Diana didn't let her down nor did she even respond to Kris after she insulted her, she just kept holding her up with her wrist growing warm." You should take your hands off me, you damn dirty fire elemental." Kris told Diana, the princess wasn't afraid of the girl and just stared down at her, once she began streaming fire directly towards her face, even with the flames blasting close to her face, Kris didn't show a hint of fear towards Diane, Kris cocked her head back so she wouldn't get burned or lose any of her hair." You only gonna make this worst for yourself." Kris told her as beads of sweat began forming on her forehead, she started to sweat profusely."I'll give you one last warning, let me down. Or get put down." She threatened the girl back.
With the sweat dripping from her body Diana was at a disadvantage, remembering her training Kris could turn her sweat its self into a weapon or a shield and seeing how Diana wasn't going to listen, Kris exhaled cold air and the sweat dripping from her froze solid around her body like a suit of armor. Covered in her ice, Kris cocked back a frozen arm and curled her hand into a fist, she slammed her fist into the girl's face; with her other frosty hand she grabbed Diana's wrist and tried to spread the cold up her wrist and to her arm to freeze her arm she wasn't skilled enough to do something along the line of freezing her solid or chilling her blood." Just know you could have put me down and this didn't need to happen. You caused this to happen, remember you made me do this, you could've taken the easy way out."
The suddenly one of the other students yelled out for the teacher telling him to get over here." Don't call for him, someone such as this teacher is only a useless slag." Kris told the other girl trying to call for help. Soon she pulled her fist away from Diana's face and formed a sharpened point at the tip of her hand that looked close to a spike, she cocked her arm back and readied it to punch Diana.
A cry for help. A desperate plea. An unfamiliar name being called for. His name. Jordan shook himself and drew up the iron in his bones. His mettle would not bend, nor break, when he was called to duty. He might be a failure, he might not be. He would never let it be said that he did not give it his all. He turned on his heels and took off at a sprint. The cloud followed obligingly, and Jordan cracked his knuckles as he ran. He felt strange again, his awareness of the bleachers heightening, and he retained a vague sense of the ground below them. He didn't let that distract him for the moment. Reaching the edge of the bleachers, he leapt up off the tallest point and reached the apex of his jump looking down below.
Darkness.
Jordan dove, rotating in the air to plant his feet towards the ground. He seemed to weigh more than normal, and as he landed with a deafening boom, Jordan arched backward and clenched his fists. He felt everything. Every rock, every plant, every metal. The awareness rocked his mind, a piercing pain blocking everything else out. He screamed silently, not hearing his own voice. He heard... grinding. A crumbling thunder that scraped and groaned and seemed impossibly large. Jordan surged forward, his body moving from instinct. His senses... Too much... He felt his grip lock, and he squeezed with all of his-
At the centre of the darkness, its source, Jordan held a young girl by the neck, choking her. She had tears in her eyes, and all Jordan saw was terror. He dropped her immediately, flinching back, staring at his hands. What the fuck is going on? I can't... No. Kano's wrong. It's- It's not her. It could never be her. But... What did I just-? The gym teacher turned to look at the rest of his students. They all looked at him, terrified. His responsibility. His duty. He'd failed them, hadn't he?
Darkness.
Jordan felt a terrible pain in his face. He blinked and saw grass under his face. He looked up, and saw the darkness user's walls, dividing two angry looking girls. He'd just leapt off the bleachers and landed face first on the ground. Perfect. Getting to his feet, the gym teacher stomped over to the bluish haired girl with the upstuck attitude. She'd covered herself in a sheet of ice devised from her sweat. Jordan would have been impressed on another occasion. Now though, he simply grabbed her arm with enough force to crack the ice shell, his own hands possessing all the strength and durability of granite. Gripping her by the arm, he towed her aside next to the bleachers, and locked her feet in place with rock. Wordless, he moved back toward the redhead who was too eager to mete out punishment. She was emitting measurable amounts of heat, which he shrugged off, even welcomed faintly, as it dried him off. He grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her to the other side of the bleachers, where he repeated his time out preparations, binding her feet to the ground as solidly as concrete.
"The rest of you, back to your dorms! Or your next class. I don't care! Just make yourselves scarce! The show's over!" His voice was harsher than he'd intended. He sounded like Kano. He pointed to the darkness user, as she turned to leave and called out, "Hey, stay here emo chick!" Jordan held his right hand in his left, clenching and unclenching, trying to control his breathing. He closed the distance between the two, and got down on one knee, looking up at her. He examined her neck, and then her face. He looked at her from head to toe, every bit the teenage girl that she so obviously was. Jordan recalled those walls of darkness she'd evidently created, softly moving waves of blackness, somewhere between a gas and a liquid, acting as barriers to separate her classmates, to keep them from hurting each other. Jordan met this young girl's gaze for all of about two and a half seconds, before he bowed down into his hands and started to sob.
It... just for a second...
It had felt good to choke the life from her with his own hands. He'd felt...
Powerful.
The paragraph between both utterances of "Darkness" is a vision/hallucination. In actual fact, Jordan leaps off the bleachers, falls on his face, and then ends the class and does the other stuff.
As it were, Diana was shocked back to reality to a certain extent when a sudden wall of darkness appeared between herself and the ice girl. And it seemed to have popped up at quite the opportune time as well. Diana had been just barely unleashing a jet of flame towards Kris' face, whilst the ice queen on the potential receiving end had coated herself in ice and attempted to punch her. However, both attacks had hit the barrier without connecting to their intended targets, audibly in fact, a thing that highlighted just how much this fight was going to cause things to go to...er "shit" as it were. The whole thing made her pause, as if suddenly but calmly running out of steam for what she had been wanting to do to this other girl. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the black-hoodie wearing girl standing here, focused on the situation, bottom lip bleeding, but also...hmmm, that look in her eyes was familiar though.
