As Kanako strolled through the forest, she had no idea that she was being stalked by the three figures, especially with how fog had suddenly settled in around her. She was uncomfortable with the fact. She could've just blew the fog away from her but there was a ban on using their power for this night. She now knew the reason why. No doubt the older students would use their power to try to scare them off. And this fog must be the work of one of them.

"Be careful. Don't walk too far ahead. We don't want to be separated at a time like this. I expect something to pop out any second now," she said to the boy. "Ah, that reminds me, I haven't asked for your name yet, have I? My name's Kanako, wind elementalist. How about you?"

After they walked and chatted some more, their tranquil walk was suddenly interrupted with a loud BOOM right in front of them. Something big had crashed into the ground, giving a mini earthquake at its impact.

"W-what was that?" Kanako said. No sound was heard right afterwards, making her even more nervous. She could feel her heart beating furiously in its cage.

And then, she saw it. The creature standing right in front of them.

"...O-Oh God w-what is that?"

Her eyes widened from fright at what she saw. It was a giant, spider-like thing looking straight at them. It lacked a face for sure but she knew perfectly well that it was staring at them.

"Get caught and you're eliminated from the run. Good luck!"

She didn't even need to be told that by the voice.

"R-run!" she shouted.

She quickly grabbed Jideh's hand and dragged him along with her. They had to put as much distance as they could from the beast.

T-this isn't funny at all! W-we can actually die here! T-they're supposed to merely prank us, not try to kill us!

@Kalleth

Shaking off the dizziness from his earlier spill, Silas chose to take a less travelled path. He was already behind most of the others due to him wiping out, so there was no time to waste on debating which trail to follow.You'll be fine, race has just begun. Plenty of time to catch up! Besides, half of these chumps have probably called it quits by now! Making sure to avoid tree roots, Silas took off on the thin and winding trail, trying to make up for lost ground. For a while, Silas let himself be overcome and just let his feet fall where his instincts dictated, all that mattered was that he needed to keep running.

Silas was pulled back to his senses as he noticed that the forest suddenly seemed a lot colder... that and the fact that everything that wasn't a few metres away had melted into a grey abyss. What the fuck?! This fog wasn't here a second ago... Probably one of those damn seniors trying to screw with our heads. If this was the work of the seniors, they were damn good because suddenly, everything was just... gone. The gnarled and ominous trees that once stood guard over this forest were now just dancing on the edge his of visibility, the withered canopy of wispy branches had also donned a veil of mist that threatened to block out the moonlight. It was quite unnerving... to say the least, but Silas would not let himself freak out just yet. After all fog is just water, he was basically swimming in a pool of his own element. So he had that small comfort at least.

The path, much like everything else in the forest had been consumed by the ever oppressing fog. Silas was much to his own discontent, forced to slow down, lest he run head-first into a tree. He moved ahead at a semi-safe speed and brushed past anything in his way. All of a sudden, there was a scream right next to his ear and a flailing arm attacking him. Reflexively, Silas jumped back slightly and put his arms up to block the unknown attacker's attempted assault. He tried to look closer at whoever attacked him but his gaze was greeted only by a blinding flash of light. Silas flinched and squinted as his hands practically flew up to block the beam, he was about to yell at whoever attacked him but another, softer voice beat him to the punch.

"Oh, uh... hey there love, sorry about that,"

Through an intense amount of strain on his squinting eyes, Silas was able to vaguely make out the shape of a girl standing before him and shining the beam in his face. She sounded pretty genuine, so Silas doubted that she meant to do him any harm. Dude, you're kind of blind right now, if she wanted to do something she would've by now. Raising his hand to block the beam again, Silas let out an exasperated sigh, disappointed that he was frightened so easily by this girl.

"It's fine... But would you mind shining that light somewhere other than my face?"

