Leith had been quiet for most of the ride back to the college. He had a lot to think about from the encounter with the people who tried to steal the box. So many things he could have done differently, or better. Maybe he could have prevented the warehouse from burning had he done something different. Leith sighed as he stared out the window. At least they got the box back.

At some point, Leith dozed off. His head snapped up when the driver called out. He rubbed the bleariness out of his eyes and the drool off his cheek, and the window. He glanced at the other occupants of the carriage, hoping that nobody saw his awakening. He gathered what he had in the carriage and hopped out after Lyn.

"Not growing old on us, are you? Leith asked with a playful smile before he winced at his own soreness. He rubbed at his sore neck before continuing. "Don't worry though, I think I'm in the same boat. Remind me not to sleep against the window like that again."

"The college is really something, huh? So, can you show me around? I'm really curious about everything."

Leith turned to the new addition to the group, Henri, and smiled.

"That it is. Where else is there such a large gathering of mages? Before you can see all of it, though, you'll have to tag along with us. You helped us on our mission, and you've got to get set up as a student. Lucky for you, you only need to see one person for both. That's not too bad, though." He nudged Lyn playfully. "You can help keep Lyn here warm." He said to tease the hybrid. "Some of the corridors can get quite drafty."

During the ride back to the college, he had noticed Lyn huddle up with the newcomer for warmth.

Alaira Taenn

Alaira crossed her arms and laughed a bit, turning her gaze toward the window she'd just tumbled through, then down to her arm. She looked over her hand for a moment, letting a few sparks dance between her fingertips. "Heh, I suppose so. Quite the rogue's gallery here." Indeed, she'd never seen such a collection of... shall we say colorful individuals. Not that she was without her own eccentricities. "So, you're a student yourself, yeah? Or just a run of the mill scholar?" Most of the students were here to master magics of course, but from what she could tell occasionally the college took in people of a more... mundane persuasion that wished to learn.

However, she soon felt a light ache in her head. She wasn't sure what, but she felt like something was... wrong, and that it involved Lyn somehow. A momentary disturbance. She shook it off. Probably nothing. "Anyway, I suppose I should take my leave soon. Got things to take care of." She said, sighing a bit wistfully.

Grey Onyx

The guard sat at his post in the bailey, stretching and yawning as he kept watch. Being a bodyguard for wizards could be a surprisingly boring job, at times. Or perhaps, it was more accurate to say that it wasn't much different than usual. Save now he worked on a salary rather than a contract. Still, he supposed quiet boredom was much easier to stomach than demonic incursions or zombie invasions. That talking axe he had had been rather quiet of late as well. He supposed Tyrfing was not immune to boredom itself, and had gone dormant. He'd tried to learn more about it, but... it was beyond the scope of his worldy experience, and he wasn't really keen on telling the rest of the staff about it. He felt like he should hang onto it, and he was worried it might be confiscated.

He idly tapped at his eyepatch. He'd considered getting a glass eye instead, but he wasn't sure if that would just make him scarier. Being intimidating was nice in combat at all, but it would also be nice to look a bit less like the villain in a children's fable to those under his protection. Perhaps he should wear brighter clothing? His musings were interrupted by the sight of a carriage coming in, branded with college insignias. Perhaps it was returning students? He'd heard there'd been a few excursions lately. He rose, waving to the gate guards to let them know he was handling it.

"Hail!" He said, waving as he approached. When students came pouring out, he was proven right. He recognized two of them, Leith and the Naga's hybrid daughter. The third one though, he wasn't so sure. He supposed it would be best to address Leith, he was hardly familiar with the other two. Especially as the other... contorts so. "Welcome home, sorry to intrude." He stated, nodding to the other two. "Is there wounded to be attended to, cargo unloaded, messages to be relayed? Or anything else I may assist you with?" He preferred to skip straight to the point, most of the time.

Leith looked over to Grey when he called out to the group and waved to the guardsman.

"Hello! You're not intruding at all."

As Grey fired off a flurry of questions, Leith chuckled.

"Feeling a bit restless, are we?" He cocked his head to the side as he thought of answers to Grey's questions.

"No wounds this time." Leith ran a hand along the scar on his cheek as he thought to his last mission. "There isn't anything too pressing to be unloaded, but there is something you can do, though. You can go let Lucilia know that we've returned from Djarkel, and that we have acquired a new student along the way." He gestured to Henri.

He looked back to the college and sighed. "It's good to be back. I know it was only a few weeks, but it's felt like years." He looked to the others. "Does anyone else get that feeling sometimes?"

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak climbed out of the carriage behind the others, a bit lethargically. Much like Lyn, he could not say that he was too fond of the cold. His body was meant for his volcanic homeland, where the very idea of a "chilly" day was a foreign concept. Apart from his helmet, he was wearing his full armor, much as he usually did when traveling.

"Yes, we do have much we need to report." Ssarak said in agreement with Leith. "But, I would not mind some time by a warm fire, personally."

Ssarak stood close beside Meirin. He felt eager to finally be able to relax within the safety of the College's walls with her. Although they had went on the same mission together, both of them were professional enough that they kept their focus on the tasks at hand, for the most part. The chances for them to spend personal time together were few and far between. However, he was not so impatient that he could not wait until they had dealt with other matters.

Lyn’s ears caught Henri’s teasing. Immediately the outer edges burned with new color, her body flipped on her right heel and turned to face the newest addition to their group. Her hands clasped themselves behind her while her head tilted. Mentally she was trying to hide the embarrassment she felt at falling asleep on the older man. She should’ve outgrown that by now, but she still did the occasional cat nap time to time. Especially on long trips.

Her tongue flickered out in thought. Then shook her head, her explanation promptly followed in its wake.

“Nope, my body temperature is much lower than yours. I’m a bit cold-blooded. Mother is much worse.”

Watching the man walk on his hands, her eyes scrunched in confusion. No one she had ever seen walked or stretched like that. Her body moved fluidly to the side while still sizing him up. When he mentioned the College, her attention shifted to where he was looking and smirked. She felt a swell of pride at the request he made of her.

“Of course!” She chirped in eagerness.

Any additional conversation was cut short when Leith popped in. His comment reminded her that Henri wasn’t quite a student yet and it had to be rectified rather quickly. Then the albino had to cause the color to flood her flesh again when he nudged her, slipping a comment about keeping her warm in the corridor. She tried to hide the horror buried under her strained expression at being humiliated in front of her crush.

“Leith, please. It’s instinct… mostly.” She mumbled the last bit.

Gratification wasn’t a big enough word of how Lyn felt toward Grey when his bellowing voice interrupted the spiraling conversation. The large, gentle giant of a man trampled across the distance fairly quickly for his size. Lyn noticed he seemed to be talking more to Leith than Henri or herself causing her to be quiet to allow the men to talk.

