banjoanjo

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

『𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥』 『𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕥』 『𝔼𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕥』 『𝔾𝕣𝕖𝕘𝕠𝕣𝕪』

---

𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟠, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / 𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥 / / 𝔹𝕦𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔸 / / ~𝟚𝟘𝟘𝟘

---

_{Collab with @ERode @Deathmyster @banjoanjo and @Zombehs}

Was five pounds worth of wings enough for three people? Though he had already finished cooking at this point, with five different platters of wings arranged on styrofoam plates, Brent couldn't help but wonder if they were better off with ten pounds instead. Or maybe he should toss up a salad...but who even ate salad? The arbiter tapped the back of the knife against the counter. The 'buy big save big' package of chicken wings he had purchased from the supermarket looked big, but now that they were crispy, sauced up, or what have you...

"Too small."

A part of him wanted to cheat and just steal a ton of wings from the cafeteria, but cheating was for losers. Maybe the problem here was not taking advantage of those party-size bags of Lays that were on promotion? That would be something nice to munch on after the real meat ran out. But fries were a nice option as well. Would give him a chance to practice julienning potatoes as well, and the batter shouldn't take too long to prepare. Salt and pepper were in abundance anyways. Hm...

"Yo, Grant," Brent called, turning to face his perpetually bedridden roommate, "Chips or chips?"

While Brent was busy struggling over his enigma, Grant had been spending his own downtime comfortable in his bed, his back turned toward his roommate. Only when his name was called did Brent elict any movement from Grant, who turned his head just enough to look back at him for his question. The said question was met with silence as his mind chugged along before he finally just answered simply with, "...Chips." After giving his answer, Grant laid his head back where it was previously, closing his eyes once more.

...well, that was awkward. Expected of Grant, but still, awkward. And now even more awkward was trying to explain the joke to the ever-impassive youth. "I'll rephrase that. Potato chips or french fries?"

Another question from his roommate, but Grant didn't turn around again. Just as it seemed as if he had probably just fallen asleep, the eternally tired boy spoke up. "Chips. They'll last longer." Was what he answered with.

"Practical," Brent remarked, "I like it." Made sense as well, having food that didn't go bad once it got cold. Same logic as popcorn and all: if you were in for the long haul, it's better to have temperature-neutral food. "By the way, couple of classmates are coming over tonight. Movies and chill and all that. Think you can sleep through that?"

With Brent's remark, Grant shifted to get into a more comfortable position, thinking that'd be the last of his questions. Little did he know, his roommate asked another question just a little after that. "Don't worry about me." As long as there was no direct disturbance to him, he'd be just fine with the coming company.

"Cool, give me a shout if you want something to eat." Brent paused. Grant shouting? What alternate dimension was this? "Or just say something."

"Understood." Grant said lastly to that before going back to his usual silence, but he still couldn't bring himself to fall asleep at the time.

A loud knock sounded from the door. "Brent?" Ernie called out, "This is your dorm, right?"

"No," Brent replied flatly, "It's Bob's. I just tied him up and tossed him in the closet. Dude's got a killer kitchen."

A pause.

"Door's unlocked, by the way."

Ernie peered in, glancing around the room. Once he noticed Brent, he exhaled a sigh of relief. The Aberration walked in, carrying a rather noticeable canvas bag with the top full of chip packets, the ones you could get from vending machines. He looked ready for a sleepover, trackpants and a comfy jacket worn for maximum comfort. His hair was also tied up.

"Let's hope Bob won't be making too much noise in the closet tonight," Ernie quipped. He noticed another boy in one of the beds, sending a small "Hi" his way.

"Spent all morning practicing how to gag people. Shouldn't fail me now," Brent grinned, glad that he didn't trigger some PTSD episode from Ernie with that joke. Motioning towards the granite counter on the kitchen, the amethyst-eyed youth grabbed a large plastic bowl, intending on popping open all the bags that Ernie brought and tossing them in.

"Hopefully Greg brings soda or something. All I have stocked up is milk."

"We could make smoothies or something. You can do a lotta stuff with milk." Ernie opened the packets one by one, flattening and folding the emptied ones as he went along. They created a neat pile when they went into the bin. "So where we sitting?"

How neat. Mimicking Ernie's meticulous chip-packet disposal method, Brent glanced over to the living room. "Probably by the TV. Already got food prepped over there, as well as movies other than 'Hazel vs The World'."