@Raptra

Jideh had suspected something like this would happen, and he wondered if there truly were evil spider elementals prowling the forest at all times. It struck him as something worth noting in the Academy's introduction pamphlet. Suspicions aside, the spider seemed real enough and before Jideh had come up with a plan of action he was being yanked along by Kanako.

"I'm– Ow! Ow! ARGH!" Jideh was being whipped at by branches, tripping over himself, and being disoriented beyond belief. "KANAKO, STOP RUNNING!" Jideh yanked his hand back, and stopped abruptly. He got his breath back, and listened carefully. There was faint crashing in the brush around them, but they'd successfully lost their way off the beaten path. On top of that, a fog was rolling in, obscuring vision even further.

"I'm Jideh! Kanako, stay close to me and don't get lost!" He looked for her, hoping to find her close at hand. "I can't suspend my disbelief any longer, there's foul play going on. I don't care if they said we shouldn't use our elemental powers, if anything this should probably be a test of our powers! Kanako, are you with me on this? I have an idea, a trick I can do which may work, if we're lucky."

---

Jordan heard voices but as the fog rolled in, visibility shrank. DAMN YOU KANO! Jideh roared furiously inward, remaining silent. He shouldered the thing he was holding, and crept up through the brush, as quiet as a shadow. The silhouettes became clear enough and their voices loud enough for Jordan to make out that they were three girls. First years of course, and Jordan barely suppressed his evil cackle at that. Jordan thought he could see another silhouette but it was less clear. Could be he was seeing things.

Let me see... That first girl is Vera Wynn? Light elementalist. Beside her is Lyra Andor, wind elementalist. And last but not least we have ShiZen, the water elementalist. Shame then, that there was no fire elementalist. But not so much of a shame as that.

Jordan waited patiently for a lull in conversation, cocked his precious possession, and took a breath. He couldn't help but grin then, when he raised up his arms, took aim, and fired.

...

Or rather, watered. OF COURSE I'M NOT GOING TO SHOOT AT CHILDREN! WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M A MONSTER?

Bombardments of pressure-propelled icy cold water blasted through the mist, roaring towards the three girls, splashing against everything but especially the tree, which had the exact effect Jordan had planned for, doubling the amount of moisture propagated. If this was a war zone, Jordan would classify the casualty rate as catastrophic for the enemy combatants, but as it was, he'd classify as excessively damp! And without waiting to see if they fled or tried to fight, Jordan rolled back into the brush, cackling madly and making sure his water gun was reloading properly.

It was also in Jordan's vested interest that nobody spotted the pink spray-paint on the barrel of the water gun which read, "Catherine's Panties."

Yeah, Jordan went there.

Actually there were a multitude of reasons why Jordan didn't want anybody in his shed, whatsoever, but for the sake of his continued state of not being a crippled vegetable, this particular reason was what came to mind.

@Hammerman @Raptra @Stern Algorithm @CriticalHit

Samantha just stared at the pair as their faces took on the obvious look of annoyance and anger she was used to dealing with.

"Oh bring it down. I ain't sayin' you a loose kinda girl or nothin' of that sort." The girls habds were patting the air in fromt of her while she talked, trying to show there was no harm meant.

When Dias face was nuzzled in the boys chest an idea sprung to Clemonts mind.

"You know.. If you two wanna be left truly alone, theres a party goin' on outside. Incase yoh haven't heard em yet.. It's a race throughthe forest secretly approved by the teachers. Rather than compete, why not go find a quiet place to relax in the forest. Probably a better choice than up here.."

With that done She got to her feet and offered a light little bow to the pair. Having overstayed her welcome, Clemont waved goodbye and chose to simply walk away, and exited the roof the same way she had arrived.


@Old Amsterdam

Half-asleep and angry he barely felt the temperature drop as his own inner furnace started to smolder, threatening to ignite at any moment. Every word the chatty older brat spoke was insulting somehow and he was keenly aware that Dia was not only a tad sensitive but had a temper of her own.
If he didn't like her before.. well, everybody liked seeing a bit of themself in others. They had common ground.

