Chalk… hurt. Elvira brought her remaining hand up to rub at her eyes. That wasn’t why the girl was momentarily stunned. Maybe some of that previously mentioned insanity was rubbing off on her. Did the girl thumping out tunes have
six arms?
Jett coughed a few times at the dust cloud of chalk that was thrown their way.
“Well...that escalated quickly.” Jett said softly to Elvira… looking to her, he noticed the look on Elvira’s face. As he thought.
‘Here we go…’ with a small smile on his face.
“Do you think her quirk gave her dancing abilities or… the six arms?” Notwithstanding the fact that the permanent curve of her brow did not shift, there was a clear note of indecisiveness within her voice. Considering the sudden influx of patients at what was meant to be something of a high school, Elvira had learnt to not assume and to doubt everything. Especially when regarding a six-armed, groovy, hooded figure such as the one they’d just seen.
Jett quickly answered
, “I’m almost positive it was her arms…. But you never know.”in a joking sarcastic voice. He then added,
“Come on, we should head to class….” He looked at her, her eyes not deviating from the classroom covered in chalk dust.
“Elvira…’ He said gently, jerking his head to the left slightly a couple times.
“Come on, She’s long gone and I don’t have the energy to go chasing after her at the moment.” Jett meant well, but no matter how many times he called her name, the wide-eyed girl’s attention was upon something else. So many questions whizzed around her head. All needed answers.
“Find her.” Elvira took a step forward towards the thin chalk cloud of death, tugging upon the good-intentioned grasp acting upon her hand. She couldn’t see through to the other side but standing around here wouldn’t remedy that fact.
“That song, is that her quirk? Can songs be quirks? Can songs unlock quirks?” Teaching this girl how to communicate using Japanese may have been the biggest mistake that the Havens had ever made, for Elvira never stopped with the questions until they were answered.
Jett sighed and instead of resisting he went with the flow. He knew her well enough that she won’t stop till she investigated this thoroughly. He squinted his eyes as he went through the chalk and said,
“ Alright alright… quickly though.” Then as she asked another three questions in rapid pace, he chuckled.
“No.. I’m sure it’s not her quirk. I guess there could be some quirks that deal with the voice out in the world...never heard of one though. Music can help some to focus to unlock their quirk, It helped me to overcome my problem.” Once they made it through he saw the window open and no one in the room, the faint sound of the music could be heard, he poked his head outside and looked down. Did she jump all the way down or go up? He twisted his head upwards to look at the roof, but before he even got there he saw another window open, cracked just next door.
“Wait a minute...” The music had stopped by then. Normally he would have challenged himself and followed the amazonian and climbed back towards their room, but he didn’t feel it at the moment and he also had Elvira with him. Popping his head back in, he looked back at her.
Elvira was busy studying a table with what looked like footprints upon in. She leant in close, tilted her head this way and that to examine this tiniest of detail. Throw in a magnifying glass and a deerstalker; Russian Sherlock Holmes. Come to think of it, Elvira had always noticed her tendency to lean in close whenever taking something in. Did that mean she truly did need those eye goggles Adriane kept talking about? It probably would have helped her keep her distance when greeting strangers. Add that onto the shopping list along with earphones…
”What did you find?” Her eyes swivelled to the side - just for a moment to regard her trusty Watson - before they fell back down to the table. Shoe size. If, for some absurd reason, the chalk-using ninja couldn’t be identified by the six arms and mask setup, Elvira could pick out their shoe size. That just meant grabbing people who she’d never met before by the ankle and staring at their feet until one of them broke away. Normal, as always.
”Is she close?”“Welll…. You could say that.” It was just a guess...but he knew their room was next door...and the window was not broken when he left. He started towards her dusting some chalk that had gotten on his jacket.
“It would seem she simply went next door, through the windows.” Before Jett could even take a step further, Elvira took a hold of his hand and started marching towards the window.
“There might be some clues out there.” Elvira’s comment didn’t exactly issue a demand. She was, as she often was, relying on the implications of her words to convey what she truly meant.
“No… Elvira!” He plead, as he tried to make it clear to her.
“She’s next door, we can simply WALK” He made little finger puppets with his free hand towards the door. She had picked up the japanese language amazingly quick. But sometimes he felt it just didn’t register what he was saying. Coming to a stop at the window again he gripped her hand tightly enough to stop her without hurting her hand before continuing
“We don’t need to climb out the window…” Those purple eyes suddenly focused themselves upon Jett’s face. That’s all she did, just look at him. It wasn’t clear on whether she was simply processing what he had been trying to hammer home to her, or if it wasn’t something else the strange girl wasn’t making obvious. Whatever it was, it had caused the poor child minder to be the recipient of her infamous stare. One could liken it to the ominous look owls seemed permanently cursed to display. Even the sudden adjustments she made to her head, much like the tilt of it she currently gave, could be. Without saying a word, she gave a short nod then dropped her gaze to the space around the two.
