Vesuvius00

Portwood Institute for Talented Youths (PITY)

Erica hates bullies and bullying in any form, so I have her confronting Rick for picking on Mason and Casper. I, may have gone overboard... XD

Portwood Institute for Talented Youths (PITY)

Erica Lankford

"I like smaller classes, it means the teacher has more time to help people individually. I don't really like gym class though, the teachers are usually mean and besides running I-" Erica was cut off by a whistle so shrill that she had to cover her ears. Soon a man who must have been their teacher was standing at attention by them. Erica's first thought was: Oh no. A hardass. followed very closely by, Well, at least I know one class I'll be skipping from now on...

He ordered them to start running, so Erica started going as fast as she could, almost forgetting to breathe as she ran. When the hardass called them over to where he had stopped Mason, Erica had almost been the farthest ahead. She jogged back, wondering what was up, and felt her face go red with anger when the hardass started using Mason as a reason to justify 50 push-ups.

Erica couldn't do a push-up to save her life, but luckily most of her gym teachers up until then had let her get away with putting her knees down and doing them that way. She counted to about 16 before she flushed with anger again. Now the hardass is picking on Casper?! Who the hell does he think he- Erica stopped altogether and stood up, breathing hard out of anger rather than working hard.

The hardass was going to send poor Casper to detention, because of something he can't control. Erica had dealt with some pretty mean teachers in her days, so she knew exactly how she was going to play this out before she even spoke one word. "Hey! Might as well send me to detention too. There's no way in hell that I am going to just sit here and let some Hardass-peaked-in-highschool-military man bully my classmates."

She took a few steps to follow Casper when she heard the hardass's counter attack. "Oh yeah little lady? Well this hardass ain't gonna stand for-" Erica cut him off.

"And while I'm on my way to detention, I'm gonna stop off at the administrative office and report you for excessive verbal abuse of minors and tell them you are too incompetent to be a teacher at this school, because you cannot seem to grasp the concept that most of us can't control our powers."

"Ooh, big words. I'd like to see you try." His voice was filled with venom.

Erica couldn't stand being around him anymore. She was going to do exactly what she said, but first, she had to get the last word. "Try? If you're ok with just trying then why are you being such an asshole?" Satisfied with that as her parting statement, she waved goodbye to everyone over her shoulder as she turned to leave, ignoring whatever the hardass was yelling at her while she walked back the way she had come to the field.

"Watch it little lady! Detention ain't until later!" Erica turned back to look at him, a triumphant smirk on his face. "You're stuck here for now. You said you were gonna talk to 'em on your way to detention. Now, you can redeem yourself and come finish your push-ups, or go sit with your beloved classmate over there and I'll put you in detention every day for the rest of the year!"

Erica sighed and gave an apologetic look to Casper as she passed him on her way back to where people were still doing push-ups. She wanted to put this hardass teacher in his place, but she didn't like the idea of a year-long detention because of it. She would report him later, and appease him for now. As she finished her push-ups, still not getting yelled at for having her knees on the ground, (maybe he didn't notice?) She thought about how it could be fun to spend each day in battle with this teacher, savoring the moment when she would never have to deal with him ever again at the end.

Yeah, that'll be worth it.

Ashes [EliteCommander and Vesuvius00]

"Really?" Onyx suppressed a shudder. "I think I'd go slightly insane if I had to do that. I don't have a specific place to go, just walking around outside is nice sometimes. If you really don't want to go out then I'm fine staying here, I just wanted to be sure you were."

The Lucenrai Chronicles: The Fallen Kingdom

"Alright, we're moving out!"

As soon as the guard gave order the carts lurched into motion, Vitoria rushing to stay close to the wagon her brother was in. For a minute she just walked like that, keeping pace with the wagon and listening to what was going on around her. After a few seconds however, she heard some kind of exclamation from not too far away, as someone hissed something that she couldn't make out.

She went towards the sound for a moment, getting there in time to see a boy around her age pushing himself off of the ground and rushing over to speak to someone else. He looked pretty beat up, and as she watched she noticed him stumble. Acting almost completely on instinct Vitoria walked up to the boy and the girl he had started to walk beside.