The bowl was rapidly filling up. Perhaps another one was needed.

"By the by, didja smooth things over with Angelic?"

Ernie spun to meet Brent with a dazzling smile. The goofy expression of innocent delight seemed so deeply engraved on the boy's face that it seemed that he'd forgotten to answer. When he finally did, his tone was quite excited.

"More than smooth, bro! We talked things out and I think we're kinda friends now. I even got her number!"

"Dude?" Brent raised out his fist. "Niceeeee."

Ernie completed the fistbump with a laugh. "Right? This is, like, a dream! I didn't think I'd ever be in the same class or even the same school as Angel. I've been having some kinda weird, happy freakout all day."

"She used to be a rock star or something, yeah? Guess you can live the fanboy dream now." Brent emptied another bag in the slowly-growing pile of assorted chips, before looking up at Ernie once more. "So, what's up with Montreal anyways?"

Was it a smart thing to do, to gossip about another person's trauma behind their back? It wasn't really the moral complications Ernie was worried about, rather the chance that Brent would do the same thing as he did and go blabbing it right to her face. Sounded like a recipe for scream-scrambled brains, for both boys. But in the end, Ernie decided to just go for it. Brent was a cool guy, right? Plus, all the information was there on the internet. Anyone with the sense to google the name would have easily found an article on the concert, probably as one of the first results.

"Her last concert on some Homecoming event thing. She kinda outed herself as a Subnatural during a song and well, you know how her power works. Didn't get to hear the close details but a lotta people got messed up."

A pause.

"Guess it's a sore point for her. Makes sense. Definitely a can of worms to avoid, when we hang out again. Don't wanna be scream-shouted across campus, yeah?"

"Ah..." So that was the landmine he had avoided when he went shopping with her. Considering all the other bombs he totally stepped on, that was probably a good thing. Still, a lot of people got messed up? How strong WAS Angelic back then? Gained her powers a couple weeks ago, but the scream she had there in the gym, during her breakdown of sorts, didn't even manage to knock over any of the objects, while the screams she had against the dragon were meant to intentionally damage.

Huh, what the hell happened during that concert? Brent visualized the chain of events. Gained powers before the concert, KNEW about how her powers worked, and then went on for her concert regardless? He narrowed his eyes slightly, before nodding.

"Yup. Definitely wouldn't want to get blasted by our resident dragon-slayer." He dusted off his hands, before lifting up the almost-overflowing bowl, a couple of chips tumbling onto the counter. "At least subnatural life means a second chance, eh? Can only go up from here!"

Debatable. For Ernie, 'subnatural life' had consumed the last seven years of his existence. Everything before that...

Ernie frowned. He hated thinking about these things. Hated thinking about-- wishing for-- things that could've been. What was the point? He was here now, at USARILN East. Far from the safety and casual luxury of West. Far, far from Reno too. His subnatural life was likely to end within the next few weeks. Then nothing could go up. Nothing would matter. Memories flickered in the corner of his thoughts. Despite having his Stigma sated by his morning encounter with Angelique, Ernie couldn't help but feel a longing for home, whatever that meant these days.

He hated it. Hated feeling this way, hated having to think, having to remember. So he stopped thinking. He shoved the intrusive thoughts into the back of his mind once more, far too eager to put it behind him.

Subnatural life, huh? It didn't go up. Not for, well...

Ernie wanted to say Aberrations, but he knew it would only be a part of the truth. He had known formidable X-marks, mages who were stronger than he ever would or could be. Aberrations weren't the missing part of that statement. Subnatural life didn't go up for people like Ernie. That was the answer.

"Well, y'know," the longer-haired boy responded vaguely, "Life's what you make of it. Going up is... something we gotta work for, I guess. But if there's anything that helps with that work, it's optimism."

He took a chip and ate it, ignoring the hypocrisy of his words. A memorised smile worked itself back onto Ernie's face.

"That, and knowing how to handle yourself and your powers. But that's a buncha stuff for some other bummier time. What are we watching tonight?"

Tink. It sounded like a rock had thunked against the kitchen window. Tink. Tink. If anyone bothered to look outside, they'd notice Gregory standing below with a few more rocks in hand and his phone in the other.

A few moments later, and the text showed up on Brent's phone. "Guards won't let me in without one of you vouching for me."