Lyn shook her head at Lieth’s comment, amused by it.

“Have you forgotten I was born here about a year or so back? It is the only home I’ve ever known.”

At Ssarak’s suggest of sitting by a warm, crackling fire, Lyn latched onto the idea.

“I won’t object. Could also ask the cooks for some hot broth and coco too, something to warm the insides?”

After a long and harrowing journey, Annabeth liked nothing more then to get out of her armor, take a hot bath, and go to sleep. She knew that while the college was fairly lax, Satori would have classes soon and she couldn’t just spend the week doing nothing but pampering herself. She said her farewells to the other students as she headed to her room, stripping off her armor as she went. By the time she got to her room she just dropped her equipment onto the floor and fell onto her bed, dead tired. She had a wonderful five minute nap before the smell of her own sweat stained clothes made her gag, which prompted her to find a fresh change of clothes and head to the college’s wash rooms.

At the washrooms, Annabeth doffed her clothes into a basket, leaving her clean ones in a small shelf so she could get it later. She walked into the washroom wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her chest. Using a series of runes, Annabeth was able to get water flowing through the pipes, and another rune to heat it to a nice temperature. She forgot to bring her soap, but she’d settle for a hot bath regardless. The college’s magical innovation still impressed her despite how long she’s been here. But perhaps that was just because she was reminded that the rest of the world lacked this innovation. Even her own home in Eania seemed like a backwater village compared to the college. At least the part of town she lived in.

Once the water was high enough Annabeth deactivated the water rune and took a dip. It was painful at first, but once her feet got a little wet and accustomed to the temperature, the rest of Annabeth’s body followed through. She removed the towel before it touched the water and she allowed herself to relax. For now, she’ll just forget about her troubles.



Lucilia was deep underground, underneath the college convening with the vampires of the college. These past few days have been busy, but that was nothing new. What was new however was certain breakthroughs. Thanks to Colette’s Blood Candies, the vampires have been quick to figure out how to produce such things. Even if they couldn’t halt the vampire’s blood lust completely, simply being able to enjoy mortal pleasures again made many eager to try and improve upon and produce more of the stuff.

The head vampire herself took the study very seriously, both working on improving the effect and length of the blood candies. So far, the only breakthrough they’ve made is a method to mass produce it, still trying to figure out how to quell the bloodlust as well as how this method is able to return their senses to them. This was of course also done alongside Lucilia’s other official duties, such as accounting for the college’s finances, planning her class schedules, and taking care of Ovak and Khan. Lucilia had been collaborating with other teachers to help ease the burden of their well-beings off her shoulders, though Lucilia still chides Ovak for not taking his medicine on his own initiative. These jibes are often playful, but sometimes after she leaves she’d cry, knowing that the man she respected so much was wasting away. Sometimes she was tempted to try and turn him into a vampire to save his life, but knew she couldn't. He wouldn’t want that.

And so Lucilia distracts herself with work, trying to suppress her negative feelings and focus on the wellbeing of others. She had told other teachers that she’d be busy with her projects, so if the students she had sent on the diplomacy in Djarkel return, they only need to submit their report to her office. She had made a mailbox specifically for collecting important dossiers and files. Anyone who tried to sneak into her mailbox would find a nasty surprise waiting for them. A rather…. Fragrant one.



Tyrael soon approached the group from the diplomacy mission. Though he looked…. Odd. It seemed like he had flowers growing out of his flesh. He annoyingly ripped them out occasionally, only for the flowers to keep growing. They were also quite fragrant. It would be a pleasant scent if it also wasn’t so overpowering. He looked at the group sternly, even Lyn, though should could easily recognize that he was just putting on airs. He was suppose to be the gruff, rough-around-the-edges demon teacher. Even if he was a soft teddy bear around Lyn.

”Hmph. Our guards noticed your carriage come. Lucilia has been busy with her experiments and has told us that should you arrive, drop off your report to her office. She has a mailbox now.”

Looking at Lyn, Tyrael knew that she would want a nice fire, warm food, and perhaps a bath. Remaining stone faced, Tyrael waved his hand at the students. ”Submit your report and rest. We’ve constructed additional facilities to the dining hall. They are nothing complex simple…. Quality of life improvements.” That is to say, they added a large bonfire at the end of the room where students could sit around and be warm during these cold times. Or cook their own food over the fire, if they so choose. Lucilia was especially excited to start cooking again thanks to Colette’s candies giving vampires their sense of taste back. Which was one of the reasons Lucilia had been busy.

Aramir and Darius and UIcle

Uicle looked up as the two students walked into his office. If he had had eyebrows, they would have risen at the sight of all of the blood on the two of them. "Given your appearances, I'm going to guess that you encountered troubles on the way back from Yarosmere. Recently to boot as well. Have you both been to the infirmary? Sam will have your hides if you're injured and trying to hide it from him."

Aramir shook her head. "This isn't from our trip. We actually were just in Yarosmere. Its...difficult to explain. But things are much worse than we anticipated. The king is mad with power, and the people love him. He's able to get them to commit mass suicide and genocide for him. People are taken for questioning and he rules with an iron fist. The only resistance there is small, and losing people by the day. We have to help."

Uicle glanced over at Darius. "We'll address the sudden traveling of hundreds of mile later. Do you concur with what she's saying?"

"Not everything." Darius crossed his arms and looked at the snow elf that followed him. "The king does have power. I would say he has mind magic, but the strength that he wields it with is... unnatural. He showed his hand by having his council kill themselves and banning the College from Yarosmere. I do not believe that we can do anything to help the resistance. Any help we give may incite a war with the College."

"To get to us they'd have to cross through Djarkel and that would spark a war with them. He doesn't have the strength for that. We can help. Even if its just supplying them." Aramir retorted, glaring up at the tall man. "He is right about the King's power. Its not normal. He seemed to be talking to someone else before making everyone at the dinner kill themselves. Taking orders from them, as they spoke in his head. He can be stopped though. If we help the re-"

Uicle held up a hand, forestalling anything else. "While I'm inclined to agree with Darius, going to war with a desert despot is low on the College's priority list, a full report would be helpful. Darius, you give it. Aramir, you add your two cents after he's done. Then you'll both make your states as to why we should and shouldn't get involved, and I'll bring it to Khan's attention. Fair?" Aramir nodded. He looked back at Darius. "You may begin."

Darius nodded. He relayed everything about the trip to Yarosmere. Their arrival at the palace, meeting with Yolin, the King's enforcer, and their tour of the palace. He told Uicle about the kidnapping of a few students in the middle of broad daylight, and the public execution hidden as gladiatorial combat. How the students returned beaten up to cover their involvement with the resistance. And finally the dinner with the King and the outcome with their way home made possible by the resistance.

