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[8:18 am]

"Julian, hurry up! We're already late for breakfast, and you know that the leftovers go fast!" shouted a small voice.

"I know, I know...I need to find my backpack! Nestor, help me find it, I accidentally took a book from there yesterday and I need to bring it back before they find out!" replied another, more panicked than the first.

"Well why do you need the backpack? Just grab the book and lets go!" the first said back, angrier now.

"The book is IN my backpack! That's why I need it!" the second screamed, on the verge of tears as frustrated kids are likely to become.

"Fine then! It''s...hmm...." the first trailed off.

"FOUND IT! It was under your bed, Nestor. You must have kicked it under there or something."

"Nu-uh! It was you! I didn't do anything!" the first retaliated, raising a fist in preparation to punch his brother's arm, but then he remembered something. "Well, it doesn't matter. We need to get to the Temple before breakfast is over, that way we can sneak in the usual way, when they aren't looking."

"I know, I knoooow....you say this every day"

"That's because you make us LATE every day! Hurry up and get your stuff on, we gotta run to make it!"

And in a rush, the two children bolted from the house. Their adoptive mother simply sighed at the duo's energy, not worried at all about their ability to stay safe. "Back by dark!" she shouted after them, and as always, they were practically out of earshot by that time.

[8:51am]

The pair arrived, short of breath, just before the 9-o'-clock bell was to signal the official end of the breakfast time. A few Ordonians had already finished their meals, and were milling about, talking and goofing off. There were a surprising number of them about, almost as if...

"Hey Nestor....there are a lot of people around. Do you think it's a no-school day or something for them?" Julian asked his older brother.

"I'm not sure...Julian, you need to get into the library anyway. Check the billboard on your way in, and I'll keep an eye out for the old people. You know the signal. Don't worry about being out of place, these robes are good enough for walking in...although we might be caught, these ones are getting smelly. We shoulda gotten here earlier so we could sneak into the laundry area...anyway, if classes are cancelled, walk into the garden before anything else, if you don't, it means that they have class. I'll be here for another three minutes, but then I'll see what I can get for us in the dining hall, alright?" Nestor replied, thinking fast to make the best of the situation.

"Right!" the younger replied, already halfway out of the trees as he began confidently (or so he tried to appear) strolling into the Main Hall. Little did he know, one of the dreaded Staff was immediately inside, giving a tour to a newcomer.

(I'll stop it here, that's quite a bit for one post)

As soon as she reached the top of the stairs, the girl immediately regretted her rash decision. Upon seeing all of the people downstairs, she recoiled, ducking and hiding behind the balcony. She hadn't expected so many people to be awake already, despite the fact that it was about the time a lot of people would be up and about. In her excitement, she seemed to have forgotten this fact.

"Oh my," the girl said to herself. "How am I to get to the beach unnoticed now? I like people, sure, but I find that they don't always like me...Hmm...Perhaps I'll just stay inside for now, though it's a pity to waste such a lovely morning."

She turned away from the stairs and started to head back to the dormitories, when a thought struck her.

"Hmm...maybe it won't be wasted after all."

