Silver Carrot

Titans of Gotham

Natalie finally managed to make it to the room, after PK had already been beaten, and Jeremy had already stopped Monolith from killing him. Natalie had conflicted feelings. She'd feel a lot safer if PK died today, but she also wanted to hear from PK's own mouth, 'why?'. She approached PK once Monolith had gotten off him, and started tying him up in steel wire created from her left arm, in effect cuffing his body to herself. She looked back up at the other two.

"My bike's back at the hideout so that's out. Where the hell is Oracle? Was she watching us? Does she know where we are? What the hell's she so busy on if we're supposed to be some kind of hero group soon? Does anybody have any modes of transport that...Zen! Can't he fly or something? To be honest, I've never asked what he can and can't do..." Natalie trailed off. They've already been together a week and barring a bunch of small talk, she really didn't know a whole lot about her teammates...

Harold's Academy for the Magically Inclined

Lhoren Ashdale

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Day 1 ◈ Time: Evening ◈ Weather: Light Rain ◈Location: Harold's Academy, Main Ballroom ◈ Participants: Lhoren Ashdale @Silver Carrot, Tessa Vellhart @Mirandae, Sylvia Copeland @LuckyBlackCat

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In contrast to Tessa, it was rare to see Lhoren ever really blush upon recieving compliments. However, Tessa's reversal of Loren's own compliment to her had managed to cause Lhoren to forget how to speak a reply as her face was now noticeably red. She listened to Tessa and Sylvia's conversation as she took the opportunity to regain her composure. Beautiful was a far too commonly used word to describe Tessa, as though a dance with Tessa seemed too good to be true, Lhoren was now doubting if she could keep her focus for an entire dance well enough to do justice to her partner, abd give Tessa the first dance she deserved. All eyes would be on them, and that would be a lot of pressure. Lhoren didn't want pressure. She wanted to let her hair down, have fun and enjoy herself.

So, when Tessa brought up the topic of if they'd danced yet, but then professed her wish to talk to the other classmates first, and Sylvia took the opportunity to proactively ask Lhoren to dance, she felt a wierd kind of relief. She smiled at Sylvia, and nodded before speaking to Tessa. "I haven't danced yet but it seems that's about to change. I'll let you go and say hi to everybody else now. I can hear how much you want to catch up with them all."

Lhoren then turned her attention to Sylvia, and smiled at her, her hand outstretched and mouth unmoving while her voice rang out inside Sylvia's head. "As long as I know you're taking it seriously, you don't have to worry. Follow my lead and I'll keep you right."

Whether her bluff about meaning to turn her nose back was a bluff or not, Lhoren gave no reaction or indication that she noticed or suspected a thing. As Lhoren began to lead her towards the dance floor, she heard that Sylvia was thinking about Grumble leaving. By the time Lhoren turned to look herself, there was no sign of the Professor. First the headmistress and now this. What was going on that needed both of them to be absent? Lhoren put a pin in that thought and shelved it. First things first, she wanted to dance.

Harold's Academy for the Magically Inclined

What happened to the Discord?

Harold's Academy for the Magically Inclined

Lhoren Ashdale

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Day 1 ◈ Time: Evening ◈ Weather: Light Rain ◈Location: Harold's Academy, Main Ballroom ◈ Participants: Lhoren Ashdale @Silver Carrot, Tessa Vellhart @Mirandae, Sylvia Copeland @LuckyBlackCat

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Lhoren heard Sylvia's offer to dance, and considered it. Lhoren and Sylvia weren't exactly friends but weren't total strangers either. Lhoren occasionaly gave Sylvia stern hints to not let her shenanigans get too out of hand, and they both stuck up for any psychiccer who got teased or bullied in the prescence of them both, but Lhoren had heard enough of Sylvia's mind to know that they weren't especially compatible as acquaintances. Still, Sylvia was more than presentable tonight. Her dress was very nice and suited her well. Sylvia's reflexes might make her a good dancer too, but Lhoren had never seen her dance and she didn't seem like the type of person to learn. Asking her would be a gamble. They might pull off a very impressive dance together, or Sylvia might decide to goof around and show Lhoren up.

While Lhoren was considering it, she didn't make eye contact with Sylvia in case the choice was made for her. As Lhoren looked around, weighing her other options, she saw that Tessa was at the party! Not only that, but she was walking right towards her! There were many beatiful students and teachers at this academy. There were several who were exactly Lhoren's type, that she had lowkey crushes on. Tessa went so far beyond that world. She was almost etherial in her beauty. Of course, with her hair, dress and makeup for the ball, she almost seemed like a mirage or a hallucination. Only when she actually spoke, and Lhoren began hearing her thoughts alongside, was the spell broken. Even the other younger members of the faculty don't seem as much like ordinary, friendly approachable students as Tessa still did.

