[IC] Academy 218 - Superhuman School (Always open)

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Adam Leo Blackmore.

---

The students were not pleased with the Headmaster's speech, and Adam couldn't blame them. It truly seemed as if the Headmaster was apathetic to the fact that a student had died... It should have been Adam that was on the stage. Adam who should have spoke kindly of Vera. Not Dellamorte. He let out a sigh the moment the Headmaster left the stage, and figured it's not too late to fix what the Headmaster failed to do. He turned to Ruben and nodded, "If you'd excuse me..." He quickly took two steps towards the stage - but stopped when Henry Olin took initiative. Hmph, Adam was fine with Olin taking the stage for him. He leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms, listening eagerly. He spoke very kindly of Vera, and said the things that Adam would have. It didn't matter who did it, but someone has to look good in the face of the Headmaster. The students approved, and Adam himself approved... Up until Henry decided to take matters into his own hands - or where the real problem lied; the students. Adam got up off the wall. Henry was encouraging the students to tell him anything he knows. No, this was unacceptable, Simply unacceptable. Even if he told them not to investigate it, that was promoting the idea that the students should get involved.

When Henry walked out of the room, Adam felt that it was only appropriate to follow him. After all, he was leaving the room, and Adam felt like this was a conversation that was best had behind closed doors. He had the sinking feeling that Henry would have expected this. He managed to catch up with Henry pretty fast. "Mr. Olin! I'd like to have a word with you..." He said as he put up a finger. "... I truly understand how you feel about Vera, but what you did was not the best course of action." His gaze did not leave Henry for a second. "What you've done is encourage even more students to take matters into their own hands. I do respect your cause, but you have to think about the students as well. They are not as calculated as you and I."

---

Deborah Lillian Termellio, & Shannon Jacqueline Balore.

---

"Hell no!" Deborah grit her teeth as she slammed her fist onto the handles of her chair. The Headmaster's speech left her absolutely livid. Her eyebrows were furled, and she had pursed her lips. "That's bullshit!" She hissed through her teeth again. This was ridiculous. Was the Headmaster expecting us all to forget about this?! Yes, that fat bastard was. He tried to, but if it wasn't for her, word of Vera's death would have never got this far. Deborah promised herself that she would find out who killed Vera, screw what anyone in this school says. This was her mission and she'd never let anyone get in the way.

"Typical..." Shannon rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and sunk back into her chair. Blowing a strand of hair out of her face with a puff of air. This wasn't unexpected, honestly. The Headmaster have to save face, has to do anything to keep that dough rolling in. What easier way to accomplish that than trying to have everyone forget about a goddamn murder? Everyone here thinks that's bullshit - especially Shannon. She knew that he only tried to do this for himself. He didn't care about Vera - he doesn't care about anyone except for himself. That's just simple human nature. However, Deborah was losing herself to her anger. She gently placed her hand down over Deborah's and calmly said, "Calm down, Debs." She started off with a nod, "You're not going to get anything down by getting riled up."

"No, I won't," Deborah quickly snapped, "I refuse to sit down and let him - no, anyone try to sweep this under the rug to save their own goddamn ass...." She followed that up with an "Argh" before looking off to the side. Oh, Nicholas was here. She hated the fact he would have to see her swearing and all riled off.

"I know you're not going to do nothing." Shannon assured her, "The Headmaster is just showing us what kind of bastard he is. He isn't important. He can't stop us even if he wanted to."

"Yeah, you're..." Their conversation was interrupted when Henry got up and took to the stage (He is giving Vera the send off she deserves). Yes, Henry, thank you. Deborah nodded her head and listened with open ears. Every word he said, every kind he said, resonated within Deborah. It reminded her of what she was herself. While she wasn't a healer like Vera, she knew that she was a good person and made a difference even in the small ways. Huh, funny. Deborah and Vera were quite alike, they both understood people. Thus, they could level with them, and help them. While Vera was gone, Deborah would do her best to take her place.

But the matter at hand was showing Henry her support. She smiled and stood straight up off the chair - she started clapping. Clapping loudly. Clapping to show Henry how she feels. Clapping to encourage everyone else. Even Shannon got up and started clapping.

Henry walked off, and that was Deborah's cue to move along too. She had her group of Mystery Hunters right here. Shannon, Aislin... Sans Red. She planned on getting to the bottom of this - with help of course. She would prefer handling this herself. It's her personal mission, and while it was the same to Henry... Maybe the lizard-man could be of help, after all. Deborah smiled as she turned her body towards her group.

"That was nice, don't you all say?" Deborah said with a smile. "I think it's time that we all move along, yes? I... have things to do, but we can have our talk, Aislin." She nodded at Aislin, and turned her head towards Nicholas who wasn't too far away. "You can come along too, Nicholas."

---

Jago Andrew Javuant.

---

Oh, haha, looks like the Fruit-loop trying to make some jokes. Key word here, ladies and gentlemen, is trying. Pirate? Bitch, Jago ain't no Jack Sparrow. He blew out a puff of air that sounded like a whistle. His head turned away from June. "Oh, haha, you got some jokes, huh?" Jago replied in a dismissive tone as his gaze returned to the Fruit-loop himself. "Yo, you forget. All ya' need is some make-up then you'd be a goddamn clown-" Jago stopped his retort (I had plenty more, yo!) when the room suddenly went silent save for some tapping. Instinctively, the boy stopped dead in his tracks. It was the goddamn headmaster, finally here to grace us with his presence. Like the goddamn leader he is. Jago ignored June for the duration of the speech - because fuck that guy. Jago's brown eyes were facing the headmaster dead on. Most of what the guy said was - shocker! - worthless bullshit trying to save face. It'd actually be surprising if it wasn't complete bullshit. There... There... Honestly, Jago was getting angry at the Headmaster just because of one sentence. One measly little line that more or less meant "pretend this shit never happened and you're friend's alive!". Now that set Jago off. He clenched that bottle of soda so tightly that some of it spilled out onto himself, and the floor. Not that he really gave a damn at this point. He was just about ready to charge onto that stage and kick that motherfucker across the stage. It wasn't like Jago gave too much of a damn about the school. Yeah, all they'll do is kick him off the island - which was more of a reward at this point! "I swear to God, I'm going to kick somebody's..."

Before he could take his anger too far, Mr. Olin decided to take the stage... Jago narrowed his eyes. He didn't think too highly of that freak of nature after that night's incident. "You better make up for that, Lizard-man..." He hissed. At this point, he had completely forgotten about the Fruit-loop's mere existence. Because fuck that kid - he's unimportant and Jago's angry. But what Lizard-man had to say... calmed him, somewhat. Well, at least it didn't make him want to tear the Headmaster's head (Pun intended) off. Henry spoke well of Vera - what that bastard Headmaster should have done. Henry called Vera a hero... Which is what she is. A hero. Jago used the term sparingly - because he isn't a hero. He's Jago Javuant, nothing more, nothing less. But Vera? He'd call her something like that.

Lizard-man apologized for that little snap last night, and Jago had no choice other than to accept it. While he was a little pissed about it - it's all in the past, now ain't it? "A'ight, Lizard-man!" Jago nodded his head. Whatever. Jago's anger is directed at the Headmaster. Because if the fucker who killed Vera got off free, he was going to take a shit on the Headmaster's desk! But looks like Lizard-man's getting a little too big for his britches, eh? He wanted to do an investigation all by himself? Well, Jago respected that - because he ain't sitting on his black ass while everyone does something - but asking the students for help - in front of Adam? Now that's gonna leave Adam butthurt - and lo and behold! Adam went straight for Henry. It made Jago smirk like a little shit. Asking the students for help was not the best idea. As for Jago? Fuck that. He didn't need to go to lizard-man for nothing. He doesn't need to go to anyone for help - he fights his own battles - damn what anyone thinks. Speaking of which... Jago just noticed the fruit-loop was still here, with his fruity-ass hair.

"Yo, Fruit-loop," Jago didn't even hesitate to share his nickname with June. "What the hell do you think of all of this?" Even though yo' opinion probably gay... but that ain't the only thing that "probably gay", boy.

---

Theresa Sindel Obott.

---

Theresa had to raise an eyebrow when Little Miss Boring had to appear out of thin air. Oh goody, she's ready to show the world how much personality she has! Or whine some more about how her power screwed her over. Ugh. The second she starts, Theresa was going to walk off and never come back. She wasn't in the mood for this - her friend was dead and if anything, she should be the one angsting. But she isn't, she needs to be alone while she suffers. But Rosette was asking about her... like she honestly cared. Which was something Theresa was indecisive about, honestly. The only problem here was that Theresa was never really the type to open up and talk about her emotions. Because, man, she was all about the fun! Which she really isn't having right now - or simply can't. Even Rosette noted how different she's acting right now, and that's something. She hugged her legs even tighter now. "I'm fine... " She said, "It's just... that was my friend..." That was all she said in response to Rosette.

But enough of that, The Headmaster has finally appeared and spoken to the crowd. It wasn't as... uplifting or professional, as Theresa thought it'd be. Pretend it never happened? No. No, just... no. Theresa knew Vera as a friend, and the last thing she was going to do was pretend it never happened. No. Just something that isn't in her nature. Vera was going to be kept in mind even as Theresa moves forward with her life. As she grows up and decides what the hell she even wants to do with her life. As the Headmaster walked off stage, Theresa muttered a silent "Fuck you." underneath her breath.

However, Theresa perked up the second Henry walked on stage. She uncurled her legs and placed them gently on the floor, she raised her head and listened. Yes... this was the send-off Vera needed. Theresa found herself smiling. "Thanks, Henry." She silently said to him. Theresa was indifferent to Henry's plea for help - because she wasn't going to get involved in that. That was the difference between Tess and half the people here; she isn't a hero. No, she's not a hero - that's someone else's job. She's just... Theresa Obott. A transgendered girl that just wants to bide her time. Live life the way she wants to.

But, Theresa got up and started clapping. Clapping loudly as she could.

[Jazzy]

Henry Olin

Henry, as he predicted was stopped by Adam not long after he gave his speech. He was thankful for all the clapping, and for the words that resonated from the students in the crowd. He growled a little bit at Adam caught up to him, but otherwise remained composed. He listened intently to Adam's thoughts, ignoring that Adam addressing him as 'Mr.' instead of 'Dr.', even if it was somewhat disrespectful for what followed out of Adam's mouth. He couldn't help but laugh at Adam as he spoke. "Y-you? Know anything at all about loss?" He said, laughing a little bit. "Adam, I hate to be the one to tell you this but you haven't lost a single family member, and I doubt you've cared enough for any of the students that have died to be as affected by the loss as those who really knew them." Henry stated. "You've said yourself that great strength leads to arrogance, look at what it's made you into." He said, gesturing to Adam's whole body for a moment. He the leaned close to Adam's face, his his jaws mere inches from his nose. "You tell me you know what loss is when you loose your grandparents, and some of your best friends, or when you're dubbed as a monster right off the bat when you're first seen for something you cant change. You tell me what loss is when you find a friend of yours butchered and stuffed into the corner of a dark room with her calves cut off her legs, her neck nearly cut in half, and her jaw nearly disconnected from her face. Once your arrogance to claim you understand what I or any of us are going through fades and is replaced by real understanding..." He hissed, before he retracted his body. "Then we'll talk about loss."

"I know full well what I said. And I knew full well you'd disagree with how I said it." He said, crossing his huge arms across his barrel chest. "But look at it this way," he stated. "Headmaster Dellamorte fucked it up." He said simply. "The students wouldn't be satisfied with that. Friends of Vera would lead their own investigations, other would join them." He said. "They don't trust the Headmaster. Frankly, I don't trust him not to sweep this under the rug myself." he said. "We both know the students would be doing it anyway, regardless of what either of us said." Henry stated. "I can smell remnants of rusted metal and the sea on a few of the students, who I think are involved with the collapse of the ship that occurred on Tuesday." Henry said. "The only difference is that now they have a member to back them up if something goes wrong. They can feel safe in asking someone for help." He said. "It's not the best choice of action, but the best choice of action is unrealistic because doing nothing at all isn't how most of the student body operates." He said letting his arms fall to his sides. "It's the lesser of two evils. And the one that will keep more lives safe. You've seen that I will happily throw myself in harms way for the students. I did it in the ship wreck, I did it on Tuesday with the Valos child, and I'll do it again." Henry said, his yellow eyes scanning over Adam. His tail swished back and forth in an almost agitated manor. "Mr. Blackmore, you've taught me for over a decade. You have seen me grow into what I am today and you've shaped me as a father figure and as a person. I have the utmost respect for you because of it." Henry said. "So I'm going to ask you to help me in doing this. If you truly care about the students, then be someone they can come to if they need help. Neither of us can control all of them, all we can do is help them do what they're going to do anyways, and make sure they do it as safely as possible."

---

Ben and Claire Voss

They were unimpressed.

Claire was fairly certain at least one bone in her hand was broken by now. The whole time, since Ben had put his book down and paid attention to the Headmaster, he had been squeezing her hand. It was constant, and it was painful, and damnit all if she was in his position she would probably be doing the same thing. She was seething at the Headmaster. Why had they come here? If they were hurt or worse, killed, would they be so thoughtlessly removed and forgotten? When the speech ended, and the Headmaster left, she was about to storm out and demand to speak to the headmaster. However, she was stopped when Ben grabbed her arm again.