On her way back, the girl decided to spend a bit of time doing yoga on the balcony and later on to get properly cleaned up.

~~~



About forty minutes later, the young girl emerged from the dormitories, all cleaned up and fully dressed. She carried her music book with her as she quietly made her way to the stairs and began her descent. She was eager to get to the Music Room and play her new song; in fact, she had yet to write the rest of it down. While she was carrying out her morning routine, the girl had finished composing the song and was mentally going over it as she descended the stairs.

However, she was so involved in thinking about her latest musical composition that she inadvertently missed a step and stumbled. Thankfully she caught herself before she fell, but it was at the expense of her music book. It tumbled down the stairs and finally came to a stop at the very bottom, but not before spilling its contents everywhere.

The composer slapped herself in the face.

"Oh, confound it all!" she yelled a little louder than she normally would have. "It's just my luck that something this ridiculous would happen."

She then set to picking her strewn musical compositions up. Unfortunately for her, most of them had fallen on the floor, not the stairs. As she finished her descent, the girl hoped nobody would see her so she could slip into the Music Room unnoticed. She didn't feel like explaining herself to anyone today.

Evelyn smiled as the High Priestess exited and happily moved to sit down. However, a trio of footfalls grabbed her attention, and she turned to the door, a smile on to greet the newcomers…but they weren’t members of the Order. The three Altons stood in front of her.

Evelyn took a step back and braced herself on the back of the chair that had just been pulled up for her. She took in a deep breath and released it, then turned to the staff table. “If you’ll please excuse me,” she said, with a slight curtsy. She walked over to the trio, attempting to appear natural, and spoke to them in a hushed whisper.

“What are you doing here?!”

Armin began to respond but Aloisius grabbed his moment—and Evelyn into a tight hug. “OH, MY, HOW BEAUTIFUL YOU’VE BECOME, EVELYN. OH, LOOK AT YOU.” He released her from his embrace but spun her in a circle rapidly by her hand, as if showing off her outfit in a pageant. “YOU’VE GROWN SO MUCH!”

Evelyn responded with all the grace she could muster, pulling her hand away from him. “ALOISIUS, YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN AND YOU’LL PAY FOR IT!!!”

“I’m so sorry, Miss Evelyn,” Armin said, bowing to the girl on behalf of his brothers.

Andreas took this moment to speak. “So I see you still haven’t grown out of that. How…unfortunate.” He said it, almost sounding sincere, but his face told a different story, and not one that Evelyn particularly cared for. She took two steps back and held up her hands, as if ready to cast a spell. “Oh, really, little Evie,” Andreas said, closing the gap and patting her on top of her head. “You think that Al would truly hesitate in protecting me?”

Evelyn nervously glanced at the formidable spellcaster, but held her ground. “My father would be furious.”

Andreas laughed. “Furious? He told us to retrieve you by any means necessary.”

Uh-oh. That wasn’t good.

Apparently her face betrayed her because Andreas laughed again, followed by a snapping of him fingers. “Armin. Get her. Now.”

Armin offered a sad, awkward smile, before approaching and throwing Evelyn over his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Miss Evelyn.”

Evelyn’s face was red with indignity and anger. Oh, why did she wear a skirt today? At least she was wearing her standard blue shorts under it…right? Why was she wasting her time thinking anyway? “Andreas,” she said, her voice taking a warning tone that she prayed she could back up, as she struggled to keep her cool. “You order him to put me down now.”

[[I had to edit the last bit...because I forgot that Evelyn's wearing a skirt. OH GOG, WHY, INU? WHY DON'T YOU EVER PUT EVELYN IN PANTS?!?!?!]]

"Atlae, and it's my pleasure." He said when the pink hair woman returned with what he presumed to be the High Priestess. Although she didn't have the outward appearance of a High Priestess, Atlae could tell that she was a leader.

He turned back to the pink haired woman. "I do believe I didn't get your name either, how rude of me." He said, slightly bowing again with a small wince.

'Nonononononononononono' thought the yet-unnoticed Julian as he edged back towards the door. The first seen staff member had moved into the dining hall, but returned moments later with Lorika, the only one that the child recognized on sight. And then the front door opened to admit a trio of elves that promptly made for the dining hall, and shortly after, shouting could be heard from within. It was all too much for the frantic child. Julian attempted to make his getaway, and from there, he would warn Nestor. Then again, those elves didn't open the door very widely.....

(1-5 he runs into something. Anything else he escapes. What fun! And we can't be forgetting about the +2 to escapes that he has!)

(Edit: sweatdrop Time to make it work. I hate natural 1s)

'I think I can get through....now or never, RUN!' thought the small child as he bolted for the door. In his haste, he neglected to look ahead, trusting that the door would remain slightly ajar. Little did he know, the great door had slowly started to swing shut, a natural defense against forgetful visitors. For a moment, the kid's feet made soft 'plat-plat-plat' noises as he dashed madly.....

The plat-plat-plat stopped suddenly, replaced by a resounding THUD as the kid ran headlong into the closing door, then by a slightly quieter thud as he fell straight backwards from the impact. It didn't take long for the echoes to die out, only to be replaced by a much louder noise.

"EEEEEIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Julian shrieked at the top of his lungs, holding his forehead in pain as a large lump began to grow, all hopes of secrecy smashed in the face of huge doors and possible concussions. The door, meanwhile, had been slammed shut by the impact, and now had a noticeable dent where the youngster's head collided.

From the bushes outside, Nestor heard the distinctive scream (for he had heard it before, having hurt Julian both accidentally and on purpose slightly more than a few times). He felt guilty for a bare second before charging towards the Temple to rescue his younger brother from the painful fate that had befallen him.

'The door's too obvious, I need to go in the side', he thought as he vaulted over the Garden's small fence and made a beeline for the smaller side-door.

(I'm going to leave it here so that Nestor can react to whatever notices Julian)

Cressa's expression shifted a little at Aloisius' explanation. So this was a petty family matter. Her interest declined at this, gaze flickering from calculating to languid. Jessie, however, didn't waver at all. When Aloisius grabbed her face, his insides burned with a sudden flare of rage. Disgusting! Barbaric! The middle brother had no idea how close he came at that moment to a knife buried in his kidney.

"I have asked you to put Evelyn down," he replied - calmly, but forcefully. He wanted to make it clear that he was not going to tolerate being argued with. "If she is to go with you, she will go freely; and of her own accord; and on her own two feet. We will not tolerate this filthy savagery."

Suddenly, Adeline, who'd been giving Aloisius her most evil eye, threw the glass of water she'd been holding straight into his face. Jessie kept his eye trained on each of the men as they reacted. It was definitely a 'What the ********> moment.

Then, she extended her other hand, and with a slight "pulling" gesture, the most remarkable thing began to happen. It might have felt as if suddenly, the soft feet of caterpillars were creeping all over his face, for stems and shoots were sprouting out of the surface of his skin, everywhere the water had touched. With unnatural speed, the plants began to bud, and then, like a fast-forwarded video on a nature documentary, burst into big, bright, pink and red flowers. Azaleas, they looked like. Or some sort of tropical hibiscus.

"Think of that the next time you treat a lady so downright deplorably," she hissed, bringing up her hand to point at his flower-covered face. "And I warn you - if I see your roving eye making friends with my cleavage again, you'll be picking bark out of your ears for weeks."

Whether or not he could actually see at all anymore through the mass of leaves and petals was a whole matter of its own.

"Thank you, Adeline. I hope we've made ourselves clear," Jessie said, still carefully watching each of them. His knives remained in his hands. "Consider that your warning. Conduct yourself with a handful more manners, and perhaps we can all leave in peace."

"Rather than in pieces," Cressa added, a small, sadistic smile on her face.

It was Cressa who reached out to comfort Evelyn, gripping her shoulder in an almost matronly way. Her long, white fingernails were perfect, pointed, pearlescent ovals against the dark material of Evelyn's dress. "Don't be afraid, young lady. There are many people who love you. You have nothing to fear."

"Some of us don't have to resort to violence to show our family we care about them," Adeline grumbled, glaring around her. The whole situation incensed her beyond measure. Where she came from, a parent would never dream of exerting such disgusting force on their child, young or grown.