Theobromine

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

Ara (B)

"Make an impression and no-one will forget you"

"Indeed. And I do hope to make strong impressions. Ideally good ones, but I'm actually not too picky." Ara chirped on, seeming to be enjoying the small talk. She looked down at her clothes for a moment thinking, 'And hopefully my attire helps with that. Otherwise I'll feel silly dressing like this in a kimono.' She looked back up at Rain when the girl repeated her words. Nodding she confirmed, "You catch on fast. Realistically you can do anything you want with him. Boil him, kick him... Anything short of killing him, since that would trouble me as well."

She nodded a second time to indicate that she would join them, but turned to see what Aurelia had to say. Which was... Nothing. Sadly. That didn't tell her much about the girl except that perhaps she had (un)fortunately succeeded in making a bad impression on her. But since she didn't say anything to discourage Ara from joining them, she decided to keep herself invited amongst them on their way to the auditorium.

"Did I say something to offend you?" She asked Aurelia once they started to walk. She just used a calm but curious voice, like she was asking something mundane like, 'what did you have for lunch?'. "To be honest I've only been with two rather thick-skinned guys for a while now so I'm not sure what it's like to talk to fellow girls anymore."

"But enough about me. I've probably hijacked enough of the conversation. Tell me something about yourselves!" She glanced between the two of them, or as much as she could with Aurelia hiding behind Rain. "Something like... Oh, what do you like to do for fun?"

@FaithsRose@NarayanK

---

Katherine Argall

Kathy caught the way Eric abruptly changed the topic and raised a brow in question, but she didn't press any further. Especially since it had been so obvious that he didn't want to elaborate further.

"Hm? Well-" She cut herself off as Eric began to rummage about, searching for something. 'Pink hair?' She thought, already thinking about someone that she knew, the only person she knew with pink hair really. Then looking at the photo, she gasped in surprise. She couldn't be absolutely certain with the glare in the way, but the woman seemed far too similar to the person she had been thinking of for her to mistake her.

She smiled and laughed, clearly unaware of Edric's situation. "Ah, what a coincidence. I was thinking about her right when you mentioned the pink hair." Kathy was very excited to see Lily now. She had been hoping she could see a familiar face around, and to think that Lily had gotten married! At least, that's what the picture seemed to suggest. "That's Lily isn't it? Wow... Time really just flew by."

It made her wonder if any of her other friends had gone through such significant changes in their lives. She hoped that she would see them again, and if Lily had been willing to return even after starting a family it seemed like a fairly realistic hope to have. Although... 'If that was enough time for Lily to find someone... Then...' She frowned, not liking where her thoughts were taking her.

Luckily for her, the perfect distraction came along. "Here we are." Stopping in front of the door to the infirmary, she carefully raised her free hand and knocked. Despite her polite gesture, Kathy didn't actually wait for a response. Instaed, she looked to Illiasriel and reassured her, "Someone should be able to help you here." With her free hand again, she opened the door and nodded to Edric. "Let's go inside."

@Nevix@chukklehed

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

SUMTHIN

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

Katherine Argall

Kathy smiled as Edric took Illisriel's other arm. "Thank you." She had thought about using her ability to make the girl lighter, but then recalled that Edric could not benefit from the change. 'It wouldn't really be fair of me, especially after I recruited his help.' She thought. And even so... Illisriel felt oddly light* as they helped her up.

"Any time.". As the trio made their way to the infirmary, she waited for Illiasriel to answer Edric first but... Well, when the girl did not say anything else, she assumed it was safe for her to answer instead. "You'll have a lot to see around here then. Although you'll have to be careful not to do anything too crazy out in town; you never know when you might bump into a teacher by accident." Speaking of teachers, she made a mental note to check the list of faculty members at the academy. She wondered how many of her old teachers had remained, and which ones had ended up retiring after the school's destruction.

"As for me... I'm actually not from around here at all," She began, "I came from the 'outside world'. Maybe you'd recognize it better as the 'mortal realm' or 'the rest of Earth outside of Lavanya'? I haven't been back since I started attending Athalia though."

@Nevix@chukklehed

[[*Assumption made since her muscles were atrophied. Let me know if you want me to change this chux.]]

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

#partyattheinfirmary? XD

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

Ara (B)

“In that case, I highly recommend that you resume your journey there.”