She looked onto the stage, the reptilian man from that dreadful Tuesday night was on stage, and he was speaking. There was passion behind his words. There was love, and thought and emotion in his speech. He defined Vera as a hero who had saved lives. He said that the academy would never be the same without her. Claire remained standing throughout the speech, her eyes trained on Henry as the reptilian man showed he was just as human as any of them were. When he told them that he would be heading his own investigation. That was ballsy. Claire and Ben respected that. When Dr. Olin finished his speech, they both stood up and clapped, along with many of the other student's. Henry left the room soon afterward, Mr. Blackmore following not long after him, like the teacher had predicted. Things died down after that, and Ben told her that he wanted to speak with Deborah. She probably had a plan cooked up for getting to the bottom of this, especially now that she had a teacher's support. They walked at a brisk pace over to where Deborah and Shannon sat, just as she invited Nicholas along with them, wherever they were going. "I hope you dont mind us tagging along too!" Claire said for Ben and herself. Despite the brashness Dr. Olin had displayed when they first met, his speech had shown them his other side. They wanted to help with whatever Henry, or Deborah were doing. Ben, in the mean time, was offering some cotton to Shannon, like he always did when they met. "Ben says it was the seeing off that any person deserves." Claire said, trying to answer Deborah's question for him. "Lead the way, oh captain my captain."

[Estylwen]

Deborah and Shannon accepted her with little resistance. It seemed their friendship still held from that single interaction before. Aislin recalled they offered cell numbers at the cafeteria, but she lost the information with a tsunami. Along with a working phone.

Debs idlly bit her fingers. Yeah, she knew something was up. "... But you look awful, girl. What's wrong?"

”Where to even begin…” Aislin chuckled to herself, mild relief washing over her. It was a sincere pleasure to be among friends. ” A better question might be ‘what’s right?’ I could answer that with far fewer words.”

Aislin nodded to the stage as the Headmaster approached the podium, falling quiet. He seemed… different since his last speech at their orientation. Not in a good way. Her discontent only increased as he spewed nonsense. “These are not your matters to resolve.... They are mine... That is all, students. Go out and resume your education and activities as if this never happened. You are dismissed."

Fuck, you’re dismissed, old man. Thanks for nothing. Aislin felt sour, already knowing in her heart she would be disregarding the majority of his wishes. Deborah seemed to share similar feelings, smacking her seat in frustration. It startled Aislin, and she dropped her thermos.

”Ah shit, my coffee.” She shakily scooched down, retrieving the thermos. A small puddle of black coffee smeared the floor, which she looked at guiltily. Well, janitors were paid for a reason, she supposed. ”I… Mm, I don’t like our Headmaster.” She muttered.

It was then Henry entered the stage, and a smile cracked through the bitterness of her face. Ah, the lizard who saved her life. Just for a moment, as he spoke up on the stage, everything in the world seemed right, good. Almost safe. She paid particular attention to his close. “If you do, I don't condone it, but please do it safely and in groups. If not for Vera, do it for yourselves. Do it so you can put someone to rest, and allow yourself and everyone else on the island to rest more peacefully."

A wolfish grin stretched her lips as she heard what he said between the lines. God, the Professor was a truly awesome teacher. As he left the stage, Debs took the initiative and suggested they peace as well. Aislin couldn’t agree more.

”Lovely idea, I wont take up too much time, promise.” Aislin waved her hand nonchalantly. ”Could we continue this in the Garden? I’ve had a craving for greenery but I... I can’t go into the Jungle. Even if the gates weren’t locked down.” She clenched her jaw, briefly seeing golden orbs and razor teeth in her head.

She gave Nick a wave, remembering their time in the hospital together. Aislin wondered if she could trust him with coming along, hearing what shit story she had to tell. Eh, it probably wouldn’t do any harm. Besides, he might have information too. They had to get to the bottom of this -- not just the murder. There were strangers on the island. Dangerous strangers. She needed all the help she could get, and this was an excellent step in the right direction.

”Hi Nick, it’s good to see you again. I hope you were alright during the, uh, black-out.” She said.

It was then two older students joined them, those of which she didn't recognize. The wedding bands were easy to notice. Ugh, too many people. I can't divulge my story now... She merely gave them a tight-lipped smile, distracting herself with her thermos.

[SerpentGear]

Rosette Sauveterre

Rosette was glad to see that Henry had gone onstage and spoken against the Headmaster’s wishes, even if it resulted in some form or fashion of punishment, for the lizard-man. Although she had wished the whole murder incident had never happened, it was not something that people could forget. Asking them to pretend that someone hadn’t had their life brutally ripped away would bring nothing but scorn and contempt. Rosette, who had seen things and been in situations far more horrifying than a murderer running on the loose, did not like forgetting things. The whole point of not forgetting was not just so that the criminal could be captured, but so that the people who remained would be more cautious about their course of action.

Although Rosette doubted she could ever participate in any sort of investigation, she stood up, following Theresa’s lead, though she did not clap, as it was so unlike her that the concept felt alien. She was detached from the grief the person next to her felt, but she still supported her course of action, and moved to display this. Rosette was not a bad person, however much people viewed her to be self-centered, macabre, or depressing. She had merely seen too much of something that made enjoying life difficult. Rosette both hated and envied people who loved their lives, but in the end, she could not bear the idea of seeing someone so happy becoming depressed and bitter like her.

When the assembly was over, and people began to leave or move to talk to their friends, Rosette turned to look at Theresa, “I think you will be fine, but I will say this, anyway. If you need someone to talk to, or are no longer sure of what you should do, I will listen, even if no one else does.” She looked around the room, “I did not know your friend, but nobody simply forgets or ignores something like this. It is crazy to expect that, also.”

[Max]

Ruben Geraltes Tarblatt

---

“Headmaster. Dellamorte.”

The Headmaster stopped his pace and perked his vision upward at the sound of a synthesized, robotic voice calling out to him. He turned, a small show of concern etched on his face, which didn’t dissipate when he saw the spindly, gauze-covered, metal-headed figure approaching him from the administration doors. “Are you…” He asked, raising a finger from his side, pointing at the… thing standing before him. “Tarblatt.” It replied, “Ruben. Geraltes. Tarblatt.”

“Ah…” The Headmaster exclaimed, lowering his finger and returning his hand to his backside. “Our visitor. I’m sorry, I… didn’t recall your appearance from the photos.” He cleared his throat and continued, “I trust your voyage and arrival were pleasant?”

“Yes.” Ruben replied, “Commendations to your staff. For their efficiency. And. Their bravery.”

“Braver- oh.” The Headmaster exclaimed, his look of expression shifting from feigned politeness to a blatant scowl. He continued, “Yes, Professor Olin’s… address to the students, just now. Heard it on my way out. Sir, I assure you, our staff is much more professional than such an event would indicate. I-“

“Not. Professionalism.” Ruben replied. He was met with an inquisitive look from the Headmaster, after which he continued, “Attention. Dedication. To more. Than just. The Academy. To each other. To resolve and solution. Their concern for Vera Dubnin is. Very. Admirable. While I do not share their memories. Or their. Companionship. I will gladly offer. Any assistance. To the investigation effort.” The Headmaster’s look of concern grew more evident. “Investi- sir, Professor Tarblatt…” The Headmaster responded, “I… appreciate your offer, I very much do. But this is a matter of our concern, not yours. Trust me, if something comes up that you may be able to assist with, I will inform you. Otherwise, please… just stick to your own agenda. That is, after all, what you were invited here for.”

Ruben paused for a moment. He was still. He just… stared, at the Headmaster, his monocular eye narrowing some. The Headmaster didn’t do away with his scowl as he stood there, waiting for any sort of inclination of understanding from him. After a moment, Ruben stated, “Very. Well.” He continued with, “Disregarding. Vera Dubnin. I have. A request. For permission to conduct. An experiment.”

“What is it?” The Headmaster replied, tilting his head. Ruben had left the document explaining the nature of the Limbo machine with Professor Blackmore. And he didn’t want to waste either of their time explaining the entire concept to him. So he decided on the next best option.

“Please direct me. To the Laboratory. And I. Will. Show you.” Ruben stated.

…

They entered through the door, into what seemed like a frozen meat locker. The Headmaster followed Ruben inside, surveying all of the materials and equipment the staff had transferred for him. The obvious setup of terminals and machines he wasn’t aware of the nature of. The crates filled with spare parts, wiring, lab essentials, etc. Vats and canisters filled with some kind of bright blue fluid. Bovine carcasses sealed airtight in plastic containers. His attention shifted slowly to the large, metallic box situated at the far end of the room. He watched as Ruben stepped towards it, extending one of his limbs into a thin, narrow appendage that pressed the keypad in sequence, unlocking the box. The seals on the door flew open as it slowly opened up, cold wisps of air pouring out. Ruben stepped into the box, and back out, clinging to something with a series of appendages he suddenly possessed. The Headmaster rubbed his hands together, fighting off the cold in the room as Ruben turned, rolling something across the tiled flooring. It was the machine from the diagram printed on the document Ruben gave to Adam; the Limbo machine.

The Headmaster watched as Ruben interacted with a small console on the side of the machine. ”Limbo startup sequence initiated.” Announced a grained, synthesized, female-sounding voice from the console, “Please remain clear of the machine.” The hexagonal dodecahedron surrounding it suddenly lit up with white, segmented LED lights. The bars between each segment began to extend, enlarging the contraption. The two stepped away as the object inside folded outward into an odd-looking chair. The lights turned blue, and it remained still. ”Startup sequence complete. Awaiting operator.”

The Headmaster examined the machine, strafing around it. “What is this thing?” He asked. Ruben gave him the same explanation he gave Adam. “Neural. Integration. Device. Creates modifiable. Simulations. Built. For the training. And advancement. Of the abilities. Of Cerebral-class meta-humans. Future developments. Could extend its utilization. To other classes. As well.”

“And I suppose…” The Headmaster replied, turning to Ruben, “You want a few students to test it?”

“Volunteers.” Ruben exclaimed, “No. Mandatory sessions. Only. Volunteers. Tests would consist. Of building simulated environments. Individual calibrations. And collecting data. Formal training is reserved. For later occasions. The machine. Has been tested. By myself. No frequent errors. Malfunctions. Or inconveniences are. Present. Staff. Supervision. Will be. Commonplace.” The Headmaster paused for a moment, looking back at the Limbo machine. “I… normally wouldn’t consider something like this… but…” He nodded his head and continued, “You have a reputation about you from the outside world. And you certainly know what you’re doing, I can see that. So I will… allow, supervised tests. For anyone who volunteers, that is. I assume you’ll handle recruiting and attention?”

“Yes.” Ruben replied, “Will utilize. Bulletins. Around. Academy. Grounds.”

“Very well.” The Headmaster said, walking past Ruben, heading towards the door. “Go make your introductions with the other staff and let them know about the project, but mind Olin, he’s still…” He turned towards Ruben and made a short swirling gesture with his hand. “Agitated, regarding the issue with Vera.”

“Agitated.” Ruben repeated the word with some faint sense of… annoyance. A sense the Headmaster didn’t pick up on, hopefully. “Yes. Understood.” The Headmaster nodded, and continued towards the exit. He announced during his walk, “Oh, and, set up a seminar or two with administration, get a grasp on the concept of teaching. Have to have you focus on something other than that machine.” He exited the room, leaving Ruben to his devices.

Ruben, almost without any hesitation, walked back to the Limbo machine’s console and began typing into it. He didn’t bother plugging in the ANI.

>run fpd
“Initiating foreign program detection.”
>atat >run fpe
”Action “foreign program expulsion” added to automatic tasks.”
>atat >run olr
”Action “operator login request” added to automatic tasks.”
>run slm
”Silent mode activated.”

Ruben stepped away from the machine. It was running a scan to detect any programs or bugs that didn’t belong there, and if there were any, they’d be purged afterwards. As well, it was running on silent mode. From any normal perspective, the machine would appear to be inoperable. Would deter from anyone tampering with it in case they stumbled inside. The “operator login request” action would enable the system asking for Ruben’s personal password as soon as the first two commands were complete. No one would be able to use it period.

He knew it was… a little uncouth. But he refused to take any risks. Even in the presence of reputable, respected individuals. He proceeded towards the door, leaving the Limbo machine in relative safety. He exited the room and locked it from the outside.

Time to say hello to the staff.

[Auri Blue]

June watched as the headmaster left the stage with feelings of bitterness and disappointment coursing through him. This had been the same treatment Sebastian had been given, his own academy had brushed off the incident and taken zero responsibility and made no attempts to actually fix the underlying problems. Weak. Pathetic. This headmaster was exactly the same. He was readying himself to leave and find something to set of fire, preferably something expensive and school property, when a crocodile started wading his way through the crowds to the stage. June piqued up, his interest captured by the unusual creature. He'd never seen a power like it before and couldn't really tell the gender or age from a look at this distance. Come to think of it he didn't know much about bestial-meta humans and only had rumors to go on, some people said they lost their humanity, others said otherwise. Usually this would be a ridiculously interesting turn of events but he was busy being pissed at the headmasters lack of responsibility and accountability to be more than intrigued. That was until Dr. Olin started talking. One question answered, he was well and truly in touch with his humanity, more so than the headmaster for sure. This guy said everything that should have been said to begin with. A person was dead, a living breathing entity not some point of data to be addressed then forgotten, and he didn't back down from the hard truths either.

