[IC] Closed

[Zelosse]

Felix Williams

@Old Amsterdam

I was caught in the moment.

My emotions are getting the better of me.

Forget I said anything!

A multitude of responses to that very simple question crossed his mind but every single one was avoiding his true thoughts in favor of absolute dismissal. To push them away. In his mind all he wanted was to keep people away and be avoided, to spare them his tantrums and senseless rage, but his heart spoke different truths that could not be denied. The cold feeling of his hand, the warmth of hers, the shimmer in the sky..

"When I looked up.. It was like the universe was competing with you. But it knew it couldn't.. So you became one instead. Starlight shimmered through your hair and for just a brief moment I-"

Felix flexed his uninjured hand and avoided looking at her, his own face was red with embarrassment as the last words fought to stay hidden.

"I thought.. You were a.." A bit flustered he tried to spit it out and finally after a few moments of tense silence, he half-shouted. "I thought you were an angel!"

------------------
@KRAZY J@liferusher@Kalleth@CriticalHit@Arya10108909@Raptra@Aiyanna@Regitnui@Pseudo Stygian@Hammerman@Stern Algorithm

Fifth and Fourth year students rose 15 minutes before midnight, putting on bright clothing and arming themselves with flashlights. It was tradition for them to encourage the first years into participation, explaining the tradition and the grand details of the event, after going to ever single door of the first years. At some point they would even get annoyingly insistent until the stubborn gave in to the demand of participation.

THE GATHERING POINT was the low-hanging gate at the front of the dormitory grounds, a 3 foot stone wall circling the building represented the boundary that students were not allowed to go past after curfew. Punishment for disobedience was usually a slap on the wrist and an escort back to the building.
Repeat offenders were forced to wash the hallway floors. One such student had spent close to an hour getting all the soot and ashes from the main building after a strange accident had charred them. Nobody knew why, with exception to maybe Kano. When all the students that could be roused to the front gate had finally gathered in the crisp nights air, the 'leader' of the event made a small announcement.

"First years! My gratitude to you for honoring this most humble of traditions, a legacy carried for over one hundred years at this academy. Legend speaks of the Haunting. For the first month of the school year our beloved academy is filled with the spirits of long deceased graduates who found their eternal rest interrupted by the dark influences of this Schools greatest failure. A violinist by the name of Jonah Marquise, whose hatred was channeled through a forbidden ritual that granted him the power to rouse to elements in open revolt!"

Alexander Wright, as he later introduced himself, pointed out to the pathway.

"To honor those that came before us, we display our courage by defying not only the rules but the history of fear laid down like the bricks of our homes here at the heart of this harmonious place of peace! The objective of the run is to be the first to reach the main Academy building doors, loop around the 'haunted fountain', then trek it back to the dormitories. But be warned! Do not wake the teachers who make their home within the academy proper and do not get caught by the spirits that wander in the darkness."

Alexander turned to the crowd and grinned.

"Lets go, shall we?"

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

Teachers only (No peeking!)

Kano Hargor

@Kalleth@liferusher@Raptra@Stern Algorithm

Kano was lost in the darkness of the trees, watching the group of students mill about the gateway. By the rules of the school he could punish anyone who left the fences of the Dormitory with any level of severity he felt it required, but not tonight. No teacher would interfere with this fun little trial of courage the fifth years put so much effort into putting on.

The Teachers were even in on the event if they so chose. Kano had taken the roll of the conjurer along with a few talented fifth years, each and every one was wearing all black clothing with a long black hooded cloak. These few had left the dorms hours ago to setup along the predetermined paths the students would no doubt take.
The path itself had even been altered. Halfway into the forest it branched out into over 15 different directions that could sometimes loop back onto the main path secretly, while only 3 paths actually led the students to the academy doors.

Elementals had been called from the soil and trees to harass the students on their run through the forest but had been instructed to neither attack nor harm a student in any way. Students who got lost were to be herded back in the right direction.

The teachers who chose to participate were asked to "keep things safe and interesting".

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

Stand tall, Students.

Each student was told to spread out along the forest line a five minutes walk away from the main path, the objective was to run in and find the path, follow it to the fountain, and follow it back. Far easier said than done! Indeed it was expected that many students would find their own fun in the forested area around the pathway.
The real objective was to go as far as you could into the black forest before calling 'out'. At which point it was explained that calling out would signal a friendly figure nearby to escort you out and back to the dorms. Those who ran into trouble were asked to 'show courage and fend off the attacker!

