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Jayce watched Felicity lay into the new detention members with an ear to ear grin plastered across his smug face. Their plan to utilize Felicity's Tablet Power had definitely eased the burden of school life. Of course, they had to use it strategically. Miss Bowers usually ran detention two times a week, giving the gang a consistent period in which they could use Felicity's talents to deceive and lure her away from her post. The first time they attempted this strategy, Felicity had mimicked another teacher who had told Miss Bowers that she had been relieved for the day. That one wouldn't work all the time, and the trio had made a game of coming up with new and varied excuses to get her out of the room for a while. Today Nico had convinced some of his older brothers' friends to vandalize her car, quickly drawing her away to deal with the hooligans. Felicity and Jayce had watched her drive away in her car from the window, snickering at the sight of toilet paper draped all over the vehicle and crude drawings of the batty old hag painted on every available surface. They were quite impressed with how much time Nico's scheme had bought them. Despite their slacker reputation, Jayce and the gang were quite driven should a worthy cause spring up. To them, playing hooky is as good a reason as any to put in a little elbow grease.

Jayce's face lit up as two of the newcomers took him up on his offer, taking a chair across from him and Nico. From the corner of his eye he saw the pretty boy searing away in his seat all on his lonesome.
Your loss, pal. Jayce thought, sighing before directing his full attention to Osman whilst he raved about Ellie's heroic deeds. She looked less than impressed by the squirts boasts. Perhaps even a little embarrassed? It was hard to tell. Jayce was aware of Ellie, but never really had much of a chance to talk to her. Her polite and quiet mannerisms were suggestive of someone with much more finesse and elegance than he had initially thought. Osman on the other hand, spoke with a more casual tone reminiscent of Jayce himself.
"One punch? Pretty sick." It was hard to tell from behind his glasses, but Jayce was staring at Ellie in amazement. If what he heard was the whole truth, then this girl must be the real deal. Jayce's bewilderment quickly turned to realisation. "So ya got booked for un-ranked fighting on school grounds? Pretty noble for you to take the fall to protect some kid. You've got guts."
"Bet that chump over there's feelin' pretty freakin' embarrassed huh?" Nico spoke up, just loud enough so that Seisil could hear him. The eager smile and intensely focused gaze suggested he was looking for the bully to offer some form of rebuttal. Fortunately, Felicity's warning came just in time to remove any conflict that may have begun. Taking their places as actors would on a stage, Felicity watched as the new kid was thrown into the detention room. At first he was a bag of nerves, whining and shaking like a sad puppy. Then over time he started to grow strangely excited. Jayce rested his elbows on his desk, curiously watching the boy as he unloaded his barrage of questions onto who he assumed was actually the detention teacher. Once the brutish disciplinary committee member had departed, leaving behind only Icarus and a closed door, she held up her hands in protest to the chirpy lad's inquiries.

"Hold up, little dude," She spoke in her normal voice, juxtaposing with her withered old appearance in a most vexing way. The facade of Miss Bowers melted away and Icarus was left face to face with Felicity Day. "You picked a great day to get put into detention. We're like, kinda using this as a way to skip class. Kick your feet up and relax!" With that she ruffled Icarus' hair, offering the same sentiment that she had to Osman. Once again resuming her post, Felicity drowned out the rest of the room and opened up her network interfaces to resume messaging her friends.

"Don't sweat the detention details." Jayce called out from the back of the room, gesturing Icarus over as he had done to the first two. "You'll probably get a letter sent home, but that's a problem for future you, my man." Nico once again returned to his place next to Jayce, slapping him another high five in agreement.
"You’re welcome to hang with us. As long as you're not planning to be a nark and dob our little operation in." Nico joked, though there was an air of seriousness to the statement. The trio had worked hard to get this project going, and to have it ruined so early in the year would be a real disappointment. Once everyone had returned to their prior seating arrangement, Jayce realised he'd forgotten something important.

"Man, it's been too hectic 'round here! I haven't even introduced the crew to you guys yet. This dude here is Nico, and that's Felicity," He pointed to each of his friends respectively before sticking a thumb back at his chest confidently. "I'm Jayce. Nice to meet you, my fellow rotten delinquents!" He referred to them by a title Miss Bowers herself had coined for Jayce and his friends. Despite the intent to insult them, it had a nice feel to it. And so, it kind of stuck. Now it was just some inside joke between the trio and their frequent trips to the detention room. The disciplinary committee had them under careful surveillance on school grounds by this point, but little did they know that sending them to detention was only playing into their plan.

