretched, yawning, before absently picking through the clothes on the floor for a suitable combination of garments. Underclothes, stockings, and a dark purple dress were pulled on one by one until she stood fully dressed in the center of her room, a discarded shirt partially underfoot. With a bit of concentration, Moira urged her newest appendage to fetch her newest posession from atop her desk. With a deft curl and flick, Moira's cat tail sent the Artifact atop the desk into her waiting palms. She fixed the smooth dark leather of the collar around her neck, the the cold metal ring at the front sending pleasant goosebumps down her spine.

Time to start the day~

A lone girl sits on the wooden floor in the center of her room, cross-legged and deep in thought. Soft pink hair flowed down to the middle of her back, with several stray strands caressing her face. The only movement that could be seen were the wisps of breath that escaped her lips when she breathed out and the occasional flutter from the girl’s closed eyelids. A thin silver bracelet around her wrist winked back at the afternoon sun as light streamed from the single window of the room overlooking the courtyard. Chirps could be heard from the birds flitting about through the trees as well as the occasional creak of the wooden floor from the other orphans shuffling about in the hallway.

It had only been two weeks since Natalia received her first artifact, and she wasn’t going to slack off on honing her abilities. Psyche was definitely a difficult element to pin down too. It was overwhelming at first, feeling the wave of angst, sadness, and anger wash over her when she activated the bracelet. Liravel Orphanage didn’t mistreat its occupants, but that also didn’t mean that the orphans were getting the emotional support they needed. Tears started streaming down Natalia’s face nonstop for the next 15 minutes as she choked back sobs, her entire body shaking from the force of the emotion. Thankfully, Natalia had the wits about her to seclude herself in her own room before messing with her artifact. She could have turned the bracelet off, but Natalia persevered through the torrent of feelings. She slowed her breathing and took ragged gasps of air. I need to get used to this. I need to get used to this. It’s for the sake of my future. Natalia tried recentering her concentration around herself and failed several times, getting swept up in the maelstrom of angst, before she was able to detach herself from everything. Only then did Natalia deactivate her bracelet, unsteadily got up, and examined herself in the mirror. She looked like a total wreck -- her pink locks were tangled up, eyes watery and puffy from crying, beads of sweat dotted her forehead, visible red marks from when she gripped her arm too hard, and the tear stains that pathed down her face. Natalia grinned to herself at the irony of it all. Someone like her, a person who ran away from the things she didn’t like, forced to face not only her own emotions, but also the emotions of others. Natalia wiped her face with a towel and laid down on her bed. Well, she was certainly going to need to train more. Probably after I look normal again and get a drink of water so I feel less dehydrated from crying.

Since then, Natalia had been shut in her room meditating as well as testing and training her newfound Psyche powers. Natalia reveled in her ability to sense the minds around her, they were like soft lights flickering with activity, each one unique. She only went out for food, water, and other essentials. Her perspective shifts as the sparrow cranes its head to survey its surroundings. Foliage partially blocks her view, but otherwise everything is sharp and vibrant. She could see green shoots peeking up from the ground and the already blooming flowers paint a mosaic of colors in the courtyard. Sometimes, it felt like Natalia went blind whenever she stopped seeing through a bird’s eyes. But Natalia could experience whatever the bird did, such as the muscles working as the avian beat its wings, the soft crunch of bark in its talons, and the light breeze ruffling its feathers. This was peace.

Moira exits her room, pausing briefly to lock her door, before strolling down to Natalia’s room. She stops before the door and raps steadily and continuously, waiting for Natalia to answer.

Constant knocks sound through the door and the silence Natalia had been enjoying is shattered. She already was in the process of answering it when she sensed Moira’s mind pause at her door.

The door opens and Natalia asks with fake annoyance, “Don’t you have any manners?”

“Come on, it’s me, do you have to even ask?” Moira responds jokingly.

“Of course,” Natalia smirks back, “What’s up?”

“I was gonna ask if you wanted to get breakfast. Or lunch, at this point...” Moira corrects a tad sheepishly.

Natalia pauses, the last time she ate was probably… yesterday at breakfast.
“Yeah, I’m up for that.”

“Okay!” Moira chirps brightly, spinning in place and then leading the way.

Natalia can’t help but crack a smile and follows her.

Moira’s tail flicks playfully at Natalia as they walk down to the dining hall. The pair grab a plate of food each and take a seat at their usual spot.

Natalia has half the mind to grab at Moira’s tail, but thinks better of it. Instead she questions, “So how have you been?”

“Good! Starting to get used to the side-effects of my overzealous training.” Moira explains, flicking an ear in demonstration. “How’s your training been going?”

“Better than before. Less disorienting when holding multiple perspectives in my mind. It’s a shame Psyche doesn’t come with much combat strength though,” Natalia answers, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

“You’re right, it only allows you to control the minds and read the thoughts over anyone and everyone around you. Mm doesn’t sound very useful, no.” Moira replies dryly.

Natalia chuckles, “I never said it wasn’t useful. But reading and controlling minds is very far off. I can only do minor things right now, like sense people’s minds and distort their perception a little.”