Once he had finished, Darius turned to Aramir, and waited for her to speak her thoughts.

"He covered the high points. They're torturing and killiing any Naga they capture. Everyone we've met seems to be absolutely in love with him, except for the Resistance. That was never explained by anyone we met. And Yolin...his powers struck me as odd. He only ever showed them when the resistance showed up and then only when he touched a scar. In addition, while they were a vitamancer power he didn't use them to heal any of the guards that had been wounded." Aramir replied, eyes occasionally rolling to the sky as she remembered details.

"That is certainly bad, but not extremely concerning." Was Uicle's only comment, before he gestured to Darius again. "Now, why shouldn't we intervene in the tyrannical ruling of a desert kingdom that is openly hostile to us and actively genociding another race in their borders?"

Darius glared at Aramir for a moment before turning to Uicle. "I did not say that the resistance does not need help. I said that the college cannot help them without inciting an incident. Riovas has contacts with mercenary groups, correct? We can use them to help the resistance without getting our hands dirty."

He turned back to Aramir. "Yarosmere is not able to march against the College as an army, yes, but they can send individuals to the College as students to do damage from within. There are many ways to go to war, and armies are only one of them. Yarosmere was my home. I will do what I can to help it become better. But, some things have changed for the better from this revolution, have they not?"

"An incident is already incited." Aramir hissed at him before Uicle could gesture for her to go. A year ago she would have backed down from this, this infighting. Not anymore. Giving into fighting was bad, but standing aside in timidity while people made callous choices wasn't better. "They actively threatened us and banned the College students. They're murdering people in the streets. They make a game out of executions. As for your worries about about spies, first they have to be mages to even be admitted as students-"

"Are you saying that they will not send mages here? Even if they do not send mages, there are other ways they can enter the College. Hard labour, deliveries, shall I go on? I have fought many battles, girl, and while you may not see it, this mission has turned into a battle that may decide the fate of Yarosmere." Darius glared at Aramir as if daring her to deny his claims.

"Uicle's golems, Lucilia's companies, groups hired in Djarkel itself, Inferno below Tyrael's demons if we have to." Aramir snapped. "If they're going to attack us, they will do so anyways. You saw what he did. He had an entire room kill themselves just to show that he could. We need to support the only organization in that entire country that's fighting against them. Give them a chance to force him to focus resources to stopping them, rather than slowly picking them off one by one until they can't even fight anymore. We have the resources to help them, and they have the transportation to make that quick. Mercenaries, equipment, food, whatever. We have the resources to do that. We'll be on alert for any counter attacks. we have to be now. It's either we do this, or we let him continue as he is and, how morally wrong that is aside, it'll just open us up for an attack."

Why couldn't he see that. She wasn't a soldier, but she knew how to guard against attacks and aid other tribes. It was no different than dealing with a pack of dire hounds.

"The College is neutral. We cannot give out food and resources to the resistance, that would show favoritism. We would have both Djarkel and Eania at our gates if even a rumor got out that we were helping the resistance. If Yarosmere were to attack the College fully, that would mean that either Djarkel has fallen to them, or that they have been swayed to the side of Yarosmere. In either scenario, we lose. Even if you are willing to toss aside our neutral standings, are you willing to toss the lives of the students that do not wish to see battle into this? Will you force them into something like the demon attack again?"

Darius crouched down to meet Aramir's gaze. "You do not listen, I wish to help secure Yarosmere's foundation whatever that may be, but we need to proceed with caution. Any action we make here will get people killed. Are you willing to rush into this and kill thousands?"

Aramir stared at him for a moment, eyes wide. Was he really suggesting that her route was the one going to get thousands killed? To get students killed? Like in the demon attack? She'd die before she let that happen. Not again. Her eyes clouded with rage and her fists clenched. "Fuck. You." She snarled at him. "We stopped being neutral when the King decided that we were his enemies. Your 'caution' is just doing nothing while he gains power and kills more people. If we can't send aid in the form of resources we certainly can't send aid in the form of mercenaries. And if we can't even make Eania and Djarkel see that holding college students hostage and threatening to kill them as a violation of our neutrality rules, nothing will make them see that and they'll be at our doors any day now. If we do not send help now, while the King is still consolidating his strength, we will never be able to help them and anyone we can help will be long dead. But you don't care about that. Gods forbid we do something like that, right? Gods for-"

"That's enough." Uicle cut in, his voice sharp. Aramir stopped. In her anger, she hadn't noticed the blue flames gathering around her fists and how close she had gotten to the Yarosmerian. Slowly, she let out a breath, the flames dissipating as her hands unclenched.

"I can see you both feel strongly about this." Uicle said dryly, looking between the two. "I'll take your points to Khan, and the College will go from there. Go get new clothes, something to eat, and perhaps a nap. If you really insist you can even continue this conversation, but if either of you started a fight with the other over it I'll have you both strung up by your toes outside the college gates."

Darius looked up at Uicle from his crouch and then back at Aramir. Something he said had struck a nerve. Something that cut deeply. He was going to let her work whatever anger she had out before respoding, but Uicle had cut it short. Well enough, It meant that he ddidn't have to get burned. He straightened up, nodded to Uicle, and left the room. He leaned against the wall and waited for Aramir to leave. Once she had, Darius spoke up.

"You are far too emotional to make decisions that will cost lives. Once your mind is clearer, think on the decisions you would have made right now and go through every scenerio that can arise from it " Motes of air started popping and snapping around him and Aramir.

"But If you ever say that I do not care about Yarosmere again. I will do everything in my power to make this place the Pit for you." Darius growled at the Snow Elf. He had used his magic to make it so that only Aramir would be the one to hear the last part. With that said, Darius stalked off to the courtyards. He had an axe to familiarize himself with.

"And you are far to clinical to make decisions that affect lives." Aramir called at his retreating back. Caring for a country and caring for its people were two different things. And they were on either side of it. She had to chuckle dryly at his threat. As if she hadn't already been through it. "Just try it." She muttered, walking away herself. She needed to clean herself off, check her bow. Calm the fire that she could feel on the edge of her fingertips.

"I can take the heat."

Truth be told, Henri was rather surprised with the 'interesting' group that he met on the college. That would be quite an interesting place to study. Sure, he had his own preoccupations about many things, including his own powers and capacities, but none of them were related to the other students or teachers, at least not for now...

He laughed a bit as he watched Lyn's reaction to his unique 'stretching'. He was really interested in the petite girl. Especially after she explained him that her body temperature was lower than his.