George rubbed the back of his head as he walked, still sore from his earlier fall. A bruise was forming and he didn't have any ice in his inventory. Contrary to popular belief, higher vitality than normal didn't stop a bruise from forming. You needed extremely high vitality to completely stop bruising from that kind of stuff, mostly because blunt force trauma is extremely hard to defend against. In the olden days, you could be holding a shield and have full plate armour, but still you try and block a strong enough mace swing and boom. Arm's broke and you die of infection, although Vitality did help a lot with that kind of stuff. Still, George didn't have high enough Vitality for that just yet.

He could get some ice from first aid, after he went to class. No way he was going to miss history.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted a commotion in the courtyard. There was a large group surrounding two people having a ranked battle. Just before third period started, no less. There was only one person he knew who was bold enough to pull something like that.

"Far be it below the great Díno to sweep all the trash away myself, but when garbage falls down at your feet you should at least be thankful that I have the decency to show you your place!" Díno said, letting his blazer slip off of his shoulders.

There were a lot of students watching. Many of them were Díno's 'friends', and the rest were probably the people who wanted to bring him down, random students wondering what they were doing when third period was about to start, and people who knew Díno's track record and just came to watch before they headed to class.

His opponent said nothing. He had a look in his eyes that said he was determined to not let what Díno said get to him. He was going to bring Díno's ego down to earth, show them all that Díno was all bark and no bite. George felt almost sorry for the guy.

He pulled up his Enlil Interface and set a timer for 30 seconds. When he looked up, the battle had already started. A blizzard was swirling around Díno, and the challenger dashed in close. Looked like he was a Warrior, some kind of brawler type with fist weapons. Normally a mage type would have trouble in this kind of match-up. Brawlers were halfway between Rogues and Warriors, they could dash in fast, and they could take just as much damage as they dealt. Most mages would launch a barrage of spells at the Brawler, and they would eat a few hits but they would be in range and they'd be hitting something soft and squishy.

But Díno? Díno was no ordinary Mage. His opponent looked like he thought he knew what he was doing, and maybe he did, but the growing consensus amongst people who had fought Díno was that the ones who really knew what they were doing were the ones who didn't try to fight Díno.

Díno dodged the first strike, then the second, and the third.

"Tsk, tsk, is that all?" Díno said, clicking his tongue. 5 seconds into the fight and it wasn't looking too good.

The challenger let out a war cry and let loose with a flurry of punches. Díno didn't even have to expend the same amount of effort this time. He simply sidestepped it and planted his fist right into his challenger's face. He staggered backwards but Díno put up a wall of ice behind the poor sod. Díno delivered another punch, which the challenger blocked, but then he kicked him in the side. 12 seconds since the fight had begun.

"How foolish…" Díno said, sighing with disappointment. "You're the one who challenged the great Díno, at least make it worth my time!"

The poor student tried to get up, but he only noticed now that he'd gotten slowed. Díno's blizzard was doing constant Frost damage the whole time, but it had the added effect of stacking a slow onto the enemy. That was another indication that the challenger hadn't done enough research. There were only two abilities anyone had ever seen Díno use, which were the blizzard, and Díno's ice forming which he hadn't even used in the match yet.

With each passing second the student got more and more desperate. Díno had dodged each of his strikes without even sweating before, but now he didn't even have to try. Finally, when he was encased up to his neck in ice and his fists had slowed to a crawl, he surrendered.

"I-I give up…" He said.

The blizzard disappeared and the ice shattered. 30 seconds, on the dot. Díno was victorious again.

"Hmph, you didn't even have the good grace to take up as much time as I expected you to? Pathetic." He said, picking up his blazer and draping it over his shoulder. "Now, are there any real challengers for the mighty Díno?!"

That last statement seemed to be more of an insult for his last challenger, but if George knew Díno he'd declared such a thing because there was someone he was keeping his eye on. Somebody who would accept the challenge. Who that was and whether they actually stood a chance, well, that was yet to be seen.

@Redward@Leslie Hall

Icarus leaned forward in rapt amazement as before his eyes the woman in front of him transmogrified into someone significantly younger. "W-wow." He said as she patted him on the head. "Th-th-that's amazing." He'd seen videos of himself transforming, or reverting he guessed, into Sasaki. Her transformation was definitely a lot more fluid and easy, almost beautifully so. On top of that she still got to be her at the end. He was about to ask about it when a voice suddenly invited him to the back of he room. He resolved to try and get more details later as he headed to the back.