Suddenly cutting into the conversation, Ara appeared from behind Aurelia. She hadn’t really been going anywhere in particular, and after following the flow of students going towards the stairwell she noticed the two women just idly standing in the middle of the hallway conversing with one another.

Ara was in quite a good mood that day. The weather was nice, the bustle of students were a nice change from the dusty shop she'd been stuck in for the last few years... And most of all, she was actually around to be able to enjoy all of it! She and A had gotten into quite the argument as they fought for the right to be the one to make the first impressions at Athalia. And while normally she would have passed right by the two women without a second thought, she was very much in the mood to get to know as many people as possible. The more people knew her, after all, the less they would be inclined to think that A was the one that was the real 'Ara'.

As if in an attempt to soften the sudden interruption, she gave them a quick ‘look how friendly I am?’ sort of smile before letting her facial muscles relax back into a neutral position. “Since you’re beginning to impede the traffic here.” She continued, nodding at the way other students were weaving around them in order to continue along their way. In reality the hallways were wide enough that the other students could still continue on their way without much hassle, but it was true that they had to slow down and walk around the now-crew-of-three.

“Ah, for the record I’m not really criticizing you. But if you wanted to create an obstacle here you’ve done a poor job of it.” She cocked her head to the side with an amused look as she studied their expressions. “And since I ended up eavesdropping on your introductions, I’ll make it fair and introduce myself as well.”

She cleared her throat once before actually getting into the introduction itself. “My name is Ara. Ara Glaisyer. And though I will not be offended if you don’t recognize me in the future, I would appreciate if you know that I am the only Ara Glaisyer. And if a strange and suspicious man attempts to introduce himself as such, please do not hesitate to slap him for identity theft.”

@FaithsRose@NarayanK

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

Congrats!!! :D Will you get to visit her often?

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

"Quite the convenient ability you have there." Kathy agreed, though the downside of experiencing double the amount of pain didn't sound all too appealing. And she couldn't help but raise a brow at Edric's nonchalant attitude towards pain. She supposed it was a better deal than having to deal with the entire injury but... 'That seems rather sad somehow.' She couldn't quite find the words to explain why she felt this way. And seeing as it seemed to be a rather heavy topic to bring up after a first meeting, she kept her thoughts to herself.

Taking on a thoughtful expression she turned her attention back to Illiasriel and answered, "Of course. There should be a doctor available at the infirmary." Actually, she couldn't quite recall if the academy employed licensed doctors or if they just hired nurses with special abilities. "Or, at the very least someone qualified to handle most injuries." She quickly added.

Kathy kneeled down beside Illiasriel and prepared to take her arm to help her up. "Just put one arm over my shoulder and Edric can take the other..." She looked up at Edric with a smile. "If you're willing to help of course."

Actually, even without Edric's help Kathy knew that she could easily make Illiasriel temporarily lighter and just carry the girl over to the infirmary on her own. Looking around them, however, she could still see a decent crowd of students either making their way to the assembly hall or just chatting with fellow students outside. 'Though I think a lot of girls find it romantic to be carried by someone... I don't think I qualify as the right 'knight' for the job.' She mused. And personally, she would have felt rather embarrassed about being carried by a complete stranger. They couldn't really avoid standing out but she figured that being supported by two people on either side was probably a little more toned down than watching someone get a piggy back ride and at least a hundred times more subdued than seeing someone being carried in a bridal style.

@Nevix@chukklehed

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

Ara Glaisyer

Name: Ara Glaisyer (A – Male; B – Female)

Age: 24 - But ‘biologically’ stuck at 19 years of age.*

Gender: Male (A)/Female (B)

Species/Race: Doppelgänger(?)

Powers:
2 Lives – ‘Ara’ is actually ‘1 person’ with ‘2 different existences’, and needs to be killed twice to remain permanently dead. If Ara is killed once, the Doppelganger will receive all the wounds inflicted onto Ara and will disappear in his/her place. It takes exactly 24 hours for the doppelganger to recover, therefore the second death will have to occur before 24 hours (see Fractal World below).

Fractal World – A world accessible by doppelgangers beyond reflective surfaces. Other beings can enter the Fractal World if they know about it, but it is almost impossible to leave without the help of a doppelganger. Ara can access this world using any sort of reflective surface to switch places with his/her doppelganger, and the doppelganger is able to heal any sort of injury (over time) as long as they remain within the Fractal World. It is also incredibly convenient for storage purposes, meaning they can throw in or take out objects out of the Fractal World as they please… As long as the ‘doppelganger’ inside co-operates.