She didn't resist when Mr. Manilow, at the hoodie-wearing girl's shout, had come running over to break the fire and ice users up, sitting them in different spots with feet trapped in earth as hard as concrete. Heh. It was kinda like those "time outs" her mother had given her for doing something bad when she was very little, kinda nostalgic despite the circumstances really. However, she had also noticed Mr. Manilow's troubling episode as well prior to being drug over by him, suddenly falling on his face as if in a trance, before getting up suddenly and quickly to come over and grab herself and Kris. That was....that was not like the Mr. Manilow she knew from these last three months, not at all actually when it came to his physical and athletic ability. A little ice or something wouldn't slip him up, so...mmmm.
At least her and that ice prick had been separated. She could hear odd sounds from the other side, but...for the time being closed her eyes, cupped her hands facing each other rather than putting them together, and began to focus on her breathing. In and out. In and out. It would be better to calm down now, at least for her sake, though the ramifications of what had just happened were still to come. As calm as she had been able to make herself look, this new girl and jerk of all jerks had pushed her buttons in the wrong ways today out of the blue. It honestly made her a bit frustrated at herself for letting it get to her head, and yet.....well, that other girl had no rights to be calling out everyone on any mistake and act like she was the queen bitch of the school on what Diana guessed was her first day.
Ugh. But at least the fight hadn't continued. Not that one side or the other would have lost or won, but she had the feeling herself and that ice girl would have both been in the infirmary sooner than later had that girl and Mr. Manilow not stepped in.
She had in part wanted to escape this situation with Eir, maybe just to skip the next class and get away from the prying eyes of the others, and especially those who had seen her....well, use her element around them for the first time. She didn't know how everyone thought about her element, not at all. But now that prick new girl, and anyone else who hadn't see that element of hers before, knew. It was unnerving, not enough to make her want to hide forever, but was enough of a stress to make her want to go cool down in private and potentially with a friend just to make sure her head was level so she could handle potential negative reactions later. Partly emotionally-charged, though, she had at least been able to focus that energy well enough separate the two potential fighters before their first blows could truly land. It had been a great relief, but not enough to assuage everything she had been feeling at the moment.
But, as fate would perhaps have it, Mr. Manilow told her to stay behind, his voice rougher and harsher than usual. However, as the man pulled her aside alone on the now eerily quiet track field, he seemed to start looking her over. As if...he was looking for injuries, actually, though she kept her bottom lip tucked in a bit to avoid spitting blood on the gym teacher. She looked him over in return as well, seeing his hand clenching, the seeming struggle to control his breathing....this didn't seem to be the usual composed nature she had seen in him in the past three months.
Beyond that, she had seen a rather strange thing in general, Mr. Manilow falling on his face on his way over....but seeming to pause for a moment, as if in a trace in his face-down position in the dirt, before getting back up and going about things in this more emotional state.
As the grown man met her gaze briefly, Leanne looked back into his eyes as well. Yet in doing this the teenage girl felt like Mr. Manilow's eyes looked as if he had seen a ghost, potentially, or had maybe woken up from some terrible nightmare of some kind, or had just seen someone die in front of his eyes or something. Feelings crept back up nauseatingly into her bowels and guts, a chill temporarily running up her spine, and the phantom feeling of tightening around her threat from the fear, all as Leanne got the inexplicable the feeling that...maybe her element, or the use of her power, really....like she had caused this to him somehow. This being inspected, pulled over alone after the incident when she wasn't one of the combatants, not being asked about the fight or such, it was all too strong of an indicator that she was somehow involved with this, with what had just happened to this man that seemed to shine glaringly at her from his eyes.
Then as the man bowed his head into his hands and then began to......well, literally sob, right there in front of her and still on one knee, the girl felt a compulsion to do something about it. Not saying a word, not knowing the best course of action, not knowing at all what was going on inside Mr. Manilow's head, Leanne moved just slightly forwards, wrapping her arms around Jordan Manilow's head in a hug. Indeed, she let him cry into her hoodie, to let it all out, as that was all she could think to do right now. But she could at least understanding...well, just needing to cry. She didn't cry all the time, though, but back home there had been enough times she had wanted to or had in the past. Especially when she was even younger.
Alexander would give her his bests he said. Drow gave a confident nod and waited for him to start. He did seem capable of doing a lot with the element. He just had to set his right foot on the mountain he was gonna be climbing. Alex began, just like before with a small ball of lightning in his hands. It had taken him some time to not think about his old way of doing things but instead follow her advice. She felt the energy flow through much quicker then before. The ball became denser and way more powerful then before. The controll that he had practiced before helped him a bit in maintaining the shape and size of the ball beter so it wouldn't explode as fast when it was so highly loaded. He still had a little bit of difficulty with it but she was here to take it if he couldn't do it with his power.
He made it grow as big as he could possibly muster, it was decently sized. It didn't really look like a ball anymore but it was all energy so she couldn't complain if it was perfect or not. He clearly had some difficulty controlling this thing at this stage. His heart rate was rising from the pressure on him most likely. He couldn't concentrate on what he had to do. Drow stepped forward her hand reaching towards him, he still had it right. She shouldn't help, he could just let it go, she wouldn't be hurt so much. There was some time to redirect it. Drow gulped and dropped her hand past her side again letting him handle this.
He shot the ball at the tree line. Most wisest idea indeed. She could comment him on that but that did not matter in this exercise. She was happy he made it. The sudden leaving of the only energy source still providing him with nothing left in him made his body tired. He didn't have a spark left. Even a lamp would only shine dim with hid energy. His body fell to the ground. Drow gave a long sigh. He looks so happy while asleep yet he still failed her by not listening.
Drow walked over and towered over his asleep body. Giving a soft pout while looking a tad mad. She softly spoke to herself with her breakable voice.
"Baka."
It took about a quarter of an hour to drag him towards the infirmary of the school on her tiny back from the mountain. He was a pain in the ass for having to make her do all that for him. Well he had plenty of time to charge back up from her back. It would only take about 5 minutes while in direct contact with her so this was plenty enough for him to feel like he had drunken 10 cups of coffee. She surely paid him back though for making her work like that, which he surely would notice later.
Eventually Alex would wake up at the infirmary, completely fine nothing hurt. There was a comment written on his arm with black unremovable ink.