Jett sighed in relief, letting go of her hand. He turned slightly towards the door while placing a hand very gently on her shoulder to guide her towards the door.
“Alright… Let's go find…” Her movements had to be swift for when she ducked down and unlatched Jett’s hand from her shoulder, goodness knows how long it would’ve taken him to react. Elvira executed the plan that had been brewing within her mind ever since the all-knowing stare had commenced; mission Window. She’d think of a catchy name for it later when retelling the tale to Pchelka.
She’d broken into a run by now, like the fast people she’d seen on TV who earned medals. Only, her finish line was that window and that window alone. Watsons never got the importance of the chase. They were there to be rational, somewhat logical in day-to-day living,
boring. All the things Elvira weren’t. She’d read the books courtesy of the extensive bookcase back at home with the Havens. Sherlocks were definitely more fun than Watsons.
“Clues are always needed, Jetty. It’s elementary.” The mystery girl must have had remarkable amounts of strength, for the window latch had been ripped clean off and had adhered itself to the window rather than the frame. ‘Defeats the purpose of it, really.’ Elvira noted. The window itself wasn’t exactly in one piece. Sharp, malicious-looking shards of glass stood from the frame like rocks at a cliff’s edge. Touching them might not be such a good idea, any alert person would think so. Did Elvira seemed like such a thing at this present time?
Jett cursed as Elvira suddenly dipped under his arm and bolted towards the window. He turned to stop her only to run into a desk and fall over top of it and onto the ground, creating a loud crash as he did. As he was on the ground groaning in pain, from the desks and his still hurting head, he heard her talk about getting clues. Did she use the word elementary?? Did she think she was Sherlock? He should have never showed her that book. Wait...did that mean he was Watson?
Quickly scrambling to his feet, he knocked fallen desk and chairs out of the way before vaulting like a gazel over the final row, landing and sliding in just the right moment to wrap his arms around the girl’s waist and pull her away from the window, spinning around with her as he did to keep her from grabbing the glass.
He stopped there, breathing deeply, wincing as pain started to pop up where he had slammed his shins and knees into the desks. His arms locked around Elvira’s waist, tight enough to make sure she didn’t jump out but not enough to harm her.
“Elvira… you are going to be the death of me someday…” He said softly as he banged his head against the window. He pulled his head back, his nose just behind her head.
“You are not going to stop unless we go through that window aren't you?”“That’s why you’re Watson, Jetty.” Elvira tilted her head back far enough so the boy’s face was within her sights. If this situation hadn’t been amusing within itself, seeing Jett upside down might have done it. He looked worn out and the faintness of his aura seemed to support her conclusions. Why dear Watson would feel so drained wasn’t quite clicking though.
“We must eliminate the impossible.” She didn’t smile, but she might as well have been with a casual comment and sly reference like that.
He looked at her with her purple eyes staring back at him upside down… despite the situation even he couldn’t hold back a smile. Her eyes were bright and alert, full of excitement. Her use of the references..He knew, that it was her smile. While her face didn’t show it, he had learned that look while spending almost everyday with her in the last few months. It was something he tried time and time again to get her to do, trying to breakthrough that emotionless stare she always had..
Chuckling at her comment.
“No more Sherlock for you…” he said to her, slowly letting her go of her waist and quickly stepped in front of the broken window.
“ You could have gotten hurt Elvira…” He looked to the window and began to knock the window shards out. She wasn't going to stop, it was something she had to do now. She was more hard headed than his little sisters combined.
Once all the glass was cleared he hopped out the window gracefully and without hesitation. Twisting as he did to aim his feet back towards the building and latching onto the tiny ledge below. He then poked his head back into the room as far as he could, face level with Elvira’s. His chest against the window ledge.
“Alright fine. ‘Lets eliminate the impossible. ‘Put your arms around my neck, just like we did at the mall.” A few weeks before, She got it into her head that she wanted to see what the city looked like from the top of the mall, and wouldn’t leave till he helped her.
For a split second, a twinkle set off in those round eyes of hers. Just like how she hadn’t regretted that request, she wouldn’t do such a thing for this one either. It was bound to lead to something as interesting as the adventures she’d read so eagerly about. Well, she’d get to see the beautiful scenery of the academy from the 3rd floor at any rate. Always think on the positive side. Elvira nodded, acknowledging Jett breaking down and seeing things from her perspective. Funny how her selective hearing could block out his concerns for her safety but not compliances. Elvira couldn’t quite get it into her head that getting hurt was a concept that held no grudge or favored some. The girl knew it as something that couldn’t touch her. Not because she viewed herself as above others; exactly the opposite. She didn’t hinder herself with precautions to prevent herself from getting hurt. Had she ever?