Hearing that Tessa thought Lhoren looked fabulous immediately put her on the back foot, and Lhoren's mask couldn't quite hide all of the color that was starting to fill her cheeks. She stood still as a statue as Tessa examined her dress. Though when Tessa began talking about her journey to the ball, Lhoren's eyes went wide and she sobered up very fast as she listened in disbelief. She wasn't just listening to Tessa tell her story, but also listening to her remembering the events in full detail.

"I don't know how you still find the energy to be so cheerful and bubbly after going through that, Tessa. I really don't!" Lhoren replied, straining her voice to be heard over the crowd without resorting to shouting. "You really are amazing."

Harold's Academy for the Magically Inclined

Lhoren Ashdale

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Day 1 ◈ Time: Evening ◈ Weather: Light Rain ◈Location: Harold's Academy, Main Ballroom, Food Table ◈ Participants: Lhoren Ashdale @Silver Carrot, Raffaella Struna @Emeth, Kaspaan Mustaven @Deja◈ Mentioned: Wolfgang Weiss @Aeolian, Lady Penelope Upperton @Aeolian

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Lhoren watched with anticipation as the spread was brought out, cart after cart. The sparse food table that had hitherto only contained nibbles was now adorned with extravagant and colorful plates of classic Lekëon cuisine. Many of these dishes were moreso associated with the food of the nobility, or were typically dishes of the Western Sky Isles. She recognised the few Eastern Isle dishes, however; Nectar fritters, honeyloaf slices, Pelloan-fried fowl, sunrise rolls with various savory fillings, glasses of peachade. It brought back memories of the festival food stalls of her childhood, and she gleefully took a plate and began piling it with food

The comnversations around her blended with the thoughts people were thinking around her making a cocophany of noise that barely seemed like sentences. Still, she could pick out the most common topics. Wonder at the food that had been brought out, curiousity at why Headmistress Minerva had to leave suddenly, people worried about how well they were dressed compared to each other despite everybody thinking everybody else was well dressed.

Somebody was either thinking or saying something about mind-readers, and Lhoren zeroed in on that to discover that two of her fellow House Ivar members were standing beside her. Raffaella and Kaspaan. Lhoren was always taken by surprise whenever she noticed Raff. It was uncanny how she could stay so close to you for so long without being noticed and very often, Lhoren couldn't even pick up her thoughts unless they pertained to her or a relevant topic, such as mind-reading. It wasn't that she was transparent or silent, just very hard to perceive or notice. Still, Raff always seemed surprised with Lhoren did notice her so her telepathy may give her an edge when it came to perceiving her.

The boy beside her, Kaspaan, was currently thinking about Lhoren's dress. Lhoren had been picking up that thought a lot from the boys so far. Especially the younger ones. It was tiring to hear a lot of them get rather unsavoury thoughts but it was nice to know that her efforts to dress up for the ball were being appreciated. It was hard not to secretly be a little vain when you can hear every time a person thinks you're pretty.

She listened to their conversation out of curiosity, hearing their internal dialogue as well as their spoken. When Kas mentioned that she would let them know if Raff is a mind reader, Lhoren looked over with a sly smile and a twinkle in her eye. Without opening her mouth, both of them would hear Lhoren's voice in their heads;

'She's not a mind reader'

Lhoren stifled a giggle as she turned away and left them to it. They seemed to be getting on well and she didn't want to intrude. Raff was shy and Kas was, appropriately, cold, so to see them both managing to get on well together was a nice thing to see. Lhoren picked away at her plate as she idly walked through the gradually filling ballroom.

Finally, Wolfgang flew into the air, marking that the Ball was about to officially be underway. He began addressing them. Lhoren only half-paying attention as she continued eating the food on her plate. He was too far away for Lhoren to hear his thoughts but even she could see that the speculation on the Headmistress' wherabouts slightly annoyed him. Lhoren herself had grown over the past year to develop the habit of ignoring any situation that doesn't directly concern her. Overhearing other people's drama and potentially life-altering secrets was almost a weekly occurence and she had fast learned it was far healthier to turn a blind eye to it all.

The announcement that Lady Penelope Upperton was their special guest, though. That was a surprise she cared about! Lhoren's eyes lit up and she started cheering and screaming with everybody else. Good surprises this big were a rare thing to be kept from her, but she was so glad she hadn't accidentally picked up on this! When the legend herself graced their prescence, floating down from the sky, Lhoren's cheers only got louder and her own eyes sparkled brighter. It was seeing Lady Penelope Upperton dance for the first time as a child of five that made Lhoren herself want to learn to dance, after all.