"Oh, really? Well! If you ever need some heat, don't hesitate to ask me..." Henri said with a provocative wink. Lyn was really interesting, her reactions were incredibly varied, Henri was having quite a bit of fun in provoking her and overall just watching her reactions. It wasn't really hard to realize that, as Henri himself made no effort to hide his interest on the girl.

"That it is. Where else is there such a large gathering of mages? Before you can see all of it, though, you'll have to tag along with us. You helped us on our mission, and you've got to get set up as a student. Lucky for you, you only need to see one person for both. That's not too bad, though." Henri heard a particularly tall, and quite... unique looking man speak.

"Oh my... You almost fooled me, my little kitten! But the mumbling betray your intentions!" Henri said, laughing as he heard Lyn protesting after what the tall albino man said.

"That is quite fortunate! Although I can't say I know anything about the college, so I am at your care." Henri said, with a mischievous smile on his face, especially after he heard the tall man's jest, whom Lyn called 'Leith', towards Lyn.

"Oh, don't worry... You need but to call me, and I'll be at your disposal." Henri replied with a bow and a mischievous expression, laughing as he looked towards Leith and Lyn.

As the tall man turned to talk with one of the guards, Henri took a bit of time to look around the group once more. It was indubitably quite an unique group. Even though he didn't know much about any one there, he was certainly interested in some of them... Sure, Henri was naturally more... eh... lets say... 'talkative' towards women (In his defense though, it was part of his work, so being like that was natural to him. His body wasn't the only thing that he trained all his life... His tongue was as sharp as his daggers...), but he was also interested in some of the men. The tall, albino man seemed to be quite... interesting. Not only just due to his appearance, but his sense of humour seemed to be somewhat... similar to Henri's, he wondered if...

“Have you forgotten I was born here about a year or so back? It is the only home I’ve ever known.” Henri heard Lyn's voice. That statement caught him completely off guard... And that wasn't an easy thing to do. With his eyes wide open, he looked at Lyn, then towards Leith and the rest of the group, almost like if he was looking for an answer on their eyes.

After an awkward silence, Henri spoke again, still a bit shaken by Lyn's statement. He wanted to ask about that, but Henri wasn't comfortable about talking about something like that right now. After all, that statement had left Henri, the guy who was proud of his sharp tongue, speechless... Immediately changing his expression to try to hide his surprise, he choose to avoid that matter for now.

"I have to agree... I am still rather tired and hungry..." Henri said, obviously referring to the trip he made before meeting with them. It obviously wasn't a good idea to travel without enough supplies.

"Oh, talking about that... I'm quite grateful for bringing me here, and not just abandoning me there after I passed out." he said with a laugh, without caring much about what happened, or about what 'could' have happened. It wasn't really clear if Henri was overconfident in his skills, his 'luck' or if he really didn't think much about risky situations...

"While we eat something, we could introduce ourselves properly, couldn't we? I must say that I'm quite interested about some of you..." He said, with a mischievous expression.

Leith smiled as Lyn turned scarlet due to his teasing. Success! Henri joined in on the teasing, with a bit of flirting, which made Leith chuckle. He was pretty sure that Lyn hadn't been flirted with much. There may have been some attempts made by some of the delivery people, but Althalus had always been quick to dissuade them. More than once, Leith had seen some of the workers in a hurry to finish their job with a haunted look on their faces after said attempts. It would definitely be amusing to see how Althalus react to Henri. Especially since it seemed that Lyn had become taken with him.

He did catch Henri's look of surprise at Lyn's reveal of her age, but he was quick conceal his surprise and look. He smiled at Lyn's comment.

"And how could I ever forget that, hmmm? A Naga-human child is kinda hard to forget. Not to mention that I put a lot of thought into that gift I gave you when you were this high." Leith held his hand out to his hip to indicate Lyn's height at the time.

At the arrival of Tyrael, Leith had to stifle a laugh. The Demonmancer was covered in some sort of flowers that gave off a powerful aroma. Luckily, the flowers smelled strong enough to hid the giggles under the guise of covering his nose. He listened to the instructions from the teacher and nodded. He turned to Ssarak.

"It seems that you'll get to be near that fire sooner than we thought. I can go drop off the report and the letter and you can all go relax." He smiled at Ssarak. "And maybe be able to spend time as the happy couple that people have been talking about"

With that said, Leith gathered what was needed, and made his way towards the college entrance. Waving to the group as he left. He walked the corridors for a few minutes until he was halfway to Lucilia's office before leaning against the wall and sliding down until he was sitting.

For only so long could he keep up the smiles. The mission had partially been a disaster. They ended up burning down a warehouse, he had used too much magic and had blood sickness. He couldn't follow Ssarak's order and keep Lyn safe. So much went wrong and he felt that he was at fault for a lot of it. So for a few minutes, Leith sat against the wall and let the cold of the stone seep into him.

Grey Onyx

A small smile played across Grey's face for a moment. That was rather good news, especially after the disaster his prior mission had been. Well, mostly. He turned his gaze to... Well, the young man currently doing a handstand for... reasons? He tried to get a read of him, but apart from his odd choice in exercises there wasn't a lot of red flags going up. "A bit bored out of my skull, yes. That said, that's good to hear." He said with a short bow, noting that Ssarak and Meirin were apparently here as well.

"Uneventful, I take it? I don't suppose one of you have written a report?" He sincerely hoped that one of them had. When students returned from missions without writing a report, he'd have to sit down with them and hear an account of the whole thing, and then write a report himself. It was... frustrating, to say the least. Still, protocol was protocol. And it had made him a bit better at writing.

He smelled Tyrael before he saw him, a rather... pleasant aroma. He'd recognized it as belonging to something Lady Riovas was working on, which meant that it would be something rather unpleasant. And as he turned around and was greeted by the terrifying visage of the demonomancy instructor with plant life bursting from his flesh, he was understandably slightly shocked. "Ack, Tyrael... You're... okay, right?" He said, grimacing. Of course he'd be fine, if one could treat... that happening to them as a minor inconvenience, they were clearly rather tough.

"Er, anyway..." he said, shivering as he regained his composure. He put on the most authoritative voice he could muster, and spoke. "Before we get ahead of ourselves with talk of dinner I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." He said, gesturing to the potential student. Realizing that he may have sounded a bit too intimidating, he quickly added: "We just need to take care of the paperwork to get you properly registered. Normally you'd meet with Lady Riovas, but she is no doubt indisposed at this moment. I, however, am capable of processing you on my own." He explained. He held his hand out. "The name's Grey. May I ask yours?"

Danica Ruzicka

A pair of deer bounded through the snowy forest, seeking to flee a predator the likes they'd never encountered. It had been upon them ever since it had found them returning to their den, and had chased them all throughout the night. It bounded behind them, never too far but never too close, claws like knives reflecting the moonlight as it tore through the trees. One of the deer collapsed, unable to run any longer. Its fate was predictable, the predator pouncing atop it and dismembering it quite messily. It howled in a mighty rage, tearing off the fallen creature's head and hefting it in one claw as it stood upright, a sick parody of man.