By the time Henry was finished June had a grim smile of his features, at least one person in the staff knew what was right, at least he was taking some measure of responsibility. He hadn't erased the fact that the school had failed the girl, and June was naturally still going to cause them some pain for that, but he had earned some respect back for the establishment. If only a little. The voice behind him brought June out of his thoughts and he looked back over his shoulder to Dreadlock and what he had to say caused June to quirk an eyebrow in surprise. "Well" he said after a moments consideration, his distinctive Australian accent as prominent as ever "the headmaster is more of a dropkick than Id pegged him for, which is pretty fucking incredible to be honest. Though I have to admit Professor Scales surprised me. Looks like at least one of the staff doesn't have their heads up their asses. Doesn't fix the fact they fucked up, but its nice to know. And what about you Dreadlock" he smirked, they had nicknames already, how cute "Any startling insights into this mess?" What the hell, he might as well make a start on actually getting to know the kid a little. He had planned on meeting people today after all and was going to chat with the kid eventually. Besides, casual antagonism was one of his favourite pastimes even when he was pissed at a failed authority structure.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Deborah Lillian Termellio.

---

Gorillaz Doncamatic (Joker Remix)

(For now, Shannon's just hovering over the group since I dunno what I want to do with her)

The Garden? Yeah, that works just fine for Deborah, it's nice and beautiful. The perfect place to get her mind off things. The best way to forget about the Headmaster's worthlessness. Deborah ran her hand over the back of her head, and nodded. Her eyes were dead on Aislin, and scanning the girl for anything she could for her power to activate (Her reaction to the speeches are a reflection of mine). Understandable. Deborah was extremely aggravated by the Headmaster - which is why she's glad she decided to go against his orders right off the bat - but offset by Henry doing what the Headmaster should have done. However, that doesn't make everything right. There was still a dead woman that Deborah vowed to do everything in her power to get justice for.... Or was it less of a matter of justice, and just more of Deborah wanting to know who would kill her. That thought worried her... And it showed as she stared worryingly into the floor as she bit her fingers. Her intentions were right? Helping people, right?

".... Yeah, Garden sounds okay," Deborah quickly snapped out of it and answered Aislin. She was going to get to the bottom of this. Regardless of being driven by small things such as morality, or her insatiable curiosity. At the corner of her eyes, she noticed that the Voss's were approaching. Her eyes wandered towards them (They wish to come along). Hmm... There might be too many people around for Aislin to tell her tale. Deborah turned her eyes towards the girl and scanned for her body-language, that forced smile... (Aislin is uncomfortable now). That was exactly what Deborah feared, but she can work with it, yes. Just dip into somewhere private for a moment and have this talk and move along.

Deborah loudly sighed, "Yes, yes, everyone can come along..." Deborah took a few steps towards the exit, but she graced Aislin with the back of her own hand. Just for a second. That was enough for Deborah to open a mental link, and send a simple message:

I know you're uncomfortable around this many people, but we'll have quick chat elsewhere, okay?

Manifesting in Aislin's head like an intrusive voice. Deborah flashed Aislin a quick smile as she walked out the door. Her whole group was following her. Funny, she had her own group here made out of people she knew for a grand total of a few days - Some of which have barely even been here for more than a few days themselves. Yet, they were already willing to follow her, and regard her as a friend (Because she'd do the same). Was her personality that magnetic? Deborah turned her head back towards them, and smirked yet again. Guess so. Deborah's march was slow and steady.

Eventually they made it, Deborah stepped inside after holding the door open for everyone. She took one look... Still the beautiful garden it always was. She took in one breath - but choose to remain focused. Her goal here was to talk to Aislin, then move on. She had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery. "Hey," Deborah said as she turned around to face her troupe. "I need to have a word with my girl Aislin here, you know, just for a few minutes." She grabbed onto Aislin's wrist and pulled her off - followed by Shannon.

They were gone in a few second, but not for long. Deborah needed to find them a nice bench! It would need to be far away, and not covered in piss. An easy criteria to meet, actually. It wasn't long until she found a bench to sit down on. She sat down in the center of it - center being in between Shannon and Aislin. Deborah let out a sigh. Time to get started.... She thought to herself, almost saying it out loud.

"Alright, what's up?" Deborah said, trying to hide the fact that she most likely knew. "You can talk to me about anything, Aislin, remember that."

---

Adam Leo Blackmore.

---

I don't know loss...? Adam narrowed his eyes, and tried to keep that stern professional demeanor during Henry's whole speech against him. Though, he had to work really hard to do so. It always had annoyed him when people went up against him like this. Of course he knew something about loss - Or, honestly, did he anymore? Many students have died on this island... it's almost like a statistic to him, as dark as that sounds. But, he needed to address the matter at hand here - Henry encouraging them to help. Adam isn't a dumb man, he knows that students will be getting into the matters, despite his wishes. They are young, stupid, and impulsive - a dangerous combination. Which is why he's going to stop them whenever he can. Because this is not a child's job, this is job for Adam.

"With all due respect, Olin..." Adam said, glaring at Henry, taking one large step until they were face-to-face. "... I do not agree with the Headmaster either, I have no problems with you taking matters into your own hands, but keep them out of it." He huffed, not moving an inch - his body was still as a statue. "Half of what I'm going to be doing is making sure they don't get involved - and when they do, getting them out of it. Because do you understand what we're dealing with?" Adam asked Henry, breaking his eerie stillness, just for a second, he pointed back towards the Administration building. "We could be dealing with anything. Do you honestly want the students out there attempting to handle it themselves, and do something stupid?!" Adam slammed it on his foot.

In all honestly, after Adam said that, he knew that Henry would come up with some retort about how Adam's wrong. They always do. Which is what really made him realize how pointless this conversation is. Adam simply walked around Henry, rolling his eyes. However, after he got some distance away from Henry - around twelve or so feet - he turned back and looked at Henry. He gave him some last words, before leaving, "... If anyone gets hurt, it's on you."

---

Theresa Sindel Obott.

---

Who is this girl? Attempting to level with Theresa, get her to talk about her feelings... Bleh. One thing that Theresa did was never opening up easily. It was just too personal for her tastes. Too much emotion. Too much... Just too much. And not enough fun. Theresa couldn't help but notice the lack of a reaction from Rosette to anything really. Even now, she knew that there was something off about Rosette. She was so emotionless... It was just so off-putting to Theresa. "That's nice... thank you for the offer." Theresa calmly said to Rosette. "But I hope you understand, that I really understand, that you won't understand...."

---

Jago Andrew Termellio.

---

Dreadlock? Aw, how cute. Jago got himself a pet name. How fucking adorable.

Jago rolled his eyes at his brand new pet-name. He took a long slurp of his soda - and drank it all to the bottom. The whole time he was giving the Fruit-loop here a narrow look. One that just said "Fuck off". Because if he keeps calling him "Dreadlock", he's gonna get flying kicked across the room. And he means hard enough to send him through fucking walls. Ugh. Whatever. Whatever kept Jago distracted - long as he kept up on that, then everything would be all dandy. Besides, Jago has some very vocal opinions about what happened - and aw, hell, what is good opinion if you can't share it? The first thing he did was discard that empty bottle of soda. Just tossed it on the ground. Wasn't like they didn't have people to clean it up! He pointed at the big-old Fruit Loop with one finger. "First off, fuck our bitch-ass headmaster." That was the most eloquent way to put it! Fuck that guy. Just fuck him. But he had to continue, of course. The boy's not finished off. "Two, I expected that worthless bastard to try some shit like this, I saw it coming from a million miles away. Someone gotta cover their ass in all of this. Might as well be him...." Jago broke eye contact with June and scanned. Looks like Debs and their merry band is leaving. He rolled his eyes. He should be joining them - because, hell, if anyone's gonna do anything about it, it's gonna be Debby - and Jago, of course, there's way too fire in her heart. But here he is, talking shit to Fruit-loops.

"But, ya' know..." Jago trailed off, rolling his eyes. "I'll tell you now, I don't think he'd do jackshit. I seen his type time and time again, and I'm sure he won't even be the last fat fucker that fits the bill." He crossed his arms. "It's up to people who don't sit around to actually get shit done, y'hear?"

[Whoami]

Before everybody was in the auditorium, Kade was standing on her own among the crowd, looking around the place. She was searching for Valjean, trying to see if he was acting suspiciously. Out of nowhere, his voice chimed in behind her, "Hey, Kade," she turned, surprised by his appearance. "How have you been, girl?"

Kade pinched her nose, "Thought I smelled a ball of dung in this room... Guess I know where from..." she waved her hands in a wafting away motion. "Good since I haven't had to deal with your clueless ass recently. But right now? Could be -much- better."

She stopped her little play of smelling something foul and had a more serious look on her face as she studied him. Did he know that Kade might have been onto him? "What do you want, Valjean? Another tour of the inverse?" Kade crossed her arms. There was an obvious tension there, it was quite well known that Kade and Valjean were like Jedi and Sith. When people began to file into the auditorium, Kade glanced over, then back at Valjean, "Watch your back." she mumbled to him and went into the auditorium.

She found a seat, in between two first year students. They were talking around her and it was enough to give her a headache, she tried to shut them out and wait for the headmaster. When he arrived, she glared at the two young first year students to shut up, they got the idea. Kade stared at the headmaster intently, she wanted to mention Valjean to him. She listened to every word he had to say, and it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"The hell kind of speech was that?" she growled in a whisper, prompting a 'shh!' from the first year student to her right. She elbowed him, making him rub his arm. Kade was just about to up and leave, but decided against it when she saw Henry take to the stage. His words were more along the lines of what she, and no doubt everybody else in the school, wanted to hear. She breathed easy, and when it was time to leave the auditorium en mass, she did so calmly. Kade scanned the crowd for the headmaster, the cane made him quite easy to spot. She walked over to him, "Headmaster Dellamorte? Can I speak with you please?"

[Jazzy]

Henry Olin and Ruben Tarblatt

"That's fine, Adam." Henry replied. "I'll make sure not to repeat the same mistakes you have, seeing as you're so unaffected by the lives lost on you. I'll make sure to not let it happen to begin with." he sniped. "I do hope you come around though..." Henry trailed off as Adam left the bulding. He was about to leave himself, but was stopped as another entered, expressing the want to communicate with him. He turned around just as a metal headed... gauze mummy approached him. He would normally be taken aback by such a strange looking person, but he didn't exactly fit the bill of normal.

"Professor. Henry. Olin." Ruben announced, seizing the opportunity to introduce himself to another member of the staff. He sought to keep things civil and, most likely, brief. This was the one from the assembly who took a stand after the Headmaster and voiced his concern and distaste at his superior's stance towards the situation regarding the deceased student. And he seemed adamant about his standoint, reinforcing it with his own repuation and experiences with the students. For that, Ruben had nothing but respect. He approached the man-lizard, hoping to recieve much the same civility and respect he intended to show him.

Henry retracted his teeth and gave the newcomer a gummy smile. "Please," he replied. "Just call me Henry." he stated, his lips falling down to cover his gums, but still retaining the upwards curve at the end of his lips. "I haven't seen you around before." He continued, offering his hand for the strange new person to take. His voice was synthesized, he couldn't get a read on what age this person was from that. His appearance was hidden mostly as well, not that it would be a huge giveaway. He was not only a mere twenty five, but also what some students call Godzilla. The school wasn't exactly picky on who was a teacher as long as they had the prerequisites, but more often than not people in their late thirties to late fourties were teachers. Adam being a prime example of that. "I've been a student her so long most of my current students forget I'm their Chemistry teacher. I think it's because I enjoy setting things on fire that shouldnt be on fire just as much as they do. Exothermic reactions sound and look cool." He commented. "What's your name?"

Ruben stood there for a moment, waiting to see if the man-lizard was actually finished. Deciding he was, he extended his limb and pulled the same grow-a-hand trick he did for Adam. "Ruben. Geraltes. Tarblatt." He replied, his visor narrowing on Henry, observing him. "I was invited. By the Academy. Staff. To visit the grounds. And consider. A teaching. Opportunity." He retracted his limb after the handshake and continued, "I have been advised. That making. My. Introductions. With the other. Staff members. Would be a positive. Action. To begin with." There was a bit of a pause when Ruben stated, "I witnessed. Your. Impromptu address. At. The assembly."