He plopped into the open seat next to the boy that introduced himself as Jayce as the boy introduced himself as Jayce. He followed along as the intros went, carefully cataloguing each name and face. He always made a point of that. He didn't want to have to look then up if he forgot with his unreliable and slightly dangerous Network. He couldn't help but notice that the isolated boy he saw over Ellie's shoulder that very pointedly refused to look at them wasn't included in the roll-call, nor did he introduce himself. He wondered about that.

When it came to his turn he took a while staring at the loner, as if prompting him to speak up. After it was clear that he wasn't interested Icarus shrugged and happily chirped, "C-c-call me Icarus. It's a p-p-pleasure to meet you, and don't worry. I'm n-n-not going to say anything. I r-r-respect the game you're playing he-here too much. B-b-besides, it's exciting. N-n-no one's ever asked me to c-c-c-conspire with them before!"

The subject of what to do for the rest of the day was a tricky one. Honestly, Icarus was sure that even the boiling excitement of doing something you knew you weren't supposed to would mellow after too long. Besides which, he actually did enjoy his classes and could feel a twinge of disappointment that he would be missing them. Learning things was really fun. Oh, that gave him an idea. "I agree w-with Osman! We need s-s-some p-p-pointers on how a delinquent spends their d-d-day." He was still a rookie at fooling adults, after all. If he could observe and learn from some real life delinquents like these guys that could go a long way to getting him a little more personal freedom at home.

"Wonderful!" Rosalie walked towards the weapons crate that George had left behind and openned it, pulling a stout, serated cleaver within a leather sheath; a thin and glistening silver chain bounced bits of the sunbeam from the window around the room. "He isn't very subtle, is he? Quite the craftsman, though. He's always treated Lucy as well as I do. But then, I have the feeling all his projects are sort of his children. Quite gifted, that one. He made her, and I care for her." She gracefully floated toward the door Aito Mitsui was holding for them in to the hallway, and beamed at Akira and his companion. "That's incredible! What is it's name? It's simply darling. Don't be getting him hurt." Realizing that she'd gotten distracted, she cleared her throat and continued addressing Aito.

"Please excuse me, and thank you for welcoming us! I'm excited to play with our new comrades." She sang out, her voice echoing through the hallway. Yoshi felt a bit less uncomfortable than usual, he often questioned where he was going; what his purpose was. Someone literally tugging him around was a bit frustrating, but it left little room for him to wonder. At least this is simple.. Seems safe, I s'pose. Rosalie's melody interrupted his train of thought."As far as classes are concerned, I'm a Cleaver It is a custom class as well. I simply don't enjoy fighting that much, unless it's for the right reasons. I feel violence is unnecessary." She pulled her cleaver from it's black leather sheath, stiched together with a fine crimson thread. "I use Lucy here to incapacitate foes as quickly as I can. I get in, lay them down, and get out. My size doesn't help much, so I've had to resort to a blade." She lovingly placed the weapon back in to it's home, as if tucking a child in to bed, and wrapped the silver chain around her left wrist, leaving the slack to fall where it may at her side. She turned to Yoshi and playfully but gently swatted at him. "Well, go on then. It won't hurt anything. It's fine, I promise."

She's so naive.. Hunting monsters and disagreeing with violence doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Unless it's on of those 'right reasons' she mentioned, but still. She'll need someone to watch after her, or she's sure to get herself hurt in a place like this. Yoshi looked back at her, and then turned to Aito, with a new sense of certainty. He spoke a little louder than his typical mumble. He didn't want the typical interjections of 'What?', 'Speak up.', or 'Excuse me?' "Look, I don't know a whole lot about all this. Most of the fighting I've done is against myself. But, I don't like to see others hurt. I s'pose if you had to put a name to the class I chose, it's Masochist I'm hard to hurt, so I step in. If someone is about to be harmed, I'll take the hit for them. It's not like it matters much in the long run. Just think of me as cannon fodder. And, I suppose I should let all of you know, if we'll be working together, that one of my skills is... We'll say controlled, but it gets to me sometimes. Just ignore me if I trail off or seem distressed." It's the most he'd told anyone about his state in years, and his face flushed at the thought of his self-proclaimed weakness. He took his hood down with a sigh and reached down the neck of his jacket to produce a large straight razor from his back, The handle sort of 'tie dyed' with hues of green and purple swirling and twisting together, silver snakes chased their tails and embroidered the black letters stamped in to it 'WHY?' He lazily flipped it open, and stared at the edge of the blade hanging at his side, almost entranced. "I use it if I have to. Honestly, sometimes I forget it's there. It's just habit at this point to carry it."