Just as he was about to tell the fifth year to cram a sock in it, Dia surprised him yet again when she whispered her non-violence before hiding her face in his chest.
For felix who had never interacted with others much, the rather embarassing admittance from the girl offset his rising anger completely. Non violence was the solution he found his heart agreeing with.

Blushing ever so slightly he whispered back, "Me too.." rather sheepishly.

When Clemont explained the event that would put the first years on a late night run through the forest, felix's interest was peaked. Naturally competetive it appealed to him, but then he realized it would indeed give him and Dia a chance to actually be alone.

When the older girl was gone and they were fully alone again, except for the excited sound of talking coming from the lower floors and students no doubt gathering, Felix broke the pairs silence.

"This is.. gonna sound awful but.." Felix swallowed his nervousness and continued. "If, you know by chance, you wanted to try the run out anyways, id be happy to accompany you. The stars might be visible in the trees but thats ok.." Felix tentatively reached out for Dias hand. "If you were there, it'd be like having pulled a star right out of the sky anyways."

His face was now almost as red as a tomato. Felix didn't have a lot of opportunities to talk to girls. This whole situation was so far out of his experience it was amazing he hadn't started a fire from his embarassment.

Dia blushed violently herself, turning a shade brighter than Felix. She had to remind herself to breathe, and she felt like her heart was going to break free from her chest. She entwined her fingers in his hand.

Could he feel that? The beat of her heart banging against her breast?

Why did he want to spend time with her anyways?

She looked up into Felix's eyes, feeling lost. She couldn't find the words, couldn't get them past her throat.

She blinked, feeling like she was falling. He expected an answer, and she couldn't give one. She needed to do something, say something. He must think she was so weird. Would he change his mind?

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and leaned forward slowly. Her hands touched his neck, feeling the heat beneath his skin, as she carefully and gently placed her lips on his.

She stayed there for a moment, losing herself completely, before she pulled away and stood. She reached down for his hands, pulling on then gently.

"I don't understand why you want to spend time with me, Felix. But I..." She let her hair fall in front of her face. "But I'll go wherever you go," she added simply. Dia tugged his arms lightly, looking at him uncertainly. "Unless... Unless you ch-changed your mi-mind..."

@Zelosse

@Old Amsterdam

It was written that the love of a good woman could move mountains, grapple the moon, sunder the skies. Up until just a few moments ago Felix had only believed the concept to be fanciful writing meant to tug at your senses.

Her fingers curled around his and time stood still. Caught in the web of the unknown.

Her hand touched his neck and all he could do was stare at her meekly. Nothing passed in his mind; not his hand, his father, his challenge to the teacher, nothing. Unaware of anything but the fact that her face was getting closer.
But that didn't make sense. Why wou-

Their lips touched and his eyes went wide.

This was a young man who had never held hands with a girl. Rarely talled to them. Never contemplated the act of kissing within the realm of possibility. How had it happened so quickly, he wondered, as the pleasant sensation swept the aches and anger clean out of his body.

Felix vaguely registered Dia had spoken. Had expressed something..

It was too much too soon! The over-stimulation of their embrace had overwhelmed Felix completely. All the strength fled his body, knees buckling. The sensation of fallibg to the floor flat on his back was hard to explain. He couldn't feel it at all..

"I.. you.." like a deer caught in a cars headlights, Felix mumbled something but it made no sense.

@Hammerman@Kalleth

The spider-construct kept its rumbling pace forward, the roots still trying to grasp Jideh and Kanako but they were lethargic in terms of pace. Controlling elementals form and movement was taxing, so the roots and vines were more to obstruct than anything.
With a nod to his classmate the handler issued a command to his elemental friend.

The beast replied happily, one of its large stone legs struck the ground hard. A wave of energy shot through the soil and beyond the pairs current path. It only took a few seconds but where once there was open air and freedom between the trees was a thick wall of dirt almost 8 feet high and 3 feet thick, shaped up to bar the students progress.