She waited until they had noticed her before speaking, so she wouldn't startle them. "Excuse me sir, are you ok? I noticed you fall earlier, and then stumble again just now... should you be walking?" She spoke kindly, just as she would to any patient. Looking at the boy's face now, she saw that he was pretty beat up. He wore an eyepatch, and had quite a few scars for someone his age.

Vitoria felt a pang of sympathy for this boy. Who knew what kind of life he's had so far, that he would be burdened so at such a young age. Hopefully that would change with the evacuation. Whenever they finally reached sanctuary, he would be able to restart, to lead a much better life away from Edessa. "I'm sure there's a space for you in one of the wagons if you need it."

Ashes [EliteCommander and Vesuvius00]

"I suppose that's true... tomorrow it is then. Are you sure you don't want to go somewhere, anywhere that isn't here for a while though?" Onyx raised an eyebrow at Tarentek before continuing. "Or do you want to stay holed up in here? I'm not gonna force you to go outside, but don't you feel uncomfortable being in the same place for so long?"

Ashes [EliteCommander and Vesuvius00]

"Thanks, it is." Onyx said, smiling. "I don't mind going on the mission right after though, in fact i'm very excited for it." Onyx finished eating quickly and cleaned up just as quickly. "Did you really spend the entire day in here? I couldn't stand to do that, even if I were ill. There's still daylight left, would you like to go somewhere?" Onyx thought for a moment. "You don't have to wait until tomorrow to go see Raldel. He could tell you who the escort group is now and I can tell you what their personalities are like if you want."

Ashes [EliteCommander and Vesuvius00]

"Very well. Everyone passed their tests and now we all have to go see Raldel by first light tomorrow to receive our orders. I'm interested to know who else my father has chosen to go as your escort to Tel Nof." Onyx finished making her meal and moved to the table to eat. "I'm glad you feel back to normal now. You should come with me tomorrow morning to tell Raldel."

Vampire Academy

"Well, here we are I suppose..." Maple stepped off the train to the amazing sight of the school. Most were immediately walking through the large ornate doors into the city surrounding the academy, but Maple slipped out of the crowd to stand off to the side and catch her breath. As she did, she watched the crowd.

There were some interesting folks there, but the most interesting to her was a girl about her age with a wing on her head and another on her shoulder. She was wearing a fancy little black dress, and looked like she was about to cry her heart out. As Maple approached her, she noticed her eyes were red-tinted, like her own, and found a reason to talk to the girl other than, 'Hey, don't cry sweetheart!'

"Hey, i'm Maple. Yes like the tree. I'm also Canadian, if that means anything to you." Maple silently cursed her harsh tone as she spoke, trying again with a light kindness in her voice now. "Sorry, I'm what you'd call naturally blunt. Don't take what I say seriously." A smile now, and reel her in.

"You hungry? Don't bother saying no, because I can see it all in your eyes." Maple kept a kind smile on her face as she waited for the girl to respond, holding her hand out to her.

@Luna

Ashes [EliteCommander and Vesuvius00]

Raldel called forward all who had chosen to be sentries, and Nemos, Haku'da, Merim, the boy who had cut his palm, and the girl with the menacing air stepped forward. Raldel motioned to another sentry, who took his place and told the five of them to follow him. He took flight, leading them to the cliff high above the area. As Onyx watched, Raldel explained what their test was to the crowd below. "Trust is an important quality in a sentry. Without trust in your companions and teammates, the only thing that can happen is failure. Those on the cliff are having their wings bound as we speak, and we are to catch them, that is if they have enough trust in us to jump."

No sooner than he had finished speaking did two people jump over the edge, followed more slowly by two more. After the first two had been caught the fifth one jumped, angling themselves so that they fell faster and passed the second two before the three were caught at once. The fifth jumper, Nemos, let out a whoop as the binds on his wings were removed. He passed by Onyx on his way back to his place in line and whispered to her. "That was actually kind of fun."

As worried as that made Onyx for his sanity at the moment, she was too excited to see what the next test would be to spend much time on it. Next, Raldel called forward the Scouts. Jun'esi and the other two that were younger than Onyx stepped forward. The two looked almost worried, while Jun'esi seemed excited as everyone waited to hear what their test was. Raldel took a few papers from his pocket and handed one to each of them. "On these papers is a riddle. This is a test of problem-solving and actual scouting ability. You are to find the answer to the riddle and then bring it back here. All the riddles are different, but the items are all smaller than an infant. There is your hint, now go!" Raldel waved the three away and they took off immediately. They hovered in the air for a few moments as they read their riddles, and then went off in different directions.