The other deer had kept running, until the sight of a disembodied head sailing into the snow in front of it spooked it, causing it to trip and stumble. The last thing it felt were the dagger claws sinking into its skull, and the last thing it saw was the beast towering over it.

Meat.

The feeling of claws tearing into warm flesh, steam rising in the winter night air.

Blood.

The taste of still warm-blood oozing over the tongue, the scent of it as it rolled down the chin.

Bone.

The sound of bones cracking between razor teeth, robbed of their marrow.

As it tired, it looked down, shaking, and regarded its soft, feminine hands, stained with blood. A lock of silver hair fell before her face as she looked over the carcass, shaking as she pulled her mask over her mouth. The woman sighed as she rose, her gloves were gone so she had to hide her now quite bare forearms within her cloak for warmth. "A-again..." She muttered quietly as she looked to the stars, slowly walking away and leaving the carcasses to the scavengers. These... blackouts were happening more frequently. Initially, she'd been skeptical of learning to control her magics, but it was only a matter of time before it wasn't just two random animal corpses she was standing over when she woke.

It was to that end that she'd begun her journey to the Twilight college. Initially, she'd dismissed the notion. They willingly cavorted with demons, they were heretics at the absolute best... but, she was getting desperate, and the teachings of the Lady of Sunlight decreed it a grave sin to disrespect the rules of another household... While it only provided metaphorical warmth, she muttered verse to herself as she walked... With where she was, it was a long way to go.

That all was a week ago, in the present day Danica stumbled forth, robe pulled tightly around herself as she struggled to maintain consciousness. That deer had been the last thing she'd eaten, and she had barely slept. It was a wonder the cold hadn't finished her off. Still, as she reached the limits of her own power she collapsed before the main gate of the college, not even ten paces from her goal. Of course, it was far enough away from the gathering near the carriage that they may not notice immediately, unless one was particularly sharp-eyed.

Lyn, College

Lyn had completely missed Henri’s surprise in her comment, her attention fully on Leith. It was likely for the best or she might’ve thought she said something wrong. Due to the nature of her situation, the woman had been completely isolated from certain facts that her childhood wasn’t normal.

She let a small chuckle escape her lips when Leith brought up the gift he gave her. Gingerly her hands reached into the pouch and shoving Tyrael’s stone aside, pulled out the small rune.

“I’m very happy you did. Do you know how hard it was to not say over half of what I wanted at that age? It was even harder not to mentally speak using only this. I mean, it’s a lot easier and you get so much more information out in one reply then when you have to take a breath.”

Before Lyn could reply to Henri’s last statement, her ears caught someone approaching them.

Lyn’s eyes popped wide open when she spotted her godfather. His usually twisted, the grey mass was broken by several flowers growing on the surface. They shattered the usually dull pattern with their bright petals in full bloom as Tyrael occasionally ripped them out, crushing the delicate plants in his fists briefly. If she didn’t know better, she suspected he had been snooping somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.

After the surprise wore off when Tyrale replied, Leith offered to take the written report to Lucilia. An unsettling sensation nudged at the youth that something off. However, she couldn’t fully accept what it was. Unable to place it, she remained quiet about it and nodded her head in agreement. Though she couldn’t hide the blushing that followed Leith’s last statement, unsure if he was talking about Ssarak and Mei or Henri and her.

Still smiling at her godfather’s keen instincts, she was relieved to be able to do what Henri originally suggested without interruption. A thought then crossed her mind. As Grey addressed Henri, she stepped into the strong scent zone. It didn’t bother her badly since her tongue was her main scent organ and her nostrils for breathing, making it easier to tolerate the air.

“Professor, sir,” she began playing along with his image, “Do you know if mother has returned or not?”

Althalus

He whistled softly to himself, making his way through the college. He didn't remember much after getting to the center room. Cursing and fighting. Sudden surprise and fear. Then he woke up, the teacher summoning him back and demanding to know what had happened. He didn't know, much to the frustration of both of them, and they all loaded up and went back to the college. The mission, as crazy as it had been, was mostly complete. He cleaned himself off upon returning, and checked how Mar's and Lyn's missions had gone. Not well. Mar barely escaped with her life from a mad king that would have all to happily gutted her alive, and Lyn nearly killed herself by jumping from a building she was in no position to reach across. He couldn't find either of them, Mar he believed was hiding herself to recoup and balance. Hopefully not repress as well. Lyn, well, he'd find Lyn in one of her hidey holes sooner or later. She had to know he had found out about her stupid risk, and wanted to avoid his rebuke.

For now, he was looking for Helena, as the girl had asked him (repeatedly) to train her how to be better at fighting than she currently was. With nothing better to do, and the strong feeling that no matter how many times he told her no she'd keep bothering him to do so, Althalus was looking for her and one other person to help. He smiled. This was going be fun. Not for Helena, of course, but he was going to thoroughly enjoy himself. Alaira was an enthusiastic trainer, more than enough to get Helena started on her training she was so eager to start. Who knows? If he was lucky enough she'd give up on the whole endeavor and leave him alone. Having someone from Port Slaughter be so interested in him was dangerous. Not that she'd ever figure it out, but still. He didn't need someone like that around Lyn.

Althalus rounded the corner, catching Alaria's final words, his grin growing broader. "Ah! The two women I was looking for. Alaira, I see you've met Helga already. She's asked me to train her on how not to be utterly terrible at fighting with knives. For the sake of that, I was looking to recruit you to help out. Would you mind too terribly to go with us to the training yard? Can't whatever you've got to do today wait a little longer?" He gave his best winning smile, looking up at the tall elf.

@Freeshooter92 @May

Lucilia soon returned towards her office carrying a small basket of blood candies. This was one of the more recently successful batches that Lucilia was going to box and send out as gifts to her allies in Djarkel and Eania, hopefully this might make some of the more independent covens more interested in collaborating with the college in the future. Speaking of diplomatic missions, she noticed Leith sitting outside of her office. Last she remembered she had sent him on a mission into Djarkel to speak to some of the college's allies. She hoped that everything turned out well for them, though Leith seemed sad. He was slumped against the wall like he had just hurt a friend's feeling. Not wanting to sour his mood, Lucilia crept over and playfully poked his cheek with a flower. "Boop. Hello Leith. Why so glum?"

@Konan375



"Oh?