Those who were too afraid were asked to at least enjoy the chance to wander the treeline and talk with the other students, a social gathering as much as an event. Midnight snacks had been brought out to celebrate the yearly event. It was meant to be a bonding exercise devised to bring all students together and it usually had some very solid results.

"On your marks! Get set... GO!" Alexander threw his hand up and a jet of flame briefly lit up the area while darkening the shadows beyond the treeline. If a teacher was watching it they would come running so it was now or never.

(This will be difficult to track for me so do me a favor and try to be descriptive. You can get as far as the crossroads for now, or get lost, however you wanna do this. Stick together as a group, roll alone, whatever. Those interested in using your elements in actual combat please let me know via PM.)

[Raptra]

The buffet dinner had been... alright, for Vera. It was hardly near what she was usually served back home, but she had to constantly remind herself not to judge anything at the academy by her old standards. Being judged by superficial standards her whole life and only now having the freedom not to worry about what others thought, she figured she owed the same to the school and those here with her. Although it might take awhile, because as they say, 'old habits die hard', she was determined to do her best on this journey of 'self-discovery'. No doubt the academy would provide numerous opportunities for her to see what's out there, take risks, and grow as a person.

One such opportunity came that very night, though it was actually nearly the next morning, when one of the senior students came knocking on her door to invite her to an event called the 'Midnight Run'. Having already retired to her quarters and embracing the comfort of being indoors, her first response was, of course, to decline the invitation. However, with persistent coaxing from the older student, she was reminded of the so-called pledge she had made to herself to rise to new challenges and take risks. That was what eventually had her standing at the boundary of the dormitory grounds ten minutes later with several other first-years.

Naturally, Vera was at least a little apprehensive about what was to come. How would the sheltered rich girl fare against the sporty, adventurous kids who probably had skills she didn't? No, it wasn't about whether or not she could do it, but what mattered was that she gave it a go. Besides, the senior students were there to make sure that it would be safe, right? She had already been pleasantly surprised at the level of authenticity displayed by both teachers and students on her first day at the academy. These people weren't embarrassed or afraid to 'look bad' in front of others. There was a sentiment of acceptance at this school, and there wasn't anything to prove to anyone.

After the event leader shot a flame into the air, Vera took off into the forest with the other participants. There was a rule that prevented them from using their elemental abilities, so she used the flashlight from her mobile phone to see where she was going. In the distance, she spotted a number of the participants gathering and moving along in a line. She immediately ran over to join them, figuring that they must have found the main path, though, after some time, she realized that the students in front of her were splitting up and going off in different directions, as the main path had divided into various smaller ones. She had to quickly decide which one she would take, and this, she couldn't simply toss a coin for.

“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!” She muttered under her breath, planning on picking a path once she got to the crossroads.

[Old Amsterdam]

Dia stared at Felix for a solid five minutes after his outburst, absolutely confused and unsure what to think.

But she was comfortable up here, next to this boy she didn't even really know, and she was tired. So Dia decided to take the simplest course of action she could think of: be kind and honest.

"I don't know how to respond to that," she murmured, laying her head on Felix's shoulder. "But thank you, I think." She let out a sigh. "You're an angry person on the outside, but you don't seem so bad on the inside, Felix. I like you. Maybe if I'm a good enough friend it'll help..." she added as she drifted off to sleep, curling up ever so slightly to Felix.

@Zelosse

Hider

Dia will attend the run if Felix does, otherwise she'll stay asleep up there, assuming no one wakes her up.

[Regitnui]

The girl fainted. For a moment, Zeke just stared at her fallen body. "Are you OK?" He asked. Obviously, no response. So he put his hand on her neck, then licked his fingers and felt for breath. She was OK. Just sleeping. But that couldn't be very comfortable. Zeke stood up and checked both bedrooms. She hadn't set up in either.

He pulled the blanket off the one on the right and laid it out next to her. With a careful push, he rolled her onto it, then gathered one end in his hand and pulled her into the room. The next bit was more difficult, but he managed to lift her onto the bed. He even lifted up her head to put a pillow underneath, and tucked her in.

Now she won't be uncomfortable. Zeke went to the door, locked it, and then started unpacking his stuff in the bedroom on the left. His half-finished painting of his roommate, with her lilac hair, still hung in midair in the centre of the room. If it didn't fade overnight, he'd have to ask her to sit and let him finish it.