Jun'esi was the first one back, holding in her arms a wax statue representing Olias. The other two got back not too much later, one right after the other and both carrying a wax statue, one for Heilias and one for Fellagang. Raldel smiled and told them all that they had passed, taking the items and papers from them and handing them to different people in the crowd who all stayed standing forward as Raldel started to motion Rin'ili forward.

"As a diplomat you will have to solve problems between others and make agreements and compromises between them, even if it costs you something personally to help others. Your test will be to negotiate a compromise between three warring 'tribes', represented by those holding the statues." As he finished speaking the three holding the statues approached each other and started arguing. Rin'ili stood by for a moment, listening before she approached and put her hand on the shoulder of the one holding Fellagang's statue.

She took a while, but eventually she reached an agreement between the three and Raldel congratulated her. Rin'ili passed Onyx as she returned to her spot, wishing Onyx good luck. Then Raldel was motioning Onyx forward, a smile on his face. "Bri'nx, you have two tests today. The first one, you must prove you are meant to be a prophetess by reciting your caantam to us, and then you must interpret a dream that multiple people in the tribe had last night."

Raldel finished speaking and motioned for a few people in the crowd to come forward as Onyx faced the crowd, waiting for silence so she could recite her caantam. The chatter was mainly people wondering what a caantam even was from what Onyx could hear. Eventually everyone realized that she was waiting and focused on her intently, the chatter stopping almost suddenly. Onyx closed her eyes before she spoke, listening to the words she had only heard one before as she spoke them for the first time. Thine eye that shines as white snow, Blessed me my wings of golden heart. She sounded different to herself as she spoke, older and more powerful.

The crowd stood, stunned for a moment after she finished. Raldel was the first to unfreeze, prompting those he had motioned forward earlier to start describing the dream to Onyx. As they described the dream, Onyx got a growing sense of dread in her stomach. When they had finished, she closed her eyes and thought for a moment before speaking. "I had this dream as well last night. Everything you described was exactly the same." Onyx paused for one last moment before she started explaining what the dream meant, surprised at how easily the information came to her.

"The absence of land is isolation, and the calm, mirror-like water refers to 'self' or one person. the large moon means that this person lacks trust, either they are not trusted or the do not trust others, and the absence of the sun means that the person may feel lonely or lost because of that. The laughter, the storm, the strange creatures, and the scream all mean fear. Fears of the past, present and fears for the future as well. The inability to move, and being pulled under the water represents a forced or unwanted role, and the inability to ever escape it." Onyx finished speaking and was immediately bombarded with questions.

She heard one question the most however. 'Who does this dream about?' "It's not about anyone in the tribe, or even one of our people. None of us have met them, yet, but we soon will." Onyx had no idea how she knew this, the words just came through her, not from her. There was confusion and a lot of noise from the crowd before Raldel silenced everyone and told Onyx that she passed. Onyx went back to her place in line while Raldel closed the ritual with the same words he had started it with.

As soon as the ritual was over most started to fly away, while a few stayed behind to tidy things up. Raldel came over and hugged Onyx, congratulating everyone in the group and telling them they were free to go, and to report to him at first light tomorrow to receive their first orders as full-fledged members of the tribe. They all congratulated each other and took off, each heading their own way. Onyx was headed home, as she was tired and hungry from not eating anything since early that morning.

She got home to see Tarentek doing pull-ups over one of the doorways in the den. After laughing a little at the, to her, strange behavior, she greeted him and started to make herself something to eat. "Hello Tarentek! I hope you've had a good day?"

Ashes [EliteCommander and Vesuvius00]

It was a few hours before it seemed that everything was ready to continue with the ritual. Onyx hadn't attended a ritual in a while, so it was hard to say that the wait was normal. Daimos, Kesi and Akili had started attempting to speak to the four who were younger than them, and were failing almost hilariously, while Onyx, Geda, and Helaheim were talking about what they thought their individual tests would be like. Helaheim and Geda both were to be sentries, but Helaheim thought that meant more of a chance of his test being a fight, while Geda thought it more likely to be a type of situation where they would be forced to make a tough decision.