Henri would feel a burning sensation in his back as Tyrael glared at him. The flowers that were on his body began to wilt as his temperature rose, a good sign that Tyrael was about to activate his magic. His arms grew bigger and his fingers extended into sharp bladed claws as the demonomancy teacher her the newcomer flirt with Lyn. "What is this? An intruder in the college? We cannot allow that." Tyrael's black eyes looked into Henri's soul to mark him for death, or at least that's how it felt. For the most part Tyrael just looked like he was about to tear someone apart, partly out of intimidation, mostly because he really was and was only holding back because of the flowers that were now actively constricting his body.

Of course Tyrael had to calm down at some point, which was when Grey addressed him. Tyrael's claws turned back into hands, though his notably bulkier arms remained. "Hmph. I am fine. Just Lucilia's magic trying to ward off demons again." Grey seemed to have Henri handled for now, allowing Tyrael to focus his attention back to Lyn. Though he still looked like he was on the verge of mayhem, his expression soften (subtly) as he looked to Lyn. "I do not, miss Lyn. I have actually come to see if she has arrived, but I believe she has. Her team came sometime ago and she was not reported missing. I am certain that your mother is just resting. For now let us go and rest as well. Professor's orders. Later we may bring your mother something fresh to eat." In Lyn's company Tyrael relaxed, his arms returning back to normal as he turned to guide the students to the dinning hall. Normally they'd have to walk on the sidewalks, but it was faster going through the snow. For those who didn't want to get their feet wet, Tyrael would make a path as he walked through the snow, melting a path thanks to the heat radiating from his body. The flowers remained wilted, yet still showed stubborn signs of life.

@Fallenreaper@13org@EliteCommander@Freeshooter92

Leith flinched when he was poked with a flower. His head jerked to the side as he searched, wide eyed, for whoever had done that. He didn't have to look that long as the person who had poked him was standing beside him. It was Lucilia. Leith chuckled at his reaction and pulled himself to his feet. He must have been sitting longer than he had thought. Oh well, it allowed him to give Lucilia the letter and the report.

His face fell for a second as Lucilia asked what was wrong, but he changed it to a small smile. "Oh, it's nothing really," He waved his hand dismissively. "Just de-stressing from the mission. Oh! It was a success, I think we made a good impression with Lord Carmine. He gave us a journal with information on the other Barons of Djarkel." Leith handed both the book and the letter to Lucilia.

"Baron Praxis received his gift and gave us this letter to return to you. There was an attempt made to steal the box that we stopped, but one of the people that were hired to do it burst into flames due to a rune. It burned down the warehouse we faced them in." Leith finished and handed the report to Lucilia.

"There are more details in the report, but that is the gist of it."

Leith looked back at spot on the floor where he had been sitting and sighed. "I wasn't expecting a fight for my life during a diplomacy mission, and I guess it kinda weighed on me." He looked back at Lucilia as he told her his half-truth. He smiled widely as a thought occurred to him.

"Tyrael approached us to tell us that you were busy. He was covered in these flowers that just wouldn't stop growing. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you? I won't tell. I promise" Leith smiled conspiratorially and crossed his heart with his right hand. He frowned for a second as he realized which hand he had used, but he was quick to return to smiling.

Helena smiled at her, her expression someone sarcastic before she even spoke. “Nah, I’m just wandering around here for no reason,” she said teasingly. “Just like taking in the views.” But before she could answer ‘truthfully’ they were interrupted. By someone she wasn’t expecting to come seek her out at any time soon. Or ever. Especially ever.

“Helga?” she asked with indignation as he purposely missaid her name. It was one thing to be called Helen, but it was another altogether for him to so mangle her name like that. “It’s Helena. It isn’t hard to remember, Athauls.” She sighed, rolling her eyes, hating that he’d gotten to her so simply. Sometimes, she really wished her father hadn’t been so insistent on that a.

“Training? With her?” she pressed, looking a little surprised by the suggestion. Not that she had issue with it, it just felt...like not the way she was expecting him to ever give in to that. Oh, he’s trying to make it miserable for me then, she thought. I’ll show him I don’t break that easily. “I’ve got nothing else going on, so why not?”

---

Annabeth took a small wooden jar into her hand and took out a small scoop of the lotion inside of it. Soap made by the college, a luxury outside of these walls. Many highborn families in Eania would pay top dollar just to have something like this, let alone the wonderful heated baths the colleges have for their students. They were surely expensive, as well as complex to make. And oh so enjoyable.

As Annabeth lathered her hair with the soap she did wonder if the College was making her soft. She reflected on her performance at her previous mission and wondered if maybe she had been spending too much time socializing and chatting with her friends, and not enough in training. Sure she keeps up well with Satori’s classes, but Annabeth hasn’t been training her body in a while. Her sword arm was weak, and her skills with her weapons felt mediocre. As these thoughts filled Annabeth’s mind she sunk lower into the water until only her nose and above was over the water’s edge.

Humming to herself, Colette walked into the bath house. She had some of her bathing supplies gathered in her arms. Instead of wearing clothes to the baths like she usually did, all she had adorned her body was a silk black robe that reached mid thigh. She walked into the hot spring area, not noticing Annabeth’s presence.

”Every day’s the same, She fight to find her way. She hurts, she breaks, she hides and tries to pray. She wonders why does anyone ever hear her when she cries.”She sung. She placed her supplies on the edge of the water and stripped her body of her robe.

Her body was flawless, well almost flawless. On her back was that single burn mark that reached from her shoulder to her middle back. Not many people knew about this scar, perhaps not even Keri. Colette reached up, releasing the silk bow that held her hair up. Waves of Darkness fell from the air, cascading down her back covering the scar. She got into the water and sat down.

Annabeth opened her eyes when she spotted someone through the steam. From the singing it seemed like it was Colette. Annabeth debates going to see her; while the Eania girl loved to be in Colette’s company, Annabeth worried that perhaps it was because she spends so much time playing around with her and Keri that Annabeth’s sword skills have been dulling. Yet even if that was the case, Annabeth didn’t want to ignite her beloved friends.

Slowly Annabeth snuck over, quietly moving through the water while hiking her hair down. When Annabeth was close enough, she squirted some water through her hands at Colette’s chest. ”Peek-a-boo!”

Colette jumped and quick spun her head to face her friend. She giggled and splashed her lightly. ”Hey Annabeth” She gave a smile before frowning. She could tell something was troubling her best friend, and Colette didn’t like it.

”Hey Annabeth, is something wrong?” She asked.

Ducking underneaththe splash Annabeth rose up and laughed, sending small waves of water at Colette. As she settled down next to her vampire friend, Colette was able to pick up on Annabeth’s concerns. Annabeth supposed that she shouldn’t be surprised; she and Colette were very close now, and understood each other well. [color=a187be]”oh I was just thinking about our last mission. I think I need more training.”[/colo] Annabeth leaned her head against Colette and closed her eyes. ”I’ll always enjoy my time with you Colette. But I need to refine my skills too. My magic, and my swordsmanship.”