He looked in to Aito's eye, and felt they may have some sort of common ground beneath them. Maybe they aren't all the same.. He was no longer bored, but a bit worried. This didn't seem like the sort of thing to get excited about, but this odd bunch seemed at least a bit enthused, or was it a sense of duty? Rosalie interrupted his thoughts and closed the blade for him, drawing his half-here, half-there gaze toward her. He almost autonomously put his blade back in to the sling he had sewn in to his jacket. "I think they've heard enough for a brief introduction." She turned back to Aito and Akira "Wouldn't you agree? I'm excited to get started, and we aren't cutting class simply to stand in the hallway."

No later than she made the statement did a visibly distressed, but very polite man come striding down the hallway in what seemed to be a hidden panic. "Well and welcome, hopeful Hunters! I see you're experiencing firsthand the courageous initiative and mastery of the present moment for which our Club has earned prominence - alongside our success rate, of course, and our delightfully low yearly fatalities - and eager to join us, in this eminently approved and above-board field expedition Aito will of course assume full responsibility for having launched." His voice reinforced Yoshi's uncertainty. 'Well.. Clearly we aren't wanted here.. We'll go on this field trip to the third floor, and I'll suggest to Red that we find some other club to join.' Rosalie simply giggled and gave her typical curtsey to the new arrival with a smile. "Good afternoon, sir! I'm pleased to meet you." She straightened her back, feet together, placing her left arm behind her and extending the right for a handshake. "I didn't catch your name?"

...

Vatalla was seated atop the stairway, thin legs crossed together as she leaned against the railings with a shoulder. She was visibly tired, letting out a long sigh and shaking her head. She was a mess. The drain water had long dried, but her tangled white hair was all frizzled, like a overblown mop that had been dragged through the streets. And her bags only grew darker by the second. It could be because she was simply always running off a few hours sleep. But those who knew her better would know she didn't much care about that, nor needed it. She was powered by something else. There was a hint of restlessness muddled within the obvious fatigue. It was as though a stormy cloud formed inside her head. No matter how hard she tried to shake it out, the gray clouds would swirl back to place, clapping thunder. Out of anything, she felt a tinge of regret. All that mouthing off, she really hadn't any right to be doing stuff like that. But she just couldn't help it. When all eyes were on her, she always made an excuse to make off as soon as possible. An excuse not to know people. This is probably why that chair-holder in the club disliked her so much. At times like this, she didn't blame them. She was too chaotic. Too uncooperative.

She thought of apologizing to Aito the next chance she got. That wasn't a good way of showing her appreciation to him. After allowing her on the club's special little mission, of all things. He trusted her, and this was how she acted.

"Dammit... why is it so hard...? Just leave me alone, and live your lives peacefully, happily." she muttered to herself, glancing down the descending steps over the railing.
Though Vatalla had asked the question, she already knew the reason why.

From all the way at the top, the stairway looked like a twisted mouth that opened. It felt much like the thing lurking inside her. Each step and turn, a row of teeth, a step-off leading into the unknown. It swallowed everything endlessly. There was no satisfying the monster. Even now she could feel it, the face lurking underneath her skin. The face that awakes every time she closes her eyes. The face that laughs every time she lies. The face that... stared back.

Help me... Please.

Opening her eyes, Vatalla darted her body forward with a gasp. The gloomy, filmy memory beginning to form dispersed with the rapid batting of her eyes. Just like that, in the slightest moment of idling, she was almost sucked down into a dark well of buried emotions. But luckily, that moment had been interrupted. The internal ding. of the Enlil System alerting the user of a new private message had stirred her from the daze enough to retake her mind's throne. She already knew who it was. How ironic for him to accidentally save her. Again.
With a heavy hand, she opened the message. She half-expected Aito to tell her off. To say that she was stupid and overly temperamental, and just a stuck-up brat in general. But like always, he always blamed himself.