That smile. Dislikeable. Brent suppressed the bitter taste in his mouth, really wishing that he had something sinfully sweet to drink now. Thoughts drifted towards that drugged up x-girl that he had met in the hospital during his first 'real' day in USARILN, but he found himself nodding to Ernie's words anyways. As the topic of movies came up though, he chuckled.

"Yeah, sounds like a topic that'd be better brought up while getting hammered," he replied, "And I got a whole bunch of nature documentaries lined up tonight. The entire uncut, uncensored, remastered version of Planet Earth: Awoken! Education and entertainment, all documented in super high risk environments! Also got stuff like Mad Flaps: Yuri Road and the live action for Metal Smear Avengeance, but think we're set f-"

A tink on the window, and then Gregory's text, brought Brent out of his own bit of gushing.

Kk, I'll pick you up from the lobby then.

"Looks like Grego's here already. I'll go fetch him."

---

Ten minutes later, the door to the dorm opened up once more, revealing Brent. "Welcome to Bob's place," he gestured with a grin.

Blinking a few times as he took off his shoes, Gregory wasn't too surprised at the difference in living accomodations he supposed. The dorms here were supposed to be shared right? "Huh? Your roommate's name?" If there was a joke to be got, it cleared his head without any trouble. A few metallic clinks came from his backpack as he finally noticed Ernie and raised his hand in greeting.

"How many others are coming?" he asked as he unzipped the backpack and began to pull cans of soda out.

Man, what a weirdishly convenient turn of events. First with Ernie bringing in chips and now with Gregory bringing in drinks? Was there some sort of cosmic force influencing everyone's decisions, ensuring that no one had any sort of overlap despite the fact that there had been zero communication? How strange. Maybe subnaturals had some sort of sixth sense for these events.

"Bob's the dude in the closet," Brent replied, bringing the cans to the table by the TV, "And naw, everyone's here now. Only bothered inviting team 4 peeps. Sav was PMSing and Emma was 'busy'."

One by one, those assorted soda cans formed a pyramid.

"Ooh. We haven't met yet," Ernie chirped, extending his hand, "Ernest, but everyone calls me Ernie. You were hardcore in the game, man."

Blinking a few times, Gregory glanced towards the closet with a dubious expression before he muttered, "Riiight." Tossing aside the backpack once it was emptied, he turned his attention to the other boy in the room. He frowned a bit at the mention of yesterday's shitshow, but otherwise didn't seem to let it bother him too much as he shook Ernie's hand. "That's one way to put it... Gregory, but Greg is fine."

"Yeah, your power was hella interesting. Just that Hazel hard-counters literally everyone else here," Brent replied, before motioning for the blond to sit down, "Anyways, I got like, one disc for every continent for Planet Earth. Where y'all wanna start?"

"I'm voting Africa," the dark-haired Aberration plopped himself on the far end of the couch, "I wanna see those crazy giraffe-lion fights!"

'Wasn't that the truth...' Clicking his tongue, he took a seat on the other end of the couch and then shrugged. "Sure, let's go with Africa. Australlia afterwards?"

"Oho, Australia with the illegal kangaroo baiting rings?" the arbiter nodded with approval, "Sounds like we got the first three hours lined up!"

With that, he slid the disk in, before popping back onto the floor. As cameras panned over desolate landscapes and drones flew over mutated monstrosities, a baritone voice waxed poetic on the glories of the landscape and the savagery of DC's creatures. Soon, the orchestra crescendoed, 'Africa' popping out from the screen.

Brent grabbed a chip.

"So, one-line impressions of Hazel vs Everyone?"

Ernie began working through a chicken wing. "Kinda glad I was too tazed out to get strip-smacked by her. Looked rough."

The can hissed before Gregory took a sip, and it was hard to tell if he was frowning from the burn or question. "A shitshow of bad decisions?"

"Yeah," Brent laughed, "Doomed from the start."

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

『𝔼𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕥』 『𝔸𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕟』

---

𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟙𝟚, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / 𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥 / / 𝔹𝕦𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔹 / / 𝟙𝟘𝟛𝟘

---

_{Collab with @VarionusNW and @banjoanjo}

The week had been a pretty mixed bag for Ernie. Plenty of ups, thanks to new friends like Brent and Angel. Far too many downs though. Ernie was fine with forgetting those more negative moments. Completely erasing them wasn't possible, but drowning them out certainly was. So it was on this fine Saturday morning that Ernie plugged his Karcher CV 30/1 into his room's power socket and began his weekend cleaning routine.