@Aiyanna

[CriticalHit]

Silas Asara

When his roommate failed to show up after a good hour of waiting, Silas decided it would be best to start unpacking his stuff, that way he wouldn't want to punch himself come morning. All in all it only took him a few hours of disorganized panic to get everything out of his bags and into their proper spots. When he had finished, Silas found the bag of chips he stashed in his bag earlier and proceeded to dig in as he sat down on the couch and flipped on a movie.

---

Much later there was a sudden knocking at the door. As Silas reluctantly left his place on the couch to answer, he gazed at the time. Wait, it's 11:50?! Who the hell knocks at midnight? Fueled by his curiosity, Silas cautiously opened the door and was met by a student much larger and older than any other he'd seen prior. The senior told him about the 'Midnight Run', apparently it was some kind of tradition for first-years. His interest had been piqued, an opportunity to explore after dark sounded pretty awesome to Silas. The senior looked prepared to persuade if he was denied by the first-year, but there was no need as Silas had already resolved to go with him and join the run, What's the worst that could happen?

Silas joined the other first-years that had assembled outside of the dorm building just before the event leader, started spouting details on the tradition and what exactly the first-years were going to do. So... it's a race then. Looking around, Silas saw a whole spectrum of students, some looked like they would pose little challenge whilst others looked like they were made solely for this type of thing. Although there were plenty of people who looked like they could easily claim victory, Silas would not let that dampen his own spirit. I'm going to run circles around them! He was determined to win, or at least come damn close.

At the sight of the flaming pillar, Silas darted into the forest. Trying to move quickly in the thick undergrowth without a light source proved to be his first mistake, as a gnarled tree root caught Silas's foot and sent him careening into the waiting soil. "Fuck..." he said under his breath as he tried to stand up and make a recovery, not wanting to be left behind. Lucky for him the trees seemed to thin out as he saw a small group of students travelling together on a worn path. Just when Silas had the group in sight, they dispersed, as the path split into many smaller trails. With time running out on making a decision, Silas couldn't help but both think and say "Time to take a chance..." as he steadied himself and prepared to choose a path, still disoriented slightly by his earlier fall.

@Zelosse
@Raptra (Not sure if I should tag or not, but if you want to run into each other / have been following the same group then I'm down)

[Stern Algorithm]

"Ehh, huh? Did you crash into a water elemental too?" Lyra looked up to see another girl entering the room. She wasn't wet; maybe only slightly damp. Her roomate, of course. Lyra struggled to remember the name she'd seen in the dorm sheet, but couldn't quite get anything in her mind. "I'm going to get myself changed first, ok?"

A couple of minutes later, and Lyra was out of her bathroom, much drier and wearing a simpler grey dress. Her eyes inadvertently moved to her violin, and then shifted to her roomate, and then shifted again to the violin. Priorities, priorities. What's a priority?

"Hey, sorry! I got wet after crashing into a water elemental earlier," she said to her roomate, while picking up her violin case. Her eyes shone suddenly. Water elementals! Moved from a distance by a water elementalist! Water is transparent, yet how come they looked so solid? Crashing into them still felt like falling into a pool of water.

She shook her head. Priorities. "I'm Lyra, by the way. I'm a wind elementalist. What's your name?" She moved to the table next to the window. The sun was setting, so it wouldn't be any good for drying anything, but she liked the light.

@Pseudo Stygian

@Krazy J

"Huh? Oh..." ShiZhen realized that her roommate being wet had nothing to do with her own problems, but before she could say anything, her roommate went to get changed. She soon reappeared and introduced herself.

"I-I'm Sh-ShiZhen Fang," ShiZhen returned her introduction, "I'm a...water elementalist. I-I have a hard time controlling it though, and when I'm nervous, I just start to get wet. I thought you were the same." Of course, realizing that Lyra did not have the same problem did not make ShiZhen sad since it wasn't a condition she wished upon anyone else. ShiZhen smiled pleasantly, glad to have a quiet, peaceful moment with her new roommate, who seemed pleasant, if a little spaced-out. She began to unpack her belongings while enjoying Lyra's company.

"The kitchen looks nice, though I'm not currently prepared to cook today. I'll definitely cook in the future though, but for now, maybe we should go to the buffet? I have a childhood friend who came with me, maybe I'll introduce you to him, if I can find him."

[Kalleth]

Jideh woke up to the sound of furious knocking on his door. He stumbled out of the covers, realized with an easy smile he'd gone to bed in his clothes, and opened up the door. An eager-looking older student was there, and Jideh was confused at first.