The options now were backtrack through the walker, or take a side route through a sparse clearing of trees.

The Walker construct felt their hesitence and stalked in inch by inch. Its heavy stone legs thumping against the ground with every step.

Dia didn't know what had happened. One moment she was standing, and the next she was falling forward. Squealing a little, she could do next to nothing to stop herself from landing on Felix.

He was struggling to say something, but it was only nonsense to Dia. She froze where she was, panicking and barely breathing.

Everything sparked in her brain, and she jumped to her feet, shaking like a leaf.

"I-i-i'm so-sorry," she stammered. "I thought...I never fe-felt this W-way...I thought I was - I mean - I thought that's h-h-how..."

Dia backed away a bit, bowing. "I'm sorry Felix. Please forgive me. I didn't mean to assume. I...."

She slid back down to her knees. "I just...I see the light in you. And I want to be around it. I want to see you shine..."

@Zelosse

Kanako ran as fast as she could, not noticing, or not caring, for the pleas of her partner whom she was dragging along behind her. As Jideh separated from her grasp forcefully, she ended up running away on her own. However, she was unable to run for long as a rumble of energy suddenly shot out from the spider-like creature, creating a wall that blocked her path.

"Gah!" she shouted in frustration before turning around to face the monster once more. She then saw her partner in front of her, so she quickly approached him to regroup. She still thought it was in their best interest to run, but Jideh quickly said otherwise, as he suspected foul play were in the works, and that they should use their elemental powers, rules be damned.

"F-fine!" she replied. "J-just a warning though, my control of my element isn't that great yet! I can only create strong gusts! And I don't think it would be very effective against... whatever that is!"

She then heard him saying that he had a trick in his mind.

"W-what is it? Speak, before that thing got on top of us!"

@Kalleth@Zelosse

"Oh, right," Vera chuckled nervously, realizing the boy's discomfort after he had pointed it out. "Sorry about that too."

She lowered the beam of her flashlight back onto the ground, hoping that any temporary blindness she might have caused the other student didn't stay for long, but then again, in this fog, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference for him anyway. With that thought in mind, she returned to the frustration of finding her way around.

"Ugh, this is ridiculous," she whined, realizing how glad she was to have someone to speak to in her current situation. "As if the dark isn't bad enough, but the mist has to be this thick? Like, how did you even get this far without a light?"

Vera took a couple of steps forward, assuming the boy would remain close by since they were travelling along the same path. A feeling of complacency that the rest of the walk would be uneventful was just starting to set in, when suddenly, an unexpected jet of liquid came shooting through the mist, hitting her square in the face. She let out a shriek at the surprise before stumbling back, rubbing it out of her eyes.

She found herself taking more deep breaths to calm herself after the second scare of the night. She aimed the beam of her phone, which was thankfully waterproof, at her hand as she rubbed the liquid she had been attacked with between her fingers. What's with this school and getting students wet? This had better not be anything gross, or so help me... Of course, that was her priority, even if it was for just a second, in a dark, foggy forest where other things were waiting to jump out at her.

Once she was satisfied concluding that the liquid was just water, she decided to move forward slightly, seeing that the attack had ceased. To her surprise, the path seemed to end at some huge roots. Reaching forward through the fog, she felt her hand touching some bark. Is this... the end?

Groaning in disappointment, she turned around and called out to the boy she was with, hoping he was still there since she couldn't exactly tell though the mist. Darn, I should have gotten his name... "Bad news darling, we've hit a dead end. We're going to have to turn back."

@Kalleth @CriticalHit

@Old Amsterdam

Still a bit stunned from the unexpected kiss, Felix processed words at an all-time record of sluggishness. Who wouldn't when one minute you swear you saw an angel and just a bit later you're locking lips with one.
This day had gone completely off track from how it was supposed to go. How Felix had expected it to go. His roommate wasn't in a fist fight with him, Manilow had a chance to get through the stubborn hate of the boys soul, and this young lady had found his heart by accident.