Henry watched carefully as Ruben created a hand. That was... definitely interesting. It wasn't something he hadn't seen Megan do before though. Ms. Jervious was always a strange one when it came to her shape shifting and it's capabilities. Nevertheless, Henry grabbed it with his huge four fingered palm and shook firmly. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Ruben, or do you prefer Mr. Tarblatt?" he questioned. Some of the teachers, like Faust, preferred to be called by their last names over their first. Henry would respect their wishes either way, but it usually told him a bit about what kind of person they were based on their answer. That and what kind of shoes they wore. Which was N/A based upon this person's getup. Not that Henry could dock him. He didn't wear and shoes either. "Welcome to the Academy. I've been here for... a very long time. Over a decade now. So you came to the right person." Henry began. "Why dont you join me for some coffee? We can talk a bit at the school's cafe. It'll be easier to fill you in there. I've been asleep for a while and I could use something to get the sleep out of my eyes." He said, giving a small smile to Ruben. "My treat."

Ruben's eye narrowed for a minute, seemingly getting a read on Henry. It widened after a moment, whereupon he replied, "Very. Well."

---

After the two of them made their way to the Cafe, Henry had taken one of the seats outside. It was humid outside, and a little bit cloudy, but there was a certain calming affect to it, at least to him. The storm from a few days ago could still be heard far off in the distance, where it was no doubt approaching the mainland of Mexico. The island was located on one of the larger islands in the Carribean, so tropical storms and every now and again, Hurricanes, hit. The island was normally safe, but every now and again things would get out of hand. Like in Katrina.

"This is Academy 218." Henry said, pushing his iphone onto the table and lightly tapping his claw on the island the academy was located on, on a map he had pulled up. "Our island is about the size of the island of Honolulu, Hawaii." he stated. "As you'd imagine, there are accidents here and there in a school full of superhumans. I've been in my fair share of them." Henry stated. "My speach was about a recent accident. One of my friends was... Murdered, from what we believe. I found her on Tuesday evening." He stated. "She was one of my best friends, and I dont want her to be forgotten. A lot of students are going to be investigating on their own. At this point I want them to know they can ask me for help." He stated, rubbing his forehead. "It's a very complicated endeavor." He stated.

At this point, a woman in the cafe uniform walked over. "Henry!" She said, giving the reptilian man a quick hug. "Good to see you again! The regular?" she asked. Henry scratched the back of his neck and nodded. "One large regular with cream coming up." She said. She seemed to catch herself on something. "And that blasted cherry you keep asking us to get." She said, scribbling the order down on her note pad before turning towards Ruben. "And for you sir?" she questioned.

"I. Am incapable. Of consuming. Any. Form. Of beverage." Ruben replied, his eye narrowing on the barrista. "I. Will not. Be ordering. Thank you."

"He'll have the Pink Rasberry Passion." Henry quickly cut in. The woman rolled her eyes and scribbled the note down and walked off to prepare their drinks.

Ruben's Brainvault twitched to the side a bit, an audible snapping sound accompanying it. He disregarded Henry's joke of an order and decided to skip to the underlying questions. "Henry." He started, "I have. A request. To make of you."

Henry pulled his phone back and stuffed it in his khaki's pockets, he reclined in his chair, his large tail flicking around here and there absentmindedly. "By all means Ruben. Shoot. I'll do what I can." he said.

"When I was invited. The Academy. Requested. That I bring with me. My own equipment. To present. To. The students." He said, "One of these. Devices. Is a project. That I. Have. Been. Working on for. Some time. It... is..." Ruben began to trail off as he thought about how twice he'd have to describe things the long way. He decided to go a different route, raising one of his limbs. "Are you. Aware. Of the concept. Of. The transfer. Of. Memories. And. Neural imprints. Through physical. Contact."

Henry raised and eyeridge, but got the idea of what Ruben was implying. He rested his elbows on the table and let his snout rest on his knuckles. "I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going." he stated, a stupid grin on his face. Ruben disregarded Henry's remark and extended his limb. Out of the stump grew a sinewy, red proboscis. Henry simply watched it in some combination of fascination and disgust. In a split moment, the tendril tapped the area designated as his forehead. Just, one quick tap. He reared his head back a bit as all the rudimentary information regarding the Limbo machine entered his mind through Ruben's touch. Ruben retracted the tendril into his limb and waited for Henry to respond.

"Okay, okay, let me get this straight." Henry said. "In a way you want to play minesweeper with telepaths?"

"I. Require. Testing." Ruben replied, "Testing. Requires. Subjects. Volunteers, specifically. I wish. To extend the device's. Capabilities. Through gradual expanse. Of the virtual. Database. This will allow it. To benefit other. Classes. Of meta-humans. As well. I would like. To ask you. If you. Would. Supervise these sessions. Professor Blackmore. Has already agreed. To do so. Himself."

"I know of a few students, and potentially teachers who would benefit from your testing." Henry began. "Greta Faust is a telepath, and a teacher here. When you get the chance, I'd recommend getting in contact with her. She will be able to assist a good deal." He began. "I'm a Chemist, and I lecture in many subjects, such as biochemistry. I get a lot of biology oreintated students in my biochemistry lectures. One of which who is scheduled to attend is a woman named Claire Voss." he said. "She is a telepath, a new one, what she is capable of we dont know yet." He said. "She's married to another student who will be attending, Benjamin Voss. She, and others who know him claim for him to be the biblical beast Behemoth." He said. "I dont really believe any of that, personally." He said. "Ben's mute, but if you can find him, he can help you find Claire." he stated. "I trust Adam's judgement, but we havent been seeing eye to eye recently so I must ask, is this... Limbo... is it safe? What are the risks? I dont want anyone's brain getting friend while under my supervision."

At this point, the woman returned, placing their drinks at the table. Henry gave her a smile, and nodded. "You know my code. Just shoot me the bill that way." he stated, before taking a sip of his coffee. "Continue, Ruben." he stated, listening intently.

Ruben stared at the drink Henry ordered for him, the... "Pink Rasberry Passion". He turned his head at it and it just... filled him with a sense of inexplicable disgust. He slowly raised his vision back towards Henry and said, "The machine. Is. Tested. There are no. Flaws. It is simply. Empty."

Henry smiled at Ruben as he seemed to look at the drink and cringe. "Everyone knocks them until they try it." Henry said, shrugging. "It must really suck having no mouth. There's a lot of good food out there." he said, reaching over and grabbing the drink, downing the whole cup himself before placing it next to Ruben again. "Jess made it. Tell her you loved it. She's a friend of mine." he said, winking to him.

Ruben stared at Henry for a moment before turning his head towards the main counter. He got up out of his chair and proceeded towards the area, leaving Henry seated at the table. He stepped up to the counter and announced, "Jess." He watched as the girl who brought them their drinks walked over to the opposite side of the counter and looked at him. "Yes, sir?" She asked. Ruben paused for a moment, he was... honestly surprised regarding the way everyone wrote his appearance off as perfectly normal. It wasn't like this in the mainland, it was... more arduous, to say the least. But this... this was pleasant. Welcome, even. He snapped out of his pondering and said, "The beverage. Was. Delectable. Thank you."

Henry slapped himself in the forehead. Even he, as a huge ass lizard, had managed to not be socially inept. When Ruben moved back over to the table, Henry dragged his hand down his snout. "I meant more when she came over here." He said. "Forget it." He sighed, looking over to see that the brunette woman was caught in an awkward expression that was a cross between embarassment, confusion, and humor. She looked like she didn't know if she was supposed to laugh or... well, Henry didn't know. "Back on topic, I'm happy to assist you with your research, Ruben." He said. "I would be my pleasure as a teacher to see students grow and prosper."

"Your assistance. Is. Greatly. Appreciated." Ruben replied, "Please inform. Any other. Students. And staff. Whom you believe. Would benefit. Or enjoy. The opportunity." He slowly rose from his chair and said, "I will. Continue. My commute. About the. Academy. It was a pleasure. Making your. Acquaintance. Henry." He extended his limb and pulled the old trick from before. Henry smiled, and clapped his hand against Ruben's and shook firmly, but did not rise fromt he chair. "You go on ahead then. I'm going to stay here and finish my coffee." he said. "Enjoy the island. Hopefully the sun comes out again soon, you can show off your beach body." Henry laughed.

[SerpentGear]

Rosette Sauveterre

Rosette looked at the woman, “You are too quick to judge me.” She said, before rising from her seat, “In any case, these events greatly concern me. The Headmaster has handled this situation poorly. There should have been a proper funeral or memorial service. With the culprit running loose, and people deciding to take matters into their own hands, there is no telling how many innocent people will be punished by overzealous vigilante heroes or how many of these people will overestimate their own strength and get injured after picking fights.” She looked around, her voice dropping to a murmur, more to herself than another person, “Speaking of regulations, groups of three at all times…” She mused, before finally walking off, leaving Theresa to her private thoughts.

Rosette was not a person to show her emotions, but by no means was she apathetic. Her ability to reign in her feelings so that logic could prevail had been a necessary evil. If she were to permit herself to experience too much of any emotion, whether it was fear, anger, grief, even happiness; any extreme could result in a disaster. She had to tone down her feelings for the sake of processing information and ensuring that nothing was left out of consideration. It was the only way that she had managed to survive, for she had risked her life on multiple occasions for the sake of research. Why she continued to place herself in a dangerous situation was a mystery, even to Rosette herself, except that an odd combination of revulsion and curiosity motivated her to continue in the use of her dimensional-phasing powers.

Rosette was fully aware that her own behaviors placed her at odds with others, for the most part. Her personality, however, was nothing comparable to that of a pie or cake, if flavor could be some sort of parallel. Most people did not immediately reap any sort of benefit or pleasure from her company; some were even repulsed by it. If Rosette were comparable to a flavor, it was strong, bitter coffee. Some people, rarely, liked it the first time they tried it, some never did. There were also people brave enough to try it multiple times, until they gradually found that they had developed a liking for it. Overall, Rosette had her good points, but people who were too quick to judge her for the sharp bitterness that marked her personality were unlikely to learn what made her truly unique as a person. It was a quite silly-sounding metaphor, but not an entirely bad one.

Codi Bailey, Atticus Fowler, and Rosette Sauveterre

After the speech made by the Headmaster, and then Henry’s outburst, Atticus continued to sit by his friend Codi, who seemed completely stunned. It was not grief or terror that caused her to freeze like a statue, but the sheer lack of emotion on the part of the Headmaster, who was supposed to be responsible for all of the students’ safety. Neither of them took his statement very well, as it was so impersonal and numb to the feelings and emotions of the student body and faculty that it seemed he did not even care at all. They did not know if it was because he genuinely did not care about the person who had died, or if it was because something like the murder had never happened before. Either way, asking people to ignore a murder was a ridiculous request that would never be fulfilled.

“Hey, Atticus…?” Codi asked, finally choking something out, her voice coming out as a weird squeak. He looked at her, keeping his expression stoic, although he hid his hands in his pockets to conceal the fact that they were shaking. “Do you think this sort of thing is normal? A lot of people seemed shocked, but the Headmaster just didn’t seem to act that way…” She drifted off, not sure why she suddenly felt so tired. Once again, the stress was wearing her down. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed and fall asleep. With her limbs as heavy and sore as they felt from the workout yesterday, they might as well have been lumps of coral on the bottom of the ocean floor.

Atticus glimpsed at the empty stage, “I don’t know, but for whatever reason, he sure didn’t capture the hearts of anyone in this auditorium, did he?” He said, his voice conveying more of the emotion that wasn’t apparent on his face. “Look, let’s just find a third person to walk with us and get out of here. Something about this room is starting to bug me, and there isn’t even a real reason why.” He said, before the two got up.

It was then that Rosette walked up to them after having approached from the other side of the room, once again, completely unnoticed. Her sudden appearance startled Atticus, who turned around and backed away quickly upon seeing her, “Oh, yikes! A little warning before you walk up behind people!” He exclaimed, before the shock wore off. “Are you looking for people to leave the auditorium with?” He asked, his face having never changed once.

Rosette tilted her head quizzically, “It is strange how your emotions carry into every aspect of your voice and body language, but never once show on your face.” She commented, before answering, “Yes, I saw you over here, and I do not have anyone else to walk with.”

Codi looked at her, “Hey, Rosette, how is your day?” She asked, the question sounding weird, considering the circumstances.

“My day has been somewhat horrid, but I suspect not a lot of people have had much sleep. Everyone is on edge and giving each other suspicious looks, and a great tension hangs over the entire school. I have been getting some of these looks, and it is enough to make me say that there truly are times that I wish I could sink into the floor and be forgotten, for a time.” She said, “It also makes me want to cry, but I refrain from that.”

Atticus pulled his hands out of his pockets, somehow feeling calmer just by looking at this person who seemed to feel nothing at all, yet stated their emotions. The fact that she could mentally process what she felt and effectively deal with her emotions was to the point that it was almost scary. It had made him suspicious and uneasy before, but after repeated cases where she had clearly been making awkward attempts at friendship, as weak as they were, he had gotten used to it. She had been isolated since the age of eleven, and had been isolated for eleven more years, literally half of her life. He had to be more forgiving, since even one year without any sort of outside contact had been proven to negatively affect people’s ability to talk to strangers. “You never seem like you want to cry.” He said.

Rosette raised an eyebrow at him, a mild facial expression, “Neither do you, until you get caught off-guard.” She said.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Headmaster Dellamorte.