Ah, what a calming yet powerful roar this machine produced. Ernie could feel his spirit lighten as dirt and grime werelifted from the disgusting berber carpet that occupied his dorm. Within minutes, the small dorm was freshly cleaned, with a stripe pattern decorating the carpet of the room once he finished. Good god, he really was in denial. Or he was just bored. He really needed to make some more friends. All these aimless days were going to get to him before long.

Ernie glanced at the power socket, lamenting the briefness of his cleaning time. Urgh, these East dorms were so stupidly small. There was barely anything to occupy his time. Unless...

The Aberration peeked out from behind his door. The hallway was empty. And carpeted. That was the important detail. Ernie felt anticipation build, an excited smile slowly creeping up his face. This would be a worthy time-waster.

The vacuum was quickly plugged into one of the hallway's outlets. His noise-blocking headphones were worn this time. Such lengthy tasks demanded some sweet jams.

He vacuumed as he sang, completely uncaring of anyone he would be disturbing. It was 10:40am anyway. What kinda loser would still be snoozing in their room at this time?

Allison mumbled in her groggy state, the sounds of the previous night replaying in her head. She had been up late into the night with Angel, re-learning how to play the guitar. Allison didn't remember when the stopped, just that she had walked back to her room tired, with aching fingers, and collapsed into her bed. She was now slowly waking up, the sound of the guitar still humming in her ears.

As the girl continued to lay in her half awake state, she began to notice that what she was hearing sounded less like the familiar miserable strumming of the guitar at her fingertips, and more like a constant hum, aided by some other loud, obnoxious noise. Someone was singing. The obnoxiousness grew louder and louder as she regained consciousness, finding it more unbearable as time passed. She threw her pillow over her head and tried to lull herself back to sleep to no avail. Allison's peaceful rest had been stolen from her, and there was only one thing to do.

Allison rose from the covers, mournfully wiping the sleep from her eyes. She put on the first clothes she could find, a sleeveless purple shirt and jeans, and shuffled her way to the door. She felt gross and uncomfortable in her lack of sleep, which only helped to worsen her mood. She was ready to destroy the property of whoever decided to vacuum the hallway of the aberration dorms. Who in their right minds would thing such a thing was a good idea? And whilst singing, no less. Allison threw open her door.

The obnoxious singing and constant hum of the vacuum cleaner only got louder once Allison stepped into the hallway, the culprit in clear view, though facing away from her. Long hair, relatively tall, and clearly smug despite his face not being visible. Ernie Mars. Of course it would be the guy who stabbed her in the eye, no one else one floor would have the complete lack of concern for others required to fill the halls with such pointless noise. She had half a mind to walk up and smash the machine, but the reasonable part of her told to at least give the monster that was Ernie a chance to prove himself to be not a complete asshole.

"Ernie!" She spoke up, too tired to force a full yell. "Hey Ernie, can you quiet down, please?" Despite her attempt, Ernie kept on vacuuming, his music probably drowning out Allison's half-hearted call. "Ernie!" She called again, her voice still not piercing the boy's ears. Allison, having given up on calling out to Ernest, walked over with all the grace of someone who had just woken up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"I tidy up your room! You tidy up my-- huh?"

At the sudden tap on the shoulder, Ernie turned to see a rather irritated girl. Allison, the girl he'd kinda accidentally stabbed on that first day. That 'accidentally' part was debatable. He'd definitely meant to stab someone, just not her. And he'd tried to apologise--uh, sort of. Okay, he might have been a bigger dick than he needed to be on Monday. Ernie tugged his headphones to his neck, shouting over the roar of the vacuum.

"Allison, right?" Ernie was barely audible, "Did you need something?"

"Could you not vacuum the hallway in the morning, or at least get a quieter vacuum? Actually, why are you vacuuming the halls in the first place?" Allison's assumption was that Ernie was just being a dick, but there were much more affective ways of being a dick than vacuuming the hallway. Allison found herself both tired and confused.

"Uhh, cos it's super dirty and gross?" Ernie answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dozens of Aberrations would have tread this hallway daily, and Ernie didn't trust anyone to keep things clean better than himself. Really, the school should be compensating him in some way, having him do the work for whatever poor excuse the USARILN janitorial team was. Besides, Allison's complaining made no sense. Ernie switched his machine off to better talk.