‘Forced Karma’ – An ability limited only to the MALE Ara (A). As long as he’s in contact with some part of his opponent’s body (e.g. a strand of hair), he can return any injury he receives from his opponent. Fatal injuries are, of course, impossible to return as he must be alive to use any sort of ability. He still retains the injury himself, merely 'returns the favour' by inflicting the same wound on the opponent.

‘Scapegoat’ – An ability limited only to the MALE Ara (A). He can take someone else’s injury, thereby healing them while inflicting the exact same injury onto himself. It is an all-or-nothing ability, meaning every and all injuries that the person is suffering from is transferred onto him.

‘Copy Cat’ – An ability limited only to the FEMALE Ara (B). She can return an opponent’s attack at two-fold. For example, if she is punched, then she will be able to punch back at twice the strength her opponent used. The attack must actually be inflicted upon her for her to be able to ‘return’ them.

‘Invitation’ – An ability limited only to the FEMALE Ara (B). She can forcibly ‘invite’ someone into the Fractal World with her (meaning she and A will also switch places at the same time). This may sound like nothing, but it should be noted that adjusting to an entirely new dimension is not as easy as one may imagine… Requires her to be able to push the person onto a reflective surface. Actual size of the surface and person does not matter.

Fire Power – Not actually a power, and rather a learned ability. In the last 5 years, Ara has focused on learning how to shoot with guns. Despite all their abilities requiring close combat, they have decided to focus on these long-range tools because they realized the advantage they had in being able to access the Fractal World… Mainly, that they will never need to actually worry about being able to ‘carry’ enough ammo.

Weaknesses:
Enemy Within – The 2 halves share a form of mutual trust and acknowledgement that they cannot survive without the other, but in all honesty they are always fighting to have the right to exist in the real world. In fact there are only 2 things keeping them from killing each other: 1. It is impossible to lay a hand on the other because they are never in the same world at the same time. And 2. As far as they know, neither of them can die permanently unless both of them are killed together. Their memories are shared between them when they switch places, but otherwise they can keep secrets from each other until the next switch and the one in the Fractal World does not have real-time updates on what is going on unless there is a mirror reflecting Ara somewhere nearby.

Socializing – As one can imagine, it’s pretty hard convincing people that both the male and female counterpart are actually the same person. It gets even more complicated due to the fact both A and B consider each other enemies, but dislike when they treated differently by friends after they switch.

Like a Human – Ara is a little sturdier and faster than the average human, but otherwise has similar weaknesses as a regular human. As long as he/she doesn’t ‘die’ (1st time), any injuries inflicted on Ara will remain and affect him/her like anyone else.

Personality:
Ara has a strong will and a sharp tongue to match it. He/She flares up pretty quickly, but cools down just as fast. No one knows where Ara’s unbounded confidence comes from, but basically Ara always faces things head-on and seems oddly optimistic at times.

Background:
Ara can’t actually remember which half was the real original and which half was the true doppelganger. In fact, Ara is pretty sure they (the original and the doppelganger) were originally the same gender, but they can’t remember if they were originally male or female. Ara’s memories are completely jumbled up, being able to recall only small bits of a normal life or the memories of a wandering doppelganger.

They know that at one point in their lives, the real Ara and the Doppelganger must have met up, triggering a series of accidents aimed to take Ara’s life. However, Ara was not willing to go down with a fight and tracked the Doppelganger down with the intent to kill if that was what needed to be done. Instead, Ara and the Doppelganger somehow merged together, and were able to spare both their lives by doing so. However, this drastic event had permanently damaged their memories and even changed their physical characteristics. After merging into one and splitting off into 2 halves of each other, they became a strange being unlike any other. Both A and B believe they are the real original and that the other half is the Doppelganger that ended up ruining their lives.

Over the last 5 years, they have noticed a few new facts about themselves that has led to increased hostility towards one another. One, they realized that they can no longer age. They are forever stuck in the age that they merged at, however, they do indeed change with time. As their powers grew, they noticed that their appearances began to change until pretty much the only differences that remained were accountable due to their respective genders. The most noticeable change being their hair colour; A’s hair colour grew lighter and B’s grew darker, until both of them had identical shades of brown that had not belonged to either of them.