"Less energy next time doofus!"
Furthermore she made a little doodle on his face with the same ink. She had put a glass of water on the side of his bed and checked up on him every 10 minites. When he would be awake he could decided on his own if he wanted to see her again by waiting a few minutes on her to come by again.
Suddenly, someone shouted out those words, snapping out Kanako from her slight trance. She looked around to see who said that, but she failed at pointing out who it was. There was just simply too many people around her now, she thought. Not to mention all the shouting the newcomer and Diana were doing.
Well, it's fine. She could just let the others deal with Mr. Manilow's test. And she had a feeling that he would have to stop the test soon to defuse the escalating situation going on here. The ice girl had transformed her own sweat into a makeshift armor to combat the flame girl's fiery threat. Hmm, that was certainly an unique usage of her power. Kanako now wondered if she could manipulate wind to become armor as well. Air bubbles, softening and blocking blows before they could land? Or a swirling tornado all around her?
"MR. MANILOW, GET OVER HERE NOW!"
This time, she knew who shouted those words. Leanne's desire to stop the fight was obvious not just from her uncharacteristicly loud shout, as she was using her power to the feuding to girls in an attempt to stop their fight. Darkness elementalist, Kanako thought. The rarest of all the elements. And the one with the most bad rep as well. She knew it was unfair but she couldn't help to feel a little creeped out at the element. Logically, an element would neither be good or bad and their moral quality would depend on their user. But there was just something about those creeping, writhing shadows... At least this time, she used her power as a wall to separate the two.
As she had anticipated, Mr. Manilow ended up stopping the fight of the two. Kanako was both relieved and disappointed at that. Relieved that their fight didn't turn into something more ugly as they had started getting really physical, and disappointed that she didn't get to see more of their fight. She knew she wasn't supposed to think like this, but she couldn't help to be interested in how they would fight each other, especially since both of them seemed to have good control over their element.
She was disturbed however on how he reacted afterwards. He shouted for them to go to the next class with a harsh voice. It was almost like he was an entirely different person.
Kanako quickly left the scene, afraid of his sudden attitude shift.
Alex pushed his energy into the center of his outstretched hands. The ball of lightening started to take shape as he continued to pour his energy into it...but.
A sudden sharp pain across his back made him flinch and let out a small grunt."Too slow!" sneered a pompous looking man. The man wasn't particularly tall but was rather thin with dark hair and a face that had the great misfortune of resembling a rat. "Your not pouring in enough power! And you lack control!" The man said, emphasizing the last word with another slap of the riding crop he used to "teach" his students the proper ways of using lightening.
Alex hated him. His methods were asinine and ineffective. But he had no choice. His father stood nearby, watching with the same dissatisfied glare he always watched Alex with. He had pushed Alex for as long as he could remembering, not just wanting, but demanding that Alex become a warrior like his father. A killer was closer to the truth but this was the hand Alex was dealt.
And so Alex pushed. He pushed more and more of his own power into the ball of lightening. He could feel it leaving his body and flowing into the shaky ball that was forming.
"No, no, no you aren't controlling it enough. You must force the energy to do what you want!" His instructor shouted without offering any real advice on HOW Alex was supposed to do that. Alex attempted to force his will on the lightening but it resisted his attempts. The ball of lightening kept growing, saping his energy as it did.
"Worthless fool you aren't listening!" His tutor shouted as he whipped the riding crop against the back of Alex's head. The sudden pain was too much. Alex wasn't sure what happened or how it did but he suddenly felt the lightening leave his control. There was a boom like thunder, a flash, and a sudden and horrible scream of pain.
Alex felt exhausted. His knees grew weak as slumped to the ground. He sat there for a moment, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Was the man..had he just... "You little fool.... Do you have any idea how much it cost me to hire that man?" The back of a large hand slammed into the side of Alex's face and sent him sliding across the ground. Alex couldn't tell if the pain made him more lucid or less. "Please father...I don't.."
"Silence." His fathers voice came out as a terrible whisper. "I hire you tutor after tutor and still you fail. You are pointless. And to think your mother died for such a worthless little cretin." Those words slammed into Alex causing more pain then anything that had happened so far today. Tears slowly started to flow as he curled himself up into a ball facing away from his father.
"Now you cry?! What an embarrassment. I'm ashamed to call you my son." A sudden heat engulfed the room. Terror erupted inside of Alex but he was too weak to run like he wanted to. "But if you are so eager to act like a baby, I will give you something to cry about." A whip of blue flames streaked forward from his fathers hand. It danced in the air a moment, its eerie light sending chills, oddly enough, down Alex's spine. The whip cracked and a sudden and horrible burning pain exploded across Alex's back...
Alex shot up, sucking in air as if he had just been struck. His hand flew to his back, expecting to feel the same monstrous pain that he had experienced 4 years ago, but there was nothing. Only a large, angry red scar that he could only just make out underneath his clothes.
Alex let out a little sigh of relief before looking around. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was.... Aww dammit, he had over done it. Alex smacked his forehead and let out a sigh. He had used to much energy. It wasn't all the surprising, he hadn't pushed himself to his limits in years, so he hand't actually been sure what they were but still, it was embarrassing.
Alex spotted black spot on his arm out of the corner of his eye and looked down to see "Less energy next time doofus!" scrawled on his arm. Great.
He stood and walked over to the nearby sink to try to wash it off, but it was stubborn as hell. It must have been done with a permanent marker.... Even better. Well, with enough effort rubbing alcohol would get rid of it....although it would probably leave his skin raw with how hard he would have scrub.
As he looked around the room he caught sight of his face in the mirror. Had she....had she drawn on his face too? COOL! THATS JUST FANTASTIC! Now he would have to scrub at his face for who knew how long too. Wasn't this childish behavior for a teacher?
Oh well, he probably deserved it. She must have dragged him all the way here. She probably didn't want him as a student now because of all the trouble he had caused her. This was gonna end just like all the others. Resigned, Alex searched the cabinets until he found rubbing alcohol. He then started the long arduous process of trying to get the ink off of his face at least. The ink was stubborn, and his face would probably be red and peeling by the time he finished, but he'd take that over this.