She had to find a partner to dance with if LPU was going to the one performing the music! She looked around for good dance partners, but most of them naturally already had partners of their own. Lhoren's smile started to fade slightly and her eyes began to dim, as she continued to scan the crowd. She was unlikely to find a partner before the first song started at this rate, but surely she'd find one to dance the rest of the songs, right?

Titans of Gotham

While listening intently to Zen talk, Natalie noticed that Bolt had left less than a minute after the fact, and stood up before anybody else could add to what Zen was saying. They still didn't have a plan of attack once they actually came face to face with PK but none of that mattered.

"Bolt just left!" she suddenly shouted, panic clear in her voice. "While we were talking, he...what is he thinking?!"

The moment the others noticed, Tia must have panicked too and had a change of heart. Teleporting them could have caused one of them to get hurt before but now not teleporting them will definutely condemn Bolt to death. And she must have dug deep because they all got teleported no matter where they were in the room. Natalie saw Tia collapse in Zen's arms but thought that she must have passed out from over-exertion. It didn't matter. She had done more than enough. She stepped up in the moment when it counted to show them all what a real damn Hero was. Natalie was not afraid to admit she was terrified, but she was equally as fired up.

Then she heard the gunshots. No doubt aimed at Bolt. Whether they had actually hit him or not, it didn't matter. He was in danger. Natalie turned her attention back to the building and gritted her teeth. Monolith spoke up, thinking on the fly to storm in and tank all the traps so the rest of them could enter safely. Natalie merely nodded at his statement, then watched him go as he broke doen the door and the explosions started. His last sentence stuck out to her, and his emphasis on the word 'distracted'. So, he had been listening to her after all. The little remnants of some sembelance of a brainsrtormed plan were all they had, even having to give up their element of surprise to stop Bolt from dying. But maybe, just maybe, it will be enough. She'd have preferred a less intense first field mission but now was the time to prove to everyone, and herself, that she belonged in this team.

"Screw waiting. Never been very good at it," Wireframe spoke out loud, before heading into the building herself and following Monolith's trail of destruction. She could still hear the explosions and sounds of traps being set off ahead of her, and smoke was making it hard to see and harder to get good breaths of clean air, slowing her down slightly. As she walked, she turned her pinkie into wire and wrapped it around her right hand, creating a makeshift knuckleduster. Natalie wasn't a trained fighter. If it came to blows, she would need every edge she could get.

Harold's Academy for the Magically Inclined

Lisa Goldheart

&

Lhoren Ashdale

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Day 1 ◈ Time: Evening ◈ Weather: Light Rain ◈Location: Main Ballroom ◈ Participants: Lisa Goldheart @Frettzo, Lhoren Ashdale @Silver Carrot

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Lisas’s eyes, glazed over, half-lidded purely out of the sinking feeling in her gut and chest, suddenly brightened up. She blinked and rubbed her eyes before looking back at the guy in front of her. He was wearing a hand-me-down suit, probably his grandfather’s considering the length of the coat. What had caught her attention so suddenly though, was that he was no longer blabbering about six-packs or crushed watermelons, and had finally shut his mouth.

The pale, skinny, freckled guy smiled nervously at her, perhaps feeling a sudden wave of confidence at what to him no doubt looked like Lisa’s approval of his barely-rehearsed pick-up lines.

That smile vanished nearly as quickly as it appeared.

“Got it out of your system? Good.” Lisa said and pointed at his group of friends with her eyes.

“S-So… Wanna hang out with me sometime?”

Lisa raised an eyebrow and leaned as close as she could towards the guy’s face before he started to inch away. “And do what?”

The guy stuttered, face flushed, and he quickly began to nervously twiddle his thumbs, “... Homework?” He asked hopefully.

“No.” Lisa rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and leaned back. “I don’t get it. You saw the other six guys get shot down. You can see I’m pissed off. I even told you to go away with my eyes. Why would you still approach me with a ridiculous pick-up line involving my thighs and a watermelon farmer’s nightmare? Go back to your boyfriends, don’t talk to me unless you got something real to say.”

The guy practically shook in his badly-maintained leather shoes, ran his hands through his hair, and then quickly walked out of the ballroom. Lisa cringed and rubbed her temples. She’d snapped a bit, she realised, but could she really be blamed? Before she could finish her thought however, yet another guy began to approach her.

Is this hell? She thought to herself, was she being punished for something she did in a past life? As the guy walked closer and closer, she realised with dread that this one hadn’t even had a shower in probably the last five days. Why did she have to go through this kinda crap? Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, talking to friends and getting ready for a long night of partying, everyone but her, because her best friend had ditched her to go hook up with some random girl.

”Hey, Lisa! Been looking for you!” Lhoren cheerfully exclaimed, seemingly having come out from nowhere but now suddenly by Lisa’s side. While she was talking, she sent a secondary message telepathically. ”You look like you needed a save.”