---

A student? Headmaster Dellamorte stopped in his tracks and turned around towards Kade. She was asking to speak with him...? No. No student speaks to him outside of his appointments. "No." The Headmaster sternly said as he walked off, completely ignoring Kade.

Like a boss.

---

Valjean Vaseal, Ben & Claire Voss

---

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Bullshit, bullshit, and, shocker, more bullshit.

That's all that came out of Kade's mouth! To the surprise of no one. Valjean himself found it all too funny - little bitch thinks she's tough, huh? Well, he could show her how wrong she is right now, but there's too many people watching... Even without Lizard-freak, or Adumb, there's probably one goody-two-shoes who would step in to feel important. To top it off, Kade told him to "watch his back". Pttf. What jackass would try and sneak up on him? Anyone with a brain knows about his seismic sensee and his sense of smell. It'd pick up anything. Anything! As Kade walked off. "Oh, I'm sorry," Valjean said with a smirk, he took a step back (leaving one foot in front) and put both of his hands up. "I think you mistaken me for one of your weak-ass friends." He let his French accent slip in as he replied. Only bitch that needs their back watched is Kade herself, and these punk-ass kids who can't shit without mommy or daddy holding their hand. "Bonjour." Valjean said easily the most well-known French word.

That Kade girl is cute. If that dumbass survives the night; then Valjean would be surprised. He still had the fleeting suspicion she did - and he knew from her reaction that the feeling's mutual. Whatever. Valjean found a seat and dropped his French ass onto it and waited for this speech to be over. When the Headmaster walked on, and talked his shit, it was brilliant! No, not the speech itself (It was pretty shitty) but how everyone - even Debby - was getting all riled up about it. Then the Lizard-Freak had to step up and play hero. Valjean made a loud (And rude as possible) "Pttf!" sound as he sinked deeper into his seat. Henry just proved the same thing - for like the thirteenth time! That he's a big. Scaly. Tool. Gotta do stuff like this to look important (When he's really not!).

Eh, whatever.

Time to move along, eh? Not too much to go over here. Valjean looked over at Debby... and she's leaving with... What had to be the biggest fucker on the planet. Valjean totally ignored everyone else- because who gives a fuck about them? - and focused on Ben. Even from a glance, Valjean knew that this guy meant business! More importantly, why the hell is Debby leaving with him? He understood leaving with the red-haired dyke, but this guy? His dick probably fell off from all the roids. Valjean's strength on the other hand? All natural, baby. But that wasn't the point. Point was that Debby was leaving with Ben. Which can't be happening. Nope. Nope. No good.

The only natural thing to do here was go after them! Make a scene! Be a man! Make Ben into a bitch!

Thankfully, following them out of sight was easy-peasy. Seismic-sense made that all too easy. They were heading for the Garden? That lame place? Come on, Debby, go somewhere cooler than that. Valjean rolled his eyes. He thinks one time he pissed on some flowers. Hahaha. He thinks they grew real big after that one! Valjean followed them in... thankfully Debby, the Ginger, and some generic bitch, walked out. Good, good. This was a matter that was best settled between men. All Jean has to do is scare this big man off, and they'll be all set. No need for anyone else to get involved.

Ben was estatic that they were heading to the garden. It was his place of happiness and it gave him a sense of calm. It was full of health and life and it was just the place he wanted to go to right now. As they walked in, a few flowers seemed to pop up underneath Ben's feet from his mere presence. There was a spring in his step. It made him happy. To some it might seem comical that a person like him seemed to be enjoying himself with something so simple, but Ben didn't care much about that. "I love seeing him like this." Claire said as she walked beside Deborah and Shannon. "He would always run through the fields in our ranch and come home covered in dirt and sweat and always had a huge grin on his face." she continued. "Ever since I met him he's been pretty in touch with the world around him. It's... it's kinda like I married a big sweet kid." She said. "We're both pretty immature though." She waved goodbye to them as they walked off to speak with Aislin about something. She didn't feel like prying at the moment. She'd have to get to know Aislin. She seemed like a nice girl. She took a seat on one of the garden's benches and decided to watch Ben enjoy himself. He needed to do that, he hadn't in a while.

"Hey big man, what are you doing?" Valjean said as he approached, his accent was thick. He rubbed his hands together as if he was dusting something off. He would use his powers - but fuck that. He didn't need superpowers for this one. "What you doing following my girl around like a little puppy-dog?" Valjean completely ignored Claire.

Ben turned around, and looked down, per the usual, to come face to face with what looked like a football player. He was tall, muscular, and had a French accent. That was pretty cool! He raisd an eyebrow at Valjean, he had gotten to the garden before the others had, and they had just walked off and he had shown no intention of following them. He shrugged, bent over and plucked a flower out of the ground and stuck it in the crook of Valjean's hair, he then turned around to continue with whatever it was he was doing. "He's mute." Claire pitched in from the sidelines, her arms crossed as she looked at the scene humorously.

Valjean looked confused when the big man put a goddamn flower in his hair. A fucking flower. Was this guy retarded or something? Valjean grabbed onto the stem of the flower, and focused really hard. The flower crumbled into sand... piece by piece. "Heeeey, what the fuck?" Valjean asked. "I'm trying to have a man-to-man talk with him and you put a goddamn flower in my hair?" It only registered later what Claire had said about him being mute. "Oh." He shrugged. Well, time to talk with his fists! Valjean didn't have time to play charades with this moron. He quickly thrusted his fist right into Ben's chest. Take his goddamn breath away and leave him rolling around on the ground winded!

Ben turned around to listen to whatever Claire was saying just in time to have a solid punch land on his chest. He stumbled back, not winded, but he was holding his chest with one hand and had a stunned expression on his face. He had a look that said 'Why would you DO that?'. Claire stood up at this display. "What the hell was that for?" she questioned. She didn't run in, she knew better than that because this guy could very likely hit her. She couldn't take a punch like Ben could. She stood and watched for now. She'd move in and seperate them if she really needed to. Ben would listen to her, he wouldn't hurt her. He was capable and mature enough to handle himself, and he seemed more surprised than upset or angry.

Whoa? Why isn't he on the ground? Looks like he'll have to do a lot more to bring this motherfucker down. Maybe punch him like... five more times? Maybe fifty. Fifty punches right to the dick. Valjean absentmindedly shrugged in response to Claire. "Mute fucker should have stayed away from my girl." Valjean quickly answered Claire as he scanned her up and down. Damn. She has nice tits. She could use them like a goddamn hot air balloon if she wanted to. "But you on the other hand... Have some very nice tits." He flashed her a cocky smile.

Ben saw red for a moment, and while Valjean's back was turned, Ben looked ready to grab him by the neck and pop his head off of his shoulders. But he took a breath, and stopped. He took a step back, and grabbed Valjean's shoulder and turned him around, and then pointed to her, and then to the ring on his ring finger. Hopefully he'd get the message.

Valjean brushed Ben's hand off his shoulder. Hands off the merchandise, boy. But what was he pointing at? Oh... Oh... Oh! A wedding ring. Someone married this big ape? You know what they say. Accidents happen! But still, if he relents now, this whole thing would make him look dumb. "Oh, well. Accidents happen." Valjean shrugged yet again. He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was mocking Ben. Well, he thought that he should just piss off Ben here and have some fun. If he were to guess... the chick right here was his wifey Valjean slid over to Claire and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling himself closer to her face. "Please tell me that you're single, good looking..."

"Hands off the merchendise." Claire just about hissed. She then grabbed his wrist with one hand and his elbow with the other. One one swift motion she ducked her head underneath his arm and rolled Valjean's arm away, twisting as she went and putting him into an armbar. She pressed down, forcing Valjean to the floor and pressing his face into the dirt. She would go farther as to choking him out using her leg, but she didn't need to do that. It was a bit much. She stared down at him, connecting with his mind for a moment. Her face contorted into disbelief and disgust. "I'll need to speak to Deborah about you." she said, her grip tightening for a moment before she released him and stepped away, glaring at him. He was still between Ben and herself, but there was some distance between this creep now. At least there was that.

"Hey, yo, what the fuck!" Apparently this Asian chick knows some kung-fu! Apparently being politically correct worked against Valjean this time around. "Let go of me!" Valjean shouted. He tried to struggle... Well, it's about time to show her the power of the Desert Scorpion! He created two scorpion pinchers out of his back, right at his shoulder blades. He had to, unfortunately, pierce through his outfit and burst straight out to knock Claire off him. But it was so quick and surprising that Claire didn't have time to react. Valjean jumped up to his feet... With Scorpion pinchers popping out of his back. "Well..." Valjean shrugged. "Looks like you and ching-chong-ching had to push your luck, eh?" He dropped into a boxing stance. Looking at both of them. Valjean slammed his foot onto the hard concrete floor and stirred up a sand-storm out of thin air and spread outwards. Valjean's tan exoskeleton traveled up his leg and quickly transformed himself into his scorpion form. He was getting ready.

Ben, at this point, was done with this. The fact that this... person, had hurt Claire, who was currently holding her arm which was bleeding somewhat, it was too much for him to take. He was a gentle giant, but he wouldn't stand there and let his wife be hurt and bullied.

With one swift motion, Ben wound his arm back, his knuckles briefly turning into solid oakwood, and with a semi-practiced hand began getting ready to throw a solid punch. But Claire pushed him out of the way, a small piece of her shirt torn off the cover the wound. She couldn't risk Ben fighting this person. Ben could seriously injur someone. She'd have to do the best she could. She was already sweating in the new heat being produced. She connected minds with Valjean again, ignoring his thoughts. She'd hopefully have the edge in dodging his attacks by knowing what he was thinking, but she didn't have the stamina, especially in this heat, to react. She knew she wouldn't. She was hoping that he'd tire before she would.

Ben stumbled back, and ground his teeth and glared, but took a deep breath. He concentrated, falling into a sitting position for a moment as far away from the two as possible, and began to focus. Huge tendrils of plant and wood shot up around him, forming a protective ball around his body. He was absorbing power fromt he ground and the garden. The sand and the expanding desert began to affect it's growth, already influencing the end result.

Claire turned her head, for a moment to see what Ben was doing. Oh no. This was bad. She wanted to connect with him, tell him to get a teacher, but she couldn't do that. She couldn't risk cutting the link between herself and Valjean or risk being caught off guard and seriously injured. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sand and warm air. She stared hard at Valjean. It was on.

On like Donkey Kong.

[Zakattacks]

Internally, Nicholas continued to writhe with a strange anger. It was not normal for him to feel so peeved over a situation that involved someone in a higher position, but for someone to treat another's death with such sheer numbness...it simply baffled him. His mind began to turn to the new restriction, though. Despite it being something that probably was beneficial, he admittedly found it somewhat limiting to someone like himself, someone who preferred to do things by his lonesome sometimes, to pull away for at least brief moments to recollect himself. Still...he was sure he could persuade someone to walk with him to the needed places without being asked questions. He was sure such people existed, though, he was sure Deborah was not happy with this turn-out. Even now, he could hear her cursing, only turning to glance towards her for a moment before turning back towards the stage to consider his thoughts more. But that's when he noticed it. Professor Henry, walking onto the stage, and beginning to speak. Within moments, his anger turned into determination, and became new-found fuel. Now, while it obviously wasn't within the proper mandates of the school, his speech gave him something to lean on, and to direct his anger. He felt much more relieved, a sigh leaving his mouth before he proceeded to stand up, applauding Henry along with the rest of those present.

And then he heard his name called. He blinked, his eyes turning towards Deborah and Shannon and...was that Aislin? She looked pretty rough, even for what had happened. He had to wonder what all had transpired since they had met in that hospital room...hopefully, nothing horrible beyond...well, the obvious. But his gut was still on alert, he felt pretty shaky today, so he wasn't about to let his mind wander off on its own threads of what -could- have happened. So he smiled as he nodded to Deborah. Might as well go with them, he had nothing else to do today. Besides, admittedly, he did feel quite safe around Deborah.

As Aislin spoke to him, he couldn't help but blush a little, hiding it by lowering his head a bit and scratching the back of his head. Really, it wasn't like he was too important right now. He wasn't quite used to getting positive attention, so he...well, he nervously scratched the back of his head, before speaking. "W-well...em, to be very honest, the black-out wasn't a pleasant time, as we all know, but I'm okay." He stated, finally getting out a response with a bit of relief, biting his lip as he tried as hard as he could to keep himself together. And so the group began to depart, as he was speaking, and noting the presence of now Claire and Ben. Hrm. This was getting a bit...crowded. He admittedly pulled to the back of the group as they began to walk, trying not to make himself a notable person to talk to in this larger group. But he kept his eyes on Deborah and Aislin, finding their presences here soothed him greatly. Beyond that, something about Aislin, her joy and her smiling demeanor, despite her appearance, not to mention their encounter in the hospital, had painted her as someone who could produce a positive atmosphere. As they arrived at the Garden, he simply kept silent as Aislin and Deborah, along with Shannon, walked off to have a private talk, which was reasonable. As Aislin walked off, Nicholas couldn't help but note another factor that made Aislin really nice to be around, as blush once again returned to his face...

She was pretty cute.

[Estylwen]

Nick’s shy streak became very evident as he scratched his head. "W-well...em, to be very honest, the black-out wasn't a pleasant time, as we all know, but I'm okay."