Several minutes later found Jideh trailing alongside other students who were walking outside of the dormitory. He listened patiently to the explanation the older students gave, and when the gout of flame blasted into the night's darkness, Jideh began walking. He saw almost all the other participants tear off at a run. He was inclined to walk, both for safety's sake, and to enjoy the atmosphere of the Academy grounds at night. He was still sensibly dressed, and he'd thought to grab his spade before he'd left. Other than that, he'd been remiss about lacking a light source. Jideh figured that the light of the moon would be enough to see by, and as he walked along the forest's path carefree as can be, he took in the forest at night. The trees were whispering in the breeze, and he could smell them, and feel them. He could actually feel them!

It startled Jideh initially, when he felt the branches tugging at his clothes, but then he realized that a specialist in flora such as himself could easily have done something like this, and he was walking. It seemed that the trees wanted him running, or at least moving faster. Jideh felt no compulsion to comply, seeing as he was covered up, and the branches stopped short of whipping at his face. He had listened to the stories the older students told of ghosts, but he wasn't really sure that he believed them. And even if they were true, he guessed that the bumbling students rushing on ahead of him would take care of that potential threat neatly, and he would have plenty of warning should he run into them.

[DELETED7282737]

Drow

Location
Dorms
@Regitnui@Aiyanna

Drow had shared out most of the student dorm keys to students now, a few were left over, probably from people that hadn't arrived yet but that did not matter any more today. Drow was done with the task she was given so, time for some time off. Drow had heard something about running in the middle of the night? Speaking of which, she stepped towards the window and opened it. The soft breeze of night air felt nice to her skin, there was a soft nice signing she could hear from nearby. Drow was lost in the moment watching the people outside preparing themselves for the run while listening to the voice.

The midnight running didn't really seem intresting to her when she had heard about it so she wasn't planning on going anyway. Watching might be nice but maybe there was something fun to do too? The singing stopped, Drow glanced at the nearby window. There was crying, soft emotional crying. Everyone had moments like those it couldn't be helped. Drow moved her eyes away from the window again staring blankly at the people outside while the crying softly continued. She should help shouldn't she? Drow gave a soft sigh and moved towards her door. The room was only a few doors further down the hallway and on the same ground floor. She strode past the few doors down the hallway and knocked on the one that was presumably the crying girl's door. With a blank look on her face she waited for it to be opened to try and help the girl. She didn't know how yet but she'll figure it out.

[Hammerman]

Kanako ended up falling asleep in her uniform as her room partner never came. She even ended up sleeping through dinner, only to be woken up by a sound of knocking on her dorm's door.

"H-huh? W-what?" she said groggily, as she still reoriented herself after just waking up. She quickly put on her shoes and came to the door, opening it with a sour look on her face.

It turned out to be one of the older students, telling her about the Midnight Run. She just stood there with a blank look at her face as she explained what it was and how it was tradition for new students to join. After she finished her explanation, she didn't even bother waiting for her answer before going along, probably to speak to the next new student.

"Huh, Midnight Run," Kanako said to herself once she was gone. "Sounds bothersome. Don't think I'll participate."

She then took a glance on the clock on the wall, only to find that she had missed dinner entirely. Her empty stomach, reacting to the revelation, immediately let out a most unladylike sound as it told Kanako to fill it up by any means necessary.

"...I won't be able to sleep like this," Kanako said, rubbing her stomach. Despite her slim looks, the girl was a heavy eater, and she couldn't stand not having dinner like this. If the older student hadn't woken her up, she would probably wake up at midnight by herself.

"...Might as well join, I suppose. Perhaps they would give snacks? I can't sleep anyways and there's nothing to do here."

And so, Kanako left the dormitory, walking to the gathering point as she had been instructed.

She didn't care much for the speech the leader of the older student was saying; something about ghosts and other usual stuff in a dare like this. She already expected there would be older students hiding on the bushes scaring them off as they pretended to be ghosts. It's the oldest trick on the book, really. If she heard any odd noises or saw any strange figures on the distance, she would just ignore them and go on on her merry way.

And thank God they gave them snacks.

"On your marks! Get set... GO!" The older student threw his hand up and a jet of flame briefly lit up the area while darkening the shadows beyond the treeline.

Impressive. I wonder if those are normal pyro effects or some flame elementalists' power.

As most of the other students ran, she instead took her time, opening her bags of chips and began munching on it. No need to rush. She already got her goal after all. The path was dark though so she had to be careful on her way.

Eventually though, she ended up alone as everyone else had already gone ahead. However, she noticed a boy casually walking in front of her. At least someone else was taking this whole thing not seriously.