"What kinda slacker is asleep at almost 11 in the morning anyway? And no, I'm not gonna pull out the quieter one. It doesn't have the power to get the shit out of the carpets like this baby does," Ernie tapped the side of the vacuum fondly.

"Fair enough" Allison said to the comment on the floor, staring down at the ground around her. It really was rather gross. It wasn't cleaned all that regularly, and the janitorial staff was likely too underpaid to care. "It's 11 already? How late were we up?" Allison mumbled to herself. She stifled a laugh at Ernie's fondness for his vacuum. "Alright then, Ernie the janitor. To think there'd be a student here willing to vacuum the miserable floors, and the guy who stabbed me in the eye, no less." Though Allison was still angry about being stabbed in the eye, she mentioned it lightheartedly, her overall mood seeming to lift at the strangeness of Ernie's character.

"Oh yeah, that," Ernie cringed at the memory. Guess it had been too much to hope that she'd let go of it easily. Still, he'd prefer to minimise the number of people who hated him in this new environment. Now that his Stigma was cleared and he was lucid enough to think things over, Allison didn't seem like someone who deserved to get temporarily disfigured like that. She'd reacted reasonably enough to his cleaning ruckus. For starters, she didn't try to destroy his vacuum unlike some people he could name at West. He'd realised a lot of the wrong things he'd done this week. So even if he didn't mean it (though he probably did), a proper 'sorry' was what she deserved.

"That was a really shitty apology I did on Monday. I shoulda put a lot more effort into it," Ernie scratched his head. Apologising was... awkward, "Me with the table leg... That was just a really stupid overreaction and I got caught up in the fight and lost my cool. It's a pretty obvious rule to not stab classmates but..."

Geez, this sounded really bad out loud.

"It was a dick move. Way outta line. Sorry for hurting you like that."

"Thanks." Allison, though she didn't let it show, was shocked that Ernie could actually seem sincere, considering her last encounter with him. Of course, some part of her still thought he was lying, but she pushed that down as much as the thoughts that permeated the back of her mind. Maybe Ernie wasn't as bad as she originally assumed. She remembered her conversation with Zoe from Tuesday, how she had given Zoe a second chance in her mind, and refrained from just calling her a monster outright. How could she not give the same treatment to Ernie. Maybe there was some good to Ernie. Allison knew for certain that truly good people didn't exist, maybe the same held true for true evil. "I think I can understand why you did it, and while I'm still angry about being, you know, stabbed in the eye, I don't hate you. I certainly can't hate a guy who vacuums this disgusting floor, even if he does it without regard for people sleeping in late." She let off a light chuckle with the last line.

Ernie smiled gratefully. So Allison wasn't going to stab him in his sleep. Wonderful! He could definitely use more friends in this new environment. However, he had no sympathy for late sleepers. Ernie was tempted to call her out but settled for a milder approach.

"Yeah, you might wanna get that sleep schedule checked out. You never know when you might get sortied so you don't wanna be fighting monsters on only a few hours' sleep."

"Alright, alright. I'll tell Angel that I can't hang out with her at night by authority of a janitor." Allison remarked. After she said it, she wasn't sure if Ernie knew who Angel was, realizing it was probably dumb to drop her name.

"Oh hey, you're friends with Angelique too? We should all hang out sometime! There are still some places in town I wanna check out," Ernie beamed excitedly, "And yeah, janitor's orders. Don't want any pesky kids dirtying my floors at 3 am."

"I'm surprised you know her. Yea, I guess we'll have to hang out at some point." Allison laughed at Ernie's last comment. "Well, Ernie the Janitor, I guess I should leave you to your work. You don't get payed to stand around talking to people. Well, you also don't get payed to vacuum loudly and sing, but that's besides the point." Allison stretched her arms, realizing that she had completely failed at what she had come to do, and ended up completely awake as a result. She wasn't getting her beauty sleep, it seemed. "Oh, and your singing is absolutely terrible. You sound like you're choking on a dying cat. You're not choking on a dying cat, are you?"

"Getting paid, huh?" Ernie rubbed his chin, considering the possibilities. He'd done something like that at West, helping people clean their dorms and such. Whether or not he had their approval was a different matter. But when they did ask him to do it, he usually got paid in snacks or cakes and such. It wasn't like he was short on cash or anything, but the thought of hoarding favours did appeal to him. Allison's next comment caught him off-guard, leaving that train of thought for another day.