Aislin brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, flashing a casual grin. Ah, maybe it was just her with the bad luck, the tragic anti-hero’s tale. Good. Nick was too innocent for that. "I'm glad to hear it. Um, did you want to catch up after my meeting with Debs? I recall we were interrupted last time at the hospital."

Deborah’s perception was flawless as always. As she made for the exit, her hand brushed against Aislin’s. It wasn't enough to notice until a single thought overrode all her own, and Aislin sharply inhaled. <I know you're uncomfortable around this many people, but we'll have quick chat elsewhere, okay?>

She merely nodded at Deborah’s smile, taken aback. Up until that point she never had the opportunity to experience telepathy. It must have been so natural for them, but the whole concept of sharing thoughts through touch was fascinating, albeit a little frightening. It required an insane amount of control over one’s inner voice, which was nigh impossible for most people.

The Garden was beautiful -- she hadn't been offered the grand tour and was finally enjoying the school’s facilities. Stepping into the humid glass house was like being transported to another world, and the tension building up in Aislin’s shoulders relaxed. Her gaping at the scenery would need to wait, however. Deborah said a quick something to the group and Aislin felt herself led along into another part of the Garden.

"Alright, what's up?" Deborah said, sitting in the middle of a metal bench. "You can talk to me about anything, Aislin, remember that."

Aislin sat on the furthest side of the bench, eyeing Shannon before turning her wide stare to Deborah. ”I won’t beat around the bush, but this is… confidential. I’ve had a terrifying time, but I need to know if anyone’s seen these… metas before.” Her hands illustrated in rhythm of her speech. ”I was in the caves looking for blue-skinned meta when I came across a tall, beautiful man. Black hair, white shirt and a brown trenchcoat. Had a dark feeling about him. I also saw a figure clad in a wetsuit and gas mask.”

The young girl hesitated, sipping on her thermos. Deborah could read in between the lines if she liked, but she couldn't divulged the whole story. She felt like she might vomit as the memory violated her imagination. ”I, uh… I need to know if you recognize these descriptions. Especially the second one. He was killed before… before I could learn anymore.”

Repeated thudding and aggravated voices carried on the wind to their bench just a stone’s toss away. Aislin furrowed her brow, craning her head to stare futilely between the thick of trees. ”That doesn't sound right.”

[Max]

Ruben Tarblatt

---

If you’re going to make a simulation, the first thing you have to start with is a setting. Constructs. Building blocks. Ruben already had a few basic environments programmed into the Limbo, but he decided he should build upon an environment that Academy’s students were already comfortable with – the Academy itself. After his talk with Henry, the pleasantly civilized man-lizard, Ruben activated the onboard geometric scanning device in his Brainvault’s monitor lens – something he constructed a while ago to help build on his memory of areas and implement them in his work. A map wouldn’t cut it, being only two-dimensional. And if he was going to take a walk, he might as well get something out of it besides social interactions – he had a feeling he wouldn’t be talking to anyone besides Henry anyway.

Ruben started rotating his head back and forth as he walked about. Like an owl. Or a young lady possessed by Satan. The scanner emitted a thin, barely visible array of red lasers, the lines in between them mapping out every geometric detail of the Academy grounds. He started with the West Wing, the cafeteria specifically. He mapped it out and moved on to the nearby Plaza. He, of course, got the occasional look from onlookers wondering what the hell a mummy wearing Sputnik on his head was doing shooting rave lights everywhere, but for the most part, they didn’t stop him. Once he got a good radial scan of the area, he moved on to the Shop. At this point, he found that ground scans weren’t going to get him most of the island’s geometry in one sweep. So, after he made a quick run through the interior, he did what any avid man of science would.

He climbed.

The gauze around Ruben’s arms began to unravel as they extended, forming two elongated, muscly appendages, each tipped with a random assortment of claws and hooks made out of keratin. He planted one on the side of the building, then the second, and he pulled himself up as subtly as he could. This caught the attention of a few more people, but no one seemed to care enough to yell at him to get down or throw stuff at him. His Brainvault darted left and right between directions, scanning every square inch of the building, constructing the virtual representation with his mind, compiling everything. Once he rounded the exterior walls, he climbed up onto the roof of the building, getting one good sweep across, finishing the Shop.

He paused for a moment, looking around, at the expanse surrounding him. The Academy astounded him with its beauty and constructions, the interweaving of modern architecture and nature into one seamless spectacle. He gazed at the walls, surrounding the grounds in their entirety. They’d do well to help him set up a perimeter in the simulated version. That way he wouldn’t have to bother setting up an invisible boundary, so physically and thematically obstructive. He wondered of it all, how meta-humans could work so well together, making something like this for the benefit of their own kind.

Ruben wanted to contribute to that effort. The Limbo would provide a safe, victimless, injury-free environment for cerebrals – and perhaps in the future, other classes as well – to improve and adapt their abilities, and maybe even develop new ones altogether. All that was wishful thinking, though. He had to start with the more important issue; trust. From both the students and the staff. If he was going to get any project of his off the ground, he had to build up to it. Talk. Learn. Observe.

He turned his vision towards the Garden. That’d be a nice place to scan next – see all the specimens the Academy had grown there. He scaled his way down the side of the Shop, strolling on over to the immense glass dome. The gauze around his arms flew freely in the breeze, unraveled. He seemed to have forgotten about them. He saw the dome from a distance, awed by its size. There was a greenhouse back at his old university but, this? This trumped it on many more levels. He approached the entranceway to the Garden and stopped to think – would it be more logical to start with the interior and get a scan of just the flora, section by section… or scale the dome and get a radial scan of the entire thing in a quarter of the time? He opted for the latter option and re-extended his arms. The gauze tape around his legs began to unravel as the fleshy, sinewy slurry beneath them expanded, molding them together to create one single appendage to keep a good grip on the glass. Ruben, now taking on the shape of some kind of tripod creature, made his way up the exterior Garden wall and then the glass.

He stared at the interior, marveling it its beauty and variety. The higher he climbed, the more he saw. All of that was marred, however, when he reached further upward and began to hear the telltale signs of… conflict. As he climbed higher and higher, he got a good vantage point from above to view an instance occurring within the Garden interior, in a small clearing. An altercation between three students, none of which he knew, nor the matter behind the conflict itself.

Ruben’s habit of observation and analysis kicked in. He didn't bother intervening, he just… watched. As the ground turned to sand and one of them transformed into a large, scorpion-like creature.

"Detected. Abilities." He began to speak to himself, "Transformation. Into pseudo. Arthropod. Order. Scorpiones. Class. Arachnida. Mental link. With granular. Rock and mineral. Particles..."

He trailed off as he watched the conflict progress.

[InfernoBlaze]

Red Winston & Henry Ollin (cameo: Administration Building Assistant)
It's been two days since the blackout. Red didn't find the generators in time to fix them and someone else probably did the job before him, so he quietly returned to his room. What happened later, though, awakened his curiosity once again.

It was Dellamore who gathered the students for a speech. Red didn't consider this unusual, he was the principal of the damn place anyway - he had to show his face every once in a while. It was what he said that urged him to find out more. A student was murdered during the blackout. An Academy packed with metahumans of every kind ought to have enough security measures to ensure the safety of the students, yet a murder still occur. It was something Red never expected, even more so, since he was confident that the Academy was top-of-the-art in every aspect, including security. First of all, the only known way in and out of the island is by boat and the shore is guarded quite well from what Red knew. So, the perpetrator had to at least have some knowledge about the Academy. Every idea that popped out of Red's head only augmented the feeling he had. The murderer was not an ordinary one and he was dangerous. The Academy had to act quick to find him, or things could turn out ugly. Coming all the way into a secluded island to kill a random student does not give someone a solid motive for murder. So, there was only one thing that Red was sure about. The murderer would strike again given the chance.

Then it came to him. He thought about it himself just a little while ago. The Academy was packed with metahumans. Some of them could have powers useful to find the criminal and Red was one of them. Investigating murders was something he stopped doing a long time ago, considering the death of his father came because of his involvement with such cases, but, right now, it was of top priority to eradicate the threat. If not for his sake, then for Deborah, Shannon, Poppy and everyone else who could be endangered because of this. Red decided to act on this one without the Mystery Hunters. He was not going to involve any lives on this one, unless utmost nescessary. This time, he would work alone. Taking a hiatus from the school puzzle they have started, Red rushed to the cafe, looking for the only person he could talk to about the problem...Henry.

Eventually running into him in the cafe, he realized he was talking to someone. Taking his time and simply giving him a slight gesture to get his attention, Red waited until he responded.

Ruben had walked off at this point, and Henry had been keeping himself busy with his coffee, phone, and Jessica, who had been his waitress for the time being. She knew him fairly well, and it was a slow day. Not many people were at the cafeteria, and so, she had been chatting with Henry on and off throughout the duration of his visitation. She left a few minutes after, and Henry began to entertain himself with a book. As he read Harper Lee's legendary "To Kill A Mockingbird" he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a student was standing not far away, seeming to want his attention.

"Come, come!" Henry said, smiling somewhat his gummy toothless smile. "Sit down, Red." he said. He paused for a moment, realizing that Red probably didn't know how he knew his name. "I apologize, as you can probably guess I get to take a look at the names in the student body. I recognize you. Among others. Take a seat." He said, closing his book and resting it on the table, and motioning for Red to sit down with his other hand. "How can I be of assistance?"

Red quickly scanned his surroundings, but nothing grabbed his attention except from "To Kill a Mockingbird". Seeing Henry and the book next to each other made Red wonder if Henry was just your typical bookworm with a good taste like him, or if he could relate himself with Atticus Finch.

"This is a nice choice for a reader who can understand a few things more than the others. I am not in any way surprised that you know my name, I figured the reason would be something like that, Dr.", Red said, although he was convinced that Henry knew his name from the first day at the banquet. He should have an enhanced sense of hearing after all, so it wouldn't be too difficult to pick a name or two.

Taking a sip of a coffee he grabbed a little while ago, he said:
"Dr. Ollin, I will be honest with you. I am more concerned about the murder of this girl, Vera. There are many factors that determine that the blackout and the murder happening at the same time are not a coincidence, but, this I am sure you have already thought of. However, I didn't come all the way here just to express my concern...You see, my powers grant me the ability to memorize just about anything I see, read or learn. This included things I learned when I involved myself with some cases in the past. I do not know if you can check my background before coming to the Academy, for which I am just about certain that you can, but what I wanted to say is that I am more than capable to help you with your investigation."

Henry's face contorted into a frown as Red spoke. "I said myself that I wont condone any searching." Henry stated, looking Red in the eyes, his yellow eliptical orbs meeting Red's circular ones. "What you find, I can happily report, and if you want to show me something you've found, then I'm happy to oblige." he stated, "And while I wish I could, I cant lead you into a dangerous situation. If you come across something, I am here, and I am going to be putting things together on my own time, and I could use any leads you find." he said. "But I wont ask you to put yourself in that situation. It must be by your own choice." he said, before he sniffed the air. "It seems like you've already found a few who are curious enough as it is." he said, faint smirk on one on his face. "I'm not saying go to them and help... but they'd be more help that I would."

Red expected something like that to be said. Henry wouldn't involve a student in a search, that would be the worst thing a teacher would ever do. But it gave him the chance to speak about what he wanted to say to Henry before. For the sake of his solitary investigation and for solving the puzzle of the Academy, Red tried to convince Henry:
"Dr. Ollin, as I said before, due to my ability, I have memorized vast amounts of information, including academic related material. Right now, I am one of the most versatile people, if not the most, in the academy. Doing lessons like a student really hinders my thinking process, so I would like to ask you to vouch for me for a position in the teachers' group. I assure you, I can take even the most difficult of classes, plus it will grant me more access to places where I can investigate the recent events easier. So, would you please ask Mr. Dellamorte for an audition about this matter?" Red asked as humbly as he could.

"Red," Henry began. "There is a portion of being a teacher that you're missing." He stated. "There's an experience portion that comes with age. There are situations you will have to deal with on the academy that you haven't been prepared for, as a sixteen year old young man." he said. "And frankly I dont think you'd want this job as a new student. You dont understand the responsibility and the gravity of every choice you make." he said. "The only reason I, a twenty five year old, was even considered for my position-" Henry started, "Was because I've grown up on the academy and inside it's walls. I've seen things that would make your background look... small." he said. "I can't recommend you as a teacher, or as a member of staff. That's a position you have to inquire about on your own. I can vouch for you if you are considered, but there will be several members of the staff that are included in whether or not you are recruited." He said.

"You have the intellect. No doubt about that," Henry said. "But you dont have the wisdom. Not yet."

Red wasn't by any means content with the answer. The shortcut he thought about was cut off as an option and that didn't give him many more moves to go on. He decided that the conversation would have no merit for him after this and stood from his chair.

"This is a really interesting book, Dr. Ollin. I hope that we might get to discuss about it the next time we meet. I will start an investigation soon enough. At least, you could use your authority and grant me entry to where the corpse is and at the scene where the body was found. The images will not be shocking to me, I assure you that. Please pass my offer for assistance to Mr. Dellamorte. If he agrees, he should be able to grant my request of access to any place I need to visit. Of course, I will always talk to you first before I decide to visit a place. Is that okay, at least?"