"Ah, hello," she said to him after she catched up to him. "Nice evening, huh? Not too warm and not too cold either." Might as well start a conversation since she got nothing else better to do.

@Kalleth

[Kalleth]

Jideh heard footsteps behind him, and looked back to see a girl with crumbs all over her face. She was talking to him, so he decided the polite thing to do would be respond.

"It is certainly a fine evening, for planting hydrangeas. Though the more I see of this place, the more certain I am that any seed you plant will grow far larger and faster than anybody expects..."

Jideh hadn't meant to get all philosophical, but his mind was going back to the conversation he'd had with Dia and Zeke, as well as the fiasco at the fountain. The fountain towards which they were currently headed.

"Did you see what happened today, at the fountain? After that, the rumours of a haunted fountain seem less farfetched. Even if they seem less farfetched because it's more likely that Headmaster Hargor will be there waiting to drench students."

He smiled to himself, remembering his efforts to save that teacher with the oddly patterned underwear. And though he'd heard something along the lines of "don't use your powers" during the instructions for the race, he stopped in his tracks, knelt down and dug into the earth with his spade. He pulled a seed out of his pocket, checked to see that it was in fact the seed he thought it was, and then covered the seed with earth.

"Tell you what, let's walk to the fountain and on our way back, we'll see if this plant's grown any?"

---

Jordan was giggling to himself as he replaced the locks on his shed, checking and double-checking their security. He would've been making an "evil steeple" with his fingers but his hands were full, and he very much felt the maniacal mastermind in him was coming out. He'd bandaged his hands from earlier, and he wasn't having any trouble with his burden, quite the opposite. He felt light as a feather! A metaphor, as the weight on his back was colossal, but Jordan still managed to skip along the side-path towards the icky little kiddies running through the forest. He was disguised appropriately of course, wearing an oni mask he'd had lying around, and he'd changed clothes to be wearing a black body suit and blue scarves.

"Soon enough, all will be revealed..." Jordan muttered to himself, shuddering with anticipation and grinning like a fox.

...

...

...

Jordan was hunkered down, his gear good and ready, awaiting the next victim to come his way. The first face he saw pass under the colossal oak tree would be an unlucky soul indeed. Almost as unlucky as whoever ran into Kano, or Xavier if he was willing to get up to anything this year. Of course, he had no idea whether Catherine would be devising her own torment or if she had simply resorted to the boring safety committee. Anything to keep up appearances Cath? Jordan wondered, but he thought he could hear footsteps and so he shifted his grip and stretched his sore limbs. I'm ready! PREPARE FOR VENGEANCE KIDDIES!

[Raptra]

[Regitnui]

Zeke heard someone come into the room and cautiously peeked around the door. He recognized the reception lady, and stepped into the common room. "Hey, you're the nice lady." He came out just as she knocked on the purple girl's door. "She's in a sad burrito. I rolled her up because she started crying and fell over because I was painting her."

Rubbing his eyes, he only now heard the crowd out the front of the building. He held up his torch and walked to the corridor window, the torchlight pointing down just because he needed the light. Peeking down, he couldn't see much more than a lot of people downstairs. He wandered back in and asked the lady. "Do you know what all the noise is outside?"

@liferusher

[Pseudo Stygian]

The violin was fine. The violin is fine, Lyra, she told herself, after wiping it with some cloth and finding it perfectly dry. Probably best to leave it here for now, though. She turned to ShiZen. "Oh, is it dinnertime already?" She looked out. The sun had set entirely. "The buffet sounds good. Let's go then."

And the buffet was, indeed, pretty good, although it was nothing remarkable. ShiZen kept looking for his friend, but she didn't find him the entire time. "Maybe he's eating in his room," Lyra had offered.

Back in their dorm room, they talked a bit about nothing in particular before retiring to their own room. There they stayed, until someone banged the door from outside.

Lyra was the one to open the door, barely awake, half her mind still trying to figure out the dream she just had (an orchestra of colour that happens to be really really wet? huh?). The person who'd knocked (a bit older, isn't he? A senior?) had barged in, woke ShiZhen up as well, and told them about a night run. Midnight Run. Something. Some tunes were still playing in Lyra's head, aftertaste from her dream. She wasn't paying much attention to her surrounding; she just followed along..

And when she was awake, really, fully awake, ShiZhen and she was in the middle of the forest, just the two of them. The trees were dark and tall and menacing and surrounded them in every direction. Lyra blinked. Okay. Okay. she was fully awake now.