Still, one good thing had come from today. He had managed to overcome his fear of his power, at least a little. That dream, no, those memories, made Alex shudder a little. But it was time to move on, it was time to move past what had happened. He was older, he had more control now. Now he just needed to find that sweet spot between not using enough power, and using so much he passed out.
10 minutes later Alex would certainly be in front of the sink when Drow came back, still scrubbing away with rubbing alcohol, the ink very slowly dulling and his skin beginning to turn red.
Everything just happened so fast, before her hand met the hot head's face someone or something constructed a barrier between the two of them to separate the two of them, it also stopped whatever attack that the monster handed girl could've done with her element, it then also stopped Kris' second attack with the pointed spike and once they both had a look at each other, her grey eyes met the fire user's red eyes for a moment and she saw someone who would see her wrath when this barrier falls. Right before Kris could do something the hobo looking teacher stepped in and grabbed her by the wrist as if she was some sort of child and yanked her away from the other girl." H-Hey! So now you want to do something?" She told him before she felt weight gather up on her ankles and feet encapsulating them and holding her in one spot.
As she tried to pull her feet from the concrete Manilow encased her in, Kris just grew angrier and wanted to scream, she held it back and held her breath in the process as she began pulling on her legs in vain attempts to escape from Manilow's "Timeout" The princess tugged on one of her legs one last time before giving up and starting a tantrum, she screamed before going she started yelling."Why am I in trouble?!" She screamed at Manilow." I had to ride on a train and plane for hours with people burping and sneezing everywhere and making messes, then I had to stay on a boring train for hours and get my stuff just thrown off like it was trash by the people on it!" Tears began welling up in her eyes now with her getting upset."It's her fault, I didn't do anything! I only defended myself."
She tried pulling her legs out again." I didn't ask to be here in this school, I just wanted my father to listen to me for once and think about what he was doing, but no don't listen to your only daughter, just marry some floozie that knows how to use Ice better than the last one. I didn't want to be here, I never asked for this, I never wanted to come to this academy." She spoke aloud still trying to free up her feet while tears slowly streamed down her face." Now I going to be here for who knows long getting in trouble because people don't know how to use their powers and I have next to nothing to wear, I going to have to dress like everyone else and look like a common person, wearing rags that shouldn't dare touch my skin." She tried hitting the concrete with her hands, nearly losing her balance." I want to go home back to castle Erebus and go back to my old teachers."
The princess then gave up and fell backward on her butt, she looked over to Diana and Manilow wiping tears into her sleeves trying to compose herself as best she could."We're in trouble right?" She asked, right now she wanted her blanket to wrap herself up.
"Oh dear!" Vera yelped in dismay as an entire can of paint crashed to the floor, making an even bigger mess.
She sometimes forgot that Professor Dawn had the tendency to slip into a world of her own when she was by herself. In spite of dropping her idea to prank the teacher, Vera had ended up startling her anyway. The suddenly invisible figure then spoke, telling her what she had already observed to have happened, though, Professor Dawn sounded like she did not mind at all, and she appeared again before turning off the music that had been playing in the background.
Vera cautiously entered when the teacher invited her in, excessively conscious of the fresh paint that covered the floor and some of the furniture. She wondered how Professor Dawn could go about doing whatever she had to while covered in paint. Surely that would be somewhat uncomfortable? Vera walked over to one of the chairs, checking for any wet paint on it before taking a seat. It was apparent that the teacher had been working on a... personal project? She could not see what was on the canvas from where she was seated, but smiled to herself when she thought of an idea about how she could utilize her new powers.
She could sense the light that was reflecting off of the canvas, and as she turned to face a blank wall, directed that light right into her own eyes, enabling her to see the image on the canvas against the wall.
"A lovely work of art you've got there, Ma'am," she began, not factoring that the sight of her staring at a blank wall might be rather strange and confusing for someone else.
Drow was writing on a still almost completely blank notebook somewhere in a nearby study area. Her appearance made her not stand out all that much between the students, they wouldn't be asking her question just thinking she was still a student as well. Drow did not mind being seen as this because she was not a chatty person at all. Drow was trying to write some of Alex his info on her paper, the way he uses his element, where the most power sits in his body. All for him to make ideal tests for him and tell him how he should do them. Drow gave a short watch at a nearby clock to see it had been around 8 minutes already and that it was perhaps time again to check up on him. He hadn't woken up from the exercise yet which was nearly an hour ago now. She wasn't worried about him because she knew he was fine, students would come her often because of their depleted status so it wasn't all that surprising or worrying anymore. It was more stupid of them to do such things with their powers.
Drow patiently walked back with the notebook clutched against her body with both arms. Upon entering the room she came to the immediate conclusion that he was awake already from his empty bed. She wondered if he was still around somewhere. Drow entered the room some more making the lights flikker from her enormous electricity absorption. The wide array of medical apparatus was fine from her electric absorption so it wasn't a problem for her to come in.
Alex was in the back cleaning up his face and arm with alcohol. Drow simply walked up to him and stood behind him as she waited for him to see her and turn around in the mirror. She was gazing at him with blank eyes not seeming happy, sad nor excited to see him at all. She wrote a few words to him.
'Are you okay?'
Drow pushed a smaller note from her leather glove into his hand.
'Here is an excuse letter for if you missed any classes.'
Amelia wandered to her next class, trying desperately to kill time. She had to go to math, which she supposed was going to be terrible, but whatever. She hurried inside the classroom, only to find Mr.Hirsoi sleeping at his desk. "Mr.Hirsoi! Wake up!" Ignoring the fact that her teacher was still snoozing, she headed to her seat and sat down, taking out a haphazard and heavy collection of assorted math textbooks, setting them all on her desk. Her notebook came out next, followed by her folder. She sighed heavily. "This is going to be a very long day."
Deep in the belly of the Academy tunnels was primarily occupied space designated for Earth Elementalists, close to the stones and soil of the world. The walls and ceiling were worked stone worn smooth over decades of use. It was even where Kano Hargor located his office. Other areas littered the extensive tunnels but rarely saw use or were simply off limits to students.