Elvira quickly took her place in front of Jett. A slight tug on the corner of her lip and the moment of hesitation suggested she had her doubts to those gifted with the means to decipher her nuances. After all, the blonde had just been released from the infirmary. Elvira hadn’t stuck around to see the top-notch medic and her creepy crawlies but what the young girl did know was that even Jais, the mighty hero, was put off by the injuries the boy had sustained.
“Your head…” Elvira lifted her hand to tap a few fingers against her temple.
“Is it all better? Jais… he didn’t want to tell me much. I admit, I cheated a little by looking at his aura but-” Her eyes dropped from Jett’s face. Using her quirk was something she’d promised not to do in dire times or consequences - the Havens were family. Whatever had to be said would be just that, not read and interpreted through emotions. Sometimes, it was hard to ignore such attractive bursts of reds and blues.
Jett looked at her for a moment, hanging still out the window. It was a rare occurrence for Elvira to show any form of hesitation. When she then spoke of his injuries he smiled a little before hopping back up on the window’s ledge with ease. He didn’t know she knew he was injured in the fight. Jais didn’t mention that.
He knew his injuries were pretty severe. Jais told him the extent of it while walking to the locker room. Hell his head was still splitting from the headache he received from them. While he knew he had no strength to Teleport. He had enough strength to carry her up or down the building if she wanted.
He waited for her to look back up at him before giving her one of his confident smiles. He knew the promise she made not to use her quirk was because of her mother. Who was adamant that they did not use it in the home. A little more for Elvira, to try and help her read people better without her quirk. Jett, wanting to gain her trust in the first week she lived with them, had told her she could use her quirk freely with him.
”Elvira… You’re fine. You were just trying to figure out what was going on. You didn’t cheat, you did what you had to do to understand the situation. You can take a look for yourself. Do I look ok?” At first, she the girl seemed reluctant to even look Jett in the face, let alone check his aura. Her right arm bent at the elbow and her hand clasped onto the opposite arm that was pinned straight to her side. It wasn’t easy, seeing it from somebody else’s perspective but nonetheless she tried. Fortunately Jett was easier for the girl to understand and come round to. Gradually, her eyes travelled to his feet and then scanned around him. Those purple eyes seemed to trace the shape of his form a few cms from his actual self. Of course, she didn’t need to look for so long. The pure, untinted, yellow she’d grown accustomed to seeing around Jett had been evident from the very start. Elvira just needed to be sure that he wasn’t trying to fool her into a false sense of security for her own benefit.
“Ok… you look ok. Like you haven’t slept for months, but ok.” Elvira nodded slowly and took a deep breath in, as if what this truly meant and how it related were eventually forming links within her head.
“I’m ready to do this then; solve the mystery. Just remember that you have to always tell me if you’re hurt. I shouldn’t always use my quirk if it’s going to be gone soon. You know Adriane wouldn’t be very happy, especially if she found out I didn’t help you.” It was kinda cute, how Elvira thought
she was the one keeping Jett out of harm’s way. It never occurred to her that it may be the exact reverse of her beliefs.
Jett actually accepted her ‘diagnosis.’ it felt accurate. She kept on speaking of ridding herself of her quirk. He assumed it was because she wanted to see in color again. He moved around as she started talking again, getting into position so she could put her arms around his neck. He sighed when he mentioned his mother. If he told his mother a fraction of things he did while with Elvira, she wouldn’t be very happy with him. Like this for example. Despite her ‘request’ he never usually told her when he was hurt, he usually just grinned and bore it. Because somehow, his mother always found out when he did get hurt and he told Elvira. His mother would freak out over nothing.
”Yeah yeah.” he said casually.
She took a step closer to Jett who seemed to effortlessly balance upon the window sill despite the sheer drop just a step behind him. Not afraid of heights? Could a hero afford to be? Maybe something like that could be… magically treated at a school like this. It wouldn’t amaze Elvira if there was a quirk for doing exactly that. She’d have to ask later when this mystery was filed under solved.
“Don’t drop me. If you think you’re going to slip, throw me up. Pchelka would miss me more.” Eerily enough, Elvira didn’t show an ounce of humour. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” he said as he turned around to her.
“ Don’t worry I won't ever let you get hurt Elvira. I Keep my promises.” He said, referring to the day he met her. He took her hand with his, wrapping one of her arms around his shoulder and chest.
As soon as her feet showed even the smallest inkling of lifting off the ground, her grip around Jett turned into a vice. She didn’t doubt his strength nor his pure resolve to do whatever he set his mind to - he’d proven that by staying true to a bold declaration made many months ago. Still, the ground looked light years away and Elvira suddenly yearned for solid ground beneath her feet once again. Her eyes fluttered shut, much like they had whilst venturing high up at the mall. The bout of nausea she felt when they were open simply wasn’t worth it.