"Whoaa. Sorry, I'm awake! Ah. How did we get here?"

@Stern Algorithm

[DELETED7282737]

Drow

Location
Dorms
@Regitnui@Aiyanna

After having waited for the door to be opened she decided to try the doorknob at least knowing that the girl was in the room. It appeared to be open after the turn, so she excused herself and walked in. At first it seemed that no one was home by the silence that she met, the boy living in this room was however quick to break that silence by joining Drow in the living room. The boy seemed to be friendly towards her and appeared to be quite cute too! Drow gave a short wave with a blank look stuck on her face. Instead of replying back to the lines he gave her, she shifted her scarf up to hide her mouth behind it not seeming to be speaking any time soon. Apparently the girl she was gonna meet was a sad burrito? She didn't really understand what the boy meant by that but she clearly ignored it as she walked further into the room towards the girl her room.

She knocked a few times on the door thinking the girl would open. But as far as she could understand this boy she had apparently fainted after crying, from emotional shock? She had heard the crying from her window already so she mostly believed him. The boy had taken her to bed for her to rest a little which was a nice thing to do. The boy still seemed so calm after having experienced something like that, kudos to the boy. As she waited for the door to be opened the boy had asked her what was happening outside. Drow stared at him for a few seconds before grabbing a small notepad and writing it down for him.

"Test of courage"

Drow held the notepad up for the boy to read for a few seconds before turning back to the door and opening it without need of having to unlock the lock. Drow quickly stepped inside seeing the sad burrito lying on the bed. She gave the girl a short sympathizing look seeing how the dried up tears were still showing beneath her eyelids and on her cheeks. Drow gently placed her hand on the back of the sleeping girl her neck. The girl would wake up from the short shock through her body, through experiences Drow knew how it wouldn't be damaging to the body but still irritating or and annoying to wake her up.

The girl would feel her body tingling if she were awake and if she wasn't Drow would keep trying with heavier and more annoying shocks. She wanted to comfort the girl and she needed to actually be awake for that. Drow had a deadpan expression on her face the whole time as she tried waking the girl.

[Zelosse]

Felix Williams

@Old Amsterdam

Nothing he said at that moment could change what was truth. Dia was right about Felix being an angry person, but it wasn't just skin deeo. Everyone wqs caoable of cruelty to some degree and could be angered.. Felix silently accepted that she had been half right. Sure there was the capacity for good in him but it was smothered by an abusive Father, by being a slave for some 'power' that Felix had not asked for. It had been forced onto him.
Just as his Father had forced Felix away from life itself. Stuck in a room with no way out. Days turned into weeks without even seeing another soul. It was only the stars he had to look forward to when the nights werent cloudy.

Blowing his frustrations out as a heavy sigh, the troubled youth let the bad moments fade away on the nights sky. As Dia drifted off into sleep, his arm and shoulder being used as a pillow, Felix dropped his insecurities and frustrations in favor of just enjoying someone elses silent company.

---------

It had been roughly an hour since laying down, moon still high in the sky, when the sound of talking woke Felix from his brisk little nap. As the moments passed he realized that was not just a few voices. It was dozens. Some got rather loud.

----------

The door to the roof swung open and a fifth year student strode through. Samantha Clemont, a fifth year earth student. Tall and slender of figure, she took in the stars as she moved a strand of her long raven black hair away from her face. When the door slammed shut, she realized there were others here.
Being a blunt kind of person, Samantha was quick to start the conversation.

"What have we here? Couple of first years hooking up on the roof during the first day of school? You, my dear," She giggled while pointing at Dia, "are a fast worker."

Covering her nouth with her hand, she walked closer to the pair and got a good look at the guy. The blush took in her face.

"Oh sweety you went for the bad boy!" Sams arms waved back at forth with her excitement.
Rumors were already spreading like fire in a dry forest about some of the anomalies in this years batch of initiates. One was a boy who painted with light, and the other was some brazen punk who broke the boring school assembly for the first years by destoying the podium, telling off every teacher, and then had set part of the school on fire!

"This is amazing!" Oblivious to the fact that she was supposed to be rounding them up for the event, the hyperactive girl sat down nest to Dia and grinned for ear to ear.

"Tell me, tell me, did you two smooch up a storm? Get a little frisky? Coem on girl, Details!" A notorious gossip queen, Clemont would make sure every word said here today would be in the ear of eveey student by tomorrow afternoon.