“Not even a single cool party trick?” Moira lifts the edge of her plate slightly, casting a deep, if thin shadow directly below it, which she then uses to lift the plate higher off the table. She takes a bite from the newly elevated food.

“Hmmm. Well if you insist,” Natalia replies. She warps Moira’s sight so there appears to be more food than there actually is.

Moira waits patiently, taking another bite of food while watching Natalia intently. To her dismay, her mouth closes on empty air. Moira glances at her fork sadly before taking a revenge bite from Natalia’s plate.

“I suppose I deserve that, but you asked,” Natalia says teasingly.

“Spooky.” Is all Moira replies with.

“Isn’t that supposed to be your specialty with the whole darkness schtick you have going on?” Natalia responds.

The darkly-clothed girl grins, saying “Follow me somewhere a little darker and more private, and I’ll show you spooky...<3”

“Knowing you, I’ll just take your word for it and skip the demonstration,” Natalia flashes back an amused grin.

“Aww, I was so excited to show you my room, too. Any plans for the rest of the day, if my room is off the table for the immediate future? (Your room, maybe?)” Moira’s voice drops to a husky whisper.

Natalia brushes off the innuendo-- it was just Moira being her typical self, “Actually, I did have something in mind. We’ve had our artifacts for a while now, and I thought it’d be fun to go out and get some more.”

“That does sound fun. Also, I’ve gotten the feeling that I’m not absorbing mana as quickly as these last two weeks.” Moira muses.

“You did overstretch yourself on the absorption though,” Natalia’s gaze flicks upwards to Moira’s ears, “But it’s been about the same for me too. Shall we go catch a landboat after we finish eating?”

“Let’s.” Moira agrees.

Awoo

Rolling out of bed with the grace and dexterity of a gazelle, Lysette nimbly picked her artifacts, a ring and necklace, out of the mess of belonging adorning her nightstand. The change to rooming at Liravel unfortunately resulted in a disarray of her meager amount of possessions.

A daily pat on her head reminded her of the ears and tail that had formed the week she had first arrived. It was a an odd sort of change, but she merely accepted and embraced her additional features. They caught the attention of passerbys, and she would need all the help she could get in her daunting climb out of debt. Being noticed led to interactions, which led to the possible odd jobs to be done.

Her current situation and small source of income consisted of dusting and sweeping out the floors of an old inn set above a dubiously run bar. Through assistance of her wind focused magic, she was able to clean faster and for cheaper than the employed girl, and secured her first real job. The pay each day allowed Lysette to afford real food, instead of the bland and debt inducing orphanage food.

A constant and brutal reminder is carved on her door.

.
.
.

Ḑ̸̟̹̳̼͉͓̍̔̇ͩ͊̔ͥͅE̶̹̓̑͗͑ͬ̓B͚̟̩̮̲̫̳̱̃͋ͩͅT̹͎͐ͤͯ͂͛̏ͥ͞

After her morning training Shor went to the mess hall. She would get her breakfast and pick a quiet spot to eat. During meals she made a habit of observing the other people in the mess hall. Among the crowd she'd spotted a few people with mutations, who she thought of as undisciplined for overusing their artifacts. She wondered how other people could stand being around such noisy people, even calling them 'friends' to justify causing trouble for the other, just to forget about it and repeat the process. She certainly couldn't and she hadn't had to for as long as she could remember, then again, her early memory was stained by blurs of anger.

She was about halfway through her breakfast when a young blond male approached her, Sirius. Sirius shared his name with the brightest star to be seen in the night's sky, and surely, his presence and sparkling personality would blind her every time.

Riss woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing through his open window. It was still dawn, and as Riss sat up in his bed, he could see the disgustingly beautiful sky taunting him. Its soft, pastel purples met orange that streaked from the sun as blue slowly started to take over from the horizon.

He hated waking up early. Sure, it was a useful ability to have when hunting, but not now. He'd already spent two whole days just getting to a place outside the city where he can set traps and then coming back later to actually check and take them down. Clearly, it was not something he would be able to do everyday in Liravel. He misses having a wide array of animals out and about, but a cat and a bird, currently the only things he can catch within the city, will have to do.

He got up and began his daily routine of putting on his artifact, then summoning the body of a small bird and juicing it into a flask. After that, he gives the body to his cat and grabs the hairball with the last birds' bones, placing it in the pot of a plant in need of potassium. Moving to the bathroom, he dilutes the blood in the flask with water. Being able to produce dead bodies on command is extremely convenient. Before, he would only be able to pamper his plants like this once in a great while, but now he has the luxury of adjusting the acidity of soil on a whim. When he returns, he begins watering all the plants that like the extra nitrogen blood-water provides. Already, his roses have grown their first bud. The Wisteria and Moonflower vines have started to adhere to the wall and the Begonias already have a small bloom. Truly, he was made to be a Death Mage.

A small raven flies down from its perch in the upper bowels of Riss' room and "reminds him to feed it" with distressed chirping. As if he could ever forget, when the unruly bird wakes him up every day the rooster doesn't. Soon enough the plants will grow seeds and it'll be able to feed itself, but for now Riss has to deal with it. Establishing the ecosystem is by far the hardest part of living in it.

