TaliPaendrag

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

Beth began to blush rather vehemently, her smile withering away as she realized that Michelle was laughing, most likely at her. Her cheeks only grew hotter as Michelle made a comment about Beth being about as subtle as she was, a comment that Beth didn’t think was meant to be taken as a compliment.

”They’re twenty-foot tall slabs of metal with hinges that looked about as rusty as the Titanic is now,” Beth said as she followed Michelle into the ruins to meet up with the others, clearly pouting. ”Sorry that I couldn’t gently lower them to the ground, but I doubt pushing them open would have made that much less noise.” It didn’t help that she didn’t particularly see why they had to be quiet either. It wasn’t like they were hunting the monsters down anymore.

After a few moments, however, Beth seemed to forget all about the door incident, or at least stopped letting it bother her, her attention wholly directed at the ruins around her. Broken remnants of whatever used to stand where the ruins now lay were covered in thick patches of moss, but even so, the ruins themselves didn’t seem all that old. It seemed that most of the pieces of building, though broken and shattered, were still in rather good condition, and Beth could sense the wires running through several of them.

When Michelle mentioned that it seemed as though the ruins had used to be a school, Beth directed her attention towards the section that Michelle was looking at, nodding as Michelle continued, asking if Beth agreed that another section of the ruins looked like they might have been a dorm at one point. ”But what would have lead to… this?” Beth replied as Michelle pointed out a mostly intact section that looked like an office of some sort.

”We should probably wait for the others before we explore more,” Beth said, looking up towards the top of the wall that surrounded them and waving the other two girls on down. Frankly, she wasn’t really sure what they might find buried among all this rubble, but she would feel a lot more comfortable discovering it with more people around. Something about the ruins just felt… off.

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

Perhaps it was the stone foundation that more than likely sat beneath what they could see of the ruins, but the path along the wall was relatively clear of debris, a great change from the overgrown trail leading to the ruins in the first place. As such, Beth had a much easier time keeping up with Michelle as the two of them looked for a way that Michelle could use to get into the ruins.

After what seemed like forever, they finally managed to find a set of massive metal doors, which seemed a likely candidate for being a way into the ruins that didn’t involve jumping over the walls. Beth couldn’t help but feel as though Michelle was teasing her when she asked if Beth thought that she would be able to open the doors, primarily because Beth was pretty sure that Michelle was strong enough to push the twenty-foot high slab of metal in.

Beth was willing to give it a try anyway, oddly encouraged by thought of Michelle teasing her again. Her first thought was to create a repulsion between her hands and the door and use that to push it open, but one look at the hinges gave her the idea of blasting them off and letting the door fall down.

Making sure that Michelle wasn’t close enough to be in danger, Beth drew the charge on her body together to form two arcs on either side of her, quickly launching them at the hinges of the door and taking a few steps back as ozone filled the air. The hinges shattered as the electricity finished entering them, having been superheated by the current and then cooled back down by its absence.

As metal fragments rained down over them, Beth concentrated, pulling the negative charges together in the middle of the door and holding them there while she moved the negative charges on her body to the front so that she and the door would repel one another. With such a small base to support its center of gravity, and the lack of hinges to provide extra support, the small amount of force directed into the ruins was enough to get the door tipping, a position from which it quickly accelerated, smashing into the ground with a loud thud that echoed dully through the forest.

”Let’s go inside, shall we?” Beth said as she joined Michelle, a huge grin on her face, a combination joy that she was able to open the door and excitement over the prospect of seeing what was hidden in the ruins.

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

”Well, being looked down upon is a lot better than being treated like a little kid,” Beth replied to Michelle’s tease, jokingly pouting a little bit. She understood that Michelle hadn’t been kneeling down in front of her to offend her or anything. The larger woman had just been trying to keep their little mission a secret, though knowing that hadn’t made the situation less awkward at all.

Fortunately, Michelle stood up rather quickly after Beth mentioned how uncomfortable having someone kneel down on her level made her feel, though the fact that Astrid had overheard them might have had something to do with it, the other ginger girl vanishing, only to reappear a moment later holding a thin stick as if she was going to use it to defend herself.

As they were waiting for Fiona to finish doing whatever it was that she was doing, which seemed to be recruiting some other people to come along with them, a man of what appeared to be Asian descent with black hair came up the stairs, only to stop in his tracks and curse when he saw Fiona. To his credit, it seemed like he was more surprised than angry, which was understandable given Fiona’s appearance.

Seeming to be looking for something normal to focus on, his eyes rapidly moved from Fiona to Beth and then to Astrid before he muttered something about how weird they all were in a strangely aggressive tone. It was almost like he was upset at them for not warning him or something. Regardless, he had certainly not made any friends among the group with that whole episode.

The trek through the woods to the ruins, with Fiona as the leader of the little group, was certainly not a cakewalk for Beth, primarily because her short little legs couldn’t match the others’ long strides. The fact that the trail was pretty grown over with roots and small plants made it that much harder, as she had to more or less climb over them while the others just stepped across. As such, she arrived at the ruins a couple of minutes after everyone else.

”I’ll go with you,” Beth replied to Michelle after she had caught her breath. ”Astrid can teleport to the top of the wall and help Fiona look for another entrance from up there.” Hopefully, the path wouldn’t be as difficult for her to navigate as the trail to the ruins had been. She didn’t think she would be ab

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

I posted. :3 Hopefully that helps increase the activity level around here. Let me know if I need to change anything, particularly about earlier classes, as I had just assumed that we wouldn't have had our first class at noon. ;)

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

Yawning slightly, Dani almost bumped into the door frame of the classroom, though it was really just a dungeon that class was being held in, before she corrected her course and made her way to a seat towards what she assumed was the front of the classroom. Though she didn’t care much for being the center of anyone’s attention, the teacher would need to be able to read her whiteboard if she had a question or needed to communicate something, and sitting at the front was the easiest way to ensure that.