How could it all have happened so fast.

"Too fast.." he whispered, shaking his head as he slowly rose to a sitting position.

"I've.. never kissed a girl before. You don't have to apologize since.." getting to his feet and confidently, if you looked close enough you could recognize he was anything but, grabbed Dias hand in a firm but caring hold. "Since I think I know.. what it is you feel."

Felix wanted to kiss her again. To feel her soft lips on his and forget the world outside of that singular moment but.. Such things werent meant to be rushed. His body craved it but his mind could not forget her words. Saw the light..

"B-but! We barely know each other. If its ok with you I'd like to take.." lifting her hand, fingers intertwining with each other. The cold of her hand fought the warmth of his. "This. What we feel.. if you would have me by your side I can't promise light every step of the way."

Dia nodded slowly, feeling the warmth of his hand as she slowly stood again. "I..." She paused, struggling to find the words, before continuing quietly. "I don't care. We'll learn more about each other with time. But there's not much to learn about me."

She passed her free hand over herself. "I'm no star, like you said. I'm flat and cold and..."

With a sigh she shook her head. "This is crazy. I need controls and structure, because I lack it. But with you here, I don't feel so... Stupid? I don't know. I feel like it's worth not knowing the pattern with you. Like maybe I'll be okay."

Dia tugged gently on his arm. "So, a walk in the creepy forest?" She asked carefully. "Maybe talk and walk and learn?"

She held his hand tighter, slowly and deliberately leaning up and kissing his cheek. "Please?" She murmured in a small voice.

@Zelosse

@Kalleth @Pseudo Stygian

As cold water sprayed ShiZhen and Lyra, ShiZhen let out a shriek. But the terror of being hit by something cold dissipated quickly as her brain caught up and reminded her that water was harmless, and started figuring out any number of explanations. At least they weren't going to catch a cold; fogs had high heat capacity, the high humidity prevented evaporative cooling, and the fact that there was a fog meant that there wasn't any wind to induce wind-chill. What it did mean was that they were going to be very wet with little chance to dry as long as they remained in this fog. A bit of anger crept into ShiZhen's voice, "It's probably just some upperclassmen playing a prank on us, in fact, this whole thing might just be one big joke." Getting sprayed with water was such a juvenile, non-horror thing to happen that the creepy mood was more or less spoiled for ShiZhen. She might have been a little antsy before, but now she was just drenched and peeved. "Did you want to keep going, Lyra, or dO you want to just go back to our dorm?"

---

Catherine hovered silently through the forest, mainly to keep a watchful eye on any students to make sure they stayed safe, and to make sure they didn't take this as an opportunity to get hot and steamy. Of course, she could care less if her students were banging, but rules were rules, and she had to give off some semblance of enforcing them. Besides, she knew all too well how an immature romance could ruin a life.

Still, she carried a rope with her that she would occasionally tie to a tree and stick the free end down her shirt behind her neck. Then she would hover in place limply, pretending to be dangling from a noose when students approached. In the darkness it was impossible to tell that she wasn't really hanging and the subtlety of the scare was often more impactful than something that was immediately threatening or openly dangerous. And so she drifted, looking for students to scare as well as catch or aid.

Jideh saw the wall rush up from the ground, looming in the darkness. At the same time her heard the scuttling thumps of the spider contruct, and Kanako's prompt all assailed him at once. His idea fell from his mind as though it had never existed, and he began to laugh manically while brushing a hand through his hair. The nervous energy bubbled up through his chest and he felt the gurgling cackle reverberate in his chest. He locked eyes with Kanako and grabbed her wrist.

"No ideas! Just action!"