...Just like every day, Riss finds that there's still piles of seeds in its feeder. He knows he needs to add more, but is waking him up when it already has food really necessary? Surely there's not any other reason a lazy bird like that is bothering him.

With his daily chores done, Riss moves on to daily training. He begins with the hairball he's left in the pot of some flowers and starts to accelerate its decay. It takes some patience and concentration, which while extremely dull, was somewhat meditative in and of itself. After a good half hour or so of staring at an upchucked ball of fur slowly collapse in on itself, it settles into the soil leaving only the bones behind. Bones are a bit too difficult, but being able to deteriorate hair (even if it takes 3 minutes...) is a large step up from where he was during his first attempt. He sets those aside and moves on to part two of his training, which he does in town.

Letting his cat out for the day and locking the naughty bird in, he starts to make his way out of the orphanage and through Liravel, to the marketplace. Soon after getting his artifact, Riss landed a job as an assistant at a butcher's tent and has been making faster progress towards clearing his debt than ever before. It provides him with practice in the use of his artifact, adds to his catalogue by the grace of the butcher, teaches him about preparing animals for human consumption, and to top it all off, the pay is good. Sometimes, he even lets Riss take home some scraps. For someone as young as he, it's perhaps the best job he could ask for.

When he gets to the tent, he finds that it's stocked much more than usual. Before he can ask about it, his employer, a behemoth of a man, stands up and greets him with a weak smile. "Hey, Riss, I've got some news. Have a seat."

Riss sneaks past the table adorned with assorted meats and sits in a chair next to the man. "What's up?"

The man rubs his hands together, continuing without looking Riss in the eyes. He puts on another half-smile, giving him a nervous appearance. It looks strange, seeing the large man so anxious. "It seems that a sizable portion of our clientele is uncomfortable with meat prepared by a Death Mage. As a result, I'm afraid that as of today, I am no longer in need of yer services."

...

"Uh... Wh-" Riss stuttered a bit, scratching the back of his head, as if it would help him process what was happening better. He murmured out an acknowledgement as he began to grasp the situation, putting himself in the shoes of his boss and clients. "Um. Alright." Animal bodies generated by his artifact are 100% edible, and are actually pretty fresh, but he supposes 'selling dead bodies conjured by a Death Mage as food' sounds pretty bad.

It's lamentable, but unavoidable. His boss' hands are tied. Maybe he should just go back to selling wallets...

As Riss thought on this, the man simply sat there, blinking a few times. "Uh, good, good. Here's a little... something for yer trouble." He hands Riss an unsealed envelope. Riss takes it and finds a considerable amount of money inside. He's been payed by the hour each day, so it couldn't have been a paycheck, and yet there it was, holding more money within it than he had rightfully earned throughout all his time working with the butcher combined.

"What is this?"

The man crosses his arms. "Insurance, I expect."

Riss doesn't follow. "I don't follow."

At this the butcher raises his voice. "Do I have to spell it out for ya boy!? Don't pretend ya can't ruin me in an instant! I don't have it in me to get fightin' with a youngin' such as yer'self, so just take me money and scram. I like you, boy, but I don't want to see yer face around my tent again, capiche?"

He's a pretty rude guy. Riss stands up and hands him back the envelope. "I can't accept this." He begins to walk off and is, of course, yelled at by the butcher.

"Hey, if one of my customers gets a bite full of maggots-"

Riss sighs as he says it and cuts him off. "Yeah, I know."

Riss drags himself back home dejectedly, picking up breakfast/comfort food and eating it on his way there. Maybe he should just capture more cats and stay in his room with them all day.

Speaking of cats, when he drops by the cafeteria for the trash can, he spots a particularly naughty kitten about to harass some girl, judging by its body language.

Walking hurriedly so as not to draw undue attention, he ran over and grabbed the cat, picking it up before it did something crazy. It immediately hisses, drawing the attention of she who it was just behind. Looking at her, Riss notices that she has cat ears herself. You recognize this girl. Moira, you think her name is. "Sorry, don't mind me." Riss glances back at his cat. "I let him go wherever he likes during the day, and he seems to like you." Riss takes a few steps away and puts the cat down, only to have it immediately turn around and leap at Moira.

Sirius’s morning had been chock full of activities, from helping clean the orphanage’s communal areas, to preparing food in the kitchens, and to supervising some of the younger kids -- all usual for him. His favorite activity was playing with the children though, especially after acquiring his light abilities. He could entertain the young ones endlessly by creating various light constructs that danced about and it warmed him to see the sparkles in their eyes.
Even though his initial intention of going to Liravel Orphanage was to become an artificer, he couldn’t ignore all the poor orphans living there. That didn’t mean he slacked off on training, since that was essential to furthering his goal of more or less becoming a hero. He glances up at a nearby clock to see that it is about noontime and regretfully lifts the young child off his lap and stands up.
“I have to go eat lunch now,” he says gently.
“Awwww but I wanna play moooore,” the boy complains, tugging on Sirius’s hand.
Sirius smiles warmly and ruffles the boy’s hair a little, “I’ll play with you more another time.”
The child grumbles but lets go of Sirius, “Okaaayy.”
Sirius leaves, but not before calling out, “Be good until then.”