Colette listened to her best friend words and each word tightened around her undead heart. Colette had a feeling that this would happen at point. She made her her hands into fist, her small, sharp claws digging into her skin. She continued to let Annabeth speak. When she finally stopped, Colette finally spoke, her voice soft and low.

”I understand Annabeth, you don’t need to explain more. You came to this college for a reason correct? I wouldn’t want to be the cause of you falling behind. I will always enjoy our time too Annabeth.” Self hate began to fill her mind. It was because of Annabeth and several others she met at the college that she was able to become stronger, finally not alone anymore, but because of that, she hindered Annabeth in a way. Swallowing her emotion, she shown a smile that she hadn’t shown for a long time. A fake, but extremely looking smile.she used this smile to hide all the her negative emotions.

[color]”Our last mission was pretty scary huh? I didn’t expect to make it out of the Nox.”[/color] She said.

Through her eyes was closed Annabeth didn’t need to look to know that Colette was putting on a fake smile. She could hear the heartbreak in her friends voice. So Annabeth leaned up and kissed Colette on the cheek before moving to sit in front of Colette, settling her hips down onto Colette’s legs. Annabeth seemed stern. ”It was. It was so scary. I was worried I wasn’t going to be strong enough to protect you. And you know… You could use some improvement too.”

Annabeth raises her hands up the side of Colette’s arms until the vampire’s cheeks were in Annabeth’s hands. ”I think we both need some training, don’t you agree? I’m sure there’s someone here at the college who could teach the both of us how to handle a sword, and we’ll both have to work harder to hone our magic too. This way, next time we find danger, we’ll be ready for it. How… Does that sound?”

Colette listened to what she was saying, all she could was nod, not trusting her voice. She knew Annabeth wouldn’t be fooled by her fake mask. They truly knew each other really well. Her undead heart still stinging. It was the moment that she realized something extremely important. She loved Annabeth. She loved Keri and Annabeth. She wasn’t as shocked as she thought she would be at this. Perhaps these feelings were always in the back of her mind. She leaned into Annabeth.

”It sounds perfect, I just don’t want to be kept away from you. Clingy as I may sound, you were the first person to ever understand me, give me what I needed most in my life and I don’t think I could ever let go of that. I need you Annabeth.” She said, her voice still low.

Annabeth just smiled as she leaned into Colette and touched their foreheads together. There was no words that needed to be said between these two women. Annabeth kisses Colette again, on the lips before washing her neck and hugging Colette close. ”Hungry?” Unlike many others, Annabeth had little fear from letting vampir a drink her blood. She lets Keri and Colette do it all the time. Underhaven often had blood to slate the thirsts of vampires but nothing could beat fresh blood.

Her fangs see,ed to thum at her words. Of all bloods she had drank in her life, nothing could beat the feeling Annabeth’s blood brought to her. She allowed her small claws trace the flesh that made Annabeth’s neck. ”Yes I am” She said. Her head leaned down and nuzzled her neck, her fangs teasing the flesh a tiny bit. ”Can I Annabeth?”

Giggling, Annabeth held Colette close in her arms. ”Of course. Enjoy~” Annabeth exposes her neck to Colette and readied herself. This wouldn’t be the first time she and Colette did it in the baths, and Annabeth was so used to it now that the feeding itself didn't hurt. Mostly just a slight prick of pain, followed by a bit of weariness, but never so much that Annabeth couldn’t function afterwards.

No other words were spoken. Colette clung to Annabeth and her fangs dig into her flesh. Colette didn’t bother to stop the moan that escaped her mouth as Annabeth’s blood touched her taste buds. Her eyes drifted closed as she gave a few light sucks, her tongue drifting over the area to coax more blood out. She shivered when she felt Anna Beth's had drift

———

Colette panted as she snuggled into her best friend, her body humming with happiness and warmth. She looked up at her and kissed her again. ”That felt amazing Annabeth.” She said, her voice full of bliss.

A soft laughed escaped Annabeth’s mouth as she squeezed Colette’s cheeks and returned her affections. Soon however Annabeth stood up and wiped herself down. ”That was nice, but we should get out of the bath Colette. Too much hot water won’t be good for me.” Annabeth could already feel herself get a little light headed thanks to the blood sucking and other activities, plus she’s been here for a while anyways. Blowing Colette a kiss Annabeth went to go put her clothes on. They were fairly plain but warm wool garments, such as heavy trousers, a thick sweater, boots that could stomp through the snow, and a large furred cloak. She waited for Colette in case she wanted some company.

Colette got out and wrapped her long, black hair in a fluffy towel, exposing her back and scar once again. She used another towel to dry her body before dressing in her robe again.

”If you don’t have anywhere to go, perhaps you can come to my room for a little while.”

Annabeth smirked and poked Colette’s cheek. ”For a round two? Sounds like fun. Lead the way, love.” Annabeth wrapped her cloak around Colette and walked with her to her room. Good thing too since the wind picked up and made things rather chilly. Even though Colette could probably ignore the effects of cold weather, Annabeth still wanted to provide her friend ample protection from the chill.

She smiled and snuggled into her as they walked. Sure, she couldn't feel much of the windy chill, but she loved the cloak around her. To smelt like Annabeth. She decided to wait to tell her feelings for Annabeth, but when the time was right.

Henri was still confused about Lyn's previous statement. Leith was also talking about that, so it obviously wasn't just a joke... He did spoke about a Naga-human child... Henri himself didn't know much about nagas... But that would explain why Lyn had 'cold blood'. But the matter about her age was still one thing that was on Henri's head. If she was only one year old... Did that mean that Nagas had a shorter lifespan? Or that Nagas merely entered the 'adult' phase of their lives earlier than other races?

Thinking about other things, Leith did indeed seem to be the type of person that Henri would get along very well. Henri could see the enjoyment on his face when Lyn blushed after Leith teased her. His last statement left him rather curious though... By couple, was he talking about him and Lyn or someone else? It would be really fun to provoke Lyn with that...

Absorbed in his own thoughts, Henri didn't noticed the towering, giant mass of demonic, twisted muscles and flesh who arrived a few minutes earlier.
When Henri finally saw the man he was unintentionally ignoring until now, he immediately jumped back in a combat position, looking at the demonic being with piercing eyes, watching every movement he made. Strangely enough, he seemed to be the only one worried about his presence, but Henri simply couldn't trust him... especially the way he was looking at him.