One such area was the seat of power. Like the audience hall, it was delicately cultivated with the harmony of nature in mind.
From the soil came ancient roots spreading far and wide across the high ceiling stretching all the way to the smooth stone floor. Pathways and bridges had been cut into the stone creating delicate pillars and walls sectioning off the massive room. Stone bridges crossed over open floors revealing crystaline blue waters flowing through the underground. Upon the walls were decorative lit torches. In many places amidst the rooms were various steel cages containing roaring flames. The ceiling was still covered but the ground was thin in sections, allowing a skilled elementalists to open them up and let natural light flow in.
Kano surveyed the dusty area with a mixture of pride and shame. This was a place of competition and regret for many young students over the years as they battled for supremacy. The world outside the academy had always been hostile to elementalists. The need for force against their oppressive ways had been a requirement when the Academy was young. Teaching violence..
"Would that there was no need."
The words echoed off the stones as he paced the floor. Students at the Academy were being raised in a different world, where relative peace was still available across the globe. Very few were treated with true threat to their lives. That much was true..
"No." Kano reminded himself, "There are worse things than humans that hunt us. They must be ready."
The objective for first years was not true combat. Third years and up entered this place knowing they could be badly hurt. First years would only think of this place as another spooky addition to the campus.
"Manilow, are you done your preparations?"
Jordan heard Kano's question, and used the handholds he'd made to climb up to where the headmaster stood.
"As a matter of fact, I'm all ready to go. You say the word, and I'll arm everything." Today Jordan was all business. He didn't want to think too hard on the episode from earlier that day. He would have to talk to somebody about it, eventually. But for now, he had decided to focus on the kids.
"Excellent. As always, you have been a tremendous help. Will you be staying to oversee your own students or shall I fetch a substitute? Word is you weren't feeling so well this morning."
The Headmaster left out his true concerns. This was neither the time nor place to be bringing up such dark topics.
Jordan massaged his neck with a hand and looked out at the cavernous space. It seemed so old and vast, that it looked as though a god had run their hands through the earth and shaped the space with tools and persistence. He tried not to gawk, and failed.
"I'm fine. My annual guantlet petered out into two students trying to kill each other so I had to call it off early, that's all. I'll find another way to measure their competence, with perhaps just a tad more control involved. I forget sometimes, that my methods are best suited for one on one tutelage. How's your arm?"
Glancing at the arm in question, Kano couldn't fully suppress his annoyance not at Manilow but fully upon himself. His current appendage was not a true part of his being given form but a watery replica. Its detail was sorely lacking but it was unavoidable.
"It will return again in time. Already it is half formed. I suspect another weak."
Manilow had undergone extensive physical care from the outburst caused. It had only been a few seconds of uncontrolled motion and still the room had been a disaster. Destroyed uttely in a fit of uncontrolled fury. Had it not been such a serious moment Kano would have chuckled, thinking if his old students could seen such an aftermath.
"I should be more concerned with your own injuries than my own. After all, you are still mostly flesh and bone."
Despite Manilows persistance and fortitude, the Headmaster doubted a full recovery had occured in such a short time. There was much the budding blood wielders could do to aid the body but even that had its limits. With the teacher Spar match occuring after the testing it seemed prudent to be sure of participation.
"We should discuss this further when the time is right. For now, would you please open the ceiling panels. The students should be coming soon."
Divided into even areas throughout the stonework were sunken platforms going down close to 8 feet with usually a ladder or stepping stones etched into the sides. Each sunken zone was close to 30 feet in either direction so as not to be too cramped. As for why there were so many when only a few would see use today was anyones guess. Rows of stone seats, really more of a block than a seat truth be told, were arranged across the area.
Students were being called in groups rather than all first years at one time. The first should already be on its way, prepared to display their powers and perform a feat of control. Some would be asked a much more difficult task.
Too much chaos had happened all at once. Bringing together so many inexperienced kids with different elements was just begging for disaster to happen. Once Bhu had taken a step back and processed her surroundings, she knew she had to get out of there. Out of the basic elements, she had always considered Earth to be one of the weakest. Ice could freeze, lightning could solidify her sand, water could erode...The most she could even fathom was being able to stop fire. Or, if she was having a really bad day, could even split the ground beneath their feet. That type of power could only be rendered with great emotion, however. While Bhu was known to get angry, she very rarely let it escalate beyond her control.
Not long after she had removed herself from the situation could she hear the professor call for early dismissal. Shouldn't have been much of a surprise, in all reality. At least it was put to a stop before anyone could get badly injured. Bhu went on to her following classes as normal. Wasn't until much later that she was called into a group.
As she made her way towards the tunnels, she wrung her hands together in worry. There was no mistaking the other people who were called in her group. Maybe now was their turn to show what they really could do. She continued to walk as little tornadoes of sand floated around her. Once she had found herself deep within the underground, she noticed Professor Manilow and the Headmaster. Raising a brow in curiosity, she made her way towards the stone seats before sitting.
Phoebe Dawn
As she continued to sort together the mess that she called a desk, she could barely make out the lone voice in the room. Phoebe was too often known for getting into her head and zoning out. It made for a rather eventful class when the teacher wasn't even paying attention. Took the woman several more moments before even realizing that the voice had spoken to her.
"Hmm?" Popping her head up from under her desk, she looked over at the girl. She blinked and allowed time for the girl's statement to fully register in her mind. With a tilt of her head, she followed the student's line of sight. Phoebe's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together in excitement. "Oh, lovely trick, child! You can see it from there, can't you? Oh, that's just marvelous! Utterly marvelous."
Tossing her dirty apron onto the pile on her desk, she made her way back over to Vera and gave the girl a large grin. "And enough with that stuffy 'ma'm' stuff. Don't make me any older than I already am. Professor or Ms. Dawn will do just fine." Phoebe took a seat on the girl's desk and turned sideways to face her. "I want you to feel comfortable in my class. Like, every time you step in, I want you to imagine a warm hug. Like you're going home. There's only love here, child."