Once he enters the dining hall, he grabs a plate of food and scans the room, looking for people that could do with some company. Spying Shor, a girl who had issues with lashing out at people, Sirius approaches her table and sits down across from her.
Flashing his best smile, he greets, “Hey Shor, how have you been doing?”

@Ryougu

Absolutely blinded by Sirius' bright smile, Shor closed her eyes and she sighed. "I'm doing fine, prince Sparkly. So, what's your business today? I can't say I'm quite ready for another lecture." After Shor said this, she quickly changed her tune. "Actually, never mind that. I've been wondering about something that I think you can help me with. Can you tell me why everyone is so obsessed with friendships? These morons just get each other in trouble over and over until finally one of them breaks. What's so good about that?"

In the middle of her sentence, two girls approached Sirius. But, unwilling to let them interrupt her questions, Shor gave them a cold glare, quickly scaring them off, after which she made a forced smile at Sirius. "Take these two for example, Moira is just going to get her in trouble, but Natalia sticks around regardless. What's the point in that?" Shor asked before stuffing her mouth with what was left of her meal. Then she leaned back in her chair, tilting it so that two of its legs are off the ground, patiently waiting for Sirius' repsonse.

@IceSolstice@Ryik

Hearing a hissing sound, Moira turned and saw an unremarkable brown haired boy holding a cat -- one currently hissing at her. She was pretty sure his name was Riss, if she recalled correctly. Cute kitty.

"Sorry, don't mind me." The boy glanced down at the cat. "I let him go wherever he likes during the day, and he seems to like you." He steps back a bit and sets the cat down, only to have it immediately leap at her. Sounds like he likes the kitty quite a bit.

Moira caught the kitten with both hands, holding it up in front of her. It purrs at her cutely, its legs dangling helplessly in the air. “She’s adorable.” Moira smiles, tilting her head at the small feline. “Here, you can have her back.” She feels a rush of anticipation as she reaches for her magic, then a burst of pleasure exploding within at the expectation of what this would elicit.

Moira raises the cat up to Riss, and its lower torso falls to the ground with a wet squelch. While her hands were wrapped around the cat’s body, Moira had used the small shadow cast by her hands to cut the kitten cleanly in two. She shuffles a bit to the side as the pool of blood nears her shoes. Impassive, Moira glances down at the kitten half before looking back up at Riss with a renewed smile. Is he going to cry? Fight me? I wonder how long he'll stare in shock.

"Prince Sparkly? That's a new one coming from you," Sirius chuckles. He hastily adds, “No, I’m not here to lecture you. Can’t a friend eat with another friend without having their motives questioned?”
He ponders her questions a bit before answering, “Friends support and help each other out. Also because people are social animals by nature and don’t like to be lonely. That’s especially true here, since practically everyone either lost their parents or were abandoned. In a way, they’re making up for the love and affection they’re missing from family. And doing things together with friends can be more fun than doing it alone. Plus, not all friendships are about getting each other in trouble.”
Sirius takes a sip of water before glancing at Moira and Natalia, who were amicably chatting with one another over lunch.
“I’ll admit Moira is a special case. I don’t really know why Natalia sticks with her either since it doesn’t seem as if Natalia is a bad person at heart. But then again, when it comes to emotions not everything can be explained with logic.”
He frowns a bit, “You know, if you want to make friends you should be more friendly. It was rude of those girls to interrupt you yes, but you shouldn’t have glared at them like that. It was good that you didn’t get into a fight though.”

@Ryougu

Riss immediately punches Moira in the face, before the second piece of cat falls, a neutral expression chiseled on his face like an engraving. She reels back, tossing the upper half of the kitten into the air in the process. “Rude!” She exclaims, one hand on her face, the other held in front in a loose guard. Her cheek was swelling already, she could feel it.

Natalia facepalms. This was going to be messy. Moira had pushed Riss’s berserk button a little too hard in her opinion. (The top half of the kitten hits the ground with a quiet splat.)

Moira continues, “aren’t you going to make a burning declaration of your anger and sorrow first? At least-” Riss tries to punch her again in the exact way he did two seconds ago. He should have been a Time Mage.

“Tch.” Moira steps backwards as the punch swings and misses. “And now you’re inter-” Riss interrupts her and tries to punch her a third time.

It seems as if Moira could handle this without her help, so Natalia just grabs a second plate of food. Besides, Riss’s anger was giving her a minor headache.

Seeing the same punch thrown at her for the third time in a row, Moira pushes the offending fist to her right. Riss attempts to shove his elbow into her face, lunging into her in the process. Moira rapidly backpedals and loses her balance from Riss’ weight, causing them to both fall over. They land with Moira’s slim, nubile self underneath Riss’s toned, athletic body.

“Wanna continue this in my room?” Moira whispers to Riss. “Or do you want them to watch?” She wraps her arms around his back, pulling him close while he pushes against the floor to keep away.

Well, this is an interesting development. Natalia thought while munching on her food.

Riss hesitates and Moira takes the initiative by hoisting herself off the ground, rubbing her body against Riss as she exhales into his ear. “I guess foreplay is over...”