Lhoren had been mingling so far and had been heading for the catering table when she had read the thoughts of embarrassment and resentment from all the boys Lisa shot down, and her own weariness at having to deal with them. The moment she picked up there was another one who seemed convinced he was going to have better luck, Lhoren had decided to step in before she even knew which direction the boy was in.

Lhoren was currently wearing a white ballgown and violet butterfly mask, and had preemptively shot down several attempts at lame pick up lines herself before a single word had even managed to have been uttered. The moment she heard them think the line as they approached her, she transmitted her own…constructive feedback into their heads before they had finished their approach. Most of them had taken the chance to play it off and pretend that they weren’t trying to approach Lhoren at all.

”Hey, there’s something over here you’ve got to see!” Lhoren added, gesturing discreetly with a head tilt to the other end of the food table and away from the thirsty pack of boys. Lhoren’s face never betrayed a thing.

“Oh! I see it, c’mon let’s go!” Lisa grabbed a hold of Lhoren’s hand and guided her as far away from the crowd as she could, not even trying to hide the relief on her face. When the two had finally escaped from the second circle of hell, Lisa turned around and gave Lhoren a quick hug. “Lhoren! Thank you so much, you have no idea how long I would’ve been standing there if not for you. You’re more reliable than some other people I know, for sure.”

Lhoren paused, then returned the hug. It took her by surprise that she could feel Lisa’s muscles through her dress, and she let go before Lisa did. Lhoren had purely platonic feelings for Lisa now, after getting to know her the past year. However, Lisa in gym wear played no small part in Lhoren realising she wasn’t entirely straight, back before they knew each other properly.

Lisa took a deep breath and released all the tension in her body when she exhaled, then disengaged the hug and rested her hands on Lhoren’s shoulders. “You really saved me there. I might’ve actually had to hide somewhere at the rate things were going. So, how have you been? Overheard anything interesting since we last talked? You look great in that gown and mask, by the way, are you trying to impress someone?”

”Why, thank you! But I can throw that back at you,” Lhoren replied, smirking as she opened her eyes which had a cheeky glint in them. ”I don’t think you were trying to get people to think you look pretty in your dress either. As for overhearing anything interesting, you know I have. But I don’t tell other people’s secrets. Ashdale policy.”

“Fair enough about the secrets. And yeah, I only dress like this ‘cause my parents hate it when I wear trousers to formal events. Say, d’you want to go for some fresh air? Being stuck inside with all these mouldy, damp thoughts must be stifling.” Lisa offered, finally stepping back from Lhoren’s space and clasping her hands in front of her abdomen in what could only be a half-assed attempt at looking like a Lady. “I know a nice place with a ledge, and if we bring something to eat we can probably skip all the small talk bound to happen in events such as these.”

Lhoren paused, looking deep in thought as she considered it, before she smiled again and shook her head. ”Sorry, the night’s still young and I’m still in the mood to socialise. I might take you up on that offer later though, so look out for me!”

Lisa chuckled, “Of course! I’ll be outside for a while, but you can come to me if you need help with anything.” Lisa gave Lhoren a thumbs up and started to make her way towards a side exit before abruptly stopping, loading up a plate with several pieces of food, and continuing walking away while waving at Lhoren. “Thank you again for the save, by the way. I owe you one for sure.”

Lhoren waved back until Lisa was out of sight, then started to walk away before remembering why she had come to the food table in the first place, rolling her eyes at herself, and returning to fill up her own plate.

Titans of Gotham

Natalie had been listening to everybody's words from outside the room, having got tired of moping rather quickly. Stewing in silence was just making everything worse. She needed to get out of her own head, and talk to her team. She walked back into the room and folded her arms.

"I'm not sure if we're ready, and I know going after him is a terrible idea, but I don't feel safe going out there and fighting small fry as long as he's still out there. He killed one of us for doing this, he could attack any of the rest of us, at any time. I'm not going to wait to be picked off. We need to make a plan, and we need to take him out together. We can't just ignore him anymore."

Natlie walked over to the sofas, and cleared some space on the coffee table just in case they needed to use it for planning. Natalie didn't know how planning worked. She didn't know the first thing about how to be part of a Hero team. Still, she spoke as she cleared magazines and dirty dishes. "As strong as he is, I don't think he can power his way out of steel rope. I could restrain him if his hands are kept busy. Let's brainstorm. Between all of us, I know we can beat this guy."

Harold's Academy for the Magically Inclined

<Snipped quote by Silver Carrot>

Who would Lhoren find eye catching? Give us the gossip.

@Ti

Lisa

Harold's Academy for the Magically Inclined

MellexMyrion is just your typical college relationship