After the disastrous gym class, Kanako spent some time back in her room waiting for the next class, by throwing herself to her bed and reading herself some of her novels. She decided she would take the math class next. She was actually pretty good at maths. She simply understood the concepts the teachers taught her instinctively.
Knowing Mr. Hirsoi, it would be fine if I arrive a little bit late.
And so Kanako took it easy, not even bothering to change out of her gym clothes as she continued to loiter around on her fluffy and soft bed, her novel at hand.
Alex turned as he noticed Miss Drow behind him. The flickering lights should probably have been his first indication that she was there, but he had been busy trying to get the ink off.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm alright." He bowed a little bit, an apologetic look on his face. He took the note that excused him from missing classes and smiled, thanking her. He had missed at least homeroom and gym, so this would probably come in handy. At least he had a legitimate excuse. Still, he felt bad for missing the class because of his own foolishness.
"I'm sorry for passing out. I know I overdid it, but I wasn't actually sure what my limits were. It's been...a while since I've had the courage to push myself that far. I hate to admit it, but I've been scared of losing control for so long that I never came close. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just trying to explain so that you wont be too displeased with me. I want to keep training with you in the afternoons, if you will let me. For some reason it feels, easier, to let my power out a little more. I want to keep learning and improving, as long as your willing to keep teaching me, that is. I know I caused you a lot of trouble, so if you don't want to I understand." He said honestly.
He couldn't blame her if she didn't want to keep teaching him after all of the trouble he had caused her. But he really did want to get better. He wish he could read her face though, her face was always so blank for some reason. It didn't really bother him, but it did make social interactions a bit more difficult.
4:00 pm - Underground.
Alex looked around at the people who had been called in his group. It would be interesting to see what this was all about. He looked around at the sunken zones with interest, wondering what they would be used. This looked like some kind of testing ground. After he had missed gym he was a little excited to see what was going to happen here. He was sad that he had missed out on gym because of his own stupidity. Although he wasn't sure how he would have participated anyways. That much metal would have been a pain for him.
Alex spotted Professor Manilow and and the headmaster, talking about something that Alex couldn't hear. Then he spotted Bhu sitting on a stone bench not that far away. He waved a little at her and hesitated a moment before walking over and sitting next to her.
"Hey. I heard gym class got interesting earlier." He said with a little smile.
Kris glared at Manilow with tear filled eyes and sniffling as he went on a long-winded speech to the two of them about how they shouldn't kill each other in their classes and should learn to get along, Kris wiped her tears onto her sleeves trying to recompose herself as best as she could, the gym teacher kept them there for what felt like the good portion of an hour before he removed the concrete and watched the two of them leave the gym and not kill each other. Once she was out of the gym, Kris made her way to one of the bathrooms pulling her luggage with her, she fixed her makeup and checked to see if any of her hair was burned by that warm-blooded girl, her eyebrows and bangs were still there but her bangs were singed and darkened, she lightly pulled her hair and contemplated cutting it, but she couldn't bare doing it, her hair was already perfect as it was and messing with it now would ruin her looks, she kicked her luggage bag and wanted to get this fire user girl back for what she did to her ruining her hair like this would cost her greatly.
As four o'clock rolled around, Kris found herself needing to go to the underground where another class was bound to happen, she had a sour look glued on her face from her singed bangs, she then noticed the teacher from the gym and something told her this was his class, she sighed and rolled her eyes before her eyes made contact with the fire girl once more, she wasn't looking in Kris' direction but she knew it was her. Kris didn't pay attention to what was going on at the moment and joined one of the groups being called without thinking about what was going on or what to do, she was thinking too much about what she could do to the fire girl for what she did to her bangs, the physical deformity that she left her with filled the princess with a cold fury that she needed to let out onto someone or anyone, she breathed out a cold breath of air then looked towards the others in her group wondering what was going on as she crossed her arms.
Long-winded speeches about killing each other, and learning to get along, and the sort of things one might hear being told to little kids who needed to be scolded were the words of the day for Diana and Kris, it seemed, after Mr. Manilow had finally released them. Though really, beyond simple acknowledgement of "yes, sir" the red haired German girl did not say much. She watched as the "ice princess" she had nearly tried to suffocate with flames...actually, had tried without thinking until that Darkness user had ironically intervened.......run off from the track and field grounds and off to her thing or her room or a bathroom for all Diana knew. It had been a sobering point in time for the fire user, who quietly was glad neither of the two of them had managed to deal severe wounds to each other from the looks of it. Though a little singing on the part of the ice-queen there was visible to Diana, who knew how to look for burns from...er....past experiences at home.
Though by now, standing here underground at 4pm, the redhead had reverted back to her usual self after taking some time to eat with her roommate and a girl named "Lyra" and such. It had been a pleasant lunch, a good way to get past earlier events from gym class. Yet upon feeling a pair of cold eyes upon her from afar, potentially literally, Diana had looked out of the corner of her eyes and noticed a familiar face. The ice girl, the rude prick who had been down on everyone before pushing too many buttons. Heh. It was shocking that it was that girl who could have been staring at her, a thought that brought a small smile to Diana's face, though if she was as petty as she seemed then revenge might be on her mind for all the German girl knew. And if this sterotype the ice user seemed to have played out true, anyways.
Besides, after the lunch Diana had gone to practice her skills...and take a nice swim to ease the mind and keep the body fit as well. It would be for the second time in the same day, but it had given her more time to practice what she had been doing before with her fire powers earlier and for the last three months overall. Of course, this went beyond just drying herself off...actually included something a bit more interesting than that.
But that was not Diana's main concern at the moment.
Rather, as she looked about her peers where they stood, and at both Mr. Manilow and Headmaster Kano, the teen mentally and physically readied herself, keeping her breathing calm, her heart rate steady, and keeping on a relatively relaxed demeanor to stay open to whatever they would be instructed in. Considering students of all kinds of elements were here, it was safe to say this was big and potentially competitive if she had the right idea.