"What is this? An intruder in the college? We cannot allow that." the demonic mass of muscles said, his arms growing bigger and his fingers extending in bladed claws, immediately making Henri step back and look at Tyrael again with piercing eyes, watching every movement he made. The tension between them was almost palpable. Certainly it was a bitter first encounter. If that demon really attacked Henri, he would have a bad time. He didn't know anything about his opponent, if even one of his attacks hit him, it would certainly be devastating. Maybe even lethal. But Henri was certain he could outmaneuver him with his agility. Inflicting damage though... was entirely another thing...

"Mon Dieu... If I really was an intruder, don't you think I wouldn't be walking around without a care in the world?" Henri said, almost hissing.

"Franchement... Is not being able to think a side effect from your powers? I'm a potential student, not an intruder..." Henri continued, positioning himself so he could dodge if the man attacked him. The air was really heavy between them, and Henri's mocking tone didn't help one bit...

As he intently stared at the demonic figure from his head from his toes, evaluating the situation, he heard the guard, who was talking to Leith addressing the demonic figure.

"Ack, Tyrael... You're... okay, right?" Henri heard the man saying.

After the guard spoke with him, Tyrael apparently calmed down. The flowers growing on his skin were somehow repressing his power, as they obviously grew and started to constrict him after his arms became bigger. Tyrael's next words would confirm what Henri thought.

Soon after that, Lyn addressed Tyrael. The term she used surprised Henri. She called him 'professor'. That surprised Henri quite a bit...
If he was really a professor on the college, Henri would have to deal with him, whether he liked it or not. But apparently, it wouldn't be that easy... Their first encounter was being rather rough. And after that, Henri certainly wouldn't trust him, and he would certainly always walk around with his knives...

As Tyrael turned to talk with Lyn, Henri walked away from the man, putting the guard between him and Tyrael, that way, he could speak with him while still keeping an eye on Tyrael. As the man spoke with Lyn, he became 'normal' again, or as normal as he could get... His arms went back to normal, along with the claws.

"We just need to take care of the paperwork to get you properly registered. Normally you'd meet with Lady Riovas, but she is no doubt indisposed at this moment. I, however, am capable of processing you on my own." the guard explained, before introducing himself.

"Name's Henri Larue. Pleased to meet you, Grey." Henri said, bowing the same way artists do after their presentations and holding his hand in a firm handshake after that.

"As long as you take me away from him, I'm fine. It's hard to think about other things when you're constantly thinking about how to fight against such thing without being sliced or mangled to death." Henri said, extremely uncomfortable with Tyrael's presence.

"Are all teachers here like him? It will be interesting having to watch his class with a dagger on my hand..." Henri said, irritated, but ready to follow Grey inside.

@Fallenreaper @Freeshooter92 @Lucius Cypher @EliteCommander

Grey Onyx

Grey grimaced. He was far too used to Tyrael hurling death threats around to be too surprised, but all the same. "Lord Tyrael, he is not a threat..." he stated with an even, albeit exasperated tone as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course,
he also recognized that he might just be putting on a show. He was dramatic like that. "For Gaurot's sake, there's only a one-in-fifteen chance he'll be one of your students, you can save the tough act." And then he heard Henri speak. With possibly the worst choice of words he could have managed.

He moved himself between the two of them and looked over his shoulder toward Tyrael. His gaze was pleading, as if to say 'please let me handle him.' Thankfully, it seemed like Tyrael would be leaving without flaying the poor boy. He sighed, turning back to the boy. "I am going to speak plainly. That 'Thing' is the demonomancy instructor, and you will show him the proper respect he deserves." He stated, keeping a strong grip on the boy. "And while none of the other instructors... hell, no one else on Tiien is like him, you can't just go around casually insulting people that can kill you with a thought. Less than that, actually." He let go, taking a step back and cracking his neck. "Look... I'm sure you're a good kid. I just don't wanna see anyone get hurt because they can't keep their mouth shut. Alright?" He said, his tone much softer. He turned to head inside, beckoning him to follow.

Alaira Taenn

Alaira smirked, folding her arms. "Heh, cute." she said, looking over her shoulder. She seemed just a little surprised to see him, not something that was easily picked up on. Just the slightest tensing as she looked off to the side. She was quiet as he spoke, hiding her mouth behind her hand. She tensed again when Helena seemed to agree, albeit much less subtly this time.

"I... that's- No, it's really important." She said, looking increasingly uncomfortable. While Helena had just met her and didn't know a whole lot about her personality or mannerisms, Athalus would know that Alaira would not show weakness like that easily, nor would she pass on an opportunity to beat someone else and talk about weapons at the same time. So either someone had apparently decided to impersonate her, or she was really worried about something. "Look, I gotta go... I'll teach you how to use a proper weapon later." She said, apparently not so distressed as to completely forget her utter disdain for knives.

She smiled weakly and gave a short wave as she turned and marched down the hallway at a brisk pace. She didn't really give them an opportunity to follow, as the moment she rounded a corner she bounded through the halls with the assistance of her Aeromancy. She sat against a wall once she was far enough, sighing as she looked down to her arm, wrapped in the bandages. She'd thought she didn't care about the scars. Thought it didn't matter how ugly she was. And the person she was a few years ago certainly thought so. But if that was still the case, why did she wear the bandages? Why did she hide it? These scars weren't like the ones she had before. Those were proud scars. But these... These were a mark of failure.

She was too stubborn to admit it, but her time here had changed her. Before she hardly thought about anything. She just mindlessly stumbled across the land from town to town in whatever direction the next fight was in. She hadn't cared before. She hadn't cared about anyone else, and least of all herself. So what if she fell? There was nobody for her to fight for, and nobody would mourn her, for she was just an engine of violence. Now though, there were others in her life. People she cared about, and people that were around to call her out on her faults. The reason she hated that Eysire, Ssarak so much was that he was often right about her. She simply threw herself at whatever problem in her way with little thought, and never took responsibility for her failures.

She would have brushed him off before, she wouldn't listen. But now... it mattered what other people thought of her now. Thug, brute, monster. All of those words were just white noise before, but now they hurt. Because they were right, or at least she thought so. Who would want someone like her? Someone as ugly on the inside as they were on the outside. She'd tried to just suffer quietly, foolish pride forbidding her from speaking to anyone, seeking help. After all, for all her newfound perspective she was still herself. She still feared the appearance of weakness. But... it hadn't worked out.

She sighed and rose, shaking as she reached for the door to the office of the Vitamancy instructor. She knocked three times, though she opened the door a crack anyway. "Uhm, L-lidda? Are you here?" She asked with uncharacteristic meekness. "It's, er, Alaira. One of Serge's students." Now, she didn't really, well, know the Vitamancy Master or anything. Had only spoken to her a few times, mostly being scolded for going to hard on someone in a sparring match. But she was the only one that could possibly give her what she needed right now.