Study: (To be added)

Other:
Although Ara will appear normally in photographs and the like, s/he can’t see their own image in mirrors because the one reflected in the mirror will be the other half. The doppelganger in the mirror is able to move separately within the mirror, but cannot move away from the mirror as long as ‘Ara’ remains in front of the mirror. (Same with any reflective surface really.)

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

Her concern rose as the girl started to cry again. Kathy’s eyes scanned the girl as she helped her up, trying to check for any signs of external injuries. She didn’t think she saw anything of immediate concern but that did little to set her at ease. Especially when the girl fell again. Kathy noted the rather formal choice of words the girl had, but the more importantly… ‘She needs to relearn how to use her legs? How did she get here?’ She wondered, but aloud she responded, “It’s alright, there’s no need for apologies at all. My name’s Katherine. Kathy for short if you prefer.”

She paused for a moment, deliberating between offering her hand again, or asking if Iliasriel wanted to be carried to the infirmary. The latter seemed more appropriate if Illiasriel couldn’t walk, but it also seemed rather pushy of her given that they had only just exchanged names and greetings. “Illiasriel, do you-” A sudden thud interrupted whatever offer she wanted to make.

For a moment she had expected to see a familiar mop of red hair. A look of disappointment passed her expression before she quickly shook herself out of it and turned towards him. She smiled brightly at the warm greeting he gave them, and ended up laughing despite wanting to ask if he was alright first. “Katherine, Kathy for short.” She repeated. She offered her hand out to Edric to help him up, and with her free hand she tried to search her pockets for something he could wipe his nose on. All she found, unfortunately, was a white scrunchie. Figuring it was better than nothing, she held it out to Edric once he was up. “For your nose,” She explained. “Sorry, no tissue on me I’m afraid. It’s cotton though, so it should be fairly absorptive.”

Looking between Illiasriel and Edric she asked, “Do you two want help over to the infirmary? We still have time before the orientation, and they’re used to treating almost everything over there.” She silently prayed, ‘And if we’re lucky, someone other than Kiwi will be available to help.’ Kathy wondered for a moment if she should explain the 'potential risks' that could exist in Athalia's infirmary... But decided not to bring any (hopefully) unnecessary scares, especially if the two of them were new students.

As she waited for an answer, she realized that both of them had violet eyes. Slightly differing in shade, but violet all the same. 'In the last orientation, there was an oddly large number of students with white hair... I wonder if I'll meet a lot of people with purple eyes this time.' Kathy mused. It was her favourite colour, so perhaps it was a good omen.

@chukklehed@Nevix

Athalia Academy Season Four: Back on Track (Freaking Finally, amirite?)

Kathy was, uncharacteristically enough, thinking about skipping orientation as she walked across the grassy lawn. She was definitely excited to be back. Athalia had been her home; the place where all her friends were, and the place where it was surprisingly normal (relatively speaking) for her to just walk along the walls or ceiling to avoid pedestrian traffic in the hallways. And despite the new buildings and faces she felt nostalgic, as though there was something about the place that distinctly reassured her that this was still Athalia.

She felt excited, happy, and… Well, old. Given the huge diversity in race and species at the academy, she would not have been surprised to learn that the young faces around her actually hid centuries of experience behind them. However, ‘Twenty-two, and entering college for the first time…’ She couldn’t help but feel a little pathetic at that. Individuals of non-human origins generally had good reason for being behind with their education. In her case… What was her reason again? Ah yes, her entire school had been under attack and anyone related to the academy had either met the attacks head on or fled for safety.

… On second thought, her reason sounded like a very good one to have missed out on a few years of education.

Feeling a little better, Kathy gave herself a few light slaps on the cheeks. “It’s just an orientation. Nothing to feel awkward about.” Having reassured herself, she put on a smile and continued to follow the other students towards the assembly hall.

She ended up stopping, however, when she spotted someone down on her knees. Feeling alarmed, Kathy ran up to her while calling, "Hey, is something wrong?" As she approached the girl she could see the tears falling from her violet eyes. Though she also appeared to be... Smiling? Feeling rather confused, Kathy bent down and offered her a hand. "Everything alright? Can you get up?"

@chukklehed