And true to his word, Jideh stabbed his other hand into his jacket pocket, and as though the goddess of the harvest herself, Demeter, had placed the seed he required in his pocket, Jideh found himself holding a climbing breed of rose. Tossing it at the base of the earthen wall, he surged the plant with energy. His stomach growled loudly, but the creeping vines surged up the height of the wall. Half-dragging, half-climbing, Jideh led Kanako on top of the wall. Once they reached the top, Jideh muttered an apology before using his spade the hack the vines so that they fell back to the floor.

And finally, Jideh dropped back onto his rear, sighing. Almost at his limit. The boy dug deep and pressed his fingers to the edge of the wall. Where there had been soil and dirt, there was now smooth polished stone. At least, that was the idea. The surface actually ended up resembling more of a rough and brittle igneous formation.

"I got you... Up... High," Jideh gasped. "Your turn."

---

Jordan traipsed through the brush, wandering far afield in search of more children to spray. As he scanned the environs, he heard a rustle. Freezing, Jordan turned his head carefully. His squinting eyes spotted a...

A WOMAN HANGING FROM A TREE? Jordan yelped and sprang back, dropping his water gun and clanking loudly. He blinked and saw who was actually hovering, not hanging, above him. His fear increased, and Jordan gingerly felt for his water gun. Luck was not on his side. His seeking hand brushed the heavy waterarm and sent it spinning OUT of the bushes that concealed his lewd graffiti and out into plain view of its referred party. A party whom was carrying a great many dangerous looking sticks and a NOOSE, even if she was currently wearing the rope as a macabre practical joke.

Jordan wasn't laughing. Although he was shaking. Violently. His mouth tried to form words, and yet all that came out was a sad sort of "Gurrrgh?"

At long last his severely impeded brain kicked in and on the decidedly unlikely chance she had missed his gaffe, he hurriedly swept the gun back into the brush with a blast of earth. At the same time, he choked on his spit before croaking out a pitiable "Hullo Cathy. Fancy meeting you round these parts."

@Zelosse @Hammerman @Stern Algorithm

"No ideas! Just action!"

"W-what? B-but you said--"

Before she could finish her sentence, Kanako was already dragged along by Jideh, a reverse of their original position. Jideh used his power to grow vines that he soon used to climb at the wall, dragging Kanako along with him. Kanako could only lift herself awkwardly with her free hand and her legs as Jideh was still grabbing her wrist as he climbed.

When they finally reached the top, Jideh said that it was now her turn, as he rested from the heavy work he just did.

"R-right," Kanako replied, turning her attention back to the spider. She wasn't sure if her wind would have any effect on the spider, but she had to try regardless.

"Haaaaa!"

She gathered all the energy she could muster. Wind began to form around her, creating a miniature tornado that blew everything around her. Her hair began to fly wildly, and the branches of the trees around her shook and trembled. Unfortunately, this also meant the flutter of her skirt also, exposing her panties to Jideh who was sitting behind her. She didn't notice however. She was too busy concentrating against the mortal threat in front of her.

"Take this!"

With one movement of her arms, she sent all the wind she had gathered and sent it all towards the spider. She didn't hold back at all with this attack. She doubted her wind could lift and throw the spider, and she hadn't mastered her power to the point that she could create sharp blades of wind. She just hoped that it would do something. At the very least, she hoped it would buy time for them to escape.

@Kalleth@Zelosse

@Kalleth@Hammerman

"Do you think they'll break it?" Asked the boy controlling the obscuring darkness.

"They'll be lucky to make it stumble." Responded the handler. His assessment was quite accurate considering what the elemental was using as its body.

Both students watched in silence to see how it played out.

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

The Walker recognized what was happening on the escape plan hatched by Jideh. As a plant elemental, it felt the roses growth. The boys keen loss od energy. Recognized they intended to continue on throigh the wall and then transform it into stone to impede its path.

It couls have halted the growt of the roses and trapped them. It coild have, and still could, collapse the wall. But all of those options were not acted on.