Riss pushes Moira away by the shoulders. She immediately lets out a sound effect. “Kya~”

Riss’s emotions were… well, Natalia didn’t want to think about it.

Riss gets up without looking directly at Moira, face flushed and wearing a subtle scowling expression. He ignores her and goes straight to half of his poor cat, sitting on the floor. His name was Sin. Riss reaches out, grabs a piece of its bloody offal and takes a bite out of it, pulling it against his teeth to rip off a chunk.

“Does... does that taste good?” Moira asks in genuine confusion. He just ate a piece of his dear departed pet.

He tosses the rest of it over his shoulder and leaves without a word. The stray chunk lands on Moira. She glances at the bloody chunk of flesh sadly, thinking about the stain that would leave.

“Must you have killed the cat?” Natalia asks Moira, relieved that the fight or whatever that was that happened, is over.

Not looking away from the lump of offal with a bite mark in it sitting on her shoulder, Moira replies “I could have only taken off the limbs, but by the way I caught it, I thought it’d be funnier to have half fall off as I raised it up.”

“Of course you did,” Natalia replies.

Moira cups her hand over the bit of cat flesh and scoops it up with a shadow. A bloodstain remains on her dress. “I’m going to have to change now.” She pouts.

“The sooner you freshen up, the faster we can go to hunt manabeasts,” Natalia comments.

Moira sniffs her shoulder. The scent of blood wasn’t even that strong. “I’ll just go like this, it’s already noon.” She shrugs, getting up and walking away with Natalia.

Looking at the cult meeting over at Moira’s table, Shor sighed “So, friends, huh? I think I’ll pass for now, sparkles. After this… display, I’m not quite sure if I’ll ever want part of any friendship. Nothing personal though, you’re a good fellow” under her breath adding “Albeit a bit nosy.”

“I don’t blame you, but not all friendship is like that,” Sirius comments, “I’m concerned about Riss though, want to go see if he’s okay? We could all go out and hunt some manabeasts to blow off some steam.”

“Yeah.” Shor responded “Seems good to me...Kind of weird he ate part of his cat though, are you sure you want him along?”

“His pet just died, we should give him the benefit of the doubt,” Sirius responded.

Considering this for a moment, Shor shrugged and responded “Sure.”

Lysette is deeply disturbed by the scents erupting through under her door. Having just activated her enhanced smelling, the metallic odor of blood was… Troubling. She follows the smell to its source, just in time to spectate Riss devouring a chunk of a cat and proceed to toss the remainder like a leaking beanbag behind him.

Brutal remains of the cat are are strewn about the room, decorating a large section of the floor and table. A gust of wind smears the bits into a neat pile in the center of the floor before the clump is balled up, floating to the nearest disposal bin. She sniffs a second time before conjuring another wave of air to push out the lingering smell of the corpse.

With very many questions to ask, she scans the room, looking for a normal orphan to inquire on the mess. She spots shining mr justice and a girl wearing a muffler together at a table by the corner and approaches.

“Who… Why… Is that cat… Less than whole? And I mean the real cat, not that wild succubus.”

“Well” Shor began hesitantly “The cat was… decimated BY the aforementioned wild succubus. She really needs some discipline...Maybe I should punch some into her?” Having said this, she returned her chair to a position that wasn’t tilted 60 degrees and got up. “Either way, these MORONS-” she said loud enough to make sure Moira and Natalia could hear “-are not my problem. Jeez, can’t even eat in peace nowadays.”

She sounds like a fun person. Moira thinks with glee, wondering how Shor would handle the next lunchtime interruption.

Sirius interjects, “Basically Moira bisected the cat and Riss lost in many more ways than one in the ensuing conflict. I’ll see if I can get a punishment levied on her when I report this to the higher ups here.”

“I… Don't think I'll be eating either” Lysette mutters with a slight pout. “I'll just leave you two to your food now. Find some odd job to do today… Debt isn't getting any smaller.” Lysette wanders off to the door, quietly muttering “debt” over and over to herself as she makes distance.

Lysette doesn’t seem to be okay. Sirius calls out to her before she leaves, “Hey, do you want to come with us to kill some manabeasts and get more artifacts?”

Sirius’s offer halted Lysette before she got to the door. She wasn't exactly sure who'd be going with them, but Sirius was there, and Sirius was dependable as the sun.

“That'd be great!” She chirps to the pair as she returns to the table.
Sirius beams at Lysette, “Let's get Riss and be on our way then.”

The pair arrive at the landboat stop, eager to acquire artifacts and a sizable amount of pocket change for themselves. The stop consisted of a sign beside the street showing which route was being traveled, as well as the specific stops involved. A line of people stand or sit around the sign. The pair of girls join the group, standing near the back. After waiting a few minutes, the landboat arrives, a dust cloud billowing around it.

The vehicle looked like a typical sea-going vessel floating in the air. At regular points beneath the boat were presumably Wind artifacts keeping the vessel aloft. A set of stairs were built into the front and back of each side of the ship -- there was no water to be let in on land. The deck consisted of many small seats, bars and rails for standing riders to grip, and a large mast with a sail attached, with more Wind artifacts affixed. The deck was mostly open air, with a glass windbreaker curving around from the front of the ship to a third of the way toward the back.