The incident from earlier had been....unnerving to quite a degree for Leanne, the hoodie-wearing girl having had to comfort a teacher to boot. Though after this she had been...dismissed off like the others as Mr. Manilow had left to free and talk down the two troublemakers without a true explanation or word of what had gone on to her or anything. Even so, she still felt she, even if just via the use of her element in trying to prevent a fight, had something to do with that. Unless Mr. Manilow had some kind of darkness in him, but the reality was that the man was an Earth Elementalist! How could he even have two elements, already something that seemed an impossibility, but beyond that another odd question came to mind. Could other Darkness users be stimulated by the usage of powers by other Darkness users? None of it really answered the question, nor really helped her feel better save for providing a topic of distraction for her to think on and keep a level head with in the immediate aftermath of things.
Deciding not to pursue Mr. Manilow on the matter so soon, not having a full idea herself, Leanne had retired to the Infirmary to get her lip fixed. Though when that had been done she had gone back to her room. Not usually one to miss classes, the early start to the lunch period gave her a chance to ponder matters, at least whilst her roommate would in all likeliness have been back and sleeping after the early release from Gym Class. For about half an hour she had taken the time to enjoy a hot, steamy shower, her nearby phone placed on the toilet seat nearby to play music for her to use to focus on.
In all of these three months, she hadn't let anyone see her "let it go" so to say, but the nerves of the situation combined with the emotional awkwardness of the situation had gotten to her to an extent. So as the hot drops of soothing water ran over her, the Darkness user had finally begun to let out the stress in the one way she could best do so in the shower: crying. Just....crying. Though she had done her best to hide this from her roommate even, it wasn't because she was worried over being a "crybaby". She...just didn't want to overly worry anyone else, eh? But beyond that, just a way to relieve the stress when it got too much at times was an invigorating thing. Left her feeling like she was ready to take things on.
Even her grandmother had noted the need to "cry" once in a while, and that bottling things up too much only led to worse things in life.
Though once she had emerged from the shower, dried off, and turned off the music on her phone, she had pulled on a fresh set of attire and her trademark hoodie before setting out again silently. No need to worry Eir with a somber mood, but....she needed to herself think on the matter more. Indeed, there was some mystery that seemed to emanate from what had happened in gym class beyond just her gut feeling her powers had done something to Mr. Manilow, especially with his reaction to her as if she had just come back from the dead or something before breaking down into sobbing before she had went to hug him moments later. And to that end...eventually an idea had come to mind as she had wandered over to the gardens of the Academy.
Darkness was an element that had a bad reputation, she herself had first-hand experience with that, but...why? She had never been told just what the incident behind the Darkness element falling into infamy was, nor had heard of any books on it or such. If her gut was right about Mr. Manilow, then perhaps there was something about her element that was, in essence, unique in its properties. She was no expert on science or the elements, but at the same time it felt like an educated assumption...or at least one potential factor in things that seemed worth investigating. Albeit, she would need a plan for attempting to look into her element's, well, ironically dark past.....pun intended of course. Perhaps later she could go to the library when it was mostly abandoned, see if there were any books. That could be a calmer start. She wasn't aware of any Darkness teachers here, to be frank, but there was one figure at the school who seemed to carry that inhuman air about him. Headmaster Kano. Yet approaching him like that might...mmm, she had no idea how the headmaster would react. Perhaps it would be better to not ask him first unless the matter was pressing.
Eventually, though, her stomach had begun to rumble like a mighty whirlwind, with the intensity of a great earthquake....and she had gone to get some food. Alone. It allowed her to break from what felt like a far longer time than it had been, what with the questions and such on her mind and such. Just having gone to a hamburger and hot-dog place in town, as basic as it was as compared to the other flavors of foods there, she had enjoyed a simple meal....if one might count a double-decker burger with the works and medium curly fries coated in rich spices...which all came with a large Coca-Cola.....as "simple" anyways. Besides, breakfast had been light to nonexistent for her as it was, just so she could help get sleepy Eir to class.
Though by this point, a good ways into the afternoon, the time for challenge and testing. Or at least, time to descend into the dark bowels of the Academy where the Earth Elementalists were supposed to train or such. Stepping down there with the rest of her group of students, the first group that would be brought forwards to face whatever came, it seemed, Leanne felt a certain sense of awe at the scene. The dark of the area, aside from the lit torches on the wall and such, brought on a sense of...well, ease to a certain extent. Like it was "home" to a certain extent, though not her literal home as it were.
The night had always been her favorite time of day, though she did not shirk to get up in the day, but something about this scene seemed to blend well in her eyes on first glance. Like a sort of "harmony" had been established here purposefully and with careful intent. Smooth earthen floors stood below their feet like an ancient temple of old, whilst swirls of shadows seemed to dance merrily upon the pillars of the area with the flickering of the flaming light sources scattered about. Thin earth above and rare tiny cracks of light piercing into the soft blackness seemed beautiful, like a painting. Even the sounds of the jewel-like waters running through the earth below where they stood seemed to echo off of the walls in a soothing manner, like how a gentle breeze might cause a rustling in the trees and whistling through the logs and grass.
Though as her eyes found Mr. Manilow and Headmaster Kano standing together, the teenager was snapped from the beautiful display that had briefly entranced her mind. Reminders of earlier just by seeing Mr. Manilow, and the mysterious and somewhat imposing visage of the headmaster himself, left her coming "back to earth" and mentally beginning to reinforce herself. She tried to meet each of the two's eyes, to get a read of the situation but also to see if Mr. Manilow was...well, ok after earlier. Truthfully, they were not here for some kind of playdate or silly tour of this area. That much she knew for sure.
One second she was hanging out with the shy but kind-hearted Lyra and the fierce and determined Diana, her new roommate, and then the next thing she knew she was travelling deep, deep underground with a bunch of other people she guessed were her classmates. She was even tempted to turn back and run away but she thought it wouldn’t make a good impression for her. She decided not let fear take over so she recalled her lunch together with her two newfound bestfriends, sighing dreamily while rubbing her belly.