-------

Fist clenched, jaw tight, Felix resisted hisnurge to lash out violently. Caught between embarassnent to outright humiliation, and fearing that Dia would be upset. The fact she was laying on him was the only thing stopping his fist. Caught by surprise, Felix couldn't bring himself to even speak.

[Old Amsterdam]

Dia looked at the girl groggily, blinking through the lingering effects of sleep.

She was oddly aware of the heat of Felix's body touching her, rising with his temper she figured.

Meanwhile, she knew her's was dropping drastically as the girl continued on and on and on.

When she finally stopped, demanding answers and making assumptions, Dia took a deep breath. It came out in a hiss and Dia opened her eyes fractionally.

"I don't understand why you came up here, woke me up from a very nice and comfortable sleep, and started making all these assumptions. I'm not some harlot whore," she said with venom. What is wrong with me she wondered, but she kept going. "I don't like this, and you need to leave."

Dia opened her eyes fully. "Or else I'm going to lose control."

Sure enough, the rooftop around them had frosted over, and little ice crystals were floating haphazardly around them.

Turning back into Felix, hiding her face in his chest, Dia muttered low enough for only him to hear. "I don't want to hurt her...."

And then, as she realized why she was being so abnormal, she added, "I don't want...I want... Keep spending.... time with you..."

@Zelosse

[Hammerman]

@Kalleth
Kanako listened as the boy talked. Judging by his plant talk, he was most likely an earth elementalist. She supposed that meant he should be her polar opposite since she was a wind elementalist, but he seemed to be a well-mannered boy that she wouldn't mind getting along with.

"I missed it, actually," Kanako replied to him when he brought up the incident at the fountain. "So I was right that there was a flood there." She couldn't imagine the Headmaster pranking students like that though. After all, he's the Headmaster, and he's supposed to be the most responsible of them all.

"Hmm?" Kanako raised her eyebrows when the boy suddenly stopped on his tracks. He seemed to be planting a seed?

"Tell you what, let's walk to the fountain and on our way back, we'll see if this plant's grown any?" he said to her.

"Very well. It should be interesting to see," she responded, though she doubted it would grow that much. But he was an earth elementalist after all so he could use his power to make it grow faster.

[Stern Algorithm]

@Pseudo Stygian @Krazy J @Kalleth

While ShiZhen was a little worried that she didn't see Jake at dinner, she enjoyed Lyra's company, and was glad that she was becoming friends with her roommate. But after such an event-filled day, ShiZhen was exhausted, and before she knew it, she had changed into her pajamas and was dozing off in bed. That is, until someone more-or-less barged into their room and woke her up, dragging her and Lyra out into the cold night for some strange campus ritual. ShiZhen had wanted to object a few times, but Lyra seemed to be going along with it, so ShiZhen did too. It wasn't until Lyra announced that she was awake did ShiZhen realize that this whole thing might have been a mistake.

"S-some upperclassmen dragged us out of bed for a 'Midnight Run', ShiZhen explained, incredulous that Lyra had made it out this far before actually waking up. "I think it's like a ghost thing? We're supposed to go towards the..." ShiZhen had forgotten, and without realizing it, had sort of just kept walking along the twisting path deeper into the forest towards a massive oak tree.

[Zelosse]

Stand tall, Students.

Kano kept a mental note of where each student was, monitoring them quietly from afar before moving on. Already there were black clothed figures darting behind the students who made themselves known. So long as you followed the main path they would not accost you from afar, and truth be told there wasn't much they were allowed to do anyways, but even just throwing a ball of freezing cold water onto your leg would be enough to make an already nervous student jump and run.

Others had to get creative..

Then there were the Elementals given a physical form for tonights activities.

four such creatures haunted the woods at this moment. A water elemental was waiting on a river few noticed was running through the forest, ready to freeze the path and rise from its 'tomb' with the shattering that followed.
A wood elemental, attuned to the forest and with bark naturally giving it camouflage, stalked the upper levels of the trees. When the time was right it would create obstacles to funnel the students away from the objective without them realizing it.
The next was what one student had always referred to as 'the walker'. Constructs made of root and stone were often very simple. This one was not. Scuttling on 8 stone limbs, looking like a giant spider, the rock being was already making its presence known by outright capturing students.
The last one was arguably the worst one. An air elemental. Harmless in the extreme, it would lift up students and carry them into the trees to sit upon the branches before going to find its next victim.