Vatalla clenched her fists. "Yep. You are an idiot... the biggest fuckin' idiot I know."
Hopping to her feet, she batted away the text box with an angry swipe and started a quick reply:

Though her movements were quick and angry initially, exploding with all her rage, once she reached the end, her ringed fingers stalled and her pale eyes glared at the message for a moment. It was like she wanted to say something more. That she must. But even through this superficial medium, she couldn't find the courage to usher her earnest thoughts forth. She could already feel it laughing at her, knowing the path she would choose before she even made it yet. For being a coward, when being truthful was many times more easy. When it would've made things less painful. With a sigh and curse at herself, Vatalla sent the message and started off down the hall towards the location where Aito had specified.

She buried her hands in her pockets. Now she really wanted to punch something

...

The earthy, damp scent of fallen leaves spread through the air, a shadow in the wake of a passing shower that proclaimed, in no uncertain terms, the arrival of fall. Bars of cold sunlight pierced the dwindling canopy, igniting the fiery leaves scattered below, a final parting gift from an indolent summer. Raucous birds flew by overhead, eager to escape the clutches of a tenacious winter that crept into the air. Amidst the quiet clash of the seasons lay a girl, hair as red as the remnants of summer, oblivious to the chaos, her attention fully absorbed by her own silent hunt.

Ahead of her stood a young buck, its dappled hide almost golden in the sunlight. It had wandered away from the rest of the herd while grazing, seemingly oblivious to the danger. Despite its sedate appearance, Molly approached cautiously, each motion slow and deliberate. It was all too easy to spook the deer and waste the effort she spent tracking and stalking it.

The buck suddenly raised its head, as if it noticed something in the air. Before it even had had a chance to consider bolting, her spear was already soaring through the air, a missile aimed straight for its lungs. The buck sprang forward, surprisingly nimble for a creature of its size as the spear drew nearer, nearer-

“-Molydian Nirfourd.” The harsh voice of Mr. Hoverson, her history teacher, wrenched her consciousness back to reality. "Since you seem confident in the material, would you mind explaining to the rest of us the factors that led to the Seven Years War?”

"Uhh…” Molly looked around the room, desperately buying time as she wracked her brains for anything to say. History was never her strong suit and she could never bring herself to care about it. It seemed that people were always fighting each other for one reason or another and everything ended up becoming a pretext for a war eventually. "Sila and Relera had some tension over border disputes, and Abele felt threatened by Ageunta.” That much she remembered. Why the countries started fighting was beyond her. It was probably some trivial reason, and she had no idea what it could’ve been.

"Even a first year student could tell me that much. And probably faster too. I was looking details about the specific events. Can you even name one of them?” The bell rang, interrupting Mr. Hoverson’s scathing remarks. Molly silently thanked the goddess for the timing as she packed up her things. "Read sections 4 and 5 and be prepared for a quiz next class,” shouted the teacher, over the clamor of students eager to get out of the class.

Molly all but sprinted out of the classroom. She didn't have any strong feelings about her next class, but at that moment, being anywhere else was better than remaining there. Before she knew it, she had arrived in the courtyard, where a ranked fight was taking place, though a butchering would have been a more appropriate description of the way the fight was going.

Molly recognized one of the combatants - Díno. Who hadn't heard of Díno at this point? Even a portion of the incoming freshman knew of him, for his fearsome strength and haughty attitude were both infamous. She didn't know the other student, but judging by his situation, he wasn't anyone worth bothering remembering. Probably an incoming student with more power than sense.

Trying to get a better view, Molly pushed her way past a throng of onlookers. Third period was starting soon, but it wasn't everyday that one got to see a strong student fight. Gaining first hand data on Díno was well worth the risk of detention. With stronger opponents, rumors were an unreliable source of information. Too often, the information was exaggerated or simply incomplete, when students tried to convey a sense of power they themselves could not comprehend.

One thing was certain from watching Díno fight - he was not primarily a mage. There was no way that a mage could move that swiftly or deliver such power with his unarmed strikes. If Díno was actually a mage, he would be at least A rank. She doubted that he was that strong. That meant he was probably a mixed class like a Spellsword. So it wasn't quite as humiliating as losing to a mage in hand to hand combat, but still, for a class specializing in close range combat to lose to a mixed class, it meant that Díno was certainly one to be wary of.

Díno's victory was not much of a surprise to those watching the fight. That outcome was clear five seconds into the fight. However, Díno's challenge to the crowd surprised Molly. She knew from experience that maintaining a constant effect like his blizzard was much more tiring than it appeared to a casual observer and he had dodged the initial flurry of attacks which certainly was impressive. To seek another fight immediately in such a condition meant that Díno was even stronger than he first appeared, that he was exceptionally reckless, or a combination of the two.