When they reached their destination, Freya’s eyes widened as she looked around the vastness of this cavern. Suddenly she felt really small. “I think I need to pee”, she squeaked. Moving a bit farther, she noticed several sunken platforms that look suspiciously like... Oh crud, she thought to herself. If this is what I think it is then I am hella screwed.
She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. She can’t allow herself to be ruled over by her fear. Besides, her parents warned her that this academy isn’t just all fun and games. Even though she hates fighting in general, she decided to just wing it and do her best whatever the outcome is.
Freya gulped and stood around aimlessly while waiting for further instructions.
It was not that unusual that nobody had noticed Thora's presence in the last three months. She was, all in all, quite the unremarkable girl, if it weren't for her toolbox mounted on her hips. Today, however, she was also carrying an oddly gun shaped contraption on her back as she descended into the tunnels underneath the academy.
Of course she knew that, if her abilities were to be tested and graded, she would probably fail. But according to her mother's wish, her grades did not matter, not much at least. Getting kicked out of school was not necessarily what her parents sent her here for.
She rolled her eyes as she strode further into the deepness, shaking her head to get her thoughts to stop wandering about. Thora needed to focus. The last test of her gun went fairly well, but there were several kinks that she still needed to work on, especially when it came to focusing the beam.
Even as more and more people came into sight, Thora did not pay them any heed, she was only focused on her water gun, which she was now closely inspecting the muzzle of. The patterns with which the stream erupted from said muzzle was too erratic for her. It would work, sure, but it was not efficient enough. In all honesty, it could not be efficient enough. Only when the stream would come out with exactly 0° deviation would she be really be satisfied, which she knew, was pretty much impossible. Nevertheless, she would try her best to achieve as little wobble as possible.
Arriving at the central chamber, Thora leaned against a wall and mustered the cave extensively. Whatever ability tests they were going to pull here, this complex would do, she hoped. The only thing she could now reliably do with what she had on hand was target practice... though, if pressed, she could probably also construct something to help her in some way with whatever chicanery the teachers had come up with.
Usually, in class, nobody cared about her and she didn't either. She reckoned, that everybody had probably already forgotten that she ever existed, not that her seat in the back of the class helped her with that feat in any sort of way. On the contrary, her being as tiny as she was, and in class often occupied with other things, probably not even the teachers really noticed her, which could be a good thing... or a bad thing... Not that she really cared about that either.
She looked over her rather clunky and crude looking gun one more time, before she found herself a nice tall stone slab to sit on and stare at all the others from her raised platform. That she hasn't made contact with a lot of her classmates, she sometimes does regret... sometimes. Yes, sometimes. Only sometimes.
It did not take long for Professor Dawn to figure out what Vera's trick was. She beamed with pride at how excited the teacher seemed to be at her progress. She was not sure if that actually meant much, considering that she was still a first-year student after all. Vera was intrigued by Professor Dawn's tendency to involuntarily turn invisible. How was she able to do such a thing without thinking, while Vera had to concentrate at least a fair bit to control the light around her? Did it all just come with practice? As of now, she found it rather difficult to comprehend how invisibility could even be achieved by photon control.
She released her control of the light, letting the image she was seeing in front of her eyes vanish as the teacher approached. She turned to her in confusion at her request to "not make her any older than she already was". If Professor Dawn had not mentioned it, it would never had occurred to Vera that addressing one as such would give such an impression. To her, it was merely a polite way of addressing another female.
"Oh, I apologize, Ma- Ms. Dawn," she stuttered at the end, still getting used to the idea. "I had no idea that it would make you feel like that."
What the teacher said after was quite accurate. In her classes, students were all allowed to be themselves and express themselves however they wanted. Vera was certain that she was in for another fun session of working on her creativity, though she was still getting accustomed to the mess she would get all over herself after every art class. To make things even better, Vera was also looking forward to what was going to take place after classes. Apparently, the academy had something planned for the students today, and she was rather excited for what was to come.
When the earliest rays of the sun came through the windows of her classroom, Jeanne arrived at work. With a fountain pen held concisely betwixt her fingertips, she perused the lesson plans she had written through a set of half-moon spectacles. In blissful silence she took some cliffnotes, indicated places where she believed the necessary techniques needed to be stressed.
Being the newest teacher of the academy meant only one thing: she had to prove herself, and quickly at that.
A dip of the pen brought too hastily to paper would leave a small trail of stray onyx droplets that caused a corner of her rosy lips to crease in distaste, but there was little that could be done about the measure. Mumbling from the hallways arrived at long last; a dull, monotone roar of hundreds of mixed voices, which indicated the student body had begun to arrive.
She must make haste.
It was necessary to patrol the hallways on the first day. A commendable teacher is a vigilant one after all, as Jax had always told her. For certainly most students came with good intention to learn; but others, like she so many years ago, still had some behaviors and tendencies that needed to be adjusted. For even the ugliest seed could blossom into a rose, given the time and oppprtunity.
With the scratching of the pen across the paper in finality, the book was clasped shut, and the buckle to maintain such tightly drawn.
Smoothly as a still pond, the chair slid out from behind her desk, and the pronounced click of her plated soles alerted those nearby of her cadence. It was to both warn and intimidate, but as she opened the door, she was not met with fear, but with awe. For she finally stepped into the true sunlight, a brilliant radiance was cast over her hair as the blonde locks seemed practically alight. Bronze eyes which burned with conviction studied the faces of students to be, and then without another word she made her way down the hallway amid countless whispers.
Neatly, her hands folded just over the small of her back, and the incessant click of her walk warned lagging students to move out of her way. Like Moses to the sea, she divided them, moving casually along her way unimpeded by their social hour.
Whispers followed, and little more. Ruminations on whether or not she was a student or faculty due to her youthful appearance, but all ceased as she entered the proving grounds, and stood near the other faculty quietly. Dividing herself away from the students, yet feeling so out of place amongst her peers, she waited with due trepidation for the trials to begin.
It left her wondering, which students would show potential with Light? A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, a serene expression as how she recalled her own entry examination. She could only hope to fill Jax's shoes in a way that he would approve as he did then.