Kanos non-existent heart swelled with pride that his students could manifest Elementals capable of such intricacy. Now it was his turn to set the stage for the hunters in the night.
Behind him was the fountain, the end game of the Midnight run, and a source of water he had been steadily turning into fog with the other elementalists aid. With their help they had amassed enough to coat the entire forest with a thick screen of the stuff. Which was exactly what they did as the first report came back, confirming the runners had reached the 'hydra' which was referring to the multi-pathed road. At his command, the wind shifted and blew the thick fog deep into the forest. Within minutes it had flooded the area to the point where only a dozen or so feet in front of you was visible. Everything after that was a blank sheet of black and white.

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@CriticalHit@Raptra
@kalleth

The groups of students haphazardly making their way through the forest were gradually splitting up. More and more chose to leave the path altogether or outright forego the run entirely, something tingling in their spines as the fear of the dark set in. Most were superstitious so it couldn't be helped, but the ones who continued on were the bold or the fearless. When the fog rolled in, all visibility was gone. Navigating where it had come from, where they were, and where to go now, vanished along with their surroundings. Swallowed whole.

Their path was one of the duds. Rather than connecting on to the outer rim of the forest it doubled back subtly into a tall oak tree.

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@Hammerman@kalleth

The path taken by Kanako and her new ally Jideh led through the tranquil and quiet forest. Three shadowy figures lurked beyond the field of their vision, obscured by darkness thanks to one of them. It clung to them and rendered the trio nearly invisible as they stalked the pair. One knelt down near where the boy had dug the hole and, finding nothing important, motioned to carry on.
These were not hunters. The task of each one was unique to the individual and they took it with practiced efficiency. One obscured their movements, the second acted as a scout by listening to the wind and relayed it to the third, an earth student of great talent.

A student who controlled the Walker.

Its main body was a large clump of raised dirt, a very small tree sprouting from the grassy ground at its top. From it, the roots snaked out of the sides and wrapped themselves over the old grey stones that served as its legs. It had dominion over plantlife and soil, same as its summoner if you could call it that, and used it to alter the landscape near its chosen targets. That of Kanako and Jideh. The two were lagging behind sorely in the race, so they made a prime target.

Detaching from the tall tree off to their right, the construct fell gracelessly onto the earth with a BOOM of shaking earth, its great legs pushing it out of the soil. While it lacked any kind of 'face' it was obvious it was staring at the pair. Legs twitched up and down as it mirrored the movements of a spider about to pounce, but was actually kneading the earth.
The effect came a moment later with the shaking of the soil, the roots of the nearby trees sprouting out of the ground around the pair. They did not lash out or approach, but they waved back and forth teasingly.

A voice called out from the darkness.

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

The roots, taking their que, began to approach the duo. If they ran, they would try to snare their wrists only and very weakly as they were only meant to capture and not outright harm, so the quicker or slipperier students could easily outpace them. The options were to avoid capture until they exited the Walkers 'zone' or outright defeat the beast.

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(OOC: I was going to write a post for you ShiZen and Lyra, but it seems kalleth gets the honors of dealing with you! I'll provide back-up for him once his surprise is revealed)

[Raptra]

Having chosen one of the narrower paths, Vera was forced to slow down as the surrounding area gradually fogged up, the view in front of her eventually clouded by an almost opaque screen of mist. Her paranoia immediately heightened at this lack of visibility. The fog allowed umm... things, to hide from view, and they could be nearby, quietly waiting to jump out at her. No, she had to stop looking up at the ridiculously thick mist around her. Doing that only made her imagine what could be creeping about, and that did no good whatsoever. There was no point in scaring herself before anything happened, instead, she directed the beam of her phone flashlight towards the ground to ensure that she stayed on the path and didn't trip over anything, though the thick fog made even that quite a challenge.

Her increasing concentration on the ground slowly took her mind off of her surroundings as she carefully progressed along the path, and it wasn't long before she even shut out any subtle sounds around her. It was at this time, when she was not at all braced for any surprises or sudden event changes, that a small one gave her the biggest fright of the night. Well, the biggest so far, anyway.

Vera let out a high-pitched yelp and stumbled to the side right after feeling her shoulder brush against something. She took a couple of quick, deep breaths to calm herself before frantically waving her hand between herself and whatever she had knocked into, hoping to temporarily clear the fog to see what it was. She also raised the beam of her flashlight in that direction, and as a bit of the fog was waved away, finding herself shining it right in the face of another student. He didn't look all dressed up to jump scare anyone, as she imagined the seniors would be, so she figured he was another participant.

"Oh, uh... hey there love, sorry about that," she began, the thought of lowering her flashlight having slipped her mind.

@CriticalHit @Kalleth