It didn't surprise Onyx that they had chosen each other as rivals, close siblings often did. She herself had chosen Akili, at the last moment. She would have chosen her own sister, if she were present, or Opal if she had not chosen the path of a prophetess. When Akili had told her that she saw Onyx as her rival, Onyx realized that she did have a rivalry with Akili, even though they were closer friends than Onyx had been with anyone else in Daimos's group.

Raldel called the crowd to silence and stood at the back of the flat rock as he spoke. His voice carried easily across the area, and he started the ritual with an incantation that Onyx had heard many times before. "Agrin, litho krebar. Delos, gu rie terithlin. Merdori litho krebar." The exact translation was lost to time, but it roughly meant: 'Now we gather with the spirits who watch over us until we meet again.' After a moment of silence Raldel continued. "We all stand witness to these children who today will be recognized as adults. Today Heilias and Fellagang do not matter, for Olias has strengthened our spirit as a people beyond the differences of our hearts and souls. We are one tribe, whose strength comes from the strength of the individuals who work together."

Now he called the members of the group up one-by-one. They would step up to the rock and say their name and what their path is, and Raldel would reintroduce them to those gathered with their new name. They were called up in order of oldest to youngest, so Onyx was called around the middle of the group as Akili and the four others were all younger than her, though Akili was not younger by much. The introductions went by almost too quickly, or perhaps Onyx's excitement made it seem so to her. Daimos, Geda, Helaheim, and two of the four others had chosen to be sentries, while Kesi and the other two were to be scouts.

When it was Onyx's turn, she had to force herself to walk calmly to the rock rather than run forward like she wanted to. She spoke her name almost before her father had a chance to prompt her, and then rolled right into her path. "I am Onyx Bright, and I am to be a prophetess of Fellagang." There was a cheer after each person had stated their path, almost immediately, but at first there was silence after Onyx spoke. Her father and Akili started the cheer, and soon the crowd was roaring louder than it had for anyone before her, and anyone after as well. Raldel spoke her new name to her, drowned out by the roar, but she heard it in her heart louder than anything.

Akili and the four others went after Onyx, two sentries, two scouts, and Akili -Rin'ili now- is a diplomat. Onyx congratulated her as she rejoined the line, and Rin'ili smiled and did the same to Onyx. After what seemed only a few minutes they were moving on to the next part of the ritual: The blood bond. This too went in order of oldest to youngest, the newly reintroduced member of the group would walk up to whomever they had chosen as their rival and tell them why they saw them as their rival, and then both would cut the pad of their thumb, either shaking hands with each other or leaving a mark of their blood on each other's forehead or cheek. A closer rivalry would leave a mark, family on the forehead, and friends on the cheek.

Daimos -Nemos now- went first, choosing his older brother, someone Onyx had never met before, as his rival. they marked each other on the forehead and Nemos went back to the line. Kesi -Jun'esi- chose her brother, marking his forhead again while he marked hers. Geda & Helaheim -Haku'da and Merim- chose each other as well, smiling as they marked the other. Onyx, proud to now be able to call herself Bri'nx, took the knife from her father and stood in front of Rin'ili, cutting the pad of her thumb as she spoke. "Rin'ili, I see you as my rival for your intelligence and ability to smooth over any situation. What I hope to gain from our rivalry, and friendship we already have, is the same ability you have to say the right thing, even when your words don't fit what's in your heart." Onyx marked her on her cheek while Rin'ili took the knife from her and cut her own thumb, marking Onyx's cheek in the same way.

Rin'ili kept the knife in her hand as she took her turn. "Bri'nx, I see you as my rival for your constant reasoning and courage, not only in a fight but in everyday situations as well. What I hope to gain from our shared rivalry and friendship is this same courage I see in you. Even when you don't speak up, you stand up for what you believe in." When she finished, Rin'ili marked Onyx's other cheek, while Onyx did the same to her. Rin'ili started to pass the knife to the next person as Onyx returned to her spot in the line, but it was snatched from her halfway through, the person taking it had slashed their palm while doing so.

He cursed himself under his breath as he walked up to someone in the crowd, saying what he had to say and dipping his thumb in the pooling blood in his palm to mark the other on the forehead. He went back to the line and handed the blade to the next person, ripping a strip of cloth from his shirt to tie around his wound. The other three completed their bonds with no event, and so it was time to move on to the individual tests.