"I'll keep that in mind." Henry stated. "You will need to be the one to inquire with the Headmaster. If you're dead set on it, go to the administration building and set up an appointment." Henry said. "I can't give you permission to investigate," Henry said. "But I wont stop you either." he said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Good luck, Red. It was nice speaking with you."

Leaving his cup filled with some coffee, Red gestured goodbye to his reptilian teacher and headed to the Administration Office to ask for an appointment with the Headmaster. He passed the message to the Reception Office, where he managed to get an appointment with Dellamorte sometime later. With nothing else to do, he found a place to hide and light a cigarrete.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Deborah Lillian Termellio, & Shannon Jacqueline Balore.

---

When Aislin described the mysterious man, there was something that just "clicked" within Deborah. Tall man, black hair, white shirt.... It took her a few seconds to think about it - (She is talking about Luis, the man you met at the beach). Wait, him? Deborah was wondering what he was up to - but now a whole another string just popped up. "Wait... You met Luis?" Deborah had to tell Aislin who she was dealing with here. "... I knew that man was up to something but..." She trailed off, idly biting her fingertips as she thought about it.

Even Shannon was a bit shocked at the story. Going off her gaping mouth, and widened eyes. Her suspicions about him were confirmed - but someone killed him? "What I'm concerned about is where he came from...." The redhaired woman injected. The primary problem she sees here are these strangers lurking on the island. On the first day there were several trespasses and murders. "... and what did he want?" She put her thumb and index finger across her jawline.

"... When we first arrived at the beach, I received a Premonition of something... something I never felt before." Debby finally collected her thoughts and decided on what to tell everyone. A recollection of how she felt on the shipwreck. She stopped biting her fingertips. "Something pure evil. I didn't know what it was... but the second I saw that man, I knew it was him...." She trailed off yet again. "... Evil personified." Deborah quietly sighed. She wondered what the two of them were going to do in the face of... all this. They were just two girls. An idealist and a cynic paired together. They weren't even the strongest students here. How were they going to get to the bottom of any of this? "... Either way, if you need anything Aislin, anything, and I will help you with it."

However, the aggravated sounds of anger and violence were carried their way, and Deborah's power gave her the gist of it (A fight is going on nearby). Oh, boy, that can't be any good. Her power didn't tell her who was fighting, because she didn't hear the voices clear enough. "Nope, it isn't right at all..." Deborah answered Aislin, "People are fighting nearby.... I guess I'll scope it out...." While she did find it stupid, her curiosity was dragging her in that direction. She got up off the bench and started walking towards it, carefully. While she was curious, she wasn't stupid.

[Auri Blue]

June nearly busted out laughing at Dreadlocks glare, it was priceless. He'd spoken with him for a moment and he was already getting the right reactions. The kid really had an attitude, and that glare could trip a rhino if he put his mind to it, it was that much of a 'fuck off'. As it was he just smiled and watched curiously as the kid tossed the can to the ground, tracing its motion with his eyes. The spiel that followed was about the sort of thing he'd expected from the tough nut too, though maybe with a bit more passion than he'd pegged him for. Particularly that last part. That really made June grin. "Up to people who don't sit around eh? Oh I hear you. Sounds like you really took that Croc's message to heart, not that I can blame you he certainly has a way of motivating folks for a giant lizard" he slinked himself to a standing position, stretching out his lanky frame with a groan and resting his hands on his head languidly and looking Jago up and down slowly "I gotta say though Dreadlock, I hadn't picked you as the type to get involved, assuming you were talking about yourself just now that is" He treated him to a raised eyebrow, his expression clearly showing that yes, he was assuming. He'd nearly lost it when he'd emphasised the nickname but he kept it together. Pushing buttons on angsty teenagers was too easy. He wasn't looking to push him too far though, he was interested in why this kid was talking like he was looking to 'get things done'. People who had it rough, in June's experience, didn't go looking for trouble unless it'd caused shit for them or theirs. So unless the kid just had a really strong sense of moral justice, which was entirely possible but June wasn't betting on it, it made sense to think the kid was emotionally involved already. 'Involved how' could be anything, but it was interesting regardless. True, this was all just Junes bullshit guesswork but it made for a much more interesting story than 'kid gets mad for no reason' so he was running with it. 'Kid gets mad because someone's fucked with him somehow' was much catchier.

[Jazzy]

Valjean Vaseal, Ben, Claire Voss, & Jago Javuant

---

Whips of sand had traveled up Valjean's leg and surrounded his hands in a orb of sand. His transformation into a scorpion was almost complete, actually. His face were two strong mandibles, and his eyes were several black orbs. Couldn't see worth shit, but his seismic sense was so great that it barely mattered. He knew exactly where Ben was, and where to attack. His stinger was raised over his head, as he twitched his legs. "... Now this is what I'm talking about, eh?" With that transformation finished, he could focus on turning the joint into a desert. He raised his hands into the air like some triumphant pose, before slamming them together right above his chest. Creating a whirling mass of sand. Looks like the big chump is hiding behind his plants. Pttf. Typical. Little does he know that those plants will be dead any second now. Valjean has looong activated his desert conversion ability. The place was getting much hotter, and the water was drying up. He barely payed attention in class, but he does know that plants need water!

Time for the first show of force! Since the ground ten meters of himself was covered in sand, he had plenty to work with. He made a chirping sound that rumbled through the air. "Can't hide forever..." Valjean sound, he barely sounded human anymore, now he sounds insectian. He swiped his arm in Ben's direction as all the sand he had created so far went towards him in one fast moving blast of sand. It went right into his coochie.

"Leave it to the big man to hit an easy target!" Claire shouted, her arm coming around and smacking Valjean's pincer out of the way, but unfortunately this didn't alter the direction of the sand, which smashed into Ben's spawn. It almost effortlessly bounched off of the cacoon of branches and earth, which was now being covered by a thick layer of sand and stone. Claire stepped back and kept her fighting position, and kept her mind in sync with Valjean's. It was hot, she couldn't do this for long. She whiped her brow, removing the sweat from her bangs and forehead. She couldn't do this for long. She could only hope Valjean's armor and power useage would tire him out faster than she would.

Air temperature was rising fast. The island was normally warm itself, and he was just pushing it in the right direction. Everyone without a heat resistance couldn't take it. That said, Claire wouldn't last for long. She had the balls to try to pull something on him. Just throwing his arm out of the way, unfortunately that didn't do anything, but still! The nerve she had! He turned to face her, and planted his foot hard into the ground. Right now his scorpion body was far superior than any human body - so he didn't know what the hell she was hoping to even accomplish. He stared her down... Ahhh... Nah. He could give her a beat down, but his beef was with the Big Man. Kick his ass to win her heart. Still, he thought doing this would be pretty funny! He crossed his arms, and the sand slowly went from Ben's defense, over towards Claire gently.

The sand impacted Claire square in the torso, and sent her to the ground in her already weakened state due to heat exhaustion. It wasn't as much the sand, but more of the straw that broke the camel's back. As she fell, her head hit roughly on the floor with a rather loud bang. She didn't think to attempt to fall better than she did. She couldn't think much of anything really. She more of passed out as well as being put out due to the environmental factors. It was easily about 120F in the garden by now, and in combination with the greenhouse effect that occured in the glass building, it was even worse. She did not get up. This left Ben's cacoon completely exposed.

While Claire was doing her dramatics, Valjean was pissing on some bushes. Unfortunately his urine is sand :(. "Oh, wait?" Valjean turned his head towards Claire just when he was shaking it. "You're out?" He asked her... Expecting to get an answer. Oh yeah! With her out, he could beat down the giant behind his little puss-shell. He was standing on a good foot of sand right now, and he has plenty to work with now. Valjean raised his hand into the air high, then slammed his pincer into the floor so hard that he caused a crack. All the sand went wild. It whirled up like a massive sandstorm. That spun extremely fast. Then it all funneled into a shape right above Ben's cocoon. The shape of a massive scorpion. He tossed it all at Ben when....

... A transparent, dark-purple, shield had appeared between Ben and the sand scorpion.

"... Damn, Jean." A young male voice approached from the bushes - being none other than Jago Javuant. Holding a bottle of gatorade. "Yo' puss must be the only thing dryer than this." He smiled smugly. But Jesus christ in heaven it was hot. Jago wondered what the hell was going on. Until he looked and saw Chinatown... Oh, yeah. That's the Big-Man's wife. So that means Big-Man must be in the branches. Huh? Bitching out when his lady is in danger? Laaaaaaaame. Looks like it's a job for Jago. Normally he wouldn't care. But he wants to knee Valjean in the nuts really hard. So why not lend a hand and kick ass? The shield faded away.

"You?!" Valjean shouted - but it sounded more like a hiss with his insect accent.

"... Motherfuckin' me." Jago needed to scope out a plan of attack. Because he has no way to attack, and Valjean has plenty. And he needs to do it fast. The longer the fight goes on, the hotter it'll get... Oh man. It feels like he's going to pass out any second now, but gotta focus. A dark-purple aura surrounded Jago, and he started moving forward, sliding along the ground. Right towards Jean. The Scorpion man dropped into stance, anticipating the young boy. He swung a haymaker towards Jago's face - but Jago dodged, he ducked underneath the fist and grinned. He dove down towards Valjean's leg, using his telekinesis to enhance his movements, and grabbed onto his leg with a tight grip and just kept moving. He managed to throw off Valjean's balance, and the Scorpion man landed face first onto the ground. Jago himself had let go.

"You shit!" Valjean willed the sand around himself - it quickly flew towards him through the air - into a ball. Once it was all together, it all shot outwards in a explosion motion and created a cloud of dust. It managed to catch Jago off guard.

"Aw, fuc-" Jago loudly coughed as sand filled his mouth. He could barely talk right now. There was just so much sand! Not cool. He stumbled away, hoping to get out of the cloud. But he heard someone running towards him... Jago quickly whipped around to defend himself, but by then it was too late. A pincer was swung in his direction and hit him right in his arm. He was sent flying through the air, and when he collided with the ground - thankfully out of the cloud - he skid alongside it for a moment. Before coming to a rest.

"Little shit." Valjean hissed as he stood over him...

The Humbling River

The ground shook for a moment.

The pod split, and erupted erupted from the ground.

But that was literally, the tip of the iceberg. Something slowly lifted out of the ground. It was huge. Far larger than most had ever seen or ever will seen. The size of a whale. As it slowly raised out of the ground it could be seen that it's body had branched out from where Ben orignally was, like an intricate root system that had warped into an almost skeleton like system. Plants and sand and stone had erupted from the wood, very quickly eveloping the skeletal system, layering over it as if it was muscle and organs. Along the creature's back the plant life turned red, and small stones and pebbles and slabs or rock erupted. Some forming armor that covered the creature's red back, while some instead erupted from joints and along it's back, black and sharp like obsidian. Huge slabs of sharpened grey stone trailed down it's neck and went down it's belly, displaying a sleek red and grey appearance. From the creature's gargantuan skull two huge black horns split their skull at the snout, huge, curved and black. One at the chin, and the other on the top jaw. It's jaws had no teeth, instead having slabs of jagged grey stone forming a horrifying set of huge stone scissors. It had two relatively small arms, chich had three fingered hands. Each arm being about four feet long, the claws each at least six inches. It's legs were two huge pillars of muscle and strength. Armored and thick. The three huge claws at the end of each foot each being well over a foot long and thick as a tire was wide. It had a huge and thick counterbalance tail, making up at least half it's body length if not more. It was spined and armored like that of the rest of it's body. It ended an arrowhead like shape, like that of a dragons.

Smoke erupted from holes in it's back, billowing out thick black gass and CO2 that was recycled by it's plant/animal exterior almost immediately. It's six eyes opened, their slitted pupils looking over the scene for a moment, silently watching as the creature breathed for a moment, it's body undergoing photosynthesis and cellular respiration at the same time.

The monster stood before them all.

Fifty feet long, and twenty feet tall.

It lifted it's foot, and opened it's mouth.

There was the sound of thunder.

As it's body arched and it's jaw fell open a roar of the gods ripped through the air, the inside of it's throat showing nothing but being yellow and red from being a walking furnace. The sound alone shook the whole building, and eventually caused the glass surrounding the garden to shatter, resulting in a glass shower. Valjean covered his ears as the monster's roar ripped through their beings and vibrated the very air, to prevent them from going death due to the sheer volume of the sound. Jago made a shield.

The great beast shook it's body, causing excess dirt and glass to shower off of it's body in a cascade of waterfall, and it stepped out of the crater it had created during it's formation, and onto the groundlevel that Valjean, Jago, and the unconcious Claire were standing on.

"Oh shit!" Valjean shouted as he turned over towards what Ben had become. Looks like he was storing himself to transform... Just more fun for him. From the way he saw it, Ben might be giantic, but Valjean has the size advantage. The glass falling barely did any damage to his hard shell - all it did was cause some light scratches. But it was time to fight! Valjean gathered his sand together and blew it all around himself to create an obscuring cloud. He had to be quick here. He didn't know what would bother the giant T-Rex thing, but he would have to come up with something! Valjean gathered all the sand together yet again and shot it all at Ben's gaping maw in one sand stream.