“Erk..” was all he could let out as her other hand wrapped around his throat. He knew it was going to happen, even though he positioned her arms to where they should have been, her self preservation kicked in and her arms locked around him. He begun to climb over to the window of their class. His hands managed to act like miniature vices as he held onto tiny ledges that seemed impossible to hold onto. His feet found footholds where there seemed to be none. He slowly made his around the brick column, being extra sure he had a good grip. Soon he moved around the column and he could see the classmates now talking among themselves as he came to the window.
Sliding his feet to a better position His left hand hand reached for the open window, and while grabbing the window ledge with his hand, he reached around and behind him, his hand clenching onto Elvira, pinning him to his back, before pulling himself with his left arm in the window, pushing up with his left leg and caught the window ledge with his right foot and propelled himself through while trying to be as low as possible so she wouldn’t hit the top of the window. His foot slipped on a piece of glass when they were just about to jump down. and he landed face first onto the ground with a loud thud. He didn’t have the reaction time to manage to catch himself with his left hand, with his right hand making sure she didn't fall backwards at the sudden change of speed, it could not brace him as well. but she did at least fall on his back. His vice like grip slumped off the girls back and fell to the floor like a brick.
Immediately, the girl took a sharp intake of breath. With no means of seeing the scene around them change from imminent death to safe and sound , the sudden drop in altitude was a jarring one. Plausible reasonings were not the most welcomed. The first conclusion that Elvira drew was that something had somehow gone awry and that the pair were now hurtling down from 3rd floor. Could somebody survive such a drop? Whatever the odds, the girl suspected - no,
expected - Jett to come up with some means of rescue. He was good for things like that; spontaneous actions. So Elvira believed. If they were falling, he’d just ‘come up’ with something. Didn’t make coming to terms with death any easier. Who would water her plant? Keep the twins as entertained as these two had? Look after Pchelka?
All these thoughts, so shallow for such a profound, philosophical topic of a life taken so young, instantly dissipated when she felt the softness of Jett’s back (and a slight
pop, too) beneath her. Elvira opened her eyes, blinked twice, and looked around at her new surroundings. A classroom almost identical as the other. That wasn’t so thrilling. As if only now realising what events must have transpired for the two to end up like this, she looked over her shoulder at Jett’s face. Nope, not dead. There was no rush for her to get off then. She actually appreciated the solid surface, maybe sitting as pretty as a princess, too.
So, the method of transport hadn’t exactly uncovered any clues, mainly due to the fact that her eyes hadn’t been open. At least Elvira could say she’d experienced a taste of the hero life… at the expense of another. Not that sweet Jetty would mind, of course.
“You fell… you said you wouldn’t fall.” Elvira wrongly pointed out.
Jett weakly said while not moving.
“I said you wouldn’t get...hurt.” Groaning, feeling that pop in his back when she fell on her. Was she just sitting on him? What ever happened to being worried about his injuries? She was going to be the death of him for sure.
“You… are not hurt right?” trying to prove his point.
The brunette’s finger came to rest upon her chin while her gaze seemed to drift off elsewhere. A simple question like that appeared to require a whole inventory check and reboot. Apart from that sluggish sensation peering down at the far-off ground had conjured up, nothing else seemed out of place.
“Hmm, no. Your landing needs work. Don’t heroes fly?” “Good..” He said ignoring her question as he slowly pushed up from his position into kneeling and on all fours a vein popped in his forehead as he felt the pain in his back Despite her still sitting on his back.
“Would you kindly, mind getting off me now?” He asked politely with a clear strain in his voice. If she didn’t get up in the next few seconds he was going to drop her.
Now seemed like a better time than ever to do what Jett suggested. After all, she barely had to put much effort into standing up when the boy was in this position. Her boots daintily came into contact with the floor whilst her hands used Jett’s back as a sort of springboard to propel herself forward and up. This causing Jett to fall over once again with a grunt. Elvira brushed off her skirt and peered around her once again, taking no notice of the poor Haven trying to scramble to his feet. It may be a recognisable classroom, but the people within it all looked unfamiliar. All except the one with the cloak.
Could Elvira be sure that was the one who had been boogieing her way around the classroom? Anybody could put on a cloak, maybe even swap with a friend - she’d heard some girls partook in such an odd display of friendship. Surprisingly enough, the six arms facter didn’t grab her attention when scrutinising the poor girl for any factors that linked her.
“See? Told you, Watson. The mystery has been solved.” Triumphant, the girl placed her fists on her hips and looked down towards the boy in question with a look that only he would be able to translate as smug.
“This is why you should be a Sherlock.”@Zeroth@Norschtalen@Lucius Cypher@Silver Carrot@PsychoPanda28@Feyblue
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