Instead it rumbled forward on its stone legs towards the two. Turning its attention upwards it caught the blast of concentrated wind directly in its 'chest'. The thick dirt and soil surrounding the roots was hit hard enough to dislpdge a good portion of it back to the ground, but the damage was minimal. Perhaps a 6 inches of dirt had been peeled off the constructs front end but the tree perched atpp it was unharmed, its thick roots still holding up the constructs being.

Slowed but not stopped, it advanced on the wall yet again.

---------

"Not bad for first years. But it looks like they haven't realized its weaknesses yet." Snickered the darkness student.

"They will, eventually." Smirked the handler.

----------

@Old Amsterdam

Frlix just smiled at the honest admissions. Control was something he lacked too and not just in terms of controlling the dangerous flames. His own temper could turn into a fightquickly, and that was something he simply didn't want. It would happen of course..

"A walk sounds perfect. If you'll be with me on it." He smiled, taking her hand. Together they exited the roof.

----------



The midnight run had already started by the time Dia and Felix got to the forests edge. Instructions had been clear enough as they walked hand in hand to their starting point. Don't get caught, don't wake up any teachers.

"So all we have to do is go through the forest and make it to the fountain, then come back?" Felix piped up to their escort. A tall fifth year with a ball of dim light in his hand serving as a lanter .

"Correct. First to get back wins a prize." The boy responded, waving the two off on their journey.

When the student was gone, and the contest officially begun in his head, a hungry grin took to Felixs face. The way to winning wasn't a blind rush, it was much simpler. Even as the obscuring fog rolled in he smiled.

"I got an idea. Lets just walk along the tree line. Takes longer but something tells me the forest proper is a warzone. What do you think?"

@Zelosse
Dia nodded stiffly. "And it's scary in there," she mumbled, tightening her grip on his hand. "But I might be able to, I don't know... Maybe I could freeze stuff if it came at us. I'm not very reliable yet, though."

She glanced back at the forest. Maybe her ears were playing tricks on her, but she could swear she could hear yelling and odd sounds coming from within.

"A-are you s-sure we'll be safe, Felix?" She stammered. "I just don't w-want to be a, uh, a burden."

She drew closer to Felix unconsciously, his warmth like a safety net for her nerves.

Dia jumped at a likely imaginary sound. "Can we get moving, please, Felix? I think I'm going to die from fright if we stand here any longer."

For a second after the "attack", Lyra just stood there, looking at her wet clothes. It took her a while for the ridiculousness of the situation to sink in, but afterwards, Lyra laughed. It was a ridiculous, excessively amused sort of laugh. People from miles away would be able to hear, completely ruining the creepy atmosphere that the fog was making, or perhaps, for certain kinds of people, making it creepier. She couldn't help it.

"Ohheeheehe! What was that? Water gun? Water elementalist? Creepy fog and all and they're splashing water at us? That was so," she laughed again, "it's so silly."

"It's probably just some upperclassmen playing a prank on us, in fact, this whole thing might just be one big joke," ShiZen was saying. "Do you want to just go back to our dorm?

"Oh, probably a prank. Definitely one big joke. But come on, you're not gonna let them win, are you?"

With the fog and the increased dampness it was basically impossible to see very far away. It didn't seem to deter Lyra, however, as she walked on right through it in the direction where she thought the water came from. "Hellooo?"

@Stern Algorithm @Kalleth

@Kalleth

Catherine chuckled to herself as she noticed the startled reaction her set up had on a hapless student, but her mirth was cut short as she realized that the one she had frightened was no student. She lowered herself towards Jordan, noting the bright pink name that the other teacher had labeled his water gun with. "Cute." She thought to herself sarcastically, though to be honest, she was a little hurt. Though she had appreciated how fun-loving Jordan was in the time they had spent together, she felt that in the end, he never took anything seriously. Maybe he was trying to cover up sad moments with happy moments, or maybe they were never able to truly get in sync when it came to their emotions. But the fact that he would use her name and a particularly intimate piece of clothing on a water gun, quite frankly, felt objectifying. Maybe she was nothing more to him than a piece of sexy, or maybe this is just his crass attempt to get her attention again. It was always hard to tell with Jordan, and Catherine didn't want to play guessing games anymore, she was all done with mind games by the time he found her on the street years ago.