Molly considered only for a moment before she stepped forward from the crowd. Taking out a spear from her inventory, she pointed it at him as she issues her challenge. "Even a lion knows to be wary of hyenas in the wrong situations. Díno Jordas, I accept your challenge.” As she spoke, she concentrated on her energy, allowing it to flow through her. Lightning crackled across her body, releasing a shower of sparks around her, ultimately gathering into her spear.

Somewhere in her mind, a voice told her that this was a bad idea, that she would be late to her next period. Perhaps seeing his recklessness emboldened her, but at that moment, she didn't care about such mundane concerns. There was no better way to gauge Díno's strength than to fight him herself and there was no better opportunity to attack than now, before he had a chance to recover. "Let's see if your skills live up to the rumors.” Before Díno had a chance to respond, she threw her spear at him, already pulling another one from her inventory. Díno's challenge was a strategic oversight, and she didn't intend to let him recover.

"You would compare Díno to a mere lion in the Savannah? How foolish." Díno said, throwing his blazer to the side, yet again. "Allow me to help you understand! <<SEE this! FEEL this!>>"

Díno raised his hand and an icicle formed mid-air, enveloping the spear from tip to the base. When the sharp tip of the icicle formed, the spear slowed to a stop, and shot out backwards. 6 daggers of ice formed in the air around Díno and launched forward in a similar fashion, inert until they were fully formed.

"Oh, I get it." George said, snapping his fingers. Díno hadn't been waiting for someone specific, he'd been waiting for anyone to come. He purposely put on a show against the hapless guy from before to show the difference between him and anyone else. Seeing such a dominant display, there were only a few types of people who would follow the challenge. Somebody strong, someone calculating. Someone with a sense of justice, with some clout to back it up. Anyone of those were high potential threats to Díno, they had the highest likelihood of getting in his way in the future.

His opponent was probably trying to get a read on his weaknesses and what he could do, as well as trying to beat him to finally put a dent in his unbeatable record, and Díno was doing more or less same thing.

"Are languid metaphors and single-minded attacks all you have? Pathetic!" Díno taunted. "If you would call me a lion, then at least show me the cunning of a tiger!"
@snake153

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@Leslie Hall

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Aoife was just about to dig-- more like shovel, her way towards the triple order of carbonara, pesto and marinara. She enjoyed tasting the three together, obvious by how they were just stacked on top of the other. The hungry student gave one giant twirl and ate the mouthful, slobbering red, white and green all over the hapless table. She then pulled out a handy box of tissues from her inventory and placed it beside her to wipe both her face and the table.

If there was one thing Libra absolutely hated seeing: it was a dirty Aoife, and dirty Aoife clothes-- some kind of obsession with cleanliness and order. She was happy to comply. Too bad a clean stomach wasn't in that list as she now drank a quarter of a liter of soda in one go.

Aoife was happy to be alone, or with company. That was when this Cyan-colored student just walked up nearby.

"Yo!" She energetically greeted, now trying to push a clean plate of burger sliders towards Piper. "You wanna eat with me?"

Aoife naturally saw the device that seemed to circle around Piper, making Aoife's reaction turn from cordial to surprise. "Hey! What a cool thing you have there!" Aoife wanted to touch-- but common decency dictates not to. For now, she watches the little thing.

---

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Piper shoved her way through a crowd of students in the hall, each heading to their next period amidst the chaos that came with the school bell. When a rather brutish looking senior blocked her path, Piper was forced to sit still and patiently await the swarm to disperse. Tapping her foot with an irritated glare plastered across her face, her arms folded across her chest. A few students made comment on her perturbed nature before going about their day. After what seemed like an eternity, the hallway was silent. Yet even with the meathead jock nowhere to be seen, Piper was still standing in the exact same spot. She scowled, irritated by the homogeneity of it all.
"Damn sheep," She spat, directed at no one in particular. Or perhaps it was for everyone? Every single student who walked these halls day in and day out, rising with each bell like a well trained dog. How could they stand it? The thought alone drove Piper insane. Her mother's words echoed through her mind.