The sand flew into the monster's maw, immediately an odd smell inveloped the air as the pores on it's back began to leak liquid glass, which bubbled up and out rather quickly. Replaced soon after by an especially large billow of black smoke. The monster snarled, and the smoke on it's back billowed again. It was so slow and heavy and large, it was as if it was moving in slow motion for a few seconds before it's second legs pushed off after it, pistoning the gigantic creature along like a juggernaut, forcing twelve tons of monster along in Valjean's general direction like a freight train. It picked up speed in a few steps, reaching twenty miles an hour only about thirty feet, or one footstep, away from Valjean's cloud. The ground itself shook as the creature's feet planted into the ground and rocketed it forward, leaving huge six inch deep footprints in it's wake.

Instead of doing the usual movie tactic of "keep running straight and hope to outrun it!" Valjean was having none of that. He jumped to the side, rolling over his shoulder, and landing in a crouched position. He couldn't keep running around forever! Some point he's gonna have to face this thing head on. He quickly turned towards Ben and shouted, "Fuck it!" As he ran towards Ben with impunity. Hoping to at least get one good hit in. The sand gathered at his feet into a pile, which he stepped on and used as a surf board. When he was close, the sand exploded upwards out of his ass to give him a boost towards Ben. He arched back his claw and sent it staight into Ben's monster face.

The monster barreled past Valjean into the metal supports of the garden, which very nearly caved in and brought the whole building down. However, it stopped his charge. It turned around just in time for Valjean's clawed hand to snap around his snout painfully. It roared it's hellish roar in pain and rage and slammed the side of it's face that Valjean clung to into the bent metal framing of the building and then whipped it's skull again, throwing Valjean off of him and sending him sailing outside of the garden. Ben was incapable of reaching him, for risk of taking down the building, and so slowly stalked along the walls of the framing, it's many eyes trained on Valjean as it did so. Each footfall thundering down, undoubtably alerting anyone nearby if the sound hadn't been enough.

Valjean's "Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!" Echoed across the school grounds. The very impact of Ben's counter attack sent Valjean flying. Thankfully, Ben had already broken the glass. But he was being sent flying across the goddamn school. He felt himself slow down.. fortunately he didn't hit anything - but he stopped and skid along the ground. He hit the hard pavement and saw himself roll... Seeing the ground, then the sky, the ground, then the sky.... Coming to a stop shortly.

The monster eventually drew it's attention away from Valjean and to Claire. The primal urge to help his mate overtook the urge to defend her. He didn't know Jago was there yet, he only stumbled across him as he ran by to Claire, who had been in the cloud. He scooped the boy up with one of his huge arms as softly as he could, and thundered over to his wife and deposited Jago down as carefully as he could next to her. Shit, someone needed to wake up. Claire had been scraped up and cut up by the glass that had fallen. She was overall okay, but she needed to get taken care of fast or risk having permanent scarring and injury. Not to mention she was no doubt dehydrated. Jago looked better. He wasn't in the cloud. He couldn't get out of the garden yet though. He had already caused thousands of dollars of damage, no doubt. He couldn't cause millions.

"Argh..." Jago muttered as he got up. "God damn Big Man..." He whistled as he looked to what Ben had become. Jago looked up and dispelled his shield. He would have been shredded by glass shards, but he managed to use his telekinesis to lift them up to give him a second to get the hell out the way. Jago rolled, then stopped as they dropped. He jumped right up to his feet aaaand... clutched his arm. It hurt like all hell... it stung, and... he didn't know how to describe it. It just hurt. He let out a sigh. While he was delegated to the side-lines, he's seen it all, and he's quite impressed. Though, Chinatown right there might need to get patched up a bit. Jago pointed his hand at Claire and lifted up a finger like a "get up" gesture. A dark-purple aura surrounded Claire as he floated a few feet. Almost like she was weightless! They should be able to move her easier. "Yo, Big-Man, I'll help you get her... help." That sounded more awkward now that he's saying it out loud. Ben's body rumbled, and he licked Valjean with his tongue in thanks. Like a dog. "I'm going to kick your ass for that." Jago muttered, throwing as much slobber off his body as he could.

As for Valjean? Fuck that guy. He crossed the line this time. And if it wasn't for Jago, Ben and his wifey would have gotten wrecked!

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Theresa Sindel Obott.

---

Theresa didn't say one word to Rosette when she walked off. She enjoyed the isolation, for once. Maybe she was quick to judge Rosette - but, regardless of what the ghost girl may think, she still doesn't understand. Ultimately, it didn't matter who understood her (... Vera did) or not. This was something she has to handle alone - a true unsuspecting hero. Theresa's upper body twisted full rotation, once to the left, once to get the right. To give her a good view of what's going on. Everyone's leaving. Maybe it was time to leave too. She was going to break that rule of three for a bit... It might be stupid, yes. But Theresa wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with her friends right now - and on the other hand, she wasn't sure who would accept her into theirs. Nobody wants to hang with the transgendered superstar. Whatever they thought of her, she was going to go it alone either way. Theresa stepped ahead, with a slow pace, and soon she was leaving the official section of the school, and heading towards the student side. She opened her mouth slightly, and breathed in deeply - before shortly releasing all her narcotic infused breath outwards, which was caught by the scarf around her face. Theresa longed for the fresh air of the academy - breathing it with her own two lungs! She didn't have to worry too much about getting people high, did she? Even right now, she was one person in the crowd. Everyone was walking around her, oblivious to her very existence. Theresa smirked and untied it from around her face....

Ben's roar rocked the very foundation of the school.

Theresa flinched, and the scarf slipped out of her fingers, and fluttered onto the ground. Her brown eyes desperately scanned for something - anything - as the cacophony of a thousand falling glass shards hitting the ground filled her ears. It was... it was coming from the garden. Thank God her ass wasn't in there! She took a few steps backwards, and she something collided against her heel, and the back of her thigh. The first one feeling metal, and the other felt wooden - it was easier to tell since it was gracing bare skin. Her head whipped around to see that she had almost walked into a bench. She frowned - but her head turned back towards the Garden just as quickly. There was something going on in there. Theresa heard the bestial footsteps slamming down, the roaring, and.... Man, the Garden was trashed. It was definitely a fight between some people, and at this point, only thing Theresa could do was sigh. She don't like violence - but it's all around her. Every. Fucking. Where. Literally everywhere she went. Here especially. But this was the only place where she could feel... normal. Her head tilted downwards towards her feet, and she wrapped her arms around her mid-section. Standing there, hunched over, looking awkward as she delved into her thoughts yet again. At home, she was her family's little frea- No, keep those out of your head. Theresa thought to herself. The action seemed to be over - and who lost was painfully obvious. The dickwad flying away. Theresa didn't get a good look at him, but he looked a little bit like Macho-man. Whatever happened, people might have been hurt!

The youth was never one to charge facefirst into danger.... But, it was something that Vera would have done. Theresa had a powerful healing ability, and with one healer dead, that meant that another should step up. She had always disliked using her power - she would prefer that the world didn't know about her one particular power. For Vera... she guessed. Theresa started running towards the ruined glass house with as much vigor as she could - she was intentionally working a sweat. When she got there, she would have plenty of fluids to apply to the wounded and heal them.

---

Deborah Lillian Termellio, & Shannon Jacqueline Balore.

---

Even as they proceeded towards the scene, the shouting and anger got louder and louder. And the sounds of a fight got louder and louder. Which is a great sign that things weren't going as planned. As dangerous (and quite frankly, stupid) as it sounded, she pushed on. She was simply compelled to go see what was going on. Unfortunately, it came right when Ben was finished his transformation and roared loudly enough to be heard by the heavens! It was extremely loud... "Ow, my fucking ears!" Deborah screamed as her hands clutched onto her ears like a blur, but that still wasn't enough. The roar was vibrating through her hands straight into her ear drums. She started screaming for a second... only for it to stop. God Christ in heaven, that hurt her ears like all hell. A shadow was cast on Deborah - (An article of clothing) - huh? Wha... why...? These questions are best answered by actually looking up. Her head arched upwards and saw a dress. A green dress spread that was anchored to the trees by several threads. It looked suspiciously like - (It's the dress Shannon was wearing). Oh... Deborah's face peered towards her redhaired lover.

Jesus Christ! Shannon had clenched her ears, and had her jaw had moved awkwardly to cause her two sets of teeth to grind. But that wasn't the problem here. This whole damn place was made of glass, and with the loud sounds... Oh, that can't be good. It was hard to focus, but she had to think. The trio would have been shredded by glass shards. Think, think, think... Well, it wasn't a matter of thinking, and more a matter of instinct working in conjunction with that power of hers. Because if she was thinking, she sure as hell wouldn't have done this. Both hands were thrusted upwards. That green dress she was wearing cleanly split down her back to the hem. The dress moved, it unfurled, and whipped it's way right above their heads - unfortunately leaving her underwear on full display. The dress was all spread out into a net that would catch the glass - but it didn't have proper anchoring. Threads extended outwards and quickly wrapped themselves around the nearby trees - the dress unraveled a bit. The glass tore through the air, but bounced on her dress - not even scratched. Everyone underneath her umbrella was untouched by the glass. All in the span of a few seconds. Record timing, actually. Shannon let out a sigh.

"Um, Silkworm..." Deborah pointed down at Shannon.

Immediately, her face started to turn red as she quickly adjusted her glasses. "Um!" She yipped as she willed the dress to shake violently up and down, knocking the glass off. Before she willed it to wrap around her curves and it was just like new.

---

Jago Andrew Javuant.

---

(... RETROACTIVE JAGO POST)

Riiiiiiight. The Fruit-loop here had nothing to say, really. Jago merely rolled his eyes as June either parroted what he said, or some other stupid-ass commentary. "Never pegged him as the type to get involved" Bitch, Jago never pegged June as the type to get any pussy. Whatever this guy probably didn't have any real conversation. Yup. It was time to leave this lame-ass in the dust and get in some real action. It was probably time he went after Debby anyway. If there was anyone who'd know what to do next, it'd be her. Well, this guy wasn't even worth a proper send off. Jago merely rolled his eyes yet again and took one step to the side, and followed that with the other foot. Walking off in the direction that wasn't June's. Now... time to figure out where the hell Debby went... Probably the Garden. That place really gay, but he knew that it was a place Debby, Carrot-top and their lame patrol would hang. Right when the youth walked in, he saw a mass of sand, and wondered what was going on. Well, plenty of things could be. None of them might be any of his goddamn business, but he got that gut feelin' that French bastard Valjean had something to do with it. Man, that guy was a straight up dick! If only he had one of his own.

Welp, no other way to find out than to go look, is there!?

[SerpentGear]

Codi Bailey, Atticus Fowler, and Rosette Sauveterre

The trio had been leaving the auditorium when they all had to reflexively cover their ears to protect themselves from the near-deafening roar in the distance. When it had subsided, two were in a sort of panic, while the third remained eerily calm, albeit her breathing sped up, as though readying for some sort of conflict. “What was that!?” Codi exclaimed, the logical answer for any regular person who heard what sounded like a primal beast. Meanwhile, Atticus found himself clenching his fists uneasily, looking in the direction of the sound. Rosette’s eyes darted to and fro, as though scanning for the threat, perhaps thinking it was coming towards them.

“We should investigate this,” Rosette said, her voice quick. “It came from the garden.” She said, looking finally in that direction.

Codi freaked out, “But what if we wind up in the hospital, or something? It’s really big!” She clenched her hands.

Rosette looked between Codi and Atticus, “If you show too much fear, you’d get picked off as targets. Cowardice is good in small amounts; it will keep you from trouble, and if you are in danger, you will know when you can fight, and when it is better to flee. I do not know what Atticus’ power is, but Codi, any creature, armored or not that tries to attack you physically, will probably regret it deeply.” She said, noting that there was the powerful, deadly-looking urchin on her back.

“Come on, we need to figure out what is going on and assess the situation, help, if we can.” She said.

She then proceeded to take off sprinting, moving faster than anything people would expect from a person her small size, and Atticus and Codi were forced to move at top speed to even keep up with her. It did not take long for them to reach the Garden where the commotion was, and when they did, Codi had to stop to catch her breath, as did Atticus. Atticus recovered first, and Codi finally did as well, but Rosette did not show even the faintest hint of exhaustion.

The three of them took in the scene, and were shocked and disturbed by what they saw. The Garden was a wreck, but whatever had occurred seemed to be over. Codi and Atticus were relieved, but Rosette gritted her teeth, “What has happened here? Violence will only make the situation at this school much, much worse!” She said. She then hid the burst of outrage behind a vacant mask, “We need to go in and check to see if anyone needs help. People may have been hurt.”

“Rosette, what can we do? We’re not healers.” Codi said, trying to dissuade her from being too brash in the situation.

Rosette looked at her, “I would not recklessly charge into something without assessing the situation to the best of my ability. Whatever has happened here is over, and though we are not healers, we do not know the scale of the damage done to people. We may carry the wounded so that they may receive medical attention.”