"Aw man, you're hurting my feelings!" Ernie shook his head ruefully. He didn't know he sounded that bad. Ah well, he wasn't aiming for a music career or anything. It was all in good fun, "Ew. No cats here, they shed like crazy."

"Would just mean more for you to vacuum up." Allison shrugged.

"Not just vacuuming, clothing too! I don't wanna have to buy a bunch of lint rollers for my shirts just because of some nasty fluffball."

"Alright, second decree of the janitor, no cats allowed. Do you want me to write that down? How many decrees should I expect? Will it be 'Ernie's 10 Janitorial Commandments'?"

"What, like 'Thou shalt not leave your washing machine unattended'? Stuff like that?" Ernie laughed, "I could think of a lot more than ten in that case."

"Guess I should ask for a really big stone tablet, then."

"It'd be pretty easy for you, yeah? With your power and all," the boy nodded, "A really big rock. You'd have to update it often too."

"Alright, guess I'll carve it into the side of a mountain, then. Will Everest be big enough?"

Another round of laughter. "Hahaha! Hopefully!"

Man, this was an important lesson he learnt today. Don't stab people before you get to know them. He didn't think that Allison would've been so fun to talk to. He hadn't thought anything of her, really. He was glad to have been mistaken. Ernie glanced at the ground, reminded of his earlier chore.

"Yeah, guess I really should get back to work. I might do the other floors of this building too, if this one goes quickly. Talk again some other time?"

Ernie paused briefly, thinking.

"Can we swap numbers? I was serious about hanging out. You seem alright."

"Yea, sure." Allison said, realizing that her phone was still in her room. She had barely touched the device all week, spending very little time aclimatizing herself to the strange thing, and even less memorizing her own number. "I'll have to go get my phone, though, be right back." She went to grab her phone from her room as quickly as she could, returning just as fast.

"Sweet!"

The two Aberrations exchanged contact details. While he could, Ernie snapped a picture of an offguard Allison for her contact page in his phone. Hm, he'd have to do the same for the others too.

"I'll see you around then?"

"Yea, see you around. I'll let you get back to work." Allison walked away, leaving the strange boy to his vacuuming.

Ernie waved the girl goodbye, getting back to work like Allison had suggested. Ah, he would have never expected mornings at East to be so refreshing. He restarted the vacuum, popped his headphones back on, and began singing again with even more vigor than earlier.

St. Fortuna's Academy for the Higher Arts

Forgot to do mentions.

@liferusher and @Raijinslayer

St. Fortuna's Academy for the Higher Arts

---don'tlookSun Roomdon'tlook---

Such… insolence.

Franceska spared the small girl who dared stand in her presence half a glance, regarding the newcomer with cold eyes and an upward tilt in her jaw. St. Fortuna had come highly recommended, which was the only reason she had deigned to grace this place with her presence. Yet, the mere existence of these undesirables had begun to convince her otherwise. To think that they were in the same institution as her, an esteemed Vrodiskovich, and they had never bothered to at least learn basic manners. How boorish. Like overcooked macaroni, these peasants were beyond redemption.

Alas, not everyone was born to bear the weight of a name worth far more than any words could hold.

She could shed enlightenment into their ignorance. But Franceska didn’t find herself in a generous mood today, so she wouldn’t. Let the mongrels chase tails and fetch sticks to their hearts' content. She would whip them into shape some other day, when she wasn’t wearing something she would miss.

“Ah, I thought I heard something.” The corner of her mouth twitched into a humourless smile. “Ohohoho~~ As expected of mutts, always snarling at their betters. Why don’t you run along now? Back to whatever vapid amusement that your kind likes to wallow in?” As she spoke, Franceska sidestepped, leaving the scene and the fuming girl behind her.

[IntCheck] Persona - Academic Akrasia

Yeah, I got Moon last time.

St. Fortuna's Academy for the Higher Arts

---don'tlookSun Roomdon'tlook---

This was taking too long.

To think that these curs would dare make her wait this long, that they would even dare let her stand up like this, that they would dare group her up with these... these peasants! For such a prestigious place, their efficiency and speed left a lot to be desired. Well, the decor was passable, if not for these mongrels in her presence.

Franceska sighed, rubbing her temple. All this stress was giving her a headache.

