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 Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:37 pm
Grave's curiosity overcame him and he touched Mathiaz' sleeve. "Can you see anything? What's going on?" Grave strained again, but couldn't see through the throng of people.
At the center of the circle a series of clicks and whirrs sounded and the students closest to the mysterious gadget 'ooo'd and 'aaaa'd. Grave's curiosity was making him antsy. He began to pace and to prod around other student's hips and elbows trying to catch a glimpse with no avail.
At the centre of the ring of Empyreans lay a Booster Pack, glowing and whirring on the floor. These young students had never seen one before, and its flashing lights and apparently random clicks were ample entertainment while they waited for class to begin and Professor Kortus to appear.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:47 pm
"It's some kinda machine," he mumbled back, actually forgetting his goal of annoying the other boy for a moment. And he started to elbow his own way through the crowd, being just a bit rougher about it than Grave was. He wanted a closer look at this thing.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:54 pm
Grave darted in behind the other boy, following in his wake and sneaking past people shoved aside by the Sanguine. They made it to the centre of the circle, and there, on the floor of the room lay a circular piece of chest-protection. The whole of it was a light grey with a collar sporting a techno-ring attached by two stiff straps on one side and one central strap on the other. The side facing up had 5 columns of small lights. White lettering spelled ICSAR across the tops of the columns, with one band of lights beneath each letter. The entirity of the column of lights under the I was already brightly lit a vibrant blue. The C next to it showed a half-lit stack of yellow lights and the remaining columns were still dark and unlit. As Grave watched the gadget made anothe of its click noises and another panel of yellow lit up under the C.
"What is it?" Grave asked Mathiaz, in awe.
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Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:02 am
"How should I know?" he replied, staring as well. He tilted his head. "Uhm ... maybe it's charging up or something?" he mumbled, eyeing those little rows of lights. "Wonder what it does ..." He elbowed a random person as they tried to shove in front of him and considered trying to touch the thing. What would it do if he did that ...
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 7:20 pm
Torrid jostled and pushed, trying to worm his way past his classmates to get a better look at the device on the floor. Yelping in protest as he felt an elbow dig into his ribs, he skirted sideways and found a gap to slip through.
At the front of the pack, he had a better view of the curious machine. He blinked, regarding the glowing lights with curiosity.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 7:38 pm
A boy tried to push past Mathiaz to get a better view and the Sanguine elbowed the kid sharply. Grave couldn't blame the boy for letting out a yelp. Grave gave the kid a short glance. He seemed to be alright...a Choleric...Grave looked back to the machine. At Mathiaz' comments, Grave felt a twinge of aprehension. Grave allowed himself a short glare in Mathiaz' direction as he recognized the trouble-maker tone in the Sanguine boy's voice. Grave heard another click noise and saw that beneath the C another little light had illuminated. It did seem that the gadget was charging...or ticking down the moments until...what? Grave hated to admit that his curiosity was having the same effect on his impulses as Mathiaz' seemed to be having on him. Grave wanted to pick up the machine, to inspect it, to touch it...to see what it did and what it was for. Still, it could be dangerous if interrupted. He gripped his hands tightly behind his back to control the fidgeting his hands were wont to do when he grew excited.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:24 pm
He leaned over toward Grave a bit and whispered, "What d'you think would happen if I touched it?" He didn't actually intend to ... not being that dumb. He realized that it could be dagerous somehow, but he wanted to see what sort of reaction that would get out of the other boy.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:30 pm
Grave stared at Mathiaz levelly.
"How should I know? This is my first day of classes. Anything could happen." Grave shrugged and looked back at the device as it clicked and another light filled the C column to half-full.
The other students all around the ring we all engaged in conversations about the object of mystery in the center of the floor.
Why was it jsut lying there? Grave pondered to himself. It seemed such a strange thing, an item like this just lying there, and flashing as if it had been set on its course by someone and then jsut left here. If Grave didn't have a complete feelig of safety he would have started to think it was a trap...
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:47 pm
He blinked ... oh really, that was no fun. So ... just to provoke him, he stepped just a bit closer and reached over to poke the thing, then all but jumped back, eyes wide as he watched to see what it would do.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:58 pm
The students around the circle - Grave included - gasped when Mathiaz leaped forward to poke the thing on the ground. The thing rocked on its round shell and when it settled another light clicked on.
Grave counted the number of lights in the column. One more light and this column too would be full. And then what? After a moment, he realized he'd been holding his breath and exhaled heavily.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:23 pm
He blinked for a moment, then laughed. "I didn't do -anything-!" he crowed, apparently proud of himself now for being brave enough to touch it. "Who's next?" he asked, looking around. "Go on Grave ..." he urged after a moment, grinning.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:41 pm
"Me?" Grave asked with wide blue eyes. "No way...you're gonna get me in trouble. I'm not touching it!" Grave replied and took a small step back, bumping into hte Choleric boy and stepping on the toe of one of the boy's boots. "Er...sorry." Grave mumbled to the boy he'd bumped into and began to look between the thing on the floor and the expectant face of Mathiaz.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 3:47 pm
Torrid gasped as the sanguine poked the device, and closed his eyes as he awaited the explosion.
After a moment, he opened his eyes. Nothing had happened, but the bars on it were almost full. "Oh, man - oof." He looked at the melancholy boy who'd bumped him. "Huh? Don't worry about it..." he mumbled, turning back to the machine.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:54 pm
Amelia had followed her classmates to the next room on their schedule, a Crafting class with Professor Kortus. She didn't know what crafting meant exactly, but when she walked into the room and found it filled with mechanical gizmos of all kinds, she knew they wouldn't be knitting or practicing their needlepoint.
As a crowd gathered around a machine placed in the middle of the empty room, Amelia stood back, letting the boys shove each other forward, looking for a good spot for viewing. Instead, she moved toward the back of the room, and took one of the tall stools. At first, she sat on it, but being quite short gave her a disadvantage. Instead, she stood up on the stool carefully, observing the boys poking at the machine that looked much like a strange backpack.
She watched as Mathiaz, the boy who had avoided reading in her previous class, poked the machine. It came to life briefly, and shuttered back to silence just as quickly. It was then that she heard him point out Grave. He wanted him to touch it next.
Amelia saw that he backed up, bumping into another boy--a Choleric boy. He looked as if he was feeling a bit awkward. Mathiaz must have been giving him a hard time, she assumed, watching the pair interact.
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:45 pm
Grave shrugged and moved forward again. He crouched down next to the machine, as it clicked, whirred and a full column of yellow lights glowed beneath the C. Grave looked closely, and sure enough the C raised as the noise of the machine stopped.
A button? Grave held his hands tightly together and wrapped his arms around his knees. He didn't want to touch it...but he wanted to find out what it was for...
"What do you think would happen if I pressed the Letters at the top?" Grave mumbled aloud, not really directing the comment at anyone in particular.
"Well, why don't you press it and find out?"
Grave jumped in his skin, lost his balance and fell back on his hauches with a thump. The crowd had parted, and standing there was a mountain of a...man?
The man's bronzed skin was rippled with muscle and covered entirely in swirling patterns that glowed brilliant green. He had a goat-like face ad beard, with long furred ears and milky eyes. But the thing that made Grave gape was the extra pair of arms that hung below the folded top pair and bore a hammer and a small box.
This must be Professor Kortus...
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