They display their orphanage crests and hop on the landboat, finding seats towards the edge. The craft vibrates, the white sail flares, and the vehicle hovers slowly to the outskirts of the city. After it reaches past the walls, the landboat picks up its pace and skims over the land at an astonishing pace.

Natalia peeks her head out, enjoying the view of rolling farmland below with the horizons seeming infinite. She admires the sight for several more moments before turning to Moira.

“We should figure out how we’re going to divide the manabeasts while we’re waiting to get there,” Natalia prompts.

“Hmm... I get everything but the Psyche regents?” Moira muses.

Natalia simply gives Moira a look.

“Hey! It’s not like you’ll be contributing!”

“Not at first, no. But if we come across an Ice manabeast, I can turn that into an artifact and help you out. That way we can get double the amount of loot.”

“I’m not totally convinced, but sure.” Moira shrugs. Natalia would be using up her Artifact rapidly if she relied on it to hunt.

“...Or I can just grab the first manabeast we see and get a sealed artifact out of it,” Natalia continues, “But anyways, the real question is what elements you’re thinking of going into.”

“I might have been planning on Darkness, Death, and Curse...” Moira quirks her lips.

Natalia smirks, “That sounds pretty characteristic of you. I’m planning on Psyche, Ice, Water, and Lightning. It’s a good thing our elements don’t overlap though.”

“Yup, otherwise you’d have to wait a long while before you got a Regent of you own. “ Moira says teasingly.

“I didn’t expect anything less from you,” Natalia retorts, equally playful.

“WAO, it’s like you can already read my mind(!!!).” Moira responds dryly.

“Wao, it’s like we’re close friends or something (!!!),” Natalia counters.

“B-b-baka!”

“Tsu-Tsu-Tsundere!”

“It-it’s not like I like you or anything!!!”

“It’s okay, Moira. Senpai finally noticed you.” Natalia gazes at Moira solemnly.

“Yes S-Senpai...” Moira’s tone suddenly shifts to sultry.

Natalia bops Moira on the head. Moira whimpers and holds both hands on her head, pouting, her cat ears folding over.
The other riders of the landboat were very pointedly trying to ignore the pair. Especially some of the younger men, who were very glad they were sitting down.

Disgusted, Kubo pushed his plate aside. The warm aroma of baked beans and bacon just didn't seem as appealing as it had a bit before. The sight of cat guts had a stunningly detrimental effect on his appetite. Every time he looked at the crispy bacon ridges all he saw was the crimson fringes of the cat's stomach lining. Of course, more than the cat itself, the sight of that freaky death mage EATING the damn thing had turned his stomach. Certainly he had understood that he would not be dealing with ordinary people when he came here, but he had expected extraordinary, not.... freaky. If he hadn't been trying to eat breakfast he would have walked over and punched that sadistic bitch in the face himself, killing a cat like that for no reason. Certainly Kubo was no cat lover, considering the animals practical companions at best, but the thought of inflicting harm on another living being for amusement...

Resigned to his empty stomach he stood up and looked around. If he was to succeed in his quest he would need to get himself more power, more artifacts, and more reagents. And that meant hunting for manabeasts. Certainly he could do this on his own, but he certainly wasn't eager to go on his first hunt without backup. More than one aspiring Artificer had ended a potentially successful career in a Manabeast's gullet, and he had no intention of joining those numbers. Immediately the freaks who had engaged in the little fistfight were discarded from his list of potential allies, there was no way he was trusting either of them with his back. Maybe it was unfair to judge the death mage for his odd habits, but death magic didn't have the best reputation. More interesting was the little group converging over in the corner, who appeared to also be planning on a hunt.

Shor was a violence magnet, or perhaps just a walking trouble hurricane. The kind of person more likely to get into a bar brawl than actually get a drink. While Kubo didn't exactly approve of her reliance on violence, nor on her temperamental attitude, but there was no denying that she was a good fighter, perhaps one of the best around. Her strength and experience made her a useful ally, and her simplicity made her easy to understand. It was a mindset that, even if he didn't quite agree with it, made her fairly easy to deal with as long as you remained on her good side. Better a friend than an enemy.

Sirius was a bit of a mystery to Kubo. He seemed to be a strongly moral person, a stance Kubo could certainly respect. Although he personally was more motivated by ambition than by lofty ideals he did admire the dedication it took to keep to such stringent principles. Certainly he was dependable, and would likely work to keep the group in line. His straightforward manner and blatant kindness also made him a likable person, and Kubo couldn't help but trust him. There was no way this guy was going to betray him, and he'd be a good friend to have. Besides, he'd heard Sirius was also fairly powerful, although he had never personally seen him fight. It seemed Sirius wasn't as quick to brawl as Shor was.

Lysette also appeared to have joined this little group. She was a quick-witted child, although she didn't seem overly social. Quick on her feet and mild of temperament, at least as far as he had seen. Certainly she would be a useful ally to have, and if Sirius trusted her then he supposed she certainly couldn't be all that bad. Certainly it would be nice to have another relatively calm individual in the group to balance out Shor's turbulence. Not a lot to go on, but better than nothing, and certainly better than that Moira girl.

