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Michael looked up to Alisa, blinking a few times. "It's nothing, Alisa, I'm fine. Just feeling a little ill. And thank you, Aurora, but I think I can manage as long as you're nearby in case I crash."

He glanced out the window, looking for his pain in the butt roommate Ural. If only the pool boy could see him now, pale faced and completely vulnerable. He wouldn't ever let him live it down.

"Alisa, do me a favor. Make sure Ural doesn't see me for a bit, alright? I'd rather not be hounded by the fish boy. Aurora, let us be off on our glorious quest to discover the magical medicine to save the handsome knight!" He said jokingly, making his way down the hall slowly but surely.

Speak of the devil; the namesake ' Pool boy' Ural was just unpacking his nets which he had used to clean the Olympian pool with only a half an hour ago. All those laurel leaves pile up eventually. For a pool used by the gods, it was just as cluttered as any other mortal fashoned pool.
Way deeper though, Posidian must like it that way.
Which meant not just any random hired help could manage to clean it from top to bottom. Sometimes the nets just don't reach that far.
This was were he came in. Ural could get to those depths others couldn't. It is sorta his specialty.

When he wasn't cleaning the pool, Ural was back on Bai Ching grounds. Either in the school itself cleaning as the Janitor, or patroling the shores of the Lake as a trainee Gaurdian.

The cresting year of a 14 year old merman was a busy one alright. Lots to live up to, lots to be tested for, and lots of trouble. Endless, endless trouble.

He was just binding the bags of gathered wet leaves when he stood up, stretched- and then sneezed.

Someone was talking about him.

Meh, that's just an old wives tale.

However he figured he had earned a break by now. So the questions was; did he relax or get some food? Hard choice. Or... better yet, cause trouble for his roommate. He owed him this time.
He stood on the edge of the school pool, looking down into the water. His reflection looked back at him, wavering in a wash of colors and features. Even when he was dry and using two legs, Ural didn't look normal. He still had his vibrant coloring in both his eyes and hair, it was that mixture of sea green tones and blues. His skin was slightly irridecent, and always a bit slick from moisture. That could easily be argued as simple persperation- but the difference was he never stunk. It wasn't sweat, just water.
Apparently this water that clung to him smelled really good to cats, and fairies. He never bothered to really ask what it smelled like to them, they always looked kinda hungry.

"I could use a dip." he thought out loud, tugging at his color as if it was suddenly too tight and too hot.

{{Welcome to all the new people!! biggrin I really like how this story is moving now. We have students, faculty AND staff! Woot! biggrin You're all doing a GREAT job. I have really enjoyed the recent posts. smile Keep at it everyone!}}

{{I think I'm going to start bolding what my character says outloud so it doesn't blend in with all the other text.}}

Ever hadn't heard Ares respond, yet. She simply assumed that he was still trying to think of what to do. So, she whispered something to Raven. Then, Raven flitted from Evermore's shoulder over to Ares'.

"Well Ares, if you're not sure which you'd like to do first, perhaps you could hang out with Raven for a little bit. Maybe ask her some questions or simply interact with her like you would a familiar. Get an idea of whether you might want to try and have one or not."

She smiled at both of them and then stood up from her stump. She saw that some of the students were now in the pen with the creatures while some were working with their familiars. Professor Markums was in the pen working with one student while her squirrel-shaped automaton familiar was winding through the students sitting on their stumps to help them with any questions they might have.

Ever slowly walking over to the pen, but instead of going inside, she walked around the edge. She walked around until she got to the edge nearest the forest, also the edge that the Immortal Horses were at. Some of them snorted and pawed at the ground. Others moved backward. There was only one who stood his ground and stared balefully back at Evermore. It was the one that usually scared her, Phobos. The God of War's former horse. Had an attitude just like his master.

Ever sighed and stared back at Phobos. Instead of being scared this time, she simply hurt. Lately she had been focusing on other things to occupy her mind or just going non stop to where she didn't have time to think of Ares. But here in Familiars 101 was a constant reminder of him. It was after being chased by his horse that Ever first saw Ares on Bai Ching's campus. That was when their normal hostile interactions had changed forever. She didn't regret any of it, but she wished something different could have resulted from it. Now she didn't even have her normal banter with Ares. She didn't even get to see him.

She sighed and spoke softly to Phobos. "Yeah, I know. You don't like me, I get that. You didn't like me the first time we met on Olympus. You were standing right by Ares and he whispered something in your ear. I think he was wanting you to egg me on, which you did. No one could ever piss me off like you and your master could. You know, I still wonder if he comes to visit you sometimes. Well, before the barrier was up. I mean, you two were bonded. How could he never see you again? That's hard for me to believe."

She sighed again. "But then again, I think he's the type that needs to take breaks from individuals that are close to him. I think too much feeling, too much closeness is hard for him. I wonder if you were around when he met his love. I wonder if you got to meet her and interact with her. I bet you even liked her, too. I did, when I met her ghost form. I wish she would talk with Ares directly again. I think he needs to hear from her in order to move on. And I'm not saying move on and back to me. I just want him out of his current state. He's not the God of War that he used to be. He can't stay like this. It's not good for him... and if he's still this way when the war comes, he..."

She had to stop for a moment and take a deep breath before continuing. "He might not survive... He was worried about me not surviving, but what about him?"

There almost seemed to be a flicker of understanding in Phobos' eyes as he looked back at her now. Ever knew she had to be seeing things, though. She was already shocked that Phobos wasn't charging the fence, trying to scare her. There was no way he'd be looking at her as if he were agreeing with her.

((Just thought I'd let you know that the Olympian gods don't actually use any pools at Bai Ching. As far as some--that is, most--Bai students know, the Olympians haven't even had any contact with their school.))

After departing ways with Michael, Alisa made her way to the girls' locker room that was connected to the pool. She pulled out one of the generic swimsuits and changed herself, with little time. She took her uniform and put it in one of the lockers and tied her hair back in a long braid. Then the girl proceeded out to the pool.

She couldn't help, but smile at the sight of Ural. As she predicted, he was here. Though she couldn't help, but notice that he seemed to have something on his mind. Alisa's smile disappeared and turned into a pout. First Michael not being well, and now Ural. What was she going to do with those two?

Alisa slowly started to walk up closer behind Ural as she came up with a mischievous idea. She approached him as silently as she could, hoping not to hint him of her presence.

"Hi!" she said when she got close enough and pushed on his back in attempt to push the boy in.

Raigin smiled, "Very well madam I shall bother you no further." he said standing up straight again. Turning he walked out of the room turning before he left, "Farewell for now." he said before closing the door and walking away whistling a light elvish tune.

{{LOL! Have 'em crash into Akira. Give you both a chance for some interesting interactions. biggrin }}

{{... Ever's best friend. Her profile is on the first page of the profile thread.}}