Please, do it for me? Just try to live an ordinary school life. Her teeth clenched at the thought. Ordinary? Who was she to decide what was normal. If normal meant enduring the torment of generic student life then Piper wanted no part of it. Strolling through the now empty halls, Piper opened up her network and scrolled through a selection of data. The fingers on her right hand flew across a holographic interface, inputting some basic commands. The world outside of her Enlil Network just seemed to fade away as Piper hacked her way through a few of the schools defensive encryption. It was pretty standard stuff, but still nothing to scoff at. Unfortunately for Port Crescendo East, Piper was a little too good. In front of her, Piper brought up the attendance log which each teacher submitted to administration to report missing students. With a few button presses, Piper sneakily removed any trace of her cutting classes from the data.

The concept of an ordinary life was just something boring people with no drive made up to justify their mediocrity. Piper was better than normal. The people around her just didn't see it; and as a result she'd spent a lot of her youth hopping from town to town. Wherever she went, she put her skills to good use. There were always those who didn't appreciate that. As she approached the cafeteria, Piper convinced herself that this was why she had to keep going. The thought of being seen as an ordinary student sickened, no frightened, her. Standing tall, Piper closed her interface before being met with an energetic woman who looked like a senior. Her long, black hair was gorgeous; but unfortunately eclipsed by the utter mess she was making.

Piper was about to sneer at her invite, ready to lash out with some searing rejection, until the plate of sliders was placed before her. Her posture loosened immediately, almost salivating at the sight! Perhaps this girl was a potential client who had heard of Piper's little favors? Sliding into the seat across from Aofie, Piper beamed gleefully.
"Don't mind if I do!" She sunk her teeth right into one of the burgers in front of her. As soon as the juicy, succulent beef danced along her taste buds, she let out a squeal of delight. She was so absorbed in her food that she didn't even notice Widget playfully hovering around the stranger, who seemed equally enamored with the little robot.

"Food always tastes better free!" Once she had swallowed her mouthful, Piper leant in close to Aofie and rested her elbows on the table between them. "So, what do you need done? Homework answers? Dirty secrets?" The hacker had grossly misinterpreted Aofie's gesture, though why else would someone be willing to offer her free food?

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@Leslie Hall

---

""So, what do you need done? Homework answers? Dirty secrets?"

Aoife liked favors; it was like bread and butter to have these kinds of connections. She raised two browd towards Piper's proposal. "You could do those kinds of things?" Despite the mess around her, she kept a clean(ish) facade-- although the splotch of red on the crook of her lip wouldn't have sold it completely.

"Hm." She rolled here eyes upwards for some brief thought and a quick glance at the list she projected with her Enlil Network. Still nothing. "So you exchange foor for favors huh? Guess I'll hold onto that for later~ I have nothing coming up that I may need help in~" She gloriously chirped, as she dug into her triple pasta to take a moderate size.

"Oh!" Aoife gulped and took a swig of soda. "So we don't forget each other, I'm Aoife!"* Her impulse would have had her rub a hand on her pants to wipe off some grime off her palm, but was stopped at the last second in exchange for a disposable table napkin. "Glad to meet you!" She then offered a somewhat clean hand to shake; it was some outdated way to make friends, she supposed.

Some time being showed off as a 'trophy' girlfriend had her pick up basic socializing.

"What exactly can you do, by the way? I'm guessing you're pretty smart if you can give me answers to the tests." Aoife was not one to care about superficial grades, but it didn't hurt to ask.

---

^{*Aoife is pronounced EE-fa}

Molly did not expected the spear to hit Díno, but she also had not expected it to be blocked so spectacularly. To generate ice in such a profligate manner while still maintaining the blizzard... did he have a limitless supply of mana? He certainly did not seem like someone who had just finished a ranked battle. Was the previous challenger so weak that Díno won without even trying? Or was Díno simply that much stronger?

There was no more time to ponder Díno's strength, not with his flurry of icicles bearing down on her. Leaping aside and hitting the ground with a roll, she could feel the chill in the air as the icy spears sped past her, colliding into a tree behind her with a forceful thud, loosening a shower of leaves. Getting to her feet and pulling out the spear she had readied in her inventory, Molly saw several more icicles aimed at her. Díno had wasted no time in pressing his advantage. She dove to the ground, dodging the volley, only see a final missile aimed straight at her.

Leaping to her feet, Molly took control of her electricity again, this time forcing it to flow into herself. With the sudden influx of energy, she felt herself moving faster. She had not planned on using this so soon, but from Díno's attack, it was clear that she would have to use everything she had. Dashing towards the icicle, she swung her spear at it, deflecting it from its path. As it shot by, narrowly missing, she was hit by a blast of cold.