Catherine hovered down to Jordan, smiling wordlessly and not letting her face betray her thoughts, until she was standing right next to him. Placing a hand on his chest to still his rapidly beating heart, she moved in closer to whisper seductively in his ear, "Was I that much of a squirter?" The hand on his chest suddenly balled up into a fist, grabbing the scruff of his shirt threateningly. "You know what they say about the vacuum of space? No one can hear you scream..."

With the fog and the increased dampness it was basically impossible to see very far away. It didn't seem to deter Lyra, however, as she walked on right through it in the direction where she thought the water came from. "Hellooo?"

"Students are coming," Catherine gently whispered and released her hand, patting Jordan's chest and smoothing out the wrinkled material, turning around to face the oncoming pair of students.

"I-it's not a matter of winning or losing..." ShiZhen protested mildly to Lyra as she followed her towards the source of the water. Looking up she was surprised to see, not upperclassmen, but two teachers, standing there pleasantly (well one of them was). "Wha...what?" ShiZhen didn't think the teachers would be in on it, and was having a hard time processing whether this school took itself seriously or not.

As Catherine lowered herself quite literally down to his level, Jordan heard the acid in her voice, corrosive and cutting. It was as though he had stuck his finger in an outlet and the electricity jolted through him, resting in his stomach, pooling there along with all the other feelings he could remember like the back of his hand, like the hilt of his rifle.

The sound of students approaching was visceral, tugging at Jordan's guts and making his coil of regret and bitter feeling jump, even as he sat stock still. Catherine turned and Jordan looked away, eyes falling on the discarded water pistol. He frowned, bit his lip, and clenched his fist.

Crunch.

The gun was unrecognizable, deformed and compressed by a larger than life fist of earth. The faint stains of pink paint had been abraded by the fist's grains, blurred to be illegible, but Jordan was nowhere near a state of mind to do anything more precise.

It only happened when she was around. The rest of the time, Jordan could sink deep into his chosen persona of joker, prankster, and all-around humour-driven scoundrel. It was after all, a significant core of his personality to begin with. But when she came around... That all fell away.

It was like she embodied the fight in him, in others, in the world. She was a task, an objective, a mission he had failed utterly. She was a person too, but Jordan's concern went beyond that. He was, or at least, had been, a fixer. He took situations so far gone, so incredibly beyond the pale that nobody could salvage them, and made them right. And Catherine Hargreaves was the one mission he'd failed. Maybe he couldn't help her. Maybe people weren't missions you could save, could repair with the right course of action. Maybe Jordan just wasn't the fixer he used to be. He didn't know. All he knew was that the damned woman had sucked away his vitality, had stolen his purpose, had RUINED-

Wait no, that had been him too.

A searing pain flared in Jordan's side, and he winced. The twinge pricked and itched and curled up from his ribs into his shoulder. Like if you ground sand in the ball joint and wore away the ligament... Have I done that before? Jordan got up, and oblivious to what the students were saying, silent in answer to what Cathy- To what Catherine had said, he stalked off into the gloom.

Jordan's pain flared, and he rolled his shoulder gingerly. Despite the insistence by numerous authorities that his injuries were psycho-somatic, Jordan knew better. He had to get the sand out of his shoulder. Wouldn't do to have a gym teacher who can't pitch, or throw a right hook, or...

Or write an apology to somebody he's wronged?

Much like the water gun, Manilow suspected his attempts at an apology would also end up crumbled, erased, and abandoned on the ground.

@Stern Algorithm