Fortunately, an upperclassman named Samuel from Ravenclaw had volunteered to lead the first-years from his house to the dungeon so that they weren’t late and didn’t get lost. In fact, the ones that had decided to follow Sam were the first students to arrive for class. They had likewise been the first group to arrive at each of their previous classes as well, including the one at eight in the morning, which partially explained why Dani seemed so tired.

The other reason for her exhaustion was her fellow housemates’ curiosity concerning her condition and everything associated with it keeping her up for several hours past whens she normally would have gone to bed. They had asked her questions that ranged from what a dry erase marker was to how she communicated without her whiteboard or any other writing utensils. Some of them had even requested that she begin teaching them sign language, which was kind of nice.

Of course, they had seemed to be just as interested in teaching her about magical things once they realized that she was a Muggle-born witch, though that revelation also brought with it more questions concerning the Muggle world. Fortunately, they weren’t as intense in their interest about the Muggle world, which was probably due to the fact that there was more than one Muggle-born in the House and their already knowing some of the subject.

Hopefully, the class wouldn’t drag on for too long so that she could slip back to the dorm and into her bed for a much needed nap. If only the teacher and the other students would arrive so that they could get started.

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

”Wow,” Beth said as Michelle’s arm became covered in scales, a small demonstration of her power, nodding as the larger woman explained that a full transformation into a dinosaur form was too painful to justify using it as a demonstration. Though Beth could understand how a transformation like that would be quite painful, she couldn’t deny that she was looking forward to getting to see something straight out of Jurassic Park when Michelle did transform.

As Michelle made her way out of the lounge, explaining that she knew a quick way of getting into the woods, Beth nodded and began following, trusting that Michelle knew what she was talking about as she lead them towards the docks and lodge. Before the passed by the building, however, Michelle stopped and entered for some reason. After a moment’s hesitation, Beth followed her friend into the building and up the stairs.

When Beth finally caught up to Michelle at the top of the stairs, she turned to see who her friend was talking to, eyes widening and taking a step back at the sight of a humanoid cricket that looked absolutely gigantic from Beth’s height, even if it clearly wasn’t as tall as Michelle was. Almost immediately, Beth realized that what she was looking at was quite likely another student and so she tried to temper her surprise to avoid being offensive.

Not that she had a whole lot of time to dwell on her mistake, however, as Michelle walked over to her and knelt down so that she was more or less at eye level and explained that they were going to with the cricket person instead of hunting down monsters. ”That’s fine with me,” Beth said, fidgeting a little due to the awkwardness that Michelle’s kneeling down brought to the situation. ”Could you stand up now? You’re making me really uncomfortable.”

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

I'm fine with that. :)

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

Before Michelle could respond, there was a loud crack rang out next to them, causing Beth to jump about a foot of the ground as she turned to see what the source was, a look of surprise on her face as she realized that it was another girl. The newcomer was quite a bit taller than Beth, which was expected, with red hair much like Beth’s own. She introduced herself as Astrid and said that she was a new student, which probably meant that she had just arrived on the island, as they were all new relatively speaking.

Not having to worry about introducing herself, as Michelle did that for her, Beth turned to the large woman to answer the question she had posed before they were joined by Astrid. ”I can control electricity,” Beth said, generating small arcs of electricity between her fingers for a moment in case clarification was necessary.

”We could see if the group of people I know would want to join us, but I’m not positive that they will,” Beth continued, though she was careful to avoid being too open about what they were doing, having caught on to Michelle’s avoidance of the subject itself. ”I don’t know them that well, considering we just met last week and all.”

Hogwarts: Ignition - Year One

I'm rather impartial as to what class we start off with. Dani will be awestruck regardless. :3

Academy 218: Still looking for new people to join - now is the primetime.

Beth Carson

The thought of more of those beasts lurking out in the woods sent a shiver down Beth’s spine. They had just been so… foul and twisted that it was hard to imagine one even existing in the first place, let alone two or more. As Michelle rose to her feet, Beth slid off the end of the couch and stood up as well, listening intently as the taller woman explained her thoughts concerning the staff of the school. Beth didn’t really agree with the idea that the staff were against them or incompetent, though she could see how their desire to keep the students out of the situation would come across as such.

While Beth wasn’t exactly fond of Michelle’s plan to hunt down and exterminate the monsters that had attacked the school, she couldn’t deny that she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt either. And so, she found herself nodding her assent despite her better judgment, though she had come up with another possibility. ”I’m all for helping protect the school, but if there are too many of them or we find their nest or whatever, we should come back for help,” Beth suggested, hoping that Michelle wouldn’t just shoot her down. ”I know at least four people that would be able to help out if we needed them.”

As she waited for Michelle to respond, Beth walked over to the nearby vending machine, which she had noticed was the same model as the one at her high school had been. Double checking to make sure that no one was paying her any attention in particular, Beth sent a brief charge through the machine that caused it to dispense a twenty-four ounce bottle of root beer. Fairly certain that no one had seen her, or would care at least, Beth returned to Michelle with her prize in hand. ”So, where we going to start looking?” she asked before twisting the cap off and taking a drink.