It was less that a minute into the fight, and it had already taken an unexpected turn. She had initially planned to fight a battle of attrition, to wear him down. However, the last exchange made it clear that Díno had no trouble harassing her from range. At that rate, she would likely tire before Díno did. She had to admit that he was as fearsome as the rumors made him out to be. Even so, having made her challenge, she did not plan to forfeit without a fight.

If she couldn't wear him out from afar, and if the brawler couldn't beat him in close range combat, she would have to end the battle from mid-range. Hurling her spear at Díno, she prepared yet another spear from her inventory, while continuing to channel her energy into herself. She sprinted towards him at an angle, swiftly but carefully, preparing to unleash a flurry of jabs from outside the range of his blizzard. It was far riskier than she liked, but with Díno power, she had little choice.
@RoflsMazoy

"Ha, at least you're Adaptable!" Díno shouted gleefully. "But you wouldn't be the first enemy I fought who wasn't a fool!"

Díno raised his hands and an icy spear formed in mid-air. If somebody wasn't George they might have a bit of a hard time seeing what George was seeing, but since he'd spent so long making weapons his eyes automatically focused on it. If the spear had been one long icicle, it would've been pretty brittle, but when George peered closer he could see it was made of a long, pure core of ice and thick bands of ice criss-crossing and covering the core. It looked sort of similar to leather strips covering a steel pole, but since it was all ice the function was different.

A strong enough shock would normally create a crack in Díno's ice spear. Another 1 or 2 hits, and the ice spear would shatter. The bands would absorb some of the shock and make it that much harder to shatter. This spear wasn't just for the sake of looking cool, Díno had seen how Molly had dodged his icicles and he'd decided not to waste the mana.

Once the spear had finished forming, he expertly deflected Molly's second thrown spear with a twirl from his spear. George looked closely at Díno's spear yet again, this time at the place he'd struck the other spear. No cracks.

George didn't know how draining Díno's blizzard was, he didn't really know if anyone knew. There had to be something to it, its damage per second was quite low, but that just made it more subtle, and it made it hard to notice its effects. It targeted almost anything in its radius, the only exception was whoever was on Díno's ally list. Even the leaves on the ground were frozen, but George suddenly noticed that not all of them were. There weren't many leaves around so it was hard to notice, but some of them weren't frozen. George didn't have much time to mull it over, Díno was on the attack.

He dashed forward, matching Molly's barrage of strikes with a barrage of his own.

Díno was proficient with almost any weapon. Despite being a mage, if anything he'd doubled down on his weapons training after he had chosen his class. If Molly had thought that Díno's weakness was a long battle, she would've figured out by now that it wasn't that simple. George had seen Díno exhausted only once before, about two years ago.

---

"Guernica... Your name is Guernica." George said. He shook his head and his mind cleared.

No, this weapon wasn't finished yet. He had a name but his abilities weren't good enough yet...

He'd had a vision. He could feel that it was because of <<Soul Forging>> but he didn't know why yet. He'd seen fire, a world of fire, and he saw himself being engulfed by it as a name forced its way out of his mouth. It wasn't an unpleasant experience so to speak, but extremely strange.

"Nothing I can do about you now..." He said, setting it off to the side and throwing a black cloth over it. "Time to go to sleep, I guess."

He checked his Enlil interface. Almost midnight.

He flicked back to his inventory screen and it showed the image of the Jordas family mansion's courtyard at night. He put his arm inside the image and he was pulled back into the real world. The sounds that greeted him were crickets chirping in the night, the wind rustling through the trees, and Díno striking a wooden training dummy again and again and again.

There were many deep scars and gouges on the dummy, and there were a variety of weapons which Díno had tossed aside. His current weapon was a spear.

Rivers of sweat were pouring down his blonde hair and shirtless body. Each strike was harder and faster than the last, but at a price, his technique was slipping. Not majorly, but every so often a strike would only graze the dummy, or his foot would be out of place. The cause was probably exhaustion, but there was something... more. Díno was always angry, but this time he seemed angrier.

Finally, the wooden dummy broke. The base snapped with Díno's last thrust, and the dummy fell over with a dull thud. Díno was breathing hard, but he didn't let himself fall. Even though it was just exhaustion, Díno wasn't going to allow anyone to make him kneel, not even himself.

Battles of attrition were Díno's forte, because it required good use of tactics, knowledge of your own limits and your endurance, and most important of all; drive. Díno would not let someone defeat him. No matter what it took, he would win.
@snake153