She did notice the coughing, but did not turn around. Why would she? What sort of uncivilized boor would try to address her that way? But it was impossible to ignore them once they started talking, thus Franceska turned around to see who it was.

"Well now, I didn't expect to find a lady as beautiful as you amongst our student body, nor can I believe that I managed to miss you last year either."

Almost immediately her mind went white, her mouth stretched in a terse smile. Franceska had been here but for an hour, and already there were flies like that flocking to her as if she were leftover scraps of cheese. Were she but a naive girl, with her heart so easily swayed, perhaps this sort of tactic would work. But she was a Vrodiskovich, a woman of honor and virtue! For such a trick, nay, for such an offense to be played upon her was unforgivable.

"My name is Jeanette Blackwood, and if you would be so kind, I would ask that you please except this Erish Rose from my homeland as a gift from me to you. A noble specimen for someone of equally noble bearing."

" 'Tis a fitting gift." She accepted the rose, looking at its beauty. Her mouth curled into a cruel smile.

"For a mongrel."

With those words, she dropped the flower to the floor, making sure Jeanette saw what she did. "Did you truly think a mere flower, no doubt stolen from someone else's garden, would be a fitting gift for one such as I? What more, for a mannerless rogue to approach me so... such insolence!"

Feeling slightly better after releasing some of her pent up stress, she moved as if to walk away, before turning back and stomping her foot on the flower. "Oh dear me, I appear to have stepped on something. OHOHOHOHO~! All this poverty in the air must have made me clumsy!"

Laughing to herself, she moved away from the girl, feeling very satisfied with herself.

@Raijinslayer

Strange Gospel: An Urban Fantasy RP

HOSHITANI YUUGA

Success!

Yuuga clapped his hands together, the already wide smile on his face beaming even brighter. Ah, he actually managed to do it! A brief glance was sent over the club members. Their whispers had turned to ones of excitement. He’d done it and everyone saw him do it. Best case scenario. Sure, it seemed like just a temporary fix but he’d done the best he could at the time. That was enough, right?

“Thanks, Chiyu-chan! Hope we didn’t trouble you too much!”

They probably did. Yuuga had heard plenty of stories of how brutal Student Council work could be. Ah well, it was Chiyu or the club. The choice was easy. The Treasurer wasn’t really anyone he needed to concern himself with. Her opinion wouldn’t sway anything too important. He began to turn away, thinking that the conversation was finished.

“Ah, I gotta get changed. Was supposed to do a grocery run tonight.”

[IntCheck] Persona - Academic Akrasia

Interested. It's good to be back.

Strange Gospel: An Urban Fantasy RP

Aight, I'll fix my posts too. Thanks for letting us know.

Strange Gospel: An Urban Fantasy RP

HOSHITANI YUUGA

“Oh really?” Yuuga raised an eyebrow but cringed when Chiyu bowed. This girl really didn’t know how to sugar-coat, huh.

This was not the sort of response he wanted with so many people watching. Were his club members going to think of him as some kind of tyrant? Or was he gonna come off as more of a charismatic diplomat type? He guessed that it depended on what kind of stance he was taking, whatever the mood was. And right now the mood was getting really, awkwardly formal. Yuuga laughed nervously in response. He needed to defuse quickly.

“All the clubs, huh? Even those guys on the Kendo team?”

Damn, was that too on the nose? Too cynical? He must’ve sounded like a salty bastard just then. Quickly now, before the tide of conversation became too unfavourable for the both of them.

“I mean… it’s just that…” More effort into his smile. Don't let the Treasurer know that he had no idea what he was doing. Yuuga scratched his head, recalling President’s rant last week about the other ‘glory-hogging sport hounds’ and their budget bonuses, “The Kendo Club’s the school’s clear favourite. Nothing wrong with that. But we’ve got more than twice as many recruits than last year. You’ll have to ask Prez for more details but personally I don’t know how we’re gonna handle these many members with a cut budget. Are you sure there’s no way to work around us?”

Was that good enough? No, one more push should do it.

“And this is just between us,” Yuuga said lowly, knowing full well that his club members were listening in, “But we’ve got a lotta first years still showing up. Wayy more than we can handle with a cut budget. Plus, kyudo's been a staple in the school community for ages! A lotta people could get affected here.”

His strategically off-hand remark triggered whispers of agreement from the older club members, garnering some small satisfaction in him. Jackpot. Even if he couldn’t negotiate their budget back, it’d still look like he tried.