Deciding that this was likely the best group he'd find in quite a while, Kubo walked over, smiling in what he hoped was a friendly manner as he nervously rubbed his hair. He'd spent a long time on his studies and rarely interacted with the other students. His mental evaluation of them had only reminded him of the fact that pretty much everything he knew had been learned from an attic window. In fact he didn't think he'd ever said more than a sentence or two to Sirius before this point. "Ah, hey, guys. I heard you guys were going to hunt for manabeasts? I hope you don't mind if I tag along. Better to stick together when trying to find dangerous creatures, right?" Kubo couldn't entirely hide his nervousness over the proposal, hoping he didn't get rejected. More than that, though, he hoped he'd remembered these people's names correctly. It wouldn't be the first time he'd completely forgotten someone's name, and the situation didn't get any less awkward with experience.

Annoyed by yet another intruder on this conversation, as well as having already found the group too big, Shor moved over to Kubo and gave him an intimidating glare. "Who're you even? Rather, why do you think you can just come frolic over here and tag along? With Riss, the group's already bigger than it should be, anyway."

"And what's with the listening in on us? No way you should have heard us with all the noise these lunatics were making." Shor took a deep breath and turned to the others. "Know what, why don't we split the group in half? With one team of three and a team of two we should be able to move around faster, plus it should make dividing the spoils a lot easier." Turning back to Kubo, she continued. "--And that way you could even tag along, you could even pick what team you want to be on."

"So, I was planning on heading out to the mines to gather some metal reagents, anyone tagging along?" Shor asked, her body language showing she wasn't willing to allow anyone to object to the split.

When Kubo first mentions that he wished to join the group, Sirius is completely open with the idea. But he knew Shor would not take someone barging in kindly. And as expected, Shor starts provoking Kubo.
Sirius cuts in, "You would be a welcome addition, Kubo."
Turning to Shor, "I'm against splitting in half because I am concerned about everyone's safety. You have your strength to fend off manabeasts, but what about the others? Besides, I haven't confirmed that Riss will be coming. I do have an interest in the mines though since I'd like a Crystal artifact."
With that, Sirius leaves the group to go find Riss, hoping that Shor wouldn't start up a fight in his absence.

Sirius walks down the hallway, his footsteps echoing on the hard floor. Sirius didn't mind interacting with people, but it was also nice to get some time to himself. Times like this were about the only moments where he wasn't busy with training or helping with one errand or another. He knew that Riss decided to go into the Death element and about his particular..hobbies. But to each their own-- as long as they didn't intentionally hurt people, it was fine. Sirius could tell Riss's room is close, due to the stench that permeates from his room. He wrinkles his nose, the only discomfort Sirius displays, and knocks on Riss's door.
"Hey Riss, are you in there? I want to talk."

@Ryik

Five seconds pass after Sirius knocked on Riss’ door. No one answers.

Sirius knocks on the door some more and hears the sound of ceramics breaking on the floor. Did something just break? I should check to see if everything’s okay. He yells, “I’m coming in!” and grasps the doorknob. To his surprise, it opens to reveal a raven that appears just as surprised. It immediately flies about the room, knocking over a potted plant. Sirius manages to catch the pot with a platform of light before it joins the one that he apparently heard fall over earlier. After flying in circles around the room a couple of times cawing like a maniac, the raven eventually settles on the body of a dead cat lying on its back, whose unblinking eyes gives Sirius a playful look.

The sweet imagery of a cat and a bird getting along is immediately ruined when the raven starts pecking at a small opening in the cat’s stomach, pulling out a tiny chunk of offal.

Sirius finds Riss underneath the dead cat, lying stomach-down on his bed with a pillow over his head, held down on either side.

“Riss?” Sirius calls out tentatively.

Riss pushes the pillow aside and lifts himself up by his elbows, looking behind him so as not to disturb the bird and cat on his back. The raven caws moodily at Sirius anyway. “What?”

“How are you doing?” Sirius asks gently.

Riss shrugs nonchalantly despite his puffy red eyes. “Cat just died for no good reason, so that’s a bummer.”

“Want to talk about it at all?” Sirius prompts while also returning the pot to its rightful place. He boxes up the broken remains of the pot and funnels it into… another pot. Riss doesn’t appear to own a trash can.

Riss considers Sirius’s question for a moment, then shakes his head. “Nah, I’m not gonna waste your time.” He pulls the duplicate body of his deceased cat off his back so he can turn around and sit up, letting the raven eat from the cat’s corpse in his lap.

Sirius’s expression remains neutral, “It’s not a waste of my time to help someone out.”

“Save it,” Riss says immediately. “Is that the only reason you came to see me?” Riss should have been a Psyche Mage.

“My main reason, yes,” Sirius replies, “My other reason was that I wanted to ask if you were interested in hunting manabeasts for artifacts.” It would be good for Riss to get his mind off his dead cat.

“Yes.” Riss says immediately before realizing how he sounded. “On one condition.”

Sirius turns his head quizzically.

“Can you use your light magic to replant this?” Riss gestures to the dirt scattered about his floor and the poor flower trying to cling onto as much of it as it can.

“It won’t be very precise, but I could,” Sirius answers. Light shines around the mess and scoops up allllllllll the dirt.

Riss sets his dead cat (complete with live bird) down on his bed, then grabs another pot lying around and places the flower in the center of the pot as Sirius pours the dirt in.

“Alright, let’s meet up with everyone now,” Sirius says cheerfully, before Riss even sets the newly potted plant down.

Riss is immediately suspicious of what Sirius is doing here. He didn’t mention other people before, but Riss ultimately discards the thoughts as irrelevant. He takes steps towards the door to give the illusion he’s following Sirius before closing the door partially so Sirius can’t see what he’s about to do next.

Going back to his bed, he picks up the dead cat and holds its face to his, cuddling it. “I’ll miss you.”

Riss sets the dead cat in the flower pot, leaving his bird to have at it. He quickly grabs some gardening tools to fight manabeasts with, tossing them in a backpack and leaving his room to catch up with Sirius, who walked a short ways away already.

When they enter the cafeteria, Sirius waves a hand at the group and exclaims, “Hey guys, Riss is joining us!”

@Ryougu @Vanovick @TheWizardGuy

Shor's face showed clear disdain after Sirius rejected the split. No way she was going to get all friendly with so many people. Since Sirius had walked away immediately, Shor decided to just leave a message with Lysette. "Chump -nothing personal- and I are headed to the mines, tell Sirius for me." Having said this, she grabbed Kubo by his wrist and dragged him along--ignoring any objections Lysette might have had.

After having pulled Kubo outside, Shor let go of his arm. "So...What's your name and what does your artifact do? Also, if we'll be a team..." Shor had trouble actually saying this out loud and the last words came out as little more than whispers. "Let's...uh...get along, I guess." Seeming like a great wave of relief came over her, Shor continued aloud. "Well, let's bounce shall we? To the mines!"

Despite Sirius' objections, it seemed like a solid plan to Kubo. Certainly two or three would be enough to take on most any manabeasts they were likely to find. If they were to move in a group of five the noise they made was more likely to scare off smaller, easier prey, and they would be able to cover far less ground. He could also see conflict arising over the distribution of reagents. If there were five people, and they only found 3 manabeasts, then two people would end up getting the short end of the stick. This reasoning was why, when he was roughly dragged off by Shor, he didn't object. Although the pressure exerted by her fingers made him glad that she had grabbed his vambrace arm, as otherwise she might well have left bruises. Even as he stumbled backwards as he was dragged off he waved back at Lysette, before turning to prevent being dragged across the floor. Certainly this all would go a lot better without that weirdo Riss on the team, and he was glad he'd be gone by the time Sirius returned.

Outside, it seemed Shor was looking to act as a team, which would certainly make matters easier. It also appeared she was no more competent at human interaction than he was, which was perhaps one of the driving factors behind her generally violent attitude. But, away from the larger group and knowing he was on his way to obtaining more artifacts, Kubo found himself significantly more confident. Especially as she had asked to see his artifacts, which he was rather proud of. "The name's Kubo. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Shor." Reaching into his pocket he pulled forth the Sparkle Stick, a branch he'd found and then sharpened, before attaching the reagent (a piece of quartz) to the top with string and glue. Holding it out he could feel the mana within it, and the mana within himself echoing in kind. It was both medium and energy source.

"Behold! This is my first artifact." As Kubo extended his thoughts and his spirit into the stick the mana within it glowed up, causing the very air to shimmer. Grasping hold of this immense power he drew forth the stick, gathering the energy at it's tip, before slashing it through the air like a sword. The concentrated mana was released, bursting forth into the air, even as it transmuted the very laws of physics to bring about his will in the natural world.

A blast of bring purple glitter popped into existence, covering Shor. She'd be finding glitter in her hair for days, and currently bore an odd resemblance to a Christmas decoration.

"I call it the Sparkle Stick, for obvious reasons. It's power is to generate and manipulate crystals in the air. Lots of them, and quite quickly, too. With some time I can also use it to shape and create larger crystal formations." Proudly, Kubo leaned back, his slight smile betraying his confidence. Certainly he had impressed her, with such a creative and useful artifact. Although she might be reliant on brute force and superhuman strength, this was the tool of an artist, an elegant pen with which he could rewrite the laws of nature as he saw fit. And make some damn fine art, if he said so himself.

Of course, nothing could top this demonstration, so he would simply have to show her his stone arm later when fighting a manabeast. There was no need for it to bask in the long shadow cast by the Sparkle Stick. Each of his artifacts deserved it's own spotlight, after all, and where else would he spotlight a combat artifact than in the very scenario it had been built for. "As you said, let's be off. I'm sure we'll be able to find plenty to do in the mines. Hopefully you'll be able to keep up, although based on what I've seen of your capabilities, I'm sure you'll be able to help." With this compliment he cheerfully set off towards the train station, from where it would be easy to make their way to the mines. Normally he would not be able to afford the train, or at least wouldn't be willing to expend the necessary money, but the wards were given free reign when it came to such and thus there was no reason to go by foot. In fact he was rather looking forward to it, as he rarely